In the dim alleyway, though Kei's eyes were lifeless and dull, the moment he received Orochimaru's scroll, a spark ignited in his heart.
He hadn't even opened it yet, but Kei had a gut feeling: the contents of this scroll would illuminate the path ahead.
If the Caged Bird truly involved the soul, then for most members of the Hyūga branch family, it was a dead end, but for him, it could be the key to breaking free.
Slipping the scroll into his robes, Kei said, "Sensei, I'll do my best to gather intel on Uchiha Itachi for you. If that's all, may I take my leave?"
The white snake shook its head as Orochimaru's raspy voice echoed from its mouth: "Not so fast. There's one more thing I need your help with."
"What is it?"
"You've gained the old man's favor. No doubt he'll be assigning you more tasks soon. I need you to earn his trust… and begin collecting intelligence on him, especially on the Anbu and the Shadow Guard."
Kei tapped his blind cane lightly. This request aligned well with his own plans. Until he grew powerful enough, exploiting the Third Hokage's trust was essential.
But Orochimaru's desire to gather intel on Hiruzen Sarutobi already? That could only mean one thing: Orochimaru had long been planning to "prove himself" to his old teacher.
Officially, the reasons for the Konoha Crush were threefold: destroy Konoha, kill Hiruzen, and lure in Sasuke.
But Kei didn't think it was that simple.
Orochimaru sought immortality. He was a researcher, purer than most ninja in his pursuit of knowledge. To him, emotions were secondary, what mattered was the gain. So why destroy Konoha, something that brought him no benefit?
As for luring Sasuke… that could have been done quietly, from the shadows. Someone like Orochimaru didn't need a spectacle.
That meant the real goal of the Konoha Crush was to "kill" Hiruzen Sarutobi.
But not in the literal sense.
Rather than exacting revenge, Orochimaru seemed more intent on proving that his path, the pursuit of forbidden knowledge, was the correct one. That he, not Hiruzen, had chosen right.
Still, that was just speculation. Only Orochimaru knew the truth.
Shaking off those thoughts, Kei replied, "Sensei, you do know the Third is someone I greatly admire, don't you?"
"Kei-kun, do you think I don't know who you really are?" The snake's golden slit eyes narrowed coldly, forming a disturbingly human sneer.
Kei shrugged, tilting his head playfully. "Sensei, you've got me wrong. I may have my own plans, but my respect for Lord Third is genuine. Asking me to act against someone I idolize… isn't that a bit much?"
"Don't play mind games with me. I'm not one of your patients." Orochimaru's voice grew colder. "Just say what you want."
Kei smiled gently. "Sensei, the villagers who went missing before… you were experimenting on them for First Hokage cells, weren't you?"
There was a stop. Then Orochimaru laughed quietly. "I didn't misjudge you. You really are like me."
"I had a good teacher," Kei replied calmly.
Orochimaru didn't deny it. He controlled the white snake again, and it opened its mouth to spit out another scroll.
"Don't disappoint me."
The snake's golden pupils stared at Kei for a long moment, tongue flickering, before slithering into the darkness.
"Take care, Sensei," Kei called after him with a polite smile.
Once he sensed that Orochimaru's presence had truly vanished, Kei clutched the two scrolls in his robes tightly.
Orochimaru truly lived up to his title as Kei's 'discount master.' Even a casual handout from him had massive value.
The research on the Caged Bird seal? That could be Kei's way to freedom.
The First Hokage's cells? Potentially useful for Shisui.
Though Shisui had lost his Mangekyō Sharingan, with the Senju and Uchiha being distant relatives, there was still hope. If used properly, the cells might help recover some of Shisui's power.
After all the sessions and effort he had put into Shisui's treatment, Kei had no intention of letting that investment go unrewarded.
Turning quickly, Kei headed home without delay. He couldn't wait until morning to read Orochimaru's notes, this was too important.
Fortunately, his blindness wasn't a true handicap. His powerful sensory abilities, like a "mind's eye," allowed him to perceive his surroundings clearly. Even the words on the scrolls, he could "see" them just fine.
Inside the scroll, Orochimaru's meticulous research log began.
[First Phase Experiment: Attempt to forcibly break the Caged Bird seal using chakra]
• Subject 01: Upon chakra injection, the seal activated. No abnormalities until the core was touched. Once core contact was made, subject experienced intense cranial pain. Continued chakra infusion caused neural combustion and Byakugan destruction. Result: Failed.
• Subject 02: Same process. Result: Failed.
• Conclusion: External chakra can probe without triggering the seal if kept shallow. Core intrusion activates defensive mechanisms, severe pain, and finally, auto-destruction of the Byakugan and neural tissue.
As Kei read the summary, he thought back to the monthly "eye inspections" the main family conducted on him. During those exams, they injected chakra into his Caged Bird seal, but he never experienced pain.
That gave him two hypotheses:
• The main family possessed a special chakra infusion technique, a way to check the seal without triggering it.
• Or, like Orochimaru's approach, they were only probing the outer seal layer without touching the core.
Kei leaned toward the second theory.
Because if the first were true, if the seal could actively suppress activation, then that opened a loophole. With enough experimentation, someone might map a safe chakra route.
And the Hyūga clan wouldn't leave such a flaw in something as vital as the Caged Bird.
"But… if Orochimaru's data is correct, shallow chakra probing only causes headaches, not fatal damage."
"That means if I'm careful, I can simulate and test it myself. I just need to confirm it with someone else first… in case Orochimaru's notes are misleading."
Turning to the next section:
[Second Phase Experiment: Attempt to sever the link between the Byakugan and Caged Bird using sealing jutsu]
• Subject 15: Applied seal to Caged Bird. Began Byakugan extraction. Seal activated, neural combustion, Byakugan destroyed. Failed.
• Subject 16: Seal applied to Byakugan instead. Same result. Failed.
• Subject 17: Dual seals on both Byakugan and seal core. Still failed, seal activated regardless. Failed.
• Conclusion: The connection between the Byakugan and seal is beyond physical. Sealing cannot isolate them. Any attempt to tamper triggers destruction.
• Hypothesis: The Caged Bird seal exists not just on the body, but on the soul. The forehead seal is only a surface marker.
Kei's brows furrowed.
Brute force didn't work. Seals didn't work either. Was the seal truly this inescapable?
Yet the final hypothesis excited him.
If the Caged Bird was indeed engraved on the soul, then the implication was massive.
In the original timeline, Hyūga Hizashi, when revived via Edo Tensei, still bore the seal, despite being dead.
That proved Orochimaru's theory likely true. The seal didn't vanish in death, it persisted in the soul.
Which meant: unless you erased the soul-bound mark or replaced the soul entirely, escape was impossible.
But… Kei was different.
He had replaced a soul. He was no longer the original Hyūga Kei.
This opened up a terrifying possibility: perhaps the original Kei's soul had triggered the seal, but since Kei's soul wasn't the original, he suffered only partial damage. Enough to lose his eyes, but not his life.
"If that's true… then the Caged Bird seal on me might be… inactive!"
Kei trembled with the urge to test it.
But no, he had to be cautious. Not until he was absolutely certain.
Turning to the final phase:
[Third Phase Experiment: Measure the time it takes for the seal to destroy the target based on physical and Byakugan strength]
• Subject 36: Low stats. Byakugan and brain destroyed in 1 second.
• Subject 37: Average stats. Destroyed in 1.5 seconds.
• Subject 38: High stats (jōnin level). Destroyed in 2 seconds.
• Conclusion: Stronger body and Byakugan = slightly longer survival time. But data is limited, no elite jōnin tested.
• Speculation: There may be a threshold where the seal cannot fully destroy the target. If strength and Byakugan are high enough, one might survive.
• Final Verdict: Trying to steal the Byakugan by removing the seal is not feasible. Risk outweighs reward.
Kei closed the scroll slowly, his mind racing.
"So in the end… aside from soul replacement or erasure, the only viable route is to surpass the seal's destruction limit."
Which meant achieving extreme power.
But that was nearly impossible for the Hyūga.
They had high floors, but low ceilings. No Hyūga had broken into "super-kage" level since the Warring States Era. The last "Strongest Hyūga" was said to be a contemporary of Madara and Hashirama.
Since then, the strongest, Hyūga Hiashi and Hyūga Taihiro, were only elite jōnin.
So brute-forcing the seal through strength was impractical. Unless…
Unless he evolved his Byakugan.
The evolved form, Tenseigan.
But achieving that was even more difficult.
For now, the best path… was to confirm whether the Caged Bird still worked on him.
If it didn't? Everything changed.
If it did… then he'd have no choice but to gamble on the Tenseigan.
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