Hiashi didn't have the courage to sacrifice himself—especially not when Neiki still needed him alive to lure out more members of the Hyuga clan. With this crucial hostage in hand, even with the Cursed Seal of the Caged Bird in play, Neiki's hunting efficiency would rise sharply, while his risk of exposure would drop. His plan to wipe out the clan, distant before, was now something he could realistically complete.
So even if Hiashi wanted to die, Neiki wouldn't let him.
The hinge torture device borrowed from the Torture and Interrogation Department had been designed from the start to leave prisoners no chance to take their own lives. Once their chakra points were sealed, even a Kage-level powerhouse could only die with regret.
Hiashi didn't care much about his own life anymore.
But he still cared about others.
From the moment he traded information on elders who were outside Konoha in exchange for his daughter Hinata's life, he had already lost any leverage he had in front of Neiki.
Retreat once, then retreat again and again—step by step, backing down. In the days leading up to Neiki's defection from Konoha, he squeezed Hiashi dry, down to blood and bone. That was the fate the head of the Hyuga clan had to face.
For example, by now everyone "knew" the story about Hiashi and Hinata's eye exchange: that it was just a flimsy excuse Neiki used to extort him. If it hadn't been this, it would have been something else. But Hiashi could no longer argue. His spine was broken; he could only let Neiki take whatever he wanted and hope, however faintly, that Neiki might show mercy to his daughter.
Hinata walked in on light, hesitant steps, buried her face in Neiki's chest, then peeked out through a gap in his robes at the disheveled man slumped at the desk.
"Don't you recognise him?" Neiki asked, momentarily thrown off.
"My father was sitting there before," Hinata whispered. "He told me a lot of things… told me to endure the pain. I did… and then… my father disappeared."
She didn't finish, but the meaning was obvious.
Hiashi watched his daughter run into Neiki's arms—the very man responsible for everything—and felt a bitterness no words could describe.
After Hinata had exchanged one eye and broken free of the illusion, she had run from him in terror the moment she saw his real appearance.
She couldn't connect the elegant, dignified father in the illusion with the broken wreck in front of her. Given that Neiki had tortured Hiashi into something barely human, it was only natural she didn't recognise him.
Not recognising him was fine.
As long as she remembered what he'd told her before the eye exchange—to dig up her mother's corpse and place it in the middle of the courtyard, even if she couldn't escape the illusion herself.
But watching his daughter wrapped around the enemy, Hiashi could only shake his head.
He knew Hinata had been living poorly inside the clan lately. No one cooked for her, no one bathed her; she'd fallen from pampered young lady to neglected child overnight. For a girl who'd grown up as pure and sheltered as a blank sheet of paper, this had been a disaster.
Maybe that was why her spiritual sense lingered longer in the illusion than others. That was why, when the time came to make a desperate choice, he chose Hinata over someone like Hanabi.
But his last attempt to save the clan had failed in an unexpected way.
Hinata, eldest daughter of the main family, ultimately had neither talent nor ability…
After a long silence, Hiashi let out a weary sigh.
So be it.
She was still of main family blood. Talentless or not, there was no point in talking about revenge. She could live a quiet life. The Hyuga clan could rise again someday, even if she herself never avenged anything.
Hiashi looked straight at Neiki. This time, he didn't struggle. He didn't curse, didn't sneer—
He simply surrendered.
Since you want ransom, I'll give you everything.
"On the left wall of my study, there's a hidden compartment," Hiashi said. "To keep the Byakugan from detecting it, the entrance has a summoning seal. The hand seal sequence is Tiger, Ox, Boar…"
He paused, then continued in a dull voice.
"Inside, there are three sections. There's a lot of gold and silver. You can take it all."
Unlike the shops and forest lands—which were Hyuga clan public property—the treasure in that secret chamber was the private inheritance of the clan head's line. As a soon-to-be rogue ninja, Neiki desperately needed a starting fortune. If he left Konoha flat broke, he'd have to rob people just to survive, and that kind of lifestyle was too crude and unsustainable.
"Got it," Neiki said with a nod, signalling for him to go on.
"In the second compartment," Hiashi continued, "there are summoning scrolls. They contain ninja tools and emergency supplies."
Those were meant for the few survivors in the event the Hyuga clan was wiped out.
Unfortunately, the Hyuga ancestors who'd prepared so carefully never imagined the greatest crisis would come from within.
Neiki spoke lazily.
"These things still aren't enough to buy her life."
For the first time, Hinata's expression wavered.
She could hear their conversation. Even if she didn't grasp every detail, she could tell something was wrong.
What is Brother Neji talking about?
What things?
Whose life is being traded?
"I understand," Hiashi said. "Don't worry… I still have more."
He hesitated, looked at Neiki with a complicated gaze, then continued calmly:
"In the third compartment… there are over a dozen Byakugan passed down by the Hyuga ancestors."
…Oh?
Neiki's eyes widened.
Branch family Byakugan crumbled the moment their owners died. That meant every Byakugan in that chamber had belonged to main family members…
Over a dozen sets.
So the clan head's line had reserves like that…
If I'd known sooner, how much faster would I have advanced?
"You knew I was gathering Byakugan. Why didn't you hand them over earlier?" Neiki ground out. If he hadn't come back here, those Byakugan essences would have stayed buried forever!
Thinking about it, Neiki felt a rush of dark joy.
This man… he still had potential left in him. You really don't know someone's limits until you break them.
"I don't know what you intend to do with so many Byakugan," Hiashi said slowly, "but since I've told you about them… can you spare a few lives in return?"
There was a plea in his eyes now.
Neiki ran the numbers in his head. A dozen high-purity main family Byakugan, even with some loss of vitality from long-term storage, should still give him a massive boost in essence. With that, his plan for next week's clan "meeting" didn't necessarily need to end in complete extermination.
—No.
The moment that thought arose, Neiki crushed it.
Since he'd chosen this path, he would see it through.
Becoming a rogue ninja meant he might never set foot in Konoha again.
Now that so many Byakugan essences had fallen into his lap, he had to assume this might be the only chance of his life.
Neiki had a faint feeling that even after advancing his eyes to the final stage, Byakugan essence would still be useful.
"I can spare her," Neiki said, patting Hinata on the head.
She still looked utterly lost.
Hiashi nodded. The answer didn't surprise him.
Greed—this was exactly the Neiki he'd come to know.
PS :
Hyuga Tokuma:
Branch-family Hyuga.
Member of ANBU.
Hyuga Tsubaki:
Branch-family Hyuga.
Also a victim; found dead with Tokuma.
Hyuga Tsukune:
Female branch Hyuga, works/lives near a bakery.
Has a crush on Neiki.
Uchiha Itachi - One of Konoha's Twin Prodigies, Neiki's rival and parallel.
Uchiha Fugaku - Uchiha clan head; father of Itachi & Sasuke.
Uchiha Inabi - Radical Uchiha clansman.
Uchiha Shin & Uchiha Tetsu: Two Uchiha who are known drunkards.