A thick iron door was revealed, and Neji Hyuga kicked it open with all his strength. The door slammed into the inner wall with a loud crash. The sight beyond froze him in place.
Inside the small, nearly lightless cell, a thin figure sat quietly on a stone chair. Hearing the noise, the figure slowly raised his head. As the face came into view, Neji Hyuga's pupils shook violently.
The face was pale and worn, and where the eyes should have been were only two bloody hollows. Yet the features and outline were unmistakable. It was the same face as the dying Fugaku Uchiha outside.
"Is it over already?" the man asked softly, his empty eye sockets turned toward Neji Hyuga. A stiff and mocking smile tugged at his lips. "You are all madmen."
His voice was light but struck Neji Hyuga's heart like a hammer. "You, the Branch Family Members, and your father," he said weakly, sounding strangely relieved. He raised a hand where faint Chakra gathered.
Before Neji Hyuga's horrified eyes, he drove that hand into his own chest. Blood poured from his mouth and splashed onto the cold floor. "Finally free," he murmured, sounding almost relaxed.
"I could not resist before death," he said hoarsely. "I will become a 'Crimson giant', and all those Otsutsuki Clan Main Family who died by your hands will become 'Crimson giant' too." His head fell, and his body slid from the chair to the ground.
The dull thud echoed through the cell and into Neji Hyuga's soul. He staggered back, nearly falling over the threshold. Slowly and stiffly, he turned to look at the dying "Fugaku Uchiha" by the wall.
They looked at each other. In those eyes were deep exhaustion, relief at a completed plan, and a familiar gentleness. Neji Hyuga's mind went blank, all understanding shattered by what he saw.
His lips moved, but no sound came. At last, trembling, he whispered the words that tore from his throat. "Fugaku Uchiha? How is that possible?"
The silence inside Secret Chamber felt heavy enough to press on the chest. Only the wick of a distant oil lamp made soft crackling sounds, mixed with breaths that were growing weaker and wet with blood.
"Cough, cough."
The man slumped against the wall was Fugaku Uchiha. No, now he should be called Fugaku Uchiha.
Fugaku Uchiha suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. It ran down his chin and spread across his torn clothes, leaving fresh dark stains.
The sound shattered Neji Hyuga's frozen thoughts and pulled him out of the empty terror filling his mind. He cried out in a hoarse voice that nearly broke, unable to hide his panic.
"Fugaku Uchiha!"
Neji Hyuga lunged forward and dropped to his knees in front of Fugaku Uchiha, his knees striking the floor hard as if he felt nothing. Seeing the blood still pouring out, his shaking hands hovered in the air, afraid that touching him would only hasten his end.
All the calm and resolve he had forced on himself collapsed in that instant. He felt like the child from years ago again, who could only stare at his father's cold body with eyes full of pain and Wrath, powerless to change anything.
"Cough… Neji Hyuga…" Fugaku Uchiha's voice was faint, each breath costing him great effort and carrying a strong smell of blood.
"I will save you. I will save you no matter what."
Neji Hyuga seemed not to hear him, repeating the words in a jumble as his trembling hands finally moved to undo the blood-soaked clothes. When he saw the caved-in chest, his eyes turned red at once, veins spreading until they looked ready to bleed.
"Neji Hyuga…" Fugaku Uchiha spoke again, a little louder this time.
But Neji Hyuga only shook his head over and over, his gaze unfocused as he muttered, "No, no. What did I do? How did it become this?"
"Neji Hyuga!"
Before he could sink deeper into fear, Fugaku Uchiha found strength from nowhere and lifted a blood-covered hand to seize Neji Hyuga's wrist. The grip was so strong it actually hurt.
Fugaku Uchiha gasped hard, blood foam rising with each breath, yet his eyes as he looked at Neji Hyuga were unusually clear. He spoke with great difficulty, but every word was precise.
"Listen to me. I do not have much time."
Neji Hyuga's body shook as he finally stopped his rambling. He raised his head and looked into those gentle Pure Byakugan eyes that were slowly losing their light.
"Do not be sad," Fugaku Uchiha said softly. "This was my own choice."
"Fugaku Uchiha," Neji Hyuga's voice trembled as he asked in pain and confusion, "why did you do this? Why hide it from me, why use this way?"
"Foolish child."
Fugaku Uchiha sighed weakly. "Do you think you could act against the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family for so long without being exposed just because of luck or careful planning?"
"Back then, the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family wanted me dead. I resisted, and the body handed over to Kumogakure was a fake. The real Fugaku Uchiha did not die."
"The details are too complex to explain. From that moment on, I replaced him and lived as 'Fugaku Uchiha.'"
"I could not stay with you during the hardest years, leaving you alone. I am truly sorry."
Tears poured out of Neji Hyuga's eyes, blurring his vision as he shook his head. He wanted to say he did not blame him, that it was not his fault, but his throat felt blocked and he could not make a sound, only trembling harder.
Fugaku Uchiha stopped him from speaking and continued. "But I was always watching you."
"I know you sneaked into the Forbidden Library. I know you saw fragments about the 'Giant Tenseigan.'"
"I know you always wanted to break free from the fate of the Caged Bird curse mark. I also know that driven by hatred and the thirst for freedom, you raised your hand against the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family."
"I saw all of it."
"Giant Tenseigan?" Neji Hyuga murmured the unfamiliar word without thinking.
"Yes, Giant Tenseigan," Fugaku Uchiha said. "It is the next stage of the Pure Byakugan. Its condition is blood from the Otsutsuki Clan and a sufficiently pure Pure Byakugan."
"It truly holds the power to break the Caged Bird curse mark. It can let you escape the cage that binds you, so… cough, cough."
He broke into another violent fit of coughing, blood pouring out in great gulps and making Neji Hyuga's heart twist in pain.
"So I chose to do what a father should do."
Fugaku Uchiha clenched Neji Hyuga's hand tightly and spoke hoarsely. "I used this broken body to pave the last road for you, and yet I am glad."
"I am truly glad that you did not strike the innocent for the sake of freedom or hatred. You did not become a butcher like Itachi Uchiha."
"No, Fugaku Uchiha, please stop talking. Please," Neji Hyuga begged as he shook his head, reaching out carefully to help him up. "I will take you to the hospital. You will be fine. Tsunade will find a way."
Before his hand could touch him, Fugaku Uchiha spoke a single sentence that froze Neji Hyuga in place, as if his blood had turned to ice.
"What about the Branch Family Members outside?"