Neji blurted out his thoughts without a second's hesitation.
In this moment, for Neji—freedom was now.
The heart that had grown numb over the years began to beat violently again in his chest. His pulse accelerated, pounding hard and fast—he could hear it, feel the heat in his blood.
Hiashi reached out to steady him, trying to calm him down.
Even though he had spent the entire afternoon conducting trials and practicing the jutsu on death row inmates, even though he had placed the cursed seal on hundreds of branch family children out of duty and despair—
Even though his chakra control was near-perfect—he was still terrified.
What if… what if he failed?
What would happen to Neji?
That afternoon, he had marked five prisoners with the Caged Bird Seal, then attempted to dissolve it using the Pure Eye Seal.
The first two had lost their sense of taste and suffered bouts of muscular dysfunction. Another had his optic nerves damaged—left eye fully blind, and his right vision clouded with dark mist.
If the same thing happened to Neji…
He couldn't bear the thought.
"Neji… this technique is risky," Hiashi said quietly. "The nerves in the brain and eyes are delicate. Extremely easy to damage."
"If I make even the smallest mistake… the consequences could be permanent."
"Don't let your emotions take over. Think this through."
"If you're not ready, I can practice longer, refine the technique…"
His voice trembled as he spoke, his usual composure slipping.
Even though he'd told himself a hundred times he would succeed—he was scared.
Terrified.
Hizashi had already given his life for him.
And then Danzo—Danzo had stolen Neji once. If he failed now…
His mind showed him the nightmare of Neji, broken and blind, over and over.
"Uncle!"
Neji's sharp voice cut through his spiraling fear. Hiashi's hands stopped shaking. He looked into his nephew's eyes—eyes filled not with fear, but with fire.
And with trust. The kind of trust only born of blood.
"I don't know how much you've sacrificed, or how much pressure you've endured to get this far," Neji said firmly. "But wasn't the whole point of the Pure Eye Seal to liberate the branch family?"
"Even if I'm not the first to undergo the spell—someone has to."
"And do you think the other branch members will trust the head of the main family to perform this on them? Will they just sit back and hope?"
Hiashi froze.
Right. Right…
The first thing he had thought—after Tobirama and Orochimaru gave him the jutsu—was Neji. Hizashi's son.
He didn't want Neji to carry the curse anymore.
He didn't want to see that bandage on Neji's forehead one more time.
Every time he saw it, it reminded him of Hizashi. Of everything they lost.
But Neji's words…
They jolted him out of that emotional tunnel.
Yes.
It wasn't about what he wanted. It was about what the branch family believed.
Tensions were worse than ever. After Danzo's crimes came to light, there had been serious unrest. The doctrine that the branch family existed only to sacrifice themselves for the main house had grown louder, crueler.
Right now, the only person who truly trusted Hiashi—who dared to let him try the jutsu—was Neji.
If he chose anyone else, ninety-nine percent of the branch would assume it was a trap.
And the remaining one percent? They'd probably kill themselves from the shame of "failing" the main house.
Hiashi took a deep breath. Then another.
"…Neji. I understand."
"Remove the bandage from your forehead."
Neji slowly unraveled the wrappings around his head, layer by layer, until the cursed seal was fully visible: the familiar "X" shape inked over the center of his brow.
His eyes stayed steady. No fear. Only fire. Only longing for the freedom he'd never known.
"Uncle," he said, "Let's begin."
Hiashi made seal after seal, his fingers moving in a blur. Thirty-six hand signs in total. Then he pressed his palms slowly to Neji's forehead.
"Relax," he instructed. "Try not to think. Let your mind go still."
The warmth of Hiashi's chakra spread into Neji's skin like a spring breeze, and with it, a strange tingling sensation crept into his skull.
It wasn't pain. Not really. More like an itch.
It was the curse being unraveled—peeled away, chakra layer by layer, as the jutsu began eroding its hold.
As he let his thoughts fade, memories came instead.
Neji as a child, sitting beside his father under the sunset eaves, watching Hinata practice her Gentle Fist forms.
Neji flying a kite in the courtyard, giggling with his father.
Hinata learning to talk, stumbling over her words.
His father napping at the table under the noonday sun…
The warmth in his head deepened, and for a moment, it felt like a hand had reached into his soul.
Then—
"Neji!"
Hiashi's voice pulled him back. The older man sounded exhausted—but his voice shook with emotion, unable to hide the trembling excitement.
"Neji! Open your eyes. Show me. Activate your Byakugan—tell me if the blind spot is still there!"
Neji's eyes opened. Hiashi was drenched in sweat, his hands still hovering over Neji's forehead. He looked utterly spent—but he was smiling.
"The pupils… They're clear now. No longer dull."
"Try it. Activate your Byakugan."
Neji nodded slowly.
He formed the seal—his right index finger and thumb extended—and focused.
In an instant, the veins around his eyes bulged outward. The world around him sharpened into crystalline detail.
His Byakugan opened—and it was effortless.
No resistance. No tension.
The blind spot was gone.
His jaw opened slightly. He could see.
Not just see… but farther than ever before.
He looked through the walls of the house, beyond the courtyard, all the way to Hinata's training ground.
His eyes widened.
The clarity—the range—was unbelievable.
Hiashi's heart skipped a beat when he saw Neji's stunned expression.
"Neji?! What's wrong?! Is something wrong with the seal?! Did it—did I mess up?!"
Panic clawed at him again.
But Neji just shook his head, eyes still wide with disbelief.
"…No."
"Uncle… I can see farther than before."
"I can see Hinata's training ground. Every leaf. Every movement."
Hiashi stood frozen.
And then—
A wave of emotion broke over him like a storm.
Every doubt. Every fear. Gone.
The Byakugan's maximum range had always been around twenty kilometers—in theory.
But that distance only let users sense chakra signatures and vague outlines. To see details, most could only manage two kilometers at best.
And Neji—barely thirteen, maybe fourteen—had just erased the blind spot and extended his detailed vision to fifteen hundred meters.
No one in the clan had ever reached that level at his age.
Not even Hiashi himself.
He wasn't just the greatest genius of the branch family anymore.
There were no branch families now.
Neji… was the number one genius of the entire Hyuga Clan.
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Bonus Chapter at 150 Power Stone
Second Bonus Chapter - 300 Power Stones
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