Hyūga Hizashi's heart surged with emotion at those words. Next came Hyūga Taiki—he was already over forty years old. Though not the direct son of the branch family's head, he had received the Caged Bird Seal only a year later than the heir.
In other words, he had endured nearly forty years of torment—twice as long as Hizashi.
But as Rokuro had said earlier, removing the Caged Bird Seal took no more than five minutes.
When the Wings of Freedom unfolded once again, Taiki too possessed Byakugan eyes free of weakness. However, limited by age, his maximum perception radius reached only eight kilometers—slightly smaller than Hizashi's. Even so, tears streamed down the forty-year-old's face.
To prevent the scene from turning into a tearful family drama, Rokuro quickly slid the remaining eighteen scrolls toward the two men.
"Here—eighteen more scrolls. That should be enough for now, right?"
But Hizashi shook his head.
"Oh? Don't tell me you've found new allies since last time?"
Privately lifting the Caged Bird Seal was, within the Hyūga clan, tantamount to rebellion. Thus, Hizashi had only confided in ten trusted allies at first—one of whom was the very man before him, Hyūga Taiki.
Yet, over the past six months of Rokuro's experiments, more branch members had quietly joined their cause.
"How many are we talking about now?"
"Altogether, over fifty. And once things come to light, we'll need even more support from within the clan."
At that, Rokuro immediately understood—Hizashi was preparing to revolt. After all, decades of oppression had brewed resentment deep enough to become wrathful spirits. In the past, rebellion was impossible. But now that he possessed the key to freedom, he would surely see it through.
"Captain Hizashi," Rokuro said seriously, "though this is a Hyūga affair, allow me to remind you—once you take action, it'll become a civil war. You won't just be facing the Main House, but many branch members who've been mentally enslaved by years of indoctrination. Have you thought about how you'll deal with them?"
Hizashi's expression stiffened.
He hadn't considered that. Until now, his anger had been directed solely at the Main House—even preparing himself for a potential battle against his elder brother, Hyūga Hiashi.
But Rokuro's words made him realize: the branch house wasn't united. Among them were plenty of cowards and self-serving opportunists who might not stand with him.
The truth was, the Main House was small in number. After all, too many leeches would leave nothing to eat.
Thus, the Main House inevitably relied on branch members to serve as their watchdogs—sycophants who flattered their masters while bullying their fellow branch kin, all for personal gain.
Some of these lackeys even reaped more benefits from exploiting others than the Main House itself.
In this way, they had become vested interests within the system of the Caged Bird Seal.
If that system were to collapse, their Byakugan would be freed, yes—but their privileges would vanish. They might even end up worse off than before.
As the saying goes: "Cutting off one's source of income is akin to killing one's parents."
Faced with such a massive loss of benefit, it was inevitable that some would stand up to protect the Caged Bird Seal—betraying Hizashi and the others in the process.
"Rokuro... I really did oversimplify things."
"It's fine, Captain Hizashi. Everything's still in preparation, after all. Better to uncover problems now than when it's too late. Here's what I suggest—take these scrolls and carefully assess your allies' loyalties. Once you've filtered out the uncertain ones, then decide how many people to unseal."
Hizashi nodded slightly, accepting the advice.
There was, however, one thing Rokuro didn't say: once the Hyūga conflict erupted, Hiruzen Sarutobi would inevitably intervene. When that time came, Hizashi wouldn't just face the Main House and its lapdogs, but also the ANBU—and perhaps even Root.
But Rokuro couldn't mention that.
The image of Hiruzen as a virtuous, benevolent Hokage was so deeply ingrained that many clans revered him, the Hyūga among them.
In fact, aside from the naturally defiant Uchiha, most other clans bought wholeheartedly into the Sarutobi ideal.
Before blood was actually shed, if Rokuro were to slander Hiruzen, no one—except his closest confidants—would believe him. Better to stay silent than sow doubt.
After saying all that could be said, Hizashi purchased the Wings of Freedom scrolls at five million each. That meant Rokuro had just earned another hundred million—equivalent to, as he calculated with dark humor, three Asumas.
Of course, that was gross income, not pure profit.
But this was only the first transaction. As more branch members joined the rebellion, there would be a second, a third… In short, Rokuro's family was well on its way to financial freedom.
As for whether Hizashi would try to replicate the scrolls himself? Rokuro wasn't worried in the slightest.
The scroll's structure was incredibly intricate—without a mind trained in programming logic, replication was nearly impossible.
Even copying it stroke-for-stroke wouldn't work. Rokuro hadn't written the incantations in a simple left-to-right or top-to-bottom order; he had his own unique system.
If even a single stroke's sequence went wrong, the entire scroll would self-destruct.
Testing every possible order by hand? Unless they had a supercomputer, they'd die before succeeding.
And besides, Hizashi wasn't the type to betray an ally. Rokuro was already taking an enormous risk by helping them; if the rebellion failed, the Main House would surely come for revenge.
Hizashi couldn't bring himself to repay that kind of loyalty with treachery.
In the end, after the deal was sealed, Rokuro and his family of three went off to enjoy the hot springs in the Land of Hot Water—while the Hyūga branch family began the first step of their rebellion.
Every Hyūga who had come to Rokuro and given blood samples gathered that evening in a small tavern on the edge of the village.
They deliberately avoided Hizashi's home, as even the branch family head's residence was under surveillance.
If too many people assembled there, they wouldn't even make it through the night before Main House enforcers or branch lackeys arrived to interrogate them.
Thus, they rented out the entire tavern, drinking and chatting like ordinary patrons. Every now and then, someone would excuse themselves to use the restroom—returning a few minutes later with a trembling smile and glistening eyes.
When the gathering ended, Hizashi clasped each man's hand and whispered his instructions.
Everyone nodded solemnly before heading home—many of them that very night visiting their most trusted comrades to quietly recruit them.
As for Hizashi himself, he carried one Wings of Freedom scroll to his son's room.
At that hour, Hyūga Neji was in the courtyard, practicing the basics of Gentle Fist.
Watching his gifted son, Hizashi felt a surge of pride and quiet determination.
This time, he would see it through—he would ensure Neji grew up in a free, healthy clan.
He would not allow his son to walk the same caged path he had.
END OF CHAPTER
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