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Before there were villages, there were eyes.
In the age of civil wars, when clans fought across the wilderness without banners or walls, there was one clan that walked through battlefields and was surprised by nothing.
The Hyūga Clan.
One of the oldest bloodlines in the Land of Fire, the purest according to its elders—and the most hunted, according to its graves.
The white eyes every one of their children was born with were no ornament. They could see nearly three hundred and sixty degrees of the world, see the chakra network within living bodies, and see a lie before it had fully formed on the lips.
And whoever possessed eyes like those…
Possessed just as many enemies.
During the Warring States Period, Hyūga eyes were hunted like treasure. They were stolen from corpses, torn from prisoners, and sold in markets that appeared on no map.
And generation after generation, the clan learned a single lesson, carved into its very bones:
An eye is a blessing… and a blessing is either guarded or stolen.
So they built walls of techniques around themselves.
The Gentle Fist, which killed without leaving a wound.
Senses that never slept.
Protocols that assigned weight to every step.
And when Konoha rose upon the shoulders of the Senju and Uchiha, the Hyūga entered it with their heads held high—not as followers…
But as a bloodline older than the walls now sheltering them.
Today, half a century after the village's founding, the clan still remained a single whole under Hyūga Masanori:
One house.
One bloodline.
Equal eyes seated within one council.
And one document, lying on that council's table for months…
Still unsigned.
…
Konohagakure:
Inside the Art Store, pages were turning.
[— Manga Scene —]
"I'll tell you…"
Neji stood at the center of the arena, veins bulging around his eyes, his face almost carved from stone.
"…about the Hyūga's destiny of hatred."
"!"
In the stands, a large man in a black coat had bent over the girl lying there.
"Hey…!!"
Kiba shouted, Akamaru perched on his shoulder.
"Don't worry. I'm a doctor…"
Beneath the man's hands, Hinata's face tightened in pain, her eyes closed.
"…"
Slow clouds drifted across the sky.
Among the spectators, Hiashi sat silently in his seat, his eyes fixed on the arena.
"…"
"The Hyūga Main Family possesses the secrets of the ninja arts passed down from generation to generation…"
Neji said, while the staggering blond boy before him listened.
"And one of them is…"
"…the Curse Mark technique."
"Curse Mark technique?"
Naruto repeated from behind him.
Neji raised a hand toward his forehead protector.
"!!?"
His fingers closed around the cloth…
And pulled.
The knot slowly came undone.
The metal plate fell away.
And what lay beneath it was revealed.
"What is that?"
A green mark had been carved into the center of his forehead, hooked lines curling around one another like ancient sigils.
"It symbolizes a bird in a cage…"
Neji said, his uncovered face raised beneath the sunlight.
"And it also symbolizes those bound to an inescapable fate."
[— End Scene —]
…
In the eastern section of the Art Store, not a single sound was made.
Dozens of white eyes were fixed upon the final panel:
The small forehead.
And the hooked green mark carved into it.
A young shinobi of the clan opened his mouth to say something…
Then closed it and looked at the person beside him.
Only to find that person staring back at him with exactly the same expression.
'A Curse Mark.'
'On the forehead of a child of our blood.'
An elderly woman of the clan squeezed the volume until her knuckles turned white, her eyes never leaving those hooked lines.
'I know every seal this clan has used for the past sixty years.'
'And this shape… is not ours.'
'Not yet.'
In the front row of that section, three men sat side by side.
None of them moved.
Hizashi stared at the drawn mark, his forearms resting on his knees, his back leaning slightly forward as though resisting some great weight descending upon his shoulders.
'The Hyūga's destiny of hatred.'
'That's how he said it.'
'Not the history of the Hyūga.'
'Not the secret of the Hyūga.'
'Our destiny.'
'In hatred.'
'A boy who carries our eyes stands in an arena before the Five Great Villages… and introduces his clan to the world with those three words.'
Then Hizashi's eyes drifted, almost against his will, toward the small panel at the top of the page.
The panel where his brother's future counterpart sat silently among the spectators, eyes on the arena, lips sealed.
'And you, future version of my brother…'
'…you hear a child of your own house say this before the world, and you say nothing.'
'Why do you say nothing?'
Beside him, Hiashi was staring at the same panel.
At his future self in particular.
'My face.'
'I know that face.'
'It's the face I wear when something is said in the council that I know is true… and I have no answer for it.'
'What did you do, future me?'
'What did we do… for a child of our blood to inherit a destiny… of hatred?'
Hiashi lifted his eyes from the page for a moment.
His gaze met his brother's.
Neither said anything.
But each saw the same unanswered question hanging in the other's eyes.
Masanori, meanwhile, never once looked away from the green mark.
The clan leader sat with his back straight as always, hands resting upon his knees, his expression unreadable.
But anyone sitting close enough would have noticed his right thumb slowly pressing against his knee…
Relaxing…
Then pressing again.
'A bird in a cage.'
'Whoever named it chose carefully.'
'A cage isn't made to hurt the bird…'
'…it's made to reassure its owner.'
'And the document sitting on my table speaks of neither cages nor birds.'
'It speaks of preserving the eyes.'
'Organizing the houses.'
'Protecting the bloodline.'
'Words a man can sign with a clear conscience…'
Masanori looked at the branded forehead on the page.
'…only for a child to inherit them upon his skin.'
…
Along the western wall of the Art Store, the mood was entirely different.
"A caged bird."
A young Uchiha said it with half a smile, leaning toward his companion.
"The noble White-Eyed Clan, bloodline of protocol and rank… brands its children like livestock."
"Lower your voice."
"Why? The page is open in front of the entire village. We didn't write it."
"For fifty years, they've walked through Konoha with their heads held so high you'd think the ground was unworthy of their sandals," a third whispered.
"The oldest bloodline. The purest blood…"
"And their purest blood carves curses into the foreheads of its own children."
"At least when we fight among ourselves, we do it with our faces uncovered."
Two of them chuckled quietly.
Others exchanged looks carrying an old satisfaction—as old as the rivalry between the two clans itself.
But Fugaku, seated beside Mikoto, joined none of it.
The boy read the page with a calm expression, his eyes moving between the green mark…
And the panel where the future Hiashi remained silent.
"You don't look as entertained as the others," Mikoto said quietly.
"I'm just counting."
"Counting what?"
"That tonight, the manga revealed the Hyūga's deepest secret to the entire world…"
"By name, appearance, and detail."
Fugaku slowly turned the page.
"But several volumes ago, it told us that our clan would be annihilated in a single day…"
"…then turned the page without telling us how, why, or by whose hand."
One by one, the smiles disappeared from the faces of the young Uchiha who heard him.
In the front row along the western wall, a man who had not spoken since the chapter began finally broke his silence.
Uchiha Hōgaku, leader of the clan, closed his volume around one finger and looked toward the younger members of his clan, traces of laughter still lingering on their faces.
"Laugh a little if you wish."
He spoke calmly, without rebuke.
"Our neighbor's house was opened to the world today."
"That isn't something you see often."
"But while you laugh, remember this…"
The old man raised his eyes toward the eastern section of the store, where the silent clan sat before its open page.
"…tonight, the Hyūga read about a cage that will one day be placed upon the foreheads of their children."
"As for us…"
"…we are still waiting for these pages to tell us why there will be none of us left to place a cage upon in the first place."
Silence fell over the western wall.
This time, there was no trace of satisfaction in it.
And across hundreds of stone tables throughout the Art Store, the final page remained open:
A small forehead.
A hooked green mark…
And beneath it, a new chapter beginning in bold letters:
Chapter 102: The Bird in the Cage…!!
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 227: The Shocking Revelation!
Chapter 228: Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails!
Chapter 229: The Winner… Uzumaki Naruto!
Chapter 230: The Truth
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