Inside Konoha Hospital.
Hyuga Hizashi tossed and turned on his bed for most of the night before exhaustion finally dragged him into sleep.
In his dream, he vaguely felt a breeze brush past him.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing inside the candlelit council hall of the Hyuga clan.
"Konoha no longer has the strength to continue the war with Kumogakure. The Hyuga clan must give them an explanation…"
Hyuga Hiashi sat at the main seat, his silhouette stretched long by the flickering flames.
Below him, both main family elders and branch family ninja stared in shock.
"Why? It was clearly Kumogakure who kidnapped Lady Hinata!" a branch family jōnin protested angrily.
"Because we cannot afford more war," Hiashi replied, bitterness hidden in his tone.
Yet the pressure from the entire village now bore down upon the Hyuga clan.
Murmurs erupted across the hall. One of the main family elders spoke coldly:
"What conditions did Kumogakure propose?"
Yes—what exactly were they demanding?
All eyes turned to the clan head.
"They want… a culprit," Hiashi answered.
The air froze.
An uproar followed immediately.
Neither main nor branch family members could accept such an absurd demand.
It was the Kumogakure envoy who had invaded the Hyuga compound and attempted to kidnap their heir—yet the victims were expected to hand someone over?
"There's no need for the clan head to step forward. If they only want a culprit… we can simply give them one."
The elder's gaze shifted toward the branch family seats.
Toward Hizashi.
Hizashi opened his mouth to say, "What about the mysterious masked man?"
But instead, he found his body rising on its own.
Against his will, he walked forward and knelt before Hiashi.
"Let me go, Brother."
"The branch family exists to protect the main family. As the clan head, you must not fall."
'No! That's not right!'
Hizashi felt as though his soul had left his body, forced to watch "himself" speak those words coldly.
'What about that masked man? Just blame everything on him!'
He shouted desperately, but no one could hear him.
The discussion continued as if he didn't exist.
Hiashi tried to object, but "Hizashi" punched him and urged him to fulfill his duty.
Then Hizashi watched in horror as "he" spoke final words to his son Neji—and willingly went to his death.
The Hyuga clan handed over the "murderer," and Kumogakure accepted the outcome.
Hizashi could only stand helplessly as a bystander, watching his own funeral, his wife and son crying in each other's arms.
A bone-chilling cold filled him.
'No… this is genjutsu!'
'Fake! It's all fake!'
Overwhelmed by intense emotion, Hizashi finally realized something was wrong and began circulating chakra to break free.
But no matter what he tried, he couldn't escape.
Darkness swallowed him.
When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the hospital.
Hizashi shot upright in bed, drenched in cold sweat.
"Was that… a dream?" he gasped.
"Not a dream."
A calm voice came from beside him.
Hizashi spun his head around.
Leaning against the window was the same mysterious man—wearing a white three-eyed fox mask, moonlight reflecting coldly off its surface.
"It's you!" Hizashi tried to leap from the bed—but found himself completely immobilized.
"Another layer of genjutsu…" he muttered, panic creeping in.
Multiple-layer illusion techniques were beyond the skill of ordinary jōnin.
Step—
Uzumaki Menma hopped down from the windowsill and slowly approached.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Hizashi demanded, still unable to move.
"Truly pitiful," Menma said quietly. "What you just saw… would have been your real ending—if I hadn't interfered."
"That's impossible!" Hizashi protested. "Even without you, the envoy was killed while kidnapping Lady Hinata. It should have been—"
His voice trailed off.
A chill ran down his spine.
If even a legendary ninja like White Fang could be driven to suicide by village politics… then sacrificing a mere branch family member was hardly impossible.
"See? Deep down, you already accepted that fate," Menma said somberly.
"That's why I call it pitiful."
"The original purpose of the Caged Bird was to protect the Hyuga. Yet it turned most of the clan into little more than servants."
Hizashi snapped back angrily, "You know nothing! The Caged Bird exists for—"
"Do you want to know?" Menma interrupted.
"The real truth of the Caged Bird."
The mask drew closer.
Menma placed his hand on Hizashi's forehead.
A surge of dark, violent chakra invaded his mind.
In an instant—new visions flooded in.
A vast battlefield appeared.
Two massive armies faced each other before clashing violently.
And every single soldier… possessed the Byakugan.
The scene shifted.
Ancient Hyuga ancestors were being hunted and slaughtered by mysterious enemies. Their Byakugan were ripped from their bodies.
The attackers then vanished from the world.
Another scene.
Two armies again—but one fought with eyes deliberately sealed shut.
A towering structure was wheeled onto the battlefield. At its peak was a giant eye-shaped stone bound in chains and seals.
With a single command, the stone erupted in blinding light.
A purple beam swept across the enemy ranks—obliterating thousands in an instant.
Hizashi watched as the victors harvested Byakugan from the dead and fused them into that monstrous stone eye.
"This… this is…"
His mind trembled.
"This is the truth behind the existence of the Caged Bird," Menma declared.
The vision changed once more.
Hyuga clan members stood before him—each branded with the familiar cursed seal.
"Fake! All of it is fake!" Hizashi shouted furiously, unable to accept it.
"Lies! Fabricated illusions! I can tell! I can tell the difference!"
"You're trying to sow discord between the main and branch families!"
His denial echoed wildly through the genjutsu space.
"Then… how about this?"
Menma formed a seal.
A pulse of chakra struck Hizashi directly.
"AGH!"
Blinding pain exploded through his mind.
The Caged Bird seal activated.
"Why… how can you—?!"
Hizashi clutched his head in agony, eyes filled with terror.
The cursed seal had obeyed the masked man's command.
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