Naruto: I, who fooled the ninja world, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 254 You Didn't Become an Executioner Like Itachi Uchiha
The deathly silence in the sealed room was so heavy it felt almost tangible, making it hard to breathe.

Only the occasional crackling of the oil lamp wick in the distance, and the increasingly faint breathing tinged with blood and foam.

"Cough cough!"

Hiashi Hyuga leaned against the wall...

No, he should now be called Hyuga Hizashi.

Hizashi Hyuga coughed up a mouthful of blood, which dripped down his chin, staining his tattered clothes with new marks.

The sound instantly disrupted Hyuga Neji's frozen thoughts, pulling him out of the panic that had left his mind blank!
"Father!"

A hoarse, almost broken voice squeezed out from deep within Hyuga Neji's throat, filled with undisguised panic.

He lunged at Hyuga Hizashi, his knees slamming heavily into the ground, yet he seemed oblivious to the pain.

Seeing his father's blood gushing out, his trembling hands hovered in mid-air, wanting to touch Hyuga Hizashi, but fearing that it would hasten his father's death, and he was at a loss for what to do.

All the previous calmness and decisiveness collapsed completely in an instant.

He seemed to have turned back into the child he was years ago, who could only watch helplessly as his father's cold corpse lay, his eyes filled with pain and anger, yet powerless to change anything.

"Cough! Neji..." Hyuga Hizashi made a faint sound. Each inhale seemed to be using all his strength, and each exhale was filled with a heavy smell of blood.

"I, I will definitely save you! I will definitely save you!"

Hyuga Neji seemed not to hear the faint voice, only repeating incoherently, his trembling hands finally reaching out to untie Hyuga Hizashi's blood-soaked clothes.

When he saw the sunken chest, his eyes instantly turned bloodshot, almost dripping blood.

“Neji…” Hyuga Hizashi spoke again, his voice rising slightly.

Neji just kept shaking his head, his eyes unfocused, muttering incoherently, "No, no, what have I done? How could this happen, I..."

"Neji!"

Before he could continue to wallow in fear, Hyuga Hizashi suddenly mustered a burst of strength and raised a blood-stained hand, gripping Neji's wrist tightly.

The force was so great that Neji even felt pain.

Hyuga Hizashi was breathing heavily, each breath accompanied by the terrifying sound of blood churning, but his gaze toward Neji was unusually clear.

"Listen to me." He spoke each word with great difficulty, yet with exceptional clarity, "I have no time left."

Upon hearing this, Hyuga Neji's body trembled violently, finally stopping his meaningless rambling. He shakily raised his head and looked at the Byakugan, which was gradually losing its luster but was still gentle.

"Don't be sad." Hizashi Hyuga's voice was weak but unusually calm. "This is the choice I made myself."

“…Father,” Neji’s voice trembled violently, his tone filled with pain and confusion, “Why? Why did you do this?”

"Why did you hide it from me? Why did you do it this way..."

"Silly boy."

Hyuga Hizashi's voice was hoarse, tinged with a hint of helplessness, as he said, "Do you think that the reason you were able to take action against the main family without being discovered is because you were lucky or because your plan was meticulous?"

“Back then, the main family wanted me dead, but I chose to resist. The corpse they gave to Kumogakure was actually the real Hyuga Hiashi, who had faked his death…” “The details are too complicated for me to tell you. In short, from that moment on, I, who survived, took his place and became ‘Hyuga Hiashi’…”

"I'm so sorry I couldn't be there for you during those toughest days, leaving you all alone." Hizashi Hyuga's words were filled with deep remorse.

Neji Hyuga's tears flowed uncontrollably, blurring his vision. He kept shaking his head, wanting to say, "I don't blame you," wanting to say, "It wasn't your fault."

But his throat felt blocked, and he couldn't make a sound at all, which turned into an even more violent trembling.

Hyuga Hizashi interrupted his attempt to speak, and continued, "But I've always been watching you."

“I know you secretly sneaked into the forbidden library, and I know you saw fragments about the ‘Ten-Sengan’.”

“I know you long to break free from this caged bird's fate, and I also know that, driven by accumulated resentment and a yearning for freedom, you wielded the butcher's knife against the main family…”

“I know all of this, I’ve seen it all.”

"Ten-Seigan?" Neji murmured the unfamiliar term unconsciously.

“That’s right, Tenseigan.” Hyuga Hizashi continued, “That’s an advancement of the Byakugan. The conditions for unlocking it are the bloodline of the Otsutsuki clan and a sufficiently pure Byakugan.”

"It does indeed contain the power to break the curse seal on the caged bird. It can truly free you from the cage that binds you, so... cough cough!"

At this point, he coughed violently again, gushing out mouthfuls of blood, which made Neji's heart clench.

"Therefore, I choose to do what a father should do."

Despite the excruciating pain, Hizashi Hyuga gripped Neji's hand tightly and said hoarsely, "I've used this crippled body to pave your final path, but I'm also gratified..."

"I'm truly relieved that you didn't harm innocent people because of your desire for freedom or your hatred for the main clan. You didn't become an executioner like Itachi Uchiha..."

"No, no, Father, please stop, please stop."

Neji kept shaking his head, carefully reaching out to help Hyuga Hizashi up: "I'll take you to the hospital. You'll be alright, Lady Tsunade will definitely have a way..."

However, before his hand could even touch Hyuga Hizashi's body, a single sentence uttered by Hyuga Hizashi instantly froze Neji in place, as if the blood in his entire body had been frozen.

"Then, what about the branch families outside?"

Hyuga Hizashi slowly shook his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the walls of the secret room, seeing the carnage unfolding outside.

"What about those people who were manipulated, guided, and implicated by you and me, who trusted your choices, risked their lives, and joined you in wielding the butcher's knife against the main family?

"They are also facing their own blood relatives, and their fears and sacrifices are no less than yours or mine."

"Do you want to let your sacrifice, mine sacrifice, and their sacrifices go to waste?"

"You must leave, you must carry everything, and fly to higher and farther skies, to skies that no one can reach. This is the price you and I have to pay..."

"Only in this way can all the sacrifices of tonight be worthwhile, and only then can you and the divided family truly gain freedom..."

His father's words struck Neji's heart heavily, making him tremble all over.

　Two more chapters

　　
　
(End of this chapter)