Naruto: From Fake to Real, Deceiving the Ninja World.

"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.

Chapter 255 Hinata Hyuga: Neji, brother?

If Hyuga Hizashi still wants to live, he can certainly continue living.

Even with these injuries, as long as he receives timely treatment from a medical ninja, he can be kept alive.

But what's the point?

In what capacity should he have been taken to Neji for treatment, and then allowed to continue to live?

Was it Hyuga Hizashi, who was already dead?

This will only let others know that Hyuga Hizashi, who should have died back then, is still alive, making the Konoha higher-ups realize that there are doubts about the Cloud Village incident and tonight's events.

To render all the sacrifices he, Neji, and the rest of the branch family made so far futile.

Or perhaps it's because of Hyuga Hiashi, who had to die?

No, in today's Konoha, in today's Hyuga clan, there is no place for him to continue living.

Unless he defectes from Konoha with Neji Hyuga, lives in anonymity, and continues to eke out a living, or even becomes a burden to his own child...

But this was a choice that Hyuga Hizashi absolutely could not accept.

"No, no! Why? Why does it have to be this way?!"

Neji let out a painful, hoarse roar: "If, if I had known you were still alive, if I had known that these eyes would cost you your life, I would never have..."

"Neji! Cough cough cough..."

Hyuga Hizashi used his last bit of strength to interrupt him; his violent coughing almost suffocated him, but he still stared intently at his son.

“Hyuga Hizashi, he’s long dead! He died on the day the main family pushed him out as a scapegoat!” His eyes were incredibly calm and deep.

"After that, the only one still alive was a father who didn't want his child to continue to bear the tragic fate of a caged bird, and thus clung to life... cough cough!"

Coughing up another mouthful of blood, Hyuga Hizashi's increasingly unfocused eyes gazed at Neji, as if trying to etch his last will into Neji's soul.

"your eyes……"

His voice was almost inaudible: "I'm still one step away from the true Tenseigan. I don't know how long it will take to take that step, or what I'll have to pay..."

"But I hope you can promise me that, no matter what, you will stay true to yourself."

Hyuga Hizashi's tone was almost pleading and solemn: "Don't let greed consume you, don't become the kind of person you hate, don't harm other innocent clansmen..."

"Especially Hinata and Hanabi, they are just children, they did nothing wrong from beginning to end. I killed their father, I used them, I am the one who wronged them..."

As he said this, he seemed to find a bit of strength from somewhere, and slowly raised his hand, which was covered in blood and dust, and gently wiped away Neji's tears with his fingertips.

But the cold touch caused Neji a burning pain.

"My Caged Bird Seal has been temporarily suppressed." Hyuga Hizashi's voice grew weaker, yet became exceptionally clear. "Gouge out my eyes, and then merge them with mine."

"Then, fly, Neji, break free from this damned fate, and soar to farther and higher skies..."

"Use my eyes to show me the outside world, show me what the scenery is like in the distant and higher sky."

"This is my last wish, and my final meaning." He stared intently at Neji. "Do you understand, Neji?"

Hyuga Neji's expression was pained, and he shook his head almost instinctively.

Never before had he felt such profound hatred and disgust for the blood flowing through his veins and for the so-called fate he bore!

why?

Why me?

Why was I born into the Hyuga branch family?

Why was I born to be branded as a damned caged bird?

Why do I have to pay such a heavy price to fight for my own freedom?

Why did we finally see hope, only to find that it was paved with our father's life?

Why, why does fate always play such cruel tricks on me?!

If "gods" truly exist, are they mockingly watching this scene unfold, concentrating all suffering and misfortune upon me alone, and taking pleasure in it?!

A torrent of negative emotions, like the fiercest gale and the coldest downpour, surged into Hyuga Neji's heart, threatening to overwhelm his reason.

Anger at the injustice of fate! Anger at the indifference of the Konoha leadership! Anger at the cruel system of the main clan! Anger at one's own powerlessness!

The anger was too sudden, too complex, and too overwhelming.

Like raging, roaring lava, it surged and crashed wildly inside his chest, burning his internal organs with intense pain, almost burning him completely from the inside out!

"Neji!"

Hyuga Hizashi used his last bit of strength to grab Neji's trembling hand and forcibly pull him up in front of him!

"Do it!" he growled. "Don't let me down! Don't let down everyone who believes in you!"

"Ha ha!"

Hyuga Neji was panting hysterically, each breath feeling like he was swallowing burning embers, the heat in his chest making his throat ache!

The blood flowing through his veins no longer seemed to be blood, but rather molten iron boiling over, and even his breathing felt like flames were churning deep in his throat!

He stared intently at his father's eyes, which were gradually losing focus, his outstretched fingers trembling violently from the pain and struggle, almost uncontrollably.

"what!!!"

A heart-wrenching roar, filled with pain and rage, suddenly erupted from the depths of Hyuga Neji's throat, like the final lament of a wounded beast!

In this roar that vented all his struggles, resentment and anger, he suddenly closed his eyes, and with a cruel determination, his trembling hand thrust forward!

A warm and soft touch came from my fingertips, along with the sticky resistance of flesh being forcibly peeled away.

puff! !

With a sound of flesh being forcibly torn apart, Hyuga Neji abruptly withdrew his outstretched arm.

Almost at the same time he gouged out his eyes.

squeak...

The door to the secret room, which Neji had opened, was gently pushed open from the outside, with a hint of hesitation and timidity.

A thin, frail figure appeared in the shadows outside the door, casting a long shadow in the flickering candlelight.

Those white eyes, which always carried a hint of timidity, now looked into the secret room with a trace of unease and fear.

Then, those pure white eyes clearly reflected the scene before them, a scene that could only be described as bloody and terrifying.

Her pupils clearly reflected Hyuga Neji's back, and in his raised hand, the two Byakugan eyes that still retained body heat, nerve endings, and blood vessels!

Fresh blood seeped from between his fingers, dripping onto the ground and spreading into glaring dark red patches.

And, in front of him, the figure leaning against the wall, as the eyeballs detached from the body, seemed to have lost the last bit of strength, and the body slowly leaned forward...

thump.

Chapter 256 Neji: My cowardly sister, hate me!