Behind Homura Mitokado stood two middle-aged men wearing robes of the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family. Impatience showed on their faces as they exchanged a glance. They raised their right hands together, index and middle fingers pressed close.
A wave of force swept through the room. Takao Hyuga on the bed and Iroha Hyuga, who had just tried to rise, both froze stiff. A pain beyond description tore through their minds, as if countless burning needles were driven deep inside.
Screams burst from their throats, no longer sounding human. Their bodies convulsed violently, eyes bulging as blood vessels spread across them. Takao Hyuga's forehead, bare of a Forehead Protector, showed the twisted Caged Bird curse mark as veins surged outward from the center of the Caged Bird curse mark.
The mark spread across his forehead, reaching his temples and cheeks. He writhed on the bed, making hoarse Guai sounds as bandages were torn apart and wounds split open again. Blood quickly soaked the clean white sheets.
Iroha Hyuga curled on the floor, screaming as he clawed at his head. His fingers dug into his scalp, tearing away his Forehead Protector along with clumps of hair. The ward was filled with their cries, and the guards stood frozen, faces pale with fear.
At last, Takao Hyuga's body stiffened and the convulsions stopped all at once. His eyes rolled upward, foam spilling from his mouth and nose as he went completely limp. He had clearly lost consciousness after exceeding his limit.
Only then did the two Otsutsuki Clan Main Family men lower their hands, the Chakra at their fingertips fading away. Silence returned to the ward, broken only by Takao Hyuga's faint breathing and Iroha Hyuga's uneven gasps from the floor. The two men scanned the guards, noticed their fear, and showed twisted smiles of satisfaction.
They had endured this for far too long. Ever since that cursed Ryoma appeared with the backing of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the clan head and elders had restricted the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family from freely using the Caged Bird curse mark on the Branch Family Members. They had been forced to watch branch members slowly straighten their backs and meet them as equals.
Some even dared to disobey orders in secret. Worse still, someone like Takao Hyuga had openly learned, used, and altered the secret Gentle Fist of the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family, defeating main family members in public. The frustration had built day after day with no release.
Now the elders had finally decided to set things right. The clan head Fugaku Uchiha had chosen to turn a blind eye, and the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family could once again use the Caged Bird curse mark to control the lives of the Branch Family Members. The satisfaction of regaining control was overwhelming.
"Why are you standing around?" one of the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family men barked. "Hurry up and take him away."
Two nearby guards flinched and looked at Takao Hyuga lying unconscious like a broken doll. The distorted face and the ugly Caged Bird curse mark burned themselves into their minds. One of them rushed forward on instinct and roughly grabbed Takao Hyuga's injured right arm, still bound in splints and bandages.
Even unconscious, Takao Hyuga twitched and let out a weak groan. The other guard seized his left arm, and together they dragged him away like a sack of trash, ignoring his severe injuries.
"Bastards!" Neji Hyuga shouted, struggling to stand. Two guards pinned his shoulders down, their strength leaving him unable to move. He roared in fury, demanding to know how they could treat a fellow clansman this way.
Only after everyone had left with Takao Hyuga did the guards release him, receiving a nod from Homura Mitokado. The moment he was free, Neji Hyuga charged forward in rage. Homura Mitokado sneered and raised his hand, Chakra gathering in his palm.
The blow slammed into Neji Hyuga's chest, sending him flying back into the wall. Homura Mitokado looked down at him coldly, then glanced at Iroha Hyuga curled on the floor. He announced that once Takao Hyuga confessed everything, the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family would gather the clan and publicly execute him.
"You should pray that the deaths of the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family members had nothing to do with you," he said. "Otherwise, you will not escape either."
With that, he turned and left. The door slammed shut behind him, cutting off the light and sound outside. The ward fell quiet again, filled only with the smell of blood.
Neji Hyuga slumped against the wall, chest heaving as he stared at the closed door and the bloodstains on the floor. His mind felt empty, flooded by fear, anger, despair, and helplessness. He could not pull himself out of it.
A fit of coughing from Iroha Hyuga snapped him back. Neji Hyuga staggered over and helped him sit up, asking in a trembling voice what they should do. Iroha Hyuga's face was pale, the veins around his Caged Bird curse mark still standing out as his whole body shook.
"We have to save Takao Hyuga," Iroha Hyuga said hoarsely. He explained that the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family using the Caged Bird curse mark on them meant they had fully torn away any pretense. With Takao Hyuga's injuries, he would not last long under interrogation.
Either he would die during it, or he would be forced to admit to the killings and the stolen eyes. Once that happened, the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family would have every excuse to kill him. If they executed him in front of everyone using the Caged Bird curse mark, the fear buried in every Branch Family Members would be awakened again.
Everything Ryoma had done to help the Branch Family Members stand up would be crushed, forcing them back to their knees. But Iroha Hyuga's strength failed him, and he curled up again, clutching his head. He admitted he could see no solution.
His words cut deeply into Neji Hyuga. Neji Hyuga lowered his head, staring at the twisted Caged Bird curse mark on Iroha Hyuga's forehead while breathing in the thick smell of blood. Images from his past surged up, showing his father in the same agony, the same seal, the same screams.
Fear, despair, and helplessness overwhelmed him, followed by hatred. Hatred toward the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family, toward the Caged Bird curse mark, toward this unfair fate, and toward his own weakness. His reason finally broke.
"No!" Neji Hyuga shouted as he forced himself upright, his face twisted with rage. Blood seeped from his clenched teeth as he spoke.
"The solution," he said hoarsely, "Ryoma already taught us, didn't he?"
Iroha Hyuga froze and looked up at him in shock. The confusion and fear in his eyes were replaced by disbelief as he stared at Neji Hyuga's expression.
Ryoma once faced pressure from the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family, and he used only one method. He threatened them with mutual destruction. He used every life of the Branch Family Members that was treated as worthless to gamble against the high and mighty Otsutsuki Clan Main Family Elder.
It was unreasonable, overbearing, and extreme. Yet it was exactly this unreasonable dominance that, for the first time, placed every life of the Branch Family Members and the life of the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family Elder on the same scale. It also made the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family wary and afraid.
And now, everything was different.