Long imprisonment had dulled his eyes, but complex emotions surfaced when he recognized the visitor. There was wrath, pain, confusion, and a faint trace of hope. His voice was hoarse.
"Why are you here?" he asked. "Are you letting me out to see Hanabi?"
Fugaku Uchiha did not answer at once. He looked at his brother, the man he had replaced for countless days, and his gaze lingered on the clean forehead. After a long silence, he spoke calmly.
"It's time for everything to end, brother."
"What…?" his brother froze.
Fugaku Uchiha took out the container. Four pairs of Pure Byakugan gleamed faintly in the dim light. His brother's pupils shrank, and all color drained from his face.
He understood. This day had finally arrived.
Night covered Fugaku Uchiha's residence in a heavy silence, pressing down without a sound. The building stood still under the dark sky, as if it had already been cut off from the rest of the world.
Neji Hyuga appeared quietly in the shadows outside the residence, his brow tightening as he stared at the structure. This place should have been one of the most important targets tonight, yet it felt strangely untouched.
Unlike the faint turmoil and smell of blood drifting from other parts of the Uchiha clan grounds, this area felt like the calm center of a storm. The tall gates were shut tight, no light leaked from the windows, and not a single sound could be heard.
The whole residence looked like an abandoned island, isolated in the dark. This excessive silence stirred a sharp sense of unease in him.
Without hesitation, the veins around Neji Hyuga's eyes bulged sharply. Pure Byakugan, activate.
His vision pierced through walls and partitions, laying the interior bare before him. He scanned the first floor, then the second, his gaze steady and precise.
In one bedroom, he saw a faint and familiar cluster of Chakra curled inward. That was Hinata Ryoma Mirai.
Nearby were two even weaker traces of Chakra, likely Fugaku Uchiha's wife and the infant daughter Hanabi, both seemingly asleep. But one presence was missing.
There was no sign of Fugaku Uchiha's Chakra anywhere in the residence.
"What is going on?" Neji Hyuga's gaze flickered slightly.
On the way here, he had briefly met several Branch Family Members, taking from them containers sealed with harvested Pure Byakugan. From them, he had also confirmed troubling news.
Several Otsutsuki Clan Main Family elders, including Fugaku Uchiha, were not in their homes tonight. Not a single one of them.
Why was that?
Had they all really gathered at Fugaku Uchiha's residence? If so, he wondered whether the people sent there could handle it.
After a brief hesitation, Neji Hyuga focused again, the veins around his eyes standing out even more, as if they might burst through the skin. His enhanced Pure Byakugan was pushed to its limit, his perception sharpened to the extreme.
At last, when he scanned the master bedroom that should have belonged to Fugaku Uchiha, he caught a trace of Chakra. It was extremely faint, barely there, flowing in an unnatural way.
"That is…" Neji Hyuga's pupils shrank suddenly. "A Sealing Barrier meant to interfere with and block perception?"
Something was clearly wrong.
He moved at once, his body flickering like a ghost as he crossed the high wall and landed silently in the courtyard. His steps made no sound as he slipped through the corridor, blending into the darkness until he stopped outside Fugaku Uchiha's room.
His fingers touched the door lightly as Chakra flowed. The latch inside was shaken loose without a sound, and he slid into the room with smooth, practiced motion.
The room was pitch-black, but with his strengthened Pure Byakugan, his attention locked onto a specific section of the wall at once. He reached out and pressed a hidden mechanism.
Click.
With a soft mechanical sound, a concealed door slid inward, revealing stone steps descending into darkness. Neji Hyuga took a slow breath, his eyes sharpening as he stepped inside.
Behind him, the hidden door began to close, and Neji Hyuga paid it no mind as his focus shifted forward. His figure was gradually swallowed by shadow.
He did not see what happened behind him as the door was about to seal shut.
Swish.
A sharp sound cut through the air as a Kunai flashing with cold light wedged into the gap, stopping the door with a faint grinding noise.
At the same time, in another bedroom, there was only the sound of steady breathing and dim darkness. A cat's shadow leapt soundlessly onto the outer window frame.
One amber-like feline eye and one pure Byakugan eye stared toward the sleeping Hinata Ryoma Mirai inside.
"Meow."
The sharp cry seemed to ring near her ear, making Hinata Ryoma Mirai's eyelids tremble. She slowly opened her eyes and sat up, still drowsy, instinctively looking toward the window.
There was nothing there.
It felt as if it had only been a dream. The bright Moon outside was now covered by dark clouds, making the already silent night feel colder and more oppressive.
Sensing the source of that chill, Hinata Ryoma Mirai turned her head and saw that the door behind her was not fully closed. "Fugaku?" she called softly, confusion in her voice.
There was no answer.
Only deeper darkness, and a colder silence.
In the underground passage, Neji Hyuga moved forward without sound, his brow tightening with every step. He had expected resistance or traps after passing through the Barrier Technique, so his muscles were tense and Chakra ready to surge.
Yet as he descended, there was nothing but the faint echo of his own footsteps on stone. No ambush, no triggered mechanisms, nothing at all.
This smooth progress only heightened his unease and alertness. By the time he reached the final step, his caution was at its peak.
Before him stood a heavy iron door engraved with complex Sealing Technique. It was not locked, and when he pushed it lightly, it creaked open.
Inside was a spacious hidden chamber, lit only by flickering oil lamps on the walls. The shifting light cast uneven shadows across the room.
The instant Neji Hyuga stepped inside, a sharp rush of air struck from the side. A figure lunged forward at terrifying speed, clearly lying in wait, the sound of robes cutting through the air heavy and harsh.
Almost at the same moment he heard it, Neji Hyuga twisted his body, Chakra exploding from within. He struck out with a full-force Gentle Fist palm toward the attacker.
Bang!
Their palms collided violently, a fierce shockwave bursting outward from the point of impact. The oil lamp flames shook wildly, nearly going out, and their shadows twisted across the walls.
"So you really are hiding here!"
Neji Hyuga steadied himself and glared at the figure before him, his chest rising and falling. The lamp light reflected years of suppressed fury burning in his eyes.
"Fugaku Uchiha!" he forced the name out through clenched teeth.
Yet Fugaku Uchiha's face showed no emotion at all. There was no panic at being discovered, no reaction to Neji Hyuga's Wrath, only a dead calm.
"You should not have come," he said.
"I came to kill you."
Staring into those Byakugan eyes, Neji Hyuga spoke each word clearly, cold light flashing in his own gaze. "With these eyes, I can already see how you will die."