Fugaku Uchiha slowly shook his head, his gaze seeming to pass through the walls of Secret Chamber toward the killing outside. He spoke with quiet weight.
"They were used, guided, and dragged in by you and me. They trusted your choice and risked their lives to strike at the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family. What will happen to them?"
"They are also facing blood relatives. Their fear and sacrifice are no less than ours."
"Will you let your sacrifice, mine, and theirs be wasted?"
"You must leave. You must carry everything and fly higher and farther, to a sky no one can reach. That is the price we paid."
"Only then will tonight's sacrifices not be in vain. Only then can you and the Branch Family Members truly have freedom."
The father's words struck Neji Hyuga's heart one after another, making his whole body tremble.
If Fugaku Uchiha wanted to live, he could have kept living.
Even with wounds like these, as long as a Medical-nin treated him in time, his life could be barely sustained. Yet what meaning would that have? What identity would he use when Neji Hyuga took him for treatment, only to keep breathing in hiding?
As Fugaku Uchiha, who was already supposed to be dead? That would only tell others that the man who should have died was still alive, and make Konoha Leadership question both the incident in Kumogakure back then and everything that happened tonight. All the sacrifices made by him, Neji Hyuga, and everyone in the Branch Family Members would be wasted.
Or should he live on as Fugaku Uchiha, the one who must die? No. In the current Konoha, in the current Ryoma Clan, there was no place left for him to exist. Unless he fled Konoha together with Neji Hyuga, abandoned their names, and survived in hiding, even becoming a burden to his own child.
That was a choice Fugaku Uchiha could not accept.
"No, no. Why? Why does it have to be like this?!"
Neji Hyuga let out a hoarse, broken shout. "If I had known you were still alive, if I had known these eyes had to be exchanged for your life, I never would have…"
"Neji Hyuga! Cough, cough!"
Fugaku Uchiha used the last of his strength to cut him off. The violent coughing nearly choked him, yet he still stared straight at his son.
"Fugaku Uchiha has been dead for a long time. He already died on the day he was pushed out by the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family to be a scapegoat." His gaze was calm and deep. "The one who lived after that was only a father who did not want his child to continue bearing the fate of the Caged Bird curse mark, and who clung to life for that reason alone."
He coughed up another mouthful of blood, and his eyes began to lose focus as he looked at Neji Hyuga, as if trying to carve his final will into his son.
"Your eyes…" His voice was so faint it was almost inaudible. "You are only one step away from the true Giant Tenseigan. I do not know how long that step will take, or what it will cost."
"But I ask you," Fugaku Uchiha said softly, "no matter what, keep your original heart."
His tone carried a pleading seriousness. "Do not be swallowed by greed. Do not become the kind of person you hate. Do not raise your hand against innocent clan members."
"Especially Hinata Ryoma Mirai and Hanabi. They are just children. From beginning to end, they did nothing wrong. I killed their father and used them. I am the one who wronged them."
At those words, he somehow found a little more strength. He slowly raised the hand stained with blood and dust, and gently wiped away the tears on Neji Hyuga's cheek.
That cold touch caused a sharp pain to surge through Neji Hyuga.
"My Caged Bird curse mark has been temporarily suppressed," Fugaku Uchiha said. His voice grew weaker, yet every word was clear. "Take out my eyes, and fuse them."
"Then fly, Neji Hyuga. Break free from this cursed fate and fly to a farther, higher sky."
"Use my eyes to take me to see the outside world. See for me what that farther, higher sky really looks like."
"This is my final wish, and my final meaning." He stared at Neji Hyuga without blinking. "Do you understand, Neji Hyuga?"
Neji Hyuga's face twisted in pain, and he shook his head again and again almost by instinct.
Never before had he felt such deep hatred and revulsion toward the blood flowing in his veins and the so-called fate he bore. Why did it have to be him? Why was he born into the Branch Family Members?
Why was he branded with this cursed Caged Bird curse mark from birth? Why did fighting for his own freedom require such a terrible price? Why, after finally seeing hope, did he find it paved with his father's life?
Why did fate always toy with him so cruelly?
If a "Otsutsuki Deity" truly existed, was it watching this scene with amusement, gathering all suffering and misfortune onto him alone for its own pleasure?
A surge of violent emotions flooded into Neji Hyuga's heart, threatening to drown his reason. There was Wrath toward an unjust fate, Wrath toward the indifferent Konoha Leadership, Wrath toward the cruel system of the Otsutsuki Clan Main Family, and Wrath toward his own helplessness.
The Wrath came too suddenly and too fiercely. His chest burned with pain, and every breath felt like torment.
"Neji Hyuga!"
Fugaku Uchiha used his last strength to grab Neji Hyuga's trembling hand and forcefully pull it up in front of his eyes.
"Do it," he growled. "Do not let me lose hope. Do not let everyone who believes in you lose hope."
"Hah! Hah!"
Neji Hyuga gasped wildly, each breath tearing at his throat. He stared at his father's eyes as they slowly lost focus, and his outstretched fingers shook so badly he could barely control them.
"Ahhh!"
A hoarse scream filled with pain and rage burst from Neji Hyuga's throat. As the cry echoed, he squeezed his eyes shut, and his trembling hand moved forward with brutal resolve.
His fingertips felt warmth and softness, followed by the resistance of flesh being torn away.
With a wet sound, he yanked his arm back.
Almost at the same moment.
Creak.
The door of the Secret Chamber that Neji Hyuga had opened earlier was gently pushed open from the outside. A small and slender figure appeared in the shadows beyond the doorway, a long silhouette cast by the weak, flickering candlelight.
Those usually timid, pale eyes looked into the Secret Chamber with unease and fear. Then those pure Pure Byakugan clearly reflected the bloody and terrifying scene before her.
Her pupils showed Neji Hyuga's back, and in his raised hand, the two Pure Byakugan that still carried warmth, nerves, and blood vessels. Blood seeped between his fingers and dripped onto the floor, spreading into dark red stains.
In front of him, the figure leaning against the wall lost all support as the eyes were removed, and the body slowly tilted forward.
Thud.