"White eyes? You want to borrow my Byakugan? How do you borrow it?"
Hiashi Hyuga watched warily as Lin Yu, who had suddenly barged into his home, thought about smashing him with a brick.
"Of course, by digging them out!"
Lin Yu made a gesture of digging out eyes at Hiashi and reassured him, "Don't worry, it won't hurt at all, I promise!"
"Bullshit! Is it a matter of pain or not?!"
Hiashi Hyuga immediately erupted in curses, completely abandoning the decorum of a clan head. This scoundrel Lin Yu was after his lifeblood!
"Sigh, we're old acquaintances, why are you so stingy?"
The Byakugan of the Hyuga main family head was undoubtedly the purest bloodline in the Hyuga clan. If it could be cloned for Toneri, it might evolve into the Tenseigan. Even if not, cloning a few more would surely succeed!
Hiashi Hyuga flicked his sleeve and said, "This isn't about stinginess, it's a matter of principle. I absolutely cannot agree to this!"
"How about ten million Ryo a year?"
"Ridiculous! Does my Hyuga clan lack money?"
"I can help Hizashi and Neji get rid of the Caged Bird curse mark."
Hiashi Hyuga's heart jolted, and he roared, "Uzumaki Lin Yu! Do you know what you're saying? You are undermining the foundation of our Hyuga clan!"
Lin Yu's expression was calm as he asked, "I'm just asking if you agree?"
Hiashi Hyuga stared at Lin Yu for a long time, his expression changing repeatedly. He had wanted to refuse several times, but remembering how his younger brother, Hizashi, had been dejected since the day Neji was branded with the Caged Bird, his face contorted with ferocity.
"Fine! I agree, but this matter must not be known to a third person!"
Hiashi Hyuga activated his Byakugan and sent out his senses, unwilling to allow the conversation to be overheard by anyone else.
"Don't worry, no one is around. However, to remove the Caged Bird, you'll have to show me how it works first."
Lin Yu was also a bit curious about the Caged Bird curse mark. Although it would disappear if a Hyuga branch family member died, the manga depicted Hizashi Hyuga, resurrected by Edo Tensei, still bearing the Caged Bird on his forehead, which seemed contradictory.
Hiashi Hyuga hesitated for a long time, then sighed, "Follow me."
Leaving the main family residence, led by Hiashi Hyuga, they passed unhindered all the way to the Hyuga clan's ancestral shrine, which was much larger than the Uchiha clan's.
After all, the Hyuga clan could be considered descendants of Hagoromo Otsutsuki's lineage, and their past glory was immense.
"You should know the purpose of the Caged Bird, so I won't elaborate."
"As for its origin, it's too ancient. Even I don't know who created it." Hiashi Hyuga pushed open the heavy doors, within which lay the long history and profound heritage of their Hyuga clan.
A pungent smell assailed them. This door hadn't been opened in who knows how long. Lin Yu regretted not wearing a mask; what if he caught an ancient virus?
"Is the Caged Bird aimed at the physical body, or does it also affect the soul?"
Lin Yu frowned. If the Caged Bird involved the soul, it wouldn't be his specialty and would require Orochimaru's research. But Orochimaru couldn't cheat; any research would take years. He couldn't wait that long.
Hiashi Hyuga frowned, "The Caged Bird was created to target the Byakugan, so it shouldn't involve the soul."
"Even if it does, it shouldn't involve much."
"..." Lin Yu was speechless; his words were redundant.
Hiashi Hyuga ignored Lin Yu's expression and took down an old book from the dust-covered bookshelf.
"This is a handwritten copy. The original has been lost to the river of time, but the recorded content should be complete."
Lin Yu took the book and flipped through it. Indeed, the beginning was a lengthy discourse on why the Hyuga clan created the Caged Bird and the clan's glorious history. Lin Yu simply flipped to the last page.
Unexpectedly, this thick book only had the last page recording the Caged Bird's seal and principles. This was a rip-off!
Hiashi Hyuga didn't disturb Lin Yu, his expression filled with emotion. He didn't know if what he was doing was right or wrong, but he truly couldn't bear to see his younger brother becoming increasingly dejected.
This was his brotherly indulgence.
With just one page of content, Lin Yu finished reading quickly and closed the book. The Caged Bird indeed did not involve the soul; it wasn't etched onto the soul but was like a program.
Its judgment criteria could be seen as a selection function.
Were the eyes dug out? Yes, damaging the eyes and the brain.
Did the subject die? Yes, damaging the eyes and the brain.
Its purpose was to damage the Byakugan and the subject's brain. Once both were gone, the Caged Bird would have completed its mission.
But this didn't mean the Caged Bird disappeared. It could be seen as the program's execution ending, with no condition to activate it, entering a dormant state.
This was equivalent to Hizashi Hyuga after being reanimated by Edo Tensei. He had the Byakugan of an Edo Tensei body. The Caged Bird seemed to detect the activation condition and restarted, but because it was an Edo Tensei body, damaging the eyes and brain had no effect, and the program entered an infinite loop, crashing!
Therefore, Lin Yu was stumped!
He had initially planned to deal a blow to Neji and Hizashi, and then revive them after the Caged Bird disappeared. However, it seemed this method was likely to fail!
As for the Caged Bird not affecting Edo Tensei bodies, Lin Yu was certain that Hiashi Hyuga would fight him to the death if he found out about the method Lin Yu had devised.
"No ninjutsu can be perfect. There must be a way to crack it."
Lin Yu flipped open the old book again, trying to find a way to break the Caged Bird.
"There is no record of any method to break it. If the Caged Bird could be broken, there wouldn't be only one Byakugan left outside the ninja world after so many years."
Hiashi Hyuga sighed. It seemed Lin Yu had no solution either. Well, let him give up on this idea.
Perhaps thinking of something, Hiashi Hyuga took the book, flipped to the interleaving of the last page, and took out a rough hand-drawn diagram.
"Perhaps this is the way to break the Caged Bird, but no one knows what this drawing actually is."
Lin Yu looked at the familiar eye pattern in Hiashi's hand and smiled at the corners of his mouth.
Wasn't this the Tenseigan?
...
Two days later, Lin Yu handed a pair of Byakugan to Orochimaru and embarked on his journey to the Land of Demons.
In a dark, unknown space in the ninja world, Jigen slumped onto a chair, his body full of cracks. Even after two and a half years of repair, his body could not return to normal mobility.
"Damn it!"
"Uzumaki Lin Yu, you should die!"
Jigen felt his life force weakening, and a sense of unwillingness appeared in his mind.
He had considered abandoning this body and fighting Lin Yu to the death, but if the other party kept running, he couldn't do anything about Lin Yu.
Damn it!
Suddenly, Jigen seemed to have an idea, and a cruel smile appeared on his face.
He wasn't the only Otsutsuki...
Moreover, the Ten-Tails needed to feed to grow into the God Tree, and it also required an Otsutsuki...
Dear Momoshiki... you should come!