Uchiha orphan, so what if I'm ruthless?

Sasuke was on high alert.

His hand still gripped his kunai, fingers wrapped tightly around the hilt without loosening.

His body was slightly angled, his weight shifted to his back foot—a stance that allowed him to either leap back or dash forward at a moment's notice. His Sharingan was still active, the Two-Tomoe spinning slowly in his pupils as he kept his eyes locked dead on Hyuga Neji.

Hyuga Neji looked back at him, his pale white eyes completely devoid of emotion.

He stood about five or six meters away from Sasuke, arms hanging loosely at his sides. His posture was relaxed, showing no signs of an impending attack.

"There's no need to worry about me doing anything to you."

His voice was calm. "Because for the three months before you arrived, I came here every single day, waiting for someone who could break the seal on this place."

He lifted his chin toward Sasuke, his gaze dropping to the boy's chest.

"You have the item to undo the seal here, don't you?"

Sasuke's brow furrowed even deeper.

His gaze lingered on Neji's face for a moment, swept across the surrounding forest, and finally returned to Neji.

He remained silent for a moment, offering no reply.

Neji watched him, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly before he spoke a single name.

"Uchiha Taiga."

The name was spoken softly, yet with absolute clarity.

Sasuke's expression instantly changed.

His eyes widened sharply, the Two-Tomoe in his pupils spinning rapidly for a few rotations.

Observing the shift in his expression, Neji's lips twitched again, forming an almost imperceptible smile.

"Are you surprised that I know that name?"

Sasuke remained silent, his eyes darting across Neji's face as his mind raced to piece everything together.

Neji didn't wait for an answer.

"Because Uchiha Taiga possessed a pair of pure Byakugan, the likes of which our Hyuga clan has never seen."

Hearing this, Sasuke instinctively retorted.

"That's impossible!"

His voice was loud, echoing through the quiet forest.

"Uchiha Taiga had the Sharingan!"

His tone was absolute, completely certain that he was right. After all, Uchiha Taiga was a member of the Uchiha clan. He had seen the genealogy records and knew Taiga was a pure-blooded Uchiha.

How could someone from the Uchiha clan possibly have the Byakugan?

That was the Kekkei Genkai of the Hyuga clan.

Hearing this, Neji chuckled.

"It seems you don't know much either."

His tone was perfectly calm.

Sasuke fell silent.

It was true that he didn't know much. All he had were fragments—some past events he had heard from Hatake Kakashi, and a scroll he had received from the old man at the shrine.

He didn't know the whole picture; he didn't know the truth.

Neji looked at him and finally spoke.

"Come."

He stepped aside, revealing the massive tree behind him.

"Undo the seal, and I will tell you everything I know."

Sasuke frowned in thought.

His gaze shifted back and forth between Neji's face and the giant tree several times. His mind weighed the options, wondering if this person could be trusted and what would happen once the seal was broken.

Neji didn't rush him. He simply stood there with a placid expression, his eyes fixed on Sasuke. His pale pupils were completely devoid of emotion, like a lake without a single ripple.

"Perhaps you aren't aware."

He spoke again, his tone casual, as if discussing something entirely mundane.

"Uchiha Taiga did indeed possess a pair of Byakugan, but it seems this Byakugan was obtained through the foundation of his Sharingan. No one knows exactly what happened, but everyone who knows of Uchiha Taiga is well aware of this fact."

"Furthermore, ten years ago, he had already developed those Byakugan to a level far surpassing the Sharingan."

Sasuke's cheek twitched as he listened.

He didn't retort, nor could he.

He didn't even know what those eyes looked like, so how could he possibly argue against it?

After a moment of thought, Sasuke took a deep breath and pulled the scroll from his jacket.

"This scroll does indeed contain the formula to undo the seal."

Neji nodded, a faint glimmer flashing in his pale eyes.

"Just as I thought."

"I searched all over Konoha before finally finding this place."

He looked at the scroll in Sasuke's hand.

"The scroll in your hand was likely left behind secretly by the person who guided us here."

Sasuke's expression shifted slightly.

The face of the old man at the shrine flashed through his mind—that wrinkled face and those cloudy eyes. He immediately realized that the old man had done this on purpose.

Giving him the scroll, sending him here, making him undo the seal.

But why would the old man do that?

And who exactly was that old man?

As the youngest son of the clan head, he hadn't visited the shrine often growing up, but every time he did, he would see that old man.

In the past, he had assumed the old man was just an ordinary clansman. But after seeing the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in the elder's eyes back at the shrine, he knew the man had once been a ninja too.

Now, however, it seemed the old man's identity was far from simple.

But why would he do this?

And why would he guide Hyuga Neji here?

Sasuke couldn't figure it out. His brow was tightly knit, his lips pressed together, his thoughts a tangled mess.

His intuition told him there might be a conspiracy at play.

But he was already here. He was on the verge of learning everything about Uchiha Taiga, and he didn't want to just give up now.

He had to find out exactly why his older brother, Uchiha Itachi, had left the village, and just who this Uchiha Taiga he was looking for really was.

And now, that confusion had deepened even further. Why did Uchiha Taiga have the Byakugan? And what exactly was Hyuga Neji waiting here for?

Observing his expression, Neji asked, "You seem to know who left these clues behind?"

Sasuke didn't answer. He tore his gaze away from Neji's face and looked down at the scroll in his hand for a couple of seconds before looking back up at Neji.

"Why did you come looking for this place?"

Neji didn't hide his intentions. "I came here to break free from my own restraints."

He raised a finger and pointed to his forehead, which was wrapped in bandages.

"The Caged Bird curse mark. You should know of it, right?"

He lowered his hand.

Sasuke nodded.

As a member of one of Konoha's only two dojutsu Kekkei Genkai clans, he had naturally heard of the Caged Bird curse mark.

It was the method used by the Hyuga Main House to control the Branch House. Once branded, the Branch House member's Byakugan would be sealed and destroyed upon death. More importantly, the Main House could use the curse mark to control the Branch House members at any time, even having the power to destroy their brains.

This was something the Uchiha clan despised, which was why the Uchiha had always held a psychological sense of superiority in this regard.

"Although I don't know who left the clues,"

Neji's voice remained perfectly calm.

"I managed to find this place through some records within my clan."

His eyes fell on the scroll in Sasuke's hand.

"Looking at it now, those records were intentionally left behind by someone, just so that I would cross paths with someone from the Uchiha right here."

Sasuke's brow furrowed tightly.

He couldn't understand how the old man at the shrine could have pulled this off.

He was an Uchiha clansman. How could he have left recorded information within the Hyuga clan? And how did he ensure that Hyuga Neji would find this place?

But the question was too vast, and Sasuke couldn't figure it out right now.

He decided not to dwell on it any longer.

Sasuke looked down at the scroll in his hand, took a deep breath, and then placed it on the ground, unrolling it.

The map on the scroll was on the left, while the right side contained a string of curse mark characters. The runes were tiny and densely packed, drawn in black ink that stood out clearly against the pale yellow parchment.

The runes were arranged in a circular pattern, with a small blank space in the center, as if waiting for someone to fill it in.

Sasuke flattened the scroll on the ground, weighed down the four corners, and began weaving hand signs.

His hand signs weren't fast, but they were precise, every seal executed flawlessly.

Neji stood to the side, watching Sasuke weave the signs without making a sound or moving an inch.

His hands hung loosely at his sides, his body relaxed, but his eyes remained fixed on the massive tree.

His Byakugan was already active, yet Neji couldn't see through the giant tree, nor could he see what was hidden inside.

At that moment, Sasuke finished his final hand sign and slammed one hand onto the scroll.

Silently, black lines spread out like a spiderweb, rapidly climbing up the roots of the giant tree before staining the lower half of its trunk.

Looking up, the tree's roots and the first three meters of its trunk were now completely covered in pitch-black curse marks, densely packed together like a swarm of tadpoles.

*Crack! Crack! Crack!*

Soon, the roots of the giant tree split apart, revealing a hollow cavity.

Neji remained standing to the side without making a move, waiting for Sasuke to take the next step. It was his way of showing his stance.

Sasuke released his hand from the seal and stepped forward, approaching the cavity at the roots.

Inside the hollow, a small box lay quietly.

Neji stepped closer now, though not too close, just enough to see the small box inside the cavity.

Sasuke pulled the box out and opened it. Inside were three small scrolls, and the one in the center bore a name—Uchiha Taiga.

Without any hesitation, Sasuke opened it immediately, only for his pupils to shrink in shock.

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