At this moment, the white-haired man before them—Kawaki Aoba—had already concealed the pair of Byakugan he had recently acquired. The sight of them alone had left the two Hyūga branch family members shaken.
Kawaki Aoba seemed to perceive their thoughts and spoke coldly, "Do you want to come over and die? I suggest you don't."
As he said this, he gestured toward Hinata Yōta, who had stopped writhing on the ground but remained paralyzed by pain.
"I'm going to deal with him next. It won't kill him—at least, not right away. But if you think a blind man can find his way back to the Konoha camp alone, feel free to intervene. I won't stop you."
Although his words were threatening, Kawaki Aoba had left them a way out.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, the two Hyūga branch family shinobi exhaled in relief. For the moment, at least, they wouldn't be executed.
What punishment awaited them later was another matter entirely.
Besides, someone in front of them was in far worse shape—Hinata Yōta.
Failing to protect him might lead to punishment, possibly even the activation of the Caged Bird Seal by a Main House member, condemning them to death. But compared to Yōta, who had lost his eyes and might never recover... well, that was a different kind of hell.
Although they knew they were still at risk, watching Yōta reduced to such a pathetic state stirred a strange, bitter sense of satisfaction in their hearts.
Kawaki Aoba noticed but said nothing.
These two were pitiful—clinging to fleeting pride and resentment before their inevitable end.
He had more pressing matters to attend to: interrogating Hinata Yōta.
Yōta was the true prize here. If Aoba could extract the truth from him, the entire Hyūga clan would become vulnerable—no longer an impenetrable fortress, but soft clay in his hands.
With a flick of his wrist, Aoba conjured a stream of dense smoke that solidified into binding ropes, suspending Yōta like a broken puppet in mid-air.
"Uhh… uhh…" Yōta whimpered, trembling in agony.
Aoba showed no pity. From beneath his coat, he pulled out a collection of sinister tools—torture instruments with twisted shapes and cruel purposes.
Summoning a solid platform of smoke before him, Aoba began arranging the tools with deliberate calm.
"Hinata Yōta," he said slowly. "What I'm about to ask you… it's more important than your life. I know you won't talk easily."
He gestured to the instruments. "These are your companions for the next hour. Afterward, I'll ask you again. Then you can decide whether silence is worth it."
He gave a chilling grin—the illusion of kindness erased entirely.
Although Yōta could no longer see, he sensed the horror in Aoba's voice. His face twisted in fear. He wanted to scream, to beg for mercy.
But Aoba wasn't done. A cloud of smoke covered Yōta's mouth, sealing it shut. The only sounds he could make were weak gasps and guttural moans.
This was deliberate.
Yōta was the grandson of the Hyūga clan's Third Elder. To Kawaki Aoba, that made him the perfect subject for retribution.
For the next two hours, Yōta was subjected to agonizing torment. Though Aoba was no professional interrogator, he didn't need to be. Pain was a universal language.
Each time Yōta passed out, pain dragged him back into the waking world. He could no longer cry, no longer scream.
If his eyes were intact, they would have been void of light—only fear and numbness remaining.
All the while, the two Hyūga branch members stood silently nearby. For two long hours, they watched the cruelty unfold.
Aoba, curious, glanced at them from time to time—not out of concern, but confusion.
Why hadn't Yōta activated the Caged Bird Seal yet?
Wasn't this the perfect moment for a Main House member to vent rage on the branch family?
Two hours had passed, and the seal hadn't been triggered.
Aoba considered the possibilities. Was it mercy? No. Maybe Yōta had passed out and forgotten? That was more plausible.
In any case, Aoba wasn't interested in the answer.
Feeling it was time, he lowered his tools.
Yōta's body was ruined—bloodied, bruised, and barely alive. Only his lower torso was left untouched.
This didn't concern Aoba. He enveloped Yōta in a thick cocoon of white smoke, inside of which he secretly placed two low-tier red medicinal vials—a nod to his collection of off-world abilities.
He watched the two Hyūga carefully. If they tried to use their Byakugan, they'd be dead in the next moment.
He was careful never to reveal the abilities of his Smoker persona—the identity he used while hiding his true power. Everything Smoker used—smoke manipulation, levitation akin to the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, basic necromancy, and ki-like energy blasts—was carefully chosen to avoid overlap with his main body.
Aoba's actual abilities were entirely different. Asuma's artificially developed Bloodline Limit, for example, could be explained away without raising suspicions. It wasn't a hereditary trait like the Sharingan or Byakugan.
The smoke cocoon slowly dissipated, revealing Hinata Yōta. His body was intact now—except for his lost eyes.
Thanks to the red medicine, the pain had faded. He reached up and touched his face and limbs in disbelief.
Had he imagined the torture?
No—his mind remembered. Too vividly to be an illusion.
"HINATA YŌTA."
Aoba's voice snapped him back to reality. Yōta's legs gave out, and he collapsed, trembling uncontrollably.
"No! Please—no more! I'll tell you everything! Anything!" he cried out in desperation.
His will had shattered. The pain had broken him. There would be no more resistance.
Seeing him in this state, Aoba Kawaki nodded in satisfaction. Then, he asked the question he'd been waiting to ask most.
"The method to activate the Caged Bird Seal. As a member of the Hyuga Main House… you should know it, right?"
"Ugh!" Hyuga Yota's throat choked on the words, his cry for mercy dying abruptly.
"Heh… I underestimated you. As expected of the Main House—still loyal to the end." Aoba looked down at Yota, who had collapsed into a trembling heap on the ground.
But it was precisely those words that made Yota's entire body tremble violently.
"N-No… I can't say it." His voice quivered with terror, as though suppressing some unimaginable fear.
Though he looked pitiful, even the two Hyuga Branch House members nearby found themselves reassessing him.
They had assumed Yota to be a coward, a weakling—but now it seemed he wasn't entirely worthless. At the very least, he understood what it meant to protect the Hyuga clan's secrets.
Aoba chuckled again. "So, you still have some backbone. Then let's continue. We'll do it again—just like before. If once isn't enough, then ten times. If ten isn't enough, then a hundred. Don't worry, I have all the time in the world… and I won't let you die. Even if the Sage of Six Paths himself descended, he couldn't save you from me."
On the ground, Yota crawled backward, eyes wide with terror.
Meanwhile, the two Branch House shinobi exchanged troubled glances. Though indoctrinated by the Main House, they weren't fanatics. The true loyalists had already died protecting Yota.
Initially, they had accepted their fate and even intended to watch Yota suffer to the end. But now, watching him endure so much for the clan's secret… they were moved.
They recalled the words of the clan elders: "The Branch House protects the Main House. The Main House protects the clan. The Caged Bird Seal exists to protect the Byakugan—even in death."
Protect… The two Branch House members looked at each other again and seemed to understand something deeper.
They drew in sharp breaths—ready to die if necessary. Not to rescue Yota, but to kill him and free him from this torment.
However, just as they stepped forward, Yota suddenly spoke.
"Lord… It's not that I don't want to tell you. The truth is… members of the Hyuga Main House have a special seal placed on their brains. If we try to reveal the activation conditions of the Caged Bird Seal to outsiders—even through memory reading—it triggers a self-destruct sequence. Our brains will explode. I swear it's true, Lord. Please…"
The two Branch House shinobi froze. They exchanged one final glance—then silently retreated.
Aoba stopped listening. He sighed inwardly. As expected. The Hyuga Main House wouldn't leave such a crucial secret unprotected.
Still, he wasn't disappointed.
There was… one final method.
He crouched beside Yota and smiled gently. "Pray, Hyuga Yota. Pray that death will free you from your clan's seal. Otherwise, this world will become your eternal hell."
"…What?" Yota didn't understand. But before he could question further, cold steel met his throat.
The pain was sharp. He clutched his neck, gasping as blood poured from the wound.
He couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe. His vision dimmed.
In his last moments, beyond the fear, he felt a strange sense of relief.
Maybe now… I can finally escape him…
But Aoba's final words still echoed in his mind. What did he mean…?
And then, darkness.
Yota's soul drifted into a cold abyss, visionless and numb.
Suddenly, a tremendous force pulled him violently. Warmth returned. He could feel grass beneath him. The scent of earth… and blood.
But he still could not see.
"Is this the Pure Land…?" Yota murmured. "It doesn't feel that different…"
Then came the voice he feared most.
"Heh… Sorry, Yota. This isn't the Pure Land. This is still the real world. But if you can't give me what I want… then this world will be your eternal torment."
Yota's body shivered. He rose from the ground in panic.
"What's happening? Didn't I die?"
"Yes. You're dead. Now… carefully feel your state."
As Aoba spoke, his voice a twisted mockery of concern, Yota tried to sense his body—and what he discovered shattered him.
"I'm… I'm dead… but I'm still here? No… why can't you just let me go?!"
"Heh." Aoba sneered. "Try to speak. Try to say the method to activate the Caged Bird Seal. If you can't, I'll command you to torture yourself—over and over—until the end of time."
Yota's mind broke.
But then… he spoke.
And this time, nothing happened.
No pain. No explosion. No seal. No death.
The Main House's protection… had no power over the dead.
He had said it.
He had revealed the greatest secret of the Hyuga clan.
For a long moment, Yota didn't know whether to feel relief… or despair.
He had escaped torture.
But at what cost?
He had betrayed everything his clan stood for—and had become its greatest sinner.
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