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moshi moshi
"Memory... Memory is not just stored. It's encoded—chemical, electrical, ethereal."
With utmost care, Neji began probing the folds of his mind, attempting to stabilize the residual brainwave patterns linked to his recent REM cycle.He activated a narrow, precise focus of his True Eyes—something he was still refining—targeting the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, areas responsible for dream retention.
He found... nothing.Or more accurately—fragments. Flickers of distorted impressions:A luminous silhouette.Whispered words that felt more ancient than the clan itself.A hand outstretched, but not quite reaching him.
Neji gritted his teeth. "There must be something left..." he whispered. His chakra pathways strained under the intense concentration, veins at his temple bulging slightly.
Again and again, he cycled through deeper states of self-induced meditation, forcing his True Eyes to scan and reconstruct missing fragments, as if piecing together a broken mirror.
And yet—failure.
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He fell back onto the mat, exhausted, chest heaving. His True Eyes flickered, then shut down completely, the chakra cost too high for now.
For a few minutes, Neji lay still, letting the silence envelop him.
"If he came once... then he can come again."
The thought floated gently across his mind, like a paper boat on a slow-moving stream. It anchored itself deep inside him—not as an obsession, but as a thread he would tug when the time was right.
Neji's brows furrowed slightly. He was only five years old, but somewhere in the corridors of his mind, resolve was crystallizing:
Next time... I'll be ready.
He would perfect his True Eyes to the point he could lock onto the spiritual signature—the Chakra Echo—left behind by dream visitors.
He would train his chakra to extend not just into physical matter but across mental planes—reaching memories, dreamscapes, even glimpses into the subconscious.
He would sharpen his inner vision until he could catch the very moment the entity manifested—whether in dream, illusion, or reality.
Neji turned his gaze toward the faint moonlight slipping through the paper window.
He knew...The entity would come again.And when it did, Neji would not be a helpless boy groping in the dark.
He would meet it with open eyes—eyes that would someday unravel even the deepest of destinies.
Quietly, Neji tucked the memory away into the vault of his future plans, somewhere behind his training goals, his secret studies of the seal, and his quiet rebellion against fate.
The path was long.The obstacles were immense.
But for the first time since the cursed seal marred his forehead, a small, steady flame burned in Neji's chest.A promise he made to himself, in the dead of night, under the watching stars:
One day, I will uncover everything.
The morning haze still clung to the Hyuga estate like a second skin when Neji, lost in quiet thought, wandered along the outer edges of the training fields.His mind was heavy with remnants of the dream—the Entity's fleeting appearance, the tantalizing but unreachable message—and the frustrating failure of his True Eyes to retrieve it.
The cold air bit at his cheeks.He had run countless simulations in his mind, countless patterns of chakra circulation and cerebral memory recall, yet nothing had yielded the clarity he sought, only the message left.Maybe next time, he consoled himself bitterly.
Absently dragging his hand along the wooden fence as he walked, he turned a corner—and stopped.
Before him, in a secluded part of the estate rarely used, stood a small figure.Hinata Hyuga, yet to reach three years old, practiced strikes against a battered wooden dummy.
She was small, almost delicate, her lavender eyes wide with focus. Her movements were clumsy but determined—short sticks in her hands substituting for training kunai.The sticks slapped awkwardly against the wood, but every now and then, one hit with precision.
Neji watched her quietly for a moment, a shadow of genuine surprise crossing his face.Alone? Out here?
Without thinking, he approached.
"Hinata-sama," he said with a small bow, slipping back into the polished demeanor expected of a five-year-old Branch family child. "What are you doing so far from the compound?"
Hinata whirled around, startled.The sticks fell from her hands with a hollow clatter.
"I—I...!" she started, but her words tangled together and collapsed into silence. Her face turned a soft shade of pink.
Neji smiled gently, softening his eyes—a mask, perfectly crafted over months of practice. "Training, right? I saw it. You were doing great."
Hinata fidgeted, fingers knotting together. "I... wanted to get stronger..."
"You can become strong," Neji said, his voice carrying a weight beyond his years.And it wasn't baseless encouragement. His True Eyes, flickering in the depths of his mind, had already revealed it to him:Hinata's chakra pathways were stunning. Her latent potential was dazzling—an echo, even, of the greats he had read about in the secret records.Her ceiling wasn't beneath him. It was alongside Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, the titans yet to come.
But her chakra flow was hesitant, interrupted by deep emotional scars: shyness, fear of inadequacy, the internalized belief that she was unworthy.
If only she could overcome that...
"Hinata-sama," Neji said solemnly, "you have defeated me with ease. You just don't realize it yet."
Hinata blinked at him, startled.
Then, quite suddenly, she tilted her head and said, "Neji-san... why are you acting?"
Neji froze.
"What are you talking about?" he said smoothly, but a tiny alarm bell rang in his mind. Did she notice?
Hinata frowned slightly, struggling to find words. "I don't know... it just feels like... you're wearing something. Like..." She touched her chest uncertainly. "Like a... like a heavy mask."
Neji's heart skipped a beat.
It wasn't her mind that had sensed it.It was her instinct—something raw and primal within her, a sensitivity that even his True Eyes had failed to fully quantify yet.
Still, he couldn't admit anything. Not yet.
"You're imagining it, Hinata-sama," he said lightly. "I'm just me. Neji."He smiled again, perfectly crafted.
Hinata didn't look convinced, but she let it go with a small nod.
"Come," Neji said, his voice taking on a playful lilt. "Let's spar."
Hinata's eyes widened. "Spar?"
He nodded. "Nothing serious. Just a little match."
After a hesitant pause, Hinata bowed. "Yes!"
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