At first, Uchiha Yuan didn't understand why his childhood friend had changed so much.
Not until their upper ninja school days, when he saw Hyuga Asana walking half a step behind another girl—someone who looked even younger than her—with a respectful, even submissive demeanor, did Uchiha Yuan begin to realize what had happened to her.
The Uchiha clan valued emotion more than any other family. Seeing his only friend become a branch family member, branded with the Caged Bird Seal, and now acting as both maid and bodyguard to a Main House girl—Uchiha Yuan felt deeply uncomfortable.
What was worse was that this Main House lady was far less capable than Hyuga Asana. Her grades in all subjects weren't even as good as Uchiha Yuan's, let alone Asana's.
So, to vent Asana's grievances, Uchiha Yuan deliberately caused trouble for the Main House girl during practical combat lessons. However, Asana never looked pleased, even when the girl got thoroughly beaten up.
Uchiha Yuan assumed she was just suppressing her emotions due to her status as a branch family member—secretly happy but forced to hide it.
But soon he realized he was wrong.
That day, as usual, he gave the Main House lady a solid thrashing during practice.
When Hyuga Asana went to help her up, she glanced at Uchiha Yuan—just once.
He thought that look was encouragement, and floated all the way home after class.
But midway, he suddenly remembered he'd left something in the classroom. When he ran back, what he saw would stay with him forever.
Hyuga Asana was kneeling on the floor, her face deathly pale, sweat soaking the gauze on her forehead.
The Main House girl stood with her arms folded, looking at Asana coldly.
Only then did Uchiha Yuan understand: that glance wasn't encouragement.
Probably, every time he beat up the Main House girl, Asana was punished like this afterward.
And she never told him—enduring it all silently just to keep him from feeling bad.
At that moment, Uchiha Yuan felt immense regret. What he thought was helping a friend had actually brought her more suffering.
From that day on, he never caused trouble for the Main House girl again.
"Hey! Uchiha Yuan, what are you zoning out for? Did you hear what I said?" Hyuga Asana's voice snapped him out of his memories.
He scratched his head and said, "Sorry, I was just remembering something from the past."
Hearing this, a trace of concern flickered in Asana's usually emotionless eyes. She had learned from her father that Uchiha Yuan had recently lost his closest family members.
But due to the tense relationship between the Hyuga and Uchiha clans, she hadn't been able to visit him.
Now that she saw him back at school today, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Still, his distracted look worried her. After glancing at the Main House girl sitting in front of them, she said, "I'll be waiting at our usual place after school."
"I'm fine. You don't have to go asking for—"
"It's settled." With that, she turned her head and ignored him.
After school, Uchiha Yuan walked alone to a small river near the Forest of Death.
This was where he and Hyuga Asana often met. It was close to the danger zone, so few people came. Asana had found it last year, and since then, it had become their private meeting spot.
Uchiha Yuan waited by the river for about half an hour before Asana hurried over.
"What took you so long? Did she give you trouble?" Uchiha Yuan asked, glancing over her.
"Of course she did. But I handled it," Asana replied.
"I'm really okay. You don't need to—"
"Did you misunderstand something? You think I'd waste time comforting you?
I came to tell you—you need to start putting in more effort. In just over two months, we'll move up to fifth grade. And unless something changes, we'll be graduating early and sent to the battlefield.
From what I know, less than 10% of last year's genin who graduated survived. If you're still lost in grief, you'll probably die out there." Her voice was flat and expressionless.
Uchiha Yuan glanced sideways at her. Her baby-fat cheeks were pulled tight, trying to look serious—but the expression just made her look even more adorable.
The only thing ruining the image was the white gauze on her forehead.
Asana noticed his gaze and subconsciously touched the gauze.
She could never forget her fourth birthday—the day she was branded with the Caged Bird Seal. It was the day her life changed.
After that, some of her friends stopped playing with her. One of them even became her "master."
It hadn't been like that before.
They had all been friends.
Why did it become like this?
That question had haunted Hyuga Asana for years. From the first time she sat alone on the edge of her bed, hugging her knees and crying through the night after being shunned, she'd been wondering.
Could a single cursed seal really change everything?
Even now, she didn't have an answer.
For someone born in the Hyuga clan and raised within the strict Main/Branch hierarchy, it was a question with no solution.
As the saying goes, "the person inside the game is always the most confused."
Looking into Asana's lost gaze, Uchiha Yuan felt uneasy. He hesitated, then gritted his teeth and said:
"Hey, Asana… have you ever wondered—why would a seal change your entire life?"
Asana was stunned. He had asked the very question that had plagued her all this time.
"You probably can't figure it out because you're inside the Hyuga clan. But actually, it's very simple—it all comes down to class.
Think about it. The Caged Bird Seal, in essence, gives one group of people power over the life and death of another.
Once a group holds that kind of authority, they naturally see themselves as superior. That's how hierarchy is born.
Oppression follows wherever hierarchy exists. Even though your clan claims the seal protects the Branch family, the truth is—the Main House uses it to treat the Branch family like servants."
After hearing Uchiha Yuan's explanation, Hyuga Asana felt as if she had suddenly understood something.
But then a doubt crept in:
"Since when did Uchiha Yuan start thinking about things like this? Wasn't he like most of the Uchiha—hot-headed, simple-minded, and impulsive?"
Chapter Three: Hierarchy