Let's rewind time for a moment. When Hyuga Hizashi was using his Byakugan to find the source of that voice, he had actually already seen Neji lying very peacefully in his room.
However, because his mind was entirely focused on Hyuga Kumo, who had made the sound, he had overlooked the abnormality right in front of him.
Normally, after Neji had vented the resentment in his heart, he would always toss and turn in bed for a long time, unable to sleep.
But tonight, Hyuga Neji, after bandaging his hands and lying on his bed, stared blankly at the ceiling. He soon felt a strong wave of drowsiness, like a tide, submerging him.
The world after closing his eyes was deathly silent, a dark expanse before him like a boundless black ocean.
Until an ethereal voice seemed to come, seemingly from a distant place.
"..."
Hyuga Neji opened his eyes in a daze. Before him was a dilapidated, vermilion-lacquered torii gate, with rotting rafters stuck askew in the dirt.
In front of him were slippery steps covered in green moss, and the ethereal voice was coming from the distance.
Hyuga Neji subconsciously lifted his foot and walked up the steps, passing the torii gate and the broken Komainu (lion-dog) stone statues on either side.
After climbing the steps and passing through the green-stoned path flanked by swaying tree shadows, the area opened up.
A dilapidated shrine came into view. A rotting shimenawa (sacred rope) hung down, swaying. Faded wooden plaques knocked against each other in the wind, the vermilion-lacquered characters on them blurred and indistinct.
In the wide, empty space in front of the dilapidated main hall, four children stood in a circle, holding hands.
Two children with indistinct faces let go and each extended a hand towards him. Hyuga Neji walked over, not of his own accord.
The moment he took their hands, a sense of joy rose involuntarily. A smile appeared on Neji's face, and a laugh that was not his own escaped his throat.
He looked at the blindfolded, black-haired girl kneeling in the center, surrounded by him and the other three children.
"Kagome, Kagome (In the cage, in the cage)"
The four children began to spin merrily, singing a nursery rhyme in their childish voices. Neji also began to sing, confused.
"Kago no naka no tori wa (The little bird in the cage)"
The blood-red glow of the setting sun cast their shadows on the ground, like a bamboo cage trapping them and the girl inside.
"Itsu itsu deyaru (When, oh when will it come out?)"
The singing quickened. The children sped up, the long shadows of the bamboo cage tightening around the blindfolded girl in the center.
"Yoake no ban ni (On the night of the dawn)"
"Tsuru to kame ga subetta (The crane and turtle slipped and fell)"
"Ushiro no shōmen daare? (Who is the one right behind you?)"
The four children stopped and all looked at the girl in the middle.
"..."
Hyuga Neji also looked at the blindfolded girl in the center. Looking at the girl's familiar yet strange back, his originally chaotic thoughts gradually became clear.
The nursery rhyme sung in childish voices still echoed. Against the backdrop of the dilapidated scenery, the originally cheerful and innocent lyrics seemed particularly eerie.
Especially the bone-chilling coldness coming from his two hands, which made a wave of fear surge in Hyuga Neji's heart.
He suddenly understood the rules and meaning of this song and this game.
—If the girl guessed who was behind her, then the one who was guessed would have to take the place of the bird in the cage, to be the scapegoat.
"..."
The blindfolded girl raised her head, her pink lips slightly parted.
"Hyuga... Neji..." she said softly.
Hearing her say his name, Hyuga Neji's entire body trembled uncontrollably. The two children beside him gently released his hands.
"No! I don't want to!"
He uncontrollably lifted his foot and walked in front of the girl, kneeling down. The four children gathered around, their gazes pious and fervent, as if they were witnessing a ceremony.
Finally, the girl raised her clasped hands and gently caressed Hyuga Neji's face, but her thumbs pressed into his eyes. Splurt!
Rich, crimson blood gushed out, flowing in large pools on the ground with an audible sound.
"AH!!"
A horrific scream escaped Hyuga Neji's lips, as painful as if a red-hot steel bar had been shoved into his brain.
But after he put on the "blindfold," the four children once again joined hands and began to spin, their swaying shadows sewing him into the cage. The cheerful, yet eerie nursery rhyme began again.
"Kagome, Kagome (In the cage, in the cage)"
"Kago no naka no tori wa (The little bird in the cage)"
"Itsu itsu deyaru (When, oh when will it come out?)"
The childish voices gradually turned into a blurred, strange language. A large amount of static filled Hyuga Neji's retinas, and distorted images began to flash before his eyes.
Gradually, the scene before him began to change.
He saw countless people with hideous curse seals carved on their heads. He saw them standing in front of those without curse seals. He saw them die tragically on the battlefield of flesh and blood, one after another.
He saw a person with the Caged Bird, their face indistinct, on a killing spree. He saw that person constantly gouging out the eyes of others. He saw that person on an altar, clutching their eyes, rolling and screaming silently.
He saw that person walk down from the altar, carve something on a stone tablet, and then walk out. Whether they had a curse seal or not, anyone who tried to stand in his way was slaughtered with a wave of his hand.
Even when someone raised their hand to activate the curse seal, it still did not stop that person.
Hyuga Neji saw the figure walk into an ancestral shrine. The survivors gathered outside the shrine, not daring to enter. In the silent air, only the sound of heavy breathing seemed to overlap.
Soon, the magnificent shrine was engulfed in flames. The figure emerged from the fiery light, the flames licking at their cheeks.
And in that person's hand, they held a severed, aged head with a look of terror still on its face. The pale, crimson spine dragged on the ground, leaving a glaring trail of dark red blood wherever it went.
The person stopped. The blood on the ground formed a dark red mirror, reflecting the terrified, horrified white eyes of the others, and in those white eyes was reflected the person's bloodstained eyes.
They were eyes different from the Byakugan.
They were a pair of deep blue eyes.
Hyuga Neji stood at the very back of the crowd, unable to act or make a sound, watching as a bystander.
Having just experienced the pain of being a "scapegoat," and now witnessing this slaughter, he felt a morbid sense of satisfaction from the bottom of his heart.
However, the next moment, the figure, who had kept their gaze lowered, suddenly looked up and met Hyuga Neji's eyes.
Hyuga Neji suddenly had a feeling.
That person saw him.
He saw two lines of thick, foul blood flow from those eyes, sliding down the blurred face.
"Such an ugly clan has no reason to exist."
The person slowly raised a hand, their palm as if grasping a sword. A golden light extended upwards, breaking through the dark clouds in the night sky.
"Let's purge the filth," the person said softly. "Golden Wheel... Reincarnation Explosion."
The golden light descended, illuminating the dark night sky. The fear of death became tangible.
BANG!
Faced with such a real death, Hyuga Neji almost instinctively used all his strength to dodge, but he only managed to jolt his eyes open. Before he could react, he had rolled off the bed.
"..."
He stared blankly at the ceiling. The faint pain from his body finally pulled him back to reality.
"What was that?" he murmured. "Who was that person?"
"And those eyes..."