Read the warnings first.
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In Konoha, a young boy in white stood atop the Hokage Rock, the wind brushing against him as he gazed down at the village below, taking in every street, every alley, and the countless glowing lights of homes.
Yet, when his sharp Byakugan, one of the Three Great Dōjutsu, fell upon the Hyūga clan's compound, a flicker of complex emotions surfaced—confusion, pain, and resentment.
Memories surged like a tidal wave from the depths of his mind.
"Hiashi, he's already eight years old. It's time to place the Caged Bird on him."
"Brother, Tanaka is a genius! He awakened the Byakugan at three, taught himself the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms at six, and mastered the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven at eight. He's a once-in-a-century talent for the Hyūga clan!"
"It's precisely because he's a genius that the clan made an exception, delaying the seal that should have been placed when he was three."
"If we place the Caged Bird on him now, with his pride, it will break him."
"When it comes to protecting and preserving the Hyūga clan, even a genius is insignificant. Whether it's Tanaka or even my own children, the Caged Bird must be placed to protect our Byakugan from being stolen by outsiders."
"But..."
"As a member of the branch house, your duty is to protect the main house. You should understand this better than anyone, Hizashi."
"I understand, Brother."
Hiashi ended the conversation without another word, brushing past his younger brother and walking toward the white-clad boy in the distance.
Knowing escape was futile and resistance meaningless, Tanaka lowered his gaze, trying desperately to hide the anger, helplessness, and hatred behind his Byakugan.
"A genius, huh? What a pity. Blame yourself for not being born into the main house."
Hiashi glanced briefly at the boy before raising his hands and forming seals, preparing to imprint the Caged Bird as if branding a slave. This wasn't new to him—he had done it many times before and never cared about what the branch house thought. Their feelings didn't matter. Once the seal was placed, no resentment or acceptance could change their fate.
As the final hand seal was formed, Hiashi placed his hand on Tanaka's head. Green lines surfaced on the boy's forehead, weaving together like iron bars forming a birdcage, a seal that could control the life and death of any branch house member at a mere thought.
Yet, the moment the seal was planted, Hiashi didn't withdraw his hand. Instead, his left hand formed another seal. Immediately, a piercing scream erupted. Pain radiated from Tanaka's eyes to his head and through his entire body, like an unrelenting curse crushing him. His face turned deathly pale as he collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony.
"Brother! Enough! He's just a child!" Hizashi shouted, unable to forget the day he himself received the Caged Bird. The pain was unforgettable, and seeing Tanaka suffer the same torment brought it all back.
"Remember this pain. Remember the duty of the branch house. From now on, you must protect every member of the main house at all costs. Fail, and this is the price you'll pay," Hiashi declared coldly, his eyes devoid of empathy as he looked down at the boy screaming in agony.
As the clan head, he understood one thing well—every genius had pride, but pride was unnecessary for the branch house. If it existed, it must be crushed. A branch house without pride was a good branch house.
"Brother..." Hizashi's heart grew heavier as he looked at Hiashi, feeling an unfamiliar and chilling distance from the man he once knew.
But what could he do?
Even as a brother, he was still a branch house member. The Caged Bird didn't spare anyone, not even him.
"I merely engraved the duty of the branch house into his bones."
Hiashi noticed the look on his younger brother's face and instinctively glanced at the Caged Bird hidden beneath Hizashi's forehead protector.
A fleeting softness stirred in his heart, but his words remained cold as he turned away and left without looking back.
According to the Hyūga clan's long-standing rule, after placing the Caged Bird on a branch house member, they must endure a full minute of its excruciating pain, engraving both the agony and the duty to protect the main house deep into their very bones. But thinking of Hizashi and knowing that the boy before him had been raised like a son by his younger brother, Hiashi relented, letting him taste only thirty seconds of the seal's torment before releasing him.
"Tanaka," Hizashi crouched down, gently helping him up, his expression and voice filled with concern and worry. There was no response.
After gasping for air, Tanaka stood, turned, and walked away like a hollow shell. Hizashi instinctively reached out, as if to stop him, but his hand froze mid-air. He saw it clearly. The once-piercing Byakugan that seemed able to see through anything was now dull and lifeless, reduced to ashes after the seal was placed.
He knew. In that moment, the Hyūga genius hailed as a once-in-a-century prodigy was gone.
As these memories flashed through his mind like scenes from a film, veins bulged on Tanaka's temples, writhing like snakes beneath his skin. The surge of emotions triggered his Byakugan to activate involuntarily.
The Caged Bird Seal. The main house. Hiashi, you hypocrite.
His gaze locked onto the Hyūga compound from afar, no longer filled with the helpless despair he felt when the seal was first placed, but now brimming with cold and murderous intent. Most branch house members, even someone like Hizashi, would face only two choices after being marked: submission or death.
But he had a third option.
Of the countless people who have transmigrated into the Naruto world, I'm probably the only one who started off with a Caged Bird, he thought to himself.
Fortunately, I've got a cheat.
Honestly, while he wasn't thrilled about having the Hyūga's "blind eyes" instead of the Sharingan, he could have accepted this start—if not for the Caged Bird. But there were no 'ifs.'
Unlock the cheat first, then take him down, he told himself. Working like a slave in his past life was one thing, but to transmigrate only to become the Hyūga's slave?
No way. Still, no matter how much he hated Hiashi, he knew his priority was to unlock his cheat, break free from the Caged Bird, and then take down the entire main house. It wasn't blind hatred.
Tanaka understood that as the beneficiaries of the Caged Bird, no member of the main house would ever tolerate a branch house member escaping it—just like how no Celestial Dragon in the One Piece world would allow a slave marked with the The Hoof of the Soaring Dragon to break free and rise against them.
Suppressing his fury, he focused.
Deep within his soul, a portal quietly hovered.
At the same time, information about this portal surfaced in his mind:
[Void Walker's Gate:
Access Level: Initial
Space Type: Intermediate Dimension
Current Connection: One Piece World
Travel Function: Enables travel between connected worlds]
A two-way portal linking Naruto and One Piece, capable of solo travel or bringing others along, provided their Favorability level toward him exceeded 90. Whether bringing Naruto characters into One Piece world or One Piece characters into Naruto world, it was all possible.
This was the cheat he unlocked the moment the Caged Bird was placed, along with the memories of his past life. It was also the very reason he didn't succumb to despair after being marked and why he vowed to one day bring down the entire Hyūga main house.