Uchiha Yuan stared at the blue cross-shaped mark and the twin opposing hooks on Hyuga Asana's forehead, lost in thought.
There was very little concrete information about the Caged Bird Seal in the original series. The only certain detail was this: the Caged Bird Curse Mark was a seal applied by the Hyuga Main House to restrict the Byakugan's abilities. After the mark was applied, Main House members could use it to destroy the brain of the person bearing the mark, at will.
"Asana, does the Caged Bird mark disappear after death?" Yuan asked.
Asana nodded. "It should. I once saw a Branch House elder who was gravely wounded on the battlefield. He didn't survive after being brought home. He was my father's friend. Our whole family attended his funeral, and at that time, the mark on his forehead was gone."
Yuan nodded. He also recalled that in the original series, Neji's Caged Bird Seal slowly faded after he died.
But was this disappearance due to the curse's chakra destroying the brain and Byakugan, or was it because the soul left the body? That remained unknown.
If it was the former, there might be a ready-made way to break the Caged Bird Seal.
All one would need is to learn the Living Corpse Reincarnation technique from Orochimaru, have him create a cloned body of Asana, and then transfer her soul into it. Just like that, the curse would be bypassed.
But was the Caged Bird Seal really only tied to the body? Yuan doubted it was that simple.
He remembered a specific scene from the original series—Hizashi Hyuga, brother of Hiashi Hyuga, was resurrected by Kabuto using Edo Tensei during the Fourth Great Ninja War. His forehead still bore the Caged Bird Seal.
Yet during the battle between the resurrected Hizashi and Hiashi, the seal was never activated. So Yuan couldn't be sure whether the seal was still real or just a remnant appearance.
If Hiashi simply refrained from using the seal due to guilt or emotional reasons, then it meant the Caged Bird Seal wasn't just physical—it might actually be embedded in the soul itself.
And if it involved the soul, then breaking the curse would become vastly more difficult.
At Yuan's current level, he could think of no other way except killing all Main House members to prevent the seal from ever being activated.
"It's time—we should head to school. That's enough for today."
Asana's voice snapped Yuan out of his thoughts.
By the time he came to his senses, Asana had already rewrapped the bandage around her forehead and turned to leave.
She had to hurry back to the Hyuga compound to escort Hyuga Chiwa to school.
Compared to her, Yuan had plenty of free time. He pulled out some prepared dry rations and had breakfast by the river before heading to class.
Only a week remained until the fourth-year students would graduate and head to the battlefield early.
All the students—regardless of their academic performance—were now using their remaining time to push themselves hard.
Faced with such a studious atmosphere in Class 2 of Year 4, even Uchiha Yuan felt a little out of place.
"Yuan, I've got some inside info about the team assignments. Want to hear it?" As soon as he arrived at class, Kagetsu Yamanaka sidled up to him.
"What, did you find your Shika and Cho partners?" Yuan asked.
"Nope. The clan says I'll have to wait and see if any Nara or Akimichi kids lose teammates on the battlefield. If they do, maybe I'll get paired with them."
"But the war's gotten intense. Most of the 'Ino-Shika-Cho' trios are reforming on the battlefield as needed. Even if a spot opens up, it probably won't go to me."
"So what's this inside info about?" Yuan asked.
"A lot, actually. I heard…" Kagetsu leaned in and shared what he had heard from who-knows-where.
This gossip covered the team assignments for half the class.
And truthfully, judging from how the team members were distributed and how their skills complemented each other, the info seemed kind of legit.
Now Yuan was interested. "Kagetsu, is there anything about my team?"
"Hehe, I thought you'd never ask!"
"Cut the crap. Yes or no?"
"Of course! You, me, and Hyuga Asana—we're a team," Kagetsu replied.
Yuan frowned. "You sure?"
"Who can say for sure? I only heard it from someone else."
"Who?"
"My uncle. After my father died in battle, it's been just me and my mom. My uncle's been taking care of us. He works in intelligence over at the Hokage Tower, so the info should be reliable."
After hearing that, Yuan had no more doubts.
His uncle had probably leaked the information on purpose, likely under the Third Hokage's instructions.
Byakugan from the Hyuga, mental techniques and sensory skills from the Yamanaka, and the perceptive Sharingan from the Uchiha—this would be an elite scouting team, not at all inferior to Hinata's team in the original series.
With such a top-tier squad, even as genin, the missions they'd be assigned during wartime would be extremely dangerous.
Letting them know each other in advance would allow them to start building rapport. At the very least, they could become more familiar before going into battle.
To be honest, if given the choice, Yuan wouldn't want to be on such a team.
But it didn't seem like he had a choice. And since Asana would be on the team too, working together might be easier. That was a silver lining, at least.
The only unknown now was who their instructor would be.
Such a well-balanced recon team would need a strong leader at first. Only once the team adapted to battlefield rhythm would the instructor back off.
"Hopefully the teacher will be competent," Yuan thought.
—
The next morning during training by the river, Yuan told Asana about the team assignment news.
Asana was stunned for a second, then said, "Looks like my plan to become a medical ninja is ruined. I'll have to join you for the most dangerous missions."
"Join me?"
"Yeah. My clan and Kagetsu's clan both support the Hokage faction. You're from the Uchiha. I don't need to explain the relationship between the Uchiha and the Hokage, do I?"
"Plus, in the entire class, the only one you could call a friend is Kagetsu. And considering that the Hokage already knows about our relationship, this team probably formed because of you."
(To Be Continued...)