The Land of Fields. Uchiha Shirou and Hyuga Hizashi, along with their group, trudged wearily into the busiest small town in the Land of Fields.

  "Shirou-kun, this time we've decided to rest temporarily in this small town. I assure you our intel won't be leaked."

  At the inn, Shirou and Hizashi disguised themselves as wandering samurai and checked in. Coming from the Land of Lightning, they encountered numerous deadly pursuits by Kumo Ninja along the way, leaving them both physically and mentally exhausted.

  "Hizashi, there's no need to be so tense. Our contact will arrive tomorrow morning."

  "Contact?!"

  Hizashi's face was filled with surprise, but Shirou smirked and teased:

  "The incident in the Kumogakure happened ten days ago. Surely the cn won't leave a Uchiha unattended, right?"

  Shirou's words practically implied that he no longer trusted the vilge. Instead, he had secretly contacted Uchiha ninjas to come and assist them.

  Hearing this, Hizashi showed an expression of envy. The Hyuga main family treated the branch family as tools, and the vilge barely regarded them as human.

  Even though the Uchiha were ostracized, at least their internal family dynamics didn't involve oppressing their own.

  If the Uchiha had internal conflicts, they handled it openly—direct confrontation, fair and square.

  "Now that we've discussed the contact, let's talk about the Hyuga cn and this whole sacrificial pawn business!"

  Suddenly, Shirou shifted the topic. To an outsider, his tone might have sounded sarcastic enough to provoke a fight. But this was the Uchiha—especially after traveling together for so long, Hizashi had grown accustomed to their unique personality. He nodded calmly.

  "Fine. But Shirou-kun, you should pay attention to how you phrase things. After all, you Uchiha have a knack for causing misunderstandings!"

  To put it bluntly, the way the Uchiha spoke often made people want to punch them.

  At this, Shirou chuckled lightly and shrugged.

  "I'm just trying to lighten the mood. I wouldn't normally be this aggravating."

  The dry ughter echoed, and Hizashi, whose stern face hadn't shown a smile in years, couldn't help but crack a faint grin.

  This is the purity of friendship between men—sometimes, the humor has a ridiculously low bar.

  "For us in the Hyuga branch family, who outsiders call sacrificial pawns, it all comes down to the Caged Bird seal on our foreheads, which restrains us…"

  Perhaps it was the bond forged through the darkest moment of his life—being abandoned—that prompted Hizashi to even crack a self-deprecating joke about his own family being a cn of sacrificial pawns.

  "The Caged Bird, huh."

  Hearing Hizashi's calm tone, as if he had long become accustomed to the division between the main and branch families, Shirou showed a thoughtful expression before shaking his head.

  "I've read some cssified documents. I heard the vilge once secretly researched the Caged Bird seal."

  Noticing Hizashi's puzzled look, Shirou smiled and teased:

  "Hizashi, don't underestimate your so-called sacrificial pawns. In the Hyuga cn, the main family enjoys all the benefits, but the branch family holds the strongest combat power.

  If the Caged Bird seal were broken, not only would it split the Hyuga cn within the vilge, but it would also win over the allegiance of the most powerful Hyuga ninjas. Don't you think the vilge would be tempted by such a prospect?"

  Shirou wasn't wrong. Among the major cns in Konoha, the Hyuga cn was one of the most stable and hardest to divide. If the Caged Bird seal could be nullified, the Hyuga cn would undoubtedly fracture.

  Given the nature of the Third Hokage's administration, it was hard to believe they hadn't considered it.

  All it would take was breaking the Caged Bird seal to weaken the Hyuga cn while simultaneously bolstering their power.

  "Is that so?"

  At first, Hizashi seemed unsettled by the idea of the vilge researching the Caged Bird seal. But his rational mind quickly reminded him of the inevitable conclusion—it must have ended in failure.

  "I once heard Lord Orochimaru mention this research. It seems that even before the project began, your main family noticed traces of it, leading to the mysterious disappearance of several branch family members."

  Hearing Shirou's teasing tone, Hizashi was left speechless. He gazed out the window at the starry night sky, his expression forlorn as he shook his head.

  "The main family resides within the vilge and wields immense control. They have never let their guard down, not even when the branch family is on the frontlines fighting…"

  As Hizashi described the main family's constant surveilnce of the branch family—afraid of losing control, yet also afraid of them growing too strong—Shirou shook his head in exasperation.

  "What a warped family dynamic. Even in the current ninja world, some noble cns distinguish between main and branch families, but none treat their branch family like sves as your Hyuga cn does."

  Their casual conversation prompted Hizashi to open up about his cn's situation, his tone serene.

  It would be a lie to say he had no thoughts of rebellion, but years of being bound by the Caged Bird seal had eroded much of the branch family's will to resist.

  Shirou could see this clearly and couldn't help but shake his head. "The child of a sacrificial pawn is still a sacrificial pawn. As you said yourself, even your marriages are dictated by the main family. You're destined to marry and have children."

  Hizashi had seemingly resigned himself to his fate. But when Shirou mentioned that he, too, would be forced to marry and have children, a flicker of struggle and resentment fshed in his eyes.

  Once marked with the Caged Bird seal, generation after generation would remain part of the branch family. The sve's child would still be a sve.

  This was the fate of the Caged Bird seal.

  The seeds of defiance were sown. Hizashi took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Shirou-kun, can you tell me what you or Lord Orochimaru know about the Caged Bird?"

  Through their conversation, he realized that Shirou had more access to information and was close to Orochimaru.

  As Orochimaru was now the deputy leader of the vilge's Root division, he naturally knew far more.

  "The Caged Bird, huh? According to Lord Orochimaru, it's listed as a research project in Root, but due to a ck of materials and the priority of the Wood Release project, it was shelved…

  However, from preliminary research, while breaking the Caged Bird seal is extremely difficult, adding another yer of sealing on top of the original might make things retively easier…"

  Shirou spoke calmly, sharing his initial understanding of the Caged Bird seal.

  Currently, within the alliance of major cns, the bond between the Senju and Uchiha was retively stable, but the Hyuga cn's situation was far more intriguing.

  The main family let the branch family fight and take the bme whenever something went wrong, while they enjoyed all the benefits.

  Given such instability within the Hyuga cn, Shirou thought it might be more worthwhile to ally with the branch family. If the pn succeeded, the branch family's formidable combat power would be firmly tied to his cause.

  "Shirou-kun, you're an ambitious man with big pns."

  Hizashi wasn't a fool. He could infer Shirou's intentions from his words—it was clear he had ambitions.

  When combined with Shirou's identity, it wasn't hard to deduce that he sought to become the Uchiha cn leader, or perhaps even y the groundwork for his future as Hokage.

  "Ambition?"

  At the mention of the word, Shirou chuckled self-deprecatingly and said:

  "To the main family, your branch family's desire to break free from your fate is considered ambition. To the Hokage, the Uchiha's desire to become Hokage is also considered ambition. So tell me, what exactly is true ambition?"

  Faced with this question, Hizashi remained silent for a long while before finally shaking his head and hoarsely replying:

  "For us in the branch family, breaking free from our fate is freedom."

  Hearing this, Shirou smiled and nodded.

  "By the same token, becoming Hokage is a right we Uchiha, as Konoha ninjas, deserve—not something to be suppressed."

  At that moment, the two seemed to share a mutual understanding. Both sought to break free from the chains of destiny.

  "Well, enough talk. Words mean nothing without action. Once we return to the vilge, I'll look into it further. After all, when it comes to sealing techniques, the most skilled person in the vilge is Kushina, not me."

  Shirou chuckled and shrugged, then stood up. Seeing this, Hizashi asked curiously:

  "Are you heading out now?"

  "What else? We're pretending to be samurai. Since we've arrived in such a bustling town, if we don't go out to enjoy ourselves or have a drink, don't you think it'll seem suspicious?"

  Under the teasing tone of Shirou, Hyūga Hizashi responded with a helpless smile, then nodded and said:

  "Alright."

  "Let's go. Tonight's meal is on me. After all, the branch family of the Hyūga cn is something even we Uchiha have heard about. Once the mission is complete, aside from the vilge's cut, the main family still takes a share."

  Shirou's pyful smile left Hyūga Hizashi momentarily speechless.

  However, deep inside, Hizashi felt a sense of relief. The topic of being caged birds was a taboo among the branch family, something they least wanted to talk about. Yet here, he felt oddly at ease.

  ...

  Until te at night, the bustling town gradually quieted down, with only a few areas of glittering nightlife still welcoming visitors.

  "Useless! Damn it! I should never have bought you. You're all worthless trash!"

  Outside a high-end tavern, an obese merchant with a furious expression shed out with a long whip. In front of him stood eight trembling young girls.

  The whip cracked through the air, but while the merchant was fuming, he took care not to hit the girls' faces. Nearby, other merchants shook their heads helplessly.

  "Enough. These white kids who can train in chakra used to be worth something, but now, the trend in the Land of Fire has shifted."

  Amidst the murmuring of compints, a samurai walking out of the tavern caught sight of a familiar merchant group. A hint of crimson flickered in his pupils.

  "The internal conflict in Kumogakure just broke out, and the Land of Fire is already reacting. I have to say, Danzo's response is quick."

  Murmuring to himself, Shirou knew this had to be the handiwork of Danzo.

  After all, tasks that could damage his reputation were never carried out directly by the Third Hokage.

  The dim moonlight shone through the broken windows, a symbol of freedom. Inside, however, was a dimly lit, damp prison cell.

  "The old fool was blind to buy trash like you," a fat middle-aged woman cursed angrily outside the cell's iron bars, her tone dripping with disdain.

  Inside the cell, the eight girls trembled, holding rigid poses as if afraid to move.

  "Listen up, you useless things! The skills I teach you will help you climb up by serving men. If you're lucky enough to be bought by a noble cn, maybe you can use these skills to rise in the world.

  But if you're unlucky... well, good luck to you."

  After pushing the girls to the brink of exhaustion, the fat woman finally left, smming the door. Only then did the girls colpse onto the floor, their suppressed sobs echoing softly in the cell.

  "Samui, it's going to be okay," Mabui, the most gentle among them, tried to comfort her companions Samui and Yugito.

  The two younger girls, however, were tearful—especially Yugito, whose eyes burned with hatred.

  "Revenge! I'll train hard and become a strong kunoichi. When I return to Kumogakure, I'll kill every st one of those devils!"

  Even young Samui's eyes glimmered with anger as she nodded.

  "I'll never forget this hatred!"

  The three young girls huddled together. For the past half month, they had endured the darkest days of their lives.

  First, they were bullied by their vilgers, mocked, and discriminated against for their skin color. Then they were sold to human traffickers by those same vilgers.

  When the merchant took them out of Kumogakure, they screamed for help, crying out that they were students preparing to take the ninja academy's entrance exam.

  But when the merchant presented his documents and revealed who had sold them, the gate guards in Kumogakure stared at them with cold indifference, ignoring their pleas.

  Seeing the hatred in Samui and Yugito's eyes, Mabui remained calm, though her rage simmered deep inside.

  "Alright, what we need to do now is rest well and pray that we're bought by a kind person. That way, we can stay together," Mabui said, her tone tinged with sadness.

  The events they had experienced had shaken their worldview to its core.

  Mabui herself was a target of ridicule in the vilge due to her darker skin tone. Her mother was white, her father unknown—a fact that only fueled the disdain directed at her.

  "If we're separated, don't worry. I'll find you someday, and we'll return to our homend together," Mabui whispered, her eyes hollow but her words offering a fragile sense of hope.

  Suddenly, a pair of crimson eyes gleamed under the moonlight.

  "If you had the chance to return to your homend, what would you do?"

  A cold voice echoed through the cell. The three girls, who had been dozing off, and the other five girls huddled in the corners, all shuddered.

  At some point, a figure had appeared outside their cell, seated on a chair, gazing at them with an indifferent expression.

  "I'd kill every st one of those devils!"

  It was Mabui, the calmest of them all, who spoke resolutely, her voice cutting through the silence.

  Her words piqued Shirou's curiosity. He turned his gaze to Mabui, whose potential he recalled from the original story. With her space-time ninjutsu talent and the role she would one day py as the Raikage's secretary, she was someone he had high hopes for.

  Under his curious gaze, young Mabui swallowed nervously but forced herself to stay calm.

  "Lord, I recognize the headband on your neck. You're a shinobi from Konoha. We're all children from Kumogakure with the ability to train in chakra. For us to end up here, it means we've been... persecuted," Mabui expined, her mind working quickly despite her fear.

  She subtly tugged at her companions' clothing, prompting Yugito and Samui to react. They quickly added:

  "After being sold, Kumogakure is no longer our home. We're homeless now. Please, Lord, take us in. We'll be your most loyal tools!"

  The other five girls, seeing a glimmer of hope in the darkness, began to cry and tremble as they echoed:

  "Lord, we're not afraid of hardship. Please train us into sharp tools!"

  Amid their darkest hour, the sudden appearance of hope made them willing to become tools—anything but perpetual sves at the bottom of society.

  "Tools, huh? That might be... interesting."

  Shirou's lips curved into a charming smile. But the next moment, to their dismay, he stood up and began walking away.

  As the moonlight illuminated him, he turned back, his Sharingan spinning with three tomoe, their crimson glow seared into their vision.

  "Get a good night's rest. Tomorrow morning, someone will come to buy you. From now on, you'll be my tools, under the name of Uchiha Shirou."

  The girls, who had just been plunged into despair as he walked away, now clung to the hope he left behind.

  In the pitch-bck darkness of their lives, his figure was etched into their hearts as a beacon of light.

  Under the moonlight, he seemed almost divine, brimming with hope, ready to lead them out of their suffering.

  For the first time in weeks, they saw a future—one shaped by vengeance and the will to survive.

  PS: A MAN purchases three little sves and begins to groom them into perfect girls for his harem.