Hey everyone! I noticed there is a lack of NaruNeji fics, so here's some food for you all served by me *chef's kiss*
Neji is female in this fic, so if you don't like that, then click off now.
With that said, enjoy everyone!
…, Italics-Flashback
"Fate binds only those who believe it. Freedom begins the moment you decide to unchain yourself."
…
A lone bird soared high above the Hyuga compound, its wings slicing through the sky as if it had no tether to the ground below. 4-year-old Neji Hyuga watched it with wide, curious eyes, her heart stirred by the sight of something so free, so far beyond her reach. The moment did not last.
The bird disappeared over the treetops, and Neji's attention snapped back to the scene in front of her a branch elder standing stiffly before her, his face a mask of duty as he delivered the news that would shatter her world.
"Your father... is gone," the man whispered. Around her, members of the Branch House wept quietly, heads bowed in sorrow. The soft murmurs of grief surrounded Neji like a fog, but the little girl stood frozen, her mind struggling to make sense of the words.
She looked past the elder, her gaze landing on her uncle, Hiashi Hyuga, her father's twin brother and head of the Main House. His expression was calm, composed, as expected of a man in his position. But even from a distance, Neji could see the glimmer of tears in his pale eyes.
Why was he crying?
Her father wasn't supposed to die.
In the hours that followed, the truth became clear. Her father, Hizashi, had not died because of some accident or enemy ambush, he had chosen to die.
The Main House had struck a deal with Kumo. To avoid conflict, Hiashi was to be handed over as a peace offering after an incident with the Kumo emissary. But Hizashi intervened. He gave his life in his brother's place, willingly stepping into the shadow of death, a gesture of love for his daughter, but also a grim reminder of the purpose the Branch House served.
Neji had stood silently as the seal on her forehead was carved into her skin soon after. The pain had been unbearable, a fire spreading through her skull but worse than the physical agony was the knowledge that she had been branded. Branded to serve. Branded to obey. Branded to live a life that was not her own.
And now, her father is gone. Sacrificed for a system that demanded compliance and submission, for a family that saw the Branch House as little more than tools.
"All for the good of the clan," they had told her. But those words only filled Neji with a rage she didn't yet know how to express.
As she grew, she understood this much: her father's death was not a noble sacrifice, it was a theft. The life of a man with dreams, fears, and love had been stolen by duty.
…
Neji opened her eyes and stared at the familiar walls of her room in the Hyuga compound, the memory fading like the remnants of a dream. But the emotions it left behind, the bitterness, the anger remained sharp. They always did.
She sat on the wooden floor, legs folded beneath her as she slowly sipped her tea, the steam curling lazily into the cool evening air. The soreness in her muscles from training throbbed faintly beneath her skin, but she welcomed it. Pain was a constant, and constancy was reliable. Unlike the people around her.
Tomorrow, the Chunin Exams will begin. Neji had prepared for the matches with relentless focus, though she hadn't bothered to ask who her first opponent would be. It didn't matter. She would win. Victory was the only way to prove herself if not to the clan, then to herself.
But even victory tasted bitter when it was served on the plate of inevitable fate.
She set the empty cup down with a quiet clink, her hand drifting to the seal on her forehead. It was hidden beneath her wrappings on her forehead but she could feel its presence, pulsing beneath her skin like a parasite. The curse seal was a reminder that she would never truly be free.
Her uncle's words echoed in her mind: 'It is our duty to protect the Main House. That is the purpose of the Branch.'
Her lips curled into a scowl. "Duty." A pretty word for chains.
Neji pushed herself up from the floor, walking slowly toward the window. The night outside was calm, a faint breeze rustling the leaves of the garden below. She leaned against the frame, resting her forehead on the cool glass, her pale eyes scanning the night sky.
A small bird flitted across her line of sight, vanishing as quickly as it appeared. She watched it go with an ache in her chest she couldn't quite explain.
It wasn't envy no, it was something deeper. A longing she didn't have the words for.
Her thoughts drifted back to her father. Hizashi's face was blurry in her memories now, but the feeling of his love, quiet, steady, and overwhelming remained. He had chosen death so she could live. Yet what kind of life was this?
A life shackled to a future she didn't choose.
She exhaled slowly, her breath fogging the glass.
'If only I could rip this seal off my head… If only I could fly far away from here.'
Her gaze lingered on the horizon, where the stars blurred into the edge of the sky. The bird she had seen earlier was gone, swallowed by the darkness. She envied it not for its freedom, but for its ignorance. A bird doesn't know it's free. It simply flies.
Neji closed her eyes. That was something she would never have.
She turned away from the window and lay down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. The silence of the Hyuga compound pressed down on her like a weight, heavy and suffocating.
"It will take more than me to change this clan." The thought slipped out quietly, unbidden, but it tasted like truth.
For all her bitterness, Neji knew one thing: change would not come from within the cage. And yet, if she ever wanted to escape it, she would have to find a way to survive inside it first.
She pulled the blanket over herself, closing her eyes as exhaustion dragged her toward sleep. Somewhere outside, she heard the faint call of a bird, its song carried by the night wind.
For a moment, she imagined herself with wings, soaring through a sky without limits. But the thought was fleeting, just a dream.
Neji turned over, her back to the window. Tomorrow would come, and with it, the weight of her fate. There was no use dreaming about freedom that would never come.
That's the first chapter, hope you enjoyed it and leave a review and question if you wish and see you in the next chapter!