Hyuga Hizashi's lips curled into a bitter smile.
His heart was tangled with conflicting emotions, and toward his elder brother, Hiashi, he couldn't help but feel genuine admiration.
Cautious. Always cautious.
And right. His brother's decision had been the right one.
Especially when he recalled what Hyuga Aya had said to him during her visit yesterday afternoon, Hizashi could only let out a long, heavy sigh.
These foolish main family elders… They thought they could scheme against Uchiha Kai?
What they failed to realize was that while they had their eyes on the Uchiha, the Uchiha's gaze had already settled on them.
They wanted to use Aya as a bridge to draw benefits from the Uchiha?
But the Uchiha intended to uproot the Hyuga from the ground up!
Still… Could the Caged Bird Curse Seal really be broken?
The memory of yesterday's arrangement with Aya left his heart uneasy.
Yes.
They had made a pact.
He would cooperate with Aya's plan, helping to sway as many branch house members as possible to defect to the Uchiha.
Today, he didn't need to act. Silence would be enough.
Aya had promised him this much: when she departed, she would take his son, Neji, with her — sparing the boy from the fate of having the main family carved into his forehead.
At first, he had refused.
Though the seal had long driven a wedge between himself and his elder brother, Hiashi, their bond as siblings was still deep. Otherwise, Hizashi wouldn't have willingly remained among the branch house.
But… Aya's words had struck directly at his weakness.
He could endure humiliation for himself, but what about his son, Neji?
A child — a parent's softest spot.
He could give his loyalty to the Hyuga Clan. But to allow his son to be branded a slave of the main family, shackled for life by the Caged Bird Curse Seal? That, he could not accept.
Yes.
To Hizashi, the branch house was nothing but slavery.
He knew his choice was a betrayal of the clan.
But for Neji's sake, he had no other path.
…
Time flowed on.
Half an hour later.
Hyuga Yū, dressed in a training gi, entered under Aya's escort.
"Clan head, Father, Uncle, Elders…"
He wore a smile upon his face. Yet despite his seemingly respectful tone, his eyes brimmed with arrogance.
And perhaps he had a reason.
At eighteen, though he had not joined the official shinobi ranks, he had recently defeated one of the clan's chunin retainers.
Among the branch houses, such ability would mean little. In the wider world of shinobi, reaching Chunin at eighteen was laughable — a so-called prodigy among civilians, perhaps, but within the great clans? A mediocrity at best.
The reason was simple: with all the resources and techniques at their disposal, a clan youth reaching only chunin by eighteen was practically trash.
But within the Hyuga's main family, which had long since grown soft and decadent, Yū stood out. Among the younger generation of the main house, he truly was number one.
"Ah, Yū has arrived!"
"As expected of our main family's genius — look at that spirit!"
"The main family has its successor!"
"…"
The elders praised him one after another.
And yes — their words were sincere.
For they themselves were already in their sixties and seventies, their strength barely scraping the level of Jounin.
An eighteen-year-old who had reached chunin was almost guaranteed to one day be Jounin as well — more than enough for a seat among the elders.
After all, they had no need to fight on the front lines. Strength was just for show.
Hiashi: "…"
Hizashi: "…"
The branch house elders: "…"
Their mouths twitched.
Unlike the pampered main family, they had seen the battlefield, where life and death were separated by a single breath.
An eighteen-year-old chunin? It was a joke.
But none of them dared speak.
For all their uselessness, the main house still held the branch house's lives in their hands through the Caged Bird Curse Seal.
Hiashi's brows knit tightly as he watched the elders' empty flattery, and the proud, arrogant expression on Yū's face.
He let out a weary sigh.
He had no patience for this farce.
"All right, silence."
"Elder Tenichi, begin."
He cut the chatter short, his voice flat.
He clearly wanted this ceremony over with as soon as possible, to be done with it and go home.
To see an eighteen-year-old chunin praised to the heavens — it was nauseating.
Thankfully, no outsiders were present. If another clan witnessed this display, the Hyuga's face would be utterly lost.
Elder Tenichi nodded. He could sense Hiashi's discontent, but said nothing.
Hiashi might scorn the main family, and that displeased him greatly. Yet given the circumstances, there was no one else capable of filling the role of clan head.
After all, the clan head had to deal with Konoha's leadership and the other great clans. And the main family was utterly useless at that.
So he merely said:
"Very well."
"Hyuga Yū, step forward."
Yū approached, dropping to one knee.
After Elder Tenichi performed the formal rites and inscribed Yū's name into the main family's genealogy, his tone softened.
"Attendant, bring the ceremonial robes."
At that, all eyes turned toward the hall's entrance.
Hyuga Aya entered, carrying a folded black kimono in both hands.
The crowd's eyes glittered.
The main house elders' gazes were thick with greed.
Her beauty was not what drew them — after all, as main family members, they could take their pick of branch house women.
What they coveted was her connection to Uchiha Kai.
Even after Hiashi's harsh words earlier, Aya remained a valuable prize. Whoever controlled her would hold a link to the Uchiha.
And when the clan faced a crisis, such a connection could prove invaluable.
As for her own wishes? No one cared.
She was merely from the branch house. To the main family, she wasn't even human.
They still simmered with envy that Yotai had claimed her so quickly, binding her as his son's attendant before anyone else could act.
But while their gazes burned with jealousy—
Aya moved.
With a casual flick, she tossed aside the kimono in her hands.
Her other hand snapped, producing a crimson flare.
A signal flare.
The next instant, it shot into the sky with a sharp hiss.
Bang!
It burst above the Hyuga compound, blooming into a blazing crimson pattern.
The mark of the Uchiha: the flaming fan.
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