Worse than Watchdog was Stray Dog.
But if the comparison was to the so-called original Otsutsuki Clan, then maybe that really was the case.
The might of the Otsutsuki Clan had been shown in vivid detail throughout Kaede Kitahara's diary. The way he described them made them sound almost like gods.
And the later appearances of Otsutsuki Momoshiki and Otsutsuki Kinshiki had indeed been astonishing. Even Otsutsuki Kinshiki, who existed like a lower-ranking servant, had actually been able to fight middle-aged Uchiha Sasuke evenly in Taijutsu.
That level of Taijutsu was something the current Shinobi World could hardly imagine.
"The God Tree. Again with the God Tree. What exactly is this thing?"
Namikaze Minato looked at the record in the diary. According to Kaede Kitahara, if one stripped away the so-called god clan filter from the Otsutsuki Clan and treated them like a ninja clan similar to the Uchiha Clan or the Senju Clan, then the only difference was that their strength was clearly far beyond the Uchiha Clan and Senju Clan.
Analyzed from that perspective, aside from the Byakugan that formed the foundation of the Otsutsuki Clan, there was one other thing.
The God Tree.
But what exactly was it?
That was something Kaede Kitahara's previous diary entries had never recorded, but Minato's instincts told him that it very likely hid the core reason the Otsutsuki Clan had become so powerful.
Because he had already seen the use of the Byakugan. The later derivations, the Sharingan and the Rinnegan, were both powerful dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai.
Then this God Tree had to be important too. Important enough to let them roam the universe and become a god clan.
For the Hyuga Clan, which possessed such a bloodline, to end up like this really was a pity.
However, the next guess Kaede Kitahara threw out instantly made Minato tense all over.
The Hyuga Clan were the remnants of the Otsutsuki Main House from the moon?
There were Otsutsuki on the moon?
That statement made every hair on his body stand on end. It was simply too terrifying.
He had known before that the Otsutsuki Clan came from the boundless void, but he had not known that this boundless void was right there on the moon.
If that statement was true, did it not mean the entire Shinobi World was under the Otsutsuki Clan's watch?
The moment he imagined a group of Otsutsuki on the moon staring down at the Shinobi World day and night, his scalp went numb.
Because that was unimaginable.
If, based on whatever evidence Kaede Kitahara had found, the Hyuga Clan truly were the remnants of the so-called Otsutsuki Main House, then did that not mean there was a passage from the moon to Earth? Or worse, that they did not need a passage at all and could cross space directly to reach the Shinobi World?
That was too frightening.
But in Kaede Kitahara's previous video, Otsutsuki Momoshiki had indeed said he had crossed the void to reach the Shinobi World.
"No, that can't be right. Something about this has to be wrong." Namikaze Minato grew a little restless. He felt there had to be some problem somewhere.
"I remember now. According to Kaede Kitahara's previous diary entries, the Hyuga Clan are actually descendants of one of the two Otsutsuki who came to the Shinobi World, Otsutsuki Hamura. If the Hyuga Clan are the so-called Otsutsuki Main House, then that definitely isn't the same as the Otsutsuki Main Family we understood before." Namikaze Minato remembered that when Kaede Kitahara had previously mentioned the Otsutsuki Clan, the term he used was Otsutsuki Main Family.
Not Otsutsuki Main House. There had to be a difference between the two.
Once he thought of it that way, Namikaze Minato felt much better. Although this Otsutsuki Clan that had directly inherited Otsutsuki Hamura's bloodline was very likely still powerful, it was at least a kind of power they could understand.
For reference, they could look at Otsutsuki Hagoromo's descendants.
Otsutsuki Hagoromo had been even stronger than Otsutsuki Hamura, and his descendants had still ended up like this. Then Otsutsuki Hamura's descendants definitely could not be that much stronger. At the very least, they would not be as terrifying as the Otsutsuki Main Family deep among the stars.
"If that's the case, then many of the Hyuga Clan's issues can be explained. For example, their excessive Main House and Branch House system…" Namikaze Minato said, rubbing his smooth chin.
He felt like he was starting to understand the Hyuga Clan's obsession. If they were the so-called Otsutsuki Main House from the moon back then, that meant the moon had already practiced a similar Main House and Branch House system. It was just obvious that the Branch House had bitten back.
And since the Otsutsuki Branch Family on the moon had been able to revolt, they probably had nothing like the Caged Bird Seal. That was why there had been no way to truly force the Branch House to submit.
So after they fled to Earth, they not only changed their surname and identity, but also specifically developed the inhumanly cruel Caged Bird Seal to control the newly divided Branch House, all because of what had happened back then.
But saying that without the Caged Bird Seal, the Byakugan would be dug out was a bit alarmist.
After all, even if the Hyuga Clan were the remnants of the so-called Otsutsuki Clan Main House, they were by no means nobodies in the Shinobi World.
It could be said that for a very long time, they had been a first-rate ninja clan second only to the Senju Clan and Uchiha Clan. There were not many clans that could stand shoulder to shoulder with them.
As long as they did not keep trying to compete with the Senju Clan and Uchiha Clan, who could rival them? How many people would dare dig out their Byakugan?
Or rather, who could dig out a Byakugan and avoid retaliation from the Hyuga Clan?
They could not possibly be that pathetic, right? No way. Absolutely no way.
After all, in Namikaze Minato's understanding, ninja clans placed extreme importance on preventing their bloodlines from spreading outside the clan.
He could completely imagine that Kakashi had only been able to keep the Sharingan later because a great deal of interest exchange had taken place, preventing the Uchiha Clan from taking it back.
And this likely also had a lot to do with the Uchiha Clan later being wiped out, leaving no one to care about the matter.
But Kaede Kitahara had never been someone who spoke without basis. Since he said it was protection to some degree, then the Caged Bird Seal most likely did serve that function. Which brought up the question: what kind of enemy required the Caged Bird Seal for protection?
Was it the Otsutsuki Branch Family on the moon?
Was it the Otsutsuki Branch Family that had ultimately won?
Their clan's civil war had actually reached such a vicious degree.
"The Tenseigan? What kind of eye is that?"
Hyuga Neji was shocked when he saw the Tenseigan. This was already different from the so-called second stage of the Byakugan that Kaede Kitahara had guessed might exist. This was an eye that truly existed.
And since Kaede Kitahara was so certain, that meant someone must have reached it before.
That gave Hyuga Neji tremendous hope. Their Byakugan was not useless. Their Byakugan also had an evolved form. It did not only have a second stage and third stage. It had a true evolution, a brand-new ocular form that could rival the Rinnegan.
Their Hyuga Clan was not a useless clan, much less some so-called Stray Dog!