With almost all members of the security force mobilized, none of the rioters escaped, and the security headquarters' prison was quickly filled to capacity.
Meanwhile, Kakashi successfully helped Hyuga Hiashi suppress the internal rebellion.
After handling matters within the clan, although it was late at night, Hyuga Hiashi still went to the Hokage Building.
Before entering the Hokage's office, Hyuga Hiashi was still uneasy. Although he had immediately sent his children to the Uchiha clan and sent word to the Hyuga clan elders after noticing something was wrong with the clan elders, ultimately, it was Uchiha Touhuan's Hokage lineage that cleaned up his mess. Therefore, it was impossible for the Hyuga to avoid paying a price for this.
When Hyuga Hiashi entered the Hokage's office, Uchiha Touhuan was leisurely maintaining his ninja sword.
Hearing Hiashi Hyuga enter, Touhuan Uchiha didn't even look up, focusing intently on oiling his Lightning Blade at his desk.
Hiashi Hyuga's heart tightened at the sight, but he could only lower his head and wait for Touhuan to speak first. After
finishing his ninja sword maintenance, Touhuan sheathed it, stood up, and placed it back on the sword rack in his office before returning to his seat and looking at Hiashi Hyuga.
"It's so late, what brings the Hyuga clan head to my Hokage office?"
"Fifth Hokage, I have failed in my duties to manage my subordinates, resulting in several traitors within the clan. Therefore, I have come to apologize," Hiashi Hyuga said, bowing deeply. "
Is that so? Then, how did the Hyuga clan head deal with those traitors?" Touhuan asked.
"I have sealed the chakra of the ringleaders and handed them over to the security forces, awaiting the Hokage's decision," Hiashi Hyuga replied.
Uchiha Touhuan gave Hyuga Hiashi a deep look, and after a long while, a smile appeared on his face. Although Hyuga Hiashi and Uchiha Fugaku were arguably the strongest of their generation in the village, when it came to being the clan leader, Hyuga Hiashi was far superior to Fugaku. At least, in this situation, he was able to make timely decisions.
To be honest, if Uchiha Fugaku had made a decision as soon as he did, whether it was directly recruiting soldiers, stockpiling supplies, and attacking the village, or directly dealing with those radicals and submitting to Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Uchiha clan wouldn't be in their current predicament.
"So, this time, Hyuga and Hikaru's involvement is just their own ambition, is that it?" Uchiha Touhuan said, looking at Hyuga Hiashi.
"But they are, after all, the elders of the Hyuga clan's main branch…"
"Lord Hokage need not worry about this matter. If necessary, the Hyuga clan will remove their Byakugan and erase their names from the clan register," Hyuga Hiashi said without the slightest hesitation.
Uchiha Touhuan glanced at Hyuga Hiashi; this old man had probably wanted to do this for a long time.
From the information Uchiha Touhuan had, it was clear that after Hyuga Hizashi's death, the head of the Hyuga branch family became someone from Hyuga Kaname's lineage. It wasn't hard to see that these Hyuga elders weren't entirely innocent in the matter of Hyuga Hizashi's death.
"Heh, the Hyuga clan head is so considerate of the village; the Hyuga clan truly deserves to be the backbone of the village," Uchiha Touhuan laughed. "However, the Hyuga clan head should take this as a warning. After all, if everyone in the village could completely control a private army that only obeys their orders, it would create a lot of trouble for the village's management, wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes," Hyuga Hiashi nodded.
Hiashi Hyuga's heart sank upon hearing Touhuan Uchiha's words. It seemed the Fifth Hokage intended to target the Caged Bird Seal system within the clan.
Indeed, any ruler with a sound mind would find it difficult to tolerate a group of armed forces whose lives were entirely in the hands of another, completely controlled by that person.
Previously, due to the Caged Bird Seal system, the Hyuga clan had never entered the village's upper echelons, merely guarding their own territory. Therefore, even if the Hokage's faction wanted to intervene, they couldn't find a reason.
But this time, those fools, Hyuga Kaname and his ilk, were completely blinded by the allure of the Hokage position offered by Utatane and Mitomon, handing over their reasons to the Hokage.
Hiashi Hyuga also had very complex feelings about the clan's Caged Bird Seal system. For him personally, this system was one of the reasons his younger brother had met his end.
However, as the head of the Hyuga clan and the biggest beneficiary of this system, he was hesitant to abolish it. Firstly, he lacked the power, and secondly, he was genuinely reluctant. With this system in place, unless several main clan factions united to force him out, his position as clan head was virtually unshakeable.
Furthermore, as long as he didn't make any major mistakes, the position would continue to pass down through his descendants, just as he had inherited it from his father.
But now, Uchiha Touhuan's intentions were clearly to target the clan's Caged Bird Seal system.
"Elder Hyuga," Uchiha Touhuan said, "according to tradition, each Hokage personally takes on a three-person team as disciples. Before becoming Hokage, I already took on the second son of Elder Fugaku's family as a disciple, so I plan to choose two more from his peers." He added, "I think Neji has good talent and I plan to take him on as a disciple sometime soon. What does the Hyuga clan head think?"
Hiashi Hyuga's pupils contracted; he almost instantly understood Uchiha Touhuan's deeper meaning. Touhuan's move was far more ruthless than simply ordering the Hyuga clan to abolish the Caged Bird Seal system.
While the Hyuga clan now had leverage over them, the Hokage's forceful interference in the internal affairs of the village's ninja clans would inevitably leave room for criticism.
But now, Touhuan's sudden proposal to take Neji as his student left no room for argument. After
all, the Hokage taking talented young people as disciples was a tradition that began with the First and Second Hokage taking six disciples, including the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The Third Hokage continued this tradition, taking the former Sannin as disciples, and while the Fourth Hokage died young, he also took a three-person team as his personal disciples before taking office. Now, Touhuan's proposal to continue this tradition seemed perfectly reasonable.
The problem lies in another unspoken rule beneath this tradition: the Hokage's disciples are entitled to inherit a portion of their teacher's political assets. In other words, becoming the Hokage's disciple grants the qualification to become Hokage in the future.
This explains why Hiruzen Sarutobi's attempt to force Jiraiya into the position recently encountered little resistance.
Logically, Uchiha Touhuan's acceptance of a Hyuga clan member as a disciple should be beneficial for the Hyuga clan. However, the issue arises because the chosen individual is a member of the branch family. Becoming the Hokage's disciple
carries the potential to become Hokage; regardless of their actual ability to achieve the position, the role itself carries political significance.
If Neji becomes Uchiha Touhuan's disciple, his "Caged Bird Seal" status will be lost.
Otherwise, what would outsiders think of the Hyuga clan's main branch? Holding the future Hokage's life in their hands—are they trying to become the village's de facto ruler? At that point, the Hyuga clan would likely find themselves in an even more troublesome situation than the previous Uchiha clan.
However, even if Neji's Caged Bird Seal is lifted and he is promoted to the main family, it would still be difficult for the Hyuga clan to accept.
After all, the Hyuga clan has never before lifted the Caged Bird Seal from a branch family member. Even during the Warring States period, when the main family was short-handed, talented children from the branch families who hadn't yet been imprisoned were selected for the main family. "
Once a Caged Bird, always a Caged Bird"—this is why the system has survived to this day.
Now, if this precedent is set, will the other branch families still obediently follow the main family's orders?
More importantly, once Neji becomes a main family member, he could easily win over a large number of branch family members by using the lifting of the Caged Bird Seal as leverage. It wouldn't be long before the Caged Bird Seal becomes a mere formality.
In short, Uchiha Touhuan has silently placed two poisoned cakes before the Hyuga clan.
Hyuga Hiashi was sweating profusely. While hesitating, he was also relieved that he had sent the children to the Uchiha clan immediately, severing his ties. Otherwise, given Uchiha Touhuan's methods, wiping out the Hyuga clan wouldn't have been difficult.
As for directly refusing Uchiha Touhuan' offer to take him as a disciple, if this incident hadn't happened, Hiashi would have had that option. But now, the Hyuga clan was involved in a coup d'état, and the Hokage's lenient treatment was already an act of leniency. To refuse the Hokage's offer to take him as a disciple now would be like an old man eating poison—courting death.
[Fine, consider it compensation to Hizashi.]
Hyuga Hiashi sighed and nodded, saying, "In that case, I thank the Hokage-sama for his kindness on behalf of Neji."
"Clan Head Hiashi, please don't say that," Uchiha Touhuan chuckled. "Guiding talented children in the village onto the path of the Will of Fire is also the Hokage's duty, isn't it?"
"The Hokage-sama is right," Hiashi said.
"I've always thought Clan Chief Hiashi was a smart man, but I still want to remind Elder Hyuga that I don't want my disciples to have any questionable qualities on them during the apprenticeship process." Uchiha Touhuan stared at Hyuga Hiashi. "Understand?"
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