Hyuga Aokawa finally obtained a new sealing technique from Minato Namikaze—the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style.
This was also the technique used in the original story to Seal the Nine-Tailed.
Along with some knowledge and principles regarding barriers that isolate Chakra.
With these things, his direction for creating an isolation Seal for the Caged Bird Seal became much clearer.
However, actually getting started would certainly not be that smooth.
One reason was waiting for his spirit particles to recover, and the other was that for inscribing a technique on the brain, it was best to experiment on some captives first.
While his mind was deep in thought, he walked toward his Barracks.
Just as Hyuga Aokawa reached his tent, his footsteps suddenly came to a halt.
The originally neat tent curtain had been roughly torn down and lay on the ground, imprinted with several dusty footprints.
From inside came the sounds of clattering and rummaging, as if a few wild boars had broken into a vegetable garden.
Ninjas from the surrounding tents peeked out, but no one dared to step forward.
The family affairs of the Hyuga Clan were always troublesome; whoever got involved would be unlucky.
Aokawa's face remained calm as he bent down to pick up the mud-stained curtain and patted off the dust.
"Have you all finished rummaging?"
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a bone-chilling coldness.
The commotion inside the tent came to an abrupt stop.
Three figures walked out.
The leader was a burly man with his forehead protector tied so tightly that his Byakugan eyes protruded slightly, making him look quite fierce.
Hyuga Takeo.
Hyuga Ieyasu's number-one lackey; his head was filled with nothing but that rotten set of hierarchy, leaving only mush for the rest.
Behind him, Hyuga Fei and Hyuga Hikaru stood with their arms crossed, identical expressions of contempt on their faces.
"Aokawa, you certainly put on airs."
Hyuga Takeo kicked aside a scroll tube at his feet, and the blank scrolls inside rolled all over the ground.
He tilted his chin slightly, looking down his nose at Aokawa: "How many days has it been since the clan's transfer order was issued? Are you still playing deaf and dumb?"
"Transfer order?"
Hyuga Aokawa stepped over the mess on the ground and walked to the low table.
The drafts for the sealing technique that were originally placed there had been swept into a corner, leaving only a few muddy footprints on the table.
He didn't look at Takeo, focusing on tidying his things: "What transfer order? Why didn't I see it?"
"Impudent!"
Hyuga Takeo shouted sharply, spit flying everywhere.
"The messenger arrived long ago. You dare say you didn't know?"
"This is the Front Lines."
Aokawa picked up a rag and slowly wiped the mud marks off the table: "More people die here every day than dead fish. Maybe the messenger was killed by Kumogakure halfway here."
He looked up, staring straight into Takeo's eyes, which were filled with rage: "Also, I am a direct subordinate of Minato-sama. My mission is only one, and that is to protect my home and country."
"Aside from Minato-sama's written orders, I recognize nothing else."
"You're looking for death!"
Hyuga Takeo was incensed by this nonchalant attitude.
A member of the Branch House.
A Branch House member who usually wouldn't even dare to breathe too loudly.
How dare he speak to the Main Family in such a tone?
"This is an urgent summons from the Elder Council!"
Slap!
Hyuga Takeo pulled a black scroll from his robes and slammed it hard onto the table that had just been wiped clean.
The solid wood desk vibrated, letting out a dull thud.
"Personally written by Grand Elder Ieyasu, ordering you to immediately hand over your current duties and get back to the Main Family!"
Takeo pointed at Aokawa's nose, his finger almost poking his face: "This time, the Grand Elder wants to personally 'teach' you the rules. If you dare to disobey, it's clan treason!"
As soon as the words "clan treason" were uttered, the expressions of the surrounding Ninjas who were watching the show shifted.
In the Ninja World, this charge was enough to leave someone with no place to be buried.
Aokawa put down the rag.
He slowly picked up the black scroll.
A smug, cold smile appeared on Takeo's face.
The Branch House is the Branch House.
As long as the name of the Main Family is brought up, even the toughest bones have to soften... Rip.
Aokawa didn't open the scroll to read it; instead, he directly tore off the Seal.
But he didn't look at the contents inside; instead, his gaze fell upon the stamp at the end of the scroll.
No Fire Seal from the Hokage.
No Clan Chief Seal from Hyuga Hiashi.
Only a bright red, glaring Private Seal—Hyuga Ieyasu.
"Heh."
Aokawa gave a light chuckle and casually tossed the scroll back onto the table, as if he were throwing away a foot-wiping rag.
"What are you laughing at?" Takeo's brow furrowed.
"I'm laughing because some people have grown old, and their brains no longer work properly."
Aokawa turned and walked out of the tent.
His voice suddenly rose, and his clear, loud voice instantly spread through half the camp.
"Fellow comrades!"
Aokawa pointed at the three people in the tent and said loudly, "Right now, the Kumogakure Army is pressing upon us, and the Front Lines are in a critical state. Every bit of combat power concerns the survival of Konoha!"
The Ninjas who were patrolling or resting all gathered around.
Among them were Ninjas from the Uchiha, Nara, and Akimichi clans.
"But these three!"
Aokawa pointed a finger at Hyuga Takeo: "Holding a piece of scrap paper without the Hokage's approval or the Clan Chief's signature, they want to forcibly take away combat personnel from the Front Lines!"
"I would like to ask everyone!"
Aokawa's gaze swept around before finally staring intently at Takeo, whose face had turned ashen.
"Is the safety of Konoha more important, or is the private desire of a certain Elder more important?"
"Are Hokage-sama's military orders as immovable as a mountain, or do the family laws of your Hyuga Main Family override the heavens?"
Every word was heart-piercing!
The surrounding crowd instantly erupted into a commotion.
"What? No Hokage's written order?"
"Privately transferring Front Line Ninjas? That's a major taboo."
"Is the Hyuga family that arrogant? They don't even respect Hokage-sama?"
The faint whispers swarmed into Hyuga Takeo's ears like mosquitoes.
His face turned the color of pig liver.
In the grand manor of the Hyuga Clan, the Main Family's orders were like imperial edicts; why would they need any Hokage's approval?
For thousands of years, hasn't the Branch House always lived like this?
But this was a Front Line military camp.
It was right under the noses of the Konoha Shinobi Allied Forces.
With these few sentences, Aokawa had directly escalated a "family matter" to the level of a "state matter."
Who could withstand such a heavy accusation being thrown at them?
"Nonsense!"
Hyuga Takeo was exasperated, the veins on his forehead throbbing violently: "Hyuga Aokawa! Stop spreading your bewitching lies here! This is a family matter!"
"Family matter?"
Aokawa sneered, approaching step by step.
"Once you enter the Shinobi Army, you are a soldier of Konoha."
"Right now, I am carrying out an S-rank secret mission personally assigned by Minato-sama. And with one mention of a 'family matter,' you want me to abandon my mission and go with you?"
He stood before Takeo; although he was slightly shorter, his Aura was like a sword unsheathed.
"If the opportunity for victory is delayed, leading to the collapse of the defense line, this responsibility..."
Aokawa pointed at Takeo's chest, then at the black scroll.
"Can you bear it?"
"Or can that Hyuga Ieyasu, who is shrinking back in the rear enjoying himself, bear it?"
Boom!
This sentence completely ignited the powder keg.
Publicly insulting a Main Family Elder!
This was an unprecedented act of malice in the thousands of years of the Hyuga Clan's history!
Hyuga Takeo's reason snapped completely.
His Byakugan eyes widened suddenly, the veins around his eyes bulging like earthworms..
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