Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its character belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I make.
Chapter 154: Prevent Worse
Raiken arrived at the Hyuga residence just as the situation was on the verge of turning into something worse. He could hear the noise from inside the walls while he was still outside and using his mind eye he located the exact position of everyone inside without needing to step through the gate.
The gate itself was unguarded and not even one Hyuga members are there, every single one of them had gathered in front of the clan leader house.
"It's weird," said Raiken before going to the location of the sound.
When he arrived at the home of Hyuga Asahi, the current clan leader, infront of his housewas packed with branch members whose patience had clearly run out some time ago. The panic on the faces of Hyuga Asahi, his family and the others elders can be seen clearly on the bright day light.
They are clearly in combat readiness, their Byakugan were already active waiting for the first attack from them, Asahi rather died fighting them than being humiliated without fighting.
Hyuga Chiharu, the woman who were forced to marry someone she didn't love, was at the front of the crowd with her voice raised and her finger pointed directly at the elder who had arranged her engagement without her consent and then expected her to simply accept it as though her feelings on the matter were irrelevant.
Before it could escalate to something bad, it was stopped with a single word.
"Enough," said Raiken and every Hyuga who are in there turned their head toward him at once.
When they saw who it was, the noise died down. They knew him and more importantly they knew what he had done for them. They become silent not because of afraid of him but because of genuine respect for the person standing in front of them.
"Thank you," said Raiken, looking at the crowd. "I have invented that seal so you could live with dignity, not so you could kill your own clan leader."
"YOU!" Asahi stepped forward, his voice cracking with barely contained fury. "Look at what you have done. If not for you this clan would be living in peace right now."
Raiken glanced at him with a look that made Asahi stop mid-sentence, then turned back toward the branch members without giving the clan leader another word.
"Raiken sama," said Chiharu, her voice quieter now instead of shouting like before.
"I know what was done to you, I have heard your conversation with him," said Raiken, looking at her directly. "I know about the engagement and I know how it feels to have something that important taken out of your hands and handed to someone else as though your opinion never mattered. Your anger is not wrong, what was done to you was not right."
He raised his voice slightly so that everyone in there could hear him clearly.
"But if you kill them today you will spend the rest of your lives being called criminals and everything you just won will be turned against you as proof that the seal was necessary in the first place," said Raiken. "I did not spend weeks altering those seals just for it to end like this."
The anger of the branch members did not disappear entirely but it settled down a bit. The elders and Asahi quietly exhaled behind him.
"You did this," said Hyuga Asahi again, unable to stop himself, his voice still vibrating with anger he had nowhere useful to put.
"I did," replied Raiken without any hesitation or apology in his tone. "And if you would prefer your clan members to finish what they started, just keep talking and I won't stop them from attacking you."
Every word Asahi had been preparing died somewhere between his throat and his mouth, he was genuinely afraid he would be killed here with his family, wife and child.
Raiken turned back to Chiharu.
"I believe your name is Chiharu," he said.
She nodded once.
"You no longer have to marry, you hyuga elders arranged," said Raiken simply.
Chiharu was quiet for a moment and then something in her expression shifted, the particular shift that happens when someone has been holding a weight for so long they have forgotten what it feels like not to carry it.
"Thank you, Raiken sama," she said.
"You are welcome," replied Raiken before looking out at the rest of the branch members gathered there. "I altered the seal on your foreheads so you could live like people, not so you could become the same thing that was done to you so please do not make me regret it."
The branch members looked at each other and then back at him and one by one they nodded, the tension in their shoulders dropping a little.
"We will leave them alive, Raiken sama," said one of the senior branch members near the back. "It is because of you that we are standing here like this and to thank you, we would not throw that away."
Raiken smiled at that answer, hearing how innocence Hyuga side branch members compared to main family.
"Good," he said quietly. "Now let us talk about what happens next. Right now you all need to elect a new clan leader."
"HOW DARE..." Asahi stepped forward before stopping himself as Raiken turned and looked at him with a single glance that carried considerably more weight than any raised voice would have.
"You," said Raiken evenly.
Asahi swallowed whatever he had been about to say.
"Just be realistic Asahi," said Raiken. "Your own clan hates you enough to show up at your front door. A clan leader that his own people want dead is not a clan leader, he is just a man standing in a position he no longer deserves. So how do you expect to lead them going forward when they cannot even stand to look at you right now?"
Asahi opened his mouth and then closed it again, the fury on his face can be seen even by the first time strangers.
.....
There is 30 advanced chapter on my patreon.
Chapter 180: They Are Not Hyuga
Chapter 181: Keep Calm, Blame Danzo
Chapter 182: Convincing
Chapter 183: Dealing
Chapter 184: Approved
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