"It's not possible to remove the Caged Bird seal from every single clan member. That would give the Ōtsutsuki on the moon a chance to restart the Tenseigan plan—perhaps even carry out another large-scale massacre of the Hyūga clan."
"At the same time, it's also not possible to place the Caged Bird seal on every single clan member. That would turn the entire Hyūga clan into slaves of the Ōtsutsuki…"
Only now did Neji finally begin to understand what kind of dilemma the Hyūga clan was truly facing.
For a brief moment, he even found himself thinking that the division between the Main House and the Branch House might actually be the best possible solution.
'If it were Uchiha Keizumi… would he be able to go to the moon and deal with those Ōtsutsuki?'
Neji fell silent, yet such a bold thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
In Neji's view, the Ōtsutsuki clan—who posed a massive threat to the shinobi world and were constantly scheming to destroy it—had unquestionably violated absolute justice.
But the problem now was that Neji didn't know whether Keizumi even had the ability to reach the moon.
'…Probably not.'
'Keizumi-sama is very strong, but he's never shown the ability to fly—let alone fly all the way to the moon!'
Neji frowned deeply. Countless thoughts churned through his mind, yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't come up with a proper solution to the Hyūga clan's predicament.
"I will help you remove the Caged Bird seal, Neji. Protect your sister. Protect Hinata."
"As for how to deal with the threat from the Ōtsutsuki on the moon… the best solution is probably for Hinata to awaken the Tenseigan."
Hiashi gazed deeply at Neji. He had already entrusted him with all the responsibilities known only to the Main House head. Even if he were to die now, the Hyūga clan's legacy would not be severed.
"…I understand."
Neji remained silent. After a long moment, he slowly nodded.
He had not abandoned justice. He still hated the Caged Bird seal that divided the Main House and the Branch House. But for the sake of justice—for the sake of the entire shinobi world—even if he despised it, he would still become the very Main House he once loathed.
'Justice…'
'Absolute justice…'
Neji murmured silently in his heart. Meanwhile, Hiashi had already removed the Caged Bird seal from Neji's forehead.
The moment the seal was undone, Neji could clearly feel something that had been restricting him vanish. If he activated his Byakugan now, there would no longer be any blind spot at all.
'Justice is right—but absolute justice may not be the path that suits me best.'
'My justice… is the justice of protection.'
'Protect Hinata. She has the chance to awaken the Tenseigan. If the Ōtsutsuki on the moon succeed in creating it, she will be the only ultimate weapon capable of resisting them.'
'Protect the Hyūga. That is my duty…'
'Protect the shinobi world. We share the same lineage as the Ōtsutsuki on the moon. Stopping them is also the mission of the Hyūga clan!'
'So… my justice will be the justice of protection!'
'Hinata, the Hyūga, Konoha, the shinobi world… these are all things I must protect—things I will protect with everything I have!'
At this moment, Neji felt as if he had undergone a kind of sublimation. He finally understood, to some extent, why Uchiha Keizumi was able to do the things he did. If anyone violated the justice in his heart, Neji would pay any price to stop them.
Not long after Neji left the Konoha prison, a terrifying explosion erupted in its direction.
Hyūga Tsukasa had finally made his move.
For the sake of power—for everything he had fought so hard to obtain—he chose to take a desperate gamble, directly assaulting the Konoha prison in order to gain the support of Hyūga Hiashi and the former Main House members.
"Hyūga Tsukasa!"
What he hadn't expected was that just as he led his loyal followers to break into the prison, the very person who should have supported him—Hyūga Hiashi—stepped forward to stop him.
"…Why?"
Tsukasa looked at Hiashi charging toward him, his expression filled with confusion and disbelief.
Weren't they supposed to be allies?
He had committed a crime that defied the entire world by attacking the Konoha prison. Even if Hiashi didn't leave with him, this wasn't how he should be reacting!
"Didn't your father ever tell you? Once you're Branch House, you're Branch House for life!"
"Even if you remove the Caged Bird seal, so what? Branch House is still Branch House!"
"If you had truly treated the clan as family, maybe we old men would have thought a bit more highly of you. But you treat the clan as slaves—how are you any different from us old fossils?"
To Tsukasa's shock, it wasn't just Hiashi who attacked—several Hyūga elders joined in as well.
After learning that Hiashi had passed the responsibilities of the Main House head to Neji—and that Neji had accepted them—these elders had changed their stance.
They knew, at least in part, that the Hyūga clan bore a certain duty. Since they themselves had become rotten relics of the past, and the clan's responsibility had already been passed on, then they would help Neji cleanse the filth within the Hyūga clan.
"…Why…"
Even at this moment, facing the combined assault of several elders, Tsukasa remained utterly bewildered.
He truly couldn't understand.
Was it really just because "once Branch House, always Branch House"?
"Don't overestimate him—and don't underestimate ourselves."
"Perhaps time has worn down our ambition, turned us corrupt, even made us treat the Branch House as slaves."
"But we know what we carry on our shoulders. As for him… he's nothing more than a rat who stumbled into a high position by chance."
With another elder joining the attack, Tsukasa died without ever understanding why.
"Since the prison has already been breached… then let us begin our final blaze."
"You all remember, don't you? The purest Hyūga blood flows through our veins. All that talk of grand righteousness is meaningless—but for the sake of our Byakugan Princess, it's time for us to make our final offering."
Hiashi looked at Tsukasa's corpse, expressionless, and gouged out his Byakugan.
He had not told Neji everything.
It was true that Hinata had the chance to awaken the Tenseigan—but to do so, she would need something more.
For example… the very plan the Ōtsutsuki on the moon had once attempted but failed to complete.
They needed to sacrifice the entire Hyūga clan—to completely bring the clan's mission to an end.
"…Should we kill the others as well?"
One of the elders looked toward Utatane Koharu and the others inside the prison, a bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes.
Since they had already chosen a path of no return, then before dying, these elders wanted to drag a few more people down with them—
Or rather, to make an even bigger scene.