Chapter 174: The Curse of the Caged Bird
Today, the Hyūga clan compound was visited by Konoha's senior advisor, Homura Mitokado.
The Hyūga clan, along with several main family elders, personally went forward to greet him.
They led Homura into a reception room.
This was the Hyūga clan's way of survival in Konoha. They always acted respectfully toward the Konoha elders and presented the Hyūga clan in a humble light. This was the only way the Hyūga clan could avoid being feared like the Uchiha clan.
Homura wasted no time. As soon as he sat down, he got straight to the point. "I heard that last night, a main family elder of the Hyūga clan killed a branch family elder."
"ANBU ninjas have noticed that many branch family ninjas are feeling indignant about this. The impact of this incident is very bad."
After his speech, Homura keenly noticed that one of the main family elders looked a bit stiff.
"Jinsuke, was it you?"
Homura asked.
"I didn't do it on purpose, and I didn't mean to harm him," said Jinsuke Hyūga, the wrinkles on his face twitching as he explained to Homura, "The power of the Caged Bird curse mark accidentally triggered a latent illness in his body. To be precise, he died from a sickness last night."
Homura shook his head. "Even if he truly died from a sickness, will the branch family let go of this hatred? In their eyes, you are the culprit responsible for the death of the branch family elder, even if your actions were only indirectly the cause."
"Lord Hokage doesn't want the Hyūga clan to fall into chaos. You should know how to handle this, right?"
Hiashi Hyūga, the Hyūga clan leader, said expressionlessly, "Please relay this to Lord Hokage—please rest assured, Lord Hokage, the Hyūga clan will not cause trouble for Konoha."
"Good."
Homura stood up. "This old man still has to visit the branch family. You'd better resolve the conflict between the main family and the branch family before Ikeizumi gets wind of this matter."
After Homura left, the reception room fell into a brief silence.
"He was the one who violated the Hyūga clan rules!" Jinsuke Hyūga was the first to break the silence, a grim look on his face. "Putting aside whether I intended to kill him, even if I did, and even if I actually did, it's still in line with our clan rules that have been passed down for centuries."
"What does Lord Hokage mean? Does he want me to turn myself in to appease the anger of the branch family? Our internal affairs are not for the Hokage to meddle in!"
Even though the Hyūga clan outwardly acted respectfully toward Konoha's elders, they were privately dissatisfied with their situation.
No one was willing to be subservient to others.
"Sigh..."
Another main family elder next to him said, "There's no need to be so agitated. Lord Hokage and the others don't truly understand the inner workings of the Hyūga clan. The branch family can't stir up any trouble."
"If they're dissatisfied, then let them be. The look in their eyes can't kill anyone. But if they make any moves, the Caged Bird curse mark will teach them a lesson."
"The moment the Caged Bird is branded on them, their lives are no longer in their own hands."
After hearing this, the grim look on Jinsuke's face softened slightly.
At that moment, a third main family elder said, "The key isn't Lord Hokage; it's Uchiha Ikeizumi. If he gets involved, it will be hard to handle, just like last time."
The last time.
The adherents of "Absolute Justice," Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, "brutally" killed a young Hyūga outside the clan compound under the pretense of "executing justice."
The Hyūga clan chose to swallow their pride.
If Uchiha Ikeizumi were to get involved this time...
Hiss!
When he thought of that...
Jinsuke's expression changed.
"Senior Jinsuke."
Hiashi Hyūga placed his hands on his knees. "You need to lay low. For the time being, at least, don't return to Konoha. When Uchiha Ikeizumi temporarily leaves the village, I will send a clan member to inform you."
Jinsuke's face was filled with resentment. "We can brush off Lord Hokage's warning, but we must treat the threat of a mere Uchiha Ikeizumi so cautiously. Are we Hyūga truly afraid of the Uchiha clan? What's more, Uchiha Ikeizumi doesn't even represent the Uchiha clan."
"Hmph!"
With a cold snort, he silently stood up.
"This old man will go see his family one last time for a while."
Jinsuke had given in.
He had just been putting on a brave face.
"Hah..."
Hiashi let out a slow breath and said to the other two, "For now, we need to stabilize the branch family and prevent them from dragging Uchiha Ikeizumi into this early. Are all the branch family members in the Hyūga compound?"
A main family elder said, "Aside from the two branch family kids at the Ninja Academy, everyone else is within the compound."
He paused, then added, "There were originally three branch family kids at the Academy, but one was killed. Now there are only two left, one of whom is the grandson of the deceased branch family elder."
"The two of them shouldn't have any contact with Uchiha Ikeizumi. After all, they're just brats at the Academy."
Hiashi was stunned. The other one could only be Neji Hyūga.
As Hiashi was pondering this, a main family elder reminded him, "Lord Hiashi, you should also consider branding either Hinata or Hanabi with the Caged Bird seal. Both of your children cannot be members of the main family."
"That has been the rule for many years. Hizashi was your biological brother, and he became a member of the Hyūga branch family. When it comes to Hinata and Hanabi, there can be no exception."
The elder stood up and advised, "Hiashi, this old man knows you're conflicted, just as I was when I was the Hyūga clan leader. But a clan rule is a clan rule, and it cannot be changed."
"As the leader of the Hyūga clan, you must set aside the desire to have it all. Let the matter of Hinata and Hanabi joining the branch family be done in a spectacular and beautiful way, so that one of them can have no regrets."
Hiashi was silent for a while.
"...I will consider it carefully. Hinata is already at a suitable age, but Hanabi is still young. I still need some time to see what Hanabi's talent and potential are."
He said in a low voice.
...
Konoha, somewhere.
"Hah... hah..."
"Found him!"
Naruto, out of breath, looked at Uchiha Ikeizumi not far ahead. He quickly wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to Neji and the other young Hyūga who had caught up behind him, "Just tell Ikeizumi-sensei the situation honestly."
As Naruto quickly walked forward, he suddenly noticed that Sasuke was standing still beside him.
Naruto stopped in confusion.
"What's wrong?"
The news of Itachi Uchiha's death at the hands of Uchiha Ikeizumi had only spread in a small circle within Konoha, known only to members of the Uchiha clan and some Konoha ninjas.
Naruto obviously didn't know that Sasuke's older brother had been killed by Uchiha Ikeizumi.
"...Nothing."
Sasuke took a deep breath, desperately suppressing the strange thoughts in his mind. He kept muttering to himself, 'Uchiha Itachi deserved to die, Uchiha Itachi deserved to die,' then told Naruto, "Let's go find Ikeizumi-sensei."
"You're acting weird today."
Naruto muttered but didn't press further.
He quickened his pace toward Uchiha Ikeizumi and immediately shouted, "Ikeizumi-sensei!"
"Kijirō-senpai!"
He didn't forget Kijirō. The "senpai" from the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki made Kijirō comfortably close his eyes.
Sasuke followed and also greeted them twice.
"Meow, you two brats, shouldn't you be in class at the Ninja Academy right now?" Kijirō asked. "If I remember correctly, the Academy's lunch break ended a minute ago, didn't it?"
Naruto quickly said, "It's because we found a murder in the village, so we rushed to find Ikeizumi-sensei."
"A murder?"
Uchiha Ikeizumi lowered his gaze to Naruto and Sasuke. Then, his eyes fell upon Neji Hyūga and the other timid-looking young Hyūga behind them.
Under Uchiha Ikeizumi's stare, Neji felt a sense of fear once again.
It felt like a terrifying beast was staring intently at him.
And he felt like a helpless, naked person.
A sense of unease filled his entire body.
'It's all a delusion. As long as I'm just and upright, there's nothing to be afraid of! If I don't even dare to look him in the eye, how can I believe in his absolute justice?'
Neji kept repeating this to himself.
He raised his head, looked at Uchiha Ikeizumi, and explained the events from beginning to end.
Neji knew he could add fuel to the fire and exaggerate the main family's actions to put them in a bad light. If he did, the main family might suffer terribly. He might even be able to use Uchiha Ikeizumi's power against them.
But...
If he actually did that, would it truly be justice?
This question made Neji choose to tell the truth.
He did not add any embellishments.
"Huh?" Naruto was completely dumbfounded. He had been so focused on finding Ikeizumi-sensei that he hadn't had a chance to ask Neji what the "murder" was all about.
Now that he had heard the whole story, Naruto's face was full of confusion.
"What's this about the main family and the branch family? Why would you punish someone for trying to remove a curse seal?"
"This Caged Bird curse seal... it sounds terrible! Is your Hyūga family rule bigger than the laws of the Land of Fire?"
Sasuke was also stunned.
How did the Hyūga clan...
Get so crazy too?
...
....
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