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[— Manga Scene —]
'Hinata…' At this moment, Kurenai was remembering the moment before she became Hinata's teacher.
"Wake up, Hanabi." In her memories, Hinata's father spoke, and she apparently has a younger sister.
"I will take over Hinata from now on.. but,"
"Are you sure everything is alright?" Kurenai said.
"Hinata is the successor to the Hyuga Main Family."
"And working as a Genin, she will be surrounded by death." The man looked toward Kurenai and continued.
"Do what you want… The Hyuga do not want failures whose abilities are less than Hanabi… who is five years younger than her." Apparently, her younger sister was more talented than her.
"Is that all? Then, please leave." said the leader of the Hyuga clan.
"Yes.." Kurenai replied politely as she closed the door behind her.
'Hinata is trying to change herself…' Kurenai concluded her memories with this thought.
"Hinata-sama… just as I expected, you are the annoying failure of the Main House." Neji said, shattering Hinata's illusions.
"Eh?" she was surprised by his words.
"People cannot change themselves!"
"A failure is a failure…"
"Their personalities and strengths will never change.." Neji explained coldly.
'This boy…' Naruto found Neji's words irritating to hear.
"Because people cannot change, differences were born…"
"And factions like the elite and the failures were created." Neji continued his quest to break her morale before their fight.
"Shapes and minds, abilities, sizes, and personalities… everyone is a ruler or ruled by these factors."
"And based on these unchanging factors, people are distinguished.. and they suffer within themselves and live."
"And this is the same truth that I am from the Branch House and you are from the Main House, which cannot be changed."
"I can see a lot with this Byakugan.."
"That is why I know you are pretending to be strong… deep inside your heart, you want to run away from here."
Neji gave his precise judgment, causing Hinata to become more tense and afraid.
[— End Scene —]
As most readers finished this scene, a strange silence fell over the Art Store in Konoha, a silence born not of peace, but of the heavy shock left by Kurenai's memories and Neji's toxic words.
The atmosphere was charged with unprecedented tension, especially in the section dedicated to the Hyuga clan, where bodies froze and white eyes widened in indescribable astonishment.
Hiashi and Hizashi stared at the manga pages as if they were seeing a ghost.
The man who appeared in Kurenai's memories, the father of Hinata and Hanabi, bore their features with terrifying precision, yet he possessed a coldness and cruelty they had not yet recognized in themselves.
"Is this… is this me? Or is it you, Hizashi?" Hiashi muttered with a trembling voice, pointing a shaking finger at the image of the man who described his daughter as a "failure."
Confusion gnawed at his mind; the resemblance between the twins made it difficult for them to determine which of them would become that harsh father in the future.
Hizashi, breathing heavily, shook his head in disbelief.
"I don't know… the features are exactly the same. But how could one of us speak to his daughter this way? 'The Hyuga do not want failures'? These words… they kill the soul before the body, even though they are indeed the truth."
At that moment, Masanori Hyuga, the current clan leader, intervened with a steady voice carrying a tone of certainty.
"It is you, Hiashi." He said, placing his hand on his elder son's shoulder.
"Look at the corner of the eye, and the way he wears his robe. This is the heir who will lead the clan… this is you in the future, Hiashi."
The words fell like a thunderbolt on Hiashi.
"Me? I will be like this? I will reject my daughter because she is less talented than her younger sister?" Hiashi felt a sudden wave of nausea.
Seeing himself in the manga coldly dismissing Kurenai and abandoning Hinata made him feel a shame he had never experienced before.
As for Hizashi, he felt a mix of relief that he was not that father, and anxiety that his twin brother would be somewhat harsh on his children in the future.
…
Away from the Hyuga's confusion, Kushina Uzumaki was nearly exploding with rage.
"What a despicable father! How dare he say that about his own child?"
She shouted, waving her fist in the air.
"And what is with this jerk, Neji? 'People cannot change themselves'? That's nonsense; anyone can change as long as they have enough desire for it!"
Minato, watching silently, felt a deep distress.
"His words are extremely toxic… Neji isn't just attacking Hinata; he is planting daggers of despair in her heart. He is using his intelligence and Byakugan to break her will. This kind of psychological warfare is the hardest."
…
In another corner, young Kakashi stared at his father, Sakumo.
"Father, is it true that people can't change?" he asked with a tone full of questioning.
Sakumo, seeing in Neji the reflection of a broken soul, sighed deeply.
"Neji is wrong, Kakashi. People change every day, but pain sometimes blinds us from seeing that. Neji sees the world through the bars of his prison and believes everyone is imprisoned like him."
"How do you know he is imprisoned?"
"Even though enough of his background hasn't been shown yet, what has appeared so far and what he said to Hinata is enough for me to conclude a lot about him already."
…
On the other side of the continent, in the Hidden Sand Village, Sunagakure, the Art Store there was witnessing reactions no less intense.
Inside the Art Store, the Third Kazekage, Saburo no Shazan, known as the "Strongest Kazekage," turned the manga pages with a piercing gaze.
"The Hyuga… a clan steeped in tradition to the core." The Third Kazekage said, stroking his chin.
"This class system is both their strength and weakness at the same time. This boy Neji, his talent exceeds the limits of the 'Branch House,' yet he is bound by hatred."
"And the situation in the Main House is no better than the Branch House; this father's words to his daughters might break them before they are even made."
Beside him, Grandma Chiyo shook her head in regret. "What a waste of youth. In Suna, we value talent regardless of its source, for the desert has no mercy for the weak. But these Hyuga… it seems they are killing their talents with their own hands."
Ebisu, the sober advisor, nodded.
"Kazekage-sama, I didn't expect the manga to carry all these details about Konoha and its clans…"
"This revelation of Hinata's weakness compared to her younger sister, and her father's cruelty, gives us a clear picture of the internal cracks in Konoha. If the major clans are suffering from this disintegration, it means the 'Will of Fire' is not as hot as they claim."
…
In another corner of the store, the young Rasa, who aspired to be the next Kazekage, read with intense focus. Beside him was his fiancée Karura, who looked at Hinata's sweating face in the manga with a sad gaze.
Karura had truly loved Hinata's supportive character so far; at this moment, she wanted to see Naruto support her as well.
"What do you think, Rasa?" Karura asked in a soft voice.
Rasa didn't even turn to her; his eyes were still on the image of Neji talking about fate.
"Neji speaks of 'ruler and ruled'… he sees the world as a set of rigid rules. Karura, I completely agree with him… he is a victim of the rules, but when given the chance, he will surely use the rules to tear a Main House member apart psychologically before he does it physically."
"This Neji is amazing… he is a truly wonderful boy."
Karura placed her hand over her mouth in shock. "Aren't you sympathetic toward Hinata, Rasa? Hinata in the manga is trying to change, and that's what matters. Toxic words might weaken the body, but they cannot kill the soul if it has a reason to fight."
"Sympathize with her? Tsk… why would I sympathize with her? The one who truly deserves sympathy is Neji."
Rasa replied coldly.
…
Returning to where the Third Kazekage and his group sat, Shazan spoke with a deep voice.
"Look at the child, Hinata… she is trembling, but she hasn't withdrawn."
" is trying to convince her that her fate is failure, but he forgets one thing… in the shinobi world, fate is what you make with your own hands, not what others dictate to you. I want to see how this girl will respond to this poison Neji is spewing."
"Ah, it seems Naruto can't take it anymore…"
At this moment, in the manga, Naruto exploded, shouting: "You can do it!"
He looked in Neji's direction and yelled: "Stop deciding people's fates! You idiot! Hit this jerk, Hinata!!"
In the store, as soon as the chapter ended with Naruto's words pouring water over Neji's toxic words, the readers in Suna began to discuss enthusiastically.
Some saw Neji as an oppressed hero rebelling against an unjust system, while others saw him as a cruel bully venting his anger on an innocent girl.
But everyone agreed on one thing: Naruto is absolutely right; no one has the right to decide another's fate, unless they are much stronger!
…
Back in Konoha, Hiashi was still staring at his hand, as if fearing it would turn into that cold hand he saw in the manga.
"I won't be like that…" he whispered to himself. "I won't let this future come true."
Masanori, hearing his son's whisper, gave a mysterious smile.
"That is the goal of this manga, my son… to see what we might become, so we can choose a different path."
And so, everyone continued reading, breaths held, waiting for the moment when suppressed emotions would explode on the battlefield, and the moment when Hinata would decide: Will she surrender to the toxic words, or will she turn them into fuel for a fire that never goes out?
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 177: Resilience in the Face of the Storm!
Chapter 178: Gentle Fist!
Chapter 179: That's My Ninja Way Too!
Chapter 180: An Unbreakable Will
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