"Au... Aunt?"
Looking at Taki Chiba's utterly serious expression, which showed not the slightest trace of lying, Neji Hyuga's eyes slowly widened, his Byakugan filled with astonishment.
Aunt?
I... have another aunt? Father... has another younger sister?
A string of questions rose in his heart.
He had never heard of such a thing. As far as he knew, his father had only one older brother—the brother who, merely because he had been born a few seconds earlier, could control his father and even the entire branch family. That was the current head of the Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Hiashi.
There was no younger sister! "Ah!"
Hearing Neji Hyuga's doubtful words, Chiba nodded seriously, confirming it.
"Impossible..."
Neji Hyuga rejected it almost instinctively.
"It's just that neither Hyuga Hiashi, nor Hizashi Hyuga, nor even the entire Hyuga Clan can bring up this younger sister."
However, Chiba quickly interrupted his instinctive denial.
"Can't bring her up?"
At this moment, Tenten beside them could not help but ask.
"Yes, they can't bring her up. No, more accurately, they're unwilling to bring her up."
Chiba looked at Tenten, nodded affirmatively, and spoke.
"Unwilling to bring her up? Why? Did she do something that brought shame upon the Hyuga Clan...?"
Hearing this, Tenten seemed to understand something. She reacted quickly and blurted it out almost without thinking.
But halfway through, she glanced at Neji Hyuga, considered her words, and only then said the rest.
"Hmm... How should I put it? In terms of the outcome, it did bring shame upon the Hyuga Clan, but that isn't accurate. She didn't do anything that brought shame upon the Hyuga Clan. On the contrary, everything she did was enough to make the Hyuga Clan proud of her—if the Hyuga Clan could put aside its pride."
Chiba suddenly smiled. After