Coercion...?
The Hyuga Clan?
Getting... Hyuga Yukina a position in the village?
Or... the Defense Force? As he looked at the man before him speaking so casually, Neji Hyuga's pale pupils slowly contracted. He had no idea what expression he should use in response to this.
And this time, not only he, but even Tenten behind him stood frozen on the spot.
Although everything Taki Chiba had said matched his own deductions, it only made Neji Hyuga find it harder to believe.
He even began to doubt whether his deductions and the evidence supporting them were correct.
Coercing the Hyuga Clan? And even forcing the Hyuga Clan to bow their heads? Neji Hyuga could imagine the former. There were even people capable of such a thing, just not many.
But forcing the Hyuga Clan to yield, breaking the ironclad rules the Hyuga Clan had upheld for centuries, and making one of their own join a Konoha institution—
More unbelievably, that institution was one of Konoha's most important departments: the Defense Force! What kind of concept was that? Even the Hokage would find it difficult to accomplish something like this.
The man before him was indeed terrifying and immensely powerful, but strength did not mean one could accomplish more than the Hokage.
At the end of the day, all of Konoha followed the Hokage's lead. This man's strength was fundamentally irrelevant. This sort of matter had never depended on who was stronger.
It depended on power.
Considering the Hyuga Clan's close relationship with the village, even the Hokage could not say much or impose many arrangements regarding the Hyuga Clan's ironclad rules. In a sense, as long as the Hyuga Clan did not betray the village, the village would not only grant them considerable autonomy, but would not interfere with any