Hiashi's Plans!

After accompanying the two girls on their outing, Neji's mood had eased considerably. He carried too much on his mind and had not relaxed like this in a long time.

Once the outing was over and they returned to the Hyuga Estate, Neji pinched little Hanabi's cheek with a smile and whispered quietly.

"If you mess with your sister again next time, I'll spank your little butt till it blooms!"

Hanabi's face immediately filled with alarm. She instantly covered her butt and looked at Brother Neji with a little fear.

Her little mouth pouted. What was this?!

She had overheard Father talking to her sister last time. He had said that her sister would marry Brother Neji in the future.

He said that only the two of them possessed exceptionally pure bloodlines within the clan. Everyone else would only taint that bloodline and make it impure.

On top of that, both of them were extraordinarily talented. Their future children would be highly likely to regress to their ancestors, and the Hyuga Clan would rise again.

That was why she had cared so much, creating opportunities for her sister and brother—yet she was still being disliked for it.

Hanabi was suffering inside (`~)!

Naturally, Neji knew nothing about this. For now, he merely saw her as a younger sister. As for taking over Naruto's chance to play the hero and save the beauty—

That was because, in his first life, he had heard some complaints about Boruto and felt that Naruto was simply unsuited to be a husband, so he had cut off that possibility.

Besides, Naruto had still liked Sakura all the way through the Fourth Great Ninja War. There was no sign whatsoever of him supposedly liking Hinata.

A naïve, overly saintly person like that would only devote himself wholeheartedly to others, wronging himself and his family in the process.

So, forget it. (I really haven't watched Boruto—only the first episode. Just my personal opinion, don't flame me!)

After warning the mischievous Hanabi, Neji turned toward Hinata.

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Just do your best with whatever you can manage. And I'm here too—you don't need to shoulder everything alone."

Those words struck straight into Hinata's heart. She trembled slightly and lowered her head, softly answering, "Mm."

Seeing this, Neji said nothing more. It was enough for Hinata to hear and understand these things.

"All right, I won't be staying with you tonight. I still need to go to the Laboratory—it's part of my daily routine, after all. You know that."

After saying that, he gave Hinata a head pat, then played with Hanabi's baby fat a little before leaving.

The two figures from the Hyuga Clan, one tall and one small, slowly watched him leave.

"Big Sis, does Brother Neji know?"

Hinata shook her head slightly, making Hanabi puff out her cheeks. What a hopeless sister. I've worried myself sick for you!

"Come on, Hanabi! We should head home and start training too, or Father will be unhappy."

"Okay!"

Hanabi followed Hinata back into the estate.

Within the Hyuga Compound, Hiashi, who had been meditating in the dojo, slowly opened his eyes. He had seen everything at the entrance with his Byakugan.

"Hinata, Neji... for the clan's future, for the clan's strength, it will depend on you two when the time comes."

Hiashi murmured softly before slowly closing his eyes again. The Hyuga Clan lacked powerful experts. The Caged Bird Seal was both its success and its failure.

The Caged Bird Seal protected the clan's continued existence and prevented outsiders from coveting the Byakugan, but it also restricted possibilities and dulled the clan members' sense of danger.

It had made them far too comfortable and arrogant, leaving them with no ambition to improve, because they had no path left to take in the first place.

Over the years, he had finally come to understand that he lacked the ability to change all of this. At most, he could protect the three of them from receiving the Caged Bird Seal.

Even that protection was only possible because Hizashi had exchanged his life for peace. If it had been an era of war, he would have been powerless even if he wanted to protect them.

Too many people coveted their Byakugan. Everyone without the Caged Bird Seal bore tremendous danger.

Endless attacks, assassinations, even encirclements and extermination attempts—Hiashi had experienced them all.

How many Branch Family members had even sacrificed themselves to protect him? Yet he had still failed to protect his father, allowing a pair of Byakugan to fall into outsiders' hands.

The laughable thing was that their clan lacked the power to reclaim them. They lacked the power!

That was why he understood even more clearly: as long as one person became strong enough to protect the clan, the problem could be solved at its root.

If anyone coveted the Byakugan or set their sights on it, they had to be destroyed with thunderous force.

Only when those who had stolen Byakugan could be pursued endlessly by the Hyuga Clan would the clan truly gain a firm foothold.

At that thought, a trace of killing intent appeared in Hiashi's newly opened eyes before slowly fading away.

"Just a little more. The Caged Bird Seal needs to change, and it must change. That child Neji is studying Sealing Jutsu. I hope he can successfully improve it."

The words slipped from Hiashi's mouth like a quiet murmur in a dream. He had placed his hopes on the next generation, and even the generation after that.

This was for the clan's prosperity. But he could not do it. With the Third Hokage there, with Danzo there, he neither dared nor could act.

Otherwise, the Uchiha Clan's fate would become their clan's fate. The reason their clan had remained so stable—

Was because they could not produce a Kage-level expert. Even if they did, there could only possibly be one. That was why he looked forward to Neji's growth.

The position of Hokage was something the Hyuga Clan wished to contend for as well. In the past, no one had been able to bear such expectations, but now they had someone.

Neji, Hinata, these hopes rest on you!

As the clan head, he had to consider more, look farther ahead, and plan more thoroughly in order to go farther.

As for Neji's Byakugan, he had suppressed the matter for now. Once Neji had grown strong enough—

And regained his sight, everything would become different. The time had not yet come; they still had to remain hidden.

When Neji returned to his personal laboratory, he had no idea that his nominal uncle had already arranged everything for him perfectly.

That man, who had been so rigid in the original plot, had seen his talent and progress and begun to make different plans.

Meanwhile, Neji was still muttering to himself. What the hell is Orochimaru doing? Why hasn't he contacted me yet?

Or did something happen, causing the item not to reach me and get intercepted by someone?

Unable to make heads or tails of it, Neji could never have guessed that Orochimaru was cautious, unwilling to take risks, and hopelessly immersed in research.

Thus, when people plotted against others, they were often being plotted against themselves as well. Such was karma.

Neji stopped dwelling on it. The item would not have much impact anyway. At most, the Female Hormone would create one more gender-swapped person.

If the one-eyed thing was activated, he would naturally sense it. Besides, it had no other function beyond contacting him. Once someone contacted him, he would know exactly whose hands it had fallen into.

It was time to find Izumi and harvest some experience. This time, he should try some other skills. He could also create clones to spar with himself.

Unfortunately, he had tried training against Shadow Clones before, but he could not gain experience from it. It only counted as experience from his own training, and the gains were not high.

To keep you all from tearing me apart, I've been extremely cautious, and I'm also afraid of poisoning you with bad writing.

So I can only save myself by adding notes. Please, esteemed readers, be merciful.

If there are any plot holes or unpleasant points, feel free to point them out. If I can change them, I will. As long as it does not affect the plot, I can manage it. For the rest, I'll have to ask everyone to help catch typos, missing words, and awkward sentences.

Also, in respect to the original work, there has always been close-relative marriage to preserve bloodline purity.