I Really Can't Be a Watchdog (Please Vote!)

Inside the prison of the Hyuga Clan Grounds.

Hyuga Aoki sat in his wheelchair, gazing up at the bright full moon hanging high beyond the iron-barred window. He let out a faint sigh. "Sigh, it seems I really can't become the kind of watchdog Hyuga Kagami spoke of."

That sigh was filled with resignation to fate.

He had once been furious, resentful, and lost, but none of those emotions could now be found on his face. His expression was calm as still water, as though he had accepted his fate.

At that moment, he could not help recalling the battle that had changed his life.

During the Third Shinobi World War, he and his younger brother, Hyuga Aoba, had served as personal guards to a Main Branch heir and headed to the front lines, where they were fighting fiercely against Kirigakure.

Ordinarily, Main Branch heirs did not need to personally go to the front lines. This trip had merely been for show; after spending some time at the front, they would be transferred back to the village. Thus, neither he nor his brother Aoba believed anything serious would happen.

Yet, to their surprise, their intelligence had leaked. Kirigakure had somehow learned of their route and intercepted them on the way to the front.

After a fierce battle, both his legs were injured. The bones in both knees were completely shattered, while his tendons and other soft tissues suffered varying degrees of damage. He permanently lost the ability to walk.

Yet that was not the key to his tragic fate. More importantly, the Main Branch heir they had been protecting had one of his Byakugan taken by Kirigakure on the battlefield!

A Byakugan being stolen was a scandal that had not occurred in countless years. To the Hyuga Clan, it was