Deep in Konoha, there was a residential district with a distinctly traditional style. The buildings were all low, broad wooden structures, and everything indicated that the people living there held a status above that of ordinary civilians. However, the occasional rotting smell wafting from the aged wooden materials suggested something else as well.
This was the residence of the Hyuga Clan. Although they, like the Uchiha Clan, were an ancient shinobi clan that formed one of Konoha's pillars, the difference in their residential locations was enough to show the vastly different circumstances the two clans were in at the time.
The central main-house district of the Hyuga Clan's residence was where the clan's core figures lived—namely, Hyuga Hiashi, the clan head and head of the Main Family, along with his family.
On the morning after an important event had ended, Hyuga Hiashi and his younger brother, Hizashi Hyuga, sat facing each other in an ordinary reception room in the main house. Since both men wore the characteristically expressionless Hyuga faces, the atmosphere seemed extremely solemn.
After a brief silence, Hyuga Hiashi finally spoke.
"From this event, it's clear that after the war ended, the village's jonin have maintained a fairly good level of combat readiness. Their average strength has basically not declined. Not only has it not declined, it's even...
"In any case, for the Hyuga Clan, failure isn't something we can't accept. After all, a training exercise is merely a training exercise, and it's different from actual combat. In truth, most of the shinobi who participated didn't use one hundred percent of their strength, and their attitudes toward the battle were also rather lax.
"But if we must discuss the impact of this 'one-and-done' defeat, then as far as the Hyuga Clan's reputation is concerned, it's certainly a negative."