Hinata Hyuga Found Her Goal; It Could Serve as a Trump Card Against the Otsutsuki Clan

Hinata hurriedly tried to stand, but her legs had gone numb from crouching too long, and she stumbled.

Chiyo reached out and caught her slender arm, steadying her.

His palm was warm and strong, its reassuring heat seeping through her thin clothes.

"There's no need to panic."

Chiyo released her and swept his gaze over her red, swollen eyes.

"He's already gone far away."

Hinata lowered her head, her small hands clutching tightly at the hem of her clothes as shame and grievance flooded her heart once more.

Chiyo did not urge her. He simply spoke calmly, his voice especially clear in the silent snowy night.

"Hinata, what do you think protection is?"

Hinata looked up blankly, unable to understand why the Lord Hokage had suddenly asked such a question.

"Protecting one's family, protecting one's clan, protecting the village one depends on for survival..."

Chiyo spoke slowly, every word seeming to carry weight.

"This is responsibility, an instinct carved into one's bloodline. I understand that feeling."

His gaze seemed to cross time and space, seeing the former glory and struggles of the Uchiha Clan, seeing the conviction that had carried him all this way.

"But!"

His tone shifted, becoming sharp and profound.

"When the form of protection itself becomes shackles, when the clan's rules stifle humanity and the future, blind obedience is no longer protection. It is foolish loyalty."

He looked at Hinata, his gaze sharp as a blade, as though it could cut through all her confusion.

"Your father has his own convictions. In his understanding, perhaps everything he does is also for the honor and legacy of the Hyuga Clan.

But is this path absolutely right?

Does it suit you? And will it...

Really allow the Hyuga Clan to endure in the increasingly complicated Shinobi World of the