The cycle would continue

"It seems you still harbor a trace of doubt—or perhaps a sliver of hope that you might get lucky."

Hearing her Clan Head's words, Hyuga Yue's smile grew even wider, and she continued:

"Do you think I merely used a trick like this to convince everyone that the Caged Bird had been broken, and that was why they gathered?"

"If everyone stood together, the Main Family couldn't withstand it even if the Caged Bird hadn't been broken."

"We're a vast clan, with hundreds upon hundreds of members. After all this time, the Uchiha Clan was finally destroyed, the Senju Clan disappeared, and the Hyuga Clan finally endured long enough to become Konoha's foremost clan."

"But now that we of the Branch Family have risen up, if you really use the Caged Bird and stage a massacre of your own kin, you'll be no different from Uchiha Itachi, who slaughtered his entire clan. I'm afraid the Hyuga name would survive only in books."

"Even after decades or a century, even if you took more wives and Hanabi found plenty of men, the Hyuga Clan might never regain its current prosperity."

"And if you used something like the Caged Bird to divide the Main Family and Branch Family again then, I'm afraid the scene unfolding now would simply play out once more."

"Cycles are remarkable things. Once they begin, there's no way to stop them, Lord Hiashi."

Hyuga Yue reached out and drew Hyuga Hanabi into her arms again, slowly leaning toward her ear, her voice very soft.

"Come in, Genin Guy." Answering in Hyuga Hiashi's stead, Hyuga Yue invited Might Guy inside.

Soft as her voice was, Hanabi wasn't the only one who heard her words. Hyuga Hiashi heard them clearly and understood them just as well.

He hurried over, knocked