"Waaah..."
The tears in Hinata's eyes spilled over, and she couldn't stop crying.
Neji was at a loss. Why was she crying even harder now?
He had no idea how to comfort a child!
"Young Lady Hinata."
A panicked voice suddenly rang out.
A boy wearing a Konoha forehead protector hurried over.
Hyuga Tokuma, the servant who looked after Hinata.
"Young Lady, it's time to go back. The head of the family will be worried."
Hinata stopped sobbing and looked up at Neji. In a timid voice, she asked, "Brother Neji, can I come play with you tomorrow?"
Neji glanced discreetly at Tokuma, whose expression remained unchanged. Greatly relieved, he smiled and stroked Hinata's forehead.
"Young Lady Hinata, I'll be there whenever you call."
"It's a promise."
A mansion stood at the very center of the Hyuga clan compound.
The cold wind howled past, and dead branches creaked as if they were the painful groans of an old man in his twilight years.
"Father, why?"
The veins at the corners of Hyuga Hiashi's eyes slowly subsided. He turned to face the old man seated in the hall, his voice heavy with confusion.
Hyuga Gensuke took a sip of tea and calmly explained, "Neji is an exceptionally gifted child. We should give him special attention and let him form a bond with Hinata from a young age. Isn't that a good thing?"
"Then what about the Caged Bird..."
Before he could finish, Hiashi saw his father's expression grow stern. He couldn't get another word out.
"The Ancestral Law cannot be changed."
"Hiashi, give up those unrealistic fantasies."
Hyuga Gensuke's voice was calm, but the coldness in his pale eyes made Hiashi's scalp prickle.
He slowly lowered his head.
Long ago, during the Warring States Period, the Hyuga clan's power had rivaled that of the Senju and Uchiha.
But over the past few centuries, the clan's strength had steadily declined. Its former glory was long gone.
The root of the problem was the Main and Branch Family System.
The Main Family's descendants would always belong to the Main Family, bearing the duty of advancing the Hyuga clan. The Branch Family's descendants would always belong to the Branch Family, bearing the duty of protecting the Hyuga Main Family.
In Hiashi's eyes, this system was entirely detrimental to the clan's development.
Mediocre people were made members of the Main Family, wasting resources.
Geniuses were made members of the Branch Family, their talents going to waste.
Hiashi wanted to reform the clan, assigning people to the Main or Branch Family according to their abilities.
Talented geniuses like Neji should be given Main Family status and the responsibility of carrying on the clan.
Children with less talent could be placed in the Branch Family, branded with the Caged Bird Seal and granted the clan's protection.
That was right!
For Hyuga clan members with little strength, the Caged Bird Seal wasn't a cage at all—it was a form of protection. Because it existed, weaker clan members were spared the predations of many ill-intentioned people.
Hiashi believed this approach could restore the clan's glory and make the Hyuga clan great again.
But to his surprise, not a single member of the Main Family supported him. Even his father disagreed.
The Main Family cared not about the clan's interests, but their own.
Throughout history, individuals had betrayed their interests, but an entire class had never betrayed its own.
A bitter smile crept across Hiashi's lips.
As clan head, he had to obey the clan's will. Otherwise, everyone would turn against him.
Uchiha Madara was the perfect example.
Madara had gone against his clan's wishes, and in the end, they had all abandoned him. He had left Konoha alone, like a beaten dog.
Changing a clan was not something one or two people could accomplish.
If he insisted on pushing his ideas, his fate would be ten or a hundred times worse than Madara's. In a few days, he'd probably be "stabbed eight times in the back and declared a suicide."
Hyuga Gensuke nodded in satisfaction. "Giving Neji another year of freedom is already the greatest leniency the Main Family can show a genius. On Hinata's birthday, we'll brand him with the Caged Bird Seal!"
"Understood, Father!"
"Look, the Kumogakure delegation is here!"
"The war is over!"
"Long live Lord Hokage!"
As several Kumogakure shinobi entered through Konoha Gate under the escort of Konoha Ninja, the villagers gathered nearby erupted with excitement. Many spontaneously headed into the streets to welcome them.
The villagers hated Kumogakure, but they hated war even more.
The war, which had dragged on for nearly eight years, was finally about to end. Every villager was genuinely overjoyed, their faces beaming.
Watching them, Neji couldn't bring himself to smile.
People's joys and sorrows were not shared. He only found them noisy.
It was a feast of flowers amid blazing flames!
The happier those villagers were now, the more miserably they'd cry later.
The Kumogakure delegation had come under the pretense of signing a peace treaty, but intended to abduct Hinata. When their plan was exposed, Hyuga Hiashi killed the Kumogakure envoy on the spot. Who could have guessed that Kumogakure would turn around and demand Hiashi's corpse from Konoha, leaving Hizashi to be sacrificed in his place?
Hizashi was dead, and Neji's life would be even worse.
"Hm?"
Neji suddenly thought of something, his body trembling faintly with excitement.
"If the Kumogakure shinobi steal me instead of Hinata... There's always a way out!"
Kumogakure valued strength above all. The Raikage of each generation had the stature and resolve of a Kage, but they were also willing to resort to underhanded tricks.
If something could increase the village's strength, they'd seize it if they were strong enough—or steal it if they weren't.
First Uzumaki Kushina, then Hinata.
Kumogakure was the best village in the Shinobi World to live in. No contest.
There were no rumors of a Raikage abusing or assassinating a Jinchuriki. No rumors of a Raikage's disciple carrying out a terrorist attack. No stories of the Raikage enacting cruel policies to suppress bloodline clans. And there had never been any talk of missing-nin from Kumogakure.
As for the two lights of Kumogakure who had attacked the Second Raikage, they had merely staged a coup.
If it failed, it was a coup. If it succeeded, it was a revolution.
Phew!
With a plan in mind, Neji felt completely at ease.
If he was stolen away to Kumogakure, the worst that could happen was being forced to become a stud.
Thinking of blond bombshells and dark-skinned hotties, Neji figured he could live with that.
The Branch Family had been so cruelly oppressed by the Main Family that they'd lost all their fire. But Neji was different. He'd rather become a stud than live as a Caged Bird.
For the sake of freedom, he'd give up everything!
"So this is the strongest village in the Shinobi World, Konohagakure?!"
Samui strolled down the main street, looking around with curiosity. Her beautiful eyes brimmed with emotion.
Kumogakure stood high on a mountain plateau. Its land was vast, its population sparse, and its resources severely lacking.
Ninjutsu, secret techniques, even food and drink—all had to be seized from others.
Konohagakure lay in a hilly region with a mild climate and vast farmland. Its economy was prosperous, and it had the richest resources of any village in the Shinobi World.
In name, it was a "village," but its area and population rivaled those of the Capital of Fire.
The purple-haired man beside her had a stern expression as he spoke slowly. "The last time I came to Konoha was more than twenty years ago."
Samui smiled. "I hope it won't be more than twenty years before my next visit."
The purple-haired man's gaze was resolute. "It won't be."
As they rounded a corner, a child rushing by collided with Samui's leg.
"Ow!"
The child cried out and fell onto his back.
"Where'd this brat come from? Don't you watch where you're going?" The accompanying Konoha Ninja scowled.
With Konoha and Kumogakure on the verge of signing a peace treaty, it wouldn't do to cause trouble by offending a female ninja.
"I hate sweets the most."
Samui felt something sticky coating her legs. It was extremely unpleasant, as if she'd gotten something filthy on her. Then she looked at the Three-color Dango lying on the ground. So it was just sugar.
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