The Beginning of Everything!

In the following days, Hinata Shin continued to find time for special training with the remaining rotating clan members.

Hizashi Hyuga was among them.

He was also a seed that Hinata Shin planned to sow across the Shinobi World.

Only someone who dared to cry out against the injustice of fate held the most basic value for Hinata Shin.

After all, the evil of the Shinobi World was too deeply ingrained.

The vast majority of shinobi were mayflies drifting with the current, lacking their own stance or convictions. They needed leaders to step forward and guide them.

Hinata Shin's goal was to unearth them, guide them, and gradually make them understand the truth of the Shinobi World.

Then set them on the path of resistance.

Constantly elevating their ideals, cultivating in them the courage to fight against an unjust fate!

Thus, during the training sessions, besides continuing to teach according to their aptitudes, Hinata Shin repeatedly used his battle experience from the Warring States Period as teaching material.

This filled the young ones with curiosity about the Warring States Period.

And he subtly guided them to speak freely, encouraging them to voice their confusion and doubts, which he would always answer.

Lecturing these shinobi, whose minds were fundamentally flawed, by directly instilling ideas wouldn't work.

You can force a cow's head down, but you can't make it drink.

Things easily obtained are never cherished—Hinata Shin had tried that in the Warring States Period.

So he wanted these "leeks" to raise their own questions, while he only provided answers, without influencing their judgment.

Only the thoughts and ideals they themselves proposed, organized, and refined would they truly value.

Today's special training ended an hour early, and the clan members had all benefited greatly.

Even Hizashi, as the clan leader's son, gained much experience and learned many small tricks for surviving on the battlefield.

For instance, how to escape when surrounded.

How to alleviate injuries in a short time.

Tips for stealth and concealment, and so on.

This made everyone respect Hinata Shin even more—what a great and selfless elder he was.

In the remaining time, Hinata Shin began answering questions, guiding them to raise the very issues and ideals he wanted to instill.

But the first few questions were all about training, making Hinata Shin curse them inwardly as a bunch of useless fools.

It wasn't until a Chunin named Hinata Seien asked a question that the situation opened up—otherwise, Hinata Shin would have considered using Genjutsu to manipulate someone as a lead-in.

"Elder Shin, may I ask! During the Warring States Period, did the Hyuga Clan also have a Main Family and Branch Family distinction?" Hinata Seien asked with some curiosity.

The other clan members also grew interested in this question, and even Hizashi paid close attention.

A pair of Byakugan stared intently at Hinata Shin, waiting for this living fossil's answer.

"No! The Hyuga Clan of the Warring States Period was a united whole! Even if some had such thoughts, they dared not act on them." Hinata Shin's words rang out with conviction.

A single stone stirred a thousand ripples—all the Branch Family members instantly became excited.

"Elder Shin! I want to ask..."

"Elder Shin! Please..."

All the clan members in training grew agitated, rising one after another to ask questions.

"Quiet! One at a time. Ono, you go first." Hinata Shin pointed to a clan member in his twenties.

"Elder Shin! May I ask, if there was no Main Family and Branch distinction in the Warring States Period, then how do you explain the Caged Bird? Historical records say the Caged Bird already existed in the Warring States Period! Isn't that the strongest evidence of the Main Family and Branch Family distinction?" Ono asked with some excitement, his face full of thirst for knowledge.

"The Caged Bird did exist very early on—I won't deny that."

"But in the past, the Caged Bird was indeed not a marker of Main Family and Branch Family distinction."

"Your understanding of the Warring States Period is far too one-sided!"

"What was the Warring States? It was an era of chaos! Human life was as cheap as grass!"

"The original intent of the Caged Bird was to protect the Byakugan bloodline from leaking out, reducing clan casualties."

"You don't know this, but in the early Warring States Period, because the Byakugan had extremely high strategic value and relatively few side effects, the Hyuga Clan was coveted by most of the powerful clans."

"Every strong clan tried to forcibly seize the Byakugan."

"The Uchiha, Senju, Yotsuki, Kaguya, Hozuki, Uzumaki—all of them once possessed a certain number of Byakugan!"

"Even some small clans dug out Byakugan by theft."

"Though the Hyuga were also a strong clan, they couldn't protect every member in that chaotic era. To safeguard their lives, the Caged Bird was created." Hinata Shin slowly explained the essence of the Caged Bird.

"If it's a Sealing Technique meant to protect, then why does it have a punishment mechanism? Why are some people born above others? Why are some born destined to be branded with the Caged Bird?" A clan member asked angrily, his emotions running high.

"What you're talking about is the Hyuga of today, not the Hyuga of the Warring States Period. They are fundamentally different."

"The so-called punishment is actually the technique embedded in the Sealing Technique to destroy the Byakugan—it was meant to prevent the Byakugan from falling into outside hands!"

"It wasn't abused back then. The punishment technique must have been added later."

"There was no distinction between noble and lowly among the clan—only the strong and the weak."

"In the Warring States Period, no matter whose child it was, before they grew up, they had to be branded with the Caged Bird!"

"No one was exempt. Even I was once branded with the Caged Bird!"

"As for not branding the Caged Bird, that was a symbol of the strong! The strong don't need to be bound! They also have enough power to protect their bloodline from leaking out." Hyuga Shin expressed calmly in his aged voice.

"Elder Shin, do you mean for us to accept the Caged Bird and resign ourselves to fate?" Hizashi found it hard to accept after hearing Hyuga Shin's account of the Caged Bird, his expression turning grim.

The other clan members also looked conflicted!

Hyuga Shin was a bit baffled by Hizashi's train of thought—his focus was off. He'd have to spell it out for him.

"What I mean is: often, the same thing serves a different purpose at different times."

"In different environments, human nature can't withstand the temptation of power!"

"The past can't be undone, act now, and the future can be changed!"

"There's no predetermined future, only a self that isn't strong enough! Do you resign yourself to fate, Hizashi?" Hyuga Shin countered.

"You're afraid of change, yet you long for the future! But you keep spinning in place, afraid to take the first step."

"The Caged Bird made the Hyuga Clan thrive in the Warring States Period, yet in the era of one village, one country, it became the root of the clan's division!"

"The Caged Bird has gone rotten, and the great tree of the Hyuga has decayed too."

"The Hyuga branch family, stripped of dignity and courage, is like a stagnant pool, no longer stirring a single ripple." Hyuga Shin said with profound meaning.

"The past can't be undone, act now, and the future can be changed!"

"There's no predetermined future, only a self that isn't strong enough!"

"I'm afraid of change, yet I long for the future! But I keep spinning in place, afraid to take the first step."

Those few words struck Hizashi's mind like a great bell, echoing endlessly.

The gathered Hyuga clan members also wore contemplative expressions, as if they had gained some insight.

Seeing that time was about up, Hyuga Shin said no more. This bowl of chicken soup for the soul would be enough for them to digest for a while.

He then dismissed them, ending today's preaching session.

"Hizashi Hyuga, you'd better be smart about this!"

"The future I've mapped out for you has your sights set on fighting for the Shinobi World, for your ideals!"

"You're only just starting to fight for the clan now—your fate has only just begun!" Hyuga Shin thought to himself as he watched the departing figures.

For those who want to resist or believe in a predetermined fate, as long as you give them the right guidance and support, and then imbue them with a lofty ideal, they'll follow the path you've laid out on their journey to resist or chase fate!

Take the future Toad Sage, Jiraiya, for example—he was a supporter of predetermined fate, given the lofty ideal of taking disciples to save the world by the old Toad Head, hoodwinked completely.

"Sometimes, you think you're resisting fate, but little do you know, in another script, that is your fate!" Hyuga Shin's aged voice carried a cold, merciless tone.

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