The spring rain washed away Konoha's dreariness—and the Hyuga Clan's joy.
Because...
Hyuga Tianyun was dead.
"Bang!"
A teacup shattered with a sudden crash, sending shards flying.
"Who did this?!"
Hyuga Hiashi slammed a palm down on the table. His chest heaved, and his trademark Byakugan, bloodshot, swept sharply over every Main Branch and Branch Family representative present.
The Branch Family representatives lowered their heads, afraid the clan head would take his anger out on them.
The Main Branch members all looked grave.
They knew all too well that Hiashi was truly furious this time.
This was the first time Hyuga Hiashi had lost his composure like this since becoming clan head.
"Clan Head, it's already happened. There's nothing we can say now that will make up for it," Hizashi Hyuga said quietly, trying to comfort his brother from his seat at Hiashi's side.
He didn't understand why his older brother had urgently summoned him back from the front lines, but he knew something serious must have happened in the clan.
Still, he hadn't expected to hear that Elder Tianyun of the Main Branch had been killed and that a pair of Branch Family Byakugan had been stolen from the secret vault.
"Elder Tianyun was killed by an intruder, but at least the Main Branch Byakugan are safe... Only the Branch Family Byakugan in the secret vault were stolen..."
Hizashi tried to calm his brother.
The Byakugan had been stolen once before, a few years ago, on the Mist Battlefield. It wasn't particularly surprising for it to happen again.
"Clan Head, Elder Tianyun..."
"What do you know?!"
Hiashi snapped his head around and glared furiously at his younger brother.
The unfamiliar severity in his eyes made Hizashi fall silent at once.
"..."
Realizing he'd let his emotions get the better of him, Hiashi drew a deep breath and forced down his anger. Then he explained in a low voice, "On such an important day for the Hyuga Clan, someone broke into the secret vault to steal the Byakugan."
"They killed an elder of the Main Branch and stole the Branch Family Byakugan..."
"The heart of the matter isn't the Main Branch or the Branch Family. It's the timing!"
At that, Hizashi felt a little relieved.
So that's why. I never knew my brother cared so much about the Branch Family...
Gratitude crept into his gaze as he looked at his older brother.
In recent years, he—the son of the previous clan head—had been placed in the Branch Family, and the repeated thefts of the Byakugan had made the Branch Family's circumstances increasingly difficult.
It seems Big Brother really does want to improve relations between the Main Branch and the Branch Family...
Hizashi lowered his head, silently mulling it over.
But was that truly what Hyuga Hiashi, seated at the center of the room, was thinking?
No.
He was thinking about something else.
"Qinglan only submitted that scroll a few days ago... and now, right in the middle of the clan's celebration, intruders show up."
"When did the village's security become so lax?"
Hiashi brooded, a fire of anger burning in his chest. The theft of the Byakugan wasn't what truly enraged him.
What bothered him most was that the scroll Qinglan had submitted had vanished along with them.
It was the hope of the Hyuga Clan's rise to greatness...
They hadn't even figured out how the Byakugan evolved, let alone thoroughly verified the method...
It had only been a few days.
And now someone had taken it?
Worse still, a powerful elder of the Main Branch had lost his life.
How could he not be furious?
But he couldn't show it.
"Hiashi, now's not the time to dwell on that."
Elder Hyuga Riwo, seated at the far end of the table, slowly opened his cloudy Byakugan and met Hiashi's grave gaze. "The priority is to report this to the Third Hokage and thoroughly investigate the spies in the village."
"In my view, a spy must have learned that our clan was about to hold a celebration and seized the opportunity to make a move for the Byakugan."
"If we start the investigation quickly, we might still be able to recover them."
Riwo deliberately emphasized the word "Byakugan," and Hiashi understood at once.
He suppressed his churning emotions and gave his orders in a low voice:
"Hizashi, take a team to examine the secret vault. Make sure you find traces of the culprit!"
"Yes!"
Hizashi accepted the order and hurried out with the Branch Family members present.
Silence fell over the meeting room. Only a few Main Branch elders who knew the truth remained, all looking grave.
"Hiashi, where is that boy, Hyuga Qinglan?"
Elder Riwo suddenly spoke, stopping Hiashi as he was about to report to the Hokage.
"Qinglan?" Hiashi paused. A terrifying thought suddenly crossed his mind, and he turned sharply to look at Riwo.
"Are you saying... Qinglan might have done this?"
"We can't rule it out."
Riwo's tone was calm. "After all, he's from the Branch Family, and he was the first to come into contact with the scroll."
"And for all we know, he may have read the entire scroll long ago..."
"That's unlikely."
"When Qinglan handed over the scroll, its seal was intact, and there was no faking its age or material."
"Most importantly, if he had read the scroll and still handed it over to us without incident... that would mean the boy was far too calculating."
Hiashi waved a hand and continued, "Besides, a few days after Qinglan handed over the scroll, Lord Hokage arranged for him to go to the front lines to escort supplies..."
But the longer he spoke, the quieter his voice became.
He'd left the village after handing over the scroll...
Then Elder Tianyun had died...
Riwo's brows furrowed more and more, but he still couldn't bring himself to believe Hyuga Qinglan was responsible.
If he had to guess, Shimura Danzō was more likely to be the culprit than Qinglan.
After all, Qinglan had done his duty faithfully all these years. Even while suffering the pain of the Caged Bird, he'd never once complained.
"Elders, let's deal with what's in front of us first..."
They exchanged glances, then all nodded to Hiashi.
"Whew... Things really aren't looking good on the front lines."
Ebisu wiped the sweat from his forehead, brushing away the rain along with it.
He looked up at Hyuga Qinglan, who was walking ahead, and spoke with the easy relief of someone who'd made it through a close call. "Captain Qinglan, want to get barbecue together later?"
Then he turned to Shiranui Genma, who walked behind them with a senbon in his mouth and an air of nonchalance. "If it weren't for Captain Qinglan, this mission would've taken a lot more work. Right, Genma?"
"Can't argue with that."
Shiranui Genma shifted the senbon to the other corner of his mouth and answered lazily.
"Without the captain's Byakugan, that Iwagakure ambush squad probably would've succeeded. Those guys were hidden pretty well."
Hyuga Qinglan smiled faintly but didn't respond.
He walked at an unhurried pace. Raindrops landed on his hat and slid off the brim, weaving a hazy curtain of rain in front of him.
Their mission had been to escort military supplies from the Land of Fire's capital to the Iwagakure front lines.
It had originally been a B-Rank Mission. He'd only been brought along to fill out the team at the request of Shiranui Genma and Ebisu.
He hadn't expected them to run into a squad of Iwagakure Ninja along the way, upgrading the B-Rank Mission to an A-Rank Mission.
But that suited Hyuga Qinglan just fine.
"Better save the mission pay instead of spending it."
"As for barbecue, maybe next time."
Qinglan lifted his eyes to the imposing Konoha Gate in the distance. The guards there were inspecting everyone entering and leaving despite the rain. He smiled faintly.
"Let's go. We should get there just in time."
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