The Six-Year Pact

Byakugan, activate!

Hyuga Hoshishaku assumed his Gentle Fist stance.

His mouth didn't stop for a second: "You're not even that old, yet you spend all your time bullying your own kin. You only have the pathetic talent to act like a king at home and torment your own people."

"Are you just a bootlicker for the brats of other ninja clans when you're outside? What kind of trash are you to even call yourself the heir to the clan head?"

Hyuga Yueye activated his Byakugan as well.

He was trembling with rage from the insults.

Shaking all over, he struggled to parry Hoshishaku's attacks while shrieking, "How dare you! How dare you! I am following the elders' orders to foster good relations with them, I am not some dog licking anyone's boots!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Hyuga Hoshishaku acted disdainful, but in his heart, he felt even more contempt for his foolish brother.

Was being a bootlicker to outsiders the main point?

The point was the bullying of his own kin, wasn't it?

He couldn't even grasp that?

Then again, it was the decaying Hyuga Clan, after all.

Bullying one's own family was an old tradition.

He had intended to use the training ground to familiarize himself with his newly acquired abilities, and this matter just happened to cross his path.

In the past, he lacked the strength, so he would have just watched coldly from the sidelines.

Today, with the power to teach this annoying brat a lesson—and with the rules of fair competition for the clan head position clearly in place—why would he hold back?

Thus, Hoshishaku treated his opponent as a live target and began to familiarize himself with the abilities brought by Neji.

He started with the entry-level Gentle Fist techniques he had trained in for the past two years.

Gentle Fist was somewhat similar to the Tai Chi he knew in his past life.

Or rather, it was copied directly from it.

Therefore, there was a certain aesthetic beauty of Yin and Yang interplay in his offensive and defensive maneuvers.

However, Hyuga Yueye relied on a more proficient mastery of Gentle Fist, gradually gaining the upper hand in this exchange.

Seeing that continuing this way wouldn't yield any benefits, Hoshishaku decided his warm-up was complete.

He prepared to use the taijutsu skill Neji had bestowed upon him—Air Palm.

Hoshishaku deliberately exposed a flaw to his foolish brother, allowing himself to be pushed back five steps by a palm strike, creating distance between them.

He exerted sudden force through his feet, his figure abruptly turning and lunging forward in an accelerated assault.

Air Palm!

Before Hyuga Yueye could react, Hoshishaku struck his chest with three consecutive palms, then fluidly followed up with a spinning kick, launching him into mid-air!

Before Yueye could recover, Hoshishaku used the ground to propel himself upward, adding one more fierce, precise kick.

The strike was so accurate and ruthless that it knocked his opponent unconscious while still in the air, sending him crashing heavily to the ground.

"Truly pathetic. A piece of trash like this wants to be the clan head?" Hoshishaku sighed from the bottom of his heart.

At the same time, he thought to himself: He was born in the Warring States period and is already nine years old; how can he not even withstand a single taijutsu skill from a peaceful-era Konoha genin?

And he hadn't even used Neji's Rotation or his ultimate move—Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.

He glanced at his cousin, Hyuga Yunfei, who was watching him with burning eyes.

Hoshishaku did not follow his inner impulse to help the boy up.

Because he knew that in this clan, governed by a thousand years of Main Branch and Branch House rules, if the Main Branch were too kind to the Branch House, it might only bring disaster upon them.

And as of now, he did not yet possess the strength to decide everything.

So, he could only abide by these ridiculous rules.

Hyuga Hoshishaku calmed the dissatisfaction in his heart, turned toward the gauze screen of the training ground, and said in a clear voice:

"Father, you have seen for yourself just how much of a waste Yueye is."

"If such a person were to become the clan head, he would bring shame upon the Hyuga Clan."

"I suggest we carve the Caged Bird seal into him now and let him retire early to the back courtyard of the Branch House to act as an elder."

As soon as Hyuga Hoshishaku's words fell, Yueye, who was gradually regaining consciousness, fell into a state of panic upon hearing them.

He was born during the Warring States period and had lived through the founding of Konoha, making him quite precocious in personality.

Although his character had flaws, he understood exactly what his younger brother's words implied.

That was an attempt to nail him down for good!

If Father truly listened to his younger brother, then his life, along with the lives of his descendants, would be finished!

Thinking of this, Hyuga Yueye gasped for air unconsciously, large beads of sweat seeping out until his training uniform was quickly soaked through.

Yet he dared not speak, merely waiting in silence for the verdict of his fate.

After a long while, the voice of Hyuga Tianren, devoid of any emotional fluctuation, drifted from behind the gauze screen:

"Hoshishaku, give your brother another chance."

"After all, three years ago, when the elders were preparing to carve the Caged Bird seal onto you, it was he who wept and knelt to beg me to give you a chance at a fair contest."

Hyuga Hoshishaku was somewhat surprised to hear this.

This had actually happened three years ago?

He had not expected that someone so foolish now had actually cared for him back then.

Memories of his childhood flashed back rapidly.

Although they rarely met, every time they did, this cheap brother of his had always been quite agitated?

Hoshishaku suddenly recalled that while this brother had been foolish before, he had been foolish in a rather endearing way.

So, was this current, annoying version of him simply warped by the clan elders?

Thinking this, the gaze Hoshishaku directed at his cheap brother softened.

However, for the sake of his reform plans, and also for his brother's own good.

The position of Clan Head was something he was determined to obtain!

Meeting Hyuga Yueye's pleading gaze.

Hoshishaku stood in place for a moment of thought, then turned and walked away directly.

Without looking back, he said: "Since that is the case, I will give him six years."

"Six years from now, if he cannot defeat me, then he must relinquish his position as the heir to the Main Branch."

As his words fell, Hoshishaku had already left the training ground.

At this moment, the duty elder of the training ground had detoured to the side of the Clan Head.

Frowning, he whispered to the Clan Head: "Is six years not too long?"

"Furthermore, the lineage of the Clan Head has, since ancient times, been..."

Hyuga Tianren raised a hand to interrupt the elder, took a sip of tea, and said indifferently:

"The rules of the past were to prevent the Byakugan from being leaked."

"But now that the Hidden Leaf Village is guarded by Senju Hashirama, who would dare covet the Byakugan of our Hyuga clan?"

The elder's face twitched, but cowed by the authority of this Clan Head who had made a name for himself during the Warring States period, he had no choice but to lower his head and concede: "Yes, Clan Head."

Hyuga Tianren continued to instruct:

"From now on, Hoshishaku is the first-in-line heir to the Main Branch, and Yueye is second."

"He said six years, so it shall be six years. Starting today, the respective treatment of the two brothers will be swapped, lasting until the heir duel six years from now. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Clan Head."

Hyuga Tianren waved his hand to dismiss the elder.

"Then you may go."

Watching the duty elder bow and depart, the corners of Hyuga Tianren's mouth curled up slightly.

Truly two naive children... Six years is too merciful, and also too arrogant.

After all, fifteen is the age when a ninja's strength enters a period of explosive growth. Hoshishaku, what will you use to contend with your brother?

However, it did not matter.

To him, both children were his own flesh and blood.

Whoever was more outstanding would inherit the position of Clan Head.

This was not only the rule, but also his answer to his own elder brother.

Back then, he had defeated his brother by a margin of five years to obtain this position.

And his descendants must do the same!