Stand Up, All of You, Damn It (3.6k)

"How are you here?"

Neji swallowed the question before it could slip out. Hyuga Rokkaku seemed to have guessed what he was thinking, though, and said coolly:

"I wasn't feeling well, so I stayed in the inner courtyard instead of attending the meeting in the west courtyard... But you—" His tone turned cold. "Why are you here? Who let you in?"

Neji struggled to suppress his emotions and lowered his head. "I came in on my own. I came to visit Lady Hinata."

Hyuga Rokkaku knew that Neji's evasive answer was the branch family covering for one another. He snorted, but didn't press the matter. In his view, a person in power needed to be magnanimous. He could tolerate such a small act of defiance. He would even consider it a display of his own benevolence.

"And who's that?"

Hyuga Rokkaku had, of course, noticed the blond kid behind Neji, standing with his eyes lowered. Neji replied:

"He's a friend who's been training with me under Teacher Guy lately. He's also Lady Hinata's classmate, and he came especially to visit her."

"Hinata has friends?" Rokkaku sounded surprised. Then he looked at Naruto with interest. "One of Guy's students, you say..."

He knew all about Might Guy's reputation—not because Guy was an elite jonin, but because of the Strong Fist style he had created. Over the past few years, villagers had often brought it up alongside the Hyuga's Gentle Fist.

Although the Hyuga Clan scoffed at the idea of comparing their art to some peasant's fistfighting style, they weren't stupid enough to think Guy was a nobody. On the contrary, as long as no one tried to ride on the reputation of their Gentle Fist, they were quite willing to admit that Guy's Taijutsu was pretty good. Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent the branch family's most outstanding young talent to train under him.

So when Rokkaku heard Neji say that the kid trained with Guy, he stopped ignoring Naruto.

First, he looked at Naruto's face. Hmm, Hyuga Rokkaku thought, nodding to himself. Not bad-looking. Then he looked lower...

"Heh. Another commoner."

Hyuga Rokkaku sneered inwardly, losing all interest. He'd even forgotten that he'd been about to ask the boy's name.

That orange outfit, patched all over and utterly lacking in taste... You had to hand it to Guy's students: they had the same awful sense of style.

Once he'd confirmed that Naruto wasn't from some prominent clan, Rokkaku couldn't be bothered to spare him another glance. His stomach was still bothering him, so he turned away, flicked his sleeve, and ordered:

"It's the thought that counts. There's no need for him to go inside. Neji, show him out."

"Wait, Elder Rokkaku." Neji stepped forward. "He only came to see Lady Hinata. They're friends from the Ninja Academy, and they're very close."

"...?"

As if Neji had touched a nerve, Hyuga Rokkaku slowly turned his head. His pale eyes fixed on Neji.

"Didn't you hear what I said?"

Hyuga Rokkaku spoke slowly, enunciating every movement of his tongue, teeth, and lips. "I said that's enough. Take him outside."

"I..."

"You what?!"

Neji had barely managed one incomplete word when Hyuga Rokkaku erupted like an enraged dragon, letting out a roar:

"Do you still not understand? Not just anyone can come and go as they please in the Hyuga Clan! Do you want me to hold the branch family member guarding the inner courtyard entrance today responsible?"

"You branch family members exist to protect the Main House! You bring people in so carelessly—how can you live up to your duty? I've given an order, so you should carry it out! You must not resist! You must not resist! You must not resist! Your life belongs to the Main House, and your duty is absolute obedience! That was decided the moment you were assigned to the Main House or the branch family!"

He jabbed at Neji's Forehead Protector again and again, each tap ringing out with a metallic clang. It was like a ritual, as if the curse issuing from his mouth were hammering a brand into Neji's soul and locking him in a cage.

At the entrance, the adult branch family member on guard looked anxious, but couldn't make his feet move.

A branch family member carrying tea came down the corridor in the opposite direction. Seeing what was happening, he immediately recoiled like a startled bird and retreated to the very edge of the veranda. He bowed his head so deeply that his humble figure seemed to blend into the shadows.

Neji kept his head lowered. Each jab of Rokkaku's finger struck his skull through the metal Forehead Protector, making his head dip again and again, as if he were agreeing with everything Rokkaku said.

"Don't think that being praised as the greatest genius of your generation in the Hyuga Clan can change anything! People can never change. That's exactly why there are differences! Why there are divisions! A person's fate is decided from the moment they're born, just as I'm Main House and you're branch family! Hiashi is Main House, and your father was branch family!"

"You!"

Clang!

Neji jerked his head up, only for Rokkaku's finger to strike him harder and force it back down.

"You what? You dare talk back?" Hyuga Rokkaku scolded. "Was I wrong?!"

Clang, clang, clang, clang...

At last, the Forehead Protector, struck again and again, couldn't withstand one final blow. Its clasp came undone, and it slid off Neji's face, hitting the floor with a series of echoes as metal clattered against marble.

Revealed beneath it was the blue Cursed Seal imprinted on Neji's forehead, which he had always taken care to conceal.

—The Caged Bird.

—A mark distinguishing the Main House from the branch family.

—It could destroy the Byakugan's optic nerves automatically if a branch family member died, keeping the Byakugan from falling into outsiders' hands.

—It also gave the Main House the power to destroy a branch family member's brain nerves with ease.

—It was an ill omen, an absolute terror imposed upon the branch family, a bird in a cage, proof that there was no escaping the chains of fate.

Neji's bandage-wrapped hands, callused from relentless training, clenched and unclenched. He gritted his teeth, but couldn't manage a single word in his own defense.

—He must not resist.

That was the Hyuga Clan's ancestral rule, the iron law his own father had taught him from childhood and upheld with his life.

—He must not resist.

Neji suddenly remembered what Naruto had told him that morning. He realized Naruto had been right.

If your children can go against you, they'll probably grow up just fine.

"...Hmph."

Only when Rokkaku saw Neji lower his head and finally unclench his fist did his anger ease a little.

In truth, this anger hadn't started today. For the past few years, Neji had held the title of the strongest among the Hyuga youth, and that had always irritated him.

"Just a branch family member..." Hyuga Rokkaku muttered under his breath. He'd wanted to put Neji in his place for a long time, lest the other branch family members start entertaining fantasies of their own.

He flexed his fingers and looked at the blond kid again. The boy was still standing with his head lowered... Only, he had lowered it so far that Rokkaku couldn't even see his face.

Hyuga Rokkaku lost interest and continued his lecture:

"The Hyuga Clan's Byakugan is the strongest Kekkei Genkai in the Ninja World."

"As I just said, it's determined at birth. Our Hyuga strength is the greatest not only in Konoha, but in the entire Ninja World."

"But beautiful things are always coveted. There are always people who try to take the power we were born with by any means they can. That's why we divided the clan into the Main House and the branch family. Whether Main House or branch family, we all exist to protect the Hyuga Clan's power from being taken..."

At this point, he pointed at Naruto without the slightest hesitation and said, "But force isn't the only way to take it... Some people prefer a method that's much harder to guard against. They get close to Hyuga Clan members so their descendants can inherit our blood..."

"So, Neji, do you understand now?" Hyuga Rokkaku said, his tone returning to a calm, earnest one. "Not letting him see Hinata is for her protection. Besides, a lot of people in Konoha are gossiping about the Hyuga Clan right now. If he sees Lady Hinata as she is and spreads the word everywhere, what will become of the Hyuga Clan's reputation?"

"...Naruto isn't that kind of person." Neji lowered his head and suddenly answered in a muffled voice.

"What did you say?" Either Neji had spoken too quietly, or Hyuga Rokkaku couldn't believe he'd actually dared to answer back. "What isn't?"

"I said he's not the kind of person you're describing, Elder." Neji slowly raised his head. His eyes, pale as snow, met the elder's once more. "I'll vouch for him."

"..."

At that, Hyuga Rokkaku narrowed his eyes slightly.

This time, he didn't pretend to be angry or start shouting. He simply thought, Just as I expected.

Because he saw it.

He saw the resentment in Neji's eyes as they met his, held back with all his strength but still nearly leaping out.

He saw the branch family member in the corridor's shadow, who seemed humble and obedient, but was quietly straining to hear what was happening.

He saw the branch family member on guard at the entrance pacing back and forth and glancing this way again and again, as if unsure what to do.

The branch family members training in the dojo farther away were also gradually gathering at the entrance to the inner courtyard to watch the scene unfold.

Those scattered, prying glances, each carrying some vague, indescribable meaning, made Hyuga Rokkaku uncomfortable.

In the past, these branch family members had been too afraid even to look up in front of the Main House.

Why did they dare to watch now?

What were they looking at? What did they want to see?

Were they not afraid of dying?

Or had you, so-called strongest, given them false hope by defeating the Main House members of your generation?

Hyuga Rokkaku stared at Neji.

Hiashi, you've been too soft on them... Ever since Hizashi died, fewer and fewer branch family members have been punished under the clan rules.

Without fear, there would be hope. And once there was hope, the foundations of stability would begin to crack.

So I'll help you break their bones.

"Kneel."

Hyuga Rokkaku gave the order.

"?"

Neji looked at Hyuga Rokkaku in disbelief, but Rokkaku didn't take it back. The veins at his temples suddenly bulged, twisting and pulsing like living things. He activated his Byakugan—or rather, he prepared to use the Caged Bird technique.

"Kneel," Hyuga Rokkaku said indifferently. "Don't make me say it a third time."

If this is the hope you branch family members keep talking about, then open your eyes and take a good look.

Watch your hope kneel.

Then you'll realize that those faint, lingering fantasies of yours are only fantasies.

Nothing will ever change.

It was the same a hundred years ago, and it'll be the same a hundred years from now.

Hyuga Rokkaku quietly watched the most outstanding genius in the Hyuga Clan. With his Byakugan activated, he could clearly see the sweat beading on the other boy's skin, his trembling lips, his chaotic chakra, and the muscles in his legs gradually tightening—

Kneel.

Hyuga Rokkaku watched Neji's knees bend slightly, without the slightest surprise.

After all, under the Caged Bird, faced with life and death, no one could refuse to submit.

Kneel.

Just as your people did a hundred years ago.

Just as your children will a hundred years from now.

Kneel—hmm?

"Don't kneel."

The boy who'd been silent all this time suddenly moved. He bent down and slapped Neji just below the kneecap.

Smack!

"Stand up straight."

He said something Hyuga Rokkaku couldn't understand, something no Hyuga branch family member had ever said. He slapped Neji just below the other kneecap, then crouched in front of him and gripped both of Neji's knees, forcing his legs straight.

"Don't kneel!"

He looked up at Neji with an indignant glare. Neji saw the same fierce gaze he'd seen that morning, and yet somehow, there was something different about it.

The one thing that hadn't changed was the determination and ruthlessness in Naruto's eyes—the look of someone ready to sweep away and destroy anything standing in his way.

"Neji!" Hyuga Rokkaku raised his voice. "Kneel! Or I'll—"

"Hey, you fucking old bastard!" Naruto roared even louder, his voice like a thunderclap, drowning out Hyuga Rokkaku's shrill cry. "I've held back long enough! I said don't kneel! All of you, fucking stand up!"

"People have two legs so they can stand, not kneel for shit!"

"Stand up! All of you, damn it, stand up!"