Ever since returning—or, more precisely, ever since he first spoke with Kurama—Naruto had become aware of a problem he had.
Namely, there seemed to be something wrong with his language system.
In his mind, there seemed to be only two options: speak nicely to people he liked, and speak nastily to people he hated. He was either gentle with others or viciously foul-mouthed. There was no middle ground, no ability to speak appropriately when faced with certain difficult situations.
As a result, sometimes he had no idea what the right thing to say was. After all, reality wasn't a novel. The people who loved you and the people who hated you were both people who cared about you. But how many people in this world actually cared about you? And how often did anyone feel so intensely?
Most people spent most of their lives living in a lukewarm haze, dealing with people they neither cared about nor were cared about by. They also had to shape themselves into what the group wanted them to be. After all, only children could laugh, shout, and do as they pleased. Once you grew up, you had to follow certain rules instead of your heart. It was the only way people could survive.
So setting your heart aside and saying what people wanted to hear was an essential skill for anyone entering society. It was also a sign of maturity.
But Naruto happened to lack that skill.
Sometimes, late at night, Naruto would wonder: if people in ancient times survived with stone spears and longbows, then people nowadays probably survived with their words and their bearing.
The former were used to fight for one's life against wild beasts. The latter were used to secure a safe place in a group, avoid being hurt by one's own kind, and protect one's interests as much as possible... Then, every time, he would think: Was his brain really that damaged from spending time in a movie theater? Why was he thinking about all this nonsense? He barely knew anyone anyway. Just go to sleep.
Back then, Naruto could laugh the thought off and sleep soundly. But just minutes ago, when Hyuga Rokkaku suddenly darted out and stood in front of Neji, spitting and roaring those words, Naruto had realized that this time, there was no avoiding the dilemma.
The other man was clearly no good, but he also wasn't someone Naruto could just insult as he pleased—not that Naruto was afraid to curse him. But they were in the Hyuga Clan, after all. Naruto could have cursed to his heart's content, said, "I'm a Jinchuriki, so I can just walk away whenever I want," and left. Given that the Hyuga Clan—or, more precisely, the Hyuga Main Family—could even sacrifice the clan head's younger brother to die in someone else's place, they probably didn't have the backbone to challenge the Hokage and demand that Naruto be punished. At worst, he'd get a verbal reprimand.
What was bigger, your Hyuga pride or the face of Kage Rock? He'd graffitied those four faces on the mountain more times than he could count and gotten away with it. Go ahead and try that with someone else. Did they have any idea what it meant to be both a Jinchuriki and an invisible second-generation heir?
But he could walk away unscathed. What about Neji?
He was a member of the branch family, yet the strongest of the Hyuga youth. With such a conspicuous position, what would happen to him after Naruto made a scene? How would the Main Family treat him?
So Naruto had done his best to suppress his meager language skills, gritting his teeth and keeping his mouth shut so he wouldn't say something shocking that might drag Neji down with him. He lowered his head and hid his expression, trying not to make an already troublesome situation worse.
He had kept enduring it.
When Hyuga Rokkaku poked Neji's Forehead Protector with his finger, Naruto endured it.
When Hyuga Rokkaku lectured at length about Hiashi and Hizashi, and the differences between the Main House and branch family, he still endured it.
But when Hyuga Rokkaku proclaimed that fate couldn't be changed and sharply ordered Neji to kneel, Naruto finally couldn't take it anymore.
He practically leaped to his feet, bent down sharply, and slapped both hands against Neji's legs, which were already beginning to bend. He forced Neji's knees straight.
"Don't kneel!"
His hands clamped around Neji's knees like iron tongs, and his voice dropped to a near-roar.
"Stand up straight!"
Naruto stared fiercely into Neji's eyes. Neji could see the fury in his gaze, but he couldn't understand why Naruto was so enraged.
This was clearly his own problem. Even if you made it sound more serious, it was just an ordinary matter between the Hyuga Main House and branch family.
Even if Neji had caused it by bringing Naruto here, Naruto was an outsider. Was it really necessary to go this far?
Are you an idiot?
Aren't you afraid?
Watching Naruto's back as he shouted and cursed Hyuga Rokkaku for his sake, Neji was dazed.
Of course, Neji couldn't understand. He didn't know that, along his original path of fate, he would die in Naruto's place, just as his father, Hizashi, had.
Then he would watch a bird appear for no reason, listen to a speech that made no sense, and convince himself he had found so-called freedom before closing his eyes...
[No. You just died.]
[You didn't gain freedom, and you didn't escape your fate. You simply died.]
[The son of a sacrificial pawn will always be a sacrificial pawn, just as the Hokage's son is destined to become Hokage.]
Those comments that had floated across the screen at the time had felt like slaps, one after another, across Naruto's face.
And when he watched himself on the screen, so naively coming to terms with Neji's death—even though Neji had died for him—and saw that after the war ended, he had never once been moved to question the Hyuga Main House and branch family system, or the [Caged Bird] that had imprisoned Neji's soul for his entire life... Naruto's cheeks had burned with shame.
That was why he had leaped to his feet, roaring in a near-humiliated rage over something that seemed to have nothing to do with him.
Hyuga Rokkaku, what did you mean by that?
Were you saying fate couldn't be changed, so no matter how hard Naruto tried, Neji would still die in his place in the future?
Naruto knew his thinking was biased, but that didn't change his resolve to act. What Hyuga Rokkaku had said wasn't just an insult to Neji and the branch family—it was practically a slap in Naruto's face, too!
If he stayed silent now, wouldn't he be proving those comments right?
"You..."
Hyuga Rokkaku was stunned.
In his sixty-seven years of pampered living, he had never heard such a crude and vile tirade, let alone one aimed at him!
Some yellow-haired nobody from who knew where had actually dared to run his mouth like that in the innermost courtyard of the Hyuga Main Family?!
His mind had short-circuited. This was a situation he had never faced before. The usual condescending or polite conversations he was accustomed to were of no use here. When had he ever met someone so bizarre? They'd only met for the first time today, and this stranger was already cursing him to his face!
"Why are you cursing me? What do you mean, stand up? Why should he stand up?"
The questions rose instinctively in Hyuga Rokkaku's mind. He couldn't understand why Naruto was angry. But as soon as the questions reached his tongue, a stronger and more complicated emotion took over completely.
"You... you brat!"
Anger and humiliation.
Hyuga Rokkaku's face turned pale, then red. He could no longer maintain his cold demeanor. He flailed as he pointed at Naruto and shouted:
"You dare insult the Hyuga Clan? You insolent fool! You brat! Guards! Seize him! Pin him to the ground!"
And yet...
Even with his spittle flying, the courtyard remained silent.
Naruto was still glaring at him—and trying to figure out what to do. Neji was still staring at Naruto, his thoughts unreadable. The other branch family members exchanged glances. Not one of them said a word, and not one of them moved.
—Come on, when nothing was happening, you were all going on about how different the Main House and branch family were. But now that something's happening, suddenly it's "our" Hyuga Clan?
That thought probably occurred to all the branch family members.
Hyuga Rokkaku only realized no one was backing him up after he finished speaking. He looked around. The Main Family had gone to a meeting in the West Courtyard, so only branch family members were here. After hearing his words, they not only refused to obey, but all wore strange expressions.
"Neji!" Hyuga Rokkaku felt a little uneasy, though his expression remained fierce. "This is the trouble you brought back! Hurry up and take him down!"
But Neji still didn't move. Hyuga Rokkaku's words seemed to go in one ear and out the other. His eyes remained fixed on Naruto, like a statue gazing at the sea.
"Brats... You're all brats."
Hyuga Rokkaku gritted his teeth. But for some reason, for the first time in the sixty-seven years of his life, he instinctively refrained from saying aloud what he normally would have said to reprimand the branch family. He only cursed them silently.
"Yanshang!" he shouted again, pointing at the branch family member assigned to guard the Main Family's inner courtyard that day—the very person who had let Naruto and Neji in.
"How did you let someone of unknown identity in? Where was your judgment?" Hyuga Rokkaku glared viciously at Yanshang, who looked troubled. "Can't you hear what I'm saying? Can't you see he's insulting the Main Family? Get over here and seize that brat. Make up for your mistake! Or have you forgotten the Hyuga family rules?"
—The Hyuga didn't have any family rules.
Neji, whose thoughts had drifted elsewhere, suddenly realized.
"Don't they just mean that the branch family has to obey the Main House without question, and the Main House can use the branch family as it pleases... and the key to keeping the two in line is the [Caged Bird] Cursed Seal?"
Then he saw Naruto move again.
Naruto walked between Hyuga Rokkaku and Hyuga Yanshang, raised his hand to block their line of sight, and stood in front of Yanshang, who looked a little lost.
"Old man."
Naruto's tone was calm, but his expression was scornful.
"If you want to fight, I'll fight you. If you're scared, just say so. Don't use someone else as a shield."
—Truthfully, even now, after acting on impulse, Naruto still hadn't come up with a good solution. Or rather, it would have been strange if someone with his social skills had found a good way to deal with this.
But he at least knew that he couldn't let Hyuga Rokkaku keep stirring things up undisturbed. He had to take control of the situation. So he had to step forward, even if he could only take things one step at a time—even if that meant starting by being unreasonable.
And Hyuga Rokkaku really was amused by Naruto's bizarre train of thought.
What was this yellow-haired brat talking about?
He didn't even try to offer a respectable excuse for his behavior or say something tactful to give both sides an out and ease the tension. All he did was curse and challenge people to one-on-one fights. What kind of street thug was this? Was this really the sort of person Might Guy taught?
Hyuga Rokkaku couldn't help feeling both enlightened and contemptuous. He'd been so furious at the insults that he'd lost his head. The other boy was just a thickheaded little nobody.
"What right do you have to challenge me to a one-on-one fight?" Hyuga Rokkaku said contemptuously. "A foul-mouthed scoundrel like you, who knows nothing of manners, would only dirty my hands! Do you think just anyone can fight the Hyuga?"
"Hm?" Naruto tilted his head, and his eyes lit up.
He pointed at Neji and the branch family members outside. "Then why did you want them to fight me? Wouldn't they dirty their hands?"
Hyuga Rokkaku, who had been looking down on Naruto just moments earlier, suddenly sensed something was wrong. But before he could react, Naruto cried, "Ah!" and looked as if he had suddenly realized something. He knocked his fist against his palm, as though the thought had only just occurred to him.
"I get it. Since they're branch family, you don't care if they dirty their hands fighting me. And since the branch family doesn't count as the Hyuga Clan, that means I'm allowed to fight them."
The furious look on Naruto's face from a moment earlier vanished. He smiled at Hyuga Rokkaku with friendly delight.
"Grandpa, I got it right, didn't I?"
Don't act cute, you little brat!
Hyuga Rokkaku raged inwardly. How could he not know that Naruto had caught him in a verbal contradiction? The boy wasn't the simple-minded hothead he seemed. He was a poisonous hornet lurking in wait, ready to sting him the moment an opening appeared!
At his words, the branch family members watching from the doorway began to stir uneasily. Even a clan elder like Hyuga Rokkaku, who put the Main House above all else, knew he absolutely could not let the statement "the branch family doesn't count as the Hyuga" stand. The appearance of family unity had to be maintained at all costs. It was an ironclad rule that every member of the Hyuga Main Family was privately taught from childhood!
"Brat! Stop spreading nonsense!" Hyuga Rokkaku waved his hand grandly, his tone impassioned. "You're an outsider. What do you know about the Hyuga Clan? The Main House and branch family have always been one. When one prospers, they all prosper; when one suffers, they all suffer. The branch family is absolutely part of the Hyuga. That has been true since time immemorial. Don't think you can twist the facts over one careless slip of the tongue!"
"So why can they fight me, but you can't?"
Naruto didn't care what he was going on about. He kept clinging to that "careless slip of the tongue."
"Why would they not dirty their hands, when you would? Why am I not allowed to fight you, but allowed to fight them? Are your hands more precious? Are you upper-class, while they're lower-class?"
Hyuga Rokkaku was amused again. He once more thought the hothead was just being unreasonable.
"You're an outsider. Don't pretend you understand, spouting ignorant nonsense like that!" He was running out of patience, and his tone grew heated again. "I had them step in because it's their duty by birth! The Main House carries on the bloodline, while the branch family protects the Main House. This system is the reason the Hyuga Clan has survived to this day. It's the foundation on which our bloodline continues! As long as they're in the Hyuga Clan, they must obey these rules! Do you think an outsider like you has any right to interfere?"
By this point, Hyuga Rokkaku no longer wanted to waste his breath on Naruto. He strode past him and stopped in front of the branch family members at the doorway, his voice icy.
"What? Have you forgotten your duty as branch family? Forgotten what the clan taught you from childhood?"
His Byakugan remained active. His translucent eyes, their veins bulging, slowly swept over every member of the branch family. He could clearly see the [Caged Bird] Cursed Seals hidden behind the straps of their Forehead Protectors.
"Or do you really want me to enforce the family rules?"
At the predatory look in Hyuga Rokkaku's eyes, the branch family members began to waver again. This had nothing to do with courage or resolve. It was an ancient rule that had never been shaken since the Hyuga Clan was founded.
Everyone who had ever challenged it was dead.
But then Naruto, left behind Hyuga Rokkaku, spoke quietly:
"You're saying that 'as long as they're in the Hyuga Clan, they have to obey these rules,' right?"
"Yes." Hyuga Rokkaku couldn't be bothered to turn around.
Wasn't that obvious? Weren't the Hyuga family rules meant to be followed by the Hyuga?
Naruto quietly watched the back of Hyuga Rokkaku's head, the conflicted faces and trembling eyes of the branch family members, and Neji, still standing motionless and expressionless.
It had just occurred to him.
A way to keep Neji from being affected after Naruto left.
There had once been a comment on the screen.
[When you can't solve a problem, try making it bigger.]
Whatever. He was out of ideas anyway.
Let's blow this wide open.
So Naruto spoke slowly, his voice faint:
"Then why not leave the clan?"
"..."
"..."
"...?!"
Hyuga Rokkaku spun around in shock, his eyes a mixture of fury and disbelief. He pointed at Naruto, trembling all over. But he was so stunned that he couldn't get a word out. They had already traded barbs several times, but never before had he been so shaken to his core.
What was this boy saying?
How could he say that?
How dare he say that?
"What I mean is..." Naruto said calmly, spreading his hands as he looked at the startled Hyuga Rokkaku. "If staying in this clan means you have to obey certain... people without question, get yelled at or ordered to kneel all the time, and then risk your life to protect those people whenever they're in danger—and, most importantly, your children will grow up just like you—then why not leave? People can always start over somewhere else."
—From the moment Naruto said those words, the problem was no longer just Neji's. He had expanded it to encompass the conflict between the entire branch family and the Main House.
Especially considering that Neji had always been the pride of the branch family... Even if the Main House later decided to punish him, it would be hard to ignore the feelings of the entire branch family and go through with it.
With his Byakugan, Hyuga Rokkaku could clearly see every face behind him. The branch family members looked just as shocked, frightened, and astonished as he did... But he also saw, deep in their eyes, something slight yet utterly unlike what he saw in himself: a dawning realization, as if something had suddenly clicked.
Hyuga Rokkaku himself didn't realize that a trace of fear had already risen in his heart.
How could he have imagined that what should have been nothing more than an ordinary reprimand of the branch family would be blown so far out of proportion by this brat... No, what he hadn't expected was that anyone would be so bold as to say something like that out loud in the Hyuga Clan! Wasn't he afraid of the Hyuga Clan's retribution?
Some things weighed no more than a few ounces as long as they remained unspoken. But once they were said aloud and the unspoken truth exposed, they became impossible to contain!
"You..." Hyuga Rokkaku had too many vicious insults he wanted to hurl at Naruto. But for the moment, he put them aside. There was something more urgent he needed to respond to at once!
"Ridiculous! The Hyuga Clan has followed this tradition for thousands of years. The glory that lets the Hyuga stand tall in the Ninja World has always been protected by both the Main House and the branch family. Who are you to spout nonsense and sow discord?"
As if he felt that repeating the same old arguments wasn't convincing enough, Hyuga Rokkaku pointed angrily at Neji's forehead and the Caged Bird Cursed Seal there.
"Besides, the branch family will die if they leave the Main House! That's the power the Caged Bird gives us! Faced with death, how could they possibly leave the Hyuga, you idiot?"
"That's not true."
Naruto slowly shook his head. "You keep saying the Main House is protected by the branch family, so the glory of the Hyuga isn't protected by both the Main House and the branch family. It's only the branch family that defends the Hyuga's glory, because you Main House members are always hiding behind them to 'carry on the bloodline.' Where's the 'both' in that?"
Before Hyuga Rokkaku could respond, Naruto continued very seriously. But his gaze swept over the branch family members outside the doorway.
"And people can choose not to fear death."
Then, as if he'd remembered something, he added seriously:
"For the sake of their children, people can choose not to fear death."
Before you continue