Change (3k)

Footsteps echoed across the bluestone pavement. As the last person gently shut the door to the Main House's inner courtyard behind them, the Branch Family members finally left. With that, the day's events had come to an end... at least for now.

They did not disperse right away. Instead, as if drawn together by some invisible force, they stayed as one. Though they came from different dojos and courtyards, and some still had tasks for the Main House to complete, their silent shadows remained clustered beneath the blazing sun. No one spoke loudly, and no one seemed to know where the crowd was headed.

A strange, heavy silence filled the air. Everyone wore a mask of sorts, their faces rigidly composed. But their eyes were no longer filled with the stifled numbness or veiled resentment they had carried on their way in. Now, complex emotions swirled within them.

Hyuga Hiashi's deep bow, as if weighed down by a thousand tons, had indeed quelled the day's turmoil. But the upheaval in people's hearts was far from over.

"That boy..." An old woman in the crowd was the first to break the silence. Her voice was slow and aged. "His name is Uzumaki Naruto, right?"

As she spoke his name, it was as though a crack appeared in the heavy atmosphere, letting in a little air. Several people remembered the disgraceful display Hyuga Rokkaku had made earlier. A young member stifled a laugh and said:

"That's right, Grandma Unten. His name is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Oh..."

Hyuga Unten murmured, her expression distant, as if her thoughts had slowed with age. But not a single Branch Family member showed impatience. No one interrupted her; they all waited respectfully for whatever she might say next.

Hyuga Unten was one of the Branch Family's oldest elders, with a long history and deep respect.

In her youth, she had been fiercely bold. For a while, she had been the gang's big sister, and her favorite things to do were to take younger followers under her wing and protect them—whether they wanted her to or not. If she took a liking to someone, they were under her protection, period.

From Gentle Fist training to psychological problems... she even went out of her way to help with everyday troubles. As a result, plenty of Branch Family members from the three generations below her had received her help, willingly or otherwise.

There were even a few stubborn types who had refused her "kindness," only to get beaten up by her and eventually accept her help with gratitude and wholehearted respect... Of course, those were stories from her youth.

Those stubborn types might have given in back then because they were intimidated by her, but once they grew up, they all started calling Hyuga Unten "Mother" of their own accord.

It was hardly surprising. Most of those stubborn types had lost both parents, while Hyuga Unten's husband and biological child had both died during the Second Shinobi World War.

In a sense, Hyuga Unten was the mother of more Hyuga Clan members than anyone else. Every holiday, her courtyard was the liveliest of them all, with a crowd of hulking adults in their forties and fifties vying to give her a piggyback ride.

Because of everything she had done in her life, she commanded immense respect throughout the Hyuga Branch Family and even within the Hyuga Main Family. After all, it wasn't as if there had never been a clueless brat who'd disrespected her, only to get jumped by several adults and beaten black and blue in the middle of the night...

Oh, right. That brat had been from the Main House. In the end, there was simply no evidence, and investigating the incident would have implicated too many people, so Hiashi had buried the matter and let it go. From then on, the Hyuga Clan's respect for her had extended beyond the realm of the spirit and into the physical.

"Back when the First Hokage founded Konoha and the Hyuga Clan joined him."

After a long silence, Hyuga Unten finally spoke.

"My father once went to see him in private and asked him to intervene and change the Hyuga Clan's Caged Bird system... I had just been born then."

Hyuga Unten spoke as if it were nothing, but the Branch Family members stared at her as though a giant hammer had struck them in the heart. So something like that had really happened? Had she inherited her boldness from her father? Was the old man really that brave?

After all, the Warring States period had only recently ended. People were still rather straightforward back then, and the usual punishment for a crime was having a hand or foot chopped off. If her father had been caught doing something like that, the Main House would have beheaded him!

But Hyuga Unten didn't seem to think it was a big deal. She went on:

"My father said the First Hokage seemed to have been persuaded, but his younger brother talked him out of it, so in the end, he refused... I've forgotten why he refused, and it doesn't matter. Fortunately, the two Hokage had enough sense not to tell the Main House. That's how I was able to grow up in peace."

"Then, when the Third took office, my father went to see him in secret too. As expected, he was refused again, though the Third promised to keep it confidential... But not long after, my father, a Chunin, was assigned by the clan to an S-rank mission. He died."

"Later, when the Second Shinobi World War broke out, our family was sent to support the most dangerous front. My husband died. I should have died too, but my son kicked me and sent me flying." She paused, a strange glint passing through her cloudy eyes. "Heh, that boy was definitely mine. The little bastard even dared to kick his own mother. So I lived, but my son died."

"..."

"..."

Hyuga Unten's voice was soft, hoarse and vague in the way old people's voices often were. Yet every word landed in everyone's ears like a heavy lump of lead.

The air seemed to freeze. The faint cheerfulness they had felt at the thought of Naruto was crushed in an instant.

But she kept speaking, leaving no room for anyone to interrupt. Her aged voice remained calm:

"When the Fourth took office, my father was dead, so I went to see him instead... He said he would think about it... He wanted to make a change."

For the first time, Hyuga Unten's voice wavered.

"But before he could do anything, he died."

"...So young, and he died just like that..."

Hyuga Unten looked up at the sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and nothing else either—not even the birds she often saw flying by... What was going on? Wasn't this the sort of moment when you birds were supposed to show up?

"Grandma Unten..."

A young woman from the Branch Family stepped forward, eyes red, wanting to support her. But Hyuga Unten raised a hand to stop her.

She slowly turned her head, her gaze sweeping over every tightly drawn face. It passed over their clenched jaws, the Forehead Protectors hiding their brows, and the pale eyes in which something seemed to have taken root.

"I'm not saying all this to make some grand point. I'm simply stating a fact," she said quietly. "Konoha has been standing for sixty-four years, and every inch of this land is soaked with the blood of our Branch Family. Yet everyone has turned a blind eye to us. No one has ever spoken even a single word on our behalf. Even when what we went through was something they themselves would never have accepted, they stayed silent and thought only of preserving the status quo."

"Until today."

"Until the one called Uzumaki Naruto... came."

At that, Hyuga Unten actually chuckled.

"He really is a lot like his father."

"Do you believe me when I say that from now on, things will get better for the Branch Family, and the Main House will become a lot more reasonable?"

"But don't think the Main House has suddenly grown kindhearted and decided to change... They're just scared! Because today, an Uzumaki Naruto showed up, and the things he said were exactly what they fear most!"

"Whether he meant to or not, whether he only had the guts to say those things out of loyalty to his comrades, the fact remains: in over sixty years, he's the only person in Konoha who has ever stood up for us!"

"You know me. I've always believed that, damn it, you have to be loyal to your friends."

For a moment, it was as if Hyuga Unten from her younger days had returned. She rolled her neck, and her dry bones cracked. Everyone exchanged glances. That seemed to be the standard warm-up before a street brawl. The only question was who the old woman planned to beat up this time. Was she going to do it herself?

"Since we've received his kindness, we have to acknowledge it."

"So if he ever needs help in the future, these old bones of mine won't be much use. But you—you have to help him."

Hyuga Unten's gaze swept across the crowd, bright as a torch. She leaned on her cane like a general standing tall astride his horse, ready to put anyone who disagreed in a sack and beat them senseless.

"Who's in favor? Who's opposed?"

Oh, so she was threatening to beat us up. In that case, no problem... The Branch Family members all breathed a sigh of relief and nodded quickly. They had already felt the same way, of course, but Hyuga Unten had said it aloud, clarifying their feelings and making them less likely to quietly fade away with time.

"Fourth Hokage."

Seeing that no one objected, Hyuga Unten murmured to herself.

"Since he's your son, I suppose it won't... go wrong if our Branch Family stakes everything on him."

"...But we can't always count on someone else."

"People have two legs... so they can stand on their own."

Hyuga Unten spoke in a low voice:

"I was just thinking that the other people in Konoha, apart from Naruto, might have turned a blind eye to our suffering and kept silent because that was only natural. We don't have the right to blame them... After all, haven't we ourselves been turning a deaf ear, pretending not to see, and acting like ostriches with our heads in the sand, keeping up appearances for the Main House?"

Her voice no longer sounded so old. The haughty air that years of hardship had worn away seemed to return in that moment. She bared her teeth, like the old gang leader who had once ruled the streets, back in action.

In the next instant, she reached up, tore off the band she had never once removed from her head, and flung it viciously to the ground!

"If the Main House dares to give us the Caged Bird, then we won't spare them any face! Let the outsiders see it for themselves!!"

The blue, crooked swastika-shaped Cursed Seal was exposed on her wrinkled forehead. She jabbed a finger at its center, her nail nearly piercing her skin and drawing blood!

"This Caged Bird has never been our Branch Family's disgrace! We've shed plenty of blood for Konoha, and we've never had anything to be ashamed of! Let our classmates, friends, and teammates see this. Let them see how the Main House treats us! Let people from other villages laugh all they want. Let them see how Konoha treats its own comrades!"

"The Caged Bird is their disgrace, not ours!"

With that, Hyuga Unten tossed aside her cane and strode toward the edge of the Hyuga Clan grounds.

"Damn it, swearing really feels good! It's already hot enough in summer. I'm done covering my forehead!"

From then on...

As time went by, more and more members of the Hyuga Branch Family stopped hiding their foreheads beneath their Forehead Protectors or headbands. The Caged Bird they displayed openly became a silent accusation, drawing stares and questions from those who didn't understand. Discontent and doubt toward the Hyuga Main Family began to quietly gather in Konoha.

Of course, that was all in the future.