Hyuga

After speaking with the Third Hokage, Jiraiya went to find Naruto. Naruto was currently feeding Hinata Three-Color Dango from a box.

When Jiraiya returned, Naruto said, "Hey, Pervy Sage, done talking? Want a dango?"

Jiraiya gave him a speechless look at the nickname. He had corrected Naruto countless times, but Naruto still kept calling him Pervy Sage.

Helpless, he could only try to accept the nickname. "No. You two take your time eating."

After feeding Hinata another dango, Naruto said to her, "Hinata, this is Pervy Sage. He'll take us to your house in a bit to discuss with your father taking you away from Konoha."

Hinata didn't know Jiraiya. After hearing Naruto's words, she struggled to decide what to call him. Calling him Pervy Sage didn't feel very polite.

Jiraiya saw her hesitation and said, "My name is Jiraiya. I'll talk to your father about taking you as my student. You can call me 'Teacher' from now on."

Hinata hurriedly replied, "Thank you, Teacher Jiraiya."

Looking at the well-behaved Hinata, then at Naruto beside her, Jiraiya resisted the urge to kick him.

Then he waved for the two of them to follow and headed toward the Hyuga Clan Compound.

They soon reached the Hyuga Clan's gate. Seeing that, besides the young lady, Naruto, and another tall, youthful-looking man were there, the guards hurried forward to ask, "Hello. May I ask who you are?"

Jiraiya looked at him and said, "My name is Jiraiya. Go inform your clan head that I'm here to visit."

The guard was young and might not have recognized Jiraiya. "Sorry for the trouble. Please wait a moment."

He then opened the gate and went inside.

Jiraiya wasn't angered by such a small matter. He simply waited quietly where he stood, with Naruto and Hinata behind him.

Before long, the gate opened again, and a large group came out. At their head was Hinata's father, Hyuga Hiashi.

The people following Hiashi quickly formed two lines as soon as they stepped through the gate, while Hiashi promptly walked over to Jiraiya.

When he reached Jiraiya, Hiashi bowed in greeting, then straightened and said with a smile, "Lord Jiraiya, it's been a long time. You look younger than ever."

Hinata, standing behind Jiraiya, was stunned. Her father, the head of the Hyuga Clan, was usually stern and dignified. This was the first time she had seen him smile—and he was being so respectful, too.

Hiashi was so respectful to Jiraiya not only because of his strength and status.

As a Konoha Ninja, Hiashi had also fought on the battlefield when he was young. He and Namikaze Minato had been in the same generation, and Jiraiya had saved them several times when they were in danger.

That was why Hiashi was so respectful when he saw Jiraiya.

Jiraiya patted him on the shoulder and said, "Hiashi, you're too polite. I came to discuss something with you."

Hiashi quickly replied, "Please, Lord Jiraiya. Let's talk in the hall."

Then he walked inside side by side with Jiraiya, while Naruto and Hinata followed behind them.

The Hyuga Clan's grounds covered a vast area, and its members usually lived there. The scenery had been specially arranged.

The carefully spaced pavilions, meticulously trimmed greenery, and luxurious decor all displayed the status of one of Konoha's great clans.

Seeing the place for the first time, Naruto couldn't help remarking, "They're rich."

They walked along a corridor, then turned right and reached a hall. It was the Hyuga Clan's reception hall, where they usually entertained guests.

Jiraiya was shown to the seat of honor at the front, and Hiashi sat down to his right.

After the maids had served tea, Hiashi sent them all away and had the doors closed. Besides him and Jiraiya, only Naruto and Hinata remained in the hall.

Only then did Hiashi ask Jiraiya, "May I ask what you wanted to discuss with me, Lord Jiraiya?"

"I'm planning to take Hinata as my student, so I came to ask for your opinion," Jiraiya replied with a broad smile.

Hiashi quickly said, "It would be Hinata's good fortune to become Lord Jiraiya's student. Naturally, I have no objection."

"I don't just want to take her as my student. I want to take her away from Konoha. That's what I came to discuss with you," Jiraiya continued.

Hiashi frowned when he heard that. If Jiraiya only wanted to take Hinata as his student, he would have agreed without hesitation.

But taking Hinata away posed a problem. As a member of the Hyuga Clan's Main House, she hadn't been marked with the Caged Bird Seal.

Other ninja villages coveted the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan, especially the Cloud Village. Years ago, they had even come to Konoha and kidnapped Hinata.

Fortunately, the kidnapping was discovered quickly. Hiashi caught up with the Cloud Village ninja in a forest not far outside the village and killed the kidnapper on the spot in his fury.

As a result, when the Land of Lightning applied pressure and Konoha refused to go to war, Hiashi's younger brother had taken his place and killed himself.

Now, hearing that Jiraiya wanted to take Hinata out of the village, Hiashi couldn't help thinking of many things.

If the Byakugan of a Main House member of the Hyuga Clan were stolen, the clan's secrets would be exposed.

Besides that, Hiashi was a man who valued family deeply.

According to the Hyuga Clan's rules, the clan head's first child belonged to the Main House. Any children born afterward would belong to the Branch House, and members of the Branch House had to be marked with the Caged Bird Seal from birth to prevent the Byakugan from falling into outsiders' hands.

Hinata was nearly seven, and Hanabi was almost four, yet neither of them had been marked with the Caged Bird Seal. Hiashi had achieved that only by withstanding enormous pressure.

But if Hinata left the village now, the elders would surely demand that she be marked with the Caged Bird Seal. That was what worried him most.

"Lord Jiraiya, taking Hinata away may be difficult. You should know the Hyuga Clan's rules," Hiashi said.

Jiraiya nodded. "Of course I do. But, Hiashi, as the head of the Hyuga Clan, you should know the origins of your clan, shouldn't you?"

Hiashi nodded to show that he did.

The Byakugan, the Kekkei Genkai passed down through generations of the Hyuga Clan, came from Kaguya Otsutsuki, the mother of the Sage of Six Paths. The clan descended from Hamura Otsutsuki, the Sage's younger brother, who had remained on Earth.

Their true ancestral home was the moon, but as time passed, the truth was only revealed to a new clan head by the old one when the position changed hands.

"Then do you know the direction in which the Byakugan can evolve?" Jiraiya continued.

Hiashi frowned even more at this. He knew the Hyuga Clan came from the moon, but he hadn't known the Byakugan could evolve.

Seeing that, Jiraiya realized Hiashi didn't know about this and continued, "The Byakugan has three evolutionary paths: the Rinnegan, the Tenseigan, and the Jōgan. They come from the Ōtsutsuki Clan bloodline within you. Of course, awakening this bloodline requires very strict conditions, including a certain level of bloodline purity and strength. That's why no one in the Hyuga Clan has managed to evolve the Byakugan in all these years."

Hiashi asked, his voice a little excited, "You mean...?"

Jiraiya pointed at Hinata. "Hinata is special. She should be the only one in your clan with white eyes and purple hair, right?"

Aside from Hinata, everyone in the Hyuga Clan had white eyes and black hair. That was because their bloodline had grown weaker over time. The Ōtsutsuki Clan, after all, all had white hair.

Hiashi glanced at Hinata. He already had a general idea why Jiraiya had said so much.

"Hinata should be the only person in the Hyuga Clan who can currently evolve the Byakugan. As for which eye it might evolve into, I can't say," Jiraiya said with a shrug.

Hiashi continued, "Lord Jiraiya, can you make Hinata's eyes evolve?"

Jiraiya nodded. "That's right. It's why I want to take Hinata away from Konoha. I'm sure you understand the current state of the village."

The Hyuga Clan's ninja didn't join the Anbu or Root, none of them joined the leadership, and they didn't participate in decisions concerning the village.

This wasn't only because they feared their Byakugan might fall into outsiders' hands. More importantly, they had noticed how Konoha was changing.

When Namikaze Minato became the Fourth Hokage, he worked hard to resolve the rifts between the village's great clans. When Hiruzen Sarutobi was in office, he had worked to diminish the influence of the clans in Konoha. Aside from the Ino-Shika-Cho clans, people from the other clans had virtually no positions in Konoha's various power structures.

After Minato took office, he not only guided Shisui Uchiha's training but also had him join the Anbu. This was part of his effort to gradually ease the Uchiha Clan's dissatisfaction with the village.

Back then, Minato would also discuss certain decisions with the heads of the Hyuga and Uchiha Clans.

But after the Fourth Hokage died and Hiruzen Sarutobi took office again, things returned to how they had been. The Uchiha Clan faced even harsher exclusion than before, and policies targeting them were gradually put into effect.

Perhaps because they were too close to the situation to see it clearly, the Uchiha Clan still hadn't caught on and continued doing as they pleased.

As for Hiashi, once he noticed the changes, he immediately recalled the Hyuga ninja serving in various institutions and had them resign from their positions as quickly as possible.

When he thought about what had happened in the village since Hiruzen Sarutobi became Hokage—the Senju Clan had practically been wiped out, almost all of Konoha's Eight Colors were dead, and so on—Hiashi understood.

He hurriedly reined in his clan members and told everyone to keep a low profile, making the Hyuga Clan gradually fade from people's minds.

That was why the Hyuga Clan had such little presence in Konoha.

Jiraiya then glanced at Naruto. Naruto quickly formed Hand Seals and set up a barrier in the hall to block out sound.

After Naruto nodded to show it was secure, Jiraiya looked at Hiashi and said seriously, "Only you and Hinata can know what we discuss next. It must not reach anyone else."

Seeing how serious Jiraiya was, Hiashi replied sternly, "Don't worry, Lord Jiraiya. This won't leave the room."