It was around midnight.
Neji brought the clan members whose Caged Bird Seals had already been removed to the Main Branch compound.
Standing before the towering gate, Neji wore a grave expression.
The gate stood open. It had not been closed, and there were no guards on either side.
Standing there, Neji felt a surge of emotion.
Hundreds of members of the Hyuga Branch Family stood behind him. The Caged Bird Seals on their foreheads had all disappeared.
Neji was now the leader of the Branch Family.
He had the strength and the ability to be.
After standing silently before the gate for a long while, Neji entered with two Jonin from the Branch Family.
As they crossed the courtyard, the Main Branch's guards stood along either side, watching Neji and the others with solemn expressions.
They were members of the Hyuga Branch Family too. Neji had not removed their Caged Bird Seals only because they served as the Main Branch's personal guards.
But their gazes were filled with hope.
Though the Main Branch valued them and even treated them as trusted confidants,
they knew very well that no matter how hard they worked, they were nothing but dogs whose lives the Main Branch could take at any moment.
They were all members of the same clan, yet their circumstances were worlds apart. Even their lives and deaths were in the Main Branch's hands.
Even if they felt a sense of belonging to the clan, it was difficult for them to sincerely do anything for the Hyuga Clan.
A clan like this might as well be destroyed.
No one was so wretched that they would be treated like a slave from birth and still remain loyal to their masters. In fact, they were worse off than slaves.
At least slaves