"No! Impossible!
You want to destroy the Hyuga Clan? We're the true guardians of the Hyuga!
Come with me and kill this traitor who's bringing chaos to the clan!"
Hyuga Hiashi snapped awake, flailing his arms and letting out a shrill cry.
He shouted at the other members of the Hyuga Branch Family.
At that moment, his faith was shattered.
The Main Branch's thousand-year-old tradition had been broken, and he had become a laughingstock.
The chance for the Byakugan's long-awaited evolution had turned out to be nothing but making a wedding dress for someone else.
Hyuga Hizashi stepped out from the crowd. He was a little ashamed of his brother.
When he had first supported Shinichi Hyuga, one of his hidden motives had been to save Hyuga Hiashi's life.
If Hyuga Hiashi kept making a scene like this, the other members of the Hyuga Branch Family would attack him, even if Shinichi Hyuga didn't.
"That's enough! What nonsense are you talking about?"
Hyuga Hizashi appeared behind Hyuga Hiashi and scolded him, striking him at the Fengchi Point.
He used the Gentle Fist's ability to strike pressure points, knocking Hyuga Hiashi unconscious.
Then, looking apologetic, he said to Shinichi Hyuga, "Lord Shinichi, I'm sorry."
Shinichi Hyuga shook his head. Hyuga Hiashi was still useful, so he would keep this bait around for now and hope he came to terms with reality.
He then looked at the Hyuga clansmen, who still seemed somewhat lost. What they had gone through today was no less harrowing than the Third Shinobi World War.
The repeated upheavals in their thinking had left them unable to recover.
"Those with talent aren't nurtured, while those without it can't compete with geniuses, no matter how much they're trained.
"Take Hizashi and Hiashi, for example. They're brothers, but Hizashi, who had been through the battlefield, was stronger than Hiashi.
"Generation after generation, the geniuses of our clan have been buried by this system of Main and Branch Families.
"That's why the Byakugan has never evolved.
"Compared to the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan, which evolves through war and pain, we've fallen behind.
"But now, with me leading the way, the Hyuga Clan will surpass the Uchiha Clan!"
Shinichi Hyuga had made up his mind. He would give the Hyuga Clan a goal: surpassing the Uchiha Clan.
It was an easy enough goal to achieve, after all. The Uchiha Clan had plenty of rebellious, ungrateful descendants.
Even if the Hyuga Clan didn't work hard, the Uchiha Clan wouldn't last much longer anyway.
"Lord Shinichi, please become our new clan leader and lead us toward a bright future!"
Hyuga Hizashi was once again the first to speak. He knelt on one knee as he said it.
The other Hyuga Branch Family shinobi followed suit.
The Hyuga Clan's Third Elder took a scroll from the altar in the Ancestral Hall and handed it to Shinichi Hyuga, then knelt on one knee as well.
"From this day forward, the Hyuga Clan will have no Main or Branch Families!
"The Caged Bird is for protection, not confinement!
"From now on, the Caged Bird mark will be the mark of the Hyuga Clan's leaders! It will be your pride!
"The mark will no longer be placed on ordinary members of the Hyuga Clan."
Shinichi Hyuga crushed the scroll the Third Elder had given him. It listed the names of every Branch Family member branded with the Caged Bird.
For a long time, it had been a symbol of the clan leader's authority.
"Lord Shinichi is wise!"
All the Hyuga shinobi shouted together.
With Shinichi Hyuga's promise, the great weight on their hearts finally lifted.
"You may leave. Go tell your children the good news."
Shinichi Hyuga formed a hand seal with one hand. The seal around the Ancestral Hall began to dissolve, restoring its connection to the outside world.
Some of them had been eager to leave for a while.
At last, their children would be free from the status of slaves.
Everyone was still immersed in their joy.
Shinichi Hyuga's figure flickered and vanished from the Ancestral Hall.
He was going to the Shimura Clan's compound. The battle there should be over by now, and there ought to be a huge haul of Manifestation Points.
The Hyuga Clan was just something he had handled along the way, to give Reiko a good environment to grow up in.
What mattered most was improving his own strength.
As long as his strength increased...
He hadn't revealed everything.
His ambition wasn't limited to the Tenseigan. He wanted to try walking the path of the Sage of Six Paths and turning his other eye into a Rinnegan.
The Tenseigan was the power of the Otsutsuki Clan, while the Rinnegan was the power of the God Tree Fruit.
His theory was based on Kaguya Otsutsuki, who had evolved into the Ten-Tomoe Rinnegan after devouring the God Tree Fruit.
He wanted both kinds of power.
Templates of geniuses from other worlds would also grant him power.
Konoha had the experimental subjects he wanted, and he could spend his daughter's childhood with her there.
After this upheaval, he understood that he needed to keep more contingencies in place.
There were too many old foxes in this world!
He still needed to hone himself.
The Konoha F4 would make excellent whetstones.
Whoosh~
Whoosh~
Gusts of wind swept past Shinichi Hyuga.
He moved quickly toward the Shimura Clan's compound.
Sounds of fighting came from afar.
"Hm?"
Shinichi Hyuga frowned. His attention shifted to the person behind him, and he glanced back.
Someone was keeping pace with him, trailing behind and watching him.
"Shisui Uchiha? Since when?"
The figure wore a mask, and his clothes had sealing techniques to conceal his abilities. But the Byakugan let Shinichi see his true face: Shisui, the Uchiha Clan's genius.
He recalled that he had been followed ever since he left the Hyuga Clan's compound.
He poured more chakra into his feet and pushed the Body Flicker Technique to its limit. He wanted to see how strong Shisui Uchiha was now.
Just a few minutes later, the two arrived at the Shimura Clan's compound.
The Shimura Clan's gate had been smashed, and no one was guarding it.
There was blood on the gate, and through it he could see several bodies that hadn't been cleared away.
The Byakugan let him see familiar faces through the ruined buildings at the site of the battle. He sped toward them.
His spiritual power harvested the souls of the dead members of the Shimura Clan, turning them into Manifestation Points.
A battle was taking place in the central area.
Root shinobi stood in a circle, forming a massive sealing array that cut off the battlefield.
Inside the array, Shimura Danzō and more than a dozen trusted subordinates were fighting, surrounding something invisible.
Explosions rang out repeatedly, but they still couldn't find their true enemy.
Outside the sealing technique,
some Anbu were setting up more sealing arrays to prevent the unknown enemy from appearing.
The Third, the Fourth Hokage, Orochimaru, and several other prominent Konoha families had gathered to watch the battle.
"What a lively scene."
Shinichi Hyuga dropped from the sky and looked around, greeting everyone.
His gaze met Orochimaru's, and delight flashed across Orochimaru's face.
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