The Hyuga Clan Were Hard to Get an Audience With

Should he visit the other man as a candidate for Hokage, as one of the Sannin, or as Minato's elder?

Orochimaru wasn't sure. To him, each of those three roles meant something different, and they should mean different things to Li Ke as well.

The other man had considered the kinds of questions only a Hokage would think about. That meant he must have thought about the world and the village, too.

He wasn't like Anko, the ordinary little kid at his side.

"Murata Qingtan..."

Orochimaru said nothing more. He closed his eyes and considered what sort of attitude he should take toward the other man.

Whatever the case, he would have to wait until the peace treaty with Kirigakure was signed.

Just thinking about how Konoha was going to let Kirigakure take back everything it had lost made Orochimaru's hands clench tight once more.

It was something he couldn't accept—something he could never accept. His teacher had trampled on his efforts, as well as everyone else's.

"Sensei..."

While Orochimaru pondered this, Li Ke met with the two clan heads.

The Uchiha Clan Head hadn't been very hard to find, but the Hyuga Clan Head had. After losing a Byakugan on the Mist Battlefield, the Hyuga Main Family had withdrawn nearly all its forces, leaving behind a large number of Hyuga Branch Family shinobi.

So what Li Ke saw now was Hiashi, surrounded by a large group of Hyuga Branch Family members who were protecting him.

That was right: it wasn't Hiashi and Fugaku Uchiha who had gone to meet Li Ke and Minato Namikaze. Instead, Minato, Fugaku, and Li Ke had all gone to meet Hiashi.

"You're certainly hard to get an audience with."

Li Ke folded his arms and spoke to Minato and Fugaku, who stood beside him.

"It's not unreasonable. Mr. Hiashi didn't have much choice."

Fugaku replied earnestly.

"The Byakugan isn't like our Sharingan. Outsiders who use our Sharingan constantly consume chakra, and unless they're physically strong and have plenty of chakra, it'll only become a burden. But the Byakugan is different. Anyone can use it, so it's no surprise that Mr. Hiashi is being cautious."

As he spoke, he couldn't help showing his admiration.

"The Hyuga Clan's resolve and idea of using the Caged Bird to protect its members and keep its bloodline from leaking out is truly a stroke of genius. It can also greatly strengthen the clan's unity..."

When Li Ke heard this, he could genuinely sense the envy and longing in Fugaku's chakra, as if the Caged Bird were something wonderful.

Then he saw Minato nod, too.

"That's right. The Hyuga Clan really is united, and the Caged Bird is indeed a clever seal that prevents power from leaking out."

Li Ke: "..."

He sensed their chakra and realized Minato genuinely meant it!

Seriously, man!

Li Ke grumbled to himself, but he understood why.

The shinobi system wasn't much better than the Caged Bird. After eating the shit that was the shinobi system, eating the shit that was the Caged Bird wasn't much of a problem for the Hyuga Clan.

Besides, the Hyuga Clan really did take care of everything.

Once you bore the Caged Bird seal and became a member of the Branch Family, money, housing, food, ninja tools, and a spouse were no longer things you had to worry about. Even if you didn't become a shinobi, you still received an allowance and other hidden benefits.

And the things Hiashi and the other elders did most often weren't fighting for power. They were arranging marriages.

That was right: the most important job of the Hyuga Clan Head and elders was finding wives for the clan members. And these weren't forced pairings; both parties had to agree.

If you didn't want to marry within the clan, you could marry someone from another clan. If you didn't have the money, the clan would pay for it. But if the child had a Byakugan, they had to return to the clan.

If a Byakugan ever fell into outside hands, the elders, the Clan Head, and the village would all step in to retrieve it. They had to prevent a second Byakugan clan from competing with the Hyuga Clan for its place in the world and eroding its advantage over Konoha.

That was what Li Ke had seen in Konoha. Any Hyuga shinobi could easily become a patrol leader or the tactical core of a squad.

His first teammate had been a member of the Hyuga Branch Family. His greatest wish was to become a Chunin, find a nice girl in the Hyuga Clan, marry her, and then manage one of the clan's shops. Apart from complaining that the Caged Bird on his forehead was ugly, he didn't give it much thought.

They had relied on his Byakugan to kill countless enemies. Unfortunately, that Byakugan-wielding teammate had died in the middle of a chaotic battle.

As for claims that the Main Family's young masters bullied women and threw their weight around, Li Ke didn't know what went on behind closed doors, but they certainly didn't do that in public.

Ultimately, the shinobi clans of the Ninja World weren't the kind of clans people in China imagined. Even a clan head like Hiashi had to go to the front lines and fight. In those circumstances, mistreating your clan members and those around you was practically asking to be killed.

Still...

This thing is inhumane all the same.

Looking at the covered foreheads of the Hyuga Branch Family members, Li Ke thought to himself.

If it only made the Byakugan destroy itself automatically after its owner died, there wouldn't be much of a problem. But the Caged Bird could also punish and kill people.

That made all the difference.

Yet even Senju Tobirama didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

"Compared to freedom, keeping the clan's power from leaking out is what matters most. And the Hyuga Clan's benefits are quite good, Qingtan. You're being too harsh. Interfering rashly in another clan's affairs will cause a lot of problems."

Senju Tobirama tried to dissuade him. He thought Li Ke might take action against the Hyuga Clan.

Li Ke understood what Senju Tobirama meant. He was worried Li Ke would use his power to force the Hyuga Clan to remove the Caged Bird, wasn't he?

He could certainly do that, but he wouldn't go about it that way.

"Even if I wanted to change things, I wouldn't force them into it. I'd make sure every high-ranking Konoha official was a shinobi who absolutely wouldn't leak secrets, tighten security regulations for the leadership, and promote a lot of Hyuga Clan members. Then I'd make sure they got passed over because of those security regulations. The Hyuga Clan would naturally make changes of its own. Of course, I could also have a Hokage marry someone destined to join the Branch Family and make her a Caged Bird."

He smiled.

"After all, we're all comrades in the same village."

He generally left the whole body intact.

Unless they were asking for it.