Hearing Hyuga Sotsugu's words, a faint smile tugged at the corner of Aizen's mouth. He spoke softly.
"Kill you?"
"Could it be... that you've been begging for death all along?"
Hyuga Sotsugu's expression froze, and his eyes immediately darkened again. His voice turned bitter.
"N-no..."
"No matter what you've done, for someone of my status, everything you do is beyond my reach..."
At his words, a glimmer flashed in Aizen's eyes. Looking down at him, he spoke in a faintly beguiling tone.
"Don't you hate me? As a Konoha missing-nin, shouldn't you, as a Konoha shinobi, despise me?"
Hyuga Sotsugu's expression darkened. Confusion and conflict filled his face, and his voice trembled.
"Although everything you've done has betrayed the village, I can understand that feeling."
As he spoke, he cautiously raised his head and glanced at Hyuga Minato, who stood beside Aizen with a placid expression. A flicker of resolve passed through his eyes, and he said in a low voice,
"Besides, since Lord Minato chose to follow you, everything that has happened proves that Lord Minato made the right choice."
As if recalling something, pain flashed through his eyes. His expression grew sorrowful, and he said in a low voice,
"If we stay in that clan... all that awaits the Branch Family is endless darkness. Those people in the Main Branch would never give us a chance..."
The seeds of the hatred between the Main Branch and the Branch Family had been sown when the Main Branch began using the Caged Bird Seal without restraint to enslave the Branch Family.
As the years passed, this hatred became like a dark abyss that kept spreading. Filling that darkness was the Branch Family's deep resentment toward the Main Branch.
Hearing Hyuga Sotsugu's words, a trace of amusement crossed Aizen's eyes, and