Broken Study: The Caged Bird and Hiashi's Submission

Dawn streamed through the enormous hole in the study wall, slanting across the room and dyeing the countless specks of dust drifting through the air gold.

The scent of wood shavings, dust, and the faint smoke of battle filled the cold air.

Baishi sat in the only relatively intact seat of honor, his expression indifferent as he wiped the Kunai in his hand with a piece of silk. There was not the slightest trace of blood on it. It was so clean that it looked like a work of art.

The entire study was a wreck. Broken tables and chairs, torn Scrolls, and cracked flooring silently recounted the madness of the previous night.

Yet all this chaos seemed completely isolated from the man seated upon the Throne.

At last, his gaze slowly lifted from the Kunai and settled on the center of the study.

There, the clan head of the Hyuga Clan and helmsman of Konoha's oldest noble family—Hyuga Hiashi—still knelt with both knees on the floor.

He had been kneeling there for a very long time—long enough for the wooden floor beneath his knees to darken from the sweat soaking into it, and long enough for his limbs to begin trembling slightly from stiffness.

Cold sweat slid down his temples and dripped onto the floor, spreading into a small wet mark.

He did not dare move. He did not even dare raise his head.

The scene from the previous night, in which that God-like figure had effortlessly subdued the monster and swallowed its self-detonation into nothingness, had become the deepest of imprints, carved firmly into the depths of his soul.

He was now nothing more than a criminal awaiting judgment.

"The good news has already reached the Hokage Residence."

After the ANBU's cold voice sounded behind Baishi and then