The Hyuga Clan's Pledge of Allegiance and Root's Purge List

The icy morning wind poured in through the massive hole in the study wall, sweeping up dust and wood shavings from the floor and carrying a chill unique to the hours before dawn.

Baishi's fingertips brushed across the [Caged Bird] Scroll he had altered. The newly formed Crescent Mark on it glimmered with an eerie silver light beneath the morning sun. He could clearly sense the life force of the man groveling at his feet—the Hyuga Clan head—fluctuating violently, almost to the point of collapse.

Fear, despair, and the numbness that followed after the last shred of dignity had been completely crushed...

"The value of a blade lies in whether it is sharp, and whether it has... been stained with enough blood."

Baishi's voice was not loud, yet it was like countless icy steel needles stabbing into Hyuga Hiashi's eardrums and piercing through his nerves.

"Now, this blade's first trial begins."

Hyuga Hiashi lay prostrate on the floor, his body trembling uncontrollably. He could smell the dust in the air, feel the cold, rough grain of the wood beneath his forehead, and, more than anything, sense the utterly emotionless gaze falling upon him from above, examining him inside and out as though he were a tool.

A pledge of allegiance...

Bloodstained...

He knew he had no room left to choose. From the moment he had knelt here and offered up the [Caged Bird] Scroll, the fate of the Hyuga Clan had no longer been in his own hands.

"...Please give your orders, Lord Hokage."

Hyuga Hiashi used all his strength just to force those words from deep in his throat. He lowered his head even further, nearly pressing it against the floor, his posture humble to the extreme.

Baishi looked at him without the slightest pity in his eyes, only