Hiashi's Fury

The Hyuga clan.

Hiashi Hyuga sat in the seat of honor, his face terrifyingly grim, blazing fury burning in his eyes. It felt as though the temperature around them had dropped several degrees.

The Hyuga clansmen kneeling around him all wore ugly expressions as well.

The entire hall was suffocatingly tense!

Bang!!!

Suddenly, Hiashi Hyuga slammed his palm heavily against the armrest and roared furiously:

"Speak! What exactly happened!? Why did you do something like that in public?"

"Do you realize that you fool have thrown away every last shred of our Hyuga clan's dignity!?"

"If you can't give me a proper explanation, then use your blood to wash away our clan's shame! The Hyuga clan has no need for fools like you!"

Clearly, Hiashi Hyuga had lost his composure.

Since becoming the head of the Hyuga clan, he had never encountered anything so absurd.

The Hyuga clan had always placed great importance on appearances, presenting themselves to outsiders with the bearing of a great clan.

But today, the Hyuga clan's image had been utterly destroyed.

When people mentioned the Hyuga clan now, the first thing they would probably think was that the Hyuga were perverts who liked climbing trees in public.

Although the culprit was only a branch family member, Konoha's villagers did not care whether someone belonged to the branch family or the main family. In their eyes, weren't they all Hyuga?

Below, Hyuga Taiju had a dazed, foolish expression after being released from the genjutsu.

He seemed not to have heard Hiashi Hyuga's questioning at all.

Thinking of what he had done earlier, he only wanted to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.

This was fucking humiliating!

How was he supposed to keep living in Konoha after this!?

"Bastard! Didn't you hear me talking to you!?"

Hiashi Hyuga gritted his teeth in rage and formed hand seals.

—Caged Bird!

"Urgh... Aah!"

Hyuga Taiju suddenly clutched his head and let out a miserable scream.

The agonizing pain snapped him out of his stupor, and he hurriedly said:

"C-Clan Head, spare me... It's... it's all Hyuga Monza's fault. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have done something like that!"

When Hyuga Taiju spoke his name, Hyuga Monza, who had been hiding at the very back of the crowd, trembled.

"Hyuga Monza! Hurry up and explain exactly what happened!"

Hiashi Hyuga's gaze locked onto the little brat hiding in the back, his face cold and murderous!

Hyuga Monza shakily stepped out from the crowd. After kneeling down, he immediately began spinning lies:

"I-It was all Uchiha Sasuke's doing!"

"This afternoon, my cousin and I were sparring at Konoha's training grounds. We didn't expect Sasuke to be planning to train there too. Relying on his status as the Uchiha clan head's son, he arrogantly demanded that we give up the grounds for him."

"For the sake of our Hyuga clan's honor, my cousin and I naturally refused. But that despicable Sasuke suddenly attacked us, ambushing both of us."

"My cousin and I were unprepared and fell for his scheme. My cousin was hit by that bastard Sasuke's genjutsu, while every tooth in my mouth was knocked out by him."

As he spoke, Hyuga Monza opened his mouth and showed everyone his toothless gums.

With an indignant expression, he continued:

"Clan Head, it was all Uchiha Sasuke's doing. You must uphold justice for my cousin and me!"

"And that bastard Sasuke even said that the Uchiha Clan was Konoha's number one clan, and that the Hyuga clan wasn't even worthy of carrying the Uchiha Clan's shoes!"

Hyuga Monza's face was filled with grief and indignation. He made it sound so vivid that it was practically real.

Hiashi Hyuga merely watched his performance coldly before forming another hand seal.

—Caged Bird!

"I want the truth, not lies you made up for me!"

Hiashi Hyuga had been clan head for so many years. How could he possibly be deceived by a little brat's lies?

"Ah!! No! Spare me, Clan Head! I'll never talk nonsense again!"

Hyuga Monza clutched his head and rolled wildly across the floor, tears and snot streaming everywhere!

Only after the Caged Bird punishment ended did he stop, gasping heavily.

People accustomed to lying instinctively tried to muddle through any problem with lies first, shirking all responsibility from themselves.

After being punished, Hyuga Monza truthfully explained what had happened.

"The cause of this was this morning's match..."

After several minutes, he finally laid out the entire sequence of events.

"Clan Head, I only wanted my cousin to teach him a lesson. But what Uchiha Sasuke did was simply too excessive. He shouldn't have..."

At the end, Hyuga Monza still wanted to defend his actions, but Hiashi Hyuga ruthlessly cut him off.

"Enough! What a useless fool! Because of your stupidity, our Hyuga clan has lost all its dignity!"

This time, Hyuga Monza did not dare say another word.

"Clan Head, though this began as a quarrel between juniors, Uchiha Sasuke's actions were far too reckless! What he did was a complete disregard for our Hyuga clan. We cannot simply let this matter go!"

Hyuga Makino spoke in a deep voice.

He was full of resentment. Sasuke's genjutsu had caused him to lose face as well.

At that moment, he desperately wanted to seize that brat named Uchiha Sasuke and give him a savage beating.

"Hmph!"

Hiashi Hyuga sneered, his face covered in frost.

"Of course we can't let this go. Our Hyuga clan cannot allow ourselves to be humiliated for no reason! Not even if the other party is the Uchiha Clan."

"Other ninja clans may fear the Uchiha, but our Hyuga clan does not!"

Hiashi Hyuga wore a confident expression. He had always believed that the Hyuga and Uchiha, as Konoha's two foremost clans, stood on equal footing.

"Come! Follow me to the Uchiha Clan. Today, Fugaku must give me an explanation!"

With a sweep of his hand, Hiashi Hyuga led a large group of clansmen toward the Uchiha compound.

The Uchiha compound.

Sasuke's home.

When Fugaku saw Sasuke return, his face was still dark.

But he was not sure whether this was the real Sasuke or the impostor who had insulted him at the clan meeting earlier, so he asked in a low voice:

"Are you really Sasuke?"

Sasuke glanced at him and casually replied:

"What nonsense! I'm Sasuke, genuine and authentic!"

Fugaku's expression froze. With that tone, it was certain—this was undoubtedly that impostor.

"What exactly is your purpose?"

Fugaku stared fixedly at Sasuke, chakra gathering within him as he prepared to act at any moment.

"Oh! No particular purpose!"

Sasuke spread his hands, his attitude utterly perfunctory.

Fugaku gritted his teeth in fury. "Even if you are stronger than me and I may not be your match, I am not some weakling you can manipulate at will. I hope you do not force me into a fight to the death with you!"

"Tch! You? Worthy?"

Sasuke flicked nonexistent dust from his fingers, his face full of disdain.

"Bastard! Do you really think I'm made of clay!?"

Fugaku instantly activated his Mangekyō Sharingan. The atmosphere between them became taut as drawn blades, as though a battle could erupt the next second.

Just then, a gentle voice drifted over, breaking the murderous tension.

"What are you two doing outside? Since you're both back, come in! Is there anything you can't discuss at home?"

Mikoto came out and looked at the two of them suspiciously.

She was wearing an apron and holding a spatula, so she had apparently been cooking in the kitchen just moments ago.

"What are you two doing?"

"Nothing, Mother. I just feel that certain people are really good at flattering themselves!"

Sasuke shrugged and casually walked past Fugaku, then changed into house slippers and entered the house as though he knew the place well.

"Honey, don't you think Sasuke has been acting strangely today?"

Mikoto asked Fugaku, who had his back to her.

He isn't even the same person. Of course he's strange!

Fugaku thought to himself. He then deactivated his Mangekyō Sharingan and did not directly answer Mikoto's question, merely saying in a deep voice:

"This matter is rather suspicious. Don't overthink it. I'll handle it!"