Leaf Village, Hyuga Clan Grounds.
Night was as black as ink, soaking this ancient complex of residences in deep silence. Unlike the lights and bustle elsewhere in the village, everything here followed an ancient, rigid order. Even the air carried a stale mixture of cypress wood and incense.
The Ancestral Shrine was the heart of that order.
Heavy wooden doors shut out everything beyond them, leaving only dozens of white candles flickering in the cold space. Their dim yellow glow barely outlined the rows of frigid ancestral tablets along the walls, each representing a past ancestor of the Hyuga Main House.
Hiashi Hyuga, dressed in white hunting robes, knelt upon the cold tatami with his back as straight as a spear.
He had sat there in silence for a full three hours.
Ever since that bastard Hyuga Xiao had defected, unrest within the Branch House had become like an undercurrent beneath the ground, battering ceaselessly against the seemingly sturdy ship of the Main House. He had used every iron-fisted measure at his disposal, tightening surveillance through the Caged Bird Seal and executing several of the most outspoken Branch House members, barely managing to suppress the first signs of rebellion.
But Hiashi Hyuga knew it was only temporary.
The hatred rooted deep within the Branch House was like weeds. Cut down one crop, and new shoots would soon emerge.
Unless... he found a way to settle it once and for all.
A kind of absolute power that could grind every Branch House member beneath his feet and ensure they could never rise again...
"Ancestors..." He closed his eyes and murmured hoarsely toward the rows of cold tablets. "Will you truly stand by and watch the Hyuga Clan's glory be destroyed by petty villains?"
The only response was the soft crackle of