Time stretched infinitely in Hiashi Hyuga's perception.
That command pulse, containing the Main House's supreme authority and will of destruction, had already spread like a stone cast into a lake, sending out its deadliest ripples and instantly covering the entire Hyuga Clan Grounds.
On his face, gaunt as a withered ghost from blood loss and chakra exhaustion, a sickly, twisted grin now hung. Using the last shred of his dying will, he waited greedily for the coming symphony of death, composed of the wails and screams of countless Branch House wretches!
That would be the holy hymn that washed away his humiliation! The horn that would reverse his defeat!
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Silence.
A deathly silence.
The agonized screams he had expected did not ring out.
The sound of hundreds, perhaps thousands, collapsing in convulsions as their brain nerves were destroyed never came.
Throughout the Hyuga Clan Grounds, there was nothing but the rustle of the night wind through the treetops in the courtyard and the faint barking of dogs drifting over from distant Konoha Village.
That absolute silence, enough to make the world tremble, now seemed like an invisible hand clamping around Hiashi Hyuga's throat, making the mad grin on his face stiffen bit by bit, freeze, and finally turn into a ludicrous look of bewilderment.
"How... is this possible?"
His cracked lips moved slightly, producing a hoarse syllable so faint that even he could barely hear it.
Impossible!
This was absolutely impossible!
The [Caged Bird Seal Master Control Scroll] was the Hyuga Clan's highest secret, passed down for a thousand years. It was the foundation of the Main House's rule! There had never been a case of it failing!
"Was... was there not enough chakra?"
A ridiculous thought squeezed out of his nearly stalled