The Hyuga Clan

Elsewhere, a Root squad entered the Hyuga Clan's compound that night.

After hearing the Root ninja's account, Hyuga Hiashi's face turned icy. He looked at the masked Root Ninja and said, "Please inform Lord Danzo that the Hyuga Clan will deal with this matter seriously."

The Root ninja nodded. "Lord Danzo said that, since Neji Hyuga is something of a genius, teaching him a lesson will suffice this time."

They trusted the Hyuga Clan to handle the matter properly. Even when Kumogakure had tried to abduct the Main Family Young Miss, a matter involving the head of the Hyuga Clan himself, the clan had handled it perfectly. This time, it concerned only an insignificant member of the Branch Family.

With that, they turned and left the Hyuga Clan's compound without giving Hyuga Hiashi another chance to speak.

Hyuga Hiashi watched the departing Root ninja without expression. Once they had left the compound, he turned to the Branch Family maid beside him and said, "Go fetch Neji Hyuga."

"Yes, Lord Clan Head." The Branch Family maid answered respectfully, then slowly withdrew and headed toward Neji's residence.

"Neji Hyuga, the Clan Head wants to see you." The Branch Family woman dressed as a maid no longer wore the submissive expression she had shown before Hyuga Hiashi. Now, her face was full of gloating.

Neji cast an indifferent glance at the gloating maid. Her expression alone told him that nothing good awaited him.

Whenever Hyuga Hiashi had punished him before, this maid had worn that same gloating look, showing not the slightest affection for a blood relative.

There was no sense of solidarity among members of the Branch Family, only a willingness to kick one another when they were down.

Neji merely nodded slightly, then walked straight out.

As far as he was concerned, word had simply gotten out that he and Sasuke had beaten up those Root ninja.

At worst, he would suffer another round of the Caged Bird Seal. He was actually rather curious whether his greatly increased eye power would give him any resistance to it.

Upon arriving, Neji saw Hyuga Hizhu standing there with a cold expression.

As Neji approached, Hyuga Hiashi turned his head slightly, his white eyes glancing at the composed boy. "Do you know why I summoned you, Neji?" he asked coldly.

"I don't know, Lord Clan Head," Neji replied.

"You don't know?" Hyuga Hiashi raised his voice slightly. "You don't know what you and Sasuke Uchiha did today? Didn't Elder Keisuke tell you to stop associating with that orphan of the Uchiha Clan? Do the Main Family's words mean nothing to you?"

Neji answered with silence.

"Has your growing strength made you bolder, too?!" Hyuga Hiashi demanded in a stern voice. "You dared attack the Hokage's Anbu? Are you trying to become a rogue ninja?!"

Neji remained silent.

Seeing his reaction, anger rose in Hyuga Hiashi's chest. "Today, you dared attack the village's Anbu," he said coldly. "Will you dare attack the Main Family tomorrow?"

"I wouldn't dare, nor have I ever considered it," Neji said, lowering his head.

A flash of pleasure crossed the Branch Family maid's eyes as she watched. For thoroughly tamed Branch Family members like her, seeing someone untamed like Neji suffer humiliation at the Main Family's hands was deeply satisfying.

"Hmph!" Hyuga Hiashi snorted coldly. "It seems you haven't taken a single word we've said to heart. Elder Keisuke told you half a year ago to stop associating with the last descendant of the Uchiha Clan, but you refused to listen. Now you've even gone so far as to attack the village's Anbu alongside him!"

"One look at you tells me you still resent this. It seems I'll have to teach you a lesson you won't forget!" Hyuga Hiashi's manner was indifferent and icy. He paused, then continued, "Without a lasting lesson, you'll cause trouble sooner or later. A caged bird should stay obediently inside its cage."

"Unless I teach you a lesson you won't forget, you'll never listen to the Main Family. Don't think being my brother's son gives you any special privileges. The Branch Family is still the Branch Family!" As he spoke, Hyuga Hiashi formed a hand seal and activated the Caged Bird Seal.

In an instant, Neji felt that familiar pain again. He clutched his head in agony, wishing he could smash his head into Hyuga Hiashi and kill him.

Ha... it actually hurts much less than last time... Clutching his head tightly, Neji keenly noticed that the pain from this activation of the Caged Bird Seal was nowhere near as severe as before.

The fact that he could still think consciously was the best proof.

The last time Hyuga Keisuke had activated the Caged Bird Seal, and the time before that when Hyuga Hiashi had done so, the pain had felt as though his soul were being torn apart. It had obliterated his awareness, leaving him capable of nothing but unconscious howls of agony.

Heh heh... Neji sneered inwardly as he held his head.

By now, in fits and starts, he had already devised eighteen different ways for Hyuga Hiashi to die.

But to keep Hyuga Hiashi from noticing anything unusual, Neji imitated his reaction to the seal's previous activation, rolling on the ground and screaming in agony.

Hyuga Hiashi watched Neji writhe on the ground, his eyes devoid of any feeling except indifference.

On the other side, the Branch Family maid lowered her head. Pleasure surfaced on her face, then quickly vanished.

Soon, soon! It's not time yet... Enduring the pain in his head, Neji struggled to console himself.

The Caged Bird Seal's activation still affected him far too severely. In this state, he could not bring even a tenth or two-tenths of his strength to bear. Even if he could suddenly spring up and kill Hyuga Hiashi with a single palm strike, it would accomplish nothing.

In this condition, Neji could not face the remaining Main Family members and the Branch Family lackeys who protected them.

The Hyuga Clan was not simply divided into two factions, the Main Family and the Branch Family. In truth, one faction consisted of the Main Family, while another consisted of the Branch Family members they had tamed. Those tamed members sincerely believed that protecting the Main Family was their duty, and they were willing to die for them.

The remaining faction consisted of Branch Family members like Neji, who treated the Main Family with outward respect while inwardly wishing to slaughter every last one of them and their lackeys.

Neji, for instance, was a representative of this faction. Or perhaps it could not be called a faction at all, since it contained barely anyone.

Under the Main Family's prolonged, oppressive rule, enforced through the threat of the Caged Bird Seal, few could hold out for even a few years.

From what Neji had observed so far, among the Hyuga Clan's thousand-plus members, only a scant thirty or so had not yet been completely tamed by the Main Family.

These were the people Neji needed to unite. He had never entertained any thought of winning over the Branch Family members who had already been thoroughly tamed.

Those people had become the Main Family's slaves in both body and mind. Blindly trying to recruit them would only backfire.