A chat about the Hyuga

"Anything else? If not, I'm going to train." Sasuke's expression was cold.

"One more," Neji said.

"Then write faster. You've already wasted a lot of my training time," Sasuke complained.

Neji chuckled. Sasuke really was an awkward fellow.

Yin Seal? A Sealing Jutsu related to Yin Release? Sasuke guessed after seeing the name.

As Neji continued writing out the details, Sasuke realized it was a composite Sealing Jutsu. It combined Medical Ninjutsu with Sealing Jutsu, making it an extraordinarily complex medical sealing technique.

"This Sealing Jutsu is too complicated. It's even more complex than that Four Symbols Seal." One look at how much Neji had written on the scroll told Sasuke that this technique was no simple matter.

Writing out the Yin Seal took Neji quite some time. This crowning achievement of Tsunade's was truly extraordinary.

The material on Sealing Jutsu was not all that extensive, but there was considerably more on Medical Ninjutsu.

"This is a Sealing Jutsu that can store chakra?" Sasuke looked at Neji and voiced the thought that had occurred to him upon learning what the technique did. "If I master this Yin Seal, what if I fill it with a tailed beast's chakra instead of my own? Neji, what do you think of that idea?"

Hearing this, Neji felt as though a light bulb had lit up over his head. He looked at Sasuke in surprise. "Not bad, Uchiha Sasuke. Your brain seems to have gotten a lot sharper lately."

"Don't underestimate the Uchiha!" Sasuke raised his chin proudly.

"That idea really is worth trying." After a little thought, Neji decided Sasuke's suggestion was worth a shot.

Filling the Yin Seal with his own chakra would be so slow. Using a tailed beast's chakra would be much faster.

"But this Yin Seal seems a little too difficult. Who knows how long it'll be before I can put that idea into practice?" Sasuke shook his head as he spoke.

Looking at the dizzying mass of text on the scroll gave Neji a headache, too. The Yin Seal's effects were certainly powerful, but its complexity more than matched them.

Preserving youth, accelerating recovery, and strengthening the body were indeed incredible effects.

"We can try simplifying it later. Strip out the Medical Ninjutsu portions as unnecessary extras and only keep the chakra storage and release functions," Neji said.

Sasuke looked at him and offered a reminder. "You should learn the Five Elements Seal and Four Symbols Seal first. Those are the most important ones for you. This Yin Seal isn't as high a priority."

"I know that without you telling me," Neji said.

"Hmph. Just reminding you." Sasuke snorted.

"Well, thank you, then." Neji chuckled.

"Heh." Once Neji stopped writing, Sasuke handed over the scroll he had written himself.

Neji shook his head. "I already recorded it with my Byakugan, so I don't need the scroll. Everyone in the Hyuga Clan has the Byakugan. Bringing it back would make it easy for them to discover it."

"Suit yourself. Honestly, your Hyuga Clan has way too much bullshit going on. You're all from the same clan, with the same surname, yet you insist on dividing yourselves into a Main Family and a Branch Family, ranking one above the other. That would be bad enough, but you even brand the Branch Family with a Cursed Seal to control whether they live or die." Sasuke finally said what he had been holding back for a long time.

"Sasuke, that's where you're wrong," Neji said.

Sasuke looked at Neji in surprise. That did not sound like something Neji would say. He frowned. "Wrong about what?"

Neji gave a chilling smile. "To the Hyuga Clan's Main Family, the Branch Family doesn't count as people. They're just slaves who obey orders, not fellow clansmen of the same ancestry and bloodline, as you put it."

"In the eyes of the Hyuga Clan's Main Family, only the tiny handful of people who also belong to the Main Family count as human. The vast majority, the Branch Family, don't count as people. They're just livestock and slaves."

"The Main Family has a peculiar mindset. They're afraid the Branch Family will be too weak to protect them effectively, but they're also afraid the Branch Family will become too strong and turn on them. That's why they've divided the Gentle Fist into higher and lower tiers, too. Only the Main Family can learn the Hyuga Clan's true core fighting techniques."

"I..." Sasuke was speechless. He had not expected the situation in the Hyuga Clan to be even worse than he had imagined.

Neji said meaningfully, "In the Hyuga Clan, the Branch Family will always be the Branch Family. All of that is decided the moment you're born."

"Your Hyuga Clan is seriously sick..." Even Sasuke Uchiha, with his own mental issues, thought the Hyuga Clan was deeply unwell.

"We don't have that kind of crap in the Uchiha Clan. Sure, there's bullying and mistreatment, but something as outrageous as openly treating fellow clansmen as slaves could never happen." As Sasuke spoke, he remembered those warm, happy days.

Back then, there had been plenty of children his age in the clan. As the Clan Head's second son, he had not played with them, but he had never gone out of his way to bully them, either.

Sasuke could hardly imagine how oppressive life in the Hyuga Clan must be.

"You didn't have maids or anything like that at home before, did you?" Neji asked.

Sasuke paused. "Of course not. We Uchiha would never order our clansmen around like servants. Besides, we're a shinobi clan, not one of those noble families. All that servant stuff is pointless and unnecessary."

"Since we've already come this far, I might as well tell you. Every member of the Main Family in the Hyuga Clan has young maids looking after them, you know? And if they're dissatisfied with a maid's care, they can have her executed whenever they like!" Neji's voice was thick with mockery.

Sasuke blinked, suddenly feeling that his eyes were a little dry. What the hell was wrong with this Hyuga Clan?

"A shinobi clan like that dares to stand alongside the Uchiha Clan? They're tarnishing our honor!" Sasuke said coldly.

Ignorance really was bliss; the truth was shocking. He had never had any particular feelings about Hinata Hyuga, the perpetually shy young lady of the Hyuga Clan in his class. Now, inexplicably, he found himself starting to dislike her.

Sasuke finally truly understood why Neji was so desperate to gain his freedom, whatever the cost.

With his temperament, if Sasuke had lived in an environment like the Hyuga Clan's, he would have blown up at that so-called Main Family long ago.

"That's the Hyuga Clan for you!" Neji concluded.

Neji had never felt any kinship from the Hyuga Clan. What he had felt was gloating, scorn, and ridicule, never the sympathy or warmth a normal person should have received.

Sasuke could only silently sympathize with what Neji had endured.

"All right, that's enough chatting. I'm going to take a serious look at those Sealing Jutsu you gave me and see what they're all about." Neji stood up and left.

Sasuke paid Neji no further attention. He turned and gathered the five scrolls Neji had just written, then summoned Ju Huo Ninja Cat and had the cat take the scrolls away to store them in the Uchiha Clan's safe at the Ninja Cat Clan.

He was not foolish enough to leave these things in Konoha.