The Hyuga Clan's Branch Family compound.
Every member of the Hyuga Clan's Branch Family was branded with the Caged Bird Seal.
How could it be described?
It was essentially a relationship between slaves and their masters.
Members of the Hyuga Main Family held absolute power over the Branch Family.
Over time, this inevitably bred deep resentment among the Branch Family members.
Did the Hyuga Main Family not know this?
No, most of them understood it perfectly well.
The Hyuga Clan's leader, Hyuga Hiashi, understood it especially deeply.
Then why did he allow it to continue?
It wasn't that Hyuga Hiashi wanted to divide his clan. He simply had no other choice.
If they didn't deliberately weaken the Hyuga Clan...
Their only possible fate would be the same as the Uchiha Clan's.
That was precisely why Neji's father had willingly gone to his death.
That day, Konoha had successfully avoided a war with Kumogakure.
The entire village had rejoiced at averting war.
Only the members of the Hyuga Clan had shown no joy.
Yemu Hyuga lived near a corner of the Branch Family compound.
He had always preferred peace and quiet.
So after his parents died in the line of duty, he had chosen to live here.
He rarely interacted much with the other clan members.
Except for Neji Hyuga, who was quite friendly toward him.
At that moment, the night was ink-black and utterly still, with stars scattered across the sky and a silver moon hanging high above.
Dressed in black, Yemu Hyuga sat on the roof with moonlight draped over his shoulders, seemingly careless and full of openings.
In truth, his senses were fully extended, keeping him aware of everything within several hundred meters.
As a cool breeze brushed his face, Yemu Hyuga's gaze sharpened, and he looked down at the space directly in front of his door.
Whoosh!!
An afterimage flickered.
A black-clad ninja with a long sword on his back appeared within Yemu Hyuga's sight.
"Hm?"
A trace of cold indifference lingered in Uchiha Itachi's eyes as he noticed that Yemu, sitting on the roof, had actually detected him.
He couldn't quite understand it.
Under normal circumstances, there should have been no way to detect his movements.
Even someone with the Byakugan shouldn't have noticed him.
But Uchiha Itachi didn't dwell on it.
He had just killed Uchiha Izumi with his own hands. It would have been impossible for that not to affect him.
After all, he had been very fond of Uchiha Izumi.
Whoosh!!
The instant Yemu Hyuga and Uchiha Itachi locked eyes, a bloody light flared in Itachi's pupils.
A blood-red apparition bearing three tomoe appeared behind Uchiha Itachi.
The Sharingan's basic genjutsu!
After casting his genjutsu, Uchiha Itachi prepared to enter the house.
In his eyes, a child roughly the same age as his younger brother Sasuke had absolutely no chance of resisting his genjutsu.
But a moment later, confusion flickered in Uchiha Itachi's eyes.
He immediately used the Body Flicker Technique to retreat.
Boom!!!
A Wind Release spear struck the spot where he had been standing and exploded with a thunderous blast.
It left a deep crater.
Something was wrong with that ninjutsu!
Uchiha Itachi's gaze froze.
That child had resisted his genjutsu? How was that possible?
What surprised Uchiha Itachi even more, however, was that this Hyuga boy seemed to have developed a ninjutsu of his own.
And it required no hand seals!
As far as Uchiha Itachi knew, the only ninjutsu that required no hand seals were the highly difficult Rasengan and the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God.
One was A-rank and the other S-rank, and both were exceptionally difficult to learn.
Yet this boy seemed to have developed something similar.
"Barging into someone else's house isn't exactly polite."
"Especially without the owner's permission. That's quite offensive."
Yemu Hyuga didn't appear nervous at all.
His strength gave him that confidence.
Just as he had expected, his Ōtsutsuki Clan bloodline rendered ordinary genjutsu virtually useless against him.
Moreover, Yemu Hyuga's eyes had already begun evolving toward the Tenseigan, so dealing with ordinary genjutsu was naturally no problem.
He reckoned that only the most powerful genjutsu, Kotoamatsukami, could affect him.
Uchiha Itachi still said nothing.
Of course, he wasn't someone who slaughtered innocents indiscriminately.
So he had no intention of killing Yemu Hyuga.
He had only one objective: wipe out the Uchiha Clan!
Leaving only Sasuke Uchiha alive.
Those were the mission requirements Danzo had given him. Uchiha Itachi wasn't certain whether Danzo would honor his promise to spare Sasuke if he left another Uchiha alive.
Whoosh!!
Uchiha Itachi used the Body Flicker Technique to appear beside Yemu Hyuga.
He struck at the back of Yemu's neck.
He clearly intended to knock him unconscious with a single blow.
But Yemu Hyuga easily anticipated the attack.
He had been eighty percent certain that Uchiha Itachi wouldn't try to kill him.
In that case, Itachi would undoubtedly use his terrifying Body Flicker speed to try to finish him in one strike.
"You little..."
Uchiha Itachi saw that Yemu Hyuga had actually blocked his knife-hand strike with both hands at an exceptionally tricky angle.
At last, he spoke coldly.
"This is an internal matter of our clan. If you keep interfering, I won't hold back again."
Uchiha Itachi's expression was icy.
Even a faint hint of killing intent began to surface.
He had already killed more than enough people tonight.
Adding Yemu Hyuga to that number would make little difference.
"So what are you trying to do? Kill the Uchiha upstairs?"
"I don't know what your goal is, but isn't this far too selfish?"
Yemu Hyuga fired off his questions.
They clearly made Uchiha Itachi pause for an instant.
But coldness soon returned to his eyes.
The three tomoe in his eyes began to evolve, forming three curved, blade-shaped patterns that revolved around his central pupils.
They carried an overwhelming sense of pressure.
!!!
Yemu Hyuga sensed the chakra in Uchiha Itachi's eyes surge violently.
He was taken aback.
He hadn't expected Uchiha Itachi to use the Mangekyō Sharingan against him, a mere second-year student.
Wasn't that a little too cautious?
"These eyes of mine can no longer see a future for our clan."
"You're impressive, but it's better if you know nothing about what happened today."
Uchiha Itachi offered a rare word of praise.
Without a doubt, he believed Yemu Hyuga would become a formidable rival to his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha, in the future.
"Tsukuyomi!!!"
Uchiha Itachi used an even more powerful genjutsu.
This was no longer ordinary three-tomoe genjutsu, but one based on the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Genjutsu of this level could easily control even a Tailed Beast.
Let alone a student who hadn't yet graduated from the Ninja Academy.
Looking at the dazed Yemu Hyuga, Uchiha Itachi didn't hesitate for a moment.
Only one thing occupied his mind now: cutting down Qingxue Uchiha.
But just as he was about to step through the doorway of Yemu Hyuga's house...
His foot suddenly stopped in midair.
Almost instantly, a calm voice echoed in Uchiha Itachi's ears.
"You can't see a future?"
"I don't know what those eyes of yours are, but these eyes of mine can see a future where I live with Qingxue."
To stand against Uchiha Itachi, Yemu Hyuga had gone so far as to awaken his Tenseigan ahead of time.
His once pure-white eyes now shone a brilliant blue, patterned like flowing light, beautiful and dangerous.
Before you continue