Caged Bird Seal

My future looked utterly bleak!

In the twilight, Zou Hyuga's figure looked increasingly forlorn.

Desolation was practically written all over his face. He had thought becoming a Ninja Academy teacher would be the beginning of happiness.

He had never expected his future to veer inevitably toward hauling sacks of rice.

He was very sorry he had failed to have a good time with Oto Uchiha in the Forest of Death today.

Apologies aside, Zou Hyuga hurried toward the clan grounds. Having passed the assessment and become an ANBU recruit, he was no longer a ninja who could slack off. He had to stay in peak condition at all times, ready for a mission that might arrive at any moment.

Unlike ordinary ninja, ANBU were war machines with no human rights, working twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

They answered directly to the Hokage, while also gaining opportunities for rapid promotion and access to advanced ninjutsu.

That was why many ninja, including those from ninja clans, coveted the position and did everything they could to join ANBU.

But Zou Hyuga could not practice overly complex ninjutsu, nor was he interested in ANBU's other benefits.

"Zou, hurry to the Main Family's mansion! The clan head and elders have summoned everyone."

As soon as he entered the clan grounds, a Chunin from the clan appeared before Zou Hyuga and gave him the news.

The Main Family had summoned everyone? What were they planning?

Puzzled, Zou Hyuga followed the Chunin into the Main Family's old mansion deep within the clan grounds.

Many Hyuga clan members had already gathered in the old mansion. Unease marked their faces as they lowered their heads and whispered among themselves.

They all bore pale blue-green tattoos on their foreheads, marking them as members of the Branch Family.

Branch Family members did not ordinarily approach this old mansion. They came here only when summoned by the Main Family for festivals or major clan affairs.

For the Branch Family, a shadow hung over the old mansion. This was where the Caged Bird Seal had been placed on them.

Once branded with the Caged Bird Seal, they were no longer free. Though they received protection, their sole purpose in life was to protect the Main Family.

They belonged to the same clan, but their fates differed. The Main Family and Branch Family might enjoy the same resources, but their standing was utterly different.

Zou Hyuga hated this place too. It reminded him of the Caged Bird Seal he deliberately tried to forget and ignore.

People kept arriving from every corner of the clan grounds. The crowd grew, gradually filling the spacious Main Family mansion.

Hyuga with unmarked foreheads emerged from the old mansion one after another. Some were Main Family members, while others were children only a few years old.

Until the Main Family's heir was chosen, the younger generation did not need to receive the Caged Bird Seal.

Looking up at the older Main Family members, Zou Hyuga spotted his uncle, the eldest of the Main Family's elders.

Once the Main Family members were present, the young clan head, Hiashi, explained the reason for this Clan Meeting in a grave voice.

The Hyuga were not the Uchiha, who held Clan Meetings every few days to settle everyday disputes. Whenever they convened a Clan Meeting, something significant enough to affect the entire Hyuga Clan must have happened.

First, Hyuga Hiashi indirectly expressed that the Hyuga would support Minato as the next Hokage.

The Hyuga Clan had little objection to this. The Main Family's decisions were, in effect, the decisions of the entire Hyuga Clan.

The other matter was far more somber. Some time ago, a Main Family member and two Branch Family guards had gone missing on the Kirigakure front. They had most likely died on the battlefield.

Several months later, one of the Branch Family guards had returned to the village today and reported that the Byakugan had been taken. Shortly afterward, he had taken his own life within the clan grounds.

With the Main Family member he was supposed to protect dead, the Branch Family guard had lost his reason to exist.

A Branch Family member's death was a minor matter, but a Main Family member's death concerned the entire clan.

Had the Main Family member merely lost his life, that Branch Family guard would have faced severe punishment. But with the Byakugan lost, he could only atone by taking his own life.

The loss of the Byakugan affected not only the Hyuga, but the entire village.

Under certain circumstances, the Byakugan kekkei genkai could play an extremely important role.

The Clan Meeting continued. Led by Clan Head Hiashi, the Main Family members condemned the Branch Family guards, using this incident to warn the remaining Hyuga Branch Family members that they must never let a Main Family member die before them.

Zou Hyuga ignored that bullshit, but the mood of the other Branch Family members rubbed off on him, leaving him deeply depressed.

Zou Hyuga did not know when this long-overdue Clan Meeting ended, but as the crowd gradually dispersed, he saw the dejection on the Branch Family members' faces. They could suppress their expressions, but not their feelings.

Just then, someone walked up to him. Zou Hyuga looked up and saw his uncle.

Hyuga Yu rested a hand on Zou Hyuga's shoulder and spoke as though talking to himself.

"Zou, that Branch Family member didn't die to protect the Main Family. He died to protect his own brother. He dragged his broken body back to the clan grounds. Taking his own life relieved the pain in both his body and his heart!"

Zou Hyuga nodded. He did not know whether Hyuga Yu's words were true, but the fact that he could say them at all was already precious.

Those words all but challenged the Hyuga Clan's established order, and Hyuga Yu was the oldest member of the Main Family.

After a moment's thought, Zou Hyuga looked at Hyuga Yu. "Uncle, let's not talk about such upsetting things. I have something even more upsetting to tell you..."

"..."

Hyuga Yu glanced at Zou Hyuga, expressionless.

You told me to stop, only to tell me something even more upsetting? Something was seriously wrong with you.

Still, he was already used to Zou Hyuga's erratic ways. Perhaps this upsetting thing he mentioned was actually good news?

"Uncle, I had the misfortune of catching Lord Third's eye today. I might have to join ANBU."

Zou Hyuga revealed this sad and grave truth, looking at Hyuga Yu with a miserable expression.

"That certainly is upsetting..." Hyuga Yu nodded instinctively before shooting Zou Hyuga a sidelong glare.

"It's a good thing that Lord Hokage thinks highly of you. You might even become an outstanding Jonin someday. Then I could stop worrying and close my eyes in peace."

"That's absolutely impossible. I'll never become a Jonin unless my Caged Bird Seal disappears..."

Zou Hyuga accidentally let his true feelings slip. Hyuga Yu merely glanced at him, ignoring those words that challenged the established order, and said quietly, "Perhaps that day will come."

With the conversation touching on the Caged Bird Seal, the two gradually fell silent. The Caged Bird Seal system was the foundation of the Hyuga.

Even among Main Family members, the Caged Bird Seal was a deeply taboo subject that they would not discuss at length.

The Caged Bird Seal system had endured for a thousand years. Its longevity alone demonstrated how well-established it was.

Leaving the Main Family's old mansion, uncle and nephew headed home along almost the same route.

Their earlier conversation might have touched on forbidden ground.

But there was no denying that their exchange had eased the gloom and estrangement left by the Clan Meeting.

Within the Hyuga Clan, the Main Family and Branch Family were not simply superiors and subordinates. More often, they were brothers, or even fathers and sons.

Within such a tangled web of relationships, the line between the Main Family and Branch Family was deeply ambiguous.

Zou Hyuga did not care much about such trivial matters. After returning home and bathing, he resumed his experiments with natural chakra.