When Zou Hyuga entered his uncle's home, he saw the familiar training equipment in the clearing. Those things had been the stuff of his childhood nightmares. His uncle had been as strict with him as he would have been with a member of the Main Family.
Even after he had mastered Gentle Fist and the equipment had become completely useless, he had continued training under his uncle in that clearing, experiencing firsthand what Rotation and Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm were like.
Only after he had been forced to join the ANBU had his uncle stopped calling him over to train.
Those days were now nothing more than memories.
Zou Hyuga looked at Hyuga Yu and realized he had aged far more than he had imagined. Perhaps his uncle was no longer a match for him.
Inside, the dishes on the table were nothing lavish, but they were all his favorites.
After taking a few bites, Hyuga Yu looked at Zou Hyuga, his face creasing into a chrysanthemum-like smile. "Zou, I'm glad you were able to join the ANBU under Lord Fourth. He's still young. If you stay by his side, perhaps one day your standing will be no lower than the Main Family's..."
"Although the fates of the Main Family and Branch Family are decided when we're only a few years old, that doesn't mean they can't be changed. And aren't even the members of the Main Family birds in a cage?
"The Branch Family can go out on missions and see the world beyond the village, but most of the time, the Main Family can only remain trapped within it..."
There was a lonely note in Hyuga Yu's voice, perhaps brought on by memories, or by insights gleaned over the decades.
"Uncle, is it really all right for you