Hyuga Clan Compound.
Having just returned, Hyuga Hiashi sat in the main seat of the council chamber. The elders of the main family were also present.
"The Hokage intends to wait for Kumo's response?"
Hiashi nodded. "Though Lord Hokage hasn't made a final decision, the Third Hokage and Advisor Koharu urged him to have the Hyuga Clan make a sacrifice."
He then turned to the elder. "If Kumo insists that I must pay with my life for their envoy, I will gouge out my eyes and commit suicide."
After pausing to think, Hiashi continued, "If in five years Hinata still cannot shoulder the responsibilities of the main family, I ask that the elder formally adopt Neji into the main branch and name him as heir."
The elder shook his head slowly.
"No... actually, there is another solution."
As he finished, the door to the council room opened with a knock. Hyuga Hizashi stood at the entrance.
Hiashi frowned. "Hizashi, what are you doing here? This is not your place to speak. Go back!"
Before Hiashi could say more, the elder raised a hand to stop him.
He said solemnly, "I summoned Hizashi. Now that the main family is in crisis, the branch family will act in your place. Hizashi will die instead of you. We will destroy his Byakugan using the curse seal and send his body to Kumogakure."
"That... is the alternative I just spoke of."
!!!
Hiashi froze. His clenched fists bulged with veins.
Hizashi stood motionless like a lifeless doll. He did not speak, because he knew: the branch family had no right to control its own fate. Protest? What would that accomplish?
He thought bitterly: 'If I agree, Neji... will grow up without a father.'
"Brothers?"
'Just a few minutes apart at birth, why should I have to die for him?'
But to refuse?
Could he even do that?
Bang!
The wooden floor splintered under a strike from Hiashi's Gentle Fist. He turned to the elder, furious.
"No matter what, I will not agree to this! Hizashi must not die in my place, I will not let my younger brother die for me!"
Without waiting for a response, he looked at Hizashi.
"From the day the curse mark was placed on your forehead, you've called yourself 'branch family.' But as your elder brother, I have no right to ask you to die in my place."
Hizashi looked up, perhaps for the first time, and he felt something different from his brother.
Knock knock knock..
A knock came from outside.
"The Third Hokage and the two advisors are here to visit."
.....
Elsewhere: Uchiha Compound.
Uchiha Yun, just returning, headed straight for the Police Force building. Sure enough, Shisui had yet to go home.
Bang.
Yun burst in, grabbed Shisui, and pulled him outside without a word.
"Something big is happening. I need you to come with me to visit Konoha's secret clans and bloodline families."
Shisui, being dragged, looked confused. The two leapt across rooftops and stopped at a water tower.
"Something happened? It's late, we'll likely be turned away."
Yun shook his head. "The Uchiha have stood behind the Fourth Hokage for nearly a year. In their eyes, we no longer represent just the Uchiha, we represent part of the Fourth's will."
"A Kumo envoy attempted to kidnap Hinata from the Hyuga clan. Hiashi intercepted and killed him with a single strike."
Shisui instantly grasped the situation.
"What do you plan to do?"
Yun smiled slightly. "Konoha was founded by the Senju and Uchiha. For a long time, the Uchiha stood apart from Konoha's great families."
"Even though we now back the Fourth, our true allegiance should be to the village's elite. The Hokage is just a political position."
Shisui was momentarily stunned, then replied, "You want the village's noble clans to fully accept the Uchiha. That way, even after the Fourth is gone, we won't be targeted again."
Yun nodded. "Exactly. Because of my background, I need you, a known supporter of the Fourth and the Uchiha clan head, to join me. Otherwise, I'd be denied entry at the door."
Ignoring Yun's joking tone, Shisui asked after a moment, "Yun... do you know what will happen if war breaks out?"
Yun stopped at another water tower. Shisui followed and looked at him seriously.
"I didn't experience the Third Shinobi War. I don't know what it's really like."
Yun turned to Shisui. "But I never believed that a piece of paper could stop a war. If we give in to an unreasonable demand now, what about next time?"
He activated his Mangekyō Sharingan.
"What if next time, they send another assassin and demand my eyes? What then?"
Shisui was silent.
Yun had a point. If they gave in now, there'd be no end. The other villages might all take a bite out of Konoha.
"Shisui, I may not know war. But I understand this, Konoha remains peaceful and prosperous because every time, our enemies have paid a heavy price."
Yun looked toward the Hokage Monument.
"When the First Hokage was alive, it was the most peaceful era. And why? Because no one dared to challenge us."