Chapter 29: The Main Family's Legacy
The next day, news of the Hyuga Main Family's near-total annihilation spread rapidly.
As one of Konoha's only two great noble clans, unlike the Uchiha who nobody liked, the Hyuga clan could be described as well-connected.
Aside from the Uchiha, the Hyuga maintained good relationships with all the village's other clans, large and small. Everyone enjoyed having a Hyuga clan member as a teammate on missions—the Byakugan tangibly increased mission completion rates and survival rates.
So even though the Hyuga lived together in a relatively closed environment, the news still spread through various channels over the course of one night.
Then, unsurprisingly, it caused an enormous uproar.
Not just the village's many clans, but even numerous civilian-born ninja showed concern upon hearing the news, asking around everywhere about what had happened.
Around nine in the morning, Hokage Tower staff deployed throughout the village, posting statements on bulletin boards everywhere. The gist was that the Main Family's downfall was under the village's control, and the Hyuga clan remained an unshakeable foundation of Konoha!
The Third Hokage's credibility was still quite solid.
Once this statement was issued, the village's agitated hearts immediately settled by more than half. Afterward, the major clans sent envoys to the Hyuga one after another.
Since the Main Family had fallen, they needed to establish new friendly relations with the Hyuga clan's new leaders. Everyone enjoyed being friends with the Hyuga—except, of course, the Uchiha clan. They had no friends.
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Envoys from the major clans arrived one after another, wanting to meet the Hyuga clan's new clan head. But the new clan head, Hyuga Ritsu, didn't appear. Instead, they were received by the newly appointed elder Hyuga Hizashi, who looked eighty percent identical to the former clan head.
Regarding this, though these clan envoys felt some regret, no one dared express dissatisfaction. Everyone had eyes—the Hyuga clan freed from the Main Family-Branch Family system's imprisonment was like a giant who'd bound his own hands and feet finally breaking free of his chains.
Of course, if someone asked what Ritsu was doing?
The answer was that the clan head was busy processing the Main Family's considerable legacy with the assistance of former clan head Hiashi. This naturally didn't refer to wealth like money or estates, but rather the Hyuga clan's inherited secret techniques held by the Main Family.
Tamaeda Shrine, Treasure Hall.
"All the inherited secret techniques held by the Main Family are here? You're certain nothing's missing?"
Ritsu looked at the three large wooden boxes stacked on the tatami mats.
"All the texts and scrolls passed down in the clan are here, including even the notes left by the ancestors of the Main Family's seven bloodlines."
Hiashi looked with considerable reluctance at the numerous scrolls neatly arranged in the boxes.
He'd ultimately bowed his head and accepted his fate.
Only one adult remained alive among the Main Family—himself. Though the children were all fine, could he really hope for them to grow up and restore the Main Family's glory?
That was impossible.
Even if Ritsu couldn't remove the Caged Bird Seals from clan members' heads, once the next generation of children grew up without having the Caged Bird Seal planted on them, any thoughts of the Main Family rising again would be delusional.
Afterward, at his younger brother Hizashi's urging, he'd actively cooperated with Ritsu in collecting the numerous secret techniques held by the Main Family and transporting them to Tamaeda Shrine's Treasure Hall.
"Let me see!"
Ritsu casually picked up a scroll. Opening it, he saw it recorded a special technique called Gentle Fist: Mountain Breaking Strike—a derivative of Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm with destructive power surpassing it. One palm could shatter rocks dozens of meters away.
After reading through it once, Ritsu gained considerable insight.
Setting down the scroll, he pulled out a notebook from another box. The yellowed pages indicated considerable age, and from the neat handwriting, this appeared to be a transcription.
Which meant the content recorded here was truly ancient.
"This is... this Main Family ancestor really dared to dream! He actually wanted to imitate the Uchiha clan and create a 'Susanoo' belonging to our Hyuga clan. Hiashi, have you read this notebook?"
"I have. This journal was left by an ancestor from my bloodline over three hundred years ago. Of course, the original was damaged—what remains now is a transcription from over seventy years ago."
"What were your thoughts after reading it?"
"Uh... too fanciful and impractical."
"Fanciful?"
Ritsu laughed. He roughly flipped through the not-too-thick notebook. "True, the content is mostly speculation and unreliable. But didn't you ever think of attempting to emulate this ancestor?"
Hiashi froze, saying nothing.
"This is why you Main Family members are worthless. An ancestor from hundreds of years ago dared to research a 'Susanoo' belonging to our Hyuga clan. Though he didn't succeed, you can't see even a trace of that progressive spirit in you."
"No wonder that even though our Hyuga clan has far more members and jonin than the Uchiha, we've always been overshadowed by them. You Main Family members are truly useless!"
Ritsu didn't hold back in his criticism of the Main Family.
Hiashi's face darkened. He wanted to refute this, but thinking of Daichi and the others whom Ritsu had easily killed, all rebuttals instantly evaporated.
Facts spoke louder than eloquence!
So many Main Family members killed by Ritsu alone—didn't this prove the Main Family's worthlessness?
Hiashi fell silent. Ritsu also lost interest in talking to him, turning instead to look at his cousin who was staring obsessively at the three large boxes of scrolls. "Akiba, you organize these things. From now on, they'll be stored in this Treasure Hall. Remember to categorize them, store them by different classifications, and attach labels for easy future access and borrowing!"
Previously, these things had all been stored in the Main Family's estates, accessible only to Main Family members. Branch Family members couldn't even borrow them—they couldn't even glance at them from afar.
But that was an outdated old rule from the past. After consulting with the elders, Ritsu had decided to transfer these good things left by the ancestors to Tamaeda Shrine's Treasure Hall. From now on, all clan members would be qualified to learn these valuable techniques the ancestors had left behind.
"Also, remember to notify all the clan's jonin, chunin, and genin to come to the shrine in batches to train in Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms."
Ritsu instructed.
The Branch Family had previously trained in the castrated Thirty-Two Palms version. Now they all needed to switch over and train in the complete Sixty-Four Palms.
Not everyone could break through limitations like Ritsu and learn the Sixty-Four Palms on their own. The vast majority of people spent their entire lives merely learning the wisdom of their predecessors. Only an extremely small number could continue innovating beyond their ancestors' achievements and go even further.
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