Hyuga Clan grounds.
After the Anbu left, Hyuga Hiashi's face turned terrifyingly dark.
The worst outcome—had still arrived!
Kumogakure actually wants my life as the Hyuga Clan head, and they even want to take my corpse away; they might as well openly admit they covet the Byakugan Bloodline Limit.
Even more critical is the Village's stance. Jiraiya, the man I'd pinned my last hopes on, offered no reaction at all.
Sending an Anbu to inform me—what kind of message is that?
His heart felt as if stabbed by knives, his expression ghastly.
His fists clenched so tightly that veins stood out, flames of rage flickering in his eyes.
A moment later.
Inside the Hyuga Clan's meeting hall, the main-house and branch-house elders were all assembled.
Once Hyuga Hiashi relayed Kumogakure's demands and the Village's response, every elder erupted in fury.
We absolutely cannot agree—this is blackmail!
They want the Hyuga Clan head's life and even covet our Byakugan Bloodline Limit?
Shameless scum!
Clan Head, what should we do?
We must make a firm decision!
The branch-house members spoke one after another.
Their faces were gloomy; clearly the Village's shamelessness enraged them, and the hall filled with denunciations.
The main-house side, however, offered no immediate stance.
Very soon.
Sensing something amiss, the branch-house elders began to lower their voices; within minutes the hall became so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
The branch-house elders' expressions also turned ugly.
They were no fools!
The main house's silence itself was a statement.
They still refused to join New Konoha, because its rules would strip them of their privileged status; if the Hyuga truly joined, they could no longer stand above others.
Hyuga Hiashi's own expression was extremely unpleasant.
As the main-house clan head, how could he miss their attitude?
But the problem was—
Calling this meeting and denouncing the Village's shamelessness already revealed his own stance as clan head.
The main-house elders' refusal to back him was a slap in his face.
Occasional cold glints flashed across his eyes.
He knew too well the main house's vileness; if they rejected New Konoha yet wished to survive this crisis, only one option remained—
Hyuga Hizashi!
He instinctively glanced at Hizashi, and seeing his twisted, ashen face, Hiashi felt as though knives twisted in his own heart.
The two were born of the same mother—how could there be no bond?
In the original story,
without New Konoha's existence and with Hiashi's mediocre strength, the clan could only send him to his death.
Now, things were different!
Not yet driven to utter despair, Hiashi still felt affection for his younger brother.
Still,
he revealed no inclination, sitting calmly, only the chill in his eyes when he looked toward the main-house elders grew less concealed.
Those elders' scalps tingled under his gaze.
They might treat branch house members like dogs, but they dared not be too insolent toward Hiashi.
After all, compared with Hiashi, who had fought on real battlefields, they had been raised like pampered pigs; if they truly enraged him, clan-head status aside, they would come out the losers.
They had no choice.
The lead elder, Hyuga Ichizoku, spoke up nervously: 'New Konoha's terms for the Hyuga are too harsh, and our clan is not yet at a life-or-death juncture.'
'So I think...'
He tried to persuade Hiashi, but before he could finish, Hiashi cut him off.
'Enough, Elder Tendo!'
'I know what you want to say—let Hizashi die in my place, right?'
'I tell you, that's a pipe dream!'
'Although the branch house exists to protect the main house, has our Hyuga Clan truly reached a dead end?
'Hah—no, far from it!'
'Hizashi may be branch house, but he is still my younger brother!'
'Don't cloak your selfishness in the banner of the clan.'
'I have decided: we will join New Konoha. Elder Tendo, do you agree?'
Hyuga Hiashi brimbed with dominating authority.
His personal strength might count for little in all of Konoha—even with the Byakugan Bloodline Limit, he was at best an elite Jonin, worthy only to sit at the same table as Kakashi—but within the Hyuga Clan he was indisputably the strongest.
Indeed, that was the case.
After his declaration, every main-house elder fell silent; no one dared oppose him.
In the branch-house seats, Hyuga Hizashi gazed at his elder brother, his eyes filled with tangled emotions.
Clearly,
he had never imagined the brother he had hated all his life would go this far for him.
At that moment, Hiashi spoke again.
'Main-house elders, let me remind you:'
'Konoha grows more rotten by the day. We who possess the Byakugan can all see the Village's current state.'
'Though the Sarutobi and the other three Ninja Clans field many Ninja, they have never fought in a war—how capable can they truly be?'
'The villagers themselves long to join New Konoha; only the Village's iron-fisted suppression keeps them here.'
'Can the Village maintain this pressure forever?'
'The moment any accident occurs, they will rush out and flock to New Konoha!'
'I cannot allow the Hyuga Clan to be destroyed alongside Old Konoha.'
'Therefore, my actions are also for the sake of the clan!'
'And now—I declare:'
'Return home and pack your essentials. At two in the morning we evacuate from the west side of the Village, past Training Ground Thirty-Seven; my Byakugan shows the guard there is weakest.'
'Hizashi, go to the Hokage Building!'
'Tell Jiraiya and Hiruzen Sarutobi that the Hyuga Clan needs time to consider; we will give them our answer at dawn.'
'Tokibi, keep watch over the Hyuga main house!'
'Before we actually leave, anyone who makes a suspicious move—whether by revealing our trail or contacting Konoha—'
'—will be killed without mercy!'
His words dripped with killing intent.
In the original story he had wanted to abolish the Bird in a Cage seal but lacked the strength, a good excuse, and the resolve to suppress the main-house faction—now everything was different!
The rise of New Konoha made Old Konoha ever more corrupt,
and the Kumogakure envoy incident gave him the perfect pretext!