The atmosphere within the Hyūga compound had changed.
It was not something tangible, nor something that could be perceived through chakra alone. Yet both Hyūga Hiashi and Hyūga Neji felt it clearly, a heavy, suffocating pressure that lingered in the air long after the previous conversation had ended.
Chiba's words had not faded with silence. Instead, they continued to echo in their minds, each repetition cutting deeper than the last.
The Hokage's failure.
Such a conclusion should have been impossible to accept. For decades, the authority of the Hokage had stood as an unquestionable pillar of Konoha, something absolute, something beyond doubt. And yet, after the truth of the past had been laid bare in Chapter 95, neither Hiashi nor Neji could bring themselves to dismiss it outright anymore.
Hiashi stood perfectly still, his posture composed, his expression carefully controlled. To an outside observer, he looked no different from the dignified clan head he had always been. But beneath that calm surface, his thoughts were in complete turmoil.
For the first time, he was forced to confront a terrifying possibility.
That everything he had endured, the humiliation, the compromises, the silent acceptance of injustice, had not been an unavoidable necessity born of circumstance, but rather the deliberate outcome of a system that had never truly intended to protect the Hyūga clan.
Neji, in contrast, made no attempt to hide what he felt.
His gaze was sharp and unwavering as it settled on Hiashi, devoid of anger yet filled with a clarity far more unsettling than rage. There was no accusation in his eyes, only judgment.
"The past wasn't an exception," Neji said quietly, his voice steady but merciless. "It was a precedent."
Hiashi's fingers twitched almost imperceptibly at his side.
Neji continued, his tone calm, as though stating an obvious fact rather than condemning his own clan's history. "If the same situation were to happen again, if another village threatened Konoha under the banner of diplomacy and 'peace', the Hyūga clan would still be the first to be placed on the altar."
Silence followed his words.
A long, oppressive silence.
Hiashi did not refute him.
Because deep down, he knew Neji was right.
Chiba watched the exchange quietly from the side, his presence subtle yet impossible to ignore. He did not interrupt, allowing the truth Neji had spoken to settle fully before he finally spoke again.
"Konoha excels at one thing," Chiba said calmly, his tone neither mocking nor emotional. "Convincing its clans that endurance is loyalty… and that sacrifice is honor."
His gaze shifted slightly, sweeping across the Hyūga compound, across walls that had stood for generations, across symbols of stability that now felt more like restraints.
"But the reality is far simpler," he continued. "A village that survives by consuming its own foundations will eventually collapse under its own weight."
Hiashi's jaw tightened.
He had heard such words before. Spoken by rebels. By traitors. By those who had been branded enemies of the Leaf.
Yet never before had they sounded this reasonable.
Never before had they aligned so perfectly with the doubts he had buried deep within his heart for years.
Neji turned slightly toward Chiba, his expression unchanged. "Kirigakure doesn't do this."
It was not a question.
Chiba answered without hesitation. "No."
"If someone targets one of our clans," he continued evenly, "they are treated as an enemy of the entire village. There are no negotiations involving bloodlines. No apologies paid with the lives of the innocent."
Neji's eyes darkened, something cold and resolute forming within them.
Hiashi felt a chill run down his spine.
This was no longer a philosophical discussion.
This was comparison.
And comparison, more than anything else, was cruel.
After a long pause, Hiashi finally spoke again, his voice lower than before. "You're saying… the Hyūga clan still has a choice."
Chiba met his gaze directly. "I'm saying that a cage only remains closed as long as the one inside refuses to test the door."
Hiashi's breathing faltered for just a moment.
For decades, he had believed stability was the highest virtue. That silence was survival. That resistance would only invite annihilation.
The Uchiha clan had resisted, and been erased.
And yet, the survivors of that same clan now stood in Kirigakure.
Alive.
Respected.
Growing stronger with each passing day.
That contradiction alone shattered the logic he had relied on for half his life.
Neji took a slow step forward, his fists unclenching at last.
"I've seen it," he said quietly. "During the Chūnin Exams."
Hiashi turned toward him.
Neji's voice carried no excitement, no longing, only certainty. "The next generation in Kirigakure isn't being raised under fear. They're not bound by invisible chains disguised as duty."
Names surfaced naturally in his thoughts, one after another, each carrying undeniable weight.
Uchiha Sasuke.
Uchiha Kei.
Hōzuki Suigetsu.
Haku of the Yuki clan.
Tsuchigumo Hotaru.
Uzumaki Karin.
Karatachi Shigure.
And Kaguya Kimimaro.
All of them shinobi burdened by violent pasts, blood,soaked histories, or fractured clans, yet none of them were defined by submission.
Neji exhaled slowly.
"If Hinata and Hanabi continue to grow up here," he said at last, his voice steady but heavy, "they'll inherit the same fate. Different faces… same cage."
Hiashi's heart trembled.
For the first time, the future was no longer an abstract concept.
It had names.
It had faces.
It had consequences.
Chiba said nothing further.
He didn't need to.
The seed had already been planted.
And in the silence that followed, Hyūga Hiashi finally understood,
The Hyūga clan's greatest danger was no longer an external enemy.
It was remaining exactly where it was.
Among those clans, some were native to Kirigakure itself,families whose roots had always belonged to the Mist. Others, however, had migrated from different regions within the Land of Water, wandering through years of instability before finally choosing to settle under the Mist's banner and make it their permanent home.
There were even clans whose origins had nothing to do with Kirigakure at all.
Names such as the Uchiha clan, the Uzumaki clan,names that, even when spoken casually, carried enough weight to stir the entire shinobi world.
And yet, regardless of origin, regardless of bloodline or history, all of these clans shared one undeniable truth.
They lived with more freedom.
With more dignity.
With more genuine happiness.
Far more than the Hyuga clan ever had within Konoha.
At the very least, they were not branded at birth.
They were not shackled by an invisible cage the moment they opened their eyes to the world.
Chiba turned his gaze toward Hyuga Neji, a faint but meaningful smile forming at the corner of his lips.
"Would you rather spend your entire life as a bird trapped in a cage," he asked calmly, "or would you prefer to truly spread your wings,fly into the sky, and seize the freedom to decide your own fate?"
As he spoke, Chiba slowly raised his hand.
A subtle movement of his palm, and chakra gathered effortlessly at his fingertips.
In the next instant, an exquisite ice sculpture took shape,a small bird, delicate and crystalline, as though carved by divine hands.
Yet this was no ordinary sculpture.
The little ice bird fluttered its wings.
Not stiffly, not mechanically,but naturally, filled with vitality. Then, with a light leap, it rose from Chiba's palm and soared into the air, circling freely above them.
Hyuga Hiashi and Hyuga Neji froze.
Shock spread across their faces.
Part of it came from Chiba's words, which struck straight at the deepest wound of the Hyuga clan.
But an even greater part came from the terrifying technique displayed before their very eyes.
To create something imbued with movement… with life itself.
"This… this is Sage Chakra?!"
Hiashi exclaimed, his voice unsteady.
Chiba glanced at him, nodding slightly in acknowledgment.
"As expected of the head of the Hyuga clan. The Byakugan's perception truly lives up to its reputation,your insight and knowledge are impressive."
Hiashi's shock deepened.
Sage techniques,no matter which sacred land they originated from,were universally acknowledged as peerless power, standing at the very summit of the shinobi world.
And now, the Mizukage before him wielded such power with casual ease.
How many secrets was this man still hiding?
How deep did his true strength go?
Unfathomable.
Meanwhile, Neji stood silently, his thoughts tangled around Chiba's earlier words.
A bird in a cage… or one that soars freely across the sky.
Just a few simple sentences, yet they planted a seed of dissatisfaction deep within both Hiashi and Neji,a resentment toward Konoha, and an undeniable yearning for Kirigakure.
Of course, this was not merely the result of clever words.
It was the stark contrast between Konoha's hypocrisy and the Mist's newly revealed openness that made the difference so painfully clear. No amount of rhetoric alone could have achieved this effect.
Chiba understood that perfectly.
He never expected a single encounter, or a brief conversation, to make the Hyuga clan betray Konoha and pledge allegiance to the Mist.
But seeds, once planted, would eventually sprout.
As Hiashi and Neji fell into silence, each lost in their own thoughts, the sliding doors behind them opened once more.
Two young girls stepped out.
Hyuga Hinata.
And Hyuga Hanabi.
The sisters froze when they saw the scene before them.
Hinata's gaze lingered on Chiba,shy, nervous, yet filled with unmistakable curiosity.
It was only natural.
Across the entire shinobi world, who wasn't curious about the Mizukage who had emerged out of nowhere and shaken the balance of power?
Even Hanabi, still young, clutched her sister's hand as she looked up at Chiba, her eyes sparkling with interest.
"Father… Neji-niisan…"
Her gaze shifted hesitantly.
"And… Mizukage-sama?"
Hinata's confusion was evident.
Chiba looked at the sisters,still innocent, still untainted by the cruelty of the shinobi world,and smiled softly.
"These must be Clan Head Hiashi's daughters," he said.
"They're both very cute."
Hinata instantly panicked, her face turning bright red as she lowered her head, completely at a loss for what to do.
Hanabi, on the other hand, laughed cheerfully.
"Thank you for the compliment, Mizukage-sama! Though… that's just the truth!"
"Hanabi!"
Hinata protested weakly.
Hanabi stuck out her tongue playfully, making a face at her sister as she giggled.
Chiba reached out and gently patted Hanabi's head, earning an even brighter smile from the young girl.
He had intended to do the same to Hinata,but she shyly stepped back, avoiding his hand.
Chiba didn't mind.
Instead, he turned to Hiashi once more.
"Clan Head Hiashi," he said calmly, "give some thought to what we discussed today."
His gaze shifted briefly to the sisters.
"And think carefully about your children."
"If something like that were to happen again… would you truly be able to protect them?"
Hiashi fell silent.
The last time,when Hinata had nearly been taken,he had only succeeded because of sheer coincidence.
If there were a next time…
Perhaps he truly wouldn't be able to protect them.
And beyond that, there was Konoha itself.
And Hiruzen Sarutobi,the rot at its core.
"I…"
Chiba didn't wait for him to finish.
He simply waved his hand lightly and turned away.
Hinata watched the Mizukage's retreating figure, a strange mix of emotions swelling in her chest.
Regret.
If only she hadn't stepped back.
What harm would there have been in letting him pat her head?
Wasn't she supposed to admire him?
Her face burned as she wrestled with her thoughts.
Hanabi, meanwhile, looked smug.
"See, Sister? We both said we liked Mizukage-sama,but I'm the only one who got my head patted!"
Hinata sighed softly, her embarrassment only deepening.
Soon, the sisters' quiet voices turned into laughter, the two of them playfully chasing each other across the courtyard.
Hiashi watched them, releasing a long, weary sigh.
Beside him, Neji spoke quietly.
"Clan Head… I think Mizukage-sama's words are worth serious consideration."
With that, he turned and left.
Leaving Hiashi alone.
Standing there.
Silent.
For a very, very long time.
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