February 25th — the day Tennin would return home!
With the date of Tennin's return now fixed, all of Konoha was blanketed in an atmosphere of a coming storm.
But strangely, there was no large-scale unrest, no unusual mobilization of the shinobi garrison, and even the various rumors circulating within the village about Tennin had taken on an oddly gentle tone.
Like the eerie stillness before a storm, the whole of Konoha had fallen into an uncanny quiet. Only the welcoming ceremony, overseen by Danzō Shimura and prepared by a great number of Root operatives, was being rapidly assembled. According to the ranking system within Konoha, Hyuga Yu himself was still, to this day, nothing more than a genin. Even within Root, although Danzō had already declared that "everything will pass to Tennin," in theory Hyuga Yu's current rank had not changed one bit from the rank he held when he first left the village. He was still merely a peripheral member of Root — he had not even been entered into Root's fourteen seats within ANBU's official structure.
The entire upper echelon of Konoha had been racked with headaches over how to reward Hyuga Yu and settle his position once he returned to the village, and had held who-knew-how-many meetings over the matter.
In the end, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had already stepped down from the position of Third Hokage, ruled that mobilizing the whole shinobi village to welcome a mere genin would be procedurally improper. However, "Root members privately welcoming a fellow Root member" was a private matter, and could be permitted. He specially authorized lending out Konoha's main gate, the village's principal streets, and everything from the outer edge of the main district all the way to Konoha Tea Street, which led directly to the Hokage Tower, for Root's use.
Root would decide for itself who to invite and would be responsible for maintaining order. Any shinobi within the village who admired Tennin's reputation and wished to go on their own accord could do so voluntarily.
In substance, this amounted to treatment equal to that given to the "Yellow Flash," Minato Namikaze.
Even Orochimaru, another candidate for the position of Fourth Hokage, had never been given a ceremony of this scale.
And so Danzō sent out invitations wholesale, dispatching Root shinobi to deliver a copy to the head of every shinobi clan and every major department in Konoha. He personally made the rounds of dozens of banquet tables, inviting the various great noble houses of the Land of Fire who happened to be staying in Konoha, ministers, cross-border merchants of note, and envoys of the Daimyo, to attend the event.
But here was the strange part —
Danzō sent invitations to every single faction within Konoha, even the corpse-disposal squad tucked away in some forgotten corner, as if he wished for the whole of Konoha to come and behold the glory of his personally trained disciple. And yet the one group he left out...
was the Hyuga Clan.
The moment this news got out, an uproar immediately erupted within the Hyuga Clan.
At the residence of Hyuga Hiashi, the current head of the Hyuga Clan, at the heart of the clan's main estate.
Upon learning that Root had not invited the Hyuga Clan at all to welcome Tennin home, the upper ranks of the Hyuga main house convened an emergency meeting in the dojo of the main estate. The spacious dojo, tucked deep within the estate's rear courtyard, had been temporarily converted into a meeting room. The hall was cavernous and bare, containing only a single low, ring-shaped table. Aside from the massive Hyuga clan crest hanging on the wall, there was nothing else in the room.
The high ceiling faded into shadow above; the four walls were made of dark brown sandalwood paneling. The whole space was eerily silent, broken only by a handful of quiet breaths rising and falling.
At the head of the meeting table knelt the former Great Elder of the main house, Hyuga Sōdō. To his right knelt the current head of the Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Hiashi. Beside him sat the main house elder closest to Hyuga Yu, Hyuga Sōkō. Below them sat several ordinary elders of the main house who held little real power — Hyuga Sōgo, Hyuga Sōmitsu, and Hyuga Sōtsune. Last of all, seated off in an obscure corner, was the grandfather of the former young master Hyuga Genko — the elder who held real power within the clan, Hyuga Sōsuke.
The current generation of the Hyuga Clan maintained a total of six elders, whose duty was to assist the main house's clan head in governing the entire Hyuga Clan.
In other words, the Hyuga Clan at present had seven main-house lines, with only one member per generation able to become the head of the main house. Counting three generations living at once, the total number of main-house members came to roughly twenty people.
These twenty or so people were the absolute core of the Hyuga Clan.
And yet now...
In less than half a year, that "absolute core" position had already begun to totter.
At this moment, Hyuga Hiashi, as clan head and head of the main house, swept his gaze over the six people before him and broke the silence first, saying, "Elders, I imagine you have all already heard—"
"Tennin is about to return to the village!"
"The village is holding a grand ceremony to welcome him. But Danzō Shimura, the senior Konoha elder overseeing the arrangements, has specifically... not invited our clan!"
"I believe you all understand what this means. Danzō intends to completely sever Tennin — Hyuga Yu — from the Hyuga Clan. And the rumors that have been circulating within the village these past few days all point in that same direction."
"So, I have called you all here because I want to hear your thoughts—"
"Regarding this Tennin who has come into the world, how should the main house respond? And how should we conduct ourselves?"
"What exactly was the old Tennin system, in truth?"
Having said this, Hyuga Hiashi paused, then continued, as if suddenly struck by a thought, "And as for myself, the current head of the Hyuga Clan — faced with this Tennin, how should I conduct myself?"
At these words, the assembled elders exchanged glances, then all furrowed their brows tightly. Only Hyuga Sōkō, seated to the side, remained calm, sipping contentedly from a cup of clear tea.
Just then, the Great Elder Hyuga Sōdō, seated at the head of the table, frowned and said in a low voice, "I must make one thing clear to everyone — the Caged Bird Seal is effective against that brat—"
"So whether he is truly Tennin, according to what the clan records say, is still an open question. And we could very well—"
"—"
Hyuga Hiashi suddenly snatched up the teacup on the table and hurled it at the Great Elder Sōdō's feet. Crack!
The porcelain cup shattered on the floor, splashing tea across the Great Elder's face.
Hiashi's expression twisted with fury. His face darkened, and he demanded of Sōdō in a voice as cold as chewed nails, "Could what?!"
"Try to ambush him with the Caged Bird Seal on the front lines again, like you did last time? Or do you think Hyuga Yu is still just some ordinary branch family member?"
"Sōdō — have you gone mad, or have I?"
Hiashi rose abruptly, his Byakugan flaring to life, veins bulging as he glared at the man who had once been Great Elder, chakra flickering unstably in his palm with an almost tangible presence. He sneered, "Does it even matter anymore whether Hyuga Yu is this so-called Tennin or not?"
"Do you think we can stand against Danzō Shimura? Or do you think we could get away with murdering a candidate for the Fourth Hokage inside Konoha itself?"
"Last time, you hid the truth from me and dragged me along to do something like that on the front lines — fine, I'll let that go. But now you want to push us straight into the fire again?"
"Shall I recite the battle report about Hyuga Yu to you again? Shall we see whether he slaughtered every last one of our main house first, or whether your Caged Bird Seal managed to curse him to death first?"
"Last time, if Shisui Uchiha hadn't been there, do you think you'd still be alive to stand here now?"
"You... you, Hiashi, how dare you show me such disrespect!"
The Great Elder Sōdō glanced down at the shards of porcelain at his feet, then looked back up, staring at Hiashi in disbelief, a wave of overwhelming injustice rising in his chest.
Hiashi was a child he had watched grow up, and also his natural political ally within this branch of the family.
And everything he had done — hadn't it all been to secure Hiashi's own position as head of the main house? And yet Hiashi dared to treat him... treat him like this?!
Hiashi took two long strides forward, grinding the porcelain shards beneath his feet, his expression darkening as he closed the distance to Sōdō. He seized the old man by the collar as he knelt on the floor and hauled him bodily upright, staring him coldly in the eye, and said through gritted teeth with a bitter laugh, "What exactly do you think you are, Hyuga Sōdō?"
"Have you gotten something confused?"
"You are merely an elder — an elder who serves the head of the main house! Know your place! Who exactly gave you the nerve to overstep your bounds like that? To go behind my back and attack Hyuga Yu?"
"I respected you as my elder. I let you, stripped of your position, keep your old seat at this table. And yet you dare to say something so damaging to the clan's unity! What, do you still think of yourself as the Great Elder who once treated me as his puppet?!"
In full view of everyone — Bang!
Hiashi released Sōdō's collar and, in a sudden burst of fury, drove a kick straight into the old man's stomach, sending him flying three or four meters through the air until he slammed into the wooden wall of the dojo hard enough to crack it.
The old man's already-decaying body and chakra were utterly unable to withstand the violence of a Hiashi in the full vigor of his prime.
He could only curl up against the wall like an old dog, helplessly retching blood.
At this, Hiashi turned, dropped back into a kneeling seat at the head of the table, exhaled heavily, his expression composed once more, and said to the five elders before him, "After everything that has happened within the clan these past months, I've been through a great deal, and I've thought about a great deal. And in the end, I've realized something — the original purpose of the main-house elder positions within the Hyuga Clan was to assist the head of the main house in governing the clan well!"
"And the position of head of the main house holds only one true meaning within our clan — it belongs to whoever the Hyuga Clan judges to be the most gifted!"
"It exists to wield the clan head's authority and protect the clan's members during the era before a Tennin emerges!"
"In other words—"
"I, as I stand now, am the strongest person in the Hyuga Clan aside from Tennin himself!"
"I think that all of you, who have sunk so deep into the whirlpool of power since we joined Konoha, ought to wake up a little as well."
As his words fell silent, the elders around the table first looked toward Sōdō, lying crumpled against the wall like a dead dog, then glanced at Hiashi seated composedly at the head of the table. Being seasoned political creatures themselves, they understood at once — this was Hiashi asserting his authority, warning them, reclaiming the power that rightfully belonged to the head of the main house.
And the deference he had shown the Great Elder up until now — even allowing the stripped former Great Elder to attend a meeting that had nothing to do with him and was, if anything, harmful to him — had all been Hiashi's way of setting up this very moment, using a bit of vinegar to season the dumplings he'd been planning to serve all along.
And now, his purpose had been achieved.
Several of the elders sighed quietly, feeling somewhat put out — after all, in the years since Hiashi had become clan head, they had all skimmed a fair amount of benefit for themselves. Now, they could only watch as Hiashi reclaimed the power that had always rightfully belonged to him.
Meanwhile, Hyuga Sōkō, seated off to the side, frowned but did not look toward Hiashi as he asserted his authority. Instead, he activated his Byakugan at once to check on the condition of Sōdō, who had been kicked into the corner.
He saw that the Great Elder Sōdō — having just been insulted, cursed, and even physically beaten — was curled up against the wall, his loosened, aged fists clenched tight, his head bowed. Even though almost no one had actually witnessed his humiliating state, he still didn't dare lift his head out of shame.
From his body, wisps of chakra heavy with resentment began to leak out. In his pale, fierce eyes churned a murderous intent so savage it seemed to want to strangle someone, hack them to pieces, and devour them raw, bite by bite. He wheezed roughly from his aged chest, his lips trembling, and the murmured words that spilled from his mouth were not directed at Hiashi, who had just struck him, but at—
"Heh! Heh!"
"Hiashi's abandoned me? Why? Has Hiashi really abandoned me?"
"No, that's impossible! Hiashi, who has always respected me, cared for me, and obeyed everything I said — how could he do this to me?"
"Ah, right — he's protecting me! Because of my failure last time."
"And the root cause of all this chaos—"
"—is you!"
"Hyuga Yu... Hyuga Yu... if it weren't for you, you beast of a brat, this old man would never have fallen this low!"
"Hyuga Yu... ah! Hyuga Yu!"
"This old man — this old man will kill you!!!"
At this, Sōkō's expression turned cold at once, a flicker of murderous intent quietly rising in his eyes, aimed at Sōdō. Just as Sōkō was considering how to help eliminate this looming threat to Hyuga Yu, thump! thump!
The meeting table was rapped twice. Hiashi's voice came then, calm, dignified, yet carrying a faint edge of menace. "Elder Sōkō, let's return to the matter at hand. You're the one who knows Tennin — Hyuga Yu — best of all of us. What do you think we should do about Tennin's return to the village?"
Hearing this, Sōkō turned his head, deactivated his Byakugan, and looked at Hiashi's composedly intimidating expression. His eyes narrowed slightly. Having spent his whole life among political creatures, how could he fail to catch the meaning behind Hiashi's words? On the surface, this was consulting him, soliciting his opinion. But considering that, in service of today's display, Hiashi had not only savagely beaten Sōdō — a man he'd served for years and had genuine feelings for — but had also intimidated the other elders into submission to forcibly reclaim the power of the clan head, and had even stoked such heavy hatred in Sōdō toward Hyuga Yu — did Hiashi not already know exactly what he intended to do?
With the conflict between the main house and Tennin now irreconcilable, did asking someone as close to Hyuga Yu as himself really serve any purpose other than getting the answer Hiashi already wanted?
No — Hiashi had long since decided what to do.
Sōkō shook his head, sighed, and said, "Hyuga Yu is merely a branch family member. This old man hasn't paid him much attention. Whatever needs to be done, let the clan head decide."
"More pressing than that — the clan has been in chaos lately. The clan head should pay closer attention to the shrine where our Byakugan are stored."
"—"
"Well then, in that case..." Hiashi nodded, cleared his throat, and was about to say more when — tap, tap, tap!
A flurry of hurried footsteps suddenly rang out in the corridor outside.
Whoosh!
Under Hiashi's composed, unruffled gaze, the door was thrown open, and a branch family shinobi wearing a Konoha forehead protector burst in, his face urgent, calling out, "Clan Head! Elders!"
"This is bad!"
"Hyuga Mao, the main house member who's been missing for days — she's been found!"
Hiashi's expression turned grave at once. He asked in a low voice, "You said... who?"
"The Great Elder's daughter — Hyuga Mao!"
The moment these words fell, Sōdō, still curled against the wall, jerked his head up, his face lighting with sudden joy.
A cold gleam flashed in Hiashi's eyes as he demanded of the branch family shinobi who had brought the report, "What condition is she in?"
At this, the branch shinobi's face filled with fear. He glanced first at the disheveled Great Elder against the wall, then swallowed hard and said, trembling, "Hyuga Mao's Byakugan... has been gouged out! She's... she's exactly like... exactly like what happened to Hyuga Genko!"
"Dead..."
"—"
Everyone present felt their pupils constrict at once. "How... how could this happen?!"
"Who did this, this time?!"
The branch shinobi gritted his teeth. "We examined the scene. Based on the traces left behind, we suspect that the one who killed Hyuga Mao and took her Byakugan is... is..."
Beside him, Sōdō suddenly scrambled up, his expression teetering on the edge of collapse, and lunged forward like a demon, his hands clawing like a chicken's talons as he seized the reporting shinobi's shoulders. He wheezed heavily, his face twisted with a look almost ravenous enough to devour someone whole.
"Who — who is it?! Tell me!"
"It's... it's..."
"—"
The branch shinobi closed his eyes, hesitated for a long moment, and finally forced out, through gritted teeth, a name that sent everyone present reeling in shock:
"It's Tennin — Hyuga Yu's fiancée—"
"—"
"Hyuga Natsu!"
————
Supporting me on Pa-treon to gain early access to advanced chapters and enjoy expedited updates. Your support is greatly appreciated.
pat-reon .c-om/Dragonhair
(Just remove the hyphen - and space, to access Pa-treon normally.)