The conflict between the Main House and the Branch House had troubled Hiashi for many years.
For as long as he could remember, he had wrestled with the question of whether the Caged Bird Seal should be abolished. Emotionally, he believed it would eventually have to go—after all, it was a cruel system.
But rationally…
Hiashi knew that the Caged Bird was what allowed the Hyūga to continue as a clan for generations.
However…
Today, he realized the Caged Bird was no longer a question of whether to abolish it—it had to be abolished. Otherwise, what waited for the Main House might be exactly what was happening on the moon.
An internal civil war, with both sides perishing in the end.
Or worse…
The Branch House might survive, and the Main House would disappear forever.
Neither outcome was acceptable.
And with the Branch House's bloodline weakened by generations of the Caged Bird, their Byakugan would eventually decline. If the Main House truly vanished, the quality of the Byakugan passed down through the Branch House would inevitably deteriorate with each generation.
Returning home, Hiashi immediately sought out Hizashi.
Hizashi had been waiting anxiously. He had no idea what had happened, nor whether it would derail the plan he and Hiashi had carefully crafted.
Truth be told…
If not for Neji, Hizashi wouldn't have been nearly this invested, but becoming a father had made him question—why should my child be bound?
Fortunately…
Hiashi came to speak with him.
This lifted a huge weight off Hizashi's heart.
But now, something felt different.
"Brother…"
"Hizashi…"
"We're brothers—no need for titles when it's just us. I'll be blunt. It's likely that there is another Byakugan lineage on the moon, and the disturbance I sensed may very well be due to some upheaval happening among them."
Hiashi continued, "I've decided. The Caged Bird will be abolished."
"A-Abolished?"
Hizashi froze.
They'd only just begun planning for a gradual shift—now Hiashi was jumping straight to the final step?
A Byakugan clan on the moon…
Was this connected?
He considered it carefully, but there were too many unknowns. He couldn't reach Hiashi's conclusion. All he knew was that something significant had happened.
And so, he didn't press further.
"What do you plan to do?"
"We follow the Uchiha's example—call everyone together and see who supports it and who opposes."
Hiashi spoke plainly.
It was simple and direct—something that would never work during wartime, but now that peace had returned and no major conflicts were expected for many years… it might just succeed.
Abolish it now, and the next generation wouldn't have to suffer under the Caged Bird at all.
Hizashi hesitated. "I'm just worried about those who had the seal implanted in recent years. They'll definitely oppose it…"
"There's no helping that."
Hiashi fell into silence.
Originally, his plan was to delay the Caged Bird until age five, then ten, and eventually replace it entirely with a newly created sealing technique.
But now…
Plans never keep up with change.
---
For Uchiha Fugaku, today was a joyful day.
His second son was born.
And…
It was nearly certain that Tsunade and Kanda Kyoichi would soon be leaving Konoha. Where they planned to go was unknown, but at least the suffocating sense of pressure would be gone.
However, once he returned to the clan compound, Fugaku immediately developed a headache.
"Clan Leader."
"…Don't tell me Shisui and Inabi are causing trouble again?"
"They're teaching ninjatō techniques."
"…Forget it. Let them. There's no stopping those two."
Indeed.
Inabi and Shisui's influence inside the clan was growing rapidly.
Fugaku's plan had been simple: assign Inabi to keep an eye on Shisui, to prevent him from leaning too far toward Konoha.
Unexpectedly…
The more Inabi monitored him, the more he leaned toward Shisui.
Now Inabi was even more pro-Konoha than Shisui—almost aggressively so—giving off the vibe of someone aiming for the next Clan Head position.
It gave Fugaku a massive headache.
Shisui clearly had zero interest in the title, which only made things harder to manage.
Using force was out of the question.
Behind those two stood Konoha—and Kanda Kyoichi.
All he could do was sigh.
He did have one remaining option: compete with Inabi and let the clan decide the next leader.
It would hurt his pride, but he was seriously considering it.
---
The changes within Konoha's two great clans quickly landed on the desks in the ANBU office.
Gekkō Hayate skimmed the reports and couldn't help feeling impressed.
Even with Kyoichi preparing to leave, his arrangements ensured Konoha's internal peace.
Those two clans had always been ANBU's biggest political headaches.
Even though they'd been quiet recently, no one knew what the next generation might bring.
But now…
Kyoichi had neutralized the danger for at least one or two generations.
And in that time, the seeds he'd planted would have plenty of opportunity to grow.
---
At Konoha Hospital, Hiashi returned to pick up his wife and repeatedly thanked Kurenai.
She had taken excellent care of them—almost too meticulously—and Hiashi knew perfectly well that someone of her status didn't need to do all this.
Clearly…
Kyoichi had done them a favor.
Kurenai received a day off. Leaving the hospital, she replayed the words she'd spoken to her teacher, her face burning with embarrassment.
How could she have said something like that?!
Lost in thought, she didn't realize where her feet had carried her until she looked up.
The Forest of Death—
the first place she trained under Kyoichi.
"So I walked all the way back here…"
"What are you thinking about?"
"Wah—! Shisui! Why do you appear out of nowhere?!"
Kurenai nearly jumped.
Shisui rose from where he'd been meditating atop a branch, jumped down, and stretched leisurely.
"When you're training in Sage Mode, masking your presence is pretty basic. But you… in that state, I could've killed you ten times over."
"Heh…"
Kurenai's laugh was icy. She had zero interest in indulging this little brat's attitude.
She turned to leave.
"Look, if you want my opinion—rather than dreaming about following someone out of the village, why not focus on getting stronger? Once you're strong enough, going out will be easy. You've got the Katsuyu contract—finding someone won't be hard."
"W–What are you talking about?! N–Nothing like that—!"
Kurenai's mind blanked. Her words tangled into a knot.
Shisui sighed.
Sis, seriously…
You might as well just carve the words on your face.
"Well, I'm just speaking casually—not referring to anything specific. Anyway… at your level, you should really be putting your focus back into training, right?"
"Mind your own business!"
Kurenai vanished with a Body Flicker, blushing furiously.
Having a kid see straight through her heart—there was nothing remotely pleasant about that. Even if said kid had been trained directly under Kyoichi.
But…
Leaving the forest, she calmed down and mulled it over.
Shisui wasn't entirely wrong.
If she went now, she'd only be a burden. Instead of thinking about all that, she should be focusing on improving her strength first.
Then…
Once she was strong enough to go out on her own…
Who knows?
She might just "accidentally" bump into him somewhere.