"…"
The air seemed to solidify into a heavy block of lead, suffocating and pressing down on everyone's hearts.
The muscles on Hyuga Hiromi's face were twitching violently. The strictness and arrogance cultivated from his long-held position of power now turned into disbelief, fury, and alarm.
He looked at the dozens of raised arms and dozens of gruesome, bleeding wounds, feeling as if he were watching a group of ants foolishly trying to shake a giant tree!
"Hyuga Kawa! You! Do you know what you're doing?!"
A sinister look appeared in Hyuga Hiromi's eyes, and his voice trembled with extreme anger. "You're inciting a rebellion! You're challenging the Main Branch's bottom line!"
"No."
Hyuga Kawa seemed not to notice the killing intent in Hyuga Hiromi's eyes. His unusually calm and clear voice reached everyone's ears. "We are simply fighting for what we deserve."
"We are simply refusing to be consumables that can be sacrificed at will."
"We are simply refusing to let the Caged Bird seal become a tool for torture and murder."
"We are simply demanding the most basic fairness and respect."
As he spoke, his gaze swept over the few Main Branch members behind Hyuga Hiromi, whose eyes were shifting uneasily. He said softly, "Respect our equal status as fellow members of the Hyuga clan."
"Respect the sacrifices and loyalty we have made to protect the clan's honor and the Byakugan."
"We are willing to have the Caged Bird seal placed on us to protect, not to be enslaved to death!"
Hyuga Kawa's words were like a series of heavy hammer blows, hitting Hyuga Hiromi squarely in the face and striking the hearts of the Branch Family members behind him.
The expressions of the Branch Family members gradually changed. It was as if dry wood had been set alight, and their eyes welled up with boiling anger and fanaticism.
That invisible yet heavy and oppressive aura seemed to materialize, pressing down on the Main Branch members.
The Main Branch members standing behind Hyuga Hiromi felt cold sweat on their palms clutching their weapons and subconsciously took half a step back. Hyuga Hiromi's face also changed abruptly.
He had never seen the Branch Family like this before, never seen them so united.
And he had never seen so many Branch Family members dare to defy the Main Branch.
Shock, anger, and a hint of fear were intertwined in Hyuga Hiromi's heart.
But soon, an even stronger sense of humiliation and rage swallowed all other emotions!
"Mutiny! They've all mutinied!"
Hyuga Hiromi roared, his aged face flushed and contorted with shame and fury. He suddenly raised a hand, his index and middle fingers pressed together, and said sternly, "Hyuga Kawa! You brought this upon yourself!"
He was going to use the seal—that mark that controlled the life and death of the Branch Family—to brutally torture Hyuga Kawa right in front of all the Branch Family members!
He would forever brand Hyuga Kawa's pathetic, begging, and humble appearance onto the hearts of all the Branch Family rebels!
Only then could he regain his shaky authority and suppress the Branch Family's resistance!
But the moment Hyuga Hiromi raised his hand to form the seal, the gazes of the Branch Family members converged on him like daggers. A network of grotesque blue veins crawled around their eyes.
In that instant, Hyuga Hiromi's fingers froze in front of him. A gigantic, unprecedented pressure and fear seized him!
He felt as though those stares were piercing his heart, neck, and the back of his head—all fatal points—and a stinging sensation, as if a needle was hovering ever closer to his eyes, began to radiate.
Hyuga Hiromi felt a chill run down his spine to the top of his head.
Because from the eyes of some of the people behind Hyuga Kawa, he actually saw a willingness to die.
He had no doubt that if he actually cast that seal or forcibly took away any one of them…
The next second would be the beginning of the complete collapse of the entire Hyuga clan.
The years of suppressed anger and humiliation from the Branch Family would erupt like a volcano at this very moment. Some of the Branch Family would surely attack him, and the consequences were something he absolutely could not bear!
He couldn't even be sure if the few people he brought with him could protect him from these desperate lunatics!
Therefore, he didn't dare!
But the Hyuga Kawa and the Branch Family members in front of him had no intention of backing down. If he were to retreat now, it would be equivalent to letting his dignity be trampled into the ground!
"Damn it! Damn it! These people!"
Hyuga Hiromi, who had controlled the lives and deaths of countless Branch Family members, felt an unprecedented sense of powerlessness and indignation. His body trembled.
The atmosphere gradually became so tense that it was at its breaking point, like a bowstring pulled taut and about to snap!
"Enough!"
Just then, an angry shout exploded, ripping through the stagnant, explosive air.
Turning their heads, they saw two figures striding over from a distance.
One of them was Hyuga Hizashi, who was becoming increasingly skilled at impersonating "Hyuga Hiashi."
And the other…
Upon seeing the other person's face, Hyuga Hiromi's expression became even more ashen, and his body couldn't help but tremble.
Because it was his daughter, Hyuga Aoi.
He didn't even need to think; Hyuga Aoi must have been the one who went to notify 'Hyuga Hiashi.'
Seeing that Hyuga Kawa was standing there just fine, Hyuga Aoi breathed a sigh of relief, but when she saw the bleeding wound on his arm, her expression changed slightly.
She instinctively quickened her pace, walked over to Hyuga Kawa's side, and leaned in, asking in a low voice, "What are you doing now?"
The wound from the battlefield in the Land of the Moon hadn't fully healed yet, and now he had inexplicably given himself a new one.
What on earth is this guy thinking all day?!
However, in response to Hyuga Aoi's question, Hyuga Kawa's expression remained indifferent. He said softly, "You shouldn't be asking me that. You should ask your good father."
Hearing the coldness and rejection in his words, Hyuga Aoi felt a strange lump in her throat. She bit her dry, bitter lips.
She turned to look at Hyuga Hiromi standing opposite her. As she looked at her father, who had always been so strict, a faint resentment appeared in her heart.
She knew she shouldn't feel this way. No matter what, he was her father.
But she just couldn't help it.
'He just started to warm up a little, and now he's back to being cold again for no reason…'
During the time Hyuga Kawa was recovering at home, she had been more diligent than Hyuga Taka, finding all sorts of excuses to come over.
And now…
At this moment, Hyuga Hizashi walked between Hyuga Kawa and Hyuga Hiromi, looking at Hyuga Kawa and the Branch Family members and subconsciously frowning.
On one hand, he was startled by the wounds on their arms, and on the other hand, he was apprehensive because of the Branch Family's radical actions, especially when he saw Hyuga Neji among the crowd doing the same.
In his opinion, if that old geezer Hyuga Hiromi had been a little more ruthless, if he hadn't truly cared about the Hyuga clan, Kawa, Neji, and the others would have been brutally tortured.
"Gathering here in the middle of the night! What kind of behavior is this?!"
With that in mind, Hyuga Hizashi's brow furrowed tightly. He said in a deep voice to the Branch Family members, "Disperse immediately!"
His intention was to help them, but the expected immediate dispersal didn't happen.
All the Branch Family members still stood behind Hyuga Kawa, like a silent, stubborn forest in the darkness.
They had collectively ignored their clan leader's order?!
Looking at the figures who were either expressionless or sweating profusely but still standing rooted to the spot, Hyuga Hizashi's mouth hung open, unable to speak. He suddenly felt his throat go dry.
But soon, he took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed the turmoil in his heart, and turned sharply to look at Hyuga Hiromi and the people behind him.
"Elder Hiromi!"
Hyuga Hizashi's voice wasn't loud, but his tone was exceptionally cold and stern as he questioned, "Didn't I tell you that you are not to use the Caged Bird seal without concrete evidence?"
"I'll let it slide that you kept it a secret from me. If you had only conducted a normal interrogation and investigation, I wouldn't have said a word! But what is the meaning of this spectacle?"
Without turning his head, he pointed abruptly at the silent and standing Branch Family members. He said in a deep voice, "Are you going to treat all the Branch Family members as culprits and take them away for torture?"
"Do you still see me as the clan leader? Do you still see the Hyuga clan's rules?!"
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