This Caged Bird fiasco had already made one thing painfully clear to every Branch House member:
Waiting wouldn't change anything. Enduring wouldn't change anything.
From beginning to end, the Main House—and Konoha—had never treated them as comrades. So if the Branch House felt hatred… if they resisted…
That was only natural.
"Don't provoke the Branch House any further," the Hyuga clan head said, his tone steady. "I've already discussed this with the Hokage-sama. We'll make them put down their anger."
As he spoke, he passed around a ninjutsu scroll.
The moment the Second Elder finished reading, his face changed.
"Clan Head… then the Fourth Elder died for nothing? And this technique—"
The clan head shook his head, eyes icy.
"It's a temporary concession. Besides, even if we identify the one who killed the Fourth Elder… we can't execute them right now."
As the day to re-engrave the new Caged Bird drew closer, the Branch House's anger had been piling up like dry tinder. If no one resisted, it would stay as helpless rage. But with someone already leading the way, who could guarantee others wouldn't do something reckless?
To the Branch House, the shinobi acting in the shadows were heroes—proof that resistance was possible. Killing them now would ignite the Branch House like a powder keg.
And the war had reached a critical stage.
If the Hyuga Branch House rebelled, not only would it make Konoha a laughingstock in the other villages, it might even tempt Kumogakure—who had just agreed to a ceasefire—into attacking again.
Just like the way the Third Great Ninja War had begun.
Back then, the Raikage had used the pretext of Sunagakure "losing" the Third Kazekage. He'd declared, with fake generosity, that Kumo would "accept" Suna, even letting the Raikage serve as Suna's Kage… and then launched a surprise assault.
If not for the Fourth Kazekage's efforts, no one could say whether the Land of Wind would have survived that invasion at all.
And if the Fourth Raikage turned out to be as shameless as his father…
Then war with Kumo would return.
As if reading the elders' frustration, the clan head snorted.
"Don't even think about purging the Branch House," he said sharply. "That's no different from cutting down our own strength."
He then added, almost contemptuously:
"In the future, the Main House must improve its personal combat ability as well. The Fourth Elder died because he lost his caution."
That became the meeting's final direction.
After that, the clan head and the elders discussed the logistics of re-engraving the new Caged Bird.
By the time the meeting ended, it was already morning.
The clan head walked alone toward his residence.
Two Hyuga shinobi were waiting there.
Hyuga Hiashi.
Hyuga Hizashi.
His two sons—destined for two very different lives.
"Clan Head." 2
The clan head gave them a brief nod.
"From now on," he said to Hizashi, "you will be responsible for controlling the Branch House. Don't disappoint me."
"Yes." Hizashi bowed deeply to his father.
The clan head's gaze shifted, indifferent, to Hiashi.
"Hiashi. What you need to do today… I shouldn't have to spell out."
Morning sunlight spilled through the window as usual, warm and bright.
Yet Hiashi felt as if he stood beneath his father's shadow.
He lowered his eyes.
"I understand."
…
The Hyuga compound was vast.
The Main House residences lay at its heart, and the Branch House homes spread outward in every direction like ripples.
Even the differences in elevation and layout made the hierarchy obvious.
And it wasn't just housing.
The Branch House and Main House didn't even share the same burial grounds.
A Main House Byakugan didn't disappear immediately after death. It decayed slowly.
So, to prevent grave robbers from stealing eyes, the Main House cemetery was placed deep within the compound's core.
The Branch House cemetery sat at the outer edge.
Hyuga Miyuki stood before her parents' gravestones and offered a silent bow.
I'm sorry, Dad. Mom.
Even if my hands end up stained with our clan's blood… I don't want us to keep kneeling.
"Deep Snow? You came to see your parents too?"
A voice—and footsteps—approached from behind, pulling her out of her grief.
Miyuki turned. She gave a soft "Mm."
"Yuu-kun. It's been a long time."
They had worked together on the Mist front, so they were familiar enough.
In her memory, he was one of the few Branch House special jōnin on that battlefield—strong, capable, and unusually hardworking.
But more importantly…
He didn't side with the Main House.
Miyuki folded her hands neatly at her abdomen and watched in silence as Hyuga Yuu placed the flowers he'd brought at the base of the two graves.
Then he clasped his hands together and bowed.
When he finished, Miyuki asked gently, "Yuu-kun… are you worried about today's Caged Bird re-engraving ceremony too?"
"…Yeah." Yuu's voice was quiet. "The way our clansmen have been acting lately worries me."
Miyuki didn't bother circling the topic.
"You're afraid someone won't be able to hold back today… and they'll kill the Main House?"
Her question was low, blunt, and painfully direct.
At this point, every Hyuga shinobi understood what was happening.
"No." Yuu glanced at her, expression calm. "I'm worried about the Hokage-sama's decision."
Miyuki let out a small breath of relief—then frowned.
He wasn't wrong.
Everything was too quiet.
Even if they hadn't caught the killer, the Hokage and the advisors shouldn't have been this silent.
In recent days, more and more Branch House members had started lashing out. Even with the higher-ups suppressing information, rumors were creeping into the streets… yet the leadership acted like it didn't matter.
All they'd done was increase night patrols, send more ANBU, and try to reduce casualties.
It did make Miyuki's work harder—
But only because she still didn't want to target true comrades.
The people she'd killed were those close to the Main House.
And after her Byakugan evolved—after she began to feel, faintly, that the Caged Bird might not work on her anymore—she had already started thinking about turning her blade toward the Main House itself.
So yes…
The village's strange, restrained attitude unsettled her.
"It'll be fine," Miyuki said, touching the curse mark hidden beneath her forehead protector. Her voice softened. "We're about to have the new Caged Bird engraved anyway."
"Maybe the Hokage-sama just wants us to reach an internal consensus first."
Yuu caught the confidence in her eyes.
The hardened resolve.
His brow twitched—because he understood exactly where her thoughts were headed.
Kill the Main House. Then run.
Because she believed her strength was now enough—and because she believed the Caged Bird couldn't touch her—she wanted to solve everything with violence.
…A very shinobi way of thinking.
Yuu suppressed a sigh.
Sasori had been a puppeteer: weak enough at first to assassinate the Third Kazekage and turn him into a human puppet. Later, once he grew stronger, he stopped hiding and went completely reckless—toppling an entire country and picking fights with his own grandmother.
Nagato could endure humiliation long enough to gather the Six Paths of Pain… and then, in the end, he still marched alone into Konoha.
Konan could secretly prepare billions of paper bombs to guard against Obito without being detected—yet when the time came to fight him, she never even considered cooperating with Naruto.
Across the shinobi world, it was always the same pattern:
When they were weak, they could lie low.
When they thought they were strong enough… they started courting death, convinced force could solve everything.
Where did that kind of confidence even come from?
Yuu quietly filed Miyuki into the same cautionary category as Nagato and the others.
If Might Guy opened all Eight Gates, he could kill this body of Yuu's outright.
Yuu simply couldn't afford to be that arrogant.
"Deep Snow," he said softly, "you haven't been paying attention to the village gossip lately, have you?"
Miyuki looked at him, confused.
Yuu lifted his gaze toward the blue sky.
"The village is full of his stories."
He spoke like someone watching a tide return.
"The sun of Konoha… is back."
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