In the Hokage's office, Minato looked at the four shinobi standing before him—calm, composed, and newly promoted—and smiled.
"From today on, you're jōnin. Pillars of the village. Set an example."
Should he call it expected?
Not a single chūnin had made the cut. Only the seasoned, capable tokubetsu jōnin had passed.
The chūnin still needed time in the fire.
"Yes!" the four answered, backs straight.
"You all know your duties better than I need to explain," Minato said warmly. "Go celebrate with your friends and family."
Then his smile turned slightly mischievous.
"Oh—Yuu, Yakumaru. You two stay. I have an assignment."
The other two shinobi took the hint and left. Yakumaru's face tightened; he lowered his head, suddenly unable to meet Minato's eyes.
"Yakumaru. Lift your head."
Minato's tone remained gentle, but it carried weight. When Yakumaru finally looked up, Minato continued:
"Uchiha pride belongs to your clan. Not to you alone. You don't need to carry everything on your back by yourself."
"…I understand."
After a long pause, Yakumaru nodded.
Minato then turned to Yuu.
"And you, too. Stop worrying about Branch House and Main House."
"Right now, you're a Konoha jōnin. That's the only identity you need."
Minato hesitated, as if choosing his words carefully, then offered a small, knowing smile.
"Even if I say that, you probably won't truly accept it."
"So—do you want my help?" Minato asked. "As someone already selected for the Shadow Guard."
Yuu's gaze sharpened.
So it was finally here.
Inside a Hyuga Main House meeting room, a Main House member asked with open confusion:
"How did Hyuga Yuu learn Rotation?"
Not long after Yuu's match with Yakumaru, the details had already reached the Main House—carried there by the usual loud mouths.
And the reason was simple:
A Branch House shinobi who'd just become jōnin was exactly the sort of person the Main House watched most closely.
The best kind of bodyguard for their errands.
Also the kind you kept a hand near your blade around.
"Did it leak out from the Fourth Elder's line?" someone muttered. "Was the killer him?"
"Impossible. We checked—Fourth Elder's home didn't lose a single scroll."
Third Elder shook his head, face sour.
"Then it's just as the Hokage said. He figured it out himself."
His eyes narrowed.
"The question is whether we reclaim it. Letting Rotation remain with a Branch House member violates tradition…"
"Ahem."
Two deliberate coughs cut him off.
All eyes turned.
The First Elder looked toward the seat of honor, where Hyuga Hiashi sat, and asked in a low voice:
"Clan Head… your view?"
Hiashi's expression didn't shift.
"If he awakened it on his own, we don't do anything unnecessary."
His gaze swept across the elders like a blade.
"I've just received news. Hyuga Yuu has been appointed to the Hokage's Shadow Guard."
"So don't even think about making a move in the dark."
A heavy silence fell.
"From now on," Hiashi said, voice flat, "let him exist as the bridge between the Hyuga and the Hokage."
Just as Hiashi expected, the moment he invoked the Hokage, the room quieted.
The Hyuga elders were stubborn, conservative.
Externally, they were cautious and low-profile.
Internally—especially toward the Branch House—they were thunderous.
But unlike the Uchiha elders, these men weren't chasing grand ambition. They didn't dream of the Hokage's hat.
They wanted one thing: the Hyuga's fenced-in land and the power to keep it.
The reason, at its core, was an old warning passed down through blood and bone.
The Ōtsutsuki on the moon—like a blade suspended above their heads.
As long as their foundation wasn't threatened, these elders could tolerate compromise.
And there was no reason to make an enemy of the new Hokage over a single Branch House jōnin.
First Elder thought for a moment, then sighed.
"Fine. But Yuu must not pass Rotation on to anyone."
"I'll have Hizashi speak to him," Hiashi replied, nodding once.
"Good."
Another elder leaned forward.
"Clan Head… how did negotiations with the Third Hokage go?"
"He agreed he won't use, share, or activate the new Birdcage formula," Hiashi answered. "He even placed a seal on himself to prevent memory-searching."
Relief rippled through the room.
Among those who knew the activation method for the new Birdcage, only two outsiders remained.
One was the Third Hokage.
The other was Tsunade.
If Hiruzen had given his word, then Tsunade—
"Tsunade-sama said she doesn't know."
Hiashi delivered it like a hammer.
The room went still.
He remembered the scene with uncomfortable clarity, and his expression shifted—just slightly.
"She was at a casino."
"I played a game with her. She won."
"And when I asked her about this, she brushed it off—said she 'didn't know'—and left."
The elders' faces darkened.
This wasn't like dealing with some clan head you could pressure through village channels.
Tsunade was… Tsunade.
The First Hokage's granddaughter.
The Fire Country's princess in everything but title.
One of the Sannin.
The architect of Konoha's modern medical system.
Strictly speaking, her prestige in Konoha and the Land of Fire surpassed Hiruzen's—and the other Sannin's.
If she wanted the Hokage seat, there was no one who could truly compete.
Because the Fire Daimyō would back her without hesitation.
So if Tsunade claimed ignorance…
They had no way to force her hand.
Hiashi also fell silent, brow creased.
Tsunade was a gambler—yet she famously lost more often than she won.
If she had won this time…
What did that mean?
A prickling unease crawled up Hiashi's spine. He replayed recent events in his head—until one detail snagged.
He looked up at the elders who were muttering complaints under their breath and asked quietly:
"In order to prevent our techniques and the Birdcage activation method from leaking, every Main House member has a curse seal."
"So what happened on the Mist front?"
"Any theories?"
The elders exchanged looks.
Second Elder stepped forward.
"I'm the one who placed those seals," he said, voice steady. "Clan Head, you should remember from your childhood."
Hiashi nodded. He did. He'd been a child newly chosen as the heir when he first met this elder.
Second Elder continued, explaining carefully:
"My curse seal includes a mechanism similar to ROOT's tongue seal—the target cannot speak about anything related to the Birdcage."
"It also includes a method derived from the Birdcage itself—one that can actively destroy the brain and the Byakugan, preventing enemies from obtaining memories or the dōjutsu."
As he spoke, Second Elder avoided meeting Hiashi's eyes.
"We believe… Hyuga Hisanobu didn't have time to activate the brain-destruction method before he died."
"And Mist extracted his memories."
Hiashi lowered his gaze.
Under the table, his fist clenched so hard his knuckles whitened.
Then he asked, voice controlled—too controlled:
"I've always wanted to ask… why not make the seal trigger automatically?"
"A corpse can be interrogated too."
"Wouldn't it be safer if death automatically destroyed the brain?"
Suicide was faster than trying to activate a technique in the moment.
A Main House member spoke up instantly, almost reflexively:
"Then we'd be no different from the Branch House. We wouldn't even die with dignity."
Hiashi's eyes turned cold, and the man flinched—then forced himself to hold Hiashi's gaze anyway.
Because he believed what he was saying.
If you couldn't control your own life and death…
How was that curse seal any different from the Birdcage?
And worse—Main House would never bother researching a way to remove their own seal.
Which meant after they died, they'd rot like the Branch House: no intact body, no peace.
They were the Main House.
Why should they accept that?
Hiashi looked away slowly, gaze sweeping to the others.
The agreement in their faces—quiet, unquestioning, unashamed—hit him like a dull knife.
A deep, ugly grief pressed into his chest.
This was the Main House.
This… was the Hyuga Main House.
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