Somewhere in the Land of Fire.
"Obito, it still hasn't recovered?" Whirlpool-faced White Zetsu crossed his legs and looked at Uchiha Obito, who was eating his lunch expressionlessly. "It's already been a whole day!"
"No."
Obito set down the dango skewer in his hand, his face darkening. "It screamed in despair for a full day and night. When I slipped into the Kamui space, I could hear that screaming."
The thought chilled him to the bone. He dared not imagine what fate would befall him if he were hit by that dōjutsu himself.
Obito shook his head and pushed aside such unthinkable possibilities.
He asked, "What do you make of that Uchiha Itachi? Is his offer to cooperate sincere, or is it a trap aimed at me?"
Whirlpool-faced White Zetsu rubbed his chin. "The kid sounded pretty sincere when he spoke. Anyway, we'll know whether he's for real once he kills or captures Uchiha Keizumi's subordinate. If he brings her corpse—or the living person—out of Konoha, our White Zetsu clones waiting outside will pick him up, and we'll get the intel. It'll reach me then."
No sooner had those words left his mouth than an information neuron flashed into his mind.
He froze mid-gesture.
That reaction stopped the goofy hand motions he'd been making while talking.
His freeze caught Obito's attention immediately.
Obito frowned. "What is it?"
"Obito."
Whirlpool-faced White Zetsu's voice dropped and became startlingly blunt: "One of the White Zetsu clones just relayed the latest Konoha intel. Uchiha Itachi did not succeed. While hunting for Uchiha Izumi, he ran into that monstrous Lava-Release Uchiha—Uchiha Keizumi."
"He was killed!"
"No remains left at all!"
Obito: "???"
What?
Obito's mind faltered for a moment as he tried to digest the flood of information in Whirlpool-faced White Zetsu's words.
"Killed?!"
He let out a long breath. A strange mix of anger and amusement rose in him, and he couldn't help but snort: "That kind of power—and he still wanted to team up with me, and acted all confident in front of me?"
"All that solemn talk: 'Join me and we can kill Uchiha Keizumi, we can shatter the Uchiha's pride'—where did Itachi get that confidence?"
He'd actually been taken in by such a junior! He'd even given the kid a chance to prove himself.
Obito wished he could slap himself.
Fortunately, there wasn't a fourth person who knew about this.
Otherwise, he would have lost face completely.
Whirlpool-faced White Zetsu sighed with regret. "What a shame I wasn't there. Maybe I could've seen him so terrified before dying that he lost control of his bowels. Obito, what do you think—did he piss himself first, or shit himself first? Or maybe both at once?"
Obito stared silently at the lunch in his hands.
He had no appetite anymore.
…
That day, the Hyūga compound welcomed one of Konoha's senior advisers—Mitokado Homura.
The Hyūga clan head, accompanied by several main family elders, personally came forward to receive him.
They escorted Homura into a guest chamber.
This was the Hyūga clan's way of survival within Konoha: always courteous to the village leadership, always lowering their posture before those in power. Only in this way could the Hyūga avoid being viewed with the same suspicion as the Uchiha.
Homura wasted no time. The moment he sat down, he went straight to the point: "I hear that last night, a Hyūga main family elder killed a Hyūga branch elder."
"ANBU have observed that many in the branch family are indignant over this. The impact of this incident is extremely bad."
As he finished, Homura keenly noticed one of the main family elders stiffen slightly.
"Jinsuke—was it you?" Homura asked.
"I did not do it intentionally. I had no wish to harm him." Wrinkles twitched across Hyūga Jinsuke's face as he explained to Homura: "It was the power of the Caged Bird seal that accidentally triggered the hidden illness in his body. Strictly speaking, he died of sickness last night."
Homura shook his head. "Even if he truly died of illness, will the branch family let go of their hatred? In their eyes, you are the culprit behind their elder's death, even if your actions were only an indirect cause."
"The Hokage does not want to see the Hyūga thrown into turmoil. You understand how this must be handled, don't you?"
The clan head, Hyūga Hiashi, said expressionlessly: "Please convey this to the Hokage—he may rest assured. The Hyūga will not cause trouble for Konoha."
"Good."
Homura rose to his feet. "I still need to visit the branch family. You had best resolve the conflict between them and the main family before Keizumi takes notice of it."
After Homura departed, the guest chamber fell into brief silence.
"He violated the Hyūga clan rules!" Jinsuke was the first to break the silence, his expression ugly. "Leaving aside that I never meant to kill him—even if I had truly intended it, and really carried it out, that would still be in line with the rules our clan has upheld for hundreds of years."
"What does the Hokage mean by this? That I should hand myself over to calm the branch family's anger? Our Hyūga clan's internal affairs are not for the Hokage to meddle in!"
Even if the Hyūga outwardly showed deference to Konoha's higher-ups, in private they still felt great resentment at such situations.
No one could willingly bow and scrape forever.
"Hah…"
Another main family elder beside him said, "There's no need to be so agitated. In the end, the Hokage and the others don't truly understand the inner workings of the Hyūga. The branch family can't stir up any real storm."
"If they're dissatisfied, then let them be dissatisfied. The glare of their eyes can't kill anyone. But the moment they make any move, the Caged Bird seal will remind them of their place."
"From the moment the Caged Bird was branded on them, their lives and deaths ceased to be in their own hands."
Hyūga Jinsuke's sour expression eased slightly at those words.
Then, a third main family elder spoke: "The real issue isn't with the Hokage. The real issue is with Uchiha Keizumi. If he interferes, it won't be easy to handle—just like last time."
Last time—
Naruto Uzumaki and Uchiha Sasuke, zealots of [Absolute Justice], had killed a young member of the Hyūga clan outside the compound under the banner of 'executing justice.'
The Hyūga had chosen to swallow their anger.
This time, if Uchiha Keizumi became involved again—
Hiss!
At that thought, Hyūga Jinsuke's face changed.
"Elder Jinsuke."
Hyūga Hiashi placed both hands on his knees and said, "You need to lay low. At least for now, don't return to Konoha. Once Uchiha Keizumi leaves the village temporarily, I'll have someone notify you."
Jinsuke's face was full of frustration. "We can brush off the Hokage's warnings as we please. But when it comes to the threat of a mere Uchiha Keizumi, we treat it so seriously. Has our Hyūga clan really grown afraid of the Uchiha? And besides, Uchiha Keizumi doesn't even represent the Uchiha clan."
"Hmph!"
With a cold snort, he stood up without another word.
"I'm going to see my family—for the last time in the days ahead."
In the end, Hyūga Jinsuke gave in.
His bravado earlier had only been empty words.
"Hah…"
Hyūga Hiashi exhaled slowly, then said to the other two elders: "For now, calm the branch family. Keep them from dragging Uchiha Keizumi into this prematurely. The branch family should all be within the Hyūga compound, right?"
One elder replied, "Aside from the two branch children at the academy, the rest are all inside the clan compound."
He paused, then added: "Originally there were three branch children at the academy, but one of them was killed. Now only two remain, one of them the grandson of the branch elder who died."
"Those two shouldn't have much connection with Uchiha Keizumi. After all, they're just academy kids."
Hiashi froze. That meant the other one could only be Hyūga Neji.
As Hiashi pondered this, one elder reminded him: "Clan Head Hiashi, you should also consider having either Hinata or Hanabi branded with the Caged Bird seal. Those two children of yours cannot both remain in the main family."
"These have been the rules for generations. Hizashi was your blood brother, and even he became part of the branch family. With Hinata and Hanabi's generation, there can be no exceptions."
The elder rose to his feet, speaking in a tone of consolation: "Hiashi, I know you're conflicted. Back when this old man was clan head, I felt the same. But the clan rules are the clan rules. They cannot be changed."
"As head of the Hyūga clan, you must abandon this notion of having both. Make the division of Hinata and Hanabi into the branch family dignified, proper, and beautiful—so that whichever of them it falls upon, she won't be left with regret."
Hiashi was silent for a long moment.
"…I will consider it carefully. Hinata may already be at the suitable age, but Hanabi is still young. I need more time to see what kind of talent and potential Hanabi has."
He spoke in a low, steady voice.
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