Konoha, somewhere.
"Huff… huff…"
"Found him!"
Naruto, panting heavily, spotted Uchiha Keizumi up ahead. He quickly wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to Neji and another Hyūga boy following behind: "In a moment, just explain the situation to Keizumi-sensei exactly as it is."
As Naruto hurried forward, he suddenly noticed Sasuke had stopped in his tracks.
Naruto also stopped in confusion.
"What's wrong with you?"
The fact that Uchiha Itachi had been killed by Uchiha Keizumi was, for now, circulating only in a limited circle within Konoha—known to members of the Uchiha clan and a handful of other shinobi.
Naruto obviously didn't know that Uchiha Sasuke's own brother had been killed by Keizumi's hand.
"…It's nothing."
Sasuke drew in a deep breath, forcefully pressing down the strange emotions rising inside him. In his mind he repeated over and over: Uchiha Itachi deserved to die. Uchiha Itachi deserved to die. Then he said to Naruto, "Let's go see Keizumi-sensei."
"You're acting weird today."
Naruto muttered but didn't press further.
He quickly strode toward Uchiha Keizumi and immediately called out loudly: "Keizumi-sensei!"
"And Tachibana Jirō-senpai!"
He didn't forget Tachibana Jirō. From the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, even the word senpai made Tachibana Jirō close his eyes in comfortable satisfaction.
Sasuke also offered his greetings.
"Meow, you two brats—shouldn't you be in class at the academy right now?" Tachibana Jirō said. "If I'm not mistaken, the academy's lunch break ended a minute ago, didn't it?"
Naruto quickly explained: "It's because we discovered a murder case in the village, so we rushed to find Keizumi-sensei!"
"A murder case?"
Uchiha Keizumi lowered his gaze to Naruto and Sasuke. Then his eyes shifted to Hyūga Neji, who stood behind them, and another Hyūga boy whose face was filled with timid fear.
Under Uchiha Keizumi's piercing gaze, Neji felt that same fear rising in him once more.
It was as if a terrifying beast had its eyes locked onto him.
And he himself was nothing more than a helpless figure, laid bare with nowhere to hide.
His whole body was filled with unease.
It's just an illusion. As long as I act upright and sit straight, there's nothing to fear! If I don't even dare to raise my head and look at him, how can I claim to believe in his Absolute Justice?
Neji repeated these words to himself in his heart.
He lifted his head and looked straight at Uchiha Keizumi, then recounted the events in full detail.
Neji knew he could take this chance to smear the Hyūga main family, exaggerating the story in his description. If he did, perhaps the main family would truly suffer. Perhaps he could even use Uchiha Keizumi's power against them.
But…
If he really did that—would it still be justice?
That doubt made Neji choose to tell the truth.
He did not embellish.
"Huh?" Naruto was dumbfounded. He had been focused only on finding Keizumi quickly and hadn't even asked Neji what this "murder case" was about.
Now, after hearing everything, Naruto's face was full of confusion.
"What's all this main family, branch family stuff? Why would someone be punished just for trying to remove a curse mark?"
"What kind of Caged Bird seal is that? It doesn't sound like anything good! Are your Hyūga clan rules supposed to be greater than the laws of the Land of Fire?"
Sasuke was also stunned.
So the Hyūga clan…
…was pretty twisted too?
...
"Father, the one who died was only an elder of the Branch House. The Branch House has more than just him. Must you really go into hiding just because of his death?"
Inside the Hyūga compound.
The eldest son of the Main House elder, Hyūga Jinsuke, wore a face full of indignation as he muttered resentfully in front of his father.
He kept grumbling on and on: "If this were ten or twenty years ago—back when there was no such thing as so-called Absolute Justice—why would we need to hide over something like this?"
"That old fool Hyūga Yokogari brought this upon himself. Trying to unravel the Caged Bird curse mark is the greatest taboo for the Branch House."
"He made a grave mistake—paying the price for it is only natural. Besides, his death was nothing but bad luck, his illness relapsing again."
At his side, Jinsuke's second son also spoke up: "Father, surely Uchiha Keizumi is a reasonable man? He claims he stands for justice, and rules are justice. In our Hyūga Clan, the family rules are justice. Even if he involves himself, by that standard, he ought to stand with us, shouldn't he?"
Hyūga Jinsuke rubbed at his brow and said to his second son: "You've been handling the clan's business outside of Konoha all this time, and only returned a few days ago. You don't know that boy Uchiha Keizumi well enough."
He let out a heavy breath. Deep wrinkles lined his aged face, etched with unease.
"His so-called [Absolute Justice] doesn't stand on the side of any place's rules. His only standpoint is himself."
"He's an Uchiha of an extremely radical nature—one who will never heed anyone's counsel, obstinate to the extreme."
"And most crucial of all…"
"…he is strong."
That was the heart of the matter. Uchiha Keizumi possessed the power to snuff out Hyūga Jinsuke's life with ease. That was why he had listened to Hyūga Hiashi's advice and prepared to step aside until the storm passed.
Even at over eighty years old, with only a few years left to live, he still had no desire to die ahead of his time.
More than that—
he wanted to pass from old age in peace, not be slain by some Uchiha. And before being killed, he might even be branded with the crime of "murderer."
Punishing a Branch House ninja who violated clan law—
—and somehow that would become his fault?
What a joke!
Hyūga Jinsuke could not accept it.
Meanwhile—
On the other side of the Hyūga compound—
After negotiating with several Branch House elders, Mitokado Homura again sought out Hyūga Hiashi. From Hiashi's mouth he learned that Hyūga Jinsuke would soon be leaving Konoha, a gesture meant to serve as an explanation to the Branch House.
And also to avoid drawing Uchiha Keizumi's hand into the matter.
After all, if the key figure had already left—
—surely they would not keep pressing the rest of the Hyūga, the innocent ones, any further?
"Hiashi, this is how your Hyūga Clan chooses to handle things?" Mitokado Homura fixed Hiashi with a long, searching look and said, "You should know this is not a true resolution. What the Hyūga Clan is doing looks far more like running away from reality."
"Advisor Mitokado, this is the course decided jointly by the three Main House elders of the Hyūga Clan."
Hyūga Hiashi sat upright, his tone solemn as he explained: "Doing this will indeed leave many Branch House members dissatisfied. They will feel the Main House is brushing things off. But if we don't do this, there will be Main House members who feel dissatisfied."
"Hyūga Jinsuke's decision to temporarily leave Konoha is, in truth, his choice to step away from the Hyūga's center of power. It is essentially his retirement—this is the greatest concession the Main House can make."
Hiashi paused, his words carrying a deeper meaning: "Had this been ten or twenty years ago, the Main House yielding to the Branch House would have been impossible."
Mitokado Homura remained silent.
He could more or less understand Hiashi's meaning—the three Main House elders believed that forcing one elder into retirement was already the Main House swallowing their pride. If the Branch House still felt unsatisfied, then they were simply being ungrateful.
And the only reason the Main House made this concession was because Uchiha Keizumi's [Absolute Justice] loomed over the Hyūga, compelling them to 'reason' with the Branch House.
In the past—
—reason was never necessary.
"Hiashi, I'll say it again." Mitokado Homura's voice carried weight. "Don't let this escalate. It will do no one any good."
"I understand."
Hiashi nodded.
…
"Retirement, that's their greatest concession to the Branch House."
Hiruzen leaned back in his chair, exhaling heavily, muttering: "The Hyūga's rules are steeped in rot and decay. To the uninformed, it's as if we've returned to the era before Konoha was founded."
At some point, Homura had already returned to the Hokage building. He said: "Hiruzen, are we just to remind them? You're certain we won't intervene in the name of the Hokage?"
Hiruzen shook his head. "We can't intervene."
"The Hyūga may appear more 'obedient' than the Uchiha, and not as 'closed off.' But their entrenched mindset is even more ossified than the Uchiha's."
"I was at least able to cultivate Uchiha like Shisui and Itachi, shinobi whose hearts leaned toward Konoha. Through them, Konoha could reach into the Uchiha."
"But…"
Hiruzen paused before continuing: "I have never been able to raise a Hyūga from the Main House whose loyalty lay with Konoha. We could only extend our influence into the Branch House, while the Main House remained sealed like an iron barrel—impossible to penetrate."
"If I could interfere in the Main House, I could have used the Hokage's authority to force a revision of some of their irrational rules. But all these years, the Hyūga's laws have never changed."
To Hiruzen, many of the Hyūga's outdated rules effectively weakened Konoha's strength.
The Caged Bird curse mark restricted the growth of countless Hyūga with extraordinary potential. How many Branch House shinobi had perished on the battlefield because of its flaws?
If he could change it, he would have forced the Hyūga to bow their heads long ago.
Homura shifted the subject: "Hiruzen, there's another matter. The rogue from Kirigakure, the Amegakure envoy Biwa Jūzō—he abandoned the other Ame envoys and seems to have left Konoha on his own."
Hiruzen arched a brow. "He's never even met me, has he? And he's already left?"
Mitokado Homura replied, "I suspect he came to Konoha with another purpose. It wasn't simply to represent Amegakure in talks with us."
"Especially considering that not long after he arrived, Uchiha Keizumi's men hauled him into the Police Force."
Homura continued, "Perhaps his target was Keizumi all along. But for now, we don't know his exact purpose."
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed. "I recall Jiraiya was present during Biwa Jūzō's interrogation, wasn't he?"
Homura nodded.
"Then—summon Jiraiya. He should know something."
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---