A few days later, Hyuga Yuu and the shinobi traveling with him slowed to a stop and stepped out of the mountain woods at a measured pace.
Ahead, three enormous stone faces came into view.
Below them, orderly clusters of buildings spread out like a living map.
Konoha.
The beginning of everything.
"It's been a while since I've been back," a kunoichi murmured, her shoulders finally loosening. Her pale Hyuga eyes swept over her companions, and she asked softly, "Um… what do you think the Main House will do?"
The Hyuga around her exchanged looks—but no one said what they were really thinking.
"If the seal formula got out," the girl continued, forcing a thin, hopeful smile, "they'll probably consider removing it completely, right?"
She lifted a hand to her forehead, touching the spot hidden beneath her forehead protector.
"This mark… honestly, it's kind of ugly…"
"So you hate it?"
A Hyuga jōnin appeared out of nowhere.
The girl's expression went rigid as ice.
The jōnin's voice was cold. "Go report to the elders and accept punishment."
"…Yes!" She bowed deeply, head lowered so far it looked like she might never lift it again.
The jōnin's gaze swept over the rest of them.
"Don't delude yourselves into thinking this 'accident' will change anything. One day Branch House—always Branch House!"
He watched as every head dropped, as every spine bent. Only then did he continue, tone sharp and satisfied.
"Anyone who wants the Caged Bird removed—come with me."
No one moved.
No one spoke.
The jōnin nodded, pleased.
"The clan needs volunteers to assist with improving the Caged Bird technique," he said. "It's voluntary. If you want to go, then go."
With that, he vanished.
Silence fell like a lid.
No one dared to be the first to walk into that village—into that place that represented "home," yet never belonged to them.
So the village higher-ups favored modifying the Caged Bird instead of abolishing it?
Of course they did.
If the Branch House seals were removed now, it would be like cutting a leash in the middle of a war—releasing "unstable elements" into the village.
The Branch House were slaves of the Main House, and Konoha shinobi had long since learned to ignore their suffering.
Comrades?
Real comrades didn't stand by while their comrades were fitted with a slave's collar.
The Hyuga Branch House didn't just have a feud with the Main House.
They had never truly been accepted by Konoha.
Yuu watched a few fists tighten—knuckles whitening beneath sleeves—and he whispered to himself:
But if they want to modify the technique… the Hyuga will have to hand over the Caged Bird formula.
And once someone else held it…
What would they do with it?
A technique designed to control human beings didn't need its advantages explained.
If anything, "modification" would only feed certain people's ambitions.
Anyone with real vision would immediately start researching how to break it.
…
"Danzō. What exactly do you plan to do with the Caged Bird technique once you take it?"
Hokage Tower.
The Third Hokage stared across his desk at the elderly man opposite him, his expression stern.
"The Root's strength is already enough. Don't expand it any further."
Danzō's voice was hard. "Hiruzen, you're too tense. I simply need the Caged Bird to tighten control over my subordinates."
"Most of Root are already excellent tools," Hiruzen countered. "They don't need it."
"But some of my people," Danzō said, eyes narrowing, "still dream of living ordinary lives. I need to sever that weakness completely."
Hiruzen's gaze sharpened.
"You mean Nonō and Kabuto."
Danzō's smile was thin and unreadable. "They're Root. All they need to be are emotionless spies."
"No." Hiruzen's voice dropped like a gavel. "They're members of Konoha. They inherit the Will of Fire."
"Nonō has already given Konoha enough intelligence. Let her live out the rest of her life in peace."
"And Kabuto—once he completes his missions, he'll be placed under my protection."
"Hiruzen," Danzō sighed, shaking his head, "you've grown soft."
"If you'd let the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki enter Root back then, I could've turned her into the perfect weapon. I could've ended the Third Great Ninja War already."
"Instead, you bind a jinchūriki with fragile emotions."
"Nonō is a perfect spy," Danzō continued, voice turning colder. "She knows too much, and she's not as foolish as Kushina was. You can't afford mercy with her. Her fate has only one—"
"Danzō!"
Hiruzen cut him off, eyes flaring with authority.
"I am the Hokage. I have a duty to let everyone in this village live a happy life."
"Kabuto is a good child. And Nonō is already sick of the spy's life."
"Konoha's victory doesn't require their sacrifice."
Danzō stared at him—at the deepening lines of age on a face nearing fifty—and his expression twisted with contempt.
"You're becoming more and more naïve."
He leaned forward, voice low as a curse.
"You'll regret this, Hiruzen."
With that outburst, he could only leave—unwilling, furious, and empty-handed.
Hokage.
Always the Hokage.
Every time Hiruzen invoked that title, no matter how many reasons Danzō had, they meant nothing.
In Konoha, the Hokage was absolute authority.
Danzō—advisor to the Hokage, leader of Root—remained in his position only because Hiruzen allowed it. One sentence could remove him.
So if he wanted Konoha to move according to his will…
He would have to become Hokage himself.
The Caged Bird Seal—history's most successful technique for controlling human beings.
Don't disappoint me, he thought.
Hiruzen watched Danzō go, then drew a slow breath through his pipe.
"Cat."
"Yes."
An ANBU wearing a cat-faced mask flashed into the room.
The Caged Bird… no matter how carefully we guard it, after this, it will still spread into the hands of certain clans. And Danzō won't stay quiet. We need a method to break it.
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed.
"Find Tsunade. Bring her back to Konoha."
He paused, then added softly:
"Tell her… it's her teacher's request."
"Yes!"
The ANBU vanished.
With Tsunade and me, Hiruzen thought, plus assistance from the Yamanaka, the Hyuga, and others… we should be able to crack the Caged Bird.
He exhaled a quiet sigh.
I just hope we never have to flip that card, Danzō.
…
For a Branch House Hyuga, life in Konoha was dull.
Complete missions on schedule. Report to Konoha's "Caged Bird Research Group" for inspections. Repeat each day like a machine.
Yuu did the same—only adding shadow clones to cover shifts, and using the freed time to train and research.
Like most Hyuga, he rarely appeared outside the clan compound. He certainly didn't do what a certain warm-hearted Uchiha would later do—going out of his way to show the villagers how "friendly" he was.
They were slaves with a name but no status: the Hyuga Branch House.
They endured the pale stare of the Byakugan—and the pale stares of "comrades" who looked at them differently.
If someone like that suddenly appeared, smiling brightly and preaching the Will of Fire, people wouldn't accept it.
They'd assume an agenda.
So Yuu never aimed for the Hokage's trust.
He simply played his role: a Branch House Hyuga.
"Kid," a woman's voice drawled inside the research group's lab. "What's the relationship between your Hyuga clan and Orochimaru?"
The speaker felt both unfamiliar and strangely familiar to Yuu, like the first breath after a long storm.
She continued, frowning:
"Besides my teacher, that guy actually wrote to me too—specifically to drag me back because of the Caged Bird. Doesn't sound like something he'd do."
She wore a haori with the bold character 賭—Gamble—printed across the back.
Blonde twin tails were tied behind her head.
And her presence was sharp enough to cut.
Senju Tsunade.
Princess of the Senju.
One of the Three Sannin.