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Qianyu's home.
The words hit Hyuga Hizashi like a physical barrage.
If it were anyone else, Qianyu wouldn't have bothered. He'd have shrugged and walked away.
But at Minato Namikaze's wedding, when Hizashi agreed to let his son, Neji, become Qianyu's student… that was it. In Qianyu's mind, Neji was already his. His student.
So seeing Hizashi stuck in this pathetic, self-defeating loop? It pissed him off. Enough to try and beat some sense into the man.
A father's influence was everything.
Just look at the Neji from the old timeline. Cynical. Bitter. Hating the main family with every fiber of his being, yet utterly resigned to his so-called 'fate.'
Sure, Hizashi had volunteered to die for his useless older brother when Neji was only four. But that act—that choice—planted the seed. It doomed Neji to that same pessimistic determinism, that obsession with a cruel, unchangeable destiny.
Qianyu despised that kind of thinking.
He wasn't sure if he'd even want Neji as a student if the boy turned out like that. So if he could get through to Hizashi now, good. If not? Then he and Neji simply weren't meant to be.
Hizashi was drowning in it. The conflict churned inside him.
Was the Hyuga clan worth it? Was the main family worth it?
The answer screamed in his mind: No.
To keep their bloodline 'pure,' the clan had split itself. Main family and branch family. They'd turned kin into subordinates, servants. They'd created the Caged Bird seal. A brand. A leash.
The main family never saw the branch as family. As comrades. Just as tools. Expendable assets.
A single life was short. But its echoes lasted generations.
If he died like this, Neji would become him. Then Neji's child. And that child's child. An endless, miserable cycle.
Was that what he wanted?
He'd been three years old when they carved the Caged Bird into his forehead. Three. The indoctrination started then: Protect the main family. Die for the main family.
His journey went from confusion, to rage, to… acceptance. Resignation.
Was he really going to force that same poison down his own son's throat? The son he held such heavy expectations for?
If the end result was just another slave for the main family… then what were these 'expectations' for? What was the point?
The contradiction tore at him. Qianyu was right. He resented the oppression. He despised it. But he'd never once dared to fight it.
Just like his conversation with his brother, Hiashi, days ago. All that thinly-veiled bitterness. But not a single thought of rebellion.
So… what were these heavy expectations he had for Neji?
Great strength? Something else?
If they were truly 'heavy,' then he must want Neji to achieve what he himself had failed to do.
Hizashi's body gave a slight, almost imperceptible tremble.
What he had failed to do.
To seize control of his own destiny. That was it. He wanted Neji to be free. To choose his own path.
And what was he doing? He was trying to strangle that very possibility with his own two hands.
A bitter, self-mocking laugh escaped him. "To have a father like me… Neji's truly unlucky."
He looked at Qianyu, his gaze sincere. "But to have a teacher like you? That is his fortune."
Qianyu's lips quirked. "So? Has Hizashi seen the light?"
"I have," Hizashi said, nodding slowly. A chill ran down his spine. "And it terrifies me. I almost… I almost ruined him. Qianyu, I want Neji to stay with you. To learn from you. For as long as he can."
Qianyu raised an eyebrow. "Stay with me? You're sure? Under my tutelage, he might feel no loyalty to the Hyuga at all. He might even grow to hate them. After all, his own father hasn't had an easy life within the clan."
Hizashi sighed, the sound full of weary acceptance. "I would rather he hate the clan than become like me. Weak. Resigned. Whatever path he chooses from now on, I will respect it. I will support it. So, Qianyu… teach him your way. Hold nothing back."
"Since you put it that way," Qianyu agreed, "I will do everything in my power to ensure he grows into someone remarkable."
From the side, Kushina Uzumaki watched the exchange, a warm smile spreading across her face. In her arms, little Neji, soothed by her presence, had stopped his fussing. He gurgled, mimicking her smile.
After some more conversation, Hizashi rose to leave. Once father and son were gone, Kushina immediately rounded on Qianyu.
"Okay, explain. Back there, why did you say I could remove the Caged Bird? I really can't!"
A light chuckle. "You don't need to. Because I can."
Kakashi, who had been observing quietly, tilted his head. "If you can, Sensei, why not just say so?"
Qianyu shrugged. "In their eyes, sealing jutsu isn't my specialty. If I claimed I could do it, they'd doubt me. Using your name carried more weight."
Kushina pouted. "So I was just a tool, huh?" But her expression quickly softened into a sigh. "That Hyuga clan is… complicated. They're supposed to be one family, but they created a system that splits them apart."
"It's the most idiotic system imaginable," Qianyu said, his voice dripping with disdain. "That's why the Hyuga have always been left in the dust by the Uchiha. Even now, with the Uchiha weakened, the Hyuga are still irrelevant.
"The internal strife is crippling. The main family holds absolute power. Even if the heir is a complete waste of space, the branch families must die for them. The branch families bow on the surface, but underneath? Nothing but seething hatred.
"This infighting creates fractures. Real talent in the branch family is stifled, never allowed to flourish. A clan like that can never rise. It's ancient, yes. But it has no future. No potential for innovation.
"Under this system, if a genius is born in the main family, they're smothered by overprotection. They never face real challenge, never grow. They end up mediocre.
"And if a genius is born in the branch family?" Qianyu's gaze hardened. "They're shackled. Forced to waste their life protecting the main family's incompetents. They end up like Hizashi—full of conflict, never knowing their own worth.
"I despise the Uchiha. You know that. But I have never looked down on them. There's a reason Uchiha shinobi are, on average, stronger than those from any other clan."
Kushina and Kakashi listened, then nodded in quiet agreement. His words, harsh as they were, held a painful truth.
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