Clan Chief's Mansion.
"Old fool, you have insulted me too much!"
Having just returned home, Hyuga Hiashi could no longer suppress his overwhelming rage.
He suddenly grabbed a celadon teacup from the side and slammed it hard onto the ground.
Crash!
The porcelain shattered, shards flying everywhere.
Hyuga Hiashi stood there, his teeth gritting audibly, his chest heaving violently.
His fists were clenched tight, veins bulging, nails nearly digging into his palms.
"Brother, calm down!"
Hyuga Hizashi hurriedly stepped forward, his voice tinged with urgency.
He looked at his out-of-control brother, then toward the door. "Ieyasu's actions are simply too much!"
"Too much? He's roasting our Hyuga Clan over a fire!"
Hiashi's voice was low but carried an irrepressible fury. "To go around me and pressure Hokage-sama directly! What does he take me for as the Clan Chief!"
He breathed heavily, trying to settle the boiling anger within him.
For the sake of the Family, he had to endure, but the fire in his heart had reached an uncontrollable level.
"How is the situation with the Branch House lately?"
Hiashi finally spoke, his voice hoarse and carrying a grim chill.
Hyuga Hizashi quickly replied, "Resentment is high. Those few old geezers are getting more and more out of hand."
"That old fellow Ieyasu... a few days ago, he forcibly took a widow of a fallen Branch House member into his back courtyard."
"Bastard!" Hyuga Hiashi's anger, which had finally begun to subside, flared up again.
His hand resting on a pillar literally gouged out a piece of it, and the floorboards beneath his feet cracked in response.
"These old fools hold positions they don't deserve. On the surface, they sound grand, claiming everything is for the Family, but in reality, it's all for their own selfish interests..."
"That old bastard Ieyasu covers the sky with one hand, valuing his own lust for power more than the future of the clan!"
His tone was grim, his voice so low it sounded like it was squeezed out of his throat.
Hyuga Hizashi lowered his head and did not respond.
It took quite a while before Hyuga Hiashi's emotions finally calmed down again.
"Brother..." Hyuga Hizashi spoke up with concern.
"I'm fine." Hyuga Hiashi walked to the window, let out a long breath, and looked sharply toward the Elder Council. "The more they act like this, the more I must change it all."
He turned around and looked at Hyuga Hizashi. "You need to pay more attention to Aokawa's Family. If they lack anything or face any inconveniences in their daily lives, make sure to take care of it promptly."
"Don't worry, Brother! I've already made arrangements."
"Don't just delegate it; you should visit them personally more often," Hiashi said seriously.
Hizashi was stunned, a flash of surprise in his eyes. "Brother? You mean..."
He was somewhat puzzled.
Just a clansman who awakened a Long-range attack, even if he has some achievements in Medical Ninjutsu...
...it shouldn't warrant this level of attention, should it?
He was, after all, the head of the Branch House. If he had to visit every Branch House member personally, he wouldn't get any work done.
As if knowing what he was thinking, Hyuga Hiashi explained, "It's not as simple as you think."
He suddenly activated his Byakugan, and after confirming no one else was around, he said slowly, "His strength is even above mine!"
"What?!" Hizashi was shocked and exclaimed in a low voice, "Above yours?"
Someone who was recognized as a dead last last year, who lost face at the clan meeting every year...
...now someone was telling him that this person's strength was greater than the Clan Chief's. It was hard for him to believe.
"That's right." Hiashi continued, "The Hokage has been suppressing Aokawa's military achievements on the Battlefield. It's normal that you don't know."
"On the Land of Hot Springs Battlefield this time, he captured the Two-Tails Jinchuriki alive and even held his own against the Eight-Tails!"
"T-Tailed Beasts?" Hizashi's head buzzed, his mind going blank, feeling as if the world had turned upside down.
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