Ōtsutsuki Toneri stood on the surface of the moon, quietly watching the planet 380,000 kilometers away.
He watched the chaotic, busy shinobi world. The more he looked, the more he felt… Disgusted.
"Human history ends here."
His figure faded and disappeared from the moon.
———
[Hyūga Clan Residence]
Ever since Tsunade's decree was issued, the atmosphere within the Hyūga clan had become strange.
The Branch House and the Main House, originally, the hierarchy of who stood, who knelt, had always been divided clearly and unmistakably.
This twisted method of governance, after being implemented for many years, had already become a kind of "custom," a "rule," branding itself into the minds of the Hyūga people.
Whether beneficiaries or those oppressed, under the inertia of time, both sides adhered to it out of habit.
Once this rule was taken away, instead of feeling liberated, they felt anxious, uneasy, and lost.
This was "institutionalization."
The Hyūga clan now was like a horse-drawn carriage rushing at full speed that was suddenly forced to stop. The driver and passengers were thrown out at the same time, sent flying, dizzy and bleeding.
The first to hit the ground hardest was the head of the Hyūga clan, Hyūga Hiashi.
Regarding the Main House/Branch House system, the past Hiashi had hated it with passion.
Because his own brother, Hyūga Hizashi, was a Branch House member, and ended with a dead man's fate.
Back then, Hiashi resented the system extremely deeply.
But… People change.
Hiashi, as the leader of the beneficiaries, enjoyed the advantages of the system, and so began to protect this already-rotten institution.
Other families were the ones making their brothers or sisters into Main House and Branch House.
But when it came to Hiashi, he even used the excuse "Hinata is too weak, she's a Main House failure" to define his younger daughter, Hyūga Hanabi, as a Main House member too.
From this alone, it was clear that so-called "rules" were nothing more than whatever the higher-ups said they were.
Now, Hiashi had lost this "my word is law" authority.
One part of him remembered how much he hated the rules when he was young; another part couldn't suppress how much he missed the benefits the rules gave him.
Caught in these tangled thoughts, Hiashi muttered under his breath, "It's all because of that man. He's just a damn… bad guy."
Not only did he not dare hit someone, he didn't even dare curse properly. Even saying "damn bad guy" sounded like he was whining.
Humiliating.
A grown man living like this, too damn humiliating.
For a long moment, he did nothing but sigh, pouring one cup of wine after another to drown his frustration.
"You seem to be in a lot of pain." A strange, cold voice appeared behind him.
Hiashi spun around. He saw a pale-skinned boy with long blue-white hair, eyes tightly shut, handsome features, and dressed in white, standing behind him.
"Who are you?!"
"You may call me Toneri."
Toneri's tone was cool. Combined with the moonlight on his jade-pale skin, he looked like a ghost from ages past. He continued, "I can see what troubles you. It's because of Ryosuke, isn't it?"
Hiashi fell silent.
He didn't dare answer that casually.
Who knew what this person was? Maybe Ryosuke or Tsunade, unhappy with him, sent someone to bait him into a trap.
If Hiashi foolishly fell for it, he might be gone from the shinobi world by tomorrow.
Hiashi activated his Byakugan without hesitation.
As the head of the Hyūga clan, very few in Konoha, no, in the entire shinobi world, could surpass his perception ability.
The fact that this youth had reached behind him without being noticed was already bizarre.
Besides, where were the guards?
Even if the intruder was skilled at hiding, and he hadn't noticed earlier…
Now that the intruder was speaking out loud, why had the clan's guards still not appeared?
The next moment, Hiashi froze.
What he saw were bodies.
All the guards and hidden sentries had been killed. Only the clan members who lived farther away remained unharmed.
Clearly, this wasn't because the self-proclaimed Toneri was merciful.
He simply felt they were too far away and couldn't be bothered to walk over.
Hiashi dropped any remaining delusions.
This absolutely wasn't Ryosuke or Tsunade's doing.
With their personalities, if they wanted someone dead, they wouldn't sneak around, they'd kill openly and directly.
An intruder.
Someone who had infiltrated Konoha silently.
"What exactly do you want?!"
Hiashi bent his knees slightly, taking a combat stance, "No… no matter what you're planning, you won't succeed, you've provoked someone you shouldn't have."
"I'll tell you, Konoha, and the Hyūga clan, are under Lord Ryosuke!"
At the words "under Ryosuke," Hiashi felt a surge of confidence, completely forgetting that just a few minutes ago he had secretly cursed Ryosuke.
Toneri let out a soft, mocking laugh. "The so-called 'Main House' really is nothing but a bunch of cowardly weaklings."
"It's fine. The people you don't dare curse, I'll curse."
"The people you don't dare kill, I'll kill."
"I'll kill Ryosuke, Tsunade, and everyone who dares resist me. But before that..."
Toneri opened his eyelids.
What appeared were two empty, hollow eye sockets.
"I remember you have two daughters, right?"
Toneri grinned. "I need a healthy wife, someone with pure Byakugan blood. Hinata is the one I've chosen."
"You want to dig out Hanabi's eyes?"
Hiashi's eyes filled with rage. "She's only seven years old, you beast!"
"Hanabi? Heh."
Toneri laughed lightly and stepped toward Hiashi, one step at a time, "She's indeed very good, but compared to another person's purity of bloodline, she's still inferior."
Shff! Shff! Shff!
One by one, black-robed puppets appeared, surrounding the courtyard.
They held weapons in their hands, blades pointed directly at Hyūga Hiashi.
Hanabi's Byakugan?
It was indeed excellent.
But in terms of bloodline purity and mastery of the Byakugan, how could she compete with a Hyūga adult at his peak?
As long as he could overcome the psychological disgust of "implanting the smelly eyes of a middle-aged man," the final effect would obviously be superior to implanting Hanabi's eyes.
Toneri, when compared with psychological discomfort, wanted far more to personally dig out the eyes of Hiashi, the head of the Main House.
Of course, he wanted Hanabi's eyes too.
As a backup.
Besides, after capturing Hiashi and taking Hinata, naturally he would take Hanabi as well, the family must stay reunited.
As a Branch House member of the moon's Ōtsutsuki clan, Toneri's eyes had been forcibly gouged out at birth, turning him into a blind child.
He had no mother, no friends, only his father, and later his father died as well.
Toneri was left only with puppets.
He blamed all his misfortune on the Main House, on the beliefs of their ancestor, Ōtsutsuki Hamura.
Toneri stared coldly at Hiashi being surrounded by puppets, and the thoughts that churned day and night surged up from his heart, 'Why must the Branch House have their eyes gouged out?'
'Why must they obey an ancestor's decision, stay on this barren moon generation after generation just to guard Kaguya's seal?'
'Main House? Ancestor? Rules?'
'All crap!'
The only light Toneri had ever had in his life was Hyūga Hinata.
When he was young, his father frequently took the little Toneri to Konoha to secretly watch Hinata play. Even back then, the reclusive Toneri gradually began to like the adorable Hinata.
Normally, Toneri didn't want to act against the shinobi world so early.
Hinata was too young, he had wanted to wait until she grew up.
But…
Hinata and that blond kid called Uzumaki Naruto, had gotten far too close.