"I've already said it—we are all one family. Why must we kill each other?"
"Think carefully about what I told you before. Accept the Caged Bird Seal and become the head of the branch family. Isn't that better?"
"They can keep living peacefully with their relatives, friends, lovers, and siblings just like before. Isn't that what you all want?"
"I guarantee, in the name of the Great Elder, that as long as you submit, the clan will never again use the Caged Bird Seal."
"So? What will you choose?"
The Great Elder and the other clan elders looked at Hizashi, Neji, and the surrounding branch members with mocking smiles—twisted grins more hateful than demons.
Hiashi's fists tightened until his nails pierced deep into his palms, fresh blood dripping between his fingers.
A sharp thud suddenly echoed behind him.
Hinata Iwamoto dropped to his knees, forehead slamming into the ground.
His cry was raw—despair, fury, and helplessness echoing through the courtyard.
"Great Elder! Please… please spare my wife and my parents!"
"I—I'm willing… I'll accept the Caged Bird Seal again!"
His voice, which began as a shout, grew smaller… weaker… crushed by fear.
The Great Elder's expression twisted into delighted satisfaction.
"Very good. You were one of the most defiant branch members. I didn't expect you to be the first to crawl back."
"If you know how to return after losing your way, then you're worth teaching."
His cruel words set every branch member's nerves ablaze. Neji, Hizashi, and the others trembled with silent fury.
Vicious. Absolutely vicious.
Yanmen stumbled forward through the crowd, his steps hollow. In front of everyone, he knelt before the Great Elder again, his once-proud gaze now dead and empty.
The Great Elder placed his palm on Yanmen's forehead. A sickly green chakra flared.
"AAAAHHHHH!!"
The agony of the Caged Bird Seal tore through Yanmen's body. Memories from childhood—pain, oppression, humiliation—flooded his mind. The freedom he'd tasted for just one month felt like a dream that had never existed.
But as the seal's pattern neared completion, Yanmen suddenly remembered Neji's voice from that night:
"This mission is extremely dangerous. You may die. Your family may die."
"But if it succeeds… the Caged Bird Seal will vanish from the Hyuga forever."
A spark ignited in the ashes of his despair.
The desire for freedom never dies.
He bit down on his tongue—hard. Pain shot through his nerves, jolting him back to clarity. Azure chakra erupted from his palm as he thrust his hand toward the Great Elder's heart.
BOOM!
The Great Elder staggered back in shock. He barely dodged the fatal blow, but two ribs shattered under the impact. Only his chakra-reinforced body kept the strike from piercing his lung.
"Kill them!"
"Kill every traitor!"
"If you hesitate, I'll use the Caged Bird Seal and kill you all!"
At his order, the ambushing branch members charged forward—faces streaked with tears, bodies trembling, hearts breaking. They didn't want this. They hated this. But they had no choice.
Just as despair consumed the courtyard…
Time itself seemed to stop.
The chakra in the air thickened—heavy and suffocating. The pressure crushed the bodies of everyone present. Even the strongest collapsed to their knees. Most simply fell forward, unable to move.
Only Hiashi and a handful of the strongest elders remained standing—barely—spines bent under the overwhelming force.
Then they saw him.
A man stepped through the air as if the sky were solid ground.
A dark blue combat uniform.
The red-and-white Uchiha fan on his back.
Long black hair whipping in the wind.
Light-purple eyes with three tomoe and a blade-like Mangekyō pattern spinning slowly.
There was no need to hide the killing intent radiating from him.
Uchiha Hikaru.
"This is the Hyuga clan's internal matter!" the Great Elder roared. "Even if you are the Hokage's advisor, you have no right to interfere!"
Hikaru landed silently.
He walked toward the Great Elder.
Looked down at him.
His expression was pure disgust.
"Trash. Who allowed you to stand while speaking to me?"
"Kneel."
With a single command, the suffocating chakra that had crushed the branch members instantly shifted—like a docile beast obeying its master—pressing down on the main family instead.
The clan elders were flattened instantly, their bodies sinking several centimeters into the ground.
Only the Great Elder resisted—kneeling, shaking, bones cracking under the pressure, yet still staring defiantly.
"You dare to meddle in Hyuga affairs? One day the other clans will see this!"
"You're destroying Konoha!"
Hikaru placed his foot on the elder's head and pushed—slow, merciless—until his skull embedded into the dirt.
"Are you confused…?"
"I don't give a damn about your Hyuga clan politics."
"But touching my people?"
"You laid your filthy hands on my disciples?"
His eyes flashed purple.
He kicked the elder's body aside.
"Human Path: Soul Extraction."
A translucent soul was torn from the elder's body. Hikaru's fingers closed around its head—
—and crushed it to dust.
He turned to the remaining elders, now shaking uncontrollably.
"You all… deserve to die."
Six kunai flew, clean and precise, slitting each elder's throat. They clawed at their necks, drowning in their own blood, unable to speak. Unable to beg.
They died with terror in their eyes.
Hikaru exhaled softly.
"Sword. Help these two."
A swirl of black mist rose from the seal on Hikaru's wrist, forming a human silhouette.
Sword approached the unconscious Hinata and Hanabi. After untying them, she placed her hands over their foreheads.
A simple curse technique posed no challenge to her devouring ability. The seal melted away like ink in water.
Moments later, Sword dissolved into black mist again, returning to Hikaru's wrist.
Hiashi rushed, dragging him to Hikaru's side.
"Hikaru—he…"
Before Hiashi could finish, Hikaru crouched down, placing a hand over Yanmen's mouth. Gentle green medical chakra flowed from his palm.
Hikaru's brow relaxed.
"He'll live. His tongue wasn't bitten off completely, and his airway isn't blocked. He'll just… talk with a bit of a lisp from now on."
...
...
I originally wanted Hiashi to solve the Hyuga's internal problems himself…
But honestly? This was a perfect chance for the protagonist, Hinata, and Hanabi to build some emotional bonds, so—yeah.
Let Hikaru handle it~ (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄)
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