Chapter 20 — The Konoha F4
"You're saying Hyūga Hizashi supports Hyūga Ritsu as well? But even if he's from the Branch House, he's still Hyūga Hiashi's own brother!?"
"Lord Hokage," Minato said evenly, "perhaps that should be said the other way around — even though he's Hiashi's brother, he's still from the Branch House."
The order of the words changed, and so did the meaning.
Hiruzen Sarutobi fell silent. A long moment later, he exhaled a heavy sigh.
"So… the rift between the Hyūga's Main House and Branch House has grown this severe?"
He had assumed that someone like Ritsu, who had always been distant from the Main House, might rebel one day — but Hizashi? The clan head's own younger brother? Even as a Branch member, Hizashi had always enjoyed special treatment. It should have been impossible for him to betray his own blood.
And yet, here they were.
It struck Hiruzen that, for years, he'd failed to pay enough attention to the festering divisions within the Hyūga. He hadn't realized the resentment had run so deep — deep enough that even the clan leader's brother had chosen to turn his back on him.
He frowned. "There's something I don't understand. How did Ritsu and the others even manage to kill the Main House? With the Caged Bird Seal, the Branch members shouldn't have the ability to resist."
"That's just it," Minato replied. "Hyūga Ritsu erased his own seal. He didn't say how, but… I'm certain he was the one who personally killed Hyūga Masamune and the rest of the Main House elders."
"What!?" Hiruzen was visibly shaken.
Back in his younger, more ambitious years, he'd secretly studied the Caged Bird Seal himself — hoping to find a way to free the Branch House and end the Hyūga's archaic system. But after months of research, even the Professor of Ninjutsu had achieved nothing.
For Ritsu to erase his seal entirely… it was beyond belief.
Then Hiruzen caught himself and gave a wry smile. "That was a foolish question, wasn't it? The method must be a closely guarded secret. Of course he wouldn't tell you."
Minato said nothing, only nodded in silent agreement. He understood the Hokage's shock. He'd blurted out the same question himself when Ritsu first revealed it.
Hiruzen's brows drew together again. "Without the Caged Bird Seal… doesn't that mean Ritsu can now control the other Branch members, just as the Main House once did?"
"I suspect he could—if he wanted to," Minato admitted.
"Then isn't that simply making Ritsu the new Main House?"
Their exchange ended abruptly when the office door slammed open.
"Hiruzen! You're still sitting here?"
The voice was cold and cutting. A middle-aged man with a jagged X-shaped scar on his chin strode in, his single visible eye sharp as a blade. His presence filled the room with suffocating tension.
Shimura Danzō, the man known as Konoha's Darkness, leader of Root and Hiruzen's oldest rival, had arrived.
"The Hyūga are rebelling, and you're still sitting here?" Danzō barked. "Why haven't you summoned the jōnin and crushed the uprising already?"
"Crush an uprising?" Hiruzen retorted coldly. "And who said there is one?"
"The entire Main House was slaughtered!" Danzō slammed a hand against the wall. "What do you call that if not rebellion? Are you waiting for Ritsu and his followers to storm this building before you finally admit it?"
"It hasn't come to that," Hiruzen said flatly, meeting Danzō's glare without flinching.
The air between them thickened with unspoken history — two old comrades, two opposing philosophies.
"Hiruzen! Danzō!"
Two elderly voices cut through the tension. The door opened again, revealing Mitokado Homura and Koharu Utatane, the village's senior advisors, walking in side by side.
"Even from the hallway we could hear you two shouting," Koharu said sternly.
"Humph." Danzō snorted but said nothing further, folding his arms.
The four elders of Konoha — the so-called 'Konoha F4' — took their seats in the meeting area. Minato followed, sitting quietly among them.
Though his youthful face stood out starkly against their weathered ones, none of them objected.
Minato Namikaze was no ordinary jōnin. His reputation, his brilliance, and his power had long since earned him a place at this table.
And besides—
they all knew what Hiruzen was thinking.
When the time came to choose the Fourth Hokage,
the choice would come down to Orochimaru… or Minato Namikaze.
"Right now," Hiruzen said, laying out the facts plainly, "Hyūga Ritsu led a large number of Branch members, slaughtered the Main House elders who remained in the village—including Hyūga Masamune—and proclaimed himself clan head. He then had six elders appointed. Meanwhile, the legitimate head, Hyūga Hiashi, is at the eastern front with a portion of the clan. One more thing: Ritsu somehow erased his own Caged-Bird seal by an unknown method."
"All in all, that's the situation. Tell me your stance and your proposed course of action."
Hiruzen didn't waste time on Danzō's earlier theatrics and moved straight to the point.
"My stance is to kill," Shimura Danzō said first, his voice low and icily determined. "Those Branch traitors murdered the Main House—if we let this pass, tomorrow they might swing the blade at us. Every participant in this rebellion must be executed."
Minato's brows tightened at that.
Danzō's reply was extreme.
"You're too much," Mitokado Homura interjected. "The Hyūga aren't the Uchiha. We all know the Main-House/Branch-House system buried problems that would erupt sooner or later. It's just that the eruption happened on our watch."
He paused, then continued: "What we should do immediately is recall Hyūga Hiashi and the others from the front. Let Hiashi deal with Ritsu and the rebels—Konoha can provide support from the side."
"Mass slaughter is unwise," Koharu Utatane added. "You don't need me to explain the strategic value of the Byakugan. If we butcher their ranks, we weaken the village. But if we fail to punish such insubordination, we encourage other resentful factions. We must make an example—execute the ringleaders to deter future mutiny."
Koharu's words carried a lethal gravity, though she advocated a narrower, more targeted response than Danzō.
Three perspectives now sat on the table:
Danzō—immediate and total extermination of the rebels;
Koharu—limited executions focused on the ringleaders to deter others;
Mitokado—recall the legitimate head and let the clan's internal mechanisms settle the matter with Konoha's assistance.
Hiruzen, pipe lit and smoke curling, made no instant judgment. He turned to Minato. "What do you think, Minato? How should we handle this?"
Minato frowned, thinking for several long seconds before answering slowly: "I'm more inclined to Mitokado-san's approach. The rift between Main and Branch runs too deep—killing alone won't fix it. Bloodshed must be the last resort."