“Elder Sada… Elder Fukiage… Elder Aoyama… and Patriarch Hiashi-sama… Please forgive me… I am the entire reason behind Neji’s failure… It’s not that he is retarded or anything… the only reason he didn’t protect Hinata-sama is that I didn’t teach him well… so rather than it being my son’s fault, it’s my fault.” Apologized to Hizashi, taking the entire blame upon himself, hoping that his apology would quell this matter and Neji wouldn’t have to bear the anger and dissatisfaction of the Elders.
Hizashi’s apology and submission didn’t dispel Elder Sada’s dissatisfaction, while keeping Hizashi in the dogeza position, Elder Sada waved his hand toward an attendant beside him.
The attendant hurried forward and after pouring a cup of tea for Elder Sada, he retreated back.
Elder Sada raised the filled cup of tea, and after taking a sip, he spoke to Hizashi, “Hizashi… you must understand your mistake. If you of all people were to forget the purpose of the existence of a branch family member, then no matter how good you are, there is no meaning behind your existence.”
A layer of sweat appeared on Hizashi’s forehead as he understood the meaning behind Elder Sada’s words, and he quickly nodded, “Yes… I understand.”
Elder Sada added, “Very good… I do hope that your son will also understand.”
Hizashi nodded hurriedly, “Yes… I will teach him in order to make sure that he doesn’t make any such mistake in the future.”
Because of the existence of the Caged Bird Cursed Seal, the people of the main family hold the life and death of the members of the branch family in their hands. It is well understood by the branch family that no matter how strong they become, they can never escape the influence of the Caged Bird Cursed Seal.
So, when Elder Sada mentioned ‘no meaning behind your existence’, Hizashi immediately realized that Elder Sada was not using metaphor, it was a death threat.
Although there haven’t been many instances of execution of branch family members inside the Hyuga Clan, it has happened a few times in the history of the Hyuga Clan for Hizashi to know that Elder Sada didn’t issue an empty threat.
The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became extremely quiet and depressing as other than Hizashi, several others also understood the meaning of Elder Sada.
Looking at the silent hall, where even the sound of breathing couldn’t be heard, the heads of all the branch members were bent slightly downward and no one dared to even look at them, the three elders nodded to themselves.
This is the result that they wanted to see from this meeting, ‘This is how the members of the branch family are supposed to live.’
In their opinion, all the members of the branch family must remain submissive to the main family. They should never question the traditions, nor should they question their purpose, they should just follow what they have been told to do without questioning anything.
As the three elders swiped their eyes through the hall, Elder Aoyama suddenly noted that one head was still not down, he was looking at everything with an expressionless face. Different from the rest of the members of the branch family, his eyes were still very clear with no trace of fear, anger, or any intent of submission.
Elder Aoyama narrowed his eyes, “Hyuga Kuroto… As Neji’s Sensei, you too hold equal responsibility behind Neji’s failure… Other than that, why didn’t you report the entire assessment plan to the Patriarch in advance? How dare you hide the exact details from the council? Have you forgotten your purpose?!”
As soon as the name of Hyuga Kuroto came up, everyone’s eyes turned toward the expressionless Kuroto. Almost all the members of the branch family were looking at Kuroto with worried expressions.
Some people sitting beside Kuroto signaled him to apologize. They believed that Elders won’t embarrass him too much considering that he was the Principal of the Ninja Academy, and had a lot of prestige in Konoha.
But Kuroto paid no attention to them and remained expressionless.
At this time, one of the members of the branch family, a guy with a very weak presence named Aoki also looked at Kuroto with a thoughtful expression.
Aoki is very curious about how Hyuga Kuroto–a young and high-spirited man will respond to this situation.
Feeling everyone’s gazes on him, Kuroto sighed and slowly stood up.
Seeing Kuroto’s actions, Hizashi’s expression changed in panic, he wanted to persuade Kuroto to not make any rash move, however, it was too late as Kuroto had already stood up.
Looking at Kuroto’s expressionless face, Yui–who was sitting in one of the corners of the hall–felt nervous.
Just by looking at his expressionless face, Yui knew that Kuroto had no intention of apologizing or submitting.
She knows Kuroto’s personality very well. Kuroto may seem peaceful and calm most of the time, but in reality, he is a very assertive person who would never submit to anyone, especially in unreasonable situations such as this one. But at the same time, she also fears that no matter how powerful Kuroto is, he can’t resist the influence of Caged Bird Cursed Seal. That’s why she is worried.
Perhaps Kuroto felt Yui’s panic, she briefly looked at her with a reassuring smile, and worded silently, ‘Trust me.’
After hearing him, Yui nodded lightly and hardened her expression. She is going to see this thing through, no matter the result.
Seeing Kuroto ignoring him, Elder Aoyama frowned, “Hyuga Kuroto… how dare you? Instead of submitting and apologizing for your failure… you are being disrespectful!”
In Elder Aoyama’s opinion, the only thing Hyuga Kuroto should be doing at this moment is begging for his forgiveness, but here he is ignoring him! This is beyond insulting!
Hearing Elder Aoyama’s words, Kuroto turned his head and scornfully looked at the old man.
Feeling Kuroto’s contempt, Elder Aoyoma was angered, “How dare you!?”
Kuroto laughed menacingly, “Hahaha.” And approached Elder Aoyama.
“You… what… what are you trying to do?!” Asked Elder Aoyama with a puzzled expression.
For some reason, an ominous premonition appeared in Elder Aoyama’s heart as Kuroto took his first step.
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