(Send powerstones please)
Live Chat Group One had descended into chaos.
The revelation of the Hyuga Affair had sparked a fierce argument over Konoha’s decision to compromise with Kumogakure despite clearly being the wronged party.
Many openly looked down on Konoha for it.
This was supposed to be the strongest of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, yet when another village provoked them on their own soil, Konoha had ultimately backed down.
To some, it was humiliating.
But while everyone else argued—
Neji Hyuga stood frozen in place.
He could barely process what he had just seen.
All his life, he had believed his father was forced to die.
That the Hyuga main family and Konoha had sacrificed Hizashi as Hiashi’s replacement.
His father hadn’t volunteered.
He couldn’t have.
“Impossible…”
“Father was forced to…”
Before Neji could finish, Hiashi approached him with a solemn expression.
“The one who was originally prepared to die was me.”
Neji looked up sharply.
Hiashi continued in a quiet, sincere voice.
“But Hizashi…”
He paused.
“I’m sorry, Neji.”
“I should have told you the truth long ago.”
Hiashi reached into his robes and took out a scroll.
“This was written by Hizashi.”
Neji accepted it with trembling hands.
The instant he saw the handwriting, he recognized it.
There was no mistake.
It belonged to his father.
Neji slowly read through the scroll.
By the time he reached the end, his hands were shaking.
Everything written there matched what the screen had shown.
His father really had chosen to die.
No one had forced him.
For the first time in his life, Hizashi had defied the fate imposed upon him—
and made his own choice.
Neji lowered the scroll.
“So Father…”
“He really did choose his own destiny.”
Something that had been buried in Neji’s heart for years finally began to loosen.
Perhaps fate wasn’t an unbreakable chain after all.
Perhaps a person’s path wasn’t decided the moment they were born.
“Your destiny…”
Neji whispered.
“Maybe it’s something you carve out with your own hands.”
Before he could collect himself, Neji suddenly noticed something that shocked him even more.
Hiashi Hyuga—
the head of the Hyuga Clan—
had dropped to his knees before him.
He didn’t care about the strange looks coming from those around them.
His head was lowered.
Neji immediately stepped forward and helped him up.
“Please…
raise your head.”
After Hiashi eventually left, Neji remained where he was, lost in thought.
“Father…”
He raised his eyes toward the sky.
“Is a person’s fate like a cloud?”
“Do we simply drift wherever the wind carries us…”
“Or can we choose the direction we want to go?”
Neji was quiet for a long time.
“I still don’t know.”
“Maybe the destination doesn’t change either way.”
“But if you choose your own path, then at least you can spend your life moving toward a goal you decided for yourself.”
A faint smile appeared on his face.
“Maybe that’s what it means to be truly strong.”
Above him, several birds soared freely through the open sky.
Neji watched them.
His expression gradually became firm.
“Father.”
“I’ve decided what I want.”
“I’ll become stronger than anyone.”
“I won’t lose to anyone.”
His smile grew a little wider.
“Look…”
“The birds are flying so freely today.”
“They look happy.”
Not far away, Tenten noticed the occasional smile appearing on Neji’s face.
She understood better than most just how important everything revealed today had been to him.
She knew about Neji’s past.
She knew why he had become so obsessed with the belief that fate was predetermined.
But now—
his own father had shown him otherwise.
Hizashi had paid with his life to break free from the fate imposed upon him.
With that example before him, Neji might finally begin walking a different path.
And Tenten had little doubt that he could go farther than almost anyone else.
After all—
Neji was the most gifted Hyuga of his generation.
“That’s good…”
Tenten smiled.
“Neji finally looks like he’s been freed from something.”
Rock Lee was just as happy.
For as long as he could remember, one of his greatest goals had been defeating Neji.
He wanted to prove to him that nothing was decided from birth.
That even someone dismissed as a failure could defeat a genius through hard work.
But before Lee could prove it himself—
Hizashi had already shown Neji that fate could be challenged.
If anything, that encouraged Lee even more.
If Hizashi could defy the destiny forced upon him…
then Lee could defy his own.
One day—
even a so-called failure could shine brighter than a genius.
…
[Live Chat Group Two]
Hizashi had watched everything in silence.
[Hizashi Hyuga: After seeing all of that, Neji shouldn’t lose himself anymore…
right?]
[Minato Namikaze: I never imagined something like this would happen only three years after my death.
I’m sorry, Hizashi.
I died too soon to protect Konoha when it needed me.]
[Hizashi Hyuga: Please don’t say that, Lord Fourth!]
[Hizashi Hyuga: You gave your life sealing the Nine-Tails and saved the entire village.
Without you, Konoha would’ve suffered far worse losses.
There’s no guarantee I would’ve even survived long enough for this incident to happen.]
Another deceased Kage joined the conversation.
[Gengetsu Hozuki: Hizashi really did have a rough life.
He and his brother were twins, yet he was assigned to the branch family.
His son was probably the most talented child in the clan, yet Neji could never become heir to the main family.]
[Gengetsu Hozuki: And in the end, Hizashi still had to surrender his own body to protect his clan and village.]
Then another message appeared.
[Mū: Did he really change his fate, though?]
[Mū: From the moment Kumogakure demanded Hiashi’s corpse, Hizashi’s death was already the easiest solution available to Konoha and the Hyuga Clan.]
[Mū: Saying that he chose to die for his brother and the people he loved may have given his death meaning…
but was that truly freedom?
Or was it simply the last way he could convince himself that the choice belonged to him?]
Hashirama immediately objected.
[Hashirama Senju: Konoha wasn’t supposed to become a place like that!]
Madara laughed coldly.
[Madara Uchiha: Still don’t understand, Hashirama?]
[Madara Uchiha: Konoha handed over an innocent man’s corpse to protect itself.
Is this really the village you dreamed of creating?]
Tobirama remained far calmer.
[Tobirama Senju: Monkey could have handled the matter better.
I’ll admit that.]
[Tobirama Senju: But as Hokage, he also had to consider the lives of everyone in the village.
Sometimes protecting the majority means accepting a smaller sacrifice.]
Madara immediately seized on those words.
[Madara Uchiha: Hahahaha!]
[Madara Uchiha: Sacrifice the few for the sake of the many.
That really does sound like you, Tobirama.]
[Madara Uchiha: So was wiping out the Uchiha Clan also justified because it supposedly protected “the majority”?]
The chat abruptly grew quieter.
Then—
[Fugaku Uchiha: What happened to the clan wasn’t entirely someone else’s fault.]
[Fugaku Uchiha: I lacked the ability to lead them through that crisis.
I failed as clan head and betrayed the trust my people placed in me.]
Tobirama responded almost immediately.
[Tobirama Senju: Brother, look.
Even among the Uchiha, there were clearly people who cared deeply about the village and wanted peace.]
[Tobirama Senju: But that doesn’t change the fact that the clan was difficult to manage.
In the end, they still reached the point of planning a coup.]
[Hashirama Senju: Tobirama, shut up!]
Tobirama went silent.
[Hashirama Senju: I told you from the beginning that you needed to trust the Uchiha!]
[Hashirama Senju: Their relationship with Konoha couldn’t possibly have deteriorated this badly for no reason.
You must have done something after I died that widened the divide!]
There was a pause.
[Tobirama Senju: Brother…]
[Tobirama Senju: Did you really have to yell at me?]
Minato hurriedly stepped in.
[Minato Namikaze: Lord First, Lord Second…
part of the responsibility belongs to me as well.]
[Minato Namikaze: During my time as Hokage, I failed to ease the growing tension between Konoha and the Uchiha Clan.]
[Minato Namikaze: If I’d had more time, perhaps what happened afterward could have been prevented.]