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Tiange wasn’t sure why this was.
Was there a cap on how many inheritances could be active at once?
Or was it that the ones he’d already unlocked had to be mastered before a new one could open?
He didn’t dwell on it.
Aside from the gambling arts, either of the remaining two was already more than enough on its own.
Master them fully, clear the path, dominating the ninja world would be no problem at all.
Every long road has an end.
Tiange looked at the Hyūga compound spread out before him, something almost like nostalgia in his eyes.
“Tia — Tiange, my lord — is that you?
You’ve returned?”
“It’s me.”
The gatekeeper was a branch house member, and Tiange’s confirmation sent the man nearly trembling with excitement.
“Wonderful, my lord — please, come right in!”
He stepped aside quickly and bowed low, ushering Tiange through.
“Mm.
Good work.”
Tiange passed through the gate and walked toward his own home.
The gatekeeper watched his retreating back, eyes filled with nothing but reverence and burning admiration.
Within the Hyūga clan, Tiange was without question the person the branch house respected most.
At such a young age, he had not only broken free of his own Caged Bird seal, he had come within a hair’s breadth of slaughtering every last main house elder in the process.
After that incident, those elders’ attitude toward the branch house softened considerably overnight.
They no longer dared invoke the Caged Bird to punish the branch house on a whim.
Because they were afraid.
Afraid that Tiange would return in a bad mood.
Because he genuinely would kill, without caring in the slightest who you were.
And at this moment, every major faction in Konohagakure had received the same news.
That person was back.
Root, a place of perpetual darkness, where sunlight never reached.
A Root ninja shoved open an office door and rushed inside.
“Look at the state of you.
Have you no composure?”
A low, shadowed rebuke cut through the room.
Danzō.
“My lord, Tiange Hyūga is back!”
“What did you say?”
Danzō shot to his feet, eyes locking onto the ninja below him, gaze filled entirely with killing intent.
“Re, reporting, my lord, Tiange Hyūga, he’s, he’s come back!”
“Tiange Hyūga…”
Danzō’s eyes were cold and murderous.
He stared in the direction of the Hyūga compound as though his gaze could bore through every wall between them and impale the clan on the other side.
After a moment, he raised his hand and looked at it.
Three fingers missing.
“I will make you…
pay for this.”
Ever since those three fingers had been cut off, his power had diminished sharply.
There were hand seals he could no longer form at all.
Afterward, he had gone to Orochimaru and had the fingers reattached.
It hadn’t done much good.
They were stiff and unresponsive.
In a fit of rage, Danzō had snapped them back off himself.
He had also considered having an entire arm reattached.
But the absorption power of Wood Release was too strong.
He had already grafted one arm, and if he grafted another, there was a real chance he would be fully assimilated.
He hated Tiange.
And there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.
First, Tiange’s strength was simply too overwhelming.
Danzō still remembered, clearly, the helplessness he had felt that day when Tiange’s blade was almost at his neck.
Second, Sarutobi Hiruzen had refused to allow it.
Then there was Tsunade.
Both of them had blocked him.
Danzō never even considered the fact that without the Third and Tsunade standing between them, it very likely would not have ended at merely three severed fingers.
Compared to Danzō, Koharu Utatane, who had lost an entire arm to that same blade, was considerably more composed.
Koharu Utatane knew there was nothing to be done about Tiange Hyūga, and did not dare to provoke that cursed star again.
Upon receiving the news, Koharu Utatane simply gave a calm nod, said nothing, and had no intention of doing anything.
Because Koharu Utatane understood: a few years ago, the Third might still have been able to restrain that person.
But now Tiange had returned after years away.
If Koharu Utatane went looking for death again, the Third very likely wouldn’t be able to stop him this time.
Over so many years, his strength could not possibly have stood still.
And the Third, with age, only continued to slide in power.
There would be no holding Tiange back.
Among every other faction in the village, not one person who heard the news wore anything but a grave expression.
One by one, they all reached the same conclusion: pass the word down.
Under no circumstances was anyone to provoke that man.
Meanwhile, the very person who had set all of this in motion arrived alone at his own front door.
CREAK!
He pushed it open.
Looking at everything familiar in the courtyard, the face that had been cold all day finally curved, just barely, into the faintest trace of a smile.
“I’m home.”
“Father.”
“Mm.
You’ve grown taller.
More mature, too.”
Hizashi Hyūga had heard the sound and stepped outside.
There was Tiange, standing in the courtyard.
His expression was calm.
But the hands he held clasped behind his back were trembling.
“As long as you’re back.
As long as you’re back.”
He looked Tiange over carefully, wanting to take in every last detail of how his son had changed.
This eldest son who had made him proud at nine years old, who at nine had already been able to protect both him and Neji.
“Father, have you and Neji been all right these past years?”
“Has Konohagakure, or the clan, given you any trouble?”
As those words left Tiange’s mouth, a flash of sharp killing intent crossed his eyes and was gone.
Even Hizashi felt a chill.
This child.
His killing intent was still this intense.
Hizashi felt a stab of worry, afraid something might be going wrong inside Tiange.
“Everything’s fine.
Things have been good.
They haven’t given us any trouble.”
“Have you eaten?”
“Once Neji is back, we’ll eat together.
I’ll cook myself, all your favorites.”
“Mm.
I’m not hungry.
I’ll wait for Neji.”
“Good, come inside.
Tell me everything that happened out there these past years.”
Hizashi’s face broke into a full smile.
He stepped forward, took Tiange by the arm, and led him inside.
Tiange went without resistance, watching this man beside him, watching the headband across his brow.
Memories surfaced, from when he was small, this man playing both father and mother, raising the two brothers on his own.
Just wait, Father.
It won’t be long now.
Very soon I’ll be able to rid you of the Caged Bird on your head, once and for all.
That damned cursed seal.
That cage.
I will destroy it with my own hands, and it will never appear again.
Father and son talked until evening, the conversation mostly Tiange recounting the years he’d spent away.
Hizashi would ask a question here and there.
The scene was warm and gentle.
“It’s about time.
I’ll go start dinner.”
Hizashi went to cook.
Tiange stepped out to the courtyard alone, taking in every quiet corner of it.
“Father, I’m home.”
Neji pushed open the door and stepped inside.
The moment he saw Tiange standing in the courtyard, he froze completely.
He rubbed his eyes.
His face was a picture of pure disbelief.
“Oni, Onii-san?”
“Heh.”
“What’s the matter, don’t recognize me anymore?”
“Onii-san, is this real?
You really came back?”
In that moment, there was not a trace of Neji’s usual composure.
He crossed the courtyard in a few quick strides and threw his arms around Tiange.
If anyone who knew him had seen it, their jaw would have hit the floor.
“Mm.
It’s been long enough.
Time to come home.”
“So, have you kept up your training?
Your strength hasn’t slipped, has it?”
Tiange gently ruffled the top of Neji’s head, then pressed a hand to his shoulder and asked.
“It hasn’t.
I’ve been working really hard the whole time.”
“I know I can’t compare to you, big brother.
But I’ve grown stronger too.”
Neji answered with complete sincerity.
He understood, the man standing before him, his brother, was someone he could never hope to catch up to.
That incident from years ago had left a deep mark on Neji, who had already been four years old when it happened.
All these years, he had taken Tiange as his goal and never once let himself rest.
➤ Next: Danzō’s Murderous Intent