Hiashi moved fast.
Every able-bodied fighter from both the main house and the branch house was gathered.
Hiashi surveyed the assembled clan members and spoke in a low, firm voice.
“Clansmen!”
“Tonight, something enormous has happened within the Hyūga!”
“Right here in our own clan grounds, over a hundred intruders stormed in to slaughter our people!”
“I went to the Hokage to demand an explanation.
She refused to take a stance.”
“Tiange Hyūga!”
“You all know — he has already charged out to fight.”
“Lord Tiange?”
“What in the world is the clan head thinking?”
“Could it be…”
Hiashi’s words set the crowd buzzing, the branch house members loudest of all.
Tiange Hyūga, who in the Hyūga clan didn’t know that name?
He was the hero every branch house member carried in their heart.
Whenever his name came up, the fierce adoration in their eyes was impossible to hide.
Hiashi raised a hand and pressed it down to quiet them.
“Clansmen.
You’ve all already figured it out.”
“That’s right!”
“I am calling every clan member to join the fight!”
“Together with Tiange — kill the enemy!
Take revenge!”
“If Konohagakure won’t give us an answer, then we’ll show Konohagakure what the Hyūga stand for!”
“Once we march out, there’s a very good chance some of us won’t come back.”
“Anyone who is unwilling may step out now.”
“Unwilling?
Fighting alongside Lord Tiange has been my dream for more years than I can count!”
“It’s only one life.
If I die, I die.
I want to stand beside Lord Tiange and face this together!”
“Give the order, clan head!”
“Give the order!”
“Good.
Very good!”
“There is no time to waste — then we…
kill!”
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
…
Hiashi led from the front, and the Hyūga fell in behind, every one of them seething with killing intent.
By the time they reached the clan grounds’ main gate, a large crowd had already gathered there, elderly, frail, women, and children alike.
Hizashi was supporting an injured Neji, and Hinata stood close beside them.
“Clan head!”
“We want to fight too!”
“Even if we can’t do much, we still want to contribute our share!”
“Clan head, please.
Let all of Hyūga enter this battle.
We are part of this clan too!”
Watching these ordinary clan members, faces burning with righteous fury, Hiashi felt a faint warmth rise behind their eyes.
How many years had it been?
The Hyūga had never been this united, never this single-minded.
It seemed tonight, the path taken was the right one.
After tonight, as long as the Hyūga survived, the clan that emerged would be something entirely new.
The fire in Hiashi’s chest suddenly roared to life.
A decision was made: if we’re going to lose all reason, then let’s go completely mad.
“Very well!”
“Hyūga, all members, join the battle!”
“Move out!”
The entire Hyūga clan marched out to war.
Tiange knew nothing of it.
He was still pressing forward, step by step, toward the Root base.
Danzō had clearly realized he was exposed.
He also knew Tiange Hyūga was coming to kill him.
Even so, Danzō was confident.
With the trump cards in hand, there was more than enough to handle whatever came.
“Tiange Hyūga!”
“This old man is waiting for you.
Waiting for the day you become my slave, I will make you personally slaughter every last person you care about!”
Danzō stroked the bandaged wrapping over the left eye, and the expression was one of undisguised excitement.
It was as though the image of Tiange Hyūga groveling at those feet had already played out in full.
“My lord, shall we keep sending people to intercept?”
“The commotion is too great, the village must have noticed by now.”
“Keep sending.”
“And what of it if they’ve noticed?”
“After tonight, no one will say a word.”
“Yes, my lord!”
The one speaking with Danzō was none other than the right-hand aide, Torune Aburame.
Torune couldn’t understand it.
It was plainly obvious the people being sent were no match for Tiange Hyūga.
Yet Lord Danzō kept ordering more.
Torune didn’t dare ask.
The lord had made the decision, so the only thing to do was carry it out.
What Torune didn’t know was how Danzō truly regarded Root subordinates.
Danzō didn’t care about them at all, not so long as each one managed to wear Tiange Hyūga down by even a fraction.
Even if every last one of them died, Danzō would consider those deaths perfectly meaningful.
A sacrifice made for Konohagakure.
Every fraction of damage they dealt added one more fraction to Danzō’s odds of winning.
In Danzō’s mind, once Tiange Hyūga was handled, what kind of subordinates couldn’t be acquired?
Rebuilding an entirely new Root from scratch was the worst that would happen.
And what was rebuilt afterward might very well be the Anbu, an Anbu that belonged to Danzō alone.
While Danzō sat nursing those Hokage ambitions, out in the village, Tiange was blocked again by yet another wave of ninja.
This wave was several times larger than the ones before.
It didn’t matter.
The sword in Tiange’s hand dripped steadily with blood.
Not a single pause in the footsteps.
Not a single change in expression.
Tiange kept advancing toward his destination, as though the enemies blocking the path simply did not exist.
“Lord Tiange!”
“Lord Tiange, we’re here!”
“The entire Hyūga has come!”
“That’s right, Lord Tiange, we’re with you!”
Just as Tiange raised the sword to strike, Hiashi arrived at his back, the entire Hyūga clan in tow.
Others feared Tiange.
They did not.
Others didn’t know what had happened inside the clan tonight.
They knew perfectly well.
Just a short while ago, Lord Tiange had killed nearly every main house elder.
From now on, as long as Lord Tiange still stood, the Hyūga would very likely never again be divided into main house and branch house.
Every branch house member was filled with boundless reverence because of it.
Where others saw a bringer of calamity, they saw a hero.
Hearing the movement behind him, Tiange’s motion paused for just a moment.
A glance back.
One look at the faces turned toward him, every one blazing with emotion.
Men and women, old and young, all of them here.
Those hobbling on crutches.
Those being helped along by others.
Those with wounds already wrapped in bandages.
Even some carrying infants in their arms.
“Lord Tiange, we’ll fight alongside you!”
“Leave these enemies to us, walk forward without worry!”
Seeing Tiange look back, someone in the crowd spoke up, and the rest, Hiashi included, nodded as one.
The cold expression on Tiange’s face softened, just slightly.
The voice that followed was quiet, but left no room for doubt.
“Stay behind me.”
The Hyūga, is it?
Then let’s settle this the way only the Hyūga can.
Tiange sheathed the sword.
Eyes fixed on the enemies ahead.
The veins around the corners of the eyes bulged outward.
“Byakugan, Pressure Wave!”
An invisible surge of force erupted from Tiange’s Byakugan and swept forward, and the carnage came again.
One Root ninja after another burst apart beneath that immeasurable, crushing pressure, each one blooming like a flower of blood.
Even the Hyūga clan members standing behind Tiange couldn’t stop their bodies from trembling.
But what filled them was far more excitement than fear.
Those still too young aside, every Hyūga who had already become a ninja was trembling from sheer exhilaration.
“The Byakugan…
can actually be this powerful?”
“Incredible!”
“It doesn’t even look like Lord Tiange needs us to act.”
“Lord Tiange has already silently accepted us being here!”
“He let us follow, and he put away the sword, switching to the Byakugan instead.”
“Isn’t that the same as saying tonight is a collective Hyūga operation?”
In sharp contrast to their excitement, the various other great clans who had rushed to the scene…
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