Chapter 320: The Purpose of the Caged Bird
At this moment, he decided to risk it all. Even at the risk of being punished by his own great-uncle with the Caged Bird, he planned to seize this opportunity.
Hiashi Hyuga, Tsunade, and Hiruzen Sarutobi all saw Neji's reaction and were all stunned with surprise. None of them could understand the thoughts of a genius like Neji Hyuga.
After personally witnessing his father being punished by the Caged Bird, Neji understood that he would never be able to escape the Caged Bird and gain freedom in his lifetime.
And when he saw his father die in place of his great-uncle with his own eyes, his heart fell into complete despair. He seemed to see his own future; in the future, he might also die to protect Hiashi Hyuga or Hinata Hyuga.
Now, an opportunity to escape the Caged Bird had suddenly appeared. Neji did not want to let it go.
Jun'ichi Hirabe laughed, stepped forward to pick up Neji, and said, "Of course, it's true."
No one present was a fool; each was as shrewd as they come. How could the thoughts of a small child like Neji be hidden from them? There was no need to ask any further; the answer was obvious.
Then Jun'ichi looked at Tsunade and Hiashi and asked, "Lady Hokage, Clan Head Hiashi, am I right?"
Tsunade's face was ashen. Hiashi, on the other hand, activated his Byakugan and glared fiercely at Jun'ichi.
After a long while, it was Hiruzen who said stiffly, "Since Neji has made his own choice, we will also fulfill our promise and will not activate the Caged Bird on him."
Hearing this, Tsunade gritted her teeth and spat out two words, "That's right."
Finally, it was Hiashi's turn. He met Hiruzen's gaze for a few seconds, then said, "Neji is my own younger brother's son. I naturally will not activate the Caged Bird."
"Haha." Jun'ichi was all smiles. He then said to Tsunade, "Hokage, to end the misunderstanding with Konoha sooner, I plan to take Neji back to the village now. I must ask the Hokage to dispatch a few Anbu squads for protection."
Tsunade glanced at Jun'ichi, turned, and headed for the Hokage tower, leaving only one sentence behind, "Fine. I won't see you off."
The matter of Neji went more smoothly than Jun'ichi could have imagined.
He was actually somewhat puzzled as to why Neji would choose to betray Konoha, to betray the Hyuga clan. It should be known that Iwagakure had also played a part in forcing his father to his death.
What Jun'ichi didn't see was the look in the eyes of the other Hyuga branch family members as Neji was being taken away.
There was no look of seeing a traitor in those eyes, only envy. Although Neji hadn't truly escaped the Caged Bird, he had at least received Hiashi's promise.
This temporary flight also made the other branch family members endlessly envious.
For all the branch family members, being able to escape the Hyuga clan was a liberation, not a betrayal.
As for betraying Konoha, in the education of the Hyuga clan, the village was never placed above the family. Since the family had been betrayed, what was there to care about the village?
In the eyes of the branch family, the Konoha higher-ups were perhaps even accomplices of the Hyuga main family, because the main family often assigned branch members to perform various missions for Konoha Village.
Thus, amidst the astonishment of Tsunade and Hiruzen, and the shame and anger of Hiashi, Neji made a choice that they found incredible.
Hiashi, Hiruzen, and Tsunade had actually never thought about what the Hyuga branch family was thinking.
Hiashi probably thought of the branch family as the main family's property. Neji, perhaps because of Hizashi, might have felt a little different in Hiashi's eyes, but he would certainly not think from the perspective of a branch family member.
Hiruzen was actually very good. He regarded the Hyuga branch family as ordinary Konoha ninjas. Otherwise, he wouldn't have said things like "hero" and "Will of Fire" to Neji.
To be fair, for Hiruzen to be able to do this was already quite good. He didn't look down on the Hyuga branch family and still treated them as normal ninjas.
But if Ishiro were here, he would say, "It's not enough." If you haven't truly thought about their situation from the perspective of the Hyuga branch family, then no matter what you do, you will never get their sincere approval.
Because what you think is right, in their eyes, is injustice, is exploitation.
Standing at the height of Konoha Village, thinking with the mind of a Hokage, then the Caged Bird is definitely a good thing.
But no one had ever asked the Hyuga branch family: "Do you want to have the Caged Bird?" No one had ever given them a choice. Therefore, all branch family members rejected the Caged Bird.
If Konoha could have explained the reasoning clearly and let the Hyuga branch family choose to have the Caged Bird themselves, then the branch family would certainly not have been so resistant.
However, these were all Ishiro's armchair strategist thoughts from the perspective of an onlooker. If Ishiro were the Hokage, he wouldn't have the mind to change the Hyuga clan's main and branch family system either.
Ishiro waited at the border for only a few days before Jun'ichi appeared before him with Neji.
Neji's arrival made Ishiro very happy. Although he was branded with the Caged Bird, there was still hope of undoing it. Wasn't Orochimaru researching it?
Ishiro still had great faith in Orochimaru's scientific research capabilities. When Orochimaru succeeded, he would just find a chance to make another trade with him.
With Neji Hyuga in hand and the payment from the Cloud ninjas also received, there was no longer any use in staying at the front line.
So Ishiro, along with Ikura, led the large army back to the village.
Ishiro did not choose to fly back directly but had his three disciples follow the army and slowly walk back. He himself used his Porcelain Release to fly within the procession with the small Neji.
Ishiro planned to conduct a round of brainwashing on Neji before returning to the village.
"Neji Hyuga, hello. My name is Ishiro, and my identity is the Fourth Tsuchikage of the Village Hidden in the Stones," Ishiro said, reaching out to pat Neji's head.
Neji did not dodge, but the expression he had when looking at Ishiro was somewhat cold.
Ishiro didn't mind; he actually felt a bit guilty. Because in a sense, he was actually the murderer of Hizashi Hyuga.
Perhaps in the eyes of others, Ishiro was just pressuring Konoha, at most wanting Hiashi to die, and Hizashi had only committed suicide for his older brother.
But Ishiro himself knew that he had been aiming for Hizashi. It was precisely because he knew Hizashi would commit suicide that he chose to pressure Konoha.
But others didn't know this. No one would have thought beforehand that Hizashi would commit suicide. Not many people even knew that Hiashi and Hizashi looked exactly alike.
"Neji Hyuga, you know that the Caged Bird restricts your Hyuga branch family and allows the main family to hold the power of life and death over you. But do you know the purpose of the Caged Bird?"
Neji did not speak.
Ishiro beckoned to a person in the procession, "Senior Koku, come here for a moment."
The Anbu Elite Jonin, Koku, who had a transplanted Byakugan, immediately walked to Ishiro's side upon hearing this.
Koku used the Byakugan well, so he had been the one using it all these years. Neither Ishiro nor Ōnoki had any intention of replacing him.
However, there was now a seal placed on the outside of Koku's Byakugan. This seal also had a summoning jutsu integrated into it. Once the Byakugan was impacted, the summoning jutsu would automatically activate and summon the eye back to Iwagakure.
Koku glanced at Neji, then bowed to Ishiro and said, "Lord Tsuchikage, is there anything?"
Ishiro said, "Activate your Byakugan."
"Yes." Koku immediately formed hand seals and activated his Byakugan upon hearing the command.
Ishiro pointed at Koku's Byakugan and said to Neji, "Do you see? This is your Hyuga clan's Byakugan."
"This Byakugan belonged to your grandfather during the Third Great Ninja War. At that time, your Hyuga clan only had two main family members: your grandfather and your great-uncle."
"Your great-uncle was in the village, and your grandfather was at the front line. So his Byakugan was coveted by the Mist ninjas. The Mist ambushed your grandfather and then obtained one Byakugan. I got lucky and obtained the other one."
After speaking, Ishiro pointed at Koku's left eye.
Seeing this, Neji's body trembled visibly. He felt it was somewhat incredible. The main family's Byakugan was stolen?
Ishiro had Koku retreat, then continued, "The Byakugan's ability is too strong, especially for large-scale warfare. But the transplantation of the Byakugan carries no risk. So without the Caged Bird, your Hyuga clan would be assassinated by ninjas from all over the world."
"Some would choose to directly gouge out your eyes and then kill you. Some would choose to raise you like livestock, having you specialize in giving them children to provide Byakugan."
"I know you are full of hatred for the Caged Bird. Although this hatred is a good thing for our Iwagakure, I still hope you can truly understand the Caged Bird and then speak with me calmly."
After saying all this, Ishiro jumped off the flying porcelain platform, leaving Neji alone to think.
As soon as Ishiro left Neji, Riori Uzumaki came over. She asked in a low voice, "Teacher Ishiro, who is that little brother?"
Ishiro looked at the curious Riori, thought for a moment, and then said, "This little brother is an orphan. His father just passed away. If you are willing, you can go and comfort him."
"Ah? Then isn't he just like Sister Moku and the others?" Riori was greatly surprised.
The "Sister Moku" she spoke of, Ishiro knew, was one of the Uzumaki clan members rescued by Ōnoki back then. It was just that unlike Riori, who had both parents, she was also an orphan.
Ishiro nodded in acknowledgment.
Riori thought for a moment, then ran to Akino's side. The two of them whispered for a while.
Subsequently, Ishiro saw Riori walk towards Neji holding a bag of something. Ishiro didn't pay too much attention.
Neji was sensitive. He was wary of a ninja like Ishiro who clearly had a purpose. Only someone as simple and sweet as Riori could better gain his trust.
Sure enough, not long after, Riori and Neji were eating and chatting together on the porcelain platform.
And it was from Riori's mouth that Neji heard about an Iwagakure that was different from his original impression.
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