Chapter 154: The Third: “how Could I Possibly Be Sinful?”
Inside the Police Force Headquarters.
Uchiha Fugaku, who blocked Uchiha Ikeizumi and questioned him with a grim expression, successfully drew the attention of a group of dejected Hyuga Main Family ninja.
“What for? Obviously, to apprehend a criminal villain.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi calmly met Fugaku’s gaze, stating indifferently, “Thirty-four members of the Hyuga Main Family will face penalties, with the highest being twenty years of imprisonment and the lowest a few months.”
“Oh, right.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi paused, and under Uchiha Fugaku’s stunned gaze, he said coldly, “There are also two corpses from the Hyuga Clan. If you have time, you can arrange for someone to deal with them.”
At this moment, Kijiro, who was following closely behind Uchiha Ikeizumi, added, “Meow, sending one person is enough. Because those two corpses only have heads left, meow.”
Uchiha Fugaku: “…”
What exactly happened?
Fugaku was completely bewildered.
The Main Family Elder Hyuga Mei, who was leaning on a cane with a somber expression, pondered the situation as it unfolded. He could clearly see that Uchiha Fugaku, the Uchiha Clan Leader, seemed to have some friction with Uchiha Ikeizumi.
That makes sense.
It is rumored that Uchiha Itachi, who will destroy the entire Uchiha Clan in the future, was killed by Uchiha Ikeizumi.
In such a situation.
How could Uchiha Fugaku possibly show a friendly face to the killer of his son? The fact that he didn’t erupt in anger was purely because Uchiha Itachi was in the wrong; after all, clan annihilation is too extreme a challenge to the bottom line of morality.
Hyuga Mei suddenly tapped his cane lightly, drawing Fugaku’s attention.
Logically speaking, to avoid suspicion, the Hyuga Clan should distance themselves from the upper echelons of the Uchiha Clan.
But he couldn’t worry about that now; he didn’t want to spend twenty years in Konoha Prison. He was already seventy or eighty years old; would he even live that long if imprisoned for twenty years? Wouldn’t he die in Konoha Prison?
As the former-former head of the Hyuga Clan Main Family, now a Main Family Elder after retirement.
If he were to die in Konoha Prison…
His lifetime of fame would be ruined!
Realizing he couldn’t remain silent, Hyuga Mei coughed and said to Fugaku, “Ahem! Clan Leader Fugaku…”
“This is a trial of absolute justice, and it is also the Third Hokage’s will, meow.” Kijiro glanced at Hyuga Mei with contempt, directly interrupting him, and then unceremoniously said to Uchiha Fugaku, “Uchiha Fugaku, are you going to be an enemy of Lord Ikeizumi’s absolute justice and also an enemy of Konoha’s Will of Fire?”
Hyuga Mei and Uchiha Fugaku’s expressions froze simultaneously.
Damn it!
It’s this ninja cat again!
Hyuga Mei was so angered that he felt like cursing. His sinister gaze swept over Kijiro. He did not expect this ninja cat, emboldened by its master, to glare back at him without any regard for social hierarchy.
“…The Third Hokage’s will.” Uchiha Fugaku suddenly felt a bit cornered.
He had stormed over to block Ikeizumi precisely to prevent the Third Hokage from misunderstanding the Uchiha Clan.
But who would have thought.
It wasn’t just Uchiha Ikeizumi targeting the Hyuga Main Family.
The Hokage also wanted to suppress the Hyuga Main Family, and this time he was using Ikeizumi’s iron-fisted methods to do so!
Uchiha Fugaku was instantly awkward.
Caught between a rock and a hard place.
“Captain Fugaku, please excuse us.” A calm voice reached Fugaku’s ears. A Police Force ninja approached and said to Fugaku, “We still need to cooperate with Lord Ikeizumi to record these convicted criminals of the Hyuga Main Family.”
“If Captain Fugaku truly has nothing to do, you can look through past accumulated case files and see if you can solve a few old cases. In those ancient cases, the Uchiha’s justice may have been delayed, but it cannot be ignored just because it was delayed.”
The speaker was a Special Jonin from the Police Force. When he turned to speak to Uchiha Ikeizumi, his attitude changed.
“Lord Ikeizumi, please rest assured, we will record everything correctly and will not misrecord the sentence of any villain!”
A trace of admiration appeared on his face.
And from his constant talk of “justice,” it was clear that he belonged to the group of Police Force ninja who pursued absolute justice.
The number of such people was increasing within the Uchiha Clan, especially after Uchiha Ikeizumi displayed the legendary Susanoo of the Uchiha Clan and forcefully killed Uchiha Itachi.
Hyuga Mei: “…”
Seeing this scene, Hyuga Mei realized that Clan Leader Uchiha Fugaku might have less authority within the Uchiha Clan than Uchiha Ikeizumi.
He glanced at Hyuga Hiashi, who was often silent and had been pushed to the point of no return.
Then he looked at Uchiha Fugaku, who remained silent despite being spoken to so harshly by his subordinate.
He was completely disheartened.
…
Night fell.
Hundreds of members of the Hyuga Clan Branch Family gathered, even children as young as three or four years old were present.
Whether it was the Branch Family’s twisted sense of humor or because they still gave some face to the Main Family, a few remaining Main Family members who hadn’t been taken away were also invited.
Among them… were Hyuga Hiashi’s two young daughters, mostly consisting of weak women and children.
Seven-year-old Hinata Hyuga’s small face was full of worry, with tear marks that were hard to conceal at the corners of her eyes. She nervously lowered her head, holding her younger sister Hanabi Hyuga, who was a few years younger than her, completely afraid to look up at any of the Branch Family members.
She had already learned from a Main Family member about the Hyuga Main Family’s predicament and that her father had been apprehended by the Police Force.
This left Hinata very confused, unable to understand why the Hyuga Clan had become like this in just one afternoon.
“Young Lady Hinata, no matter what they say to you later, do not engage with them, and do not initiate any conversation.”
A Main Family ninja sighed and said quietly to Hinata with a tired expression, “If anyone speaks ill of your father, do not refute them. These are not the same times; your father will not be able to protect you for the next ten years. I, by myself, cannot contend with so many Branch Family members.”
This Main Family ninja was the only “surviving” Special Jonin of the Hyuga Main Family.
He hadn’t expected that he, who was originally just an insignificant figure in the Main Family, with low presence and few relationships, and who could not possibly use the Caged Bird Seal against the Branch Family,
would inexplicably become the pillar of support for the Hyuga Main Family.
Before Clan Leader Hiashi left, he had also instructed him to protect Young Lady Hinata and Miss Hanabi.
This put him under immense pressure.
“Mhm…” Hinata nodded slightly, and then asked somewhat confusedly, “Will Hanabi and I still be members of the Main Family in the future?”
“I don’t know either.” The Main Family Special Jonin shook his head with a complicated expression.
At this moment.
A short figure walked over and sat down next to Hinata without a word. When the Main Family Special Jonin saw who had arrived, his expression immediately changed slightly, and he spoke the newcomer’s name.
“Neji Hyuga…”
Everyone in the entire Hyuga Clan knew that it was Neji Hyuga who had implicated Uchiha Ikeizumi in this matter. To the Main Family ninja, Neji Hyuga was naturally the “culprit.”
At this moment, Neji Hyuga’s expression was quite complex. He said, “I didn’t know before that some people in the Hyuga Branch Family are similar to some people in the Main Family. Today I realized that what they care about is not equality between the Main Family and the Branch Family, but who has the right to be the Main Family of the Hyuga Clan.”
“Some people in the Branch Family, they do not resent their destiny of being enslaved, nor do they resent the cage that imprisons them.”
“They resent that they are not members of the Main Family, that they do not have the right to enslave others, and that they do not have the right to imprison others.”
Neji Hyuga slowly exhaled, and at his young age, this was all he could fathom.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t know how to explain why things had turned out this way.
“Neji Hyuga, this is the result of your choice.” The Main Family Special Jonin said with a stiff tone, “You truly should feel regret.”
“I do not regret it.”
Neji shook his head.
He turned his head and gazed at the Main Family ninja, whose expression was one of astonishment, and said, “This simply proves that the sin hidden within the Hyuga Clan has not been thoroughly purged. Within the Hyuga Clan, not only the Main Family harbors sin, but a portion of the Branch Family also shows signs of falling into the abyss of sin.”
Neji strongly viewed the Hyuga Clan from Uchiha Ikeizumi’s perspective.
He scrutinized the Hyuga Clan with the extreme judgment standard of absolute justice.
Finally, he uttered a few words.
“It means they didn’t kill enough!”
As these words were spoken, the bewildered look in Neji’s eyes had largely disappeared.
Without needing to ask others, Neji found the answer—his stance should not be on the side of the Hyuga Branch Family.
Because by siding with the Branch Family, he would inevitably lean many of his thoughts and logic towards them. This would cause the correct scales to tip.
This would not be absolute justice.
…
Konoha Prison.
Hyuga Hiashi never expected to be wearing a prisoner’s uniform one day. He rubbed the extremely coarse fabric of his clothes and then cast his gaze inside the dim and damp prison cell before him.
The faint smell of mildew lingering in his nostrils made Hyuga Hiashi sigh deeply.
In fact.
It would be impossible to trap him in a prison like this.
Hyuga Hiashi had at least ten methods to escape Konoha Prison.
The problem was, he could not bear the consequences of escaping.
In Hyuga Hiashi’s mind, many words spoken by Main Family members before their imprisonment, unable to contain their emotions, still echoed.
–“Hiashi, you are the clan leader of the Main Family. Why do you always have a look of hesitation today? Your concessions have not earned the forgiveness of that Uchiha brat; instead, they have made him more aggressive and have rounded up the entire Main Family!”
–“Clan Leader Hiashi, our Main Family can completely use the lives of the Branch Family ninja as a bargaining chip to force Uchiha Ikeizumi to give up targeting the Main Family. Why didn’t you issue this order?”
–“Lord Hiashi, I am going to be imprisoned by an Uchiha madman for a full nineteen years! After nineteen years… after nineteen years, I will probably be fifty or sixty years old…”
–“Hyuga Hiashi, as the clan leader of the Main Family, do you have no sense of protecting the Main Family members? How could we have been so blind as to choose you as the clan leader?”
–“Heh heh, after today’s events, perhaps neither of your two daughters will have the Caged Bird Seal carved on them. You’re not considering that, are you?”
“Phew…”
A look of deep shame flashed across Hyuga Hiashi’s face. He truly had not fulfilled his responsibilities as clan leader.
He had indeed failed all the Main Family members.
Every word spoken by some of the Main Family members whose mental fortitude had broken was something Hyuga Hiashi could not refute. He knew he had no right to refute and could only bear it silently.
Hyuga Hiashi sat cross-legged on the cold ground.
He fell into deep silence.
…
“Hiruzen!”
Koharu Utatane, who was working overtime dealing with official duties that night, saw Sarutobi Hiruzen when she directly barged into the office in a fit of anger.
Koharu Utatane pushed open the door and asked Sarutobi Hiruzen, “How can you indulge Uchiha Ikeizumi to this extent? Even if you want to suppress the Hyuga Main Family, you can’t do it this way, right? At least not by using his absolute justice!”
Koharu Utatane took a deep breath and said earnestly, “Once you over-rely on Uchiha Ikeizumi’s absolute justice, you will be influenced by his black-and-white extreme way of thinking.”
“Have you forgotten how much pain his extreme justice caused Konoha? I don’t understand why you and Homura did this.”
After Koharu Utatane finished speaking, her aggressive and imposing posture finally eased slightly.
Sarutobi Hiruzen tapped his fingertips on the desk.
His expression showed a hint of weariness as he said, “In Konoha now, besides Ikeizumi, who else can be used?”
“Moreover…”
“Even if I don’t make the best of a bad situation, would I be able to stop it if I sent people to intervene? If I stop it today, what about tomorrow? The day after tomorrow? The day after that? Eventually, I will be too late, so it’s better to just let Ikeizumi have his way this time.”
Koharu Utatane frowned, “Hiruzen, I just hope you can distinguish between using and relying on.”
“Don’t forget…”
Koharu Utatane cautioned, “Uchiha Ikeizumi’s attitude towards you has always been impolite. Perhaps in his eyes, you are no different from Danzo or Uchiha Itachi. The only reason he hasn’t acted is because you’ve always had a group of Anbu by your side.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen was silent for a moment. He did not refute Koharu Utatane’s words.
Because he also felt that Ikeizumi might have been targeting him for a long time.
However, speaking of which.
As the Hokage, how could he possibly harbor sin?
“You’re overthinking it.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen said.
…
On the other side, a clan meeting of the Hyuga Clan commenced.
It was more or less as Neji had guessed; within a short span of half a day, several different factions had emerged among the Branch Family.
The leaders of some factions were highly respected Branch Family Elders, while the leaders of others were powerful Branch Family Jonin.
They openly began to argue during the clan meeting.
Neji Hyuga, kneeling on a tatami mat, watched as many Branch Family members revealed their rather ugly faces. Neji found their expressions somewhat familiar, much like the faces of some arrogant Main Family ninja.
Watching the farce before him, Neji felt deeply disappointed.
He quietly stood up. With everyone else kneeling, his movements were particularly conspicuous.
He successfully attracted the attention of a group of Branch Family members.
A Branch Family Elder, who had been arguing heatedly with someone just moments before, forced a smile at Neji, “Neji, you are the great contributor of the Hyuga Main Family today, you…”
But before he could finish speaking.
He was directly interrupted by Neji Hyuga, who had a cold expression on his small face.
“What you want is not justice at all.”
“What you want is only Main Family power.”
Neji’s childish voice resonated exceptionally clearly in the clan meeting room.
“Justice will be watching you.”
“You’re on your own!”
He stood up and left without hesitation, not concealing the disappointment on his face.
He paid no mind to the stunned expressions of the other Branch Family ninja.
…
…
PS: I went on a long trip today… after sitting on the high-speed train for a long time, my head was buzzing all day, and my eye pressure was high. I was dizzy and disoriented. I’ll try to update more tomorrow if I can.
