Finally!"
Within a dark room, filled to the depths with endless papers and scrunched-up balls, a man with white hair and fingers stained permanently black with ink stared down at his work, his heart pounding and his lips trembling.
There, before him, was a complex series of seals engraved onto a paper, one that the average Fūinjutsu practitioner would have no hopes of deciphering and one that even a Fūinjutsu Master would stare at in befuddlement. Yet, the white-haired man glanced at the seals and yelped a cry of joy.
"Once I add this Bagua here and edit it to account for the eightfold sequence…"
This man was none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin. Yet, anyone who saw him would not recognize him. Having maintained a poor diet, having conducted almost no exercise or physical activity, and having only sparse amounts of sunlight, he looked like a shadow of his former self. His skin was pale, save for his inky-black fingers, he was thinner and lean, and his previously spiky hair had somehow straightened out, falling smoothly behind his back like a waterfall.
Despite the change in his appearance, his expression held hidden delight. For so long he'd strived and worked to solve the matter of his godson's birth and now, he felt he was on the cusp of finding the answer.
These four years had not been in vain.
Jiraiya's fingers danced in the air, and ink followed, forming seals and numerous kanji that danced with every flicker and every movement. It appeared as though he were playing an invisible instrument; leading a phantom orchestra.
This was a Jutsu he'd personally devised after tirelessly breaking numerous quills and pots in frustration. His blackened fingers would forever remain that way, but in exchange, he could create and implant seals with mere movements of his fingers. Seals that would take others minutes or hours to write down could be performed with a single finger flick. It was effectively a shortcut to perform all Fūinjutsu.
Numerous sigils floated in the air one after the other, before slamming down on the paper before him. They contorted to fit the image, twisting and bending to match what came before like an amorphous jigsaw puzzle. With every additional flick, ink blasted down and slammed unto the page, continuing in this manner until —
"It's done."
The paper began to glow. Jiraiya's heart roared in his chest as he saw it. The exact same seal he'd encountered there, within the forest.
"All that's left…"
His goal was to decipher how to break the seal. The power to limit all space-time jutsu in the area made it the ultimate counter to Minato's fighting style which relied on the Flying Thunder God Technique and his Toad Summons. Only by figuring out how to disable such a thing did Jiraiya feel he would attain peace of mind.
After all this time, and all efforts, he'd finally be able to —
A large spark emerged upon the glowing paper, before fizzling out. Jiraiya paused and slowly began to examine what caused it. It didn't take him long to figure it out, but his mind refused to accept it.
"This kind of reaction only occurs with sequence seals… but…"
He stared at the paper for several seconds, before snapping his right hand. A burst of ink emerged from his fingers, and the glowing paper shattered. Upon doing so, it split out into exactly one hundred different fragments. Each one of those fragments had the kanji for: SEAL.
"...no."
His voice became barely audible.
"That's not… that's not possible… what sort of monster would be able to…"
His voice was hoarse. It sounded almost like a toad croaking. The hundred different fragments floated in the air around him, as though mocking his disbelief. He was like a man who'd found out the existence of god, and yet swore and cursed and claimed god was not real. Staring upon those hundred fragments, it was as though he were staring straight up, at the heavens themselves, scoffing down at him for being a toad in a well.
"Four… years…. for four years…"
What he felt was not mere frustration. It was not mere disappointment. It was something else. Something profound and inexplicable. Glancing at those hundred floating fragments, an urge within him almost compelled him to bow and prostrate. An urge almost told him to grab a sword and atone for his foolishness by piercing it into his stomach.
Blindly, Jiraiya stood up, waving his hand. The entirety of the room's contents, the scrunched-up balls of paper, the scrolls, everything — all of it vanished with that single wave. Banished into a space beyond space, the realm of destroyed sealing scrolls, where the laws of spacetime were unstable and chaotic.
The simple action caused him to pause mid-stride, staring at his own blackened fingers as though he was unfamiliar with the power he now wielded. A power that would have made others conceited, yet, he stared at the floating one-hundred fragments and found there was no room for conceit.
Jiraiya exited the room, leaving his apartment with his hands behind his back. It was past midnight, and he walked down the streets of Konoha, taking in the sights. He breathed in the air and gazed out into the stars, but his mind was not there. It was not present. He simply moved, as though in a trance.
Everywhere he walked, he recalled images of his past. Memories of himself and his then-rival, Orochimaru. The time they'd both painted a house while completing a D-Rank Mission and he'd splashed him with black paint. The days they'd run through the streets, hurrying to be deployed to the battlefield. That one particular nightmare of an evening, when he'd returned with the corpse of Tsunade's brother —
He saw himself in his youth and saw Minato as well, as a young, bright boy in need of guidance. He saw others, those little orphans from Amegakure that he'd taken pity on and trained. He'd not thought of them in a while. Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato… he saw them, and he saw himself, Orochimaru, and Tsunade, and then he saw another group, his student's students, Kakashi, Rin, and the one who'd died, Obito. He saw more, and more, of the same cycle, repeating itself.
And in this manner, as he walked, he continued to wander, his gaze to the sky.
Questions and doubts filled him at once. As did regrets. So many regrets. He pondered himself, he pondered the sky, he pondered the world.
Why was he here?
Why was anyone?
What was Life? What was Death? What was Hope? What was Love?
What misgivings had he? What fears had he? What regrets shall pile up, upon the end?
Glancing down at his own body, and glancing up at the sky, a strange sense of tranquility rushed through him. There were a thousand things he'd never been able to understand, that all began to unravel one after the other. At that moment, his hands behind his back, and his eyes to the sky, Jiraiya remained perfectly still.
If Zi Wuji was present, he'd have been baffled as he recognized the state Jiraiya had entered. A state of oneness with the Dao was rare even within the Rain World. It was a state where clarity and comprehension overfilled one's mind and soul, a state that removed all bottlenecks and brought about a transformative change.
Many assumed the only way to attain this state was to suffer a resounding defeat in the area where one was best confident, but this was just not true. For those stubborn-hearted, for those without the capacity for self-reflection, those with poor mental realms, suffering such a catastrophic defeat would lead to the end of their cultivation. They would be infested by a heart-devil, a simmering resentment that will build up akin to a parasite and would unleash itself upon their next tribulation, almost certainly killing them.
Jiraiya could only attain this state because he'd been properly stimulated and tempered by numerous failures and regrets throughout his life. Furthermore, for the past four years, his obsessive pursuit of fūinjutsu could be called a kind of cultivation in of itself — a single-minded pursuit of one path to defy fate, to change destiny.
The stars aligned. The energy of the world swept forth from the surrounding trees and forests, from the earth, the air, the lakes, and the rivers, and they resonated within the body of this man, this starved-looking, malnourished, filthy man.
Hours passed and dawn came. Civilians began to bustle around, only to be shocked upon seeing a man akin to a statue, standing still in the middle of the road. Shinobi were rapidly informed, and it did not take long for Jiraiya to be recognized. The matter quickly reached the ears of Minato. He and his Thunder God Squadron arrived, and upon seeing his teacher standing still and feeling the rush of natural energy toward him, Minato ordered the area sealed off, preventing access to civilians and even to shinobi without a certain clearance level.
Once Jiraiya opened his eyes once more, he saw light.
"You perfected it, sensei."
Life bloomed without limits around him. Grass grew from underneath the soil, blossoming with flowers. Energy pulsated from his body, the world's energy, stood at perfect peace with his own chakra.
This state was called Sage Mode.
And it was perfect.
Jiraiya flexed his hands. A qualitative boost of power rushed through him. The emotions of everything and everyone within a few hundred meters were clear as day. The temperaments of their hearts, their fears, their worries —
He inhaled, and the world inhaled with him. He exhaled, and nature exhaled with him.
Sage Mode was a thing he'd never been able to master. A thing he'd always needed the aid of Pa and Ma to accomplish. In his darkest hour, the answer seemd to have wandered into his mind, allowing him to accomplish it. However, it did not fill him with anything. In his current state, there was neither joy nor elation. If anything, this accomplishment felt bitter, as though it were simply a consolation prize from the universe.
"Sensei?"
"I failed."
It took Minato a single moment. "You couldn't decipher it."
"I did."
"You… did?"
"I know how to break it. But I cannot. No one can. Not in one lifetime."
Minato frowned. "Why?"
"It's an additive sequence seal."
Jiraiya flicked his fingers into the air. With his Senjutsu chakra, ripples formed in the air, mixing with ink. Exactly one hundred identical seals emerged, surrounding both of them.
"A hundred-additive sequence seal."
Minato went quiet. He stared at the one-hundred seals, his eyes alight. He swiftly examined them, yet, even as he tried, he found he could not sense a difference.
"Incredible."
Jiraiya laughed, his laugh acrid. "It really is."
"It's been a long time since I've felt like a complete novice," Minato smiled. "But I don't think even Mito-sama would be able to make such a thing. Even she thought a nine-additive sequence seal was the limit."
Sequence seals were already difficult for the average Fūinjutsu Master. A three-sequence seal composed of three identical seals which were intricately linked, and could only be broken one after the other. You'd have to break one, then two, then three, in that specific sequence in order to successfully break the entire thing. However, if you were not the one who put the seal, you had no way of knowing which was one, which was two, and which was three.
In such a scenario, trial and error was your only hope. However, each failure would reset your progress. If you accidentally broke one, then three, then two, your entire progress would be reset. It was not a problem for something like three sequences, but when it was a hundred, it was damning. If you made it all the way to a hundred, but somewhere along the line, you made a mistake, such as accidentally breaking the seventh seal before the sixth seal, you would not know until you broke the final one, meaning all that time and effort was wasted for nothing.
To make things even more difficult, it was an additive sequence seal. These were sequence seals that added the power of the previous sequence on top of each new seal. Once the first seal was broken, the second seal would gain the power of the first and become stronger, and once the second seal was broken, the third seal would gain the power of the first and the strengthened second.
A hundred-additive sequence seal meant after somehow finding the correct first seal out of the one-hundred identical seals, which possessed a 1 in 100 chance of finding it on the first attempt, and deciphering how to break it, the second seal would appear no different, but it would now gain the strength of the first seal, and essentially double the difficulty and time it took to break it.
The second seal would have the power of two seals at once. If he broke that, and through some miracle found the correct third seal, the third seal would contain the strength of the first and second, which was no different from trying to break through three seals at once, which cost even more time and effort. After that, if again, by some divine miracle, he found the correct fourth seal, that seal would contain the strength of the first, second, and third seals.
On and on until a hundred.
The seal was akin to a hundred-digit password. A hundred-digit password wherein correctly guessing one digit would double the next amount of digits you needed to guess. A person trying to crack it was inputting one digit at a time at random. There was only one correct sequence of digits, and you could not know that correct sequence of digits until you tried every possible sequence.
In theory, it could be broken.
In reality, doing so would take hundreds, if not thousands of years.
Jiraiya and Minato stood there, both silent. Jiraiya with a resigned expression, and Minato with one of curiosity and intrigue. As Fūinjutsu Masters, they and they alone understood the absurd difficulty of such a thing. Minato had not been exaggerating when he stated that Uzumaki Mito, a person with the expertise to create seals that could restrain tailed beasts, had only ever been able to create a nine-additive sequence seal, and she had stated it to be the absolute limit.
This meant whoever created this seal was someone far beyond even the likes of Uzumaki Mito, a woman considered to be an unrivaled genius of Fūinjutsu.
It toppled their understanding of the art. That was to say, even Mito could only drop to her knees in despair and beg the creator of such a thing to be her Master.
The fact that Jiraiya was not drowning in depression right now could already be a testament to his character. Any other person would have felt an indescribable level of despair. It was like an Uchiha finding some random person with a Dōjutsu that could do everything their eyes could, but a million times better.
"You need a trump card other than the Flying Thunder God Technique," Jiraiya spoke at last. "Something to make up for summoning as well."
"Sensei, I scarcely have the time," Minato shook his head. "I'm swamped as it is. Between my duties as the Hokage, and still ensuring I have enough time for Naruto and now that Kushina is —"
Minato suddenly went silent.
"What happened to Kushina?"
"I didn't want to keep this from you, because I knew how busy you were but…"
Jiraiya understood. The natural chakra in his body began to slowly dissipate, and his Sage Mode released, revealing his somewhat tired, but still, strangely warm eyes.
"How far along is she?"
"Two months."
Jiraiya smiled.
"Congratulations."
"Sensei…" Minato shook his head. "We'll be far more prepared this time. With your help, there won't be any problems."
Jiraiya nodded faintly. His attention seemed to be elsewhere. Even now, he could only see seals and scrolls, and smell ink and paper. With a fond smile, he thought of the lengths he'd gone for his godson, for his student. The depths he'd crossed, the sheer amount of time and effort he'd spent in trying to unravel that mystery. Now, he had reached the end, but he felt no satisfaction. In the end, he'd been defeated. Completely and utterly outclassed.
Yet, this was something he was glad for.
A person who could create such a thing was out of the realm of his comprehension. If they truly wished Minato harm, Minato would long be dead. There were no ifs, buts, or ands. Of this, Jiraiya was certain. There was nothing he or Minato would be able to do to change that fate.
The fact that Minato still continued to live meant that at the very least, for now, that person was not their enemy. If anything, considering the aid they'd offered, it was likely the person was an ally.
This eased the burden on his shoulders, and for the first time in a long while, Jiraiya barked a large laugh.
I truly am a toad in a well.
"I'll be leaving the village for a while, Minato."
"You will?"
"There are a few things I have to do. Things I've put off for too long."
Jiraiya snapped his fingers. Space rippled, and a familiar tri-pronged kunai emerged in his hand. However, this tri-pronged kunai was different from the one Minato often used. The kunai was pitch black from hilt to blade, but if one were to look closely, one would see it was covered with thousands if not hundreds of thousands of little scribbles. Those little kanji were so much it gave the appearance of black paint.
"Have this. Use it, in case something unexpected happens while I'm gone."
Minato swiftly examined the thousands of little kanji, his eyes growing wider and wider with each second. "Sensei… you…"
"If I can't do this much for my student, I'd be a terrible teacher."
He reached out and ruffled Minato's hair, laughing.
"Sensei," Minato warned.
"What? Because you're the Hokage I can't ruffle your hair anymore? You'll always be a little baby-faced brat to me, so don't think about changing that."
Minato felt something was different about his sensei. He could not put a particular finger on what it was. However, before he could say any more, his sensei waved his hand in the air again, and there was another ripple of space-time. A toad appeared, looking utterly baffled, before glancing around and finding out where he was.
"Huh? Was I summoned? How did'ya summon me without —"
Before he could question it. Jiraiya grabbed onto the toad and waved his hand again.
"Tell Naru-chan, I'll get him a big present for his birthday."
With those words, Jiraiya vanished alongside the toad. Minato glanced at the spot where his sensei stood, and shook his head, smiling fondly. His sensei's fūinjutsu skill was beyond comprehension now, so much so that he could trigger the effects of different types of fūinjutsu from sealing scrolls to summoning, all with finger gestures.
With his newfound mastery of Perfect Sage Mode and his Fūinjutsu skill, even Minato could not claim with absolute certainty that he could defeat his teacher.
It seemed Konoha was about to enter the most prosperous era in its history.
XXXXXA white staircase manifested overnight.
The individuals of the Hyūga Clan were befuddled to see it. No one understood where it'd come from or how it had suddenly appeared in the very center of the Main Clan's central sparring grounds. The staircase started from the bottom, exactly above a small pond, floating on the surface of the pond without so much as making a single ripple, and it ascended upwards, almost as though it were peering beyond the clouds. It was pristine, akin to finely polished steel, and had a sheen akin to glass.
Some, the older ones amongst them, sucked in sharp breaths of air as they recognized the material used to make the staircase to be jade.
Jade was rare in the elemental nations, and incomparably precious. Akin to gold, it was often used for ornamentations or jewelry, mostly by royalty. Yet, here, there was an entire staircase made of it, and it had appeared as though made from thin air.
At the very bottom of the staircase were words carved into the jade: Tempering Heaven Staircase.
The sudden appearance of the staircase brought everyone within the clan to investigate it. Young and old alike, the members of the Hyūga Clan could only stare at the marvel before them, each pondering how or where it had come from. The Elders were stirred from their rooms and the elite shinobi of the clan were summoned, each of them standing guard in case the staircase proved to be dangerous.
The fact that the staircase hovered over a pond made it seem more mystical than it had any right to be. It was a marvel, not only of architectural design but of aesthetics as well. No one had seen such a thing in the Elemental Nations before, and no one believed they'd see such a thing anywhere else.
Yet, something even stranger happened.
The staircase was massive, and it ascended almost to the clouds, yet, no one, not a single person outside of the Hyūga Clan had come to question why and how such a thing existed. People quickly left the clan to see how far it could be seen, only to discover that it couldn't be seen at all.
The staircase was only visible within the walls of the Hyūga Clan. The moment you exited the clan territory, the staircase vanished.
As if that wasn't strange enough, they quickly realized that once they got a certain distance away from the territory of the Hyūga Clan, they immediately forgot about the staircase's existence. It was as though some unknown force reached into their minds and cleared it completely after a certain point, and it was only as they reached closer and closer to the clan that the memory of such a thing returned.
Some tried to send a message to the Hokage, only to find that as soon as the word 'staircase' was written on any parchment within the clan, the paper would immediately catch fire and burn to ash.
Attempting to use synonyms or changing the words to write in code did not work either. So long as they had the intent to transmit the knowledge of the staircase, the paper would suddenly be set alight.
Eventually, the matter blew up until Hideyoshi Hyūga, the former Head of the Hyūga Clan, emerged. He glanced upon the staircase, and uttered, with a large breath of disbelief.
"So, the legends were true."
His words were not uttered loudly, but everyone heard them. They shook the entire clan. Young and old turned to him as one.
"Hideyoshi-sama, you know something about this staircase?"
Hideyoshi let out a bark of a laugh and swayed his head from side to side.
"It is something my father spoke of, only once, before his passing. A myth passed down from Clan Head to Clan Head for generations, but only on their dying breath, or left behind in a secret place for them to access after their passing."
Hideyoshi's words brought a large clamor. Even the elders, those stern, taciturn old fogies who were cynical and skeptical about everything, listened with rapt attention as Hideyoshi slowly approached the staircase, a hint of melancholy appearing on his face.
"Long ago, our Hyūga Clan was split into two branches. One branch stayed on the earth, the other, ascended the skies. They went to the moon, to inhabit it, to guard against the corpse of a powerful demon sealed away by the Sage of Six Paths."
Hideyoshi stroked his chin, his gaze seemingly far away. Others, however, were shaken. The youngest amongst them looked around each other in confusion, but the older ones, having known and heard about the legendary Sage of Six Paths, were greatly unnerved. After all, they were aware that the Sage was not just a myth. His artifacts truly existed out there in the world.
As for the matter of powerful demons, they understood even more. Not many remembered the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox and the sheer power it had these days. Tailed Beasts were as real as they were, and to claim that demons did not exist would be utter foolishness.
"To reach the moon, they climbed a series of stairs stretching beyond the clouds and above the atmosphere. Never stopping, never faltering, all in dedication to the Sage."
Hideyoshi activated his Byakugan, and glanced straight into the sky, laughing.
"It was said that doing so metamorphosed them, granting them power beyond their wildest imaginations by the Sage himself, such that they could carry out his will and forever protect the world from the demon he sealed. A prophecy was uttered, that when the demon nears its resurrection, our fellow clan members, the Demon Guardians who live within the moon, will send down the staircase once more, so we may ascend and rejoin them to begin a fight that will determine the fate of the world."
His words were akin to thunder resounding in everyone's ears. If anyone else had uttered such a thing, they'd have scoffed and laughed, but this was Hyūga Hideyoshi, the Patriarch of the Hyūga Clan. No one dared doubt his words. No one dared question them.
Hideyoshi turned to everyone, his expression grave and his eyes dark.
"This is a secret matter of the Hyūga Clan. A task left to us by our ancestors. No one outside of this clan is to know of this matter. Anyone who dares speak of it to those not of Hyūga blood will be summarily executed."
There were numerous sharp intakes of air.
"Fortunately, our fellow clan members who reside above are prudent. The Tempering Heaven Staircase possesses some quality that prevents outsiders from learning about its existence."
Hideyoshi's expression softened, and his laugh returned, louder than before.
"Do you not all see? The Hyūga Clan's roots are deeper than you know. Deeper even than the Senju and the Uchiha. For an unrivaled genius like my grandson to have been born in this era, it is an auspicious sign. He was born to lead us against this tribulation. To have us fight the battle that concerns the fate of this world."
Hideyoshi spun around, his hands clasped behind his back, a large, proud smile on his face.
"All of you, raise your heads! You are Hyūga! Your greatness awaits! Millions of lives depend on you! This burden is not a light one, but it is one we must carry for we are the only ones with the strength and conviction to carry it! We are gifted, and it is due to these gifts that we must bear this responsibility! Forgo your fears and abandon your weaknesses! Flee from your anxieties and lay to rest your search for purpose! Destiny has come knocking on your doorstep, and who amongst you dare not answer the door?!"
Hideyoshi's words reverberated throughout the entire clan. One by one, individuals clenched their fists and others gnashed their teeth. Many had their chests puff out, others suddenly had their backs straightened. Even the most cowardly members gained a sudden light in their eyes.
"Raise your heads! I said raise your heads! Look to your brethren beside you, and seek their strengths as your own! With the support of our clan members above, our brilliance will no longer be hidden! Under the banner of the sky, across the Five Great Villages and Hundred Nations, only we, the Hyūga, shall rise to glory!"
The cheers were deafening. They were ear-splitting. Everyone had been swept up. Blood boiled within the body of young youths and old crones alike. An unspoken bond had formed that forced out the most primal of roars from the throats of the shy and fervent. As one voice, one mind, one soul —
The Hyūga Clan roared.
"Hyūga Clan! ASCEND!"
As though impassioned by the flames of heaven and hell, one by one, people began to ascend the staircase, pursuing a path to the heavens.
XXXXXHyūga Hideyoshi stood off to the distance, watching with his Byakugan. He watched as hundreds of his clan members moved with a fervor and passion he'd never seen before, with a spirit and sense of purpose that utterly befuddled his mind. One by one, they raced up a jade staircase, as though attempting to wage war against the sun and sky.
Some managed to only make it a single step forward before they were blasted off. Others managed two or three before being flung backward.
Yet, even those who were flung backwards would immediately get up on their feet and once more attempt it again. Their Byakugan activated, they quickly grasped the nature of the staircase. They didn't understand how, but information flooded their mind once they were blasted off it. They knew at once that the initial steps were a test of chakra control. Only those with excellent control would have an easier time and those without would not only be flung off.
However, the longer they stayed on a step, the greater their control of chakra would become.
As soon as they realized this, dozens, if not hundreds of Hyūga Clan members rushed once more, each more eager than the last.
Hideyoshi saw old rivals and enemies within the clan reconcile their differences, becoming one unit, he saw individuals who he'd always considered to be too timid and lacking somehow grew spines in mere minutes, rushing ahead so as not to be left behind by their peers. The division between Main Clan and Branch Clan was all but forgotten as everyone put their efforts together solely on climbing those stairs.
Seeing it all, Hideyoshi could only shake his head and laugh. He continued to laugh, as someone appeared beside him. An exact duplicate of him, so perfect in fact, that even with his Byakugan activated, Hideyoshi could not tell a single flaw. Everything from the duplicate's chakra signature to bone structure was identical to his own.
"You have a gifted tongue, Neji-kun."
His duplicate vanished in a puff of smoke, and a young boy was replaced in his place.
"You honor me with your words, grandfather."
Hideyoshi snorted. "Impetuous brat. For you to tell such brazen lies with my face… were you not afraid of someone calling your bluff?"
"They wouldn't dare."
"No, they wouldn't," Hideyoshi acquiesced, laughing once more. "No one would dare."
Silence lingered between them for several long seconds.
"How did you come up with such nonsense? A split part of our clan on the moon? Protecting the corpse of a demon sealed by the Sage of Six Paths?"
"From the clan library's records. Most were incomplete and fragmented, but there was enough for the story to be believable."
"And the staircase?"
"An ordinary staircase with the transformation technique on it, sustained by a series of formations made up of stasis seals from the Clan Head Hidden Cave. The imposing height is caused by a perspective-based illusion."
"Hahahaha… you used the seals Mito-sama made?" Hideyoshi declared, then, he suddenly realized something. "Don't tell me, you also used the one on the door? The seal that allowed something to only be seen by a specific bloodline?"
"Grandfather's vision is acute."
"An elaborate illusion only Hyūga can see… and one they forget about once they leave the clan premises..."
"But they won't forget their mission," Neji said. "Nor the purpose that now drives them forward."
Hideyoshi stroked his beard. He did not say anything else for several seconds.
"You terrify me sometimes, Neji-kun."
"Grandfather?"
"None of the things you've done to create this miracle are particularly groundbreaking. It could be said that I provided you with over half of the tools, yet, the things you've done with them, I could never envision."
There was another pause of silence.
"Do you like your cousin, Neji?"
"I — what?"
"All of this is because she was abducted, isn't it?"
Neji did not answer. Hideyoshi took his silence as a confirmation.
"Hahaha… regardless of the reason, whether you wish to admit it or deny it, it is fine."
Hideyoshi's smile returned.
"Thank you, truly."
"Grandfather?"
"You've accomplished a long-held wish of this old man. I never believed I would see this day, where the entire Hyūga Clan could come together like this. To think all it took was a fabricated enemy… and an absurd goal."
Hideyoshi shook his head.
"No, I'm underselling you. Without your brilliant mind to put everything together, none of this could have occurred. So truly, thank you."
"...There is no need. I did this for selfish reasons."
There was only one selfish reason Hideyoshi could think of. Mere weeks after his cousin was abducted, he conjures an elaborate plan to strengthen the clan? Not even regarding the potent killing intent he'd unleashed when he found out she'd been taken, this was more proof than he needed of his theory.
"I see," Hideyoshi smiled. "You have my blessing."
"Grandfather, I'm afraid you're misunderstanding —"
"It is fine," Hideyoshi laughed. "I won't bring it up again."
He felt his grandson would never admit it and Hideyoshi couldn't blame him. Yet, he would not chide or reprimand him for it, nor would he bring it up further. It was closer than was typically allowed within their clan, due to concerns of birth defects, but Hideyoshi felt with his grandson's genius mind, he'd no doubt have solutions to such problems should they ever arise.
It was the start of the most glorious era of the Hyūga Clan.
And it was his greatest pride and joy, to be alive to see it. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Cheerio, Rezreep, DtPrince and 177 others