Chapter 113: Handle Gently, Dismantle the Caged Bird

Chapter 113: Handle Gently, Dismantle the Caged Bird

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With nearly all Security Department members mobilized, not a single rioter involved in the mass disturbance escaped. The Security Department's prison cells were soon filled to the brim.

Meanwhile, Kakashi's side also smoothly helped Hiashi Hyuga suppress the internal rebellion.

After dealing with the clan's internal matters, although it was already late at night, Hiashi Hyuga still came to the Hokage Building.

Before entering the Hokage office, Hiashi Hyuga felt very apprehensive. Although he had sent his children to the Uchiha compound and relayed information about the Hyuga elders as soon as he sensed something was wrong, ultimately, it was still Uchiha Douhuan's Hokage faction that cleaned up his mess. Therefore, it was impossible for the Hyuga to emerge from this incident without paying some price.

When Hiashi Hyuga walked into the Hokage office, Uchiha Douhuan was unhurriedly maintaining his ninja sword.

Hearing Hiashi Hyuga enter, Uchiha Douhuan didn't even lift his head, merely focusing on oiling Jirai at his desk.

Seeing this, Hiashi Hyuga's heart tightened, but for now, he could only lower his head and wait for Uchiha Douhuan to speak first.

Uchiha Douhuan finished maintaining the ninja sword, returned it to its sheath, then stood up and placed it back on the sword rack in the office before returning to his seat and looking at Hiashi Hyuga.

"It's so late. What business brings Clan Head Hyuga to my Hokage office?"

"Lord Fifth, I have failed in managing my subordinates, leading to several traitors emerging from within the clan who betrayed from the inside out. Therefore, I have come specially to plead guilty," Hiashi Hyuga said after bowing respectfully.

"Is that so? Then, how did Clan Head Hyuga deal with those traitors?" Uchiha Douhuan asked.

"I have already sealed the chakra of the main culprits and handed them over to the Security Department, awaiting Lord Hokage's judgment," Hiashi Hyuga replied.

Uchiha Douhuan looked deeply at Hiashi Hyuga for a long moment before a smile appeared on his face. Although Hiashi Hyuga and Uchiha Fugaku could be considered powerhouses of the same generation in the village, in terms of being a clan head, Hiashi Hyuga was far superior to Uchiha Fugaku. At the very least, he was able to make timely decisions in such situations.

Honestly, if Uchiha Fugaku had made a decision earlier like him back then—whether it was directly recruiting forces and stockpiling resources to fight the village, or directly dealing with those radicals and submitting to Sarutobi Hiruzen—the Uchiha clan wouldn't have faced its predicament.

"So, Hyuga Kazuteru and the others participating this time was solely due to their own ambitions, is that right?" Uchiha Douhuan looked at Hiashi Hyuga and said.

"But they are, after all, Main House elders of the Hyuga..."

"Lord Hokage need not consider this matter. If necessary, the Hyuga will gouge out their Byakugan and strike their names from the clan registry," Hiashi Hyuga stated without the slightest hesitation.

Uchiha Douhuan glanced at Hiashi Hyuga. This old fellow probably wanted to do this long ago.

From the intelligence Uchiha Douhuan could obtain, it wasn't hard to see that after Hyuga Hizashi's death, the position of Hyuga Branch House head fell into the hands of Hyuga Kazuteru's faction. This suggested that the Hyuga elders' hands weren't clean regarding Hizashi's death either.

"Hehe, Clan Head Hyuga is able to consider the village to such an extent. The Hyuga clan is truly worthy of being the village's mainstay," Uchiha Douhuan chuckled. "However, Clan Head Hyuga must still take this as a warning. After all, if anyone in the village can completely control a private army that only obeys their own orders, it adds many troubles to the village's administration, don't you agree?"

"Yes," Hiashi Hyuga nodded.

Hearing Uchiha Douhuan's words, Hiashi Hyuga's heart also sank. It seemed this Fifth Hokage intended to target the clan's Caged Bird system.

Indeed, any ruler with a normal brain would find it hard to tolerate an armed force within their domain whose life and death were entirely in someone else's hands and completely under that person's control.

Previously, due to the existence of the Caged Bird system, the Hyuga clan had never entered the village's upper echelons, merely guarding their own little patch of land. Thus, even if the Hokage faction wanted to interfere, they couldn't find a reason.

But this time, those idiots led by Hyuga Kazuteru were completely blinded by the lure of the Hokage position dangled by Utatane and Mitokado, handing the justification right into the Hokage's hands.

Regarding the clan's Caged Bird system, Hiashi Hyuga also had very complex feelings. Personally, as Hiashi Hyuga, this system was one of the reasons his twin brother walked the path to death.

But as the Hyuga Clan Head, the system's greatest beneficiary, if he were truly asked to abolish it, firstly, he lacked the ability, and secondly, he was genuinely a bit reluctant. After all, with this system in place, unless faced with a situation like this time where several Main House factions united to force his hand, his position as Clan Head was completely unshakable.

Even in the future, as long as he didn't make major mistakes, the position of Clan Head would continue to pass down among his descendants, just as he had received it from his father.

But now, Uchiha Douhuan's meaning was clearly that he intended to target the clan's Caged Bird system.

"Elder Hyuga, according to tradition, each generation of Hokage personally takes a three-person team as disciples. Before taking office as Hokage, I already accepted Elder Fugaku's second son as my disciple. So for the other two, I plan to choose from his peers," Uchiha Douhuan said. "I see that child Neji has good talent. I intend to accept him as my disciple soon. What does Clan Head Hyuga think?"

Hiashi Hyuga's pupils contracted. He almost instantly understood Uchiha Douhuan's deeper meaning. This move by Uchiha Douhuan was much more ruthless than directly ordering the Hyuga clan to abolish the Caged Bird system.

Although the Hyuga clan currently had leverage held against them, a Hokage forcibly interfering in the internal affairs of a village ninja clan would itself leave grounds for criticism.

But now, Uchiha Douhuan suddenly proposing to take Neji as his disciple was something no one could find fault with.

After all, the Hokage accepting talented young people from the village as disciples was a tradition dating back to when the First and Second Hokage jointly took six disciples, including the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen.

The Third Hokage also continued this tradition, taking the Sannin as his disciples. Although the Fourth Hokage died early, he had also taken a three-person team as his direct disciples before taking office. Now, Uchiha Douhuan bringing up and proactively continuing this tradition seemed perfectly normal.

The problem lay in the fact that beneath this tradition existed another unspoken rule: the Hokage's disciples were qualified to inherit a portion of their teacher's political assets. In other words, becoming the Hokage's disciple meant having the qualification to potentially become Hokage in the future.

This was also why Sarutobi Hiruzen encountered little resistance when trying to push Jiraiya into the position recently.

Logically speaking, Uchiha Douhuan accepting a Hyuga child as a disciple should be a good thing for the Hyuga clan. But the problem was, the person Uchiha Douhuan had chosen was a member of the Branch House.

Becoming the Hokage's disciple meant having the possibility of becoming Hokage. Never mind whether he *could* become Hokage; the position itself carried political significance.

Once Neji became Uchiha Douhuan's disciple, the Caged Bird on his forehead could no longer exist.

Otherwise, how would outsiders view the Hyuga Main House? Holding the life of a future Hokage candidate in their hands, were they perhaps trying to become the village's éminence grise? At that point, the Hyuga would likely find themselves in an even more troublesome situation than the Uchiha faced previously.

However, even if Neji's Caged Bird was removed and he was exceptionally promoted to the Main House, it would still be something difficult for the Hyuga clan to accept.

After all, the Hyuga clan had no precedent for removing the Caged Bird from a Branch House member. Even during the Warring States period, when the Main House was short-handed, they only selected talented children from the Branch House who hadn't yet received the Caged Bird seal to be promoted into the Main House.

Once marked by the Caged Bird, always marked by the Caged Bird – this was why the system had persisted until today.

And now, once this precedent was set, would the other Branch House members remain so obedient to the Main House's commands?

More importantly, once Neji became part of the Main House, if he were to easily rally a large number of Branch House members by offering the removal of the Caged Bird as a condition, the Caged Bird system would likely exist in name only before long.

It could be said that Uchiha Douhuan had silently placed two poisoned cakes before the Hyuga clan.

Cold sweat broke out on Hiashi Hyuga's brow. While hesitant, he was also thankful that he had sent his children to the Uchiha immediately, distancing himself. Otherwise, with Uchiha Douhuan's methods, truly playing the Hyuga clan to death wouldn't require much effort.

As for directly refusing Uchiha Douhuan's proposal to take a disciple, if this incident hadn't occurred, Hiashi Hyuga might have had that option. But now, the Hyuga clan was involved in what amounted to a coup. The Hokage handling it gently was already showing mercy beyond the law. To now refuse the Hokage's goodwill in accepting a disciple would be like an old man eating arsenic – courting death.

[So be it. Consider it compensation for Hizashi.]

Hiashi Hyuga sighed deeply and nodded, "In that case, on behalf of the child Neji, I thank Lord Hokage for his great favor."

"Clan Head Hyuga, please don't say that," Uchiha Douhuan chuckled lightly. "Guiding the talented children of the village, leading them onto the path of the Will of Fire, this is also the duty of the Hokage, is it not?"

"Lord Hokage speaks truly," Hiashi Hyuga said.

"I have always believed Clan Head Hyuga to be an intelligent man. However, I must still remind Elder Hyuga of one thing: I don't wish for my disciple to have some messy things on him during the apprenticeship ceremony." Uchiha Douhuan stared intently at Hiashi Hyuga. "Understand?"

...

(End of Chapter)

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