Ever since Hyuga Hiashi had someone retrieve Lint's information from the Hokage Tower and confirmed that Lint was an ordinary person incapable of cultivating chakra, he believed that Hinata had lied earlier.
Her supposed "plan" to achieve something through Lint was nothing but a fabrication. Clearly, she was simply taken by his looks.
After all… Lint was just an ordinary civilian. What kind of secrets could a normal person possibly have that would interest a ninja?
Tap tap.
Just then, a dense cluster of footsteps echoed in the hall.
It was Hyuga Hizashi, arriving with a group of branch family members.
They had all come to witness how Clan Head Hyuga Hiashi would handle Hinata and Lint.
Before long, the clan elders and even some of the main family's younger members had also gathered, their eyes urging Hiashi to quickly punish Hinata for her recent disappearance—one that had cost the clan significant time and resources to search for her.
Their gazes also strongly implied that Lint, a weak civilian who couldn't even mold chakra, should be driven out of the Hyuga Clan at once.
Under the weight of countless eyes, Hyuga Hiashi felt tremendous pressure. He finally took a deep breath and spoke to Hinata:
"Hinata, give up on the idea of keeping Lint around. And tell your father—where exactly did you go yesterday when you disappeared?"
Hinata slightly shook her head. "I don't want to."
Hiashi was momentarily stunned, then glanced discreetly at Hizashi and the group of branch family members behind him before his tone grew stern.
"Don't want to?
"Hinata, you're still young and don't yet understand the truth of this world. There are many things in life where personal desire means nothing!
"Take your uncle, Hizashi, my twin brother. Just because he was born a few moments later than me, he had to be branded with the Caged Bird Seal and accept the fate of leading the branch family. Do you think he wanted that?
"And the branch family members—do you think they willingly accepted the Caged Bird Seal?
'Don't want to'—sometimes, personal will is weak and meaningless…
"Hinata, leave Lint immediately and come stand beside me."
The clan elders found these words pleasing and nodded approvingly.
Meanwhile, Hizashi and the other branch members showed complicated expressions.
Indeed, just as Hiashi had said, there were some things that couldn't be changed simply by "not wanting" them.
For example, none of them had wanted the Caged Bird Seal. But their unwillingness meant nothing. The technique had never cared for the will of those it was branded on—it was forced upon them.
All branch family members were fated to be caged birds.
And once the eternal Caged Bird Seal was imprinted, it would remain until the moment of their death.
According to the clan elders, this was to prevent the Byakugan from being stolen from their corpses by members of other clans…
Now, even though Hinata was the eldest daughter of the main family and potentially a genius—perhaps even someone who could become a future powerhouse of the Hyuga Clan—at this moment, she was in no position to defy the clan leader's authority.
This was not just the adults' belief. Even among the crowd, the young Hyuga Neji—himself branded with the Caged Bird Seal—shared the same thought:
Being marked with the Caged Bird Seal was the inescapable fate of branch family members.Likewise, for the eldest daughter of the main family, it was equally impossible to associate with a commoner. That, too, was Hinata's fate.
…
But just as everyone was certain Hinata would quietly obey Hiashi's orders, she shook her head again, her short black hair swaying slightly—clearly showing her refusal.
"In that case… don't blame me for what happens next, Hinata."
Hiashi clapped his hands. Hinata's former bodyguard, Hyuga Fuyu, stepped out from the crowd.
"Hyuga Fuyu, you've long been Hinata's bodyguard. I'm ordering you to use your full strength and bring her back."
"Yes, sir."
Hyuga Fuyu immediately dropped to one knee, then stood and turned to Hinata, giving her a faint smile.
"Hinata-sama, last time I failed to stop you from running off with Lint. But this time, I won't let you slip away again."
In Fuyu's eyes, she was already a full-fledged chunin, having passed the exam.
Hinata, though a genius, was only five years old.
Her chakra reserves probably weren't even as high as an average genin.
Given that, Hyuga Fuyu believed she had the win in the bag.
Tap tap.
Like an arrow released from a bow, Hyuga Fuyu shot forward, ready to subdue Hinata with her bare hands.
But at that moment, Fuyu noticed Hinata had taken a strange stance—one unmistakably that of the Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms.
Impossible!
With her chakra reserves, Hinata shouldn't be able to use that technique—she shouldn't even be capable of performing the prerequisite Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.
Even as that thought raced through her mind, Hyuga Fuyu shifted tactics and formed a hand seal:
Clone Technique!
Poof!
Two identical Hyuga Fuyus appeared midair, attacking Hinata from both flanks.
"Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms."
Hinata's chakra surged, and a massive Eight Trigrams symbol appeared on the ground as her small hands lashed out like lightning, striking the real Fuyu.
One strike.
Clone shattered.
Six strikes.
Fuyu's chakra flow was partially disrupted as several tenketsu were sealed.
Twelve.
Twenty-eight.
Fuyu's chakra flow came to a grinding halt.
…
By the sixty-fourth strike, Fuyu's tenketsu were fully sealed, her chakra completely blocked. She collapsed like a wet noodle, thoroughly defeated.
As she fell, she saw Hinata still raising her hand for a sixty-fifth strike. In that instant, she realized the truth:
Hinata had truly mastered the Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms—and with Fuyu's current abilities, she couldn't even withstand the sixty-fifth blow.
Meanwhile, Hiashi, Hizashi, and the gathered Hyuga clansmen stared wide-eyed at the scene.Hinata had really mastered the One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms?!
Even if she had, where did she get that much chakra to use it?
Byakugan activated!
In an instant, veins bulged at the temples of every Hyuga member present.
Through their Byakugan, they could see Hinata's chakra reserves—already at the level of a typical chunin. That made one thing clear:
Hinata was a true prodigy.
Not only had she mastered one of the Hyuga Clan's ultimate techniques at such a young age, but she also possessed chakra reserves on par with seasoned ninja.
But precisely because of that, it was all the more difficult for them to accept that a girl like Hinata would show interest in, let alone want to keep, a mere civilian.
Hiashi turned to his younger brother.
"Hizashi—your turn."
Hizashi hesitated as he looked at the five-year-old girl with her short black hair.
"Is this… really appropriate? If I go all out, Hinata might get hurt."
Hiashi replied coldly, "There's nothing inappropriate about it. It's time she learned that there's always someone stronger, always a sky beyond the sky. As for getting hurt—Hinata is destined to become a ninja. A few injuries won't kill her. Staying home to rest might even do her some good."
Receiving Hiashi's approval, Hizashi launched himself forward like a shot, simultaneously hurling a volley of kunai at Hinata's non-lethal zones.
Then he saw it—Hinata had taken a familiar stance, the signature start of a Hyuga Clan secret technique:
Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation!