Chapter 141: The Burial Ground of the Byakugan

"Yuto Hyuga, watch your tone," Danzo said sternly, staring at him. "Every decision made in this room must consider the bigger picture!"

"Bigger picture?" Yuto retorted, unfazed. "The name Minato Namikaze is the bigger picture."

Bang, bang. Hiruzen Sarutobi knocked on the table. "Danzo, Yuto, that's enough from both of you."

Danzo gave Yuto a sinister look but said nothing more. It was clear that such conflicts would continue to arise, especially when Minato Namikaze became the Hokage. The clash between the old and new orders would become even fiercer. Fortunately, these were just the growing pains of change.

Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe, not planning to intervene too much, and waved everyone out of the office.

Yuto left the Hokage building and went to the Senju Clan's backyard. Using summoning jutsu, he went to the Shikkotsu Forest. Meiko's body floated in a preservation tank. Yuto carefully took it out and placed it on a wide tree branch, using skin restoration medical techniques to maintain the body.

Being submerged in the preservative solution for a long time had discolored the skin. Anyone with a keen eye would notice something amiss. Yuto had to ensure Meiko looked lifelike, preferably with a bit of a healthy flush.

Meiko's meeting with the Hyuga team occurred two weeks before the new year. According to the timeline, it was half a month until the "transaction day" he had agreed upon with Hiashi. Yuto hadn't heard any rumors, clearly indicating that Hiashi had kept the matter a secret, even from his own clan. This kind of unscrupulous act of digging up one's family graves certainly couldn't be publicized.

After a long time, Yuto stopped and inspected Meiko's body, nodding in satisfaction. The skin had been restored, and he had even added some subcutaneous fat. Meiko no longer looked emaciated but rather plump. Before using the body next time, a bit of skin coloring would suffice.

"Where can you find a plastic surgeon with my aesthetic sense?" Yuto muttered to himself, storing Meiko's body away.

...

A hooded man stood before a giant tree, opening a hidden mechanism and entering the trunk. A torch suddenly appeared, illuminating Hiashi Hyuga's face under the hood, casting shadows that made him look like an indistinct devil. The old man holding the torch chuckled eerily, his laughter grating and sounding like a broken-voiced night crow, perhaps from long isolation.

"Clan leader, have you reached the age of death as well?"

"Don't joke around. I'm just here to take something and leave."

"This is the burial ground of the Byakugan. Besides me, only countless corpses remain."

The old man was extremely ancient, his skin as wrinkled as decayed trees. Despite living in a subterranean tomb devoid of living companions, his mind was sharp as lightning.

"Clan leader, do you want the corpses of our clan members?"

"Yes," Hiashi said plainly, quickly adding, "As the clan leader; I have that right."

"Yes, clan leader, you certainly do." The old man turned and walked ahead with the torch. "Follow me, clan leader. Don't look around or wander off; countless eyes are watching us."

Hiashi shivered involuntarily. In the boundless darkness, it did seem as if thousands of gleaming Byakugan were observing them.

Due to the old man's extreme age, he moved slowly, almost like crawling. Hiashi followed, initially filled with anxiety, but gradually he calmed down, feeling almost reverent.

"Why is our clan's most important sanctuary built under this giant tree? And why are there so many wooden statues along the way?" Hiashi asked in the darkness, confused. "I thought I was heading to the Senju clan's sanctuary."

The old man laughed again. "When I was very young, my grandmother told me, 'Our Hyuga clan's ultimate destiny is closely tied to a tree.'"

"My grandmother was a rare kind of woman, strong and wise, surpassing most men in the shinobi world. She trusted her strength and disliked knowledge that transcended the realm of ninjutsu. Yet, she was deeply fascinated by this saying, often repeating it to me."

"What happened to her in the end?" Hiashi asked softly.

"She died, killed by the wood release of the Senju clan, fulfilling that saying."

Hiashi was silent. He knew that when the old man was active in the shinobi world, the shinobi village system hadn't been established. It was common for people of that era to be killed by the Senju.

In their heavy, indistinct footsteps, they reached a broad platform. Countless coffins were inserted into the ground, each containing the body of a Hyuga clan member.

"Feel free, clan leader."

Hiashi nodded and took out a sealing scroll, sealing thirty bodies into it.

"Done," Hiashi said, with hidden excitement in his voice.

They retraced their steps, the old man still leading with the torch. Perhaps out of excessive happiness or some other reason, Hiashi suddenly asked, "How is life in the tomb?"

"The same."

"What do you mean, the same?"

"Everything is the same," the old man said calmly without turning back. "Outside, inside, it's all the same. Our Hyuga clan has been just a giant lifeless tomb... ever since the Caged Bird seal appeared."

Hiashi's voice turned cold. "Are you questioning our ancestors' decisions?"

"The ones older than me are all lying here. Even if I question, no one can refute me, right?"

"The Caged Bird is a powerful protection measure," Hiashi scoffed. "Because of it, the Byakugan doesn't fall into enemy hands, allowing our clan to stand proud for a thousand years. It is the blood bond of our clan!"

"Bond?" The old man was noncommittal. "Just now, you took thirty bodies, all branch members. Each coffin has a number indicating their date of death, all poor souls who died in the 6th to 10th year of Konoha."

"If you ever met them, you should call them uncle or aunt."

"But you didn't hesitate or show any gratitude when sealing their bodies, like a foolish thief entering a treasury."

"Bond? What a laughable analogy..."

They didn't speak for the rest of the journey.

Bang. The secret door opened again. Sunlight poured in as Hiashi walked out expressionlessly. The door slowly closed, isolating him from the old man once more.

"You are wrong. The Caged Bird is not wrong. The Hyuga clan's glory is built on this curse mark!"

As the door closed, Hiashi suddenly spoke. He heard the old man sigh.

The mechanism locked, and the burial ground of the Byakugan once again sank into the earth.

Hiashi stood for a long time until the dew fell on his eyelids, jolting him awake.

"You are wrong," Hiashi muttered softly. As the last word fell to the ground, his figure vanished.

"You, once called 'Creator of Revolving Heaven'... are now just an old man."

"Continue to live as the pitiful tomb keeper."

"I am the one who is right."

(End of Chapter)