Chapter 81

"Outrageous! How can an outsider join the Hyūga Clan!" an extremely grumpy old man with white eyes exclaimed as he slammed the desk of my office

"Time changed, Honoshi... The Warring States Period has been over for a while, don't be so narrow-minded to prevent your second son's happiness just because his wife isn't someone from your Clan." I retorted as I looked up at him since I was busy with the paperwork

"The Hyūga Clan has always married between themselves, why would it change today? More importantly, what right do you have to tell us what to do? Hokage or not, you are not part of our Clan!" he declared as his facial veins bulged since he couldn't hold his anger

"Your Clan? I'm not part of it indeed, however, Hizashi is not only one of my direct and most trusted subordinates, but he's also my student." I exclaimed as I slowly got up from my seat and was now looking down on Honoshi since our height difference was quite large

"And who enabled him to perfect your Eigh Trigrams Palms Technique? Not only did he succeed the Eight Trigrams Two Hundred Fifty-Six Palms when he was still a teen, but he was also capable of performing the entire Eight Trigrams Three Hundred Sixty-One Palms, something that was never done before, heck, it was done by a 'mere' member of the branch family." I added as I couldn't help but have a large smile on my face, mocking the old man in front of me that wouldn't last a single second against his second son

"You..! Hmph, It doesn't matter how strong Hizashi is, as a member of the Branch Family, he's destined to serve the Main Family and it will never change." he said as he backed up a bit and started to smile, surely thinking that he won the debate

"Pft..." I first let out as it made him frown before I continued "Pfhaha! I didn't know that getting older made people dumber!" which made Honoshi's face turn completely red

"Seriously? Do you truly believe that a threat such as using the Cursed Seal you branded on all members of the Branch Family would work?" I said as I was still chuckling a bit before adding "Did you know? The Cursed Seal you are using was a gift from the Uzumaki Clan a long time ago." as I recovered my seriousness while Honoshi looked at me with a surprised expression

"Quite an incredible Fūinjutsu... Hundreds of years ago, that is." I declared as I suddenly moved my arm and pressed his forehead with my finger, making him scream in pain as he fell on the floor

After a while of having an old man painfully scream and squirm on the wooden floor, he finally stopped and slowly got up as he mumbled "W-What did you do to me..?"

The moment he finally raised his head, he suddenly stopped moving as he was now facing his reflection inside of a crystal mirror.

"See? Honestly, the Cursed Seal fit your forehead pretty well." I exclaimed as he was shivering from anger, fear, and incomprehension

"But don't worry, such a simple Fūinjutsu can be canceled just like this." I said as I snapped my fingers and the Cursed Seal vanished as if it never existed

"D-Did you already cleansed Hizashi's..?" Honoshi inquired as he was exhausted and had difficulties standing

"Hizashi has been freed from the cage you forced upon him for years now, something he deserved." I first said before adding "And you know, he could easily kill your whole Clan in a single night if he wanted, but as much as he hates you, he will never do so."

While a young Itachi was capable of killing the whole Uchiha Clan in the canon, the same could be said for Hizashi, even more since he evolved his Byakugan when I gave him the Eye Medicine Plant, making it sometimes change from the well known white color to a beautiful golden.

'Talking about Itachi, I didn't interact with him yet' I thought as the Uchiha boy was born around four years ago

I will cure his sickness at some point, he's too talented to die young.

As the old man in front of me was still struggling to make a decision, I sighed and declared "Hizashi told me to convey those words to you if you refused, so listen closely."

"If I cannot live the rest of my life with the woman I love, I won't hesitate to leave the Hyūga Clan and even name behind. Call me a traitor if you want, but I can promise you that I will never be seen again by anyone from the Hyūga Clan." I repeated word for word what Hizashi told me when I met him about his wedding

"Also, just for your information, Hizashi's to-be wife is Rōran's princess and their future queen, as well as the daughter of an Uzumaki. This means that she along with her potential children are under my protection, and not as a Hokage but as the Senju Clan leader since I swore to keep all survivors safe... And you don't want to be my opponent, trust me." I finally added as I didn't mind threatening him since I had the power to do so, and not politically speaking

After a long awkward silence inside of the room, Honoshi finally answered "I... I cannot take such a decision, not since I gave Hiashi the position of the Hyūga Clan's leader."

Since I waited for him to say that, I snapped my fingers and canceled a Fūinjutsu that was on our left, revealing Hiashi who had been listening and watching our interaction since the beginning.

"H-Hiashi?!" Honoshi exclaimed as he never sensed anyone else's presence inside of the room even with his Byakugan

"It's enough father, I also believe that my brother should have the right to live with the one he fell in love with, regardless of her origins." Hiashi said with surprising maturity and insight considering that he was only twenty-four years old

"B-Bu-" Honoshi tried to say but was interrupted by Hiashi who said "No 'but' father. Our use of the Cursed Seal was a mistake in the first place... How many members of our Clan weren't able to express their full potential? How can we consider ourselves the 'strongest Clan in Konoha' like you keep on asserting if we stay stuck to the old times' traditions while Clan such as the Uchiha keeps on getting stronger and stronger? We are only making it worse, causing distrust between the members of the main and branch families which will inevitably end up with our demise."

"I agree with Hokage-sama father... Time changed, and so should we." Hiashi finished declaring as his father was looking at him completely dumbfounded

"This... Unifying the whole Clan will be difficult even as the leader because many if not all members of the Main Branch won't agree." Honoshi replied as he was still doubting the abolishment of their tradition

"Whoever disagrees shall seek me out and win against me in a battle, after all, what right do they have to go against my order if they are weaker than me?" Hiashi declared as he was convinced that no one in the Hyūga Clan would be able to win against him, well, except Hizashi

"I see... Fine, I will no longer interfere with any of this, do what you want." Honoshi declared before leaving the room with still some remaining anger in his heart

Hiashi only looked at his father's back with a sorrowful gaze but then sighed and looked at me before saying "Thank you Hokage-sama for allowing me to be present for this... Forced interaction by my father."

"You're welcome." I first replied as I kindly smiled before adding "I'm glad that you choose such a path for your Clan, it will only be for the best."

"I hope it will." Hiashi declared before bowing down as he gestured me farewell

Once I was finally left alone in the office, I finally sat back and mumbled "So, Hizashi, what do you think?"

The moment I said so, another barrier seal of mine was canceled and revealed Hizashi standing behind me who exclaimed "I'm more than happy with Hiashi's answer."

While my mind was thinking that I just created a secret family reunion, I replied "Hm, he has matured well, just like you... After all, while he felt jealousy when you were both young because of your difference in power, he since replaced such feeling with respect, a feat that proves his worth as a Clan leader." as I turned my chair to face him

"Thank you, Yuichi-sama." Hizashi said as he kneeled down

"Don't worry about it, I told you that I would help you without any second thoughts." I replied with a smile as I motioned for him to get up

"Also, hum, there's one thing I want to ask, Yuichi-sama." Hizashi said as he was scratching his cheek with one of his fingers, slightly embarrassed

"It's about the Eight Trigrams Palms' two most advanced parts I taught you?" I said as he stopped fidgeting and replied "Y-Yes! I want to know if I have the right to pass them to the Hyūga Clan, when the current internal conflicts are over, of course."

"Mmh, sure, they are yours to begin with since I am not part of your Clan... However, while the Eight Trigrams Two Hundred Fifty-Six Palms can be taught to those who are capable of perfecting the previous part, you should keep the Eight Trigrams Three Hundred Sixty-One Palms as a Kinjutsu and only be taught by someone who already mastered it, like you." I explained as we both knew how dangerous the full technique was for both the user and the target

While using the full technique greatly strained the user even when perfectly used, it could have dangerous repercussions on their body if they try it too soon, as for the victim well... Not only does it cripple them forever, making them unable to use chakra from this point onwards, but it would also slowly kill them until their initial reserve of chakra runs out.

A fate that could be worse than death for most shinobi.

"Yes, Yuichi-sama!" Hizashi finally replied, glad to know that he would be able to marry Sāra, although it would need to be at Rōran

"Good, you can leave now." I said as I had too much paperwork to take care of and was now a bit late on my schedule

'Seriously, why do the Hokage have to take care of such issues?' I thought as I had to take care of everything relating to Konoha be it shinobi kind of work to civilians' daily needs and requests

*Meanwhile, on another clone's POV*

"Stay still for a bit longer." I muttered as I was doing some mechanical work on a red-haired boy who was laying on an operation table

"And... Done, try to get up and move around." I said as the boy in front of me nodded and did as asked while looking at his new body

"How is it?" I asked as I was looking at Sasori with interest since he seemed to be handling his artificial body pretty well

"Mmh, I feel fine... Thankfully there's room for improvement since it's a prototype." the cold puppeteer replied as he revealed many weapons hidden around his body to see if the mechanism worked but didn't use them

"Well, the alloy making this body is good enough, the 'human' portion is still lacking, and the weapons, as much as they are better than most, are not sufficient." I said as I was glancing at Sasori from head to toe, taking notes in my mind

The body in front of me was looking just like a teen Sasori, with the same skin color and hair, if not for the visible joints like most puppets had.

His body was made of stainless steel, unlike the usual wooden puppets, partly because the only user of Magnet Release was Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, which meant that only one shinobi could nullify Sasori's current body, making the pros overwhelming's the cons.

He was pretty much resistant to most Lightning Release attacks because of how poorly conductor stainless steel was, though A-ranked and more Lightning Jutsu would deal quite a lot of damage.

He's immune to most Fire Release techniques because of his body's great heat resistance and was only affected by Water, Wind, and Earth Releases when they are used in a piercing fashion.

Unfortunately, he still had a weakness near his joints as they were the easiest place to damage and cut.

To counter such 'weakness', I gave him the technique used by Mukade back at Rōran which allowed his puppet body to reconstruct itself when damaged by using a large amount of chakra.

While this wasn't perfect since Sasori only have enough chakra to rebuild himself entirely once IF he didn't use a speck of his chakra, we planned to use Natural Energy as an alternative which meant that he had to learn Senjutsu.

We also searched for a way to secure his 'core', which was his heart and the only part left from his human body that was currently used, his body resting inside a pod in Sasori's room within the underground laboratory so it wouldn't rot.

To do so, I created a small 'box' that kept his beating heart, a box that was combining not only my Crystal Release with a powerful Fūinjutsu but also a Space-Time Jutsu that allowed him to live through his puppet without the need of being near it, making his main puppet the one who had to use chakra threads since his mind was kept within.

And this box was kept in the most secure place in the world: Shiromari's pocket dimension-like belly which could only be opened by me, or Shiromari.

This meant that Sasori wouldn't die if his 'main body' was obliterated or sealed away, and our end goal was to make multiple 'main body' puppets that will use different kinds of weapons or also alloy to make them versatile depending on his foes.

He still had special puppets such as Seno and Hiruko who retained the original body's Kekkei Genkai, something that we couldn't simulate on his main body.

Also, it wasn't possible to transfer his mind into puppets using someone else's dead body.

"I'm eager to test myself." Sasori muttered as he grabbed some clothes I prepared to cover himself

"I will send you out for a mission by the end of the week, just tell me what you think should be improved first when you come back." I explained as I wasn't worried to send him alone on an A-ranked mission and was eager to know the results

And even if he ended up in a tough spot, I inscribed a one-time use seal on his body that allowed him to teleport inside of Shiromari so he wouldn't lose this body and the puppets he carried.

Needless to say that Sasori achieved his goal of immortality, though he still craved improvement to his puppets, always finding ways to make himself harder, better, faster, and stronger.