Chapter – 328 What actually happened?

"Sigh… Bird Cage…?" – Kuroto muttered thoughtfully.

'Bird Cage' may be a problem for the ordinary members of the Branch Family. It may be a cage on their destiny but that's no longer the case with Kuroto.

For Kuroto, Bird Cage Juinjutsu amounts to nothing.

Because the moment he activates his Tenseigan, the Bird Cage Juinjutsu will deactivate for him.

Of course, this is not a permanent solution, and Kuroto is really regrettable that up until now this is the only solution he has found, but it makes no difference for him.

But Kuroto has never dared to look down on Bird Cage Juinjutsu as a whole, nor has he even done anything openly that would anger the elders.

Why so?

It's simple actually. Bird Cage Juinjutsu may be ineffective on him, but that's not the case for Yui. If she is controlled with the 'Bird Cage' and is used as a hostage, then besides annihilating the entire Main Family Kuroto can't really think of any other effective countermeasure.

Yui didn't seem to notice Kuroto's thinking and said, "Anyway, Hizashi-sama also said that since you are a member of Anbu so the people of the Main Family can't directly touch you, even if they have some doubts, they will have to go to Hokage-sama first. So, as long as you stay careful, you should be fine."

Kuroto nodded with a sigh.

He has long understood the methods of those geezers.

Living carefree life under the protection of the Branch Family, they have developed the habit of controlling the weak and fear hardship.

Previously, Orochimaru attacked the Patriarch, but because of Orochimaru's sensitive identity, the elders of the main family dared not do anything, they were even willing to sacrifice the prestige of the Patriarch of the Clan.

Then there was Watanabe's incident, if not for Kuroto's intervention and solving the situation in a manner that made the incident seem completely unrelated to the Hyuga Clan, the elders of the Clan would have sacrificed Hizashi without a second thought.

Additionally, everyone in the clan is aware of the Byakugan that is with Ao of Kirigakure, but because of the diplomatic issues between the two nations they did not dare to send anyone to Kirigakure secretly and bring back that stolen eye.

All the above incidents highlight the hypocrisy of those geezers. They put up a strong and rigid front, suppress the people of the branch family but when it truly comes down to it, they are willing to sacrifice the people of Hyuga Clan to ensure their own living, to ensure their own rule.

As long as the external pressure is enough, they don't have any bottom line, and Kuroto even thinks that they wouldn't hesitate to even sacrifice the Patriarch.

Therefore, Hizashi-sama's speculations are not unreasonable. So long as Kuroto does nothing extraordinary for some time, his Anbu identity is his protection.

Seeing Kuroto's distracted look, Yui was more worried, she thought that Kuroto didn't pay attention to anything she said, "Kuroto-kun… Kuroto-kun…?! Were you listening to what I said just now?"

Kuroto smiled and while gently patting Yui, he said, "Of course, I heard everything loud and clear. Don't worry, I will be fine, Hizashi-sama has also said that if the elders want to do anything they must first go past Hokage-sama.

So, they wouldn't find it easy. The Anbu team I am part of is the strongest Anbu team there is, and Hokage-sama would be unwilling to let something happen to me without any solid evidence."

Yui nodded, she does trust and understands Kuroto's abilities.

Over the past few years, no matter how troublesome things Kuroto-kun has encountered, he has solved them easily. His strength and status have also improved over the years. Nobody speaks anything openly, but she is very clear that Kuroto-kun has become sort of a leader of the younger generation among the Hyuga Clan.

Moreover, he is also counted among one of the most genius shinobi of his generation, in the same rank as Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Shisui.

In terms of influence too, Kuroto has a pretty good relationship with the two most talented Uchiha of the younger generation, including Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi.

Then his mentor-student relationship with the previous Miko of Land of Demons also came to light not long ago.

As an Anbu, he further holds high influence. So overall, Kuroto is quite strong both in terms of personal strength and also in terms of political strength.

As such, touching him carelessly is no longer an option, that's why even the Patriarch of the Hyuga Clan values Kuroto very much.

And therefore, he asked her to warn Kuroto of the possible events that might put him in some trouble.

At this time, Kuroto spoke, "Anyway, I will be fine Yui. All I ask is that you be careful."

Kuroto's words broke Yui out of her thought, and she nodded with a genuine smile. Looking at those eyes, Yui only said, "I will be fine as long as you are safe Kuroto-kun. Your well-being is the most important thing to me!"

Kuroto sighed and hugged her close.

Yui didn't resist and laid next to Kuroto. With her head resting on Kuroto's arm, she slowly drifted into sleep.

With Yui sleeping, Kuroto too tried to sleep but couldn't because of the various thoughts coming to his mind.

He can't help but think of the whole thing Yui told him about.

Kuroto's target of suspicion was obviously that 'traitor' who helped Watanabe sneak inside the Clan. The other party seemed to have mastered a Spiritualization Technique.

But this also confused him, since the other party has mastered the 'Spiritualization Technique' he should be able to kill the Elder and the guards without the need of snake's venom, or rather he should be able to sneak inside the Forbidden Section without any need of killing the guards and the elder.

"Snake…?" – muttered Kuroto with a frown, "Why use a snake to kill when you can kill using hundreds of other ways? Is it possible that Orochimaru is also involved here? Or does the other party wants to transfer the blame to Orochimaru and thus lead the investigation to lead to failure?"

If the blame is really transferred to Orochimaru, then the Elders of the Clan wouldn't dare to make a move against Orochimaru, so Kuroto can't rule out that possibility.

As for the reason why Kuroto didn't consider himself as the target?

Well, he just didn't, Kuroto has a very reasonable explanation. He doesn't use snakes, nor does he use snake venom. And most of the people within the clan are aware of it. This was also once the object of great discussion. When people of the Hyuga Clan heard that Kuroto doesn't use Snake techniques despite being Orochimaru's subordinate and disciple they were highly surprised.

When asked why he doesn't?

All Kuroto said was, "I don't find them interesting enough…"

And this sentence will work in favor of him.

Anyway, what Kuroto cares about is the other party's purpose.

"Why would the traitor do such a thing? What did he expect to get from the Forbidden Section? Was it something related to the Cage Bird?" – muttered Kuroto in doubt.

Kuroto is of course unaware of Bird Cage Juinjutsu Scroll hidden inside the Forbidden Section. How will he? It's not like he has ever been there in the first place, nor was there any information about this in the original story. And those who are aware of that scroll will obviously not tell him.

Therefore, his mind turned towards other possibilities, "Is the traitor looking for other opportunities he can exploit?"

In the original story, the traitor coordinated with Kumogakure and framed the Hyuga Clan, which led to the death of Hyuga Hizashi. And nothing else happened. But here, there is another attack on the Elder and two guards.

Perhaps because Hyuga Hizashi was sacrificed, the traitor realized that there was no point in doing anything anymore. If even the blood brother can be abandoned, then is there any point in revenge?

Sigh, whatever may be the case, this is another one of those butterfly effects.

…

Inside of one of the houses within the Hyuga Clan Compound.

In a dark room, a figure sat on a chair and took out a scroll from his bag.

The scroll looked very ancient and its paged were yellowed.

The figure didn't care about these things, and he focused his attention on the text.

The figure was lost in the text, and after reading the first scroll completely he was lost in thought.

What was recorded in the scroll was the origin of the Hyuga Clan's Main Family and Branch Family system.

Such a system has existed since the beginning but there was no such thing as the Cage Bird Juinjutsu that branded and bound the Branch Family to be the servants of the main family.

It was only after the Hyuga Clan suffered a cataclysm that among the surviving members of the Clan, the Patriarch that was chosen at that time, worked with other Shinobi of the Hyuga Clan, with the help of some of the Uzumaki Clan Shinobi and finally created the Cage Bird Juinjutsu that could protect the Byakugan from being gouged out by others.

In other words, the origin of Cage Bird Juinjutsu is based on a catastrophe that the Hyuga Clan once suffered.

And the text did not end there, there is also an explanation as to how the original Juinjutsu didn't have anything that would allow the people of the Main Family to control those of the Branch Family.

They didn't have such power.

But with the passage of time, things changed. As the generations changed, and so did the situation of the Warring States Era, and the patriarch felt the need to have some control over the lives of the members of Branch Division, as once they are kidnapped by enemies, extracting intelligence becomes very easy.

So, the condition of controlling the life and death of the branch family members was added to the Bird Cage.

And then the situation changed, some people like the taste of power and control over the life and death of other humans. Some people of the Branch did not like this fact, and they tried to resist, now not everyone can be killed, as that would lead to the extinction of the clan, so another condition was added, the condition to punish.

With this nobody would be able to pose an opposition.

Along with that several more changes were made, and the original Juinjutsu evolved into the current Cage Bird Juinjutsu.

Making the members of the Branch Family eternal servants of the Main Family. With no control over their life and death. Making them nothing more than glorified noble slaves.

After reading the entire scroll a question came to the person's mind, "What was the cataclysm that the Hyuga Clan faced?"

There was no description of that in the scroll.

Not even the slightest mention of it. Just what exactly happened that made Hyuga Clan suffered so much and left them with no choice but to resort to developing a Juinjutsu to ensure the safety of their clan?

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