The Tenseigan hung right overhead. Although it was frighteningly large, since Ino, the Seventh Hokage, had personally stated that the Tenseigan evolved from the Byakugan, the Hyuga ninjas mostly believed it. Admiration for the strong was relatively common among ninjas; whoever had the biggest fist made the rules.
The Main House Elders valued profit and interests above all else; they couldn't bear to give up even a tiny bit, nor were they willing to assume any risk.
Young people were different. Even Hyuga ninjas from the Main House held a strong yearning for power. This was a desire carved into the very bones of the ninja profession. If one didn't even have this bit of ambition, why be a ninja at all? Go home and farm!
The Main House Elders didn't know what "sunk cost" meant, but after thinking it over twice, they could figure out Ino's follow-up move.
First, the Main House ninjas would contribute their Byakugan. The quantity of Byakugan would definitely not be enough. Waiting to accumulate sufficient pupil power would take decades or even centuries. A giant "pie" was hanging right in front of their eyes, yet they couldn't eat it. What could they do? Keep enduring?
At that point, completely releasing the Caged Bird and liberating more Byakugan would become the only choice.
These Main House Elders had fought battles of wits their entire lives. If you asked them to fight Kaguya Otsutsuki or Uchiha Madara, that would be a suicide mission—send one, die one. But fighting an internal civil war? They were experts!
Ino's thoughts were not hard to guess.
A Main House Elder spoke sternly: "Lady Hokage, the aptitude of the Hyuga clan's ninjas is dull. We do not need any Tenseigan."
Ino smiled a smile that wasn't quite a smile. "I haven't been Hokage for long, but I see that many young Hyuga ninjas are very talented. Given time, they won't need external force; perhaps they can awaken their own Tenseigan and become respected Konoha ninjas.
"I can leave a secret scroll in the Hyuga house. A Hyuga ninja who possesses a heart of compassion and trains hard can successfully open their own Tenseigan, just like the Mangekyo Sharingan."
With Ino's current knowledge reserve, opening the Tenseigan really wasn't that difficult. A heart of compassion, a heart of anger, a heart of pride—whether requiring external resources or not—she could write out seven or eight different methods for opening it in one breath based on different conditions.
The discussion in the crowd grew louder. The gold signboard of "Hokage" has been glorious from the First to the current Seventh. Even during the era of the Third, the Hokage stood in the sunlight. The Hokage's words were very effective on ordinary ninjas.
If you didn't even believe the Hokage's words, who else could you believe?
The elders looked at each other, and they all saw the refusal in each other's eyes.
This was still an overt conspiracy.
A heart of compassion? These elders knew the conflict between the Main House and the Branch House best. Raise a few strong ones in the Main House who sympathized with the Branch House, and then have them oppose the elders?
Ino's voice raised two notches. "The shinobi world is peaceful, and the worries the Hyuga clan had in the past no longer exist. Now, the outside world is incomparably vast. Recently, the birth rate has been a bit higher, but in the entire shinobi world, are there ten thousand ninjas? No, right? Every major ninja clan has profited greatly following the pace of the Great Expansion. As your in-law, I am truly worried about the Hyuga clan's current state of stagnation."
The shinobi world was too massive. After the planet was restored by the Dragon Balls, the South Continent, originally located at the southern end of the Land of Fire's sea, and the North Continent, northeast of the Land of Lightning's Kumogakure, had both turned into fertile lands.
The number of ninjas had dropped by nearly half due to Obito and Kaguya, yet the territory was now three times larger. With Ino's martial force suppressing things, the village wouldn't split, but she didn't refuse the ninja clans going out as family units to stake claims and acquire benefits.
As long as it didn't harm the village's collective interests, the outside world was huge.
Ino's visit did not achieve substantial progress. Hiashi Hyuga remained silent, and the Main House Elders stalled her with the excuse that "this matter is of great importance and needs serious study."
Putting the Hokage hat back on, Ino took her two subordinates, who were acting as background boards, to the main gate. She spoke her final words meaningfully: "Indeed, you need to consider this well. If any ninja of the Hyuga family has confusion, you can come to see me for a face-to-face talk. Farewell."
She waved her hand, and the giant Tenseigan returned to the Moon. After throwing out a pile of explosive news, she strolled away, leaving the Hyuga house to become a boiling pot of oil, with the Main House Elders sitting right in the center.
The next three days were relatively normal, but on the fourth day, a Hyuga ninja—and a Main House ninja at that—finally went to find the Hokage to make a "thought report," acting as if he was willing to abandon the clan and follow the Hokage forever.
At first, it was one or two, then it became ten or eight.
The Tenseigan represented personal interest, while the territory outside represented family interest.
There were branches within the Main House as well, with varying degrees of closeness. Conflicts of interest sparked massive contradictions.
The Main House ninjas of the Hyuga clan didn't dare to go out, or perhaps they were habitually afraid of death, using the excuse that "the Main House Byakugan cannot be lost" to squat at home every day. The Branch House had always held immense resentment and was unwilling to put in the effort.
If this continued for a long time, the result would be the Hyuga clan being left far behind by clans like Ino-Shika-Cho and Sarutobi.
The drive for profit could break through all contradictions. The Main House was not a monolith. The young Main House ninjas and those Main House members who didn't belong to the core lineage wanted more benefits. The Main House Elders, who currently occupied the majority of the benefits, wouldn't agree, and both sides began to tear at each other.
Ino hid her merit and fame deep. After Hiashi Hyuga obtained the support of a large number of clansmen, he began to take action. His political skills were flexible; he pulled some in, hit others, and leveraged force against force.
In less than three months, out of the four Main House Elders, one was seriously injured, two retired into seclusion, and the remaining one was already Hiashi's man.
The Hyuga Main House began to squarely face the problem between the Main House and the Branch House. Ino, as the Hokage, stepped forward once again, forcefully pressuring the Hyuga clan to make them abandon the Caged Bird policy.
As Hokage, she made a guarantee that the position of Hyuga Clan Head would always come from the Main House. But at the same time, the Main House would abandon the Caged Bird and abolish the original Main House Elder Council system. Referencing Konoha Village, they would establish an Advisor system with four advisors: two from the Main House and two from the Branch House.
Ino had effectively played the bad guy once regarding the Hyuga clan's issue. After delivering a slap, she naturally had to give a sweet date.
Hinata went back to her maiden home to stay for half a month.
Ino had fused eight types of power within her bloodline, and now even the Time Power was on the verge of fully awakening. Even her spittle carried the essence of Kekkei Mora. Hinata, who frequently received her saliva and had even given birth to that brat Himawari, had long since awakened the Tenseigan herself as a mother.
Hinata returned to the Hyuga ancestral home. She extracted parts of Ino's theories on the changes of Yin-Yang Release and the relationship between chakra points, the Byakugan, and the Tenseigan. Combining this with some relatively positive content about the "heart of compassion" and "heart of a hero," she formed a very theoretically complete secret book and taught it to the Hyuga clan.
Was opening the Tenseigan hard? You could say it was hard, but if you said it wasn't, then it really wasn't.
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