Chapter 213: Sakura Enters the Hidden Sound!
Hiashi fell silent. He dismissed everyone and, accompanied only by Hizashi, walked toward the Memorial Stone. There, many new names had been added, both from the Main and Branch Families.
Hiashi closed his eyes, tears falling silently.
After a long time, when Hiashi appeared before the clansmen again, he summoned all surviving Hyuga members. In front of the ruins of the Hyuga mansion, under the gaze of countless angry, suspicious, or numb eyes, he made a move that shocked everyone.
Thump.
Hiashi Hyuga, the once high-and-mighty head of the Hyuga Main Family, fell to his knees, his forehead slamming heavily onto the cold stone slab.
"I have failed the ancestors of the Hyuga clan. I have failed all the Branch Family members bound by the 'Caged Bird' and suffering deeply!"
His voice was hoarse, filled with pain and struggle.
"The 'Caged Bird' system is cruel and unjust! I, Hiashi Hyuga, as the head of the Hyuga Main Family, admit the grave harm the Main Family has caused the Branch Family over generations! For my past stubbornness, indifference, and all my wrongdoings, I repent to you!"
Neji watched this scene, shock in his eyes. He never thought there would be a day when his proud uncle would kneel and apologize to all Branch Family members.
Hiashi raised his head and slammed it down again.
"I have failed Hizashi. Your sacrifice is my lifelong shame! I have failed all the clansmen who died under this unjust system! I have failed Neji, making you endure pain you should not have borne from a young age!"
"If your resentment has nowhere to go, then direct it all at me alone!"
Hiashi's voice trembled with a hint of relief. "Spare the remaining Main Family members. Let all the sins be borne by me, the former Main Family head, alone!"
Dead silence.
After a brief silence came an even more violent outburst.
"Now you know you were wrong? It's too late!"
"You think a simple apology can wipe away generations of our blood and tears?!"
Amidst the angry curses, someone threw the first object. A rotten egg smashed accurately onto Hiashi's forehead, yolk and white streaming down messily. Immediately after, more objects rained down: rotten vegetable leaves, stones, clumps of mud…
"Brother!"
After all, he was his brother. Hizashi wanted to step forward to stop them, but Hiashi raised a hand to stop him.
"Let them vent, Hizashi." Hiashi closed his eyes, letting the filth hit him. "This is… what I deserve as the Main Family head."
Hizashi looked at the scene with mixed feelings. He hated Hiashi the Main Family member, but also loved Hiashi, his brother born just a few minutes earlier.
"Father," Neji walked to Hizashi's side. "Do you think… this is enough?"
Hizashi looked at his kneeling brother, then at the angry clansmen, and whispered, "I don't know… However, Neji, hatred cannot be dissolved by hatred. The rest depends on whether he can prove his repentance with actions."
He straightened his back, standing motionless, bearing the century of pent-up anger alongside his brother.
"Father!"
Hinata and Hanabi cried out, wanting to rush over, but were held back by clansmen.
"Clan Head—"
Some Main Family elders watched the scene with complex expressions. Finally, an elderly Main Family member walked out trembling, knelt beside Hiashi, and bowed deeply.
"We Main Family members all share in the sins of the past—"
"We share them too!"
More and more Main Family members silently knelt, bearing the Branch Family's anger with their leader.
Hizashi stood aside, his Byakugan scanning vigilantly to prevent any truly lethal attacks.
His brother had made his choice. This one-sided venting lasted all night.
When the first rays of dawn pierced the darkness and shone on the ruins of the Hyuga mansion, Hiashi and the Main Family members were still kneeling there. Covered in filth, haggard, yet no one retreated.
Hinata and Hanabi had long broken free and were kneeling beside their father, using their slender shoulders to share the heavy burden of guilt.
The anger of most Branch Family members seemed to have dissipated considerably after this night of torment. Looking at these formerly high-and-mighty Main Family members now humbled into the dust, the hatred in their hearts seemed less sharp.
And they all understood… this couldn't go any further. Konoha had just experienced a great disaster and was rebuilding. Punishment was acceptable, but if they truly started a civil war, Konoha's high command would not sit idly by.
Finally, after deliberation among several senior Branch Family representatives, they proposed the final condition:
Main Family members would leave with nothing, be expelled from the ancestral grounds, and all property would be confiscated to quell the Branch Family's anger.
Hiashi agreed without hesitation.
With the tacit approval of Konoha's high command, the Hyuga Main Family members, led by Hiashi, silently walked out of the mansion they had lived in for generations. They headed to the outskirts of Konoha, to a small temporary settlement specially approved by the Hokage, to recuperate and start from scratch.
The rift remained, but at least the large-scale bloodshed on the surface was temporarily quelled.
Minato watched the retreating backs of the Hyuga family and sighed softly. He knew the path to rebuilding the Hyuga clan had just begun.
…
Sakura Haruno followed Orochimaru, stepping for the first time into the village—or rather, the city—he had built single-handedly.
The clay walls and dark tiles, the ancient scrolls of Konoha—those familiar marks were completely torn apart here.
Towering metal spires pierced the lead-gray sky, with arcs of eerie blue energy dancing along their structures. Cold steel replaced all "warm" building materials. Alloy pipes were exposed like veins, spreading chaotically yet precisely to every corner of the settlement. The low rush of liquids and the hum of machinery constituted the unique heartbeat of this city.
Standing at the entrance of the Hidden Sound, Sakura felt like a tribesperson instantly thrown into a futuristic metropolis. Everything in her vision exceeded the knowledge she had gained over more than a decade.
Giant cultivation tanks stood silently like a forest, eerie blue light shining through the thick glass walls. Inside churned unknown viscous liquids, with pulsating biological outlines faintly visible. Countless dazzlingly precise instruments worked quietly, occasionally emitting soft ticks—evidence of the boundary between technology and life being probed again and again.
She stood frozen. "This place—"
The ninjas of the Hidden Sound were completely different from the image in her memory. Some girls in white lab coats, Soul Gems flickering coldly on their chests, busied themselves before giant lab benches covered in control panels and cables, their movements brisk and precise. They seemed to be preparing to launch something capable of flight.
Countless steel armors and identical-looking people shuttled constantly through the city, adding bricks and tiles to this ever-expanding steel jungle.
Everything here proclaimed that the rules of the ninja world were being rewritten by a brand-new power.
Orochimaru watched her dazed expression, a smile of ambiguous meaning curling his lips.
"Welcome to the Hidden Sound, Sakura."
"Here, you will see a brand new world."
"Regardless of what you want to show me, you'd better remember your promise!"
"Naturally."