"Provoke a rebellion from the Branch House, have me deal with some of the rebels, and then the Main House can step in to plead for mercy."
"This way, the Hyuga clan can return to its former state."
Hiashi's face was grim. Too many members of the Branch House had already died.
If another rebellion were to happen, even if the Main House survived, the Branch House would be all but wiped out.
The Hyuga clan would be torn apart.
"There is another way, depending on whether you are willing to accept it," Orochimaru's voice echoed.
Hiashi felt a deep sense of unease.
"Please, Lord Hokage, tell me."
Orochimaru flicked his tongue out, circling his lips. "Dispel the Caged Bird Curse Seal. Abolish the system of the Hyuga Main and Branch Houses."
Hiashi replied without hesitation, "Impossible. There is no way to dispel the Caged Bird."
Orochimaru shook his head. "It doesn't have to be dispelled. Simply forbid the Main House from using the curse technique."
"The next generation of Hyuga children simply don't have to be branded with the Caged Bird seal."
Hiashi clenched his fists. "Over the years, the Caged Bird has protected us. The Byakugan has not fallen into enemy hands."
Orochimaru said dismissively, "Then just place the Caged Bird on every member of the Hyuga clan."
"Hiashi, the choice is yours."
"If you abolish the Caged Bird, this matter will be over."
"If you do not, I will only leave the Branch House standing."
Orochimaru's gaze turned frigid, and a chill ran down Hiashi's spine.
Orochimaru stared at Hiashi for a few seconds before his tone changed.
"Of course, if you are willing, I have a generous gift for you."
Hiashi didn't understand what Orochimaru meant.
Kawasaki stepped out and brought Hizashi in.
Seeing his resurrected brother, Hiashi was filled with a mixture of shock and joy.
He could see the vacant look in Hizashi's eyes and the faint scorch marks on his forehead.
Hiashi gripped the bars of the cell, his lips trembling, unable to speak a single word.
Kawasaki watched the normally stoic Hiashi, who had now completely lost his composure.
It was clear how much he cared for Hizashi, but as the head of the Main House, he had always strived to maintain an air of authority.
In Kawasaki's opinion, he was just bringing suffering upon himself.
Only now, reunited with his brother, did he understand the preciousness of family.
"As long as you're alive... as long as you're alive!"
Orochimaru said with a smile, "He might continue to live, but he could also die at any moment."
Hiashi's heart clenched with anxiety as he understood the meaning behind those words.
Kawasaki opened the cell door, allowing Hizashi to enter.
"You two have a good talk."
With that, Orochimaru left with Kawasaki, leaving the two brothers alone.
After a moment of silence, Hizashi finally spoke.
"Brother, I think this might be a turning point for our Hyuga clan..."
On the coast of the Land of Fire.
After a long journey, the members of the Uchiha clan were exhausted. After all, they were ordinary people, not shinobi.
As a result, the entire clan was resting temporarily on the shore.
Another reason was that they were waiting for ships.
With over two thousand clansmen, one or two boats would not be nearly enough.
They also had to consider the quality of the vessels.
This left them with very few options.
Nagato had not shown himself, for a simple reason:
Many factions knew that Konan was a member of the Akatsuki.
Previously leaked intelligence suggested that Obito had stolen the Rinnegan and killed the Akatsuki's leader.
If Konan were seen traveling with Nagato, outsiders would surely speculate whether he was the true leader.
For now, only Yahiko remained by Nagato's side.
Once this journey was over, all these problems could be resolved.
Although Nagato was blind, he had awakened the Kagura Mind's Eye, which made daily life only slightly inconvenient.
This was still a vast improvement over his previous condition.
He wasn't in a hurry to fix his eyes.
Kawasaki had provided him with several solutions, one of which was cloning.
However, since Nagato currently had no eyeballs, a whole new body would need to be cloned so the eyes could be harvested.
This would require waiting for it to grow to a suitable size.
Another method was to transplant someone else's eyes.
The options currently before him included those of an ordinary person, a Sharingan, and, according to recent news, a Byakugan.
Nagato couldn't help but feel that following Kawasaki came with preferential treatment.
The reason Nagato hadn't been so anxious before was that he had only awakened the Kagura Mind's Eye after losing the Rinnegan.
The Kagura Mind's Eye had been continuously getting stronger, and Nagato worried that transplanting new eyes now might interfere with its development.
Fortunately, this strengthening had now paused, and he was beginning to consider getting a new pair of eyes.
Nagato had originally wanted to clone his own eyes, as the Rinnegan had drained a massive amount of his chakra.
It was so much that even as an Uzumaki, he couldn't heal the injuries to his legs.
But Kawasaki had sent a special message, saying he had found a pair of Byakugan that would be very suitable for him.
Nagato decided to follow Kawasaki's advice and try the Byakugan.
He trusted Kawasaki.
Besides monitoring the movements of the entire Uchiha clan each day,
he spent the rest of his time with Yahiko, studying the scrolls Kawasaki had left for them.
Kawasaki had acquired all of Konoha's jutsu data, including the secrets of the First Hokage's Wood Style.
Nagato had previously witnessed many of Hashirama's battle memories and Wood Style techniques through the cellular will.
But that knowledge was incomplete. Now, with the Wood Style secrets provided by Kawasaki, he could achieve a deeper mastery.
According to Kawasaki, they needed to continuously improve themselves to face the future threat of the Otsutsuki clan.
Meanwhile, Yahiko focused on learning advanced Water Style secret techniques.
The other Uchiha clan members on the journey were also busy preparing for the future.
When not on patrol duty, they began to formulate plans for what came next.
Kawasaki had never been one for autocratic rule.
And since he had never founded a nation before, they were all venturing into uncharted territory.
Therefore, the plan was to expand upon their original village, which would make it easier for everyone to adapt.
One of the first priorities was the security team.
According to the information received, this force had already been properly established.
Next was the mission assignment system. Takuya would be in charge of this project, as he had accumulated a wealth of experience in the Sound Village.
With Tsunade remaining in Konoha, medical affairs would temporarily fall to Shizune.
Shizune was already receiving a salary higher than what Konoha offered, so there was little else to entice her.
Although she was reluctant to leave Tsunade, this new community truly needed her skills more.
In the end, everyone proposed that Shizune take the lead in establishing and developing the hospital.
The most important topic of all was the school.
This concerned the future direction of the Uchiha.
During several earlier practical combat training sessions, many members had shown an interest and even tried to write teaching materials.
The Uchiha had the advantage of the Sharingan.
The knowledge they had learned in Konoha was still fresh in their minds.
But concepts like the "Will of Fire" would certainly never be mentioned again.
To attract new residents, they would also need to provide guidance on moral and ethical education.
With Kawasaki absent, this part of the work was temporarily set aside. The main discussion focused on how the academic subjects should be structured.
They debated which courses should be taught first, what content to schedule later, and at what level of proficiency a student could skip a grade or graduate early.