A Hyūga's Gate Between Worlds

"Reiji!"

Watching as Reiji's heart was crushed, killing him instantly, the other elders were stunned, unable to believe what had just happened before their eyes.

The arrogance of the main house, coupled with the fact that even after Tanaka had "pierced" their hearts, they were still alive, made them never consider that a branch house member would dare to kill a high-ranking elder of the main house—one who held power over the life and death of the branch members.

Yet the result was clear. Tanaka had casually crushed Reiji's heart, ending the life of a main house elder.

As easily as one would crush an ant.

At that moment, the entire room was shrouded in deathly silence.

Neither Mitsuhiko nor the other elders spoke a word. Their usual lofty demeanor was gone, as was the arrogance they had displayed just moments ago.

All of their oppressive presence had vanished, along with Reiji's heart.

"You... What exactly do you want? We... can talk."

After a full minute of silence, Mitsuhiko finally broke the tension.

"Mitsuhiko, you..." Yuzuru widened his eyes in disbelief.

The First Elder of the prestigious main house—second in power only to the clan leader himself—was bowing his head to a branch house boy.

It shattered his entire worldview.

"Look at his forehead," Eito interrupted Yuzuru.

"His forehead? Where is the Caged Bird? Where did it go?" Yuzuru's gaze locked onto Tanaka's forehead, and what he saw left him frozen in place, his eyes dull, his lips muttering in disbelief.

Not even when Tanaka had effortlessly beaten five of them.

Not even when he had watched Reiji die right before his eyes.

Nothing had shaken him as much as what he saw now.

There was not a single trace of the Caged Bird on Tanaka's forehead.

Not even the faintest remnant of it.

Even when they were facing death, the main house elders had maintained their arrogance. They believed that as long as the Caged Bird existed, they still had control over Tanaka and the altered-faced Hizashi.

But the truth was now laid bare before them.

The Caged Bird had been broken.

And they all knew exactly what that meant.

"The main house is about to fall. No... The entire Hyūga clan is about to be turned upside down."

Tetsuto shuddered, his entire body covered in cold sweat.

A genius from the branch house—Tanaka—who could kill five main house jonin in an instant.

A branch house leader—Hizashi—whose strength was second only to the clan head.

And now, the Caged Bird was gone.

With such a combination, he could not imagine the tragedy that would soon befall the main house.

It was for this reason, Mitsuhiko, who had always viewed the branch house as mere servants, finally chose to lower his head.

He wanted to negotiate in order to prevent the main house from falling into an irreparable abyss.

"Talk? About what?"

Tanaka looked down at the First Elder with amusement.

"I can make the decision to remove Hiashi from the position of clan head. Hizashi will take his place. And you… you will become the next heir of the main house."

Having recognized the reality of the situation, Mitsuhiko desperately attempted to change the fate of the main house.

He had no choice.

This was the consequence of the Caged Bird.

It had granted the main house supreme power, but at the same time, it had made their numbers dangerously few.

Now that they had fallen, the main house had only a handful of remaining jonin. They could not withstand Tanaka's onslaught.

If they did nothing, the main house would be wiped out.

They would lose all their power. And none of them wanted to end up like Reiji, lying dead on the ground.

Without hesitation, Mitsuhiko chose to compromise, offering up Hiashi, the current clan head, as a sacrifice to quell the resentment of Tanaka and Hizashi toward the main house.

"..."

The other elders of the main house opened their mouths as if to speak but ultimately chose to remain silent.

Sacrificing one Hiashi for the happiness of countless main house members.

That was an exchange they were willing to make.

However, none of the remaining main house elders noticed that, at the moment they declared Tanaka as the next heir and Hizashi as the new clan head, a small dog locked in a cage nearby suddenly opened its eyes wide.

Its canine face was filled with an extremely complex expression—shock, anger, disbelief, disappointment, and resentment.

"How ironic! You always told me that everything was for the sake of the Hyūga clan. And now, for the sake of the Hyūga clan, you've become the one to be sacrificed."

Hizashi glanced at the caged dog.

There was no joy in his heart, no sense of triumph, only deep sorrow.

This was the Hyūga clan.

This was the so-called noble family of Konoha.

No wonder, since the time of their ancestors, the Hyūga had never produced a Kage-level powerhouse.

No wonder they had always lived in the shadows of the Senju and Uchiha clan.

A clan that always chose to sacrifice its own members in times of crisis had no future.

"What do you all think?" Mitsuhiko waited for their response. The skills he'd honed as a ninja now served him well in the political arena where he'd spent his later years.

What he wielded was no longer the Gentle Fist but political power.

Pride? Face? Compared to the survival of the main house, those were worthless.

"What do I think?" Tanaka met Mitsuhiko's gaze and, without hesitation, raised a kunai.

He thrust it forward, aiming straight for Mitsuhiko's eyes.

"ROOM · Amputate."

The moment the kunai struck, he let out a muffled groan.

In the next instant, his eyes became empty.

His Byakugan, like Reiji's heart before, had been forcibly extracted, suspended midair inside a translucent cube.

"You—what is the meaning of this?!"

Mitsuhiko became hysterical.

"The meaning? It means that whatever I want, I will take myself. I do not need you to give it to me. Whether it's the position of heir to the main house or this pair of Byakugan."

Tanaka exhaled slowly.

"You—" Tetsuto, struggling to even lift his head, tried to speak, but before he could finish, he was cut off.

"From now on, there will be no more main house. And of course, there will be no more branch house either. There will only be one Hyūga in Konoha—the Hyūga clan."

Tanaka's words struck like a thunderbolt, leaving everyone in the room utterly stunned.

Of course, their reactions were vastly different.

Hizashi, along with Natsu, who had just arrived carrying a meal made with Nara venison and a soup brewed with Nara antlers, were ecstatic.

Meanwhile, the main house elders lying on the ground were in a mix of rage, terror, and disbelief.

"Naive!"

"Foolish!"

"Absurd!"

Despite having lost his Byakugan and his heart, Mitsuhiko suddenly spoke again, using every ounce of his strength to let out furious roars.