Chapter 169 The Shackles of the Clan
A new and intense feeling of dread washed over Neji, the mere suggestion, the mere thought, was enough to send shudders down his spine.
"Are you crazy, Hinata?" he croaked, fear making his heart beat faster than his normally carefully controlled calm state.
"He could have killed you. He could have killed you as a warning to others. Tradition would have allowed him to do so! Tradition would have required him to do so!"
Hinata's eyes instantly became as hard as diamonds. If Neji had not experienced such rigorous training, he would have been scared away by her aura.
Suddenly, the girl standing in front of him was no longer the sister who had followed him around as a child, no longer the little girl who had snuggled into his robes and looked up at him with hopeful eyes.
Her jaw tightened. Her head was held high. Her good eye narrowed.
Neji gazed into her eyes and saw a feral lioness staring back - a powerful, noble, and angry creature, with hunting scars proudly displayed, sharp teeth sharpened from catching prey.
She had changed far beyond what Neji could have imagined, and if the evidence hadn't been in front of him, he wouldn't have believed it.
Somehow, in just one year, she had gained an incredible strength that went beyond defiance, anger, even courage.
It's determination.
"I'm not afraid of those old guys in the tower anymore, Neji," she said in a husky voice with a hint of a growl in her tone that made the hair on Neji's arms stand up.
"A clan is supposed to be a home, Neji. What kind of family forces siblings to fight each other for status, then oppresses the 'weak' with cruelty and confinement, taking their suffering for granted?"
Hinata's voice was calm and clear, filled with determination. She spoke slowly and firmly - these were not words she spoke under emotion or pressure, but words she had thought about and practiced over and over again until they were as smooth and round as stones in a riverbed.
This is what she had wanted to say a long time ago, what she wanted to say to Neji.
She still hadn't let go of his hand, having held it tightly from the beginning, and now she turned his hand over and pressed their palms together, interlacing their fingers.
Neji felt his world crumbling, wavering between his beliefs and her powerful aura; between the duty and apathy he had held for so long and this fragile new idea - maybe there was more to it - than just pain, obedience and the bitterness of low birth.
He struggled to control his breathing, trying to control the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him, to repair the cold fortress he had built around his heart.
He even felt that it was an unforgivable sin for him to even think about these things, and that a person like him should not have any other thoughts except those that he had been indoctrinated with.
But what was worse was that Hinata was smiling at him again, just like she always did; her eyes seemed to hold the whole world.
There was more pain in her eyes now—sadness, regret—and she wrapped her injured arms around him while he remained in shock and struggle.
It wasn't until the last moment that he realized what she was doing.
The bandage covering the curse mark on his forehead fell gently, revealing the shame he had been born with - it was the proof of his weakness and the shackles that imprisoned him.
"You hate me, Neji." She said softly, her voice trembled for the first time, and crystal tears gathered in the corners of her eyes like pearls.
"It's not because of what I did, or who I am, or who you are, but because my father was a little weaker than your father." She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with the back of her injured hand, preventing them from flowing down her cheeks.
Her eyes were filled with tears, fire and water intertwined, but the surging emotions did not weaken her momentum.
"I will not fight Hanabi," she told him. "She is already in enough pain, Neji. I refuse to let her fall into the abyss of struggle and hatred, because nothing more than being labeled dispensable."
The last word stung Neji deeply, his jaw clenching together in agony.
He knew, deep down, he had known this for a long time.
It had been years since Neji had thought about that night - the night he had last seen his father.
He subconsciously wrapped that memory in layers of indifference until he could recall it as if he were looking at a photo of a stranger, without emotion or attachment.
But Hinata's words made it impossible for him to remain indifferent.
Her passion, her unwavering faith, was melting the hard ice in his heart, and like a fool he watched her approach, attacking the chink in his armor.
Because that is the truth. The people of the branch family are dispensable. Every member has the obligation to sacrifice themselves for the main family, without hesitation or complaint. They are substitutes, pawns, and pawns that can be sacrificed at any time.
Neji's father was no exception.
They didn't even let him see his father one last time, and when Neji foolishly protested, their grandfather punished him the way he would any member of the branch family.
That night, Neji learned two things: emotions were weakness, to be exploited, and that no matter how terrible the pain, there was always greater pain waiting for those who defied fate. He had to accept his way of life, his fate, his role, and there was no other choice. Endure, or be sacrificed; that was his fate. That was the truth he firmly believed in.
A truth that was gradually disintegrated by Hinata and Naruto.
"I won't let them take any of us back into the branch family," Hinata continued, another blow to his conviction, this time with a hint of amusement in her eyes, almost defiant - and maybe a little smug. "If my venerable grandfather wants to take back the power he imposed on others, he can challenge me at any time."
His truth must be extremely fragile, because Hinata sat here - thin, shy, kind, naive, a complete crybaby - bruised and battered, but victorious, proving that if you work hard enough, persist enough, and fight hard enough, there will always be a third way to choose.
it's not true.
Hinata was silent for a long time. She seemed to be giving Neji a chance to breathe and digest everything he heard.
He was... grateful for her thoughtfulness.
Neji swallowed hard, trying to regain his usual calm demeanor.
He felt empty inside, as if his internal organs had been ripped out and exposed to the whole world, and Hinata didn't even say much, just simply stated what she believed in and what she was willing to do for it.
Neji didn't know what to believe anymore.
Under any other circumstances, he would have asserted that Hinata's reckless attempt at change was doomed to fail, but the duel of values - was one of the most sacred tenets of the Hyuga clan, as important as Baguazhang to the soft fist of the Hyuga.
"All values, whether leadership or obedience, inheritance or perseverance, judgment or forgiveness, depend on the mastery of Baguazhang. Any value challenge must be achieved through the corresponding mastery, otherwise, the value will be deprived. The victory of any challenge is the victory of the person who has mastered the higher value."
Ironically, the Scripture of Values is one of the cornerstones that supports the Hyuga Branch House system, but it also becomes the cornerstone of Hinata's newfound freedom.
