A Hyūga's Gate Between Worlds

Aoi's parents activated their Byakugan without hesitation, instantly sensing the changes in their vision and the surge in their ocular power.

Before the two excited parents could kneel down or express their gratitude, Tanaka had already carried Aoi in his arms, and vanished from his original position, as if traversing through space and time, and reappeared at the entrance of the clan's ancestral hall.

This teleportation, surpassing the speed of light, left all the Hyūga clansmen in absolute shock.

"So fast!"

"This is far beyond the capabilities of the Body Flicker!"

"Could it be a space-time ninjutsu?"

"I heard that jonin Minato could use the Flying Thunder God."

"Does this mean that Tanaka-sama not only developed a technique to break the Caged Bird but also created a space-time ninjutsu similar to the Flying Thunder God?"

"Wait! Look at her forehead! Just like Tanaka-sama, her Caged Bird is really gone!"

"It's true! Tanaka-sama has broken the Caged Bird!"

At this moment, even without activating the Byakugan, the more than 300 branch house members present could clearly see that the Caged Bird on Aoi's forehead had completely disappeared.

Every Hyūga clansman unconsciously clenched their fists.

"Yes."

"As you can all see, the Caged Bird that has shackled the branch house has been broken by me."

"Which means—"

Carrying Aoi, Tanaka stood before the entire Hyūga clan, demonstrating his space-shifting technique and establishing his absolute authority in an instant.

"The era of the main house is over."

He swept his gaze across the crowd, his words shaking the entire clan.

As if to confirm his statement, members of the branch house began carrying out reconstructed corpses from the ancestral hall.

Except for Hyūga, and his wife, every single member of the main house—elders, men, women, and children—lay dead. Not a single one was spared.

"The Hyūga clan will no longer bear the Caged Bird."

"The Hyūga clan will no longer be divided into main and branch houses."

"From now on, in Konoha, there will be only one Hyūga."

"That is the Hyūga formed by me, you, and every single one of us here."

Tanaka looked across the entire clan—not the branch house anymore, but the Hyūga clan as a whole.

His voice was not loud, nor was it particularly passionate. But it was precisely this calm, unquestionable tone that instantly ignited the blood of every Hyūga clansman, rekindling their sense of belonging.

"Long live Tanaka-sama!"

"Long live the Hyūga clan!"

No one knew who shouted first, but it didn't feel out of place.

One by one, the Hyūga clansmen joined in, shouting with fervor.

"Silence!"

Seeing that the atmosphere had reached its peak, Tanaka raised his hand, signaling everyone to quiet down.

One second ago, the crowd was in an uproar.

The next second, silence fell, so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

As the Hyūga ancestral hall fell silent once more, Hiashi stepped forward.

Not Hizashi wearing Hiashi's face—this was the real Hiashi.

Because standing right beside him was Hizashi himself.

The two brothers stood side by side.

"For three years, I have served as the clan head. Yet, I failed to change the division between the main and branch house, failed to strengthen the Hyūga, and instead, the existence of the Caged Bird has only deepened internal conflicts and resentment within our clan. I am truly ashamed of my tenure as clan leader."

"Fortunately, fate has blessed the Hyūga by granting us Tanaka. He has broken the Caged Bird and erased the distinction between main and branch house."

"However, the elders and members of the main house, rather than leading our clan to prosperity, indulged in their positions, brought chaos to the Hyūga, and for their own selfish gains, ruthlessly oppressed the genin of our clan, even attempting to destroy the very future of the Hyūga clan."

"Yet, no matter how meticulously they planned, they were ultimately defeated by Tanaka."

"Although these actions were committed by the main house elders, as the head of the main house, I cannot shirk responsibility for the disgraceful events that transpired within our clan. I have no face to continue serving as the Hyūga clan leader."

"After much deliberation, I have decided to step down as clan head."

"Effective immediately, Hizashi will take my place as the new Hyūga clan leader, and Tanaka will serve as the Hyūga heir."

"As Tanaka has declared, from now on, there is no main house, no branch house—there is only one Hyūga clan."

With deep remorse on his face, Hiashi, in front of hundreds of clan members, abdicated his position and passed the leadership to his younger brother, Hizashi, while appointing Tanaka as the future successor.

Some who were unaware of the deeper circumstances assumed that Tanaka had merely forced the former main house leader, Hiashi, to bow his head.

However, Hizashi and a few branch elders understood all too well—this move by Tanaka, making Hiashi publicly announce his abdication, was nothing short of brilliant.

Without Hiashi's speech today, Tanaka's actions would have been labeled a coup d'état.

But with it, this became an abdication by voluntary succession.

If this were the Warring States period, where ninja clans ruled themselves independently, such formalities wouldn't matter. But this was the era of hidden villages, and the Konoha Council was extremely sensitive to terms like "coup" and "power seizure."

Most people didn't realize it, but as the new clan leader, Hizashi knew very well—the Konoha Council had long maintained their grip on the Hyūga clan by keeping the small-numbered main house under their control, and further reinforcing this control through the Caged Bird, which ensured dominance over the more populous branch house.

This structure allowed Konoha to control the entire Hyūga clan from the top down.

It was this system that had ensured the Hyūga's survival and prosperity, even as other bloodline clans—like the Senju and Uchiha clan—decline or faced extermination.

Because regardless of the main or branch division, the Hyūga had always remained under Konoha's control.

But now, with the sudden emergence of Tanaka—who not only broke the Caged Bird but also dismantled the main and branch distinction—the Hyūga clan had changed in the eyes of the council.

They were now becoming uncontrollable, much like the Uchiha once were.

If Hiashi had not stepped forward today and voluntarily ceded his position, Hizashi had no doubt that the Konoha Council would have swiftly intervened—using accusations such as "Tanaka led a coup," or "the branch house used force to seize power"—to justify taking back control of the Hyūga clan.

After all, the ones who most wanted the branch house to remain enslaved under the Caged Bird were not necessarily the main house, but the Konoha Council.

Yet, with Hiashi's abdication speech, all of those risks had been neutralized.

Even the former leader of the main house had acknowledged that the main house deserved to be abolished.

Even the former leader of the main house had admitted that the Caged Bird should not exist.

Even the former leader of the main house had insisted on stepping down and passing leadership to the branch house.

Now, no matter how much the council wanted to interfere in the Hyūga's internal affairs, they had no legitimate reason to do so.

If they still wanted to suppress the Hyūga or reclaim control, they would have to do so gradually and discreetly.

Just like how dealing with the hundreds of "red-eyed troublemakers" from the Uchiha clan had not been easy, dealing with the hundreds of "white-eyed warriors" of the Hyūga—now free from the Caged Bird—would be no simple task.

Thanks to Tanaka, the newly unified Hyūga no longer suffered from internal conflicts and betrayals.

Unlike the Uchiha, who were notorious for producing traitors and defectors, the Hyūga had now become a cohesive, formidable, and even harder-to-control force.