Chapter 306: Haneda's Speculations on the Hyuga and Otsutsuki Clans
At that moment, students from both Naruto's class and others had gathered around, looking at Naruto and Sasuke with admiration, treating them like heroes.
Naruto and Sasuke secretly enjoyed the attention but couldn't help wondering where Neji had gone…
It wasn't until they spotted Neji quietly returning to Hinata's side in the crowd that they both breathed a sigh of relief.
So, he was still around…
Now, Neji stood by Hinata, watching Naruto's dashing figure.
Though Naruto's fashionable outfit from the morning was now caked in dirt, Hinata thought he looked even cooler.
However, a question surfaced in her mind.
"Neji-nii-san, why don't you go over there? Everyone else is admiring Naruto-kun and Sasuke."
"I don't need such hollow recognition, and the Hyuga's honor doesn't require it either… I only want to protect you."
Hearing Neji's gentle words, Hinata shyly glanced at him, and Neji's face immediately turned slightly red.
He softly explained, "You are the heiress of the main family. It's my duty to protect you…"
…
Haneda had a feeling that Neji might have seen through part of his intentions, so he deliberately left Neji's name off the commendation list.
Instead, he heaped praise on Naruto and Sasuke, awarding them medals like "Model Student" and "Academy Hero."
As for Neji…
To be honest, Haneda had already compensated him earlier.
Still, Haneda made a special trip to speak with Hyuga Hiashi, asking him to formally teach Neji the Rotation technique (Hakkeshou Kaiten).
While he was at it, Haneda also visited the Hyuga clan's archive to look into records about the Otsutsuki clan.
This time, Haneda delved into an entire bookshelf of the Hyuga clan's genealogical records.
Some of the older family trees were recorded on bamboo scrolls, highlighting the long history of the Hyuga.
As Haneda continued flipping through the records, he noticed something peculiar.
During the Warring States period, about three or four hundred years ago, some members of the Hyuga clan had married women without surnames.
From what Haneda knew, people without surnames during that era were often commoners.
For a clan as prestigious as the Hyuga, which wielded the powerful Byakugan and was second only to the Uchiha and Senju, marrying commoners seemed unthinkable.
It went against the Hyuga's traditional practices of preserving the purity of the Byakugan through arranged marriages within the clan.
Historically, the Hyuga only intermarried with the Kaguya clan, who shared a common ancestry.
Yet here were women without surnames, in numbers comparable to the Kaguya clan's marriages—a puzzling anomaly.
This discrepancy immediately made Haneda think of the Otsutsuki clan on the moon.
After all, there had always been spatial pathways connecting Earth to the moon, and the Hyuga and Otsutsuki shared incredibly similar bloodlines.
Both clans inherited the Byakugan!
In fact, their relationship was closer than even the Hyuga and Kaguya clans—essentially direct relatives.
Upon closer examination of the records of those without surnames, Haneda noticed something odd: there were clear gaps in spacing between names, as if someone had erased the surnames.
Drawing on the original series, Haneda boldly hypothesized:
Some members of the Otsutsuki clan likely opposed the world created by the Sage of Six Paths and sought to destroy Earth. Naturally, the Hyuga clan on Earth wouldn't stand for it, leading to a conflict.
As tensions escalated, the Hyuga clan severed ties with the Otsutsuki and erased all traces of their existence, including records of the spatial pathways between Earth and the moon.
This matched Naruto and Hinata's later journey through the sealed spatial passage. The Hyuga likely sealed it themselves.
But where exactly was this spatial passage sealed?
Haneda narrowed the timeline and focused on the Hyuga clan's records from three to four hundred years ago, paying close attention to the relocation of the clan's ancestral shrine.
He suspected that during the period when records of the nameless individuals disappeared, the Hyuga clan had relocated their ancestral shrine—and that this might hold the key to the sealed spatial pathway.
Haneda believed the pathway couldn't be too far from the Hyuga clan's territory.
After all, if someone accidentally stumbled into it, the moon and the Otsutsuki would be completely exposed.
By pinpointing the location of the ancestral shrine during that period, Haneda could roughly deduce the spatial passage's vicinity.
The exact location wasn't critical—finding it was just a matter of time.
While Haneda was combing through the archives, Hyuga Hizashi approached him.
Standing beside Haneda, Hizashi quietly asked, "Lord Hokage, have you found a way to break the Caged Bird Seal yet?"
"I've made some progress." Haneda didn't look up as he continued flipping through the records.
"Apologies for disturbing you…"
Just as Hizashi was about to leave, Haneda spoke up:
"Can you ask Hiashi-sama where the Hyuga clan's ancestral shrine was between 389 and 443 years ago? Thank you."
"Understood." Hizashi agreed, guessing that it might relate to the Caged Bird Seal.
Haneda had come to the archive under the pretense of researching a way to remove the seal and protect the rights of the branch family.
As the leader of the branch family, Hizashi was eagerly anticipating progress and had come to check on Haneda's findings.
Hearing there was progress, Hizashi left the archive in high spirits.
Haneda listened to Hizashi's retreating footsteps, then stood up and began searching through the archive for records related to the ancestral shrine.
Haneda understood what was on Hizashi's mind.
Right now, the branch family of the Hyuga clan had pinned their hopes on him finding a way to break the Caged Bird Seal.
Under the Hyuga's strict system, only reform from the clan's leadership or intervention from external forces could change the branch family's fate.
From the moment Haneda became Hokage, he had resolved to reform the Hyuga's outdated practices.
He had already made significant efforts—many branch family children had been spared from being marked with the Caged Bird Seal under his suppression of the main family.
Yet, a large portion of the branch family still remained under the main family's control.
Haneda's research into the Hyuga clan's records wasn't just for the sake of unlocking the Tenseigan, but also to find a way to remove the Caged Bird Seal.
The Tenseigan, the ultimate evolution of the Byakugan, reached the realm of the Sage of Six Paths.
If even the Tenseigan couldn't break the seal, Haneda would have no choice but to let time gradually render the Caged Bird system obsolete.
…
By evening, Haneda left the Hyuga compound and headed home.
When he arrived at his doorstep, he found Naruto and Sasuke glaring at him with a mix of frustration and expectation.
"Naruto, Sasuke, is something wrong at school?"
Hearing Haneda's feigned ignorance, Naruto couldn't hold back and shouted:
"Uncle Haneda! You forgot about Neji—he didn't get his medal!"
"And!" Naruto continued, "Uncle Kakashi already told us the truth!"
"That was so dangerous, yet you just stood there watching us!"
Sasuke added, "Naruto's right."
"Even if it was a test, why didn't Neji get a medal? It's unfair—especially since you were right there watching everything!"
Haneda approached the two boys, smiling faintly.
"Now, now… this is all just trivial. I've already compensated Neji. As for this morning…"
Haneda hooked his hands around Naruto's cheeks, pulling them into a teasing grin.
"Aren't you happy, Naruto?"
"This is what being a hero is all about!"
Naruto pushed Haneda's hands away. "I'm not a kid anymore! I'm almost five, and you're still calling me a hero!"
Sasuke chuckled and teased, "Four-year-old brat."
"Shut up, Sasuke! You're only a little older than me!"
"I'm a whole year older, Naruto!"
"No, just two months!"
"Well, age doesn't lie!"
…
Watching Naruto and Sasuke bicker as usual, Haneda grabbed both of them and led them inside.
"It's almost dinner time. Let's eat first, then we'll train afterward."
"Okay!" Naruto and Sasuke said in unison, though they turned their heads away when their eyes met, refusing to look at each other.
…