"Even if you defeat me, you are not allowed to go near Hanare again. If you continue to approach her, it will only get her killed."
Hyūga Ishi was truly humiliated by this young man, Kirito, who was six years his junior. He felt both dejected and resentful, but then he thought about the reason he had come here, and once again, he glared fiercely at Kirito and said,
He could afford to ignore Kirito before, but not anymore. He really had no right to order Kirito to do as he wished.
The only way to prevent Kirito from going to Hanare now was to reason with him.
"Can you speak more clearly? I hate riddles,"
Kirito said softly, seeing that Hyūga Ishi was finally willing to talk to him properly.
As he spoke, he manipulated the iron sand beneath him to form a small flat area in the air, and placed a large number of sealing techniques on it.
In no time at all, a sealing barrier that could block external perception was formed.
At the same time, a large number of Hyūga ninja hiding nearby suddenly felt their vision darken, and they could no longer see the figures of Kirito and Hyūga Ishi.
"This boy's sealing technique is actually this powerful. He casually created a sealing barrier that can block the perception of Byakugan. It's really better to see than to hear. There is no one else in Konoha with this level of sealing technique ability except for Lord Mito."
An elder of the Hyuga clan said in surprise from a hidden place.
Next to this clan elder was a dignified and composed member of the Hyuga clan. If Kirito were here, he would definitely recognize this person as the current clan leader of the Hyuga clan, Hyuga Kazuma, at first glance.
Hyuga Kazuma heard what the clan elder next to him said and remained silent, with an inexplicable gleam in his eyes.
The powerful Sealing Technique ninja have always been their greatest potential enemy.
"Clan Leader, what should we do now? Our Byakugan cannot see through that sealing barrier. That kid doesn't know what he'll do to Ishi next. Ishi is one of the most outstanding young members of our Hyūga Clan in recent years. You can't just ignore him,"
At this moment, an elder of the branch family on the side saw that Hyuga Kazuma had not responded at all, and said anxiously.
Naturally, these people had discovered long ago that Hyūga Ishi had gone to find Kirito.
In fact, soon after Kirito brought Hanare into the Hyuga clan, the Hyuga clan's senior members had already received the news and had been silently watching Kirito and Hanare.
As a result, they used Byakugan to discover a new curse mark on Hanare's body.
Not only was this curse mark of a very high rank, it was also a growth-type curse mark that was constantly absorbing the chakra in Hanare's body and growing rapidly.
According to their speculation, this new curse mark was planted in Hanare by Kirito, because they saw a trace of chakra in the curse mark that was extremely similar to the chakra in Kirito's body.
Planting a curse mark on someone from their Hyuga clan was undoubtedly a matter that they, the Hyuga clan, should take seriously.
However, Hyuga Hanare seemed to have willingly allowed Kirito to plant the curse mark on her.
This put them in a difficult position.
Although Hanare was from a branch family of the Hyuga clan, she was also a Konoha ninja, not a slave of the Hyuga clan. She had the right to accept gifts from others, including the curse mark.
If Hanare had willingly allowed the curse mark to be planted, they felt bad about blaming Kirito.
Moreover, they had heard that Kirito had controlled the Kyubi with his own strength. Although they had not seen it with their own eyes, they did not quite believe it to be true. But setting aside Kirito's strength, Kirito had a special identity and was supported by the Senju clan. For the sake of being on the safe side, they were not willing to offend Kirito in their hearts.
However, Kirito's placing a curse mark on Hanare was something they absolutely could not sit idly by and watch, otherwise where would the dignity of their Hyuga clan be?
Even the Senju clan cannot violate the Hyuga clan's dignity.
Moreover, in their eyes, Kirito is really a very dangerous character. He is Lord Mito's personal disciple, and his ability and talent in sealing techniques have long been proven. He is a dangerous character who may be able to unlock the bird in the cage.
The bird in the cage is the foundation of their Hyuga clan's survival, and the method of unlocking it must never fall into the hands of outsiders.
Therefore, they don't want Kirito to continue to associate with Hanare in the slightest, giving Kirito the opportunity to have too much contact with the caged bird.
At least that's what the people of the family headquarters think.
Kirito's placing a curse mark on Hanare this time may be a foreshadowing of his future actions to free Hanare from the cage.
Whether others believe it or not, the people of the Hyuga family headquarters now think that this is possible.
Hanare cannot continue to be in contact with Kirito. This is the unanimous conclusion of the people of the Hyuga family headquarters.
Hanare now has the support of both Orochimaru and Kirito, and they can no longer threaten Hanare directly with the caged bird as they used to. They can only hint to Hyūga Ishi, who is loyal to the Hyūga clan, to take the matter into his own hands.
Hyūga Ishi did not disappoint them, and took the initiative to go find Kirito.
They just didn't expect that Hyūga Ishi, who had just returned from the battlefield in the Land of Rain, would be so arrogant as to take Kirito, the Konoha genius, lightly. He directly and forcefully ordered Kirito not to see Hanare again, which eventually led to the recent conflict.
They had watched the entire fight.
To be honest, they were deeply shocked.
They never expected Kirito's strength to be so powerful. Hyūga Ishi, the genius jōnin of their clan, was defeated without any suspense, and he was unable to escape. He was captured on the spot by Kirito's unique magnet technique.
The strength of this captive jōnin is truly amazing.
It was hard to imagine how powerful Kirito would become in the future, when he had such formidable strength at the age of 8.
If they were previously reluctant to offend Kirito, it was not that they were afraid to offend him, but now they were truly a little afraid to offend him.
With such a talented ninja, as long as he doesn't die, Kirito, in his current position, will definitely become a powerful figure in Konoha in the future.
He might even have the opportunity to become Hokage.
The Hyuga clan had always been non-confrontational and maintained a neutral stance, and they could not afford to offend such a figure.
"Don't worry, Kirito is a man who knows his limits, and Ishi is Hanare's brother, so he won't hurt him for Hanare's sake. He's just set up a barrier now so that he won't be disturbed by people from the outside world, so let's just wait with peace of mind."
After hearing the words of the branch family's elder, Hyuga Kazuma pondered for a while before speaking.
"This isn't right, what if Ishi slips up and says something, it would have a bad impact on our Hyuga clan,"
the head of the family said with concern.
"What do you mean? Ishi is a loyal child of the Hyuga clan, he will never reveal any secrets."
The elder of the branch family said discontentedly when he heard this.
"Really? I remember that we only told this kid to persuade Kirito not to see Hanare again, not to directly threaten and warn him. In the end, he caused this mess entirely by himself. Also, when someone from our family speaks, you, someone from the branch family, had better remain silent."
The elder of the clan retorted, a flash of contempt in his eyes.
A person from the branch family dared to talk back, how disrespectful.
Does a person from the branch family really have loyalty?
He very much doubted it.
"You..."
The elder of the branch family felt humiliated and instantly flushed with anger, wanting to argue with the other party.
However, Hyuga Kazuma immediately spoke up to prevent any further conflict, coldly saying, "Enough, this is not the time to argue. Kazuya, the branch family protects the clan, you should not doubt their loyalty. Ishi is an outstanding child, he knows what to do."
When the head of the branch family heard Hyuga Kazuma speak up, he and the head of the clan had to stop arguing. However, the two looked at each other with unkind expressions in their eyes, and the atmosphere was a bit stiff.
Hyuga Kazuma saw this and his face was expressionless.
He had long since become used to the conflicts between the main and branch families. Normally, he would just watch the show, but right now, he really wasn't in the mood.
He was currently very curious about Kirito's attitude towards the Hyuga clan. Although the Konoha genius was young, the strength he had shown today was not small, and the Hyuga clan must pay attention.
Moreover, according to his intelligence, Kirito had recently become very close to the Uchiha clan.
Now the two major clans of Konoha, the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan, are both related to this Konoha genius, and they are also closely related to the geniuses of these two clans, except for the Hyuga clan, which has nothing to do with this Konoha genius.
If you want to say there is a connection, there actually is. One member of the head family is Kirito's junior sister.
In the beginning, the Senju clan made a deal with the Hyuga clan so that Kirito could learn Gentle Fist, and one member of the head family became Mito's disciple and went to Mito to learn sealing techniques.
Unfortunately, this member of the family was not very talented at learning sealing techniques, and she could not stand the hardship. She had little perseverance. In addition, Lord Mito was already bedridden at the time, focusing most of her energy on teaching the new Kyubi Jinchuriki. This member of the family had not gone to learn sealing techniques from Lord Mito for a long time.
It wasn't that she didn't want to go, it was just that she was too ashamed to go.
This member of the family had been greatly shocked by the sealing talents of Kirito and Kushina, and had completely lost the desire to learn sealing.
In addition, there is a bit of a connection with Hyūga Shan, Kirito's physical education teacher.
However, Hyūga Shan was hinted that he could not pass on the advanced knowledge of Gentle Fist to Kirito, so the question is how good their relationship was.
To be fair, the Hyūga clan had acted somewhat unkindly in this transaction with the Senju clan.
They only taught Kirito the basics of Gentle Fist, but when Lord Mito taught sealing techniques, it was done without discrimination, and there was not much that was kept private. It was just that the member of their family who was the head of the household was unable to learn it.
"The winds of the times are blowing again. This time, what choice will the Hyuga Clan make?"
As the Clan Leader, Hyuga Kazuma can now keenly sense an unusual political wind, and one of the central figures leading this wind is Kirito, the Konoha genius.
However, it seems that this time, the Hyuga clan will have a hard time going with the flow, and it will be difficult for them to remain neutral as they have in the past, continuing to use their superior bloodline limit of Byakugan to maintain their natural status in Konoha.
Because this Konoha genius seems to have been biased in his attitude towards the caged bird.
"Caged bird..."
Hyuga Kazuma thought of the caged bird, and the sight of a face with a look of despair flashed through his mind, and his long-frozen heart couldn't help but ache a little.
On the other side, within the sealing barrier:
"What's wrong? Are you going to refuse to tell me the reason and continue to tell me not to get in contact with Hanare? Don't worry, this sealing barrier has the effect of blocking Byakugan and sound, so those people outside who like to peek and eavesdrop won't be able to find out what's going on here."
Kirito looked at Hyūga Ishi, who was silent at the moment, and said with some helplessness.
"You don't need to know the reason, you just need to know that I'm only doing what's best for Hanare. Hanare should grow up happily and live peacefully. As long as you don't have contact with her again, all of this can be achieved."
Upon hearing this, Hyūga Ishi looked around at the sealing barrier in some surprise, but in the end, he chose to hide the truth about the family head and give Kirito a specious reason.
"Hmph, you really are a good brother, arranging Hanare's future path so early. But will Hanare really be willing to follow the path you have arranged for her? You are Hanare's brother, so you should understand what kind of person she is."
Kirito heard Hyūga Ishi say this and sarcastically remarked.
He could now hear that this Hanare's brother is a control freak, and someone who has completely submitted to their own fate.
However, he should have had experiences of resistance before. Unlike Hanare, he chose to give up after being hit hard by reality.
Now he sees a reflection of himself in Hanare. As a sister-obsessed person, he naturally doesn't want Hanare to experience the painful experience of resisting fate like him.
Therefore, for Hanare's own good, he took the liberty of making the choice to submit to fate for her.
"Hanare just doesn't understand right now, but she will definitely understand my pain in the future,"
Hyūga Ishi listened to the sarcasm in Kirito's words and could not help but feel a trace of shame in his heart, but he still stubbornly shouted out loud.
Yes, he did it all for Hanare's own good.
Even if Hanare doesn't understand him now and may hate him for the rest of her life, he doesn't want to see Hanare being killed by the people of the clan in the future just to set her free.
"Don't be so self-righteous. Hanare is not a puppet you can pull the strings of. Don't force your ideas on her. She is a person with a free soul. She has her own pursuits and life. If she really dies one day in the future in pursuit of freedom, I think she would be willing."
Kirito saw that Hyūga Ishi was still stubbornly holding his own views, and said coldly:
"You are deliberately trying to kill Hanare, you bastard, and I won't allow you to do it."
Hearing Kirito say this, Hyūga Ishi suddenly shouted angrily in a state of hysteria, his eyes fixed on Kirito as if he wanted to kill him with his eyes.
He would not allow Hanare to die for the pursuit of some ridiculous freedom.
Never.
Because everyone's destiny had long been predetermined and could not be changed.
"That's not up to you. Let me see the reason you've been unwilling to say."
Kirito looked coldly at the incompetent and furious Hyūga Ishi at this time and said coldly.
After that, he extended a hand and placed it on Hyūga Ishi's head.
A terrifying spiritual power instantly exploded from his body
Hyūga Ishi instantly fainted, and then a white soul was extracted from Hyūga Ishi by Kirito.
Spirit Transformation Technique: Soul Search!