Chapter 30

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Hitomi had pondered her decisions carefully, knowing she needed a permanent solution to silence any further arguments around the inheritance and sealing issues.

By naming Tatsuya as the heir and arranging a betrothal between him and Hinata, she was able to circumvent the cage seal ceremony conundrum entirely. Since marrying Hinata would override any potential transfer to the branch family.

As for her son's initial reaction, it was understandable, as she had expected. She knew he loved Hinata, but not romantically. However, she had to make this difficult choice, otherwise her daughters risked being chained by the sealing practice.

While unorthodox as a whole, her decision drew from precedents within their own clan's history, where inter-marriage between siblings has occurred over thousands of years to preserve bloodlines. Even Hitomi herself was a second cousin to Hiashi.

The elders sat stunned, struggling to process her words. It had been so long since anybody had married their direct siblings in the main family that they had nearly forgotten it. 

Usually first or second cousins were chosen for marriage in the main family over the last century. Since the Main Family was the direct face of their clan, they had tried to limit their interbreeding from direct siblings to First cousins, as incestuous relationships were still somewhat frowned upon by the masses.

But only now did they remember that nowhere was it written that they were restricted to just cousins - the main family had authority to marry whomever they wished within the clan. In a desperate situation like keeping the bloodline pure, even mother and son are allowed.

Yami in particular looked ill at ease. 'How did I miss this!?' he thought, chewing his lips.

He was frustrated, not expecting Hitomi to make such a move. His original plan was to first isolate the siblings and slowly create resentment between them, just as he had done with Hiashi and Hizashi. Furthermore, it would have given him two obedient pawns with the main family's bloodline. But now it seemed that plan had failed. He sighed deeply.

"Since the matter is decided, you can commence the cage seal ceremony, which has been delayed for too long, at the start of next week. The Third Elder should administer that. With that, this meeting is concluded," Hitomi declared firmly.

"As you wish, Lady Hitomi," the Third Elder replied, still smiling and rubbing his goatee. Though internally, he was a little disappointed, as he had thought about arranging a marriage between his granddaughter and the heir. Those plans now seemed derailed. But then a thought struck him, making him grin. 'Who says he can only have one wife?'

As they were leaving, Yami suddenly interjected, "What about Hanabi, won't she still be applicable for the cage sea-"

But he was abruptly interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. "Didn't you hear what the Clan Leader said? The meeting has ended. You should leave while you can," Tatsuya stated, clenching Yami's shoulder hard with his enhanced strength, enough to cause audible crunches.

Yami gritted his teeth in pain. Part of him wanted to lash out and kill this insolent brat, but he knew that would be suicide - no one could openly harm the main family and not beg for death as mercy. So he could only endure, though that wasn't the sole reason. The other reason was that he couldn't even react when his shoulder was grabbed. 'He is clearly not just an academy level student,' Yami thought grimly.

"Sure, Nephew Tatsuya. I was just asking as I was worried about little Hanabi. You know how much I adore them," Yami said, smiling shamelessly.

Seeing that smile, Tatsuya felt disgusted and just wanted to wipe it off Yami's face for even uttering Hanabi's name, but ultimately he endured and walked away without sparing the man another look. He wasn't in the mood to argue with him any further.

After all of them left, leaving only Tatsuya and Hitomi in the room, he couldn't help but voice his concerns.

"Mother, have you discussed this with Hinata?" he asked, taking a seat near her. While the practice of intermarriage within the clan was normalized, the idea of marrying his own sister still felt strange to him, especially given his past life's memories. As for essentially Ntring Naruto being his future wife, he didn't care much about that.

"No," she replied calmly.

"Then why make such a big decision without her say?" he pressed.

"Because her opinion was irrelevant. It was either marrying you or facing the cage seal, which would have given the elders the power to kill her with a mere hand seal. Do you want that for Hinata, Tatsuya?" she said piercingly.

She had birthed her daughters, so she knew them well, what they think or when they try to hide something from her.

Thus, she was confident in the decisions she had made.

Had she perceived Tatsuya and Hinata's relationship as purely platonic, she would have sought alternative solutions. 

However, after her recent observations she knew Hinata's love for her brother had started becoming more than just a sibling. 

It amused her to see how Hinata attempted to mask her feelings behind a facade of carefree, while she would just stare at his face in a daze sometimes when she thought no one was looking.

As for Hanabi, even as a mother she had to admit, she couldn't read into her like she could to Hinata. That's why she refrained from discussing her during the meeting and quickly ended it.

"I wouldn't have allowed them to even touch a hair on her head, with or without this betrothal," he asserted. If words failed, his fists would make them listen.

She sighed deeply. "But what then? Even if you beat or killed them, it would only lead to instability within the clan due to the elders' long-lasting influence over the branch members. There's a reason I haven't directly dealt with them, infuriating as they are."

"You have to remember that the side branch forms our main military force and also acts as shields for our main family. We cannot afford internal strife that compromises that."

Tatsuya considered her words carefully. "They are already unstable enough - either brainwashed by the elders or filled with resentment towards their abuse and corruption. I believe ordering the cage seal ceremony so soon will only further fuel their animosity."

Hitomi nodded gravely. "Yes, it likely will. But their resentment would be more directed at the elders since we can announce it was their decision to accelerate the timeline." A calculative glint entered her eyes.

"While powerless to directly confront the elders, this will sway the branch members' loyalty towards us and significantly diminish the elders' control over them."

Her lips curved in a cold smile. "Once you have gained enough respect and influence within the clan, dealing with these old fossils will become far easier."

"You intend to use the branch family's anger as a weapon against the elders themselves," he stated, more than asked.

"Precisely," Hitomi reiterated, her gaze growing steely. "The elders have grown arrogant and complacent, believing their authority unassailable. It's time we put an end to it."

"Before the resentment in the side branch grows any further, we must quench it with the blood of the elders," she added darkly.

While it was not entirely the fault of the elders either, it was only in the recent 50 years they had been abusing their power. Before that, the main perpetrators were the Main family. There had even been many cases of wife stealing by the Heads of that time.

Thankfully, due to Hashirama's presence, such things had been stopped from Hiashi's father's generation. But the generational anger still lingered - many side branch members remembered and had not forgotten.

And these elders, rather than learning anything, started abusing their power again once Hashirama died, though they did it discreetly since Hiashi's father was still a very powerful person at that time.

So the end of these elders could act as a pressure release for the generational anger and regain the complete loyalty of the side branch.

Tatsuya looked at his mother in dark admiration. It was a masterful power play. Ruthless, but necessary for dismantling the institutionalized cruelties plaguing their clan.

As they both discussed with each other, they didn't notice one figure outside listening to their talks.

Hinata, standing outside at a discreet corner with her ear pasted to the walls, was breathing very heavily. Her face was fully flushed, even her nose was bleeding.

"M-Me ma-marrying b-brother," she screamed internally, her mind racing with a whirlwind of emotions - shock, confusion, but also a deep, hidden thrill at the prospect.