As soon as Senju Mori's visiting card arrived, it stirred up a huge commotion within the Hyūga clan.
Although Clan Head Hyūga Sōgo had already anticipated this situation, when it actually happened, the entire Hyūga clan still found themselves somewhat lost and bewildered.
Indeed, Konoha had already effectively held two Hokage elections—the First and the Second.
But those two elections had basically been single-choice questions.
The first was a choice between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara. Compared to the terrifying and intimidating Madara, the Hyūga clan naturally cast all their votes for Hashirama.
Before that, Hashirama had never even tried to win over the Hyūga. In fact, he had never once personally visited the Hyūga compound.
The result was obvious: the defeated Uchiha Madara rebelled in fury and was ultimately slain by Lord Hashirama himself at the Valley of the End.
During the second election, even Madara was no longer around. Faced with the virtually powerless Uchiha Setsuna, all the great clans—including the Hyūga—once again chose to support the Senju side.
Senju Tobirama won by an overwhelming margin.
Afterward, the unwilling Uchiha Setsuna attempted to launch a coup, but Tobirama easily suppressed it by merely dispatching the Anbu. Setsuna remains imprisoned in Konoha's jail to this day.
In short, during the two previous Hokage elections, neither of the Senju Hokage made any political promises or offered any benefits beforehand. They won easily simply because their opponents were from the Uchiha clan.
And since almost no other clan sided with the Uchiha, although none of them gained much benefit from the elections, none were purged or punished by the new Hokage either.
However, the situation now facing the Hyūga clan was entirely different.
Even if they wanted to blindly support the Senju as always, they now had to carefully consider—
Was Sarutobi Hiruzen, the student and successor of Senju Tobirama, truly the one representing the Senju faction?
Or was Senju Mori, an actual blood descendant of the Senju clan, the true core of the Senju lineage today?
And once they made their choice… then what?
Should they take this opportunity to ask for some benefits from the side they support?
If they didn't, would they be looked down upon?
If they did, how much would be appropriate?
Would that cause resentment from the new Hokage?
…
There was no precedent for the Hyūga to refer to in such a situation.
And for an ancient, traditional, and stubborn clan like the Hyūga, the things they hated most were change and uncertainty.
Thinking about this, Hyūga Sōgo couldn't help but secretly grumble in his heart about the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
Would it really have been so bad to just pass the title on to your own kin? We would have continued to loyally support you as before—no one would have objected.
Why did you have to push for reform and introduce all these troublesome new ideas? Truly irritating.
Driven by their deeply ingrained conservatism, the Hyūga would rather stand behind the guaranteed victor and gain nothing than get their hands dirty in the messy business of political struggle for the sake of mere profit.
Still, since Senju Mori had courteously sent his visiting card in accordance with proper etiquette, as one of Konoha's noble clans, the Hyūga could not afford to show any lack of decorum—or worse, be accused of "disrespecting the Senju."
Given the urgency of the matter, the Hyūga didn't even wait until the next day.
Later that same evening, the main family sent an elder to the Senju compound with a personal letter written by Hyūga Sōgo himself, confirming the appointment time and warmly expressing the clan's sincere welcome for Senju Mori's visit.
Unlike the Senju, Uchiha, and other clans, the Hyūga clan does not have a council of elders—only the position of family elder.
Moreover, the "family" in family elder does not refer to the "Hyūga family" as a whole, but specifically to the Main Family (Sōke). The full title is Elder of the Hyūga Main Family.
This means that no matter how talented a member of the Branch Family (Bunke) may be—even if they become a jōnin in the village—they can never attain the highest level of political authority within the clan.
In fact, the Hyūga's so-called Main and Branch Family system isn't very complicated.
According to Hyūga tradition, the number of Main Family lines is fixed and unchanging in every generation.
For example, suppose that when the system was first established, there were six members of the Hyūga family—likely direct descendants of their ancestor, Ōtsutsuki Hamura—whom we'll call A, B, C, D, E, and F.
These six were the original Main Family, the first generation.
Now let's take A as an example.
A had three sons: A1, A2, and A3—the second generation.
Only A1, as the eldest son, could inherit the Main Family status. A2 and A3 automatically became members of the Branch Family, tasked with protecting A1.
In the third generation, only A1's eldest son—A11—could inherit the Main Family position. A1's younger sons, along with all the sons of A2 and A3, would all become members of the Branch Family.
This continued generation after generation. Even though the Hyūga lineage has lasted for hundreds, even thousands of years, the number of Main Family lines has remained largely constant—still only A, B, C, D, E, and F.
Of course, the older generation of Main Family members do not lose their status once their eldest son inherits. Every Main Family member retains their title and privileges for life, until death.
But even if several generations coexist—three generations under one roof, for example—the number of Main Family members would only temporarily swell into the double digits at most.
Meanwhile, the number of Branch Family members keeps steadily growing, until they have become the true majority—the main body of today's enormous Hyūga clan.
This also explains why, in later generations, the brothers Hyūga Hiashi and Hyūga Hizashi belonged to the Main and Branch Families respectively. The reason is simple: within their family line, there was only one Main Family slot passed down from their ancestors.
Hiashi was born first—the eldest son—so he became the Main Family heir.
Hizashi was born second—the younger son—so he could only become a Branch Family member.
For a clan as rigidly traditional and obstinate as the Hyūga, it is utterly unthinkable to alter this ancestral inheritance system because of someone's talent or potential as a ninja.
Of course, there have been cases in Hyūga history where a Main Family member like Hiashi was unable to produce a son.
During the Warring States era, the typical solution for such a situation was to adopt a close male relative as an heir—usually a nephew—and then marry the man to the Main Family's daughter.
In other words, if Hyūga Neji had been born a hundred years earlier, his fate would likely have been completely different: he would have been adopted by Hiashi as his legitimate Main Family son and later married his cousin, the "Lady Hinata."
Unfortunately, with the founding of Konohagakure, the Hyūga clan gradually became more open-minded and began accepting female Main Family heirs. Combined with Hiashi's own very human bit of selfishness…
Hyūga Neji's fate, therefore, was sealed—to bear the cursed seal of the Caged Bird, living and dying solely for the sake of the Main Family.