I understand the indignation of people here, but I'm in favor of offering Hags some kind of "apology" they can accept. Something along the lines of "we are sorry that you felt inconvinienced, we all know that doing the right thing can sometimes be hard". That makes it easier for them to submit to Goketsu and not accepting it can be framed as being unreasonable.
I think I understand what you're saying. Instead of cornering them, which might make them go wild or commit an act of desperate stupidity, you're saying that we should funnel them along what lines we want, so that we can get what we want while the Hagoromo can keep their pride. But they wouldn't be able to keep their pride as a staunchly (radically) traditionalist clan that is also the religious pillar of Leaf. It's also worth pointing out that, should the Hagoromo back out now, they won't be able to retain their self-concept as "the last remaining bastion of the True Way." So I think that we can safely say that the Hagoromo won't apologize, because to do that is to lose the identity that they've chosen for themselves.
Besides, In all honesty, we've
already made a list of terms (recant your statements: agree to officiate Goketsu marriages, just like they've agreed to do all of the Leaf's marriages, and they recant their statement about nonheterosexual lifestyles being detrimental to the Will of Fire). The Hagoromo put their hand into the fire, all they have to do to stop their hand from burning is to take it out of the flame.
Personally, (as a member of the MfD hivemind, a voter, and as a simple reader of the story) I don't give a flying
fuck about the Hagoromo's pride. They've harmed Keiko, Hazou's sister in heart, name, and law. They've harmed Shikamaru, Hazou's brother-in-law, peer, and friend. They've even harmed Mari --Hazou's mother, Hazou's older sister, Hazou's mentor and wise authoritative figure --by their declaration. Not to mention the innumerable denizens of the Leaf, who have the gall to be born as "nontraditional" (in open or in secret), who were just told that by their religious leaders that they, personally, are a slow poison that will cripple and kill their motherland, their country of birth, and their
home.
Then, there's the fact that these arrogant idiots just called attention to their monopoly on Leaf's religious community, and announced
in an open letter that they're willing to use said unity to shape Leaf to their bigoted whims, regardless of what anyone else might say. How long before the Leaf becomes like Mist? Loud, extreme declarations of (religious) fidelity and open displays of zealotry, just in case a (Hagoromo) agent might be watching? How long until the worry of "Am I traditional/obvious/devout enough" leads to radicalization of a huge chunk of Leaf, sowing yet more discord? The Hagoromo have cut of their nose to spite their face, and then demanded that all of Leaf do the same.
We're leaving their clan
alive and
only harmed in the political and financial senses. We've all pretty much precommitted to setting up safety nets for the innocent civilians whose only "sin" was to be affiliated with the a particularly
stupid clan. Sure, we'll need to be careful about how we do this, and we'll probably need to prepare for reprisals against Haru and Akane's respective families, but this? This
is us being merciful. The Hagoromo know the terms, and we're doing our best to make this a bloodless endeavor.
Edit: were the Hagoromo pushed into this by the Hyuuga? Probably. Should we have tea with Hinata to see what this is all about? Yes. But even if Hinata tried to call the Hagormo off, they're determined to be stupid at this point, and would likely charge ahead anyway.
