Scheming Against the Hyuga

Inside the Hokage Building

"Third Hokage, Yazi requests an audience."

Sarutobi Hiruzen set down the document in his hands. "Let him in."

Hyuga Kei entered Hokage's office after receiving the notice and dropped to one knee.

"Greetings, Third Hokage."

"Kei? What is it?" Sarutobi Hiruzen did not remember assigning Kei any mission.

"The Hyuga want to place the Caged Bird Seal on me."

Sarutobi Hiruzen slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke. "You don't want to truly join the Hyuga clan?"

"No. I want to clear my father's name, but the Main Branch once had me probe Konoha's confidential intelligence. I did not tell them anything, yet they still refuse to give up and want to use the Caged Bird Seal to control me."

"I simply believe that if I am branded with the Caged Bird, I will not be able to serve Lord Hokage as effectively. In the future, I would be subject to the Main Branch."

"The Main Branch once had you gather Konoha's confidential intelligence? Why did you not report something so important?"

"This subordinate deserves death!" Hyuga Kei lowered his head, not daring to meet the Third Hokage's eyes.

Sarutobi Hiruzen pondered for a moment. If that was true, then the Branch House ninjas assigned to the Anbu might not be clean either.

"Forget it. You may leave for now. I will consider this matter myself."

"Yes!" Having accomplished his goal, Hyuga Kei decisively left Hokage's office.

As long as he gave Sarutobi Hiruzen an opening, he would begin to suspect this seemingly obedient clan.

The Hyuga Branch Family members in the Anbu would surely be investigated. They would not withstand scrutiny; leaking mission information to the Hyuga and using it to benefit their clan was something they did often.

Besides, everything Hyuga Kei said was true. The Main Branch had indeed approached him to ask about his mission targets, seeking to understand the course of the war.

Hyuga Kei had refused them every time, but that only made them more determined to control him.

After leaving the Hokage Building, Hyuga Kei headed straight for Leaf Village Hospital and found Seiichi Matsuo, a Medical Jonin who had retired from the Anbu.

After retiring, he had become the chief physician here.

"Seiichi, I need to ask you a favor."

Seiichi Matsuo had a perpetually bitter expression, his brows always drawn tightly together.

But when he saw Hyuga Kei, he managed a faint, awkward smile. "So even you, Hyuga Kei, know how to ask for favors? Do you need someone admitted or registered? Say the word, and I'll arrange it."

"No. I want you to publish a paper about how placing the Caged Bird Seal on Hyuga Branch Family children too early hinders the growth of the Byakugan. At the same time, submit a report to the Third Hokage."

Seiichi Matsuo refused without hesitation. He knew that would be digging at the Hyuga clan's foundations, and he would get himself into trouble as well.

"Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you. You don't need to criticize the Caged Bird Seal in the paper. Just point out that if the seal is postponed until children are fully developed at nine years old, Konoha will produce countless more outstanding ninjas."

And this was supposed to not make things difficult for him? Asking a civilian ninja like him to provoke the Hyuga clan? Out of consideration for their past as colleagues, Seiichi Matsuo did not curse aloud. He merely stood and prepared to drag Hyuga Kei out.

Smiling, Hyuga Kei pressed Seiichi Matsuo back onto the sofa and took out a medical examination report. "Don't be so quick to refuse. I came in a hurry and did not bring any gifts, only a medical report as a small token."

Seiichi Matsuo took the report. The moment he saw the blood type and age written on it, he abruptly stood up.

"Where is this person?"

Hyuga Kei poured a cup of tea and pushed it in front of Seiichi. "In Konoha Prison. Some time ago, I caught a Sunagakure spy. That person is quite tough—held out until Sunagakure found out. Now they want to ransom their spy."

"Sunagakure and Konoha are currently at peace. Before long, she may return to Sunagakure, and her crimes are not enough for Konoha to execute her."

Hyuga Kei stood behind Seiichi Matsuo and spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear. "But I have evidence of her crimes. Once it is made public, she will certainly die. When that happens, I will give you her corpse as a gift."

Hyuga Kei's voice was like a devil tempting a mortal.

"Think carefully... about your gravely ill daughter. She needs this body. You can't let her spend her brief life suffering in a hospital bed, can you?"

"Besides, the Hyuga would not lay hands on a fellow village ninja. Even if they wanted to, the Third Hokage would not agree."

At those words, Seiichi Matsuo's gaze immediately became incomparably firm. He had been an orphan to begin with, and his wife had died young. His daughter was his only remaining family. If he would not risk his life for her, then for whom would he do so?

His daughter suffered from severe heart disease and kidney failure, but her blood type was exceptionally rare, making it difficult to find a compatible heart.

Seiichi Matsuo had studied all the way to becoming a Medical Jonin in order to keep his daughter alive. He had also joined the Anbu and used its high income to buy medicine and pay for her treatment.

Now that he had earned enough money, he searched for transplantable organs while staying by his daughter's side.

Now that an opportunity to let his daughter become a normal person lay before him, how could he possibly give it up?

"I'll do it. I'll draft the paper and report immediately, but I want to see that person's heart and kidneys tomorrow."

Hyuga Kei nodded and placed the medical report before Seiichi Matsuo. "Pleasure doing business with you. I'll make the arrangements now."

Hyuga Kei had anticipated that Seiichi Matsuo would accept this deal, so he had handed the intelligence to Captain Ushiro that morning.

Tomorrow, he could bring the organs to Seiichi Matsuo. He only needed to tell Captain Ushiro. The Anbu still had certain privileges for its own people.

In a brutal place like the ninja world, there was no rule against taking an enemy's organs.

After leaving the hospital, Hyuga Kei put on his Wolf Mask again and headed straight for Konoha Prison.

When both the Hokage and the public put pressure on them, let's see how you deal with it.

Desperate to save his daughter, Seiichi Matsuo did not wait for Hyuga Kei to urge him. A paper was posted on the Leaf Village Intranet, while multiple newspapers recorded it as well. It even made the front page of Leaf Village News.

The scandal of Leaf's Top Clan, the Hyuga, shook the entire village.

"The Hyuga clan mutilates its own children and harms the village's future."

The civilians did not care about the Main Branch or Branch House. They only knew that the Hyuga were harming their own children. Even a tiger would not eat its cubs; the Hyuga were crueler than tigers.

At the same time, he submitted a petition to Sarutobi Hiruzen, recommending that the Hyuga clan delay the Caged Bird Seal until children reached nine years old and were fully developed.

Hyuga Kei watched all of this unfold. Seiichi Matsuo had done even better than he had imagined.

The next day, Hyuga Kei honored the agreement by executing the Sunagakure spy and removing her organs. To demonstrate his sincerity and make future cooperation easier, Hyuga Kei removed every useful organ from the Sunagakure spy's body.

Hyuga Kei had Anbu doctors properly preserve those organs and seal them all inside a Sealing Scroll.

Carrying the Sealing Scroll, Hyuga Kei quietly arrived at the hospital. He had to be more careful with the scroll this time.

Hyuga Kei handed the Sealing Scroll to Seiichi Matsuo. "Here. Heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, and more. I removed everything I could. If your daughter gets sick again in the future, there will be replacements."

Seiichi Matsuo said, "Thank you. My daughter can be saved."

"Then what are you waiting for? Hurry and prepare for the surgery. The sooner, the better. Every day less is one day less of suffering."

"Right, right!"

"I'll go perform the organ matching now."

Seiichi Matsuo remained busy, while Hyuga Kei waited beside him. After all, he still needed to provide after-sales service.

"It's a perfect match. It was practically tailor-made for Xiao Ling." Seeing the report, Seiichi Matsuo finally let go of the anxiety in his heart.

"Congratulations. Your daughter can be saved."