"Danzo privately promised me that as long as I weathered this crisis and helped him become Hokage, he would grant the Hyuga Clan greater authority and status..."
After pondering for a while, Hiashi sneered. "And then? Become the second Uchiha?"
In his mind, Konoha's higher-ups—especially that bastard Danzo—had no credibility whatsoever. Their promises were nothing but farting, foul beyond belief.
The Hyuga Clan had already risen as high as it could in Konoha. One step higher, and they would become too powerful for the ruler to tolerate, inviting suppression.
If Danzo had promised to let the Hyuga Clan retain its former status, he might actually have wavered and played the fence-sitter for once.
Unfortunately, Danzo was old. The cunning, scheming politician of old had become both stupid and evil, casually offering such terms.
With disaster looming, he was still plotting and scheming...
Did he really think Hiashi was an idiot?
Bang!
A puff of white smoke appeared before Hiashi.
As the smoke dispersed, a figure emerged.
The newcomer was tall and wore a headband bearing the character for "oil." His head was shaved bald, red markings sat beneath his eyes, and he wore a red coat over brown garments. Wooden clogs covered his feet, while armor-like equipment protected his hands.
Though his appearance had changed greatly, Hiashi recognized him at once.
Jiraiya!
"Byakugan, activate!"
Veins spread from the corners of his eyes to his temples. In this state, Hiashi possessed all-around, blind-spot-free vision.
No intelligence agent could eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Lord Jiraiya, it has been a long time."
"Hello, head of the Hyuga Clan."
Jiraiya's expression was solemn, his tone sincere and earnest. "I came this time in hopes of..."
Before he could finish, Hiashi declared resolutely, "I agree! The Hyuga Clan will stand with the Three Ninja!"
"Huh?"
Jiraiya rubbed his bald head, his face full of confusion.
Did the Byakugan actually have Mind Reading abilities? The Hyuga Clan had hidden that deeply...
"The Hyuga Clan's reputation is renowned throughout the shinobi world, so there is no need to leave behind any proof."
After delivering those words stiffly, Jiraiya gave Hiashi a deep look.
The next instant, his body dissolved into mist and vanished.
"Ah..."
Hyuga Hiashi sighed.
Though he had made his decision swiftly and decisively just now, the moment no one was around, he immediately turned into a weary middle-aged man, his face full of melancholy. "Fifty years of human life—how could there be an Immortal? Why fight for power and profit? Is peace truly nothing more than an impossible fantasy that can never be realized?"
Taking out the good wine he had treasured for years, Hiashi drank alone.
Before long, the wine jar was empty.
Seen through drunken eyes, everyone looked gentle.
People who drank too much thought completely differently from when they were sober.
Hiashi, who normally paid little attention to his daughter, suddenly felt that he had been far too biased over the years. He had neglected too much of Hinata's care and education.
"Byakugan!"
"Hinata, what is she... doing?"
Hiashi discovered that his daughter was writing furiously at her desk, using several pens of different thicknesses for drawing and writing. He unconsciously looked over.
One glance was enough to leave his worldview shattered.
"Why is she drawing this kind of thing? Does she like girls?"
Unable to make sense of it no matter how hard he thought, Hiashi's face turned livid.
Through her brush, Hinata had constructed a bizarre and fantastical world.
Besides the Bizarre Setting of girls marrying and having children, there were also plotlines he simply could not tolerate.
In that manga, he saw a pair of fictional characters who looked remarkably similar to himself and Neji.
"Pfft..."
A Mouthful of Old Blood mixed with wine sprayed from his mouth.
Hiashi fainted.
The next day.
A swordsman whose catchphrase was "Hissagi" had once said that there were three inevitable things in life—honor, death, and hangover.
Now, Hyuga Hiashi experienced what a hangover felt like.
His head felt like it was splitting apart. He scarcely dared to use Chakra to regulate his body, and only recovered after forcing himself to stand, practicing several rounds of Gentle Fist, and sweating profusely.
"What happened yesterday..."
"Jiraiya, Hinata, manga..."
Hiashi's eye twitched as he charged into Hinata's bedroom with a face full of fury.
Yet his imposing arrival came to nothing.
At this time, Hinata had already taken the first installment of her manga, which she had stayed up late rushing to finish, to a publishing house for submission.
After pounding on the door for quite a while without receiving an answer, Hiashi kicked it open in anger.
What met his eyes was a huge pile of manga.
"'Naruto'? What is this thing!"
Flipping to the title page and seeing the story synopsis full of Mary Sue vibes, Hiashi took a deep breath to quell the fury in his chest.
In the end, it was still his fault. After deciding that Hinata lacked the potential and value to become a powerful ninja, he had given up on her and turned to cultivating the better-performing Hanabi instead.
Thinking of what he had seen the night before, Hiashi was filled with grief and regret.
He never expected that his daughter had quietly grown up crooked!
Yuri, Danmei, Female Supremacy...
"What kind of utter nonsense is this!"
With the intention of criticizing it seriously, Hiashi opened Naruto and read through it page by page.
The story began from Sakura Haruno's perspective as she observed two boys of the same age.
One was her affection for Sasuke, the Ninja Academy's number one genius, while the other was the affection of Naruto, a dead-last troublemaker, for her.
When he reached the chapter where Naruto stole the Scroll of Sealing and instantly learned the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, Hiashi even nodded slightly in approval.
"This author put some effort into her research. She is either part of Konoha's upper ranks or a powerful female ninja."
As for it being the work of a male ninja?
The thought never even occurred to Hiashi!
What normal man could understand a young girl's thoughts to such an extent?
Impossible!
But when he reached the class assignment arc, Hiashi immediately let out a cold laugh.
"Team 7's jonin Squad Leader Teacher, Kakashi Hatake? Everything from here onward is wrong! Kakashi is clearly Team 10's jonin instructor!"
"Still, the bell-grabbing test and the lunchbox test of teamwork and awareness really do feel like Kakashi's style."
He remembered clearly that Team 7's Squad Leader Teacher, Wang Yan, had even blown up several classrooms in the end to test the three Genin's adaptability.
Although he believed the manga's contents were all the fantasies and fabrications of some female ninja, he had to admit that the plot was quite interesting.
Gradually, Hiashi set aside his initial resistance and truly entered a state of deep reading.
The Land of Waves, Zabuza Momochi and Haku; the Chunin Exams, the Konoha Crush Plan; Pain's invasion, the Eye of the Moon Plan, the Fourth Great Ninja War, the Shinobi Alliance...
Beyond the normal progression of the plot, many characters' memories also revealed secrets and truths from back then.
Sasori assassinated the Third Kazekage...
Shisui had his Mangekyō Sharingan gouged out by that old bastard Danzo and threw himself into the river...
Uchiha Itachi massacred his entire clan, met the Masked Man, and joined Akatsuki...
Orochimaru left Akatsuki after losing his arms and founded Otogakure...
Just then, Hinata returned, her face full of joy.
Although the editor believed Danmei scenes were heretical while yuri was the true way, after agreeing to revise parts of the plot, her manuscript had finally met the publishing house's standards!
"Um... Father." Seeing the messy room, the smile on Hinata's face gradually faded. She discreetly hid the commission letter behind her back.
"Where did you obtain these books?"
His gaze fell on his daughter. Hyuga Hiashi tried his best to put on a stern expression, but his voice trembled slightly.
There are still two chapters today. Please vote for recommendations! Please collect!!!
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