Idle Chatter

Were they trying to forcibly tie themselves to Minato Namikaze?

No reason for that, right?

Normally, no matter who became Hokage, the Hyuga Clan's position in Konoha would remain deeply entrenched.

Whether it was Minato Namikaze, Shimura Danzō, or even Fugaku Uchiha becoming Hokage, it didn't matter. The Hyuga Clan's status as the best support would always remain unshakable.

The Byakugan's scouting abilities gave Konoha a decisive advantage over the other villages in intelligence warfare. And in a Ninja's battles, intelligence had always been the most important thing.

Their combat strength wasn't much, and they only needed to protect a handful of Main Family members to control a huge number of top-tier support Ninja. They were practically perfect Tool People!

So, the Hyuga Clan's position in Konoha—and even throughout the Ninja World—could be summed up in one word: steady as an old dog!

What?

Orochimaru?

Orochimaru definitely wouldn't do. That guy was already teetering madly on the brink of insanity. If he really became Hokage, some Hyuga Ninja—or even Main Family members—might end up on his operating table as test subjects.

Bai Yue was rather curious about Hyuga Tokuma's strange maneuver. This really didn't seem like a decision some old-fashioned fossil would make.

And judging from the surprised expressions of the other attendants, Hyuga Tokuma had clearly made this decision on the spot.

"Did that Old Man get hit by Kotoamatsukami?" Bai Yue silently mocked. "Or is Minato Namikaze's charm really that great?"

Wait! Once all impossibilities were ruled out, whatever remained, however unbelievable, had to be the answer!

So Hyuga Tokuma thought that highly of Minato Namikaze?!

"He looks like a very well-behaved child." Minato Namikaze maintained his gentle smile throughout, showing no sign of feeling like he was being roasted over a fire.

"If you think this child is promising, Minato, would you consider taking him as your disciple?" Hyuga Tokuma spoke again.

Everyone present was intelligent, and Minato Namikaze was a genius among geniuses.

Besides, Hyuga Tokuma had laid his cards right on the table. How could Minato Namikaze fail to understand the situation?

After pondering for a few seconds, Minato Namikaze said calmly, "Clan Head Tokuma, could I speak with little Bai Yue alone for a moment?"

"This... of course!" Hyuga Tokuma replied in surprise.

Minato Namikaze's answer left him somewhat bewildered. He had considered that Minato Namikaze might happily agree, reluctantly accept, or even refuse outright. What he had never expected was that Minato Namikaze would first want to speak with Bai Yue.

"Excuse me." After coming to the stunned Bai Yue's side and nodding to the others, Minato Namikaze directly used the Flying Thunder God to take Bai Yue away.

"Tokuma, what was that?!" Hyuga So couldn't understand why his Clan Head had so eagerly thrown himself at Minato Namikaze.

"Minato Namikaze will be a very good leader." Looking somewhat weary, Hyuga Tokuma pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed it.

There were some things he could not say!

As the Ninja World's strongest Byakugan scouts, the Hyuga Clan could not investigate Konoha's many classified areas because of their Barriers. But not every place in Konoha had a Barrier!

Among the six most favored candidates for Fourth Hokage, Jiraiya and Tsunade had directly declined, while Fugaku Uchiha had been excluded from the start. Of the remaining three...

All he could say was that while there seemed to be several candidates for Fourth Hokage, only one of them was actually normal!

Especially after their brief contact today, Hyuga Tokuma felt that Minato Namikaze carried a trace of the First Hokage's spirit.

But could he say that out loud?!

He couldn't! He had even issued gag orders to the confidants who had noticed the anomaly!

"But..." The others present began discussing the matter again. Aside from Hyuga Tokuma, who was still worried about his grandson, none of them believed Minato Namikaze would harm the Main Family.

Nor did they believe anyone in Konoha's home territory could kill Bai Yue while he was in the hands of Minato Namikaze, who had mastered the Space-Time Ninjutsu known as the Flying Thunder God.

They could only say that they had seen too little...

Elsewhere—

The Flying Thunder God was truly amazing!

In the blink of an eye, he had gone from the Hyuga Main Family compound to Hokage Rock.

This new experience left Bai Yue a little excited!

As a veteran bookworm with more than a decade of reading under his belt, he had always believed in one principle: when time remained unseen, space reigned supreme.

He was extremely fond of abilities involving time and space!

Although the Flying Thunder God only counted as the most basic kind of spatial teleportation, it was still incredibly cool.

But hadn't he said he wanted to talk to me? Why did he bring me here only to say nothing? Was this place really that...

The feeling of standing above everything, of taking in the entirety of Konoha, really was quite nice.

"Jonin Minato, you seem to dislike our Hyuga Clan?" After thinking it over, Bai Yue decided to find something to talk about rather than keep waiting here in silence.

"Why would you think that?" Minato Namikaze froze, having never expected Bai Yue to say such a thing.

"Just a feeling. You always seemed uncomfortable when talking with our Clan Head and Elders." Of course. Anyone would feel uncomfortable talking with those old fossils.

Besides, you were the Little Sun, hailed as the most perfect man among Ninja. The Hyuga Clan's Caged Bird was hardly something bright and righteous.

"The Hyuga Clan's Ninja are all dependable. Konoha was able to defeat the four great Ninja Villages in succession largely thanks to the Hyuga Ninja's contributions." As expected of Minato Namikaze—he really knew how to talk.

"But the Clan Head and the others are too old-fashioned." Bai Yue spoke calmly, without the slightest guilt over criticizing his elders behind their backs, as though it were simply the truth.

And it really was the truth. How should he put it? The existence of Hyuga Tokuma and the others had given him a perfect understanding of what those old relics in the books who constantly shouted that their ancestors' laws could not be changed were like.

"Heh heh..." Minato Namikaze laughed awkwardly. It wasn't easy for him to respond to that.

He couldn't exactly hypocritically lecture Bai Yue about not speaking ill of his elders behind their backs.

First, he wasn't a hypocritical person.

Second, he thought Bai Yue was right.

Moreover, the Hyuga Clan's rigid Branch Family system made him deeply uncomfortable.

"Little Bai Yue, what do you think of Konoha?" After a few dry laughs, Minato Namikaze looked out over Konoha.

"It's pretty good. It would be even better without war." Bai Yue replied calmly.

"Mm! The war will end soon, and Konoha will only get better and better!" Minato Namikaze was full of confidence.

The title Yellow Flash was not an empty one. The fact that people could abandon missions without conditions upon encountering Minato Namikaze was the highest recognition of his strength.

Thus, Minato Namikaze had more than enough confidence and ability to bring the war to an end.

And precisely because he wanted to end it quickly, he had been extraordinarily active on every battlefield.

That had made his fame soar. As a member of the younger generation, he had surged far ahead on the road to becoming Hokage, easily leaving Fugaku Uchiha and Kabin behind as he rapidly closed in on Orochimaru.

"The war may indeed be ending soon, but with the Konoha F4 around, making things better and better won't be easy." Bai Yue rolled his eyes and silently mocked.

With those old fossils around, the Will of Fire was nothing but a joke.

The Will of Fire was originally meant to be the older generation making sacrifices so the new generation could have the chance to thrive.

But instead, the new generation was sent to their deaths one after another, providing several old fossils with an excellent retirement environment. One of them even kept pulling all kinds of ridiculous stunts.

Konoha was lucky its foundations were strong. If it had been Sunagakure, it would have collapsed long ago.