Minato: He's Afraid of Me

Time rewound slightly.

After attending the funeral of his disciple, Uchiha Obito, Namikaze Minato encountered Hyuga Ritsu on the street. Ritsu, the top genius of the Hyuga Clan's Branch House, was dust-covered and in a hurry.

At the time, Minato didn't find anything unusual, merely assuming Hyuga Ritsu had been recalled to the village from the front lines for rest.

However—

When he returned home and sat staring blankly on the sofa, his wife, Uzumaki Kushina, in an effort to comfort him and distract him, shared some recent village happenings.

"Wait, you said the Hyuga Clan's Main House had a Byakugan stolen by a Mist ninja, and they blamed Hyuga Ritsu for failing to rescue it? So Clan Head Hyuga Hiashi and others went to the front lines to punish Hyuga Ritsu and seize the opportunity to retrieve the stolen Byakugan?"

Minato sat up abruptly, staring at his startled wife beside him, quickly summarizing.

"Uh, yeah, pretty much."

Uzumaki Kushina nodded subconsciously.

"The Hyuga Ritsu you're talking about is that supposed top genius of the Hyuga Clan's Branch House, the one taken as a disciple by Senior Hiruko, right?"

"Uh... there aren't two Hyuga Ritsus, are there?"

Kushina felt a bit uncertain from her husband's question.

However, Her words weren't wrong.

The Hyuga Clan hadn't heard of another Hyuga Ritsu.

"Minato, what's wrong? Why do you care about this? Is it because of Senior Hiruko?" Kushina asked, confused.

"I just encountered Hyuga Ritsu."

Minato frowned, his expression serious.

"Huh?"

Kushina was quick-witted and instantly realized what Minato was worried about. The genius Branch House member of the Hyuga Clan, who should have been punished on the front lines, suddenly appearing in the village did indeed carry a sense of danger.

"Perhaps Senior Orochimaru sent him back? Senior Orochimaru and Senior Hiruko were classmates, so it's possible he used this method to protect Senior Hiruko's disciple?"

Kushina guessed.

But Minato shook his head. "If they intended for Hyuga Ritsu to avoid the Main House's accountability and punishment, they shouldn't have sent him back to the village. They should have arranged a secret mission and sent him far away. Returning to the village would be like walking into a trap!"

"That makes sense too."

Kushina thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

Her guess indeed had flaws.

"Then what's going on? Is it serious?"

"I can't say for sure, maybe I'm overthinking it, but..." Minato mused, recalling his encounter with Hyuga Ritsu. At first, Ritsu's body was tense, as if ready to exert himself at any moment, but that was normal; everyone was like that after coming down from the battlefield.

What was truly odd was when Minato asked about the eastern front, Hyuga Ritsu suddenly relaxed, as if relieved.

"He was afraid of me!"

Minato murmured.

"What?"

"When we met earlier, Hyuga Ritsu was afraid of me at first. He probably didn't have an official order to return to the village; he came back on his own..."

Minato reached out and placed a hand on Kushina's shoulder. "Kushina, I'm sorry, I have to go out again to report this to the Hokage. Wait for me at home; I'll be back soon. We'll make dinner together when I return."

"Take an umbrella. No, better bring your raincoat; this rain looks like it could start any minute."

Kushina quickly got up, found a folded bright yellow transparent raincoat in a tote bag, and handed it to Minato.

"I'll be back soon."

Minato took the tote bag, smiled at Kushina, and the next moment, his figure vanished from the house, appearing directly on the rooftop of the Hokage Building.

He pushed open the unlocked rooftop door and went down the stairs, quickly arriving outside the Hokage's office.

"Knock, knock!"

Minato raised his hand and knocked on the door, which was ajar with a small gap.

"Come in."

A slightly hoarse and muffled voice came from inside.

"Hokage-sama."

Minato pushed the door open and walked in.

The large office was filled with swirling smoke, the source of which was the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, sitting behind his desk, holding a pipe and continuously puffing.

"It's you, Minato! What's happened?"

Seeing Minato enter, Sarutobi Hiruzen's face broke into a smile.

"I heard about the incident on the eastern front where the Hyuga Clan's Main House's Byakugan was stolen, and that the Main House blamed the Branch House's Hyuga Ritsu? What exactly is going on?"

Minato walked into the room and stood before the desk.

"What? Minato, are you here to plead for Hyuga Ritsu? This matter is difficult to handle. The Hyuga Clan is a major clan in the village. The First Hokage allowed them to resolve their internal family affairs themselves. They strongly emphasize that this is an internal family matter, so it's really not convenient for us to interfere."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression was troubled.

"No, Hokage-sama, I'm not here to plead for anyone. This might be me overthinking things, but after Obito's funeral, I encountered Hyuga Ritsu on my way home."

"Hmm? You encountered Hyuga Ritsu?"

"Judging by your reaction, you don't know that Hyuga Ritsu returned to the village?"

Minato frowned.

"Crack!"

Lightning flashed outside the window, followed closely by thunder.

Immediately after, heavy rain began to fall, with large drops splattering against the floor-to-ceiling windows, sending up sprays of water.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression turned grim.

He coldly said, "Guards."

The next instant, An Anbu member wearing a mask appeared before the desk.

"Find out when Hyuga Ritsu returned to the village."

"Yes."

The Anbu responded, and his figure vanished in a flash.

Sarutobi Hiruzen took two more hard puffs from his pipe. "Minato, what do you think Hyuga Ritsu intends to do by suddenly returning to the village?"

"There's too little known information, it's truly difficult to..."

"Take a guess."

"The worst-case scenario is that Hyuga Ritsu intends to defect. He risked returning to the village to take his parents away. I've had quite a bit of contact with Hyuga Ritsu, and he's very filial. He wouldn't abandon his parents and flee on his own."

Minato voiced his conjecture based on his understanding of Hyuga Ritsu.

"It's pretty much what I was thinking. If Hyuga Ritsu is unwilling to accept punishment from the Hyuga Clan's Main House, defection is his only option... This is a headache, this situation with the Hyuga Clan!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed helplessly.

Konohagakure now had two great clans.

One was the Uchiha, who possessed the Sharingan Kekkei Genkai, and the other was the Hyuga, who possessed the Byakugan Kekkei Genkai. The former had extreme personalities and easily fell into extremes. According to the Second Hokage, they were a clan inherently evil.

The latter had stable personalities and had never produced dangerous individuals like Uchiha Madara. However, the Hyuga Clan had a unique Main House and Branch House system in the ninja world. From the perspective of outsiders like them, the Branch House members of the Hyuga Clan were completely slaves to the Main House. If not for the Caged Bird Seal controlling the life and death of the Branch House members, the Hyuga Clan would have likely erupted in civil war long ago.

Of course, It was precisely because of the existence of the Caged Bird Seal that they all judged the worst-case scenario to be Hyuga Ritsu defecting with his family.