Flying Thunder God Technique.
It was a Space-Time Ninjutsu created by the Second. By using formulas left behind in advance, its user could travel freely to any place in the Shinobi World. Put simply, it was teleportation—teleportation over distances of thousands of miles.
Namikaze Minato had earned the nickname "Yellow Flash" through this Flying Thunder God Technique.
Today,
he had been racing back and forth across the village using the technique.
Then, at Lord Hokage's command, he had crossed thousands of miles to contact Hyuga Hiashi and the others at the Frontline Camp on the eastern coast of the Land of Fire.
The village had anticipated that Minato's mobility might come in handy, so Orochimaru, the highest-ranking commander, had been given one of Minato's specially made Kunai. In fact, the highest-ranking commanders on the various front lines had all been given one.
"Father, I—my eye hurts so much!"
The young man, his head wrapped in bandages and his right eye covered, kept wailing. He was Hyuga Daisho, the useless scion of the Main House who had lost one of his Byakugan to the Mist Ninja—a watered-down Jonin.
"Daisho, bear with it. The village has better medical facilities. Once we're back, I'll take you to Konoha Hospital. You'll be much more comfortable there than here."
Hyuga Hisho kept reassuring his son.
Beside them,
Hyuga Hiashi's eyes were cold.
Hyuga Daichi looked just as irritated. His own son was supposed to have died at Hyuga Ritsu's hands, but whenever he thought that Ritsu might not have done this if Hyuga Daisho hadn't been such a useless troublemaker, he wanted nothing to do with the embarrassing fool.
"Is everyone ready?" Minato asked.
"We can leave at any time," Hyuga Hiashi replied.
"Senior Orochimaru, I'll be taking my leave!"
Minato said goodbye to Orochimaru.
"Minato, go on. The old man is probably getting impatient waiting for you," Orochimaru said with a smile.
Minato gave a slight nod and reached out to grab Hyuga Hiashi by the shoulder. Following Minato's earlier instructions, Hiashi and the others held on to one another. The next instant, all five of them, Minato included, vanished.
"Hyuga... Heh, interesting. Has a living spring appeared in the Hyuga Clan's stagnant pool? Hiruko's trained himself a fine student!"
Orochimaru chuckled and swept out of the room.
He planned to find Hiruko and share the news. Minato hadn't told him that the matter had to be kept secret, after all.
Meanwhile,
in Konoha, at the Hokage Building,
five people suddenly appeared in the smoke-filled office.
"Lord Hokage, I've brought everyone!" Minato said. He pulled the short-handled, trident-shaped Kunai from the floor, slipped it into his tool pouch, and reported, "Hyuga Hiashi, Hyuga Daichi, Hyuga Hisho, and Hyuga Daisho—the four Main House members of the Hyuga Clan—are all here!"
"Thanks for your effort, Minato."
Sarutobi Hiruzen set down his pipe. After thanking Minato, he turned his gaze to Hyuga Hiashi. "Clan Head Hiashi, Minato explained everything to you, right? What do you think?"
"I'll follow Lord Hokage's orders in all things."
Hyuga Hiashi bowed, his manner respectful.
He hadn't always been like this.
As the Hyuga Clan's Clan Head, he had once met even the Hokage without either groveling or showing disrespect.
But things were different now. Hyuga Ritsu had rebelled, and the Main House alone couldn't be sure it could put down the unrest. They had to rely on the village's help. How could he face the Hokage without showing deference now?
It was truly unpleasant to be in someone else's debt!
"Since that's settled, let's move out!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen stood up.
"Huh?"
Hyuga Hiashi and the two Main Family Elders were taken aback.
"A-are we starting now? Isn't this too rushed?" Hyuga Hiashi couldn't help asking.
"Rushed?"
Shimura Danzō gave a cold laugh from his seat on the sofa. "If you don't move quickly, all those people in the Hyuga Clan will end up siding with Hyuga Ritsu. If his method for removing the Caged Bird Seal can be copied and spread, by the time you get back, you may not have a single Branch House member left for you to control. Given the situation, are you still insisting on waiting, Hyuga Hiashi?"
Hyuga Hiashi had no answer to that.
He opened his mouth, then managed to say, "Then let's go now."
At the end of the day,
he lacked talent and experience. Without the Main House and Branch House system, he would never have been capable of becoming Clan Head.
At twenty-eight, he was no match for old men like Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō. It was inevitable that they would lead him by the nose. In the original course of history, three or four years later, Sarutobi Hiruzen would even manipulate Hyuga Hiashi into agreeing to let his younger twin brother die in his place—and hand his body over to the Kumo Ninja—to appease their threat of war.
Honestly,
he was utterly useless.
At that moment,
watching Hyuga Hiashi's performance, even Minato gained a new understanding of the former Clan Head of the Hyuga Clan, just like the other old men. He realized that there was no way he could count on Hiashi to oppose Hyuga Ritsu.
Remembering his earlier meeting with Hyuga Ritsu,
he knew that the fifteen-year-old's presence was far more imposing than Hyuga Hiashi's.
Unfortunately, Lord Hokage and the others had already made their decision: kill Hyuga Ritsu, the ringleader, and help Hyuga Hiashi and the others restore order so the Hyuga Clan could return to the right path. Minato had originally thought that, freed from the constraints of the Main House and Branch House system, the Hyuga Clan might be able to unleash greater strength and contribute more to the village.
But there was nothing he could do.
His opinion was only for reference; he had no authority to make the decision.
He would even be sent in as reinforcements to help Hyuga Hiashi eliminate Hyuga Ritsu, this tumor.
Truthfully, he didn't want to do this kind of work against his own people at all. But it was Lord Hokage's order, and there was no way to refuse. This stirred in him a yearning for power.
Only by becoming Hokage could he do things according to his own wishes!
"Um, Clan Head, are we all going?" Hyuga Hisho looked at the raincoat handed to him, then at the torrential rain outside the window, and swallowed nervously.
But before Hyuga Hiashi could answer, Shimura Danzō barked, "You won't help with your own clan's affairs? You expect the village to solve all your problems for you? If that's the case, then I think the Hyuga Clan should send every matter, large or small, to the Hokage Building from now on!"
Shimura Danzō gave him a cold look.
Hyuga Hisho shuddered and fell silent. Hyuga Daisho was even quieter than a mouse before a cat. Trembling, he put on his raincoat and didn't dare bring up going to the hospital.
A moment later,
"Move out!" Sarutobi Hiruzen ordered.
The group, dressed in raincoats, leaped out through the open window. Sarutobi Hiruzen led the operation in person, Shimura Danzō accompanied him, and Namikaze Minato served as the vanguard. Hyuga Hiashi and the others were there as the "justification" for putting down the unrest.
The two advisor elders, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, did not join the operation. They stayed behind at the Hokage Building to provide support and deal with any unexpected developments.
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