What Does Hyuga Want to Destroy? What Does It Want to Overthrow? The Suffocating Feeling of Shimura Danzō Coiling Like a Python

Hyuga Tenzo was in a terrible mood.

He had run into the worst possible outcome...

If Hizashi Hyuga's skill at pinning labels on people was a one,

then the middle-aged Bandage Man before him was at least a ten!

In Konoha, the thing the major ninja clans had feared most in the past was walking through a small grove when Shimura Danzō suddenly appeared behind them and said something about the village needing talented people...

"Hyuga has been communicating privately with Kirigakure for thirty years..."

Shimura Danzō spoke expressionlessly. "What have you been discussing with the Kaguya Clan all these years? The Kaguya Clan actually believes that Hyuga can influence the Hokage's decisions..."

"Did you obtain the village's approval? What is Hyuga's motive?

"What are you trying to imply with this letter? What does Hyuga intend to overthrow?"

"What does Hyuga want to destroy? Who stands behind Hyuga? Who ordered you to do this?"

Shimura Danzō coldly spat out one question after another.

Hyuga Tenzo's face gradually turned green.

Damn it, the Darkness of the Shinobi World, the Root of Konoha—its reputation was well deserved.

But he was no easy target either. The Hyuga Clan Head would never acknowledge labels forcibly pinned onto him like this!

Yet Shimura Danzō swept out a hand, his voice gradually rising.

"Hyuga's motive is colluding with foreign powers and betting on both sides!"

"On the surface, you voluntarily reported this, but in truth, you are making an extremely vicious insinuation! You are trying to compare the Hokage to the Mizukage, and compare the establishment of the Patrol Force to Kirigakure's Bloody Mist Village!"

"This is undermining the Will of Fire. This is digging up Konoha's roots..."

Shimura Danzō turned to Hiruzen Sarutobi and said:

"In my opinion, the Third Mizukage stands behind Hyuga, and they are staging a self-inflicted scheme against the village!"

"Using the Hokage's and the village's authority to recklessly amass capital, they are declaring to the outside world that Hyuga is Konoha's true decision-maker—the 'Shadow Hokage'..."

Even Hizashi Hyuga, standing nearby, was dumbfounded.

Come to think of it, why did that actually sound a little reasonable?

The small spark of anger Hyuga Tenzo had just felt was completely crushed beneath one logically coherent, towering accusation after another.

With his limbs turning cold, he even felt a little admiration for Shimura Danzō.

Though Hyuga could not compare to Konoha in scale, both were higher-ups whose word was nearly absolute...

Hyuga Tenzo had also used similar methods to suppress the Branch Family.

But compared to Shimura Danzō's freewheeling thinking and his ability to turn everything into a major political issue, he was far, far inferior...

"You have nothing to say? Are you thinking of a countermeasure after being exposed?"

Shimura Danzō's tone grew even colder. "Hyuga calls itself a great clan, but what figures have ever emerged from your clan?"

"Did you produce a Uchiha Madara who could contend with the First Hokage? Or an Uchiha Izuna who could stand against Teacher Tobirama?"

"Even Uchiha wouldn't dare do this—how dare you Hyuga!" Shimura Danzō slammed the table, veins bulging across his forehead as though he had activated the Byakugan.

Those words stabbed straight into Hyuga Tenzo's heart.

The Byakugan and Sharingan, Hyuga and Uchiha, had always been called the two great dōjutsu.

But anyone with eyes could see it—where exactly were they equal? To put it bluntly, Hyuga was just borrowing Uchiha's fame...

And Shimura Danzō's meaning was clear as well.

Compared to Uchiha, the village had already been tolerant enough of Hyuga, yet they still wanted to push their luck?

"Sir Advisor, the Hyuga Clan absolutely has no such intentions!"

"Look, hasn't Hizashi been doing an excellent job in the Anbu?" Hyuga Tenzo took a deep breath. In this situation, the Branch Family member who had joined the Anbu had instead become his lifeline.

"Hizashi has done very well. He is a good young man..." But Shimura Danzō relentlessly continued to tear into him. "But what does he have to do with Hyuga!"

Hyuga Tenzo was completely stunned.

That was his son, and he had Byakugan in his eyes. How the hell could he have nothing to do with Hyuga?

Hyuga Tenzo, who had always been cultivated, could not help wanting to curse.

You could even draw a line like that?

"The village had barely recruited Hizashi into the Anbu when you rushed over. Weren't you just trying to use this letter to claim credit with the village and block the Branch Family's further movement?"

"And you even tried to drive a wedge between Hizashi and the village. Very good. Very good indeed..."

Shimura Danzō looked at Hyuga Tenzo's reaction, feeling thoroughly pleased.

This Hyuga Clan Head truly had terrible luck. He had crashed right into Shimura Danzō's gun barrel.

Recently, Shimura Danzō had learned a great deal from Hiruzen Sarutobi...

And he had found it quite useful.

But his old trade of pinning labels on people, practiced for so many years, had helplessly been set aside for far too long. It had left him itching for action.

He had been suppressing his urge to pin labels.

Shimura Danzō was about to speak again.

Hyuga Tenzo's heart tightened, as though a giant python had coiled around his neck.

This Hokage Office Building was truly far more dangerous than the Bloody Mist Village...

Would he even be able to leave with a good ending today?

At that moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled a cloud of smoke and gave a light cough.

Enough!

Shimura Danzō had already formed the syllable, yet immediately fell silent.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi was somewhat surprised by that decisiveness.

What did that mean...

Why was he being so obedient today?

"Sit down, both of you. Let's sit and talk." Hiruzen Sarutobi set the tone as soon as he spoke, easing the atmosphere that had become tense to the extreme.

"Danzō, you went a little too far."

"Hyuga has shed blood for the village. Even if it has made some minor mistakes, it remains a pillar of Konoha. You must remember that firmly; you cannot casually brand others as enemies."

It was as though a massive stone had fallen from Hyuga Tenzo's heart, and his entire body relaxed considerably.

The Hokage was still reasonable!

Though the tactic was a little outdated...

The same old good cop, bad cop routine.

"Tenzo, do you think Danzō and I are playing good cop and bad cop?"

Hyuga Tenzo gave an awkward smile and shook his head.

Could the Hokage read minds too?

Hiruzen Sarutobi pulled a document from a drawer and placed it before him.

It was the full list of Konoha Committee Members.

Hyuga Tenzo's heart jolted.

This list clearly could not have been drafted just now.

Not only did he see his own name, he also saw that his name was listed ahead of Hizashi's!

The matter of the Konoha Committee Members had long ceased to be a secret in the village...

There was no need to mention the Jonin circles. Even many Genin were eagerly discussing who would be selected.

Hyuga Tenzo had considered that Hizashi might be chosen.

If he were the Hokage, he would have done the same...

By naming Hizashi a Konoha Committee Member while excluding him, the Clan Head, it would instantly create a situation in which the Committee Member and Clan Head stood in opposition to each other.

No matter how great the Main Branch's pressure was, could it surpass Konoha's?

The Branch Family's Hyuga members would surge toward Hizashi like the tides!

It was a nakedly poisonous scheme, even more vicious than the Bloody Mist Village...

It was not merely killing people—it was attacking their hearts.

Hyuga Tenzo had worried about this for a long time. If the Hokage truly did that, what would he do?

But he had never imagined it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had actually included him as one of the Konoha Committee Members!

"Tenzo, Konoha believes in the Will of Fire."

"Between the village and the ninja clans, it has never been a matter of life or death, but of joining hands for mutual benefit..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke slowly:

"This is also the most fundamental difference between Konoha and the other Hidden Villages. I regard every ninja as a friend, a brother, a family member—not as a tool or expendable material."

At that moment.

A thought could not help but cross Hyuga Tenzo's mind.

The Will of Fire was not merely a slogan after all...

It truly existed!