Aftermath

The water mirror suspended in the air vanished, and Mo Jingxian closed his Star Cross Eye.

Panel: [Skill: Star Cross Eye]

The newly appeared eye-based Kekkei Genkai came with no explanation.

He would have to explore its functions on his own.

He tried placing the Star Cross Eye on the Balance of Fate, just as he had once done with the Sharingan.

The balance didn't react. It refused to accept it.

By now, he had figured out some of the Golden Finger's rules. One of them was that anything exchanged from the balance couldn't be recycled a second time.

That was easy enough to understand.

An extension of that rule was that self-created elemental skills fell into the same category.

It was easy to conclude, then, that the Star Cross Eye was an elemental skill.

It also made sense that it belonged to a different progression path from the Sharingan.

So far, he had only discovered one function: triggering a second burst from an elemental skill.

For example, transforming the Water Dragon Technique into the Ice Dragon Technique was the result of combining two elements, so it didn't count as a skill.

But if an Ice Dragon suddenly split off from his body while he was using the Water Dragon Technique, that would count as a second burst from a skill.

He spent a while studying the eye's functions. When he couldn't find anything else, he gave up for the time being.

Hokage's office.

"Hiruzen, you're too soft. Today's incident was a test by the Hyuga Clan."

As he spoke, Danzo put extra emphasis on his words. "Leave this to me. I'll give you an answer you'll be satisfied with."

After the funeral, the Hokage had summoned the council of elders. The four of them had held a brief meeting in the office.

Once they had finished discussing major matters such as frontline supplies, reinforcements, and defenses, they naturally turned to the incident at the cemetery.

The matter could be treated as serious or trivial. It all depended on how the Hokage chose to handle it.

On one side stood a shinobi clan; on the other, a civilian-born shinobi. Which mattered more?

Everyone in the room weighed the matter in their minds.

"That's right, Hiruzen." Mitokado Homura wiped his glasses and put them back on. "The Hyuga Clan has caused trouble again. I think it's best to leave this to Danzo. Konoha can't afford a second Uchiha."

Utatane Koharu nodded in agreement.

Seeing that the other two supported him, Danzo felt a surge of delight.

He was already thinking about how to handle the Hyuga during the coming operation.

Going too far would be bad, but he couldn't let them off too lightly either. He had to get the balance right.

Root needed more personnel, talented shinobi needed training, and support for Orochimaru's experiments couldn't be cut off.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized they needed resources for everything. The Hyuga Clan had picked the perfect time to cause trouble.

Behind his desk, Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't rush to make a decision. He calmly pulled some papers from a stack on the desk.

"Take a look." He pushed the papers toward them, then took out his pipe and began packing it with tobacco.

The three men were puzzled, unsure what their old friend meant.

Danzo took the papers first and quickly flipped through them.

It was an investigation report documenting minor offenses by the shinobi clans since the war began.

No single clan had gone too far, but when the offenses of all the clans were added together, the result was alarming.

Danzo kept a straight face. When he finished, he passed the report to Mitokado Homura.

Homura frowned as he read it, then handed it to Utatane Koharu.

"How dare they!"

Koharu spoke in outrage. The report's records, one after another, showed them undermining Konoha's foundations.

Then her anger abruptly died away.

She had seen her own clan's name, among others...

In short, every shinobi clan in Konoha had been involved to some degree.

And these were only the incidents that had been recorded. There had to be many more that hadn't.

She knew that the clans used their connections to secure important positions on the front lines. But hadn't things always been that way?

She just hadn't realized it had gotten so bad. Civilian-born shinobi were sent to take the dangerous missions, while the clans were the first to flee during a retreat.

The Hokage's office fell silent for a while. Koharu placed the report back on the desk.

"I know this wasn't your intention." Hiruzen opened the report, then changed tack and read out its contents:

"Sosuke Sarutobi, found to have withheld a total of thirty thousand merit points from frontline shinobi and sold off supplies...

"Utatane Shi, abused his position to assign a large number of clan members to the logistics department. The investigation confirmed...

"Shimura Mura..."

There were many more entries, but Hiruzen didn't read them all.

He closed the report and looked at his three old friends.

"These are the facts uncovered in the past two months. I don't need to keep reading, do I?"

The three men looked grim. They hadn't expected their clansmen to be so brazen—or to flaunt their misconduct so openly.

"Hiruzen, I..." Koharu immediately tried to explain.

Hiruzen raised a hand to quiet her, and she reluctantly sat back down.

"We're all responsible." Hiruzen turned his gaze to the portraits hanging on the wall behind him. "We've failed our teacher."

The three followed his gaze. Senju Tobirama's portrait hung on the wall, looking down at them.

"Fssh."

A match flared as it struck the tobacco in the bowl of Hiruzen's pipe.

Hiruzen took a couple of puffs and exhaled a cloud of smoke. "So... what do you think? Shall we just watch this great tree called Konoha fall?"

After a moment of silence, Danzo tapped his cane against the floor. "Leave it to me. I'll go to the front lines myself."

Hiruzen nodded. "That's best. We'll start with our own clansmen."

All their faces looked grim.

They had their own agendas, but only as long as Konoha, the great tree, didn't fall.

And they truly admired Teacher Tobirama. Thinking back on his teachings, they felt a pang of shame.

"Let Homura and me go with you, too." Koharu looked at Hiruzen. "Don't worry. We won't go easy on them."

Homura voiced his agreement as well.

"We've been friends for decades. Of course I trust you." Hiruzen said, "There's no need to rush. Tomorrow, we'll summon every clan and High Ninja to a meeting and discuss the issue again."

The three understood.

The Hokage intended to use this incident to strike hard and cut out the rot festering in Konoha.

By going along with the general mood, he would win public approval while warning certain people to behave themselves.

To do so, Hiruzen was willing to take action against his own clansmen.

Yet no matter how one looked at it, Lord Hokage always stood on the side of justice.

Danzo felt a frustration he couldn't quite put into words. He did more of the work, but Hiruzen had managed to claim all the credit while subtly cutting him down.

"What about the Hyuga? What are you going to do about them?" Danzo asked.

"The Hyuga aren't like the Uchiha. I'll pay them a visit another day and talk to Hiashi." Hiruzen's face disappeared behind the smoke again. "It doesn't matter who finally broke the silence, does it?"

Indeed, the conflict between the two classes had reached a point where it could no longer be ignored.

If it erupted internally, its impact would be no less than a war between nations. Konoha could very well be destroyed by its own people.

None of them wanted to see that happen. Even Danzo... He coveted the Hokage's seat, but he didn't want Konoha destroyed.

"Fine. We know what to do."

Mo Jingxian walked out of Konoha's prison, and the gate closed behind him.

The sunlight was a little too bright. He raised a hand to shield his eyes.

"Xian!" A figure rushed over and flung her arms around him. "I'm so glad you're all right. Do you know how worried I was..."

"What are you doing here?" Mo Jingxian pulled free. "No, I mean... You're all right. Your clan didn't give you a hard time?"

Ayako Hyuuga laughed through her tears. "How can you be so stupid? Do you realize you could've been killed for stepping forward?"

"Are you even listening to me?" Mo Jingxian rolled his eyes and tugged at the girl's sleeve. "Wipe your nose."

"You're dead!" Ayako nearly lost it. That despicable boy always knew how to ruin the moment.

"I am dead. You're going to drown me in snot! Hahaha..."

"You jerk! If you've got the guts, don't run! I'm going to tear that foul mouth off your face!"

On Konoha's streets, a young boy and girl ran past, laughing, a bright splash of color against the scenery.

Ayako Hyuuga owed her safe return to Lord Hokage's visit.

That day, she had been taken back to the Hyuga Clan and confined to a small room.

At the time, she thought she would lose her freedom for good.

She didn't know what the Hokage had said to the clan head and elders.

She only knew that after that day, things changed. Her clan stopped restricting her freedom.

They even taught her ninjutsu that only members of the Main Family were allowed to learn.

When Ayako told Mo Jingxian about all this, she hoped he could give her an answer.

Mo Jingxian shook his head. "I'm no celestial being. How would I know what your clan head is thinking?"

Ayako Hyuuga seemed to have a blind faith in him. She thought he must have figured something out but was deliberately keeping it from her.

"Don't overthink it," Mo Jingxian reminded her. "Don't forget, strength can solve ninety-nine percent of problems, including worries."

"You're right." Ayako wholeheartedly agreed with him. "Come on, let's train."

It had been five days since they returned to the village, and they still hadn't had a proper training session.

Mo Jingxian had some ideas about ninjutsu that he urgently needed to test, so he happily agreed.

The two found a secluded training ground.

"Let's begin."

"Okay."

They faced each other and formed the Seal of Confrontation.

"Boom!" A small crater burst open beneath Ayako Hyuuga's feet as she charged at him in an instant.

"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms!"

Ayako went all out right from the start, which was exactly what Mo Jingxian wanted.

"Bring it on!"

He rushed forward, his body clad in Water Scale Armor, and clashed with Ayako.

In their purely taijutsu exchange, Mo Jingxian deliberately held back from using ninjutsu.

Two figures darted around the training ground, the sound of their blows ringing out without pause.

Half an hour later.

Ayako came over, panting, and sat beside Mo Jingxian. "You're a monster. Do you have unlimited stamina?"

She waited a few seconds, but he didn't respond.

Ayako Hyuuga turned to look at him and saw that his gaze had gone unfocused, as if he were lost in thought.

She raised a hand and waved it in front of him a few times. "Hey, what are you thinking about?"

"Gentle Fist."

"What about Gentle Fist?"

"Not Gentle Fist!" Mo Jingxian suddenly clapped his hands and looked up at Ayako. "It's the nature of your Hyuga Clan's chakra."

Ayako had no idea what he was talking about. She stared at him, waiting for an explanation.

"Come on, hit me with Eight Trigrams Palms." He sprang to his feet as he spoke.

Ayako thought Mo Jingxian had gone mad. "Are you sure?"

"I said hit me, so hit me. Why are you asking so many questions?" Mo Jingxian confirmed it and even removed all his defenses.