[Who is your true enemy?]
A sentence like this was written in the evaluation of the Fourth Simulation.
Hinata Hyuga didn't understand.
Why was it that in every simulation, no matter what she did or how much changed along the way, Konoha always backed down exactly the same way whenever Hidden Cloud threatened war?
Compromise. Every time, they compromised.
Sacrificing Uncle Hizashi—this had been the outcome in three out of four simulations. It loomed before her like an impassable chasm.
Why?
Hinata didn't understand.
Konoha was clearly the strongest shinobi village, and the Third was clearly the strongest Hokage. So why did they keep yielding to Kumogakure's extortion?
[Who is your true enemy?]
A vague answer had already taken shape in her heart. Though she didn't know whether it was right, she still said it: Konoha.
[What exactly killed the people you cherish?]
Konoha, so weak that all it could do was compromise!
Hinata staggered to her feet, swaying unsteadily like a gravely ill patient.
Dazed and aimless, she wandered along the corridor. As she turned a corner, the whispered conversation of several maids wiping the floor drifted into her ears.
"Hey, have you heard? The village gate was quite a scene today."
"What happened? Did another noble come to visit?"
"Something much more unusual! It was Lady Tsunade!"
"Oh my! Really? Hadn't she left the village many years ago? I thought she'd never come back..."
"Who knows? I caught a glimpse of her from far away. She's still as beautiful as ever—not at all like someone in her forties."
Who was Tsunade?
"Um..."
Hinata's voice was soft and slightly hoarse, but her sudden appearance startled the maids, who had been slacking off.
"Lady Hinata!"
"Who is the Lady Tsunade you were just talking about?"
At once, one of the older-looking maids lifted her head, her eyes shining with admiration.
"Lady Tsunade is a hero of the village, and the granddaughter of the First. Along with Lord Jiraiya and Orochimaru, she was a student of the Third. The three of them are known as the Konoha Sannin!"
"Then... why would such a powerful shinobi leave the village for so many years? And the Sannin... I don't think I've ever seen any of them."
The maids exchanged glances, all looking troubled. The older maid hesitated before answering, "Well... Lady Hinata, we don't really know. We've only heard that Lady Tsunade and the Third had some disagreements back then. After that, Orochimaru defected, and Lord Jiraiya left Konoha to pursue him."
"After all these years, Lady Tsunade is the first of the Sannin to return to Konoha. As for anything more... perhaps only Lord Hiashi knows."
A disagreement with the village leadership...
Hinata's heart gave a sudden leap. A flash of insight flickered through her mind, vanishing too quickly for her to grasp.
She thanked the maids and turned toward her father's study.
Hyuga Hiashi was seated at his desk, handling clan affairs. When he heard the knock, he answered without looking up, signaling for her to come in.
Hinata opened the door and called, "Father."
"What is it?"
"I wanted to know... about Lady Tsunade."
Hiashi set down his pen and looked at her. "Why are you asking about her?"
"I'm just curious. I just heard that Lady Tsunade has returned to the village. Why would such a powerful shinobi leave for so many years?"
She paused briefly, then continued, "Besides, aren't shinobi forbidden from leaving the village without permission?"
Tsunade had returned to the village?
Hiashi put the question aside for the moment and studied Hinata carefully. He could sense that something about his daughter had changed, especially over the past few days. It was as if she were hiding some secret she didn't want anyone to know.
After a moment's thought, he decided to tell her the truth. "Because she and the Third had a very serious disagreement."
That was much like what the maids had told her. But if her father described it as "very serious," then the truth was probably not so simple.
"What... what kind of disagreement?" she couldn't help asking.
Hiashi's gaze grew more searching. "It happened during the Second Shinobi World War. The First's grandson, Tsunade's younger brother, died in that war. Tsunade was Konoha's most outstanding medical shinobi, hailed as the Medical Sage. She believed that if every three-person squad included a medical shinobi, casualties could be greatly reduced."
"So she proposed to the Third that every three-person squad be required to include a medical shinobi. Even someone capable only of simple bandaging and surgery could help an injured shinobi hold on until a more skilled medical shinobi arrived."
Hinata's eyes lit up, but then quickly dimmed. "The Third didn't agree?"
"No." Hiashi's answer was decisive.
"Konoha was still at war then. The village simply didn't have enough resources or manpower to train that many medical shinobi. To stabilize the village, the Third ultimately rejected Tsunade's proposal."
Hiashi gave her a long look, then said earnestly, "Hinata, if you can understand the real reason Tsunade left the village, you'll already be a worthy heir to the Main Family."
"Lastly... I'll give you one more hint. Even now, Tsunade's proposal has never been put into practice."
Hinata froze for a moment, then softly acknowledged his words and left the study.
After this conversation, she felt that the gloom in her heart had lifted considerably. She composed herself, returned to her room, and sat back down at her desk to open the Life Simulator.
There was another question that had been circling in Hinata's mind for a long time. Why had a third option suddenly appeared during the Second Simulation, yet no new options had appeared in the Third or Fourth Simulation?
Had something special happened before she began the Second Simulation?
She closed her eyes and tried to retrace her memories of that time.
That was it. The day before she began the Second Simulation, she had gone to see Kiyonari.
That night, she had confirmed that the Life Simulator was real. She had also learned from Kiyonari how Neji was doing, which eased her anxiety.
Once her mind had calmed a little, the simulator had used her more composed state at the time to present a third option—Wait and See.
The Life Simulator ran its simulations based on "who I am now."
What I know, my state of mind, my relationships, my abilities... all of these change the simulator. They're variables.
Her approach all along had been wrong. She shouldn't have struggled over the limited options provided by the simulator, trying to find some elusive optimal solution. What she needed to do was take action in the real world and actively create more variables!
Tsunade.
Her name surfaced in Hinata's mind once again. If she could befriend Lady Tsunade in the real world...
That was it. This was the real way to break the deadlock!
Before you continue