Information Revealed

The Anbu on patrol stopped in their tracks and exchanged bewildered looks. They had no idea why someone from the Hyuga Clan would say such a thing. Uchiha Itachi had left Konoha some time ago. Had he secretly slipped back into the village?

Pedestrians on the street looked up toward the Hyuga Clan Compound. Some couldn't help wondering if the events from a while back were about to happen again. And in broad daylight, at that!.

Inside the Hokage Building, Sarutobi Hiruzen nearly dropped the pipe in his hand.

"Hyuga Hiashi? What's gotten into him?"

The Anbu beside him shook his head. "I'm not sure, but it sounds like he's cursing Uchiha Itachi."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression darkened. Uchiha Itachi had already left Konoha, so why was Hyuga Hiashi cursing him? Besides, those words—"going too far"—didn't sound like a simple insult.

They sounded more like... someone had touched a nerve.

Hyuga Hiashi knelt in the living room, a scroll spread out before him. Anger churned in his chest. The Hyuga Clan had already put up with so much. Why did those people keep pushing them...

His hands trembled, his face flushed, and the veins in his forehead stood out. His wife and several Branch Family elders sat beside him, not daring to speak. They hadn't seen the clan head this furious in a long time.

The last time was when Kumogakure had tried to seize the Hyuga Byakugan.

"Hiashi, what happened?"

Hyuga Tendou, the Main Family's head elder, knew how good Hyuga Hiashi was at keeping his composure. If even he had lost his cool, then something enormous must have happened—something he couldn't resolve on his own, at least not right away.

Hyuga Hiashi didn't answer. He pushed the scroll toward him.

"Read it yourself."

Hyuga Tendou took the scroll and unrolled it. He read it from beginning to end, and his expression changed as well.

"This... this... who did this?! Are they trying to wipe out the Hyuga Clan too?"

"Whoever knows so much about these matters, and about the Hyuga Clan's Caged Bird Seal, can only be..." Hyuga Hiashi said darkly. Though he had just shouted Uchiha Itachi's name, Itachi was still young. And there were certain things he couldn't simply have gotten his hands on.

"Elder?" The other Main Family elders saw that the two men still hadn't explained what had happened. The conversation involved the Hyuga Clan's most fundamental secret, the Caged Bird, and they couldn't help asking anxiously.

Hyuga Tendou didn't explain. He simply passed the scroll to the other Main Family elders. The second elder took it and immediately began reading it with the others.

"How is this possible? We've never told outsiders that we're on good terms with the Kaguya Clan!"

"Just because we didn't tell them doesn't mean they couldn't find out!" Hyuga Hiashi gritted his teeth. "And it's all written right there. The Hyuga and Kaguya Clans are descendants of Otsutsuki Hamura, the younger brother of that Sage of Six Paths. Our Byakugan and the Kaguya Clan's Shikotsumyaku both came from Otsutsuki Hamura."

"But... we've never even heard of this Otsutsuki Hamura. How can it say we're blood relatives? One has eyes, the other has bones. How are we related?"

"That's what makes it so terrifying." Hyuga Hiashi took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "Someone knows more about the Hyuga than we do. They even know every detail of the Caged Bird Seal's secret."

The Main Family elders lowered their heads and looked at the final section of the scroll.

It read: "To prove that this information is genuine, I hereby reveal the Caged Bird Seal of the Hyuga Clan in Konoha. This seal can be used to place a Caged Bird Seal on anyone, and the target can be killed at any time afterward. The hand seals are..."

What followed was a long, complicated series of hand seals and chakra pathways.

The Main Family elders' hands trembled even more.

"This... this... how dare they?!"

"They wiped out the Uchiha Clan overnight. What wouldn't they dare do?" Hyuga Hiashi said coldly.

The Main Family elders clutched the scroll tightly, not daring to let go or let the Branch Family elders below see it...

"Clan head... who sent this information?"

"It was delivered through the Bounty Exchange." Hyuga Hiashi took a deep breath, stood up, and walked to the doorway. He gazed at the sky outside. "I had my men ask. Someone placed an order with the Bounty Exchange to deliver a copy to every village and every ninja clan. Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Mist Village, Sunagakure... Everyone interested in the Byakugan—and everyone who isn't—now knows the secret of the Caged Bird."

The room fell silent.

Four or five breaths later, Hyuga Tenchu, the Branch Family's head elder, rushed up to the Main Family elders and snatched the scroll from their hands. He began reading from the part they had just been looking at...

"Smack!" The scroll hit the ground, and Hyuga Tenchu collapsed limply beside it.

It was over. All over. The Hyuga Clan's greatest secret, greatest trump card, and greatest weakness had been laid bare for the world to see.

"Pass down my orders!" Hyuga Hiashi turned around, his gaze fierce. "Every member of the Hyuga Clan must return to the compound and report in immediately. From now on, no one in the Hyuga Clan is to go anywhere without at least two others. If there are fewer than three of you, you're not to do anything at all! Pass down the orders now! Branch Family, get everyone moving! No one is to stop the Hyuga from returning to report in! I, Hyuga Hiashi, will take responsibility for anything that happens!"

"Yes!"

The Branch Family elders still didn't know what had happened, but they obeyed Hyuga Hiashi's orders and hurried off.

Hyuga Hiashi stood where he was, fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palms.

"All Main Family members are to move close to me and live nearby! And withdraw the Branch Family guards stationed around you!" He gritted his teeth and continued issuing orders. "Remember! Every! Single! One!"

The Main Family elders were stunned at first, but they quickly understood what Hyuga Hiashi meant. They hurried off to carry out his orders. The sooner they acted, the sooner their descendants would be safe.

Hyuga Hiashi watched the Main Family elders hurry away with their ninjutsu, then glanced at the scroll on the ground. An overwhelming weariness washed over him. Just as Uchiha Setsuna had said, perhaps the Hyuga Clan wouldn't have to wait long for the Uchiha Clan on the road to the Pure Land...

The Hyuga Clan frantically recalled its Branch Family members from outside the village, regardless of whether they were on missions. Under normal circumstances, Sarutobi Hiruzen would have gone to the Hyuga compound to demand an explanation long ago.

But now, complaints from ordinary ninjas and villagers about the Hyuga had nearly buried Sarutobi Hiruzen's desk, and he still did nothing. He merely watched as the Hyuga Clan steadily withdrew into its compound.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had already seen the scroll delivered by someone from the Sarutobi Clan. After seeing the two seals at the end, he understood the Hyuga Clan's predicament. The Hyuga no longer cared about Konoha or the Hokage. Surviving this crisis was their top priority. Nothing else mattered.

"Lord Hokage, I received some information..." Nara Shikaku came to Sarutobi Hiruzen's office with a scroll in hand and knocked. He had been about to say something, but then he saw the identical scroll in Sarutobi Hiruzen's hand and stopped.

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a long drag from his pipe, then gave an order. "Shikaku, take a few members of the Sealing Squad to the Hyuga Clan and see if there's anything you can do to help."

"Understood." Nara Shikaku nodded. For now, this was the best way to handle things with the Hyuga Clan.

"Hiruzen..." As soon as Nara Shikaku had left, Shimura Danzō entered the office with Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura. "This is a perfect opportunity. We can take control of the Hyuga Clan in one fell swoop! We can—"

"Fine! I'll leave it to you!" Sarutobi Hiruzen replied without letting Shimura Danzō finish.

"I..." Shimura Danzō had been about to say more, but Sarutobi Hiruzen's quick agreement cut him off. "You agree?"

"Yes, I agree. Root will handle everything."

"You really agree?!" Shimura Danzō asked again. When he and Sarutobi Hiruzen discussed things, Hiruzen usually turned him down. The fact that Hiruzen had agreed so bluntly was almost unbelievable.

"Yes!" Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't look at Shimura Danzō again. He simply began studying the scroll more closely.

"Then..." Shimura Danzō nodded, his face bright with delight. He was about to say something, but then seemed to remember something. His expression darkened. "I may need some support from the Anbu. Root suffered heavy losses in the Uchiha incident, and I'll also need your written authorization to recruit some members from the other ninja clans..."

Without even looking up, Sarutobi Hiruzen shot back two words. "No chance."

"You..." Shimura Danzō was furious at Sarutobi Hiruzen's attitude. He realized that Hiruzen's agreement had only been meant to humiliate him.

"Enough, enough. Let's stop arguing. Konoha can't afford any more conflict right now!" Seeing that Shimura Danzō was getting worked up, Utatane Koharu also realized that Sarutobi Hiruzen had no intention of moving against the Hyuga Clan. She stepped between them to play peacemaker. "Let's talk about the information concerning the Sage of Six Paths. The person behind all this has exposed the Sage of Six Paths' secrets to the world. What are they trying to accomplish?"

Mitokado Homura was an old hand at putting out fires. He immediately picked up where Utatane Koharu left off. "The ninja clans mentioned in this information include the Senju and Tsunade, the Uchiha and Itachi, the Uzumaki and Uzumaki Naruto. We don't know much about the Kaguya, though I've heard they were wiped out too. The Hyuga are the only ones with many people left. Could the other villages..."

"Hard to say." Seeing that everyone was now discussing the matter seriously, Sarutobi Hiruzen finally looked away from the scroll and followed their line of thought. "The person behind that scroll revealed the Hyuga Clan's Caged Bird Seal, making it clear they want to cripple the Hyuga Clan, perhaps even wipe them out..."

"Could the Cloud Village be an enemy of the Hyuga Clan? Don't they have some Six Paths treasures?" Utatane Koharu offered a guess.

"Doesn't seem likely. Leaving aside the Sage of Six Paths, a simple enemy of the Hyuga wouldn't be able to learn so much about so many ninja clans. This sounds more like someone from Konoha..." Shimura Danzō shook his head, rejecting Utatane Koharu's theory. Instead, he offered a completely different guess. "Only someone from Konoha could have access to the Senju, Uchiha, and Hyuga, and even the Uzumaki Clan. I suspect..."

Shimura Danzō stopped before finishing his guess, instead turning his gaze toward Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had been thinking over Shimura Danzō's analysis and looked up at the same time.

Their eyes met in midair. Then, a sudden realization struck them both, and they said the same name in unison: "Uchiha Madara!"

"Uchiha Madara?!" Mitokado Homura was shocked by the name they had spoken. "Hasn't he been dead for a long time?"

The room fell silent for a while.

"Actually, Itachi reported to me earlier that someone claiming to be Uchiha Madara had contacted him. At the time, I thought it was an outsider in disguise, but now..." Sarutobi Hiruzen rubbed his temples and shared something Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura hadn't known.

Shimura Danzō nodded, agreeing with Sarutobi Hiruzen's guess. "At the time, I thought it might be a descendant of Uchiha Madara. But after reading about the abilities that emerge when the Senju and Uchiha Clans unite, I'm starting to think that the man really might be Uchiha Madara."

Utatane Koharu shook her head, casting off her tangled thoughts. "I still don't believe Uchiha Madara is alive."

"Remember how Jiraiya took three students in the Land of Rain after the Third Shinobi World War?" Shimura Danzō decided to reveal a secret to prove his point. It was also a secret he planned to have his men spread after the meeting.

"Later, for Konoha's safety, I had people investigate those three students of Jiraiya's and discovered a major secret."

"What secret?"

"One of Jiraiya's students had red hair and came from the Uzumaki Clan. And... and..."

"And what? Hurry up and tell us!"

"And he had a pair of eyes said to be the same as the Sage of Six Paths'—the Rinnegan!"

"Eyes like the Sage of Six Paths'? The Rinnegan? Why wasn't I told about this?!" Sarutobi Hiruzen hadn't paid much attention to Shimura Danzō's secret, but at the mention of the legendary Sage of Six Paths, he slammed his hand on the desk and glared at Shimura Danzō.

Shimura Danzō couldn't see clearly, but he heard Sarutobi Hiruzen's hand hit the desk. "Your own student didn't even report information about your grandstudent to you. Why should I be the one to break the bad news?"

"You..." Sarutobi Hiruzen was left speechless.

"Enough. For now, let's assume the person behind the scroll is Uchiha Madara. Why would he do this? And the scroll mentions the Hyuga Clan." Seeing that Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō were about to start arguing again, Utatane Koharu hurriedly changed the subject. "The secret of the Caged Bird Seal is out. What should we do about the Hyuga?"

"I sent Shikaku and some members of the Sealing Squad over. Let's see what Hyuga Hiashi wants first." Sarutobi Hiruzen rubbed his temples. "The Hyuga Clan is a powder keg ready to explode. If any of the four of us goes there, we could set it off."

"Shikaku is definitely a better choice than us for now." Utatane Koharu nodded, agreeing with Sarutobi Hiruzen's approach. Any of the four of them might be associated with the Uchiha incident in people's minds, leading to unnecessary casualties. Nara Shikaku, who had always leaned toward neutrality, was a much better choice.

Sarutobi Hiruzen took another hard drag on his pipe. Looking at the map of the Ninja World on the office wall, he sounded deeply worried. "Now I'm more concerned that the other villages will take advantage of our weakness. The Uchiha Clan is gone, the Hyuga Clan is crippled, and the village's military strength has fallen sharply. I'm afraid..."

"Whatever happens, we must prepare. First, send Jiraiya to bring Tsunade back to the village. Whether we're preparing for war or helping the Hyuga Clan modify the Caged Bird, we'll need Tsunade." Hearing the talk of war, Utatane Koharu immediately made her recommendation.

"I'm afraid she won't come back because of what happened with the Uchiha." Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke distractedly. Of his three students, Tsunade was the one he felt he had wronged the most. That was why he had let her leave the village and stay away all these years. "Never mind. Send Jiraiya. No matter what, he must tell her how dire things are in the village."

Shimura Danzō spoke up. "What about the other ninja clans?"

"Internally..." Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed. "Our priority is to keep things stable. At the same time, issue orders to pull people from every department and speed up the training of Genin and Chunin."

"What about the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?"

"I'll leave that to Jiraiya. You don't need to worry about it. What I need now is for all of Root to mobilize and gather intelligence on the other villages. If any of them makes a move, I want to know immediately." Sarutobi Hiruzen rose and walked to the window. "Konoha can't withstand any more upheaval."

Outside, Uchiha Lake glimmered in the sunlight. The two lakes looked like a pair of eyes, coldly watching Konoha—this once-glorious village, now in decay.

"A descendant of Otsutsuki Hamura? The Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku can combine to achieve godhood?" Fourth Raikage A finished reading the scroll, his expression even worse than before. He slammed it down on the table. "Who the hell wrote this? Are they making up a story?"

"Lord Raikage, it's very detailed." The advisor beside him picked up the scroll. "It even gives the hand seals for the Caged Bird Seal. If it were made up, they couldn't have made it so convincing."

"And you believe it?"

"I... don't know." The advisor shook his head. "But if it's true, then the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan is more than just a tool for scouting."

The Raikage fell silent for a while, his expression shifting.

"If the Byakugan really can make someone a god..." he murmured. "Too bad we don't have anyone from the Kaguya Clan..."

He didn't finish, but everyone present understood what he meant.

"Otsutsuki... the Sage of Six Paths... the path to godhood..." Three days later, Ōnoki held the scroll in his hand. He read it three times, then set it down and rubbed his temples with a wry smile. "Who dug up all this nonsense?"

"Lord Tsuchikage, do you think it's real?" the guard beside him asked.

Ōnoki was silent for a long time before speaking. "Whether it's real or not doesn't matter. What matters is that someone believes it."

"Then we should..."

"Do nothing." Ōnoki cut him off. "Wait and see. Let's see how the other villages react. If someone makes the first move, we'll follow. If they stay put, so will we."

"But if the information is true, acting first would give us the advantage..."

"It could also be a trap." Ōnoki shook his head. "This information came out of nowhere. It's too detailed, too thorough, too perfect. So perfect that it doesn't seem real. It feels more like someone released it on purpose to start a war."

The guard was stunned. "Who could it be?"

Ōnoki didn't answer, but he already had a suspicion—

Konoha.

It could only be Konoha.

Only Konoha had both the Uchiha and the Hyuga, along with the most complete information on Kekkei Genkai.

But why would Konoha do this? What would it gain from starting a war?

Ōnoki couldn't figure it out.

"The path to godhood... the Tailed Beasts united..." Fourth Kazekage Rasa finished reading the scroll, his expression shifting between light and dark. He murmured, "If this is true, then Sunagakure only has one One-Tail. Doesn't that mean..."

He didn't finish.

Granny Chiyo beside him took the scroll and read it, then smiled.

"Rasa, you don't really believe this, do you?"

"Granny, you think it's fake?"

"Whether it's true or false doesn't matter." Chiyo set down the scroll. "What matters is that someone wants to throw the Ninja World into chaos. Sunagakure has enough problems of its own right now. We don't have time to play along."

"But..."

"No buts." Chiyo cut him off. "Stabilize things at home first. Don't let the rumors from outside affect us. As for this information, keep it and investigate it slowly."

Rasa wanted to say more, but he saw Chiyo's expression and fell silent.

He knew Chiyo was right. And since he had become Fourth Kazekage with Chiyo's support, he still wasn't strong enough to turn against her.

At the Akatsuki base, Nagato sat in his wheelchair with the scroll floating before him. After reading it, he stayed silent for a long time.

"Konan, what do you think?"

Konan took the scroll and read it. Her brows furrowed slightly. "Someone is deliberately spreading this information."

"I know," Nagato said. "But it isn't all false. I've always wondered where these Rinnegan came from. Now it seems someone deliberately placed them in the hands of a descendant with a Sage Body..."

"How is your body holding up? What do you want to do?"

Nagato was silent for a while, then said, "Nothing. Our plan stays the same. Gather the Tailed Beasts and create peace. We have to do it, with or without this information."

"What about the 'two Otsutsuki above the sky' and the 'one Otsutsuki hidden in the Ninja World' mentioned in the report?"

A glint passed through Nagato's Rinnegan. "If those three really exist, they'll come looking for us sooner or later. We'll deal with it then."

Konan nodded and asked no more.

In another room, Uchiha Obito had also received the information. He read it, but his expression beneath the mask was impossible to see.

"Interesting... Someone dug up the secrets of the Sage of Six Paths." He murmured, "Who was it? Madara? Impossible. Madara is dead. Black Zetsu? No, Black Zetsu wouldn't do this."

He thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure out the answer.

"Whoever you are, don't get in my way," he said quietly. "Or I'll make you regret ever being born."

Not far from Uchiha Obito's room was Orochimaru, the missing-nin from Konoha. He was sitting in his lab, holding the scroll, his golden, slit-pupiled eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Otsutsuki... the Sage of Six Paths... the Rinnegan... the path to godhood..." He licked his lips. "The Rinnegan must be the leader's eyes! Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating!"

Orochimaru stood up, walked over to the experimental table, and picked up a petri dish. Inside it was a Sharingan.

"So the Sage's eyes need to merge with a Sage Body, yin and yang, to evolve into the Rinnegan? Hashirama Cells are full of vitality and symbolize yang. Then the Sharingan represents yin. What does it need to be filled with? Visual prowess?"

Using the information in the scroll, Orochimaru began to make bold hypotheses...

"The arm I made for Danzo before took several Sharingan just to maintain a balance with the Hashirama Cells." Orochimaru smiled. "That proves my theory is right. The Sharingan needs more visual prowess to balance out the vitality."

"Danzo's Sharingan were all Three-Tomoe Sharingan. They only maintained the balance. That means I need higher-level Sharingan now, like the Mangekyō Sharingan of Itachi, who just joined the organization..."

After coming up with an idea, Orochimaru put the petri dish back on the shelf and turned to look at the map on the wall.

"Who are you, really? You know so much. Have you also embarked on the 'path to godhood'?"

"I am the avenger of the Uchiha Clan..."

"I am the avenger of the Uchiha Clan..."

"I am the avenger of the Uchiha Clan..."