The Eve of the Visit

"You must never speak such nonsense again. The village has had a very difficult few years, and everyone is longing for peace. If outsiders were to hear you..."

Hyuga Kamen frowned, looking at Hyuga Gen with a grave expression.

"Cloud Village has long coveted the Byakugan of our Hyuga clan. Such a thing is not entirely impossible."

Hyuga Gen curled his lip in disapproval.

If he didn't know for a fact that this would happen, he wouldn't have brought it up.

Hinata would be kidnapped, the Cloud Village envoy would be struck dead by Hyuga Hiashi, and Cloud Village would then frame them in return, forcing the death of Neji's father, Hyuga Hizashi.

He had to admit, Cloud Village's maneuvering was quite impressive. Hyuga Gen almost wanted to applaud; look at how steady their operations were—steady as a rock, a guaranteed win with no risk.

Then look at the group of "pig teammates" in Konoha. There was no harm without comparison; they had actually foolishly handed Hizashi over.

At this moment, Hyuga Gen couldn't help but laugh as he recalled the words the Third Hokage often kept on his lips in Shippuden.

"Konoha is my home, and everyone is my family." Is this how you treat your family?

In Hyuga Gen's view, the Third Hokage was truly unqualified for the position. He didn't know what he was like in his early years, but in Shippuden, he felt like nothing more than Danzo's lackey. Whatever Danzo said, went. He might as well have just handed the seat over to Danzo.

He was indecisive and hesitant in his actions, never able to be firm when the situation called for it. If he were just an ordinary person, that would be one thing, but he was the Hokage.

If he had been hard-hearted enough to kill Orochimaru back then, he wouldn't have ended up being killed by him in the end. After Orochimaru had conducted so many human experiments, didn't he deserve to die? Yet, he had been soft-hearted and let him go.

Look at your disciple Orochimaru—was he soft-hearted when he killed you? Just thinking about it made Hyuga Gen feel it was all quite ridiculous.

"Hold your tongue! Say no more. You had best stay at home these next few days and not go out. Hmph."

Hyuga Kamen was somewhat displeased with Hyuga Gen. He feared his grandson would bring disaster upon himself with his loose talk, so he turned and left.

Watching Hyuga Kamen walk away, Hyuga Gen didn't know what to say. If Kamen didn't believe him, no one else would either.

But then again, Cloud Village was here to negotiate peace, and they were doing so as a defeated nation. There was hardly anyone in Konoha who wasn't happy about that.

After all, these past few years had been a troubled time for Konoha. They had only recently emerged from the Third Great Ninja War, and their vitality had been severely damaged. Then came the Nine-Tails incident, which cost the Fourth Hokage and his wife their lives, dealing another heavy blow to the village.

This had led other nations to become restless, with constant friction at the borders and many lives lost. How could people not feel relieved now that Cloud Village had brought a signal of peace?

Yet, at a time like this, someone was saying, "Cloud Village has ulterior motives; they've come to steal the Hyuga clan's Byakugan."

Who would believe that? People might even accuse you of having ulterior motives yourself, of trying to sabotage the peace, and have you arrested.

Of course, the main issue was the lack of evidence. Empty words carried no weight, and it was normal for no one to believe him. If it weren't for the fact that he had transmigrated here and knew what would happen, Hyuga Gen probably wouldn't believe it himself.

What should I do? Can I really just ignore it?

Hyuga Gen felt caught in a dilemma.

He felt that Hyuga Hizashi was a decent man. It was truly a pity for someone like that to die a tragic, unjust death.

But what could he actually do?

Should he disguise himself as Hinata and stand guard in her place? Was that even possible? As things stood, it was clearly impossible; he couldn't do it without Hyuga Hiashi's consent.

He had already been rebuffed by Hyuga Kamen just now; there was no chance of getting Hiashi's approval. Who would play along with you based on nothing but empty words?

Thinking that the Cloud Village delegation would arrive in Konoha tomorrow, Hyuga Gen grew anxious. He hadn't even thought of a way to deal with the situation yet.

Back in his room, Hyuga Gen began to ponder again. This matter was indeed difficult to handle. In Shippuden, Hiashi had discovered the kidnapper and killed him with a single blow.

If the kidnapper was so easily killed by Hiashi, he couldn't have been a Jonin. He must have been at the Chunin level, or perhaps even a Genin.

Thinking about it this way, the ninja sent to kidnap Hinata was likely just cannon fodder. They probably already had a backup plan. If they could capture Hinata, great; if they were exposed, it didn't matter—they could just bite back and accuse Konoha. Either way, they wouldn't lose.

Therefore, Hyuga Gen suspected that even if Hiashi hadn't struck the kidnapper down, the kidnapper might have committed suicide. Perhaps the truth was that Hiashi hadn't even used much force, and the kidnapper died not from the Gentle Fist, but by his own hand.

This was entirely possible. Thinking of this, Hyuga Gen felt that Cloud Village was quite capable—their methods were extremely efficient and ruthless.

Of course, now was not the time to admire them, but to think of a way to help the Hyuga clan avoid this disaster.

He recalled that in Shippuden, Hyuga Hinata had been at home when she was abducted from the main gate at night. This was suspicious; after all, as the clan head, Hiashi's house was quite large.

If the house was so big, how did the kidnappers find Hinata and abduct her so quickly? Searching room by room was clearly impossible.

And don't forget what the Byakugan is capable of. If they hadn't been quick, they would have been killed by Hiashi before they could even leave the courtyard.

Thus, Hyuga Gen couldn't help but suspect there was a traitor within the Hyuga clan. Moreover, that traitor must have been very familiar with the layout of Hiashi's home. The traitor had told the kidnappers everything, allowing them to quickly abduct Hinata and escape the grounds.

So, who was this mole?

The more he thought about it, the more he felt there were many secrets hidden here, but he couldn't figure it out. Everything was just his speculation.

Although it was only speculation, Hyuga Gen felt that the truth should be close to his conclusion. He had confidence in his deductions.

Hyuga Gen lay on his bed, lost in thought. After a while, he still couldn't come up with a good solution, and his mood grew irritable.

"Forget it, I'll stop thinking about it. I'll deal with it tomorrow," Hyuga Gen said with a deep breath.

For some reason, he suddenly thought of the scene earlier that evening, teaching Hyuga Natsu how to perform the Rotation.

It was at their usual spot by the small river. Hyuga Gen had demonstrated the technique for her. Xia was first surprised, then delighted, and then asked him with great excitement about the techniques for learning it.

Before long, Hyuga Gen had told her everything he knew, as well as his own process and insights from learning the Rotation.

Xia had listened very carefully and practiced with great earnestness. Although she failed several times, she was still very happy.

"Xia, even if you learn the Rotation one day, don't use it lightly. Only use it in a moment of crisis."

"Why?"

Hyuga Natsu looked at her brother Dongyi with a puzzled expression.

"Isn't it better to keep an ace up your sleeve? Taking people by surprise can sometimes yield excellent results."

In truth, Hyuga Gen felt that if members of the Branch House were to use Rotation one after another, the Main House would surely feel uneasy, and he feared the potential consequences.

"I understand, Brother Dongyi."

"By the way, Brother Dongyi, how many aces do you have up your sleeve?"

Hyuga Natsu blinked her eyes and asked with an adorable expression.