Something Big Is About to Happen! Konoha Is About to Have a Major Incident!

Obviously.

Uchiha Mirai had known long ago that he would come to visit.

He had even had time to prepare tea and sit here quietly waiting.

Hyuga Hiashi did not know whether one of the clan members had secretly informed Uchiha Mirai the moment he entered the clan grounds.

Or whether Uchiha Mirai possessed some kind of precognitive ability and had long known that he would visit at this time today.

If it was the latter, then Uchiha Mirai was simply too terrifying.

Considering the huge commotion Uchiha Mirai had caused in Konoha lately, Hyuga Hiashi felt that the latter was not impossible.

His gaze narrowed slightly.

The Uchiha Mirai sitting by the tea table, calmly drinking tea, seemed unfathomable to him.

"Have a seat."

Uchiha Mirai smiled and gestured.

Hyuga Hiashi's expression returned to normal as he walked over to the tea table and sat down.

Little Hinata followed him as well, quietly taking a seat beside him.

Red Eye...

Hinata wanted to greet Uchiha Mirai, but since her father had yet to speak, she could only timidly give up.

"I came here this time to thank you. You saved my daughter's life; such a debt is difficult to repay."

Hyuga Hiashi spoke earnestly.

"I know."

Uchiha Mirai calmly sipped his tea.

Hyuga Hiashi's expression stiffened again, and the feeling of being completely seen through suddenly deepened.

Then, he sighed.

"If you had not acted then, I cannot imagine what would have happened to my daughter..."

Over the past few days, he had considered that question more than once.

If Uchiha Mirai had not been there that night, or had merely glanced over and left.

What would have become of Hinata?

He did not dare imagine the consequences.

The more he imagined it, the heavier the boulder-like pressure in his chest became.

Even if he had arrived afterward and killed those Cloud Ninja to save Hinata.

The consequences would still have been unbearable.

After Uchiha Mirai killed the Cloud Ninja delegation, Kumogakure had been enraged and pressured Konoha with the threat of war. Because of this, Sarutobi Hiruzen had convened a meeting in the Hokage Building to put Uchiha Mirai on trial.

If he had been the one to save Hinata back then.

Kumogakure would likewise have pressured Konoha.

Based on his understanding of Sarutobi Hiruzen, the man would certainly wash his hands of the matter and dump all the blame onto the Hyuga Clan.

He might even take the opportunity to give the Hyuga Clan a thorough warning.

At that point, even if Hinata remained unharmed, the Hyuga Clan would still have to pay an enormous price to settle the matter.

Between two great ninja villages, the weight of a mere ninja clan amounted to nothing.

Not everyone was like Uchiha Mirai, who had carved out a fearsome reputation amid the mountain of corpses and sea of blood of the Third Shinobi War!

He had forced a great ninja village to compromise before him.

"I imagine Lord Hiashi did not come here today merely for that, did you?"

Uchiha Mirai picked up his teacup and took a light sip.

Hyuga Hiashi's gaze shifted slightly.

He sighed.

"Sure enough, nothing can be hidden from you."

On the surface, he had come to visit Uchiha Mirai to thank him for Hinata's sake, but in truth, he had a deeper purpose...

"Mirai, the conflict between you and the Hokage is growing increasingly severe. Now, all across Konoha, people are talking about the matter between the two of you."

"Regarding this matter..."

Hyuga Hiashi did not continue. He merely looked deeply at Uchiha Mirai.

He believed Uchiha Mirai was a smart man who could understand what he meant.

Uchiha Mirai set his teacup on the table and gazed calmly at Hyuga Hiashi across from him.

"I do not wish to go to war with the Hokage's faction, but what they intend is not for me to decide."

Hyuga Hiashi's expression turned grave.

What he meant was naturally an indirect question about Uchiha Mirai's plans for the Hokage faction going forward.

Three years ago, Uchiha Mirai had been branded as a threat to the village and forced into seclusion.

Three years later, at the trial meeting in the Hokage Building, Uchiha Mirai had forcefully cleared his name!

Now, all of Konoha knew there had been something suspicious about what happened three years ago, just like the current Cloud Ninja incident.

The conflict between Uchiha Mirai and the Hokage faction was almost impossible to reconcile.

All the ninjas in Konoha were watching their next moves.

If it had been anyone else, the Hokage faction naturally would not have taken it so seriously.

But this was Uchiha Mirai.

Calamity Uchiha.

He possessed the ability to rob an entire ninja village of its future!

"From what I know of the Third Hokage, he isn't the kind of ninja who would admit defeat. Not to mention Danzo is still around..."

Hyuga Hiashi pondered aloud.

"I have my own countermeasures."

Uchiha Mirai said with a faint smile.

"Oh?"

Hyuga Hiashi's interest was piqued.

Uchiha Mirai merely smiled without answering.

Hyuga Hiashi felt an itch in his heart.

Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo were hardly easy opponents, not to mention the many ninja clans standing behind them.

And Uchiha Mirai... was he really that confident in himself?

Little Hinata, seated beside Hyuga Hiashi, looked at Hiashi one moment and Uchiha Mirai across from her the next.

Her pure white eyes were filled with curiosity.

But the aristocratic upbringing she had received kept her from speaking out to interrupt them. She simply listened quietly.

After that, Hyuga Hiashi and Uchiha Mirai chatted at length, and cheerful laughter filled the room.

It seemed that both of them had enjoyed this conversation.

"Mirai, we have imposed on you enough today. Hinata and I will be heading back first."

Hyuga Hiashi rose with a smile. His objective had already been achieved.

"Hinata, say goodbye to Mirai!"

"Goodbye, Red Eye Brother!"

Hinata shyly waved at Uchiha Mirai, a faint blush on her cheeks.

Red Eye Brother...?

The corner of Uchiha Mirai's mouth twitched slightly.

Hinata still remembered that name?

Hyuga Hiashi felt a trace of relief in his heart.

After that meeting in the Hokage Building, the conflict between Uchiha Mirai and Sarutobi Hiruzen had already become irreconcilable.

And by publicly revealing the truth Sarutobi Hiruzen had always wanted to conceal, he had also caused the Hokage faction to hold a considerable grudge against the Hyuga.

Once the Uchiha fell, the Hyuga would undoubtedly be next.

Sarutobi Hiruzen would never allow the Hyuga clan to dominate alone.

This ninja hero, renowned during the Second Shinobi World War, had seen his strength steadily decline with age, but the political cunning that had supported his rise to become a ninja hero had not faded in the slightest.

The Uchiha could not fall.

At the very least, they could not fall so quickly while they still served as the Hyuga's shield.

Hiashi did not think Uchiha Mirai could stand against the Hokage faction.

The Hokage faction was simply too powerful, with the full support of the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans.

The reason they had repeatedly yielded to Uchiha Mirai was because they feared his ability to take them down with him.

Today's visit was meant to show Uchiha Mirai the Hyuga's goodwill.

No matter how the Uchiha and the Hokage faction fought each other, the Hyuga could remain uninvolved and reap the greatest benefits.

Just as Hyuga Hiashi was about to leave, he suddenly saw a boy standing at the doorway, deep tear troughs lining either side of his nose.

The boy looked at him with a maturity far beyond his age.

Uchiha Itachi walked straight past Hiashi and respectfully addressed Uchiha Mirai in the room.

"Clan Head, Father asked me to invite you over to discuss something."

Clan Head???

Hyuga Hiashi froze slightly.

Then, a chill as though he had fallen into an abyss enveloped him completely!

Clan Head!!!

Uchiha Mirai was the Clan Head???

For the first time, those pure white eyes filled with indescribable shock.

"What did you just call Mirai?"

"Clan Head? Is there a problem?"

Itachi looked at him in confusion.

Taking a deep breath, Hyuga Hiashi's eyes continued to tremble.

Uchiha Mirai was the Uchiha Clan Head!

Why had no word of it gotten out at all?

The outside world had always believed Fugaku to be the Clan Head.

Mirai was merely a genius who held a certain degree of influence.

Hyuga Hiashi recognized the young boy before him.

Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Fugaku's genius eldest son.

Coming from Itachi's mouth, those words carried far greater weight.

Uchiha Itachi called Mirai the Clan Head—then what was his father Fugaku???

Given that respectful attitude, the transfer of the Clan Head's position clearly had not been unwilling, but rather...

Submission???

Hyuga Hiashi's limbs went cold.

He felt dizzy, as though everything around him were spinning.

"Father..."

Hinata, who was holding Hiashi's hand, noticed the change in him.

"My apologies. I lost my composure."

Not daring to linger, Hyuga Hiashi immediately pulled Hinata away.

Behind them, Uchiha Mirai calmly sipped his tea, though his eyes held a deep gaze as he watched Hiashi's departing back.

Outside the residence, Hiashi could no longer restrain his emotions.

His heart pounded violently, as though it were about to burst from his chest.

This was the first time he had been so shaken as the Hyuga Clan Head.

"Father, what happened?"

Hinata looked at him worriedly.

At three years old, she did not understand why her father's reaction was so intense.

Hiashi did not answer. Countless thoughts raced through his mind.

The implications of Uchiha Mirai being the Clan Head were completely different.

And from the looks of it, he had already seized complete control of all authority within the Uchiha Clan.

The information that he was the Clan Head had likely been deliberately revealed to him as well!

The purpose was to force him to make a choice.

If he informed Sarutobi Hiruzen, he would completely break with the Uchiha.

If he chose silence, it would mean being tied to the Uchiha.

"Something big is about to happen!"

"Something big is about to happen in Konoha!"

On the way back, Hiashi's heart would not stop pounding.