Sarutobi Hiruzen's brow twitched as he listened, and unease crept into his heart.
If Hibari had come alone, he would probably have assumed the fellow was exaggerating again. But with Hyuga Hiten, who was famously dead serious, following behind him... Sarutobi Hiruzen actually believed it. He thought something disastrous had happened.
"What exactly happened?" he hurriedly asked. "Could... could someone from our three clans have turned traitor?"
Hyuga Hiten froze for a moment, then said, "Minister, that isn't the case. The deputy minister and I have something concerning our three clans that we'd like to discuss with you."
Only then did Sarutobi Hiruzen breathe a sigh of relief. But when he saw Hibari trying to suppress a mischievous grin, his temper flared.
"Hibari, you bastard!" he snapped. "You're the deputy minister, yet you spend all day doing nothing useful. Dumping all the work on me is bad enough, but now you're coming here making a fuss and stirring up trouble! Have you got nothing better to do?"
Hibari raised his chin, pointing his nostrils at Sarutobi Hiruzen, and said smugly, "Watch your language, Minister. I came to bring you something good today. You'd better think about how you should be speaking to me."
His high-and-mighty attitude left Sarutobi Hiruzen both annoyed and amused. But on second thought, whenever Hibari acted this smug, he really might have a good hand to play. Perhaps he genuinely had good news?
A real man knew when to bend and when to stand tall. At that thought, the irritation on Sarutobi Hiruzen's face instantly turned into a smile.
"Hahahaha!" he chuckled. "My work gets pretty dull, you know. I was just thinking I hadn't seen you for a few days and was starting to miss you, and here you are! What perfect timing! Come, come,