Good! Very Good!

"For this infiltration, Kumogakure will compensate the Hyuga Clan and the village with supplies. The Third Hokage hopes to keep this matter from escalating and settle it quietly."

When they returned home, Hyuga Hiashi, who had gone to the Hokage Building early that morning for a meeting, was already back.

Father and son headed straight to the study and began a conversation between men.

In truth, Hinata, the future clan head, should have been present for this discussion as well. But she was still young, and having only just resolved to change, Ryosuke did not ask her to join them.

As for Hyuga Hiashi, he had never thought much of that heir to begin with.

He had now placed all his attention on Ryosuke, believing that this son-in-law was the Hyuga Clan's future.

"It seems you aren't very surprised by this outcome. Did you already see this future? Did you see the result of that meeting?"

Sitting beside the desk, Hyuga Hiashi narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Ryosuke across from him. Because of his age, even while seated, Ryosuke was only tall enough for his head to show above the desk.

As the head of a clan, he was destined to be unable to place absolute trust in anyone.

But he believed seventy to eighty percent of Ryosuke's claim that his Byakugan could see through the future.

That was based on Ryosuke's age, his identity, and the records of the old era kept within the Hyuga shrine.

"This ability to see the future seems to have limitations. It works sometimes and fails at others. I can't control it for now, but I'll master it as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Ryosuke's expression remained calm as he explained, "As for the outcome of this matter, I only roughly guessed it. I believe Father had roughly guessed it before heading to the meeting as well. After all, the Third Hokage is already old."

"You gave me the highest level of access to the clan's intelligence network, Father, so I have some understanding of the personalities of people in the village, and even in other villages."

"Based on the intelligence gathered by the clan, after the Third Shinobi War, most of the Third Hokage's orders have leaned toward caution and even compromise. He no longer has the courage he had in his youth to risk everything in a desperate fight."

"And the village's strength is relatively weak right now. The Three Sannin have left, and the Fourth Hokage died young. There aren't many people left who can shoulder the banner and rush to the front lines to fight."

At this point, he paused before summing up, "Excessive friction with Kumogakure at a time like this is absolutely not a good thing."

"But there are already witnesses, and those who acted have all been captured. Pretending that nothing happened is no longer possible. At the meeting, the Third Hokage likely intended to push the matter onto Kumogakure's side and make them offer compensation."

Clap, clap, clap—

Hyuga Hiashi applauded, his eyes full of admiration. "An excellent analysis. You're right. I had roughly guessed the outcome before the meeting."

"If the Hyuga Clan had suffered casualties because of this incident, or if Hinata had been taken away, then the Third Hokage might have been willing to go to war in order to quell our anger."

"But now that our clan has suffered no losses, he would never plunge Konoha into war again over this matter."

Ryosuke silently nodded without replying.

"But I'm curious. In the future you saw, how did this matter develop?" Hyuga Hiashi asked again. "If there had been no preparations last night, they would have taken Hinata away, correct?"

"In the end, did Kumogakure succeed in obtaining the secret of our Hyuga Clan's Byakugan?"

He phrased it as a statement. Judging from the level of last night's intruders, without prior precautions, they would undoubtedly have succeeded.

"They did take Hinata away, but they weren't able to leave the village."

Ryosuke shook his head. "But none of that matters anymore. What matters is that we have stopped it from happening."

"You can't tell me? Is it... because your eyes have limitations in this regard?" Hyuga Hiashi asked, somewhat puzzled.

"I merely think that making your mind absorb too much useless information would affect your actual judgment," Ryosuke explained with a smile. "The future I see is not necessarily something destined to happen."

"If, in the future I saw, the Third Hokage was a kind and amiable hero, willing to sacrifice himself to uphold Konoha's dignity and protect Konoha—"

"But in reality, he is a hopelessly conservative old man who hesitates over many matters. Then Father, do you think I should trust the future I saw, or the reality I have encountered?"

Hyuga Hiashi thought for a while before responding, "...That is something you must decide for yourself."

"Exactly. If I truly encounter something similar, I need to judge it for myself according to the actual circumstances." Ryosuke nodded. "But if my mind carries too much information of that sort, then I may become indecisive..."

"Is his personality like the one I saw in the future, or the one I have encountered now? What will he do next? Will he harm me? But if things follow the future I saw, he will undoubtedly help me. Yet if he is as he is now, then I think the chances of him helping me are very low."

"When gathering intelligence to analyze how events will develop, one needs useful information. Too much useless and complicated information will only interfere with my judgment."

The secret of the Byakugan had actually already been deciphered by people from Kirigakure. Kirigakure had even successfully transplanted the Byakugan into someone.

And the reason the Hyuga Clan protected the main family was to preserve the purity of the Byakugan.

But he did not wish to reveal too much about these matters, or about what Hyuga Hiashi was worried about.

Just as he had once told Hyuga Hiashi, a person's fate was impossible to predict.

Even if Ryosuke knew the course of the story, he could not guarantee who would appear at a certain time and place, or whether they would die there. None of that was certain.

After all, this world now had an anomaly like him. Many things would change because of his arrival.

Before he truly gained the ability to see through the future, he would only treat the plot in his memories as a reference. He would not blindly trust anything, including the personalities and habits of those people in his memories.

With his eyes half narrowed, Hyuga Hiashi stared at Ryosuke for some time before finally speaking coldly. "...Are you trying to advise me?"

"I'm talking about myself."

Ryosuke replied quickly, "I realized that the old me liked to obtain information through the clan's intelligence network, then analyze how matters would develop. I believed that knowing oneself and knowing one's enemy ensured victory in every battle."

"But now I think that even knowing oneself and knowing one's enemy does not guarantee invincibility. The old me was too naïve and one-sided."

The smile on his face never changed, but after he finished speaking, the study suddenly fell silent.

Time passed bit by bit.

Hyuga Hiashi stared intently at Ryosuke, while Ryosuke returned his gaze with equal calm and ease.

In the end, Hyuga Hiashi's laughter broke the silence. "Good, very good. You really are somewhat too naïve and one-sided, but the way you carry yourself truly doesn't resemble that of a child."

"Perhaps my expectations of you shouldn't be limited by seeing you as a child."

Though somewhat stiff, it was clear that his smile came from the heart.

As for why it was stiff, it was simply because he did not smile often.

"However, Father, regarding this matter, I've filtered out one piece of intelligence that I can tell you."

Unlike his stiff smile, Ryosuke's smile had already reached a level where it could pass for the real thing, making it impossible to tell whether he was genuinely smiling or merely pretending.

"The Third Hokage's wariness toward our Hyuga Clan may run deeper than you imagine."