Red Bean Soup

"How should he be dealt with?"

Neji lay on the hospital bed, his consciousness hazy and his vision pitch-black, but the conversations around him reached his mind with perfect clarity.

His thoughts were still stagnant, and for the moment, he could not judge the specific meaning of those words. Yet his brain's memory function had already begun working, recording every word like a tape, waiting for his thoughts to fully awaken before retrieving them for analysis.

"He is a victim too. Just like you, he hates Ning Qi. If we hadn't intervened to stop him, he would have died at Ning Qi's hands."

"That beast... he even laid hands on his own younger brother."

"Ning Qi slaughtered the entire Hyuga clan. Why would he care about his younger brother?" Shikaku sighed.

Seemingly understanding what Shikaku meant, the man fell silent for a moment.

"...We can refrain from pursuing his responsibility, but we need an explanation."

"Lord Hokage is considering this matter as well. The preliminary intention is to use the Hyuga clan's inheritance..."

At this point, Shikaku lowered his voice.

"However, the Inuzuka Clan may take the largest share... The Nara Clan and Yamanaka Clan suffered fewer losses in this incident. At the meeting, we will voluntarily give up our shares, and you can inherit them..."

Rustle, rustle.

Like rats whispering in a dark corner.

The filthy transaction ended quickly. The hospital room was empty once more, and by the time Neji truly woke up, it was already noon the next day.

In June, all things flourished. There was a large tree outside the hospital window. The sunlight was dazzling, making the shade cast through the gaps in its branches seem incomparably dark.

White doves crossed the sky. The blue heavens were crystal clear, without a single dark speck, as though the long night before had only been a heartbreaking dream.

Neji sat up from the hospital bed. The stitched wound on his abdomen tugged with the motion, bringing tearing pain like a button popping loose.

"Do you... want to eat?" A frail girl with a bob haircut, one eye wrapped in bandages, stood beside the bed holding a bowl of steaming red bean soup. Her gaze darted about, as though she was hesitant.

A little afraid.

Neji turned his head and looked at Hinata, at the green seal on her forehead.

When he was young, because of his father, Neji had deeply hated everything about the Hyuga Main Family. He hated Hiashi, and because Hinata was Hiashi's daughter, Neji had extended his hatred for Hiashi to her as well.

During one of their matches, he had even considered killing Hinata outright before the guards around them could react.

You killed my father, so I kill your daughter. In a sense, that was only natural.

But within the Hyuga clan, even more natural than repaying blood with blood was the inevitable, generation-after-generation enslavement of the Branch Family by the Main Family.

This system, upheld by the Caged Bird Seal, transcended every other human instinct and social principle. It left Neji unable to breathe, leaving him no choice but to resist.

However...

When Ning Qi had truly overturned the Caged Bird, overthrown the Hyuga Main Family, killed Hyuga Hiashi, and brought freedom to every member of the Hyuga Branch Family...

Neji suddenly realized that if freedom could only be achieved through the destruction of himself and others, then perhaps he did not long for freedom that much.

Perhaps he did not hate Hiashi that much.

Perhaps he did not dislike Hinata before him.

What he had once regarded as a goal worth giving everything to achieve, when it truly fell into his hands, Neji felt that perhaps it was not worth so many people paying with so many tears and so much blood.

Only two members of Konoha's Hyuga clan remained. They were on the verge of extinction.

His older brother, Ning Qi Hyuga, had chosen to defect from Konoha after committing such a grave crime.

So-called freedom... did it really carry such weight?

Was it truly worth going this far?

Neji did not understand, nor could he figure it out. He took the red bean soup from Hinata's hands and took a sip.

Unfortunately, it was sweet.

"I'm sorry," Neji said indistinctly.

He tossed aside the spoon and raised the bowl to gulp it down.

His tears took the chance to flow into the red bean soup.

Now it finally tasted salty.

Hinata did not know why Neji was apologizing to her. But seeing him swallow such large mouthfuls, she finally relaxed and forced out a smile as she urged him,

"It's okay, Brother Neji. Drink... drink slowly. There's more over there..."

Hokage Rock had been buried with the highest-yield Explosive Tags.

After the sudden explosion in the latter half of last night, the enormous cliff where Hokage Rock stood had completely collapsed. Falling stones had crushed many nearby buildings, and some people had their legs broken, but fortunately, no one had died.

Naruto sat on the flat ground above the cliff, staring blankly at the bustling reconstruction of Konoha below.

The restoration of Hokage Rock had been scheduled for much later. Naruto had never cared about such boring matters before, but ever since he had been abducted by the Uchiha and released the Nine-Tails, he seemed like a different person. He was no longer mischievous, becoming quiet and steady.

This was because, at the moment he was about to be completely devoured by the Nine-Tails, he had seen his father—the youngest Hokage, who had sacrificed his life fighting the Nine-Tails—Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze.

"When they start repairing Hokage Rock, I'll definitely make the old craftsmen carve Dad to look even more handsome." Naruto thought the Fourth Hokage on the old Hokage Rock had not even been a tenth as handsome as the real Fourth Hokage. It was just right that Ning Qi had blown it up.

"I'm the Fourth Hokage's son..." Naruto muttered, then suddenly chuckled foolishly, as though embarrassed.

Although the villagers had become even more hostile toward him because of another Nine-Tails Rebellion, and Konoha's higher-ups were discussing new troubles such as taking back the Jinchuriki's freedom, imprisoning Naruto completely, and having ninja follow and watch him wherever he went...

None of that could extinguish the raging blaze burning within Naruto's heart.

I'm the Fourth Hokage's son.

I can't disgrace him.

He died protecting the village.

I'm incredibly proud to have a father like him...

Such simple and straightforward thoughts rose within young Naruto's heart.

At one moment, a sudden surge of impulse urged Naruto to stand. He spread his hands in an embrace of the sky and shouted,

"From now on, I'll definitely become Hokage like him, work hard to protect the village, and earn everyone's recognition!"

"I will never let a disaster like today happen again!!"

Naruto's shout carried far away.

"Did you hear that? That child's ambition." In the temporary meeting room, Sarutobi stroked his beard and said with a smile.

After a stretch of silence, Mitokado Homura spoke calmly.

"Locking him up would also be for his own good. His father cannot save him a second time."

"And we will not allow something like this to happen a second time!" Sarutobi, whose life had been saved by Minato Namikaze during the Second Nine-Tails Rebellion, retorted with a glare. "There is no room for discussion on this matter. Next agenda item!"

Sarutobi rarely acted so authoritarian, unless certain people had truly disappointed him beyond measure.

With the preliminaries over, the next agenda item was the real main event.

"Explain yourself, Danzo." Sarutobi turned around and stared at the silent Danzo in the corner.

"What exactly happened with Ning Qi?"

"And what is the meaning of these two Root ninja corpses?"