The Old Man Hired Rogue Ninja to Wipe Out the Uchiha? The Hyuga Clan Head Broke Out in Cold Sweat

The Uchiha Clan's Sharingan followed an ironclad rule: a higher level naturally suppressed a lower one through the power of bloodline.

Back then, Second Pillar had clashed head-on with his Three-Tomoe Sharingan against Itachi Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan only because his own brother had held back enough to fill an ocean.

It was precisely the overwhelming rank difference between two pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan that allowed the Uchiha Clan to be wiped out so cleanly.

Under normal circumstances, the Uchiha Clan's Mangekyō Sharingan had practically become a myth passed down by the older generation. After all, they had stayed out of any real wars for far too long.

The only one to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan was Fugaku Uchiha, and that guy was a real schemer.

He used his Mangekyō Sharingan to foresee that a coup would ignite the Fourth Shinobi World War. He preached peace, then turned around and sold out his entire clan.

If Tajima Uchiha from the Warring States Period had known that one of his descendants would pull something like this as clan head, he probably would have chopped the man into meat paste on the spot, complete with the full package of grinding his bones to dust.

Unfortunately, Naruto had no way to explain all those old, rotten accounts to Hyuga Hiashi.

So he laid it out plainly:

"What if Hiruzen Sarutobi paid those rogue ninja to do it?"

Hyuga Hiashi furrowed his brow.

"You mean those mercenaries that emerged in recent years? That bunch cobbled together out of S-rank rogue ninja? Hiruzen Sarutobi has that kind of power? Give me a break!"

No matter how one looked at it, the Uchiha were Konoha's own fighting force. Spending money to cut off one of his own arms was the sort of thing that sounded like someone had gotten their brain caught in a door.

Naruto smiled at his father-in-law.

"You're too close to the situation to see it clearly.

Try looking at it from another angle. If you had no idea what Hiruzen Sarutobi had been doing behind the scenes and suddenly received news that the Uchiha Clan had been annihilated overnight...

Wouldn't your first reaction be fear of whatever hidden trump card Hiruzen Sarutobi had yet to reveal?"

Hyuga Hiashi froze. As he followed Naruto's reasoning and thought deeper, a chill shot up his back.

He had never believed Hiruzen Sarutobi capable of destroying the Uchiha, so like the other clans, he had merely folded his arms and watched the show.

But when news came the next day that the entire Uchiha Clan was gone, his first thought as clan head would have been: The Sarutobi Clan had been hiding a move like this? After the shock faded, he could only obediently cower beneath the Third Hokage's tyrannical might.

After all, the unknown was what frightened people most.

If even the Uchiha could be crushed so easily, how much better could the Hyuga fare?

At that thought, cold sweat immediately poured down Hyuga Hiashi's face.

His understanding of that old fox Third's depth of scheming rose to an entirely new level.

And along with that came genuine admiration for the "mysterious person" behind Naruto.

He hurriedly asked:

"What about us? Should we help the Uchiha and join forces against the Sarutobi Clan?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

"Help them with what? We need to wait for the best possible moment before stepping in."

Hyuga Hiashi was stunned. "The best moment?"

"You don't seriously want those Uchiha lunatics to take the Hokage's seat, do you?"

Naruto looked at his father-in-law with utter disbelief.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi is rotten, but the Uchiha's core members aren't much better right now.

They're all hawks clamoring for war.

If they really seize the Hokage's seat, the Fourth Shinobi World War might break out immediately.

You don't honestly think the ninja villages in other countries are living better than Konoha, do you?

Without the kind of strength Hashirama Senju had to crush everything in his path, even if you grit your teeth and win, everything you swallow will only become dead weight."

The roots of every Ninja World war were tied to the nations themselves. Most of the time, ninja were simply blades sent into battle alongside the armies.

The reason Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha had not unified the Ninja World back then was inseparable from the nature of ninja villages.

As long as you were strong enough, merchants and nobles from other countries would still come to hire the ninja of your village.

If they truly wanted to unify the Ninja World, they would have to join forces with the Land of Fire and erase the other four great nations directly from the map.

Otherwise, even if they wiped out all four great ninja villages, the daimyo of those nations could simply stiffen their necks and throw money at building new ninja villages exclusive to their own territory.

In the end, every Ninja World war happened because a nation's population had grown too crowded, its economy had recovered, and its nobles and daimyo wanted to seize more land.

Without an exclusive ninja village under their command, the daimyo would worry about a kunai suddenly appearing in their foreheads even while they slept.

That was why Naruto knew perfectly well that he could never let those lunatics seize Konoha's power for real.

Hyuga Hiashi stared at him with wide eyes.

"Then what exactly do we do now?"

A trace of coldness surfaced in Naruto's eyes as he curled his lips into a smile.

"Once Hiruzen Sarutobi has crushed the Konoha Military Police Force, we'll unite the various ninja clans and save the Uchiha civilians and Genin!"

Hyuga Hiashi's eyes lit up.

This move was brilliant!

First, it would clean out the Uchiha hawks and all those ticking time bombs.

Second, it would let them earn the gratitude of the Uchiha's younger generation and gradually bring them into their fold.

Most importantly, it would plant a massive bomb beneath Hiruzen Sarutobi's backside.

Once it was proven that Hiruzen Sarutobi had ordered this massacre, forget the Hokage's seat—this old bastard would immediately become the first person in history to fall from a village leader into a rogue ninja.

The more he thought about it, the more excited Hyuga Hiashi became. He slapped the table. "Good!"

Naruto, who had been stretching his aching body and preparing to stand, trembled from the scare.

He caught his breath before rising and speaking.

"I figure it'll still be a while before Hiruzen Sarutobi makes his move.

During that time, you can secretly contact the heads of the other clans. The Hyuga Clan alone can't bear this matter."

Obito's strength was no joke. With his nearly unsolvable Kamui in the early stages, plus White Zetsu acting as a battery and Wood Release, if the Hyuga Clan's Jonin charged in alone, they might be wiped out in an instant.

"All right, I understand."

Hyuga Hiashi answered, then seemed to remember something and added:

"Hinata will inherit the Hyuga Clan in the future. Give up that idea while you still can."

Naruto: "...@#%@!"