Hyuga Hiashi's Guilt

Suddenly, Hyuga Hiashi heard a thud.

He spun around and saw Hizashi Hyuga drive a kunai straight into his own heart.

Hiashi caught Hizashi as his brother collapsed, barely alive.

He looked down at his dying brother in his arms.

Hiashi could no longer hold back his tears. They fell one by one.

His voice choked, he asked, "Why would you do this, Hizashi?"

Blood spilled from Hizashi's mouth as he struggled to speak. "I told you. I was born to protect you."

"I also told you I don't hate you anymore, brother."

"But after I'm gone, I'm leaving Neji in your care."

"Make sure you tell Neji I chose this myself."

Hiashi looked at his dying brother in his arms, tears sliding down his face.

He said nothing and quietly listened to Hizashi's final words.

"You know, brother, Neji once told me he wanted to destroy the Hyuga."

"I talked him out of it."

"And now I believe my son won't do that."

"But my death might give him the wrong idea."

"When the time comes, please explain to Neji that this was my choice."

With great effort, Hizashi took a scroll from his clothes.

On that scroll, Hizashi wrote his final words.

He wrote the things he had never had the chance to tell Neji.

When he finished, Hizashi struggled to hand the scroll to Hiashi.

Grief-stricken, Hiashi accepted the scroll bearing Hizashi's last words.

With his final breath, Hizashi said, "Please take care of my Neji, brother!"

After those words, Hizashi breathed his last and died in Hiashi's arms.

Hiashi clutched his brother, overwhelmed by grief and unwilling to accept it.

Yet there was nothing he could do.

The scene shifted.

Hiashi brought Hizashi's body before Hiruzen Sarutobi.

At the sight of Hizashi's body, Hiruzen lowered his head in shame.

"I'm sorry, Hiashi," Hiruzen said, wracked with guilt. "Konoha failed you."

Hiashi gave no answer. He turned away coldly and walked out of the Hokage's Office.

Hiruzen watched him leave.

Then he looked at Hizashi's body and said in anguish, "If only you were here, teachers."

"Jiraiya and Tsunade left the village. Orochimaru defected. Minato and Kushina died."

"And now these old bones of mine can barely hold on."

Tears rolled down Hiruzen's face as he choked out, "Lord First Hokage. My teacher, the Second."

"I wish I could be your student again."

At that moment, Hiruzen felt a humiliation unlike any he had known.

Enemy nations were provoking Konoha, while the village's children were still growing up.

Konoha no longer had the strength to fight them. If war broke out,

there could be only one outcome: the three great Ninja villages would carve it up.

Konoha would cease to exist.

In that moment, Hiruzen finally felt that Konoha had begun to decline

under his leadership.

The scene shifted again.

Back at the Hyuga Clan Compound, Hiashi found Neji waiting for him at the gate.

Neji glared at Hiashi with hatred in his eyes. "Did you make my father die in your place?"

Hiashi answered coldly, "Yes."

"Just because we're from the branch family and you're from the exalted main family?"

"That gives you the right to decide whether clan members live or die?"

Hiashi was in agony.

He did not answer. He simply looked calmly at Neji.

Seeing no reaction from the clan head, Neji said bitterly, "One day, I'll kill you with my own hands and avenge my father."

"Of course, you can choose to kill me here while I'm still weak."

Neji raised a finger toward Hiashi and roared, "Otherwise, when I'm strong enough, you'll be the first person I kill."

"We'll see," Hiashi said coldly.

Neji turned away without another word.

Hiashi stood alone outside his home for a long time in the stillness of the night.

At last, he said in grief, "Hizashi, your son is truly remarkable. But I can't die yet."

"I'll raise Neji well. I'll wait for him to come and take my life."

"When that day comes, I'll apologize to you myself!"

"Hi! Za! Shi!"

Hiashi tilted his head back in anguish and slowly closed his eyes.

His strength gave out, and he fell backward.

Konoha.

The Hokage's Office.

Everyone there was seething with anger.

Minato Namikaze's face was filled with murderous intent. "So my future self sacrificed his life? Have enemy nations grown bold enough to push us this far?"

He muttered furiously, "Raikage A of Kumogakure, I'll make sure to finish you before I die."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was just as furious. "Kumogakure again. Remember this, all of you."

Fugaku Uchiha's face was also burning with anger.

Koharu Utatane, beside them, angrily rebuked Hiruzen. "Hiruzen, how could you make such a foolish decision?"

"Enough, Koharu!" Hiruzen roared. "You too, Homura—and Danzo! Where were you when that happened?"

Don't think I don't understand. I'm the one who owes the Hyuga.

If an enemy nation ever dares to provoke Konoha again the way it did in that video of the future,

"then I'll stake the name of the Third on it."

"We'll fight to the bitter end!"

In that moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi was once again the Ninja Hero he had been.

How could Hiruzen fail to see the bitter unwillingness in his future self?

Or that profound sense of helplessness?

And Danzo's Root had taken away more than half of Konoha's fighting strength.

All because Hiruzen had always felt he owed his old friend.

He had kept trying to make it up to him.

But what had come of it? When Konoha faced humiliation at the hands of an enemy nation,

where were you, Shimura Danzō?

Hiruzen could no longer bear to face Hiashi.

But he decided that, even if it was his future self who had done this,

he still needed to go and apologize to Hiashi properly.

Hiruzen turned away dejectedly. "Minato, make sure they record all the intelligence. And be careful in the days ahead."

"The video said you and Kushina would die only a few years from now."

"Be especially wary of ambushes by enemy Ninja."

Minato nodded firmly. "Don't worry, Third. After seeing that disgraceful future, I'll be prepared at all times."

"I won't let anything happen to Kushina or our unborn child, either."

Just then, a thought seemed to strike Hiruzen. He asked in alarm, "Could it be that enemy Ninja attack Konoha on the day Kushina gives birth, and you die protecting the village?"

"Could that be it, Minato?"

Minato shook his head. "Third, the future hasn't happened yet. I can't be sure."

"But unless enemy Ninja ambush me, I don't believe I'd lose to anyone."

"And the one time I'd be vulnerable to an ambush would be the day my wife gives birth."

The more Minato thought about it, the angrier he became. "My child may have died that day too."

At the thought of his wife and child both dying on the day she gave birth, Chakra erupted violently from Minato.

Everyone in the Hokage's Office was thrown backward.

Hiruzen, who stood closest to Minato, staggered back several steps

before he finally managed to stop himself.

"Calm down, Minato!" Hiruzen urged anxiously. "Please, calm down!"

But Minato could not calm down. The more he thought about it, the more certain he felt.

He pulled out a kunai marked with the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Hiruzen quickly grabbed his hand. "Calm down, Minato! You can't afford to let anything happen to you now. Do you understand?"

"Judging by the video of the future, it'll happen within the next few years."

"It may not be the day Kushina gives birth. That was only a guess, not a certainty."

"With your strength, I can't imagine who could cause both you and Kushina to die."

Hiruzen was truly panicking now, and his voice rose. "Minato, you need to calm down! You're the Fourth Hokage now. Your wife and child are still alive."