Hyuga Hiashi looked at Uchiha Itachi's helpless expression and felt a little embarrassed. He patted Itachi on the shoulder. "Take care, Lord Itachi. I won't see you out!"
Itachi could only sigh at Hiashi's habit of striking first and offering comfort afterward. He had no desire to say more and left.
After Uchiha Itachi departed, a small figure came up beside Hiashi and called softly, "Father!"
Hiashi turned to find Hinata's little face flushed. His expression softened at once. "Hinata, spend the next two days training in the clan's Training Room. No climbing around, understand?"
He stroked Hinata's head. "Father has other things to do now, so go get some rest."
Without waiting for Hinata to answer, he turned and headed toward his younger brother.
As head of the Branch Family, Hizashi Hyuga oversaw the clan's Ninja operations. He was the best person to handle their defensive deployment.
Meanwhile, Minato Namikaze sat with pen in hand, earnestly drafting a speech for Uchiha Yin. Given Yin's personality, he was unlikely to read it carefully, so Minato had to keep it as short as possible.
But if he made it too short, he could hardly explain everything clearly. Only then did Minato realize how difficult the task was.
Just as he wrestled with it, his expression suddenly grew serious.
He could usually sense quite a few Ninja around here, but today there were far more than usual. All were Jonin-level experts, and they had concealed their presence well.
At first, Minato assumed they were passing through. But when he sensed them more carefully, he realized they had no intention of leaving. He set down his pen and said, "Someone come out and tell me what's going on!"
He stared ahead with a stern expression. A dark figure flashed past, and someone dropped