A meeting with Hyuga Hiashi!

"Sales went through the roof!!! Our newspaper really sold like crazy!!!"

The Uchiha Clan Compound.

The three elders stood before Bai Ye, brimming with excitement as they told him that plenty of merchants had come directly to their doors that day, asking to cooperate.

And it had not just sold like crazy in Konoha or the Land of Fire.

These merchants came from all over the world.

Their interest in cooperating meant that the plan to spread lies throughout the shinobi world would seemingly succeed very soon.

"Give them both the old issue and the new one. Tomorrow, we'll focus on selling the new issue here in Konoha. Izumi is already writing the next batch of content.

Just go to Izumi for the content from now on. I need to get ready to handle other things."

He had now handed everything concerning the newspaper over to Uchiha Izumi.

He had also gone over all the content for these next few issues with her.

If Uchiha Izumi had any questions later, she could come and ask him.

Running a newspaper was not particularly difficult. Once it became well known, as long as they kept the content coming, he would no longer need to oversee it.

The material planned for later would give Hiruzen Sarutobi and his people plenty of trouble, too.

Bai Ye still had several things to do.

After hearing him, Uchiha Hui and the others exchanged glances before asking, "Bai Ye, are you sure you can handle the Hyuga Clan?! I have a feeling that... if you don't handle them properly, things could get troublesome!"

Indeed, the Hyuga Clan had already made its stance known.

There was absolutely no way they would return the land to the Uchiha.

As Bai Ye had previously requested, Hiruzen Sarutobi had spread the news.

Once the Hyuga Clan and the other clans learned about it, they were quite surprised by what the Uchiha intended to do.

But they all declared that there was absolutely no way they would return land that already belonged to them.

Naturally, the elders also knew that Bai Ye intended to tackle the most difficult clan, the Hyuga, first.

But if the Hyuga Clan really refused, would they go to war?!

Would that not contradict what Bai Ye had said before?!

That was why they were somewhat worried now.

They could not shake the feeling that, after Bai Ye had made such a big fuss last time, the situation had become harder to resolve.

"You don't need to worry about this. I'll handle it. Have someone deliver a formal visiting request to the Hyuga Clan later. Tell them the Uchiha clan head wants to meet their clan head."

Bai Ye spoke calmly.

He had long since written his request to meet Hyuga Hiashi.

All that remained was to arrange for someone to deliver it.

And it would not merely be delivered. It would be delivered with great fanfare!

Thus, the entire village soon learned that Uchiha Bai Ye had sent Hyuga Hiashi a formal visiting request.

The Hyuga Clan.

The Main Family elders and Hyuga Hiashi were discussing the Uchiha's upcoming visit in a room.

"If you ask me, we should simply refuse to let any Uchiha inside. They're going too far, demanding that we return the land. Granted, that area isn't in the center of our clan grounds.

We didn't take much, either, but if we return that tract of land to the Uchiha, wouldn't that mean we're afraid of them?!"

One elder spoke with a trace of anger.

What a joke!!

The Uchiha had made this public knowledge. If nobody had known, they might have considered returning it.

After all, the Hyuga Clan did not want a serious conflict with those Uchiha lunatics.

Even if both clans were currently competing for the title of the foremost ocular jutsu clan.

As long as the Uchiha paid, they would have sold the land to them.

But now that they had told everyone, like hell they would return it!

People who did not know the circumstances would think the Hyuga Clan feared the Uchiha Clan!

"I agree. The Uchiha brought their current situation upon themselves!!"

The Main Family elders voiced their indignation one after another.

As for the Uchiha clan head's proposed visit, they even felt there was no need to let him come. They should simply refuse.

Seated at the head of the room, Hyuga Hiashi frowned.

He was actually rather conflicted.

His reaction was nowhere near as heated as the elders'.

Had this been back when Uchiha Fugaku led the clan, he might indeed have refused to meet him.

But under Bai Ye's leadership, the Uchiha were clearly different from before.

"Elders, clan head, the Uchiha envoy is here!!!"

They had still been arguing over whether to allow the Uchiha to visit.

The announcement instantly brought the discussion to a halt, and everyone turned to Hyuga Hiashi.

No matter how fiercely they argued, the deciding factor was still whether Hyuga Hiashi wanted to do this.

"Hiashi, I think it's best not to get too involved with the Uchiha right now. You know perfectly well what the situation in the village is!!"

Seeing that Hyuga Hiashi had remained silent, one elder spoke up.

He immediately offered that warning.

The Uchiha were a ticking time bomb now.

Nobody knew when they would explode.

The best course of action was to refuse to meet anyone from the Uchiha.

Otherwise, there would be endless trouble down the line.

"Hide and refuse to meet them?! If we do that, won't people say our Hyuga Clan is afraid of the Uchiha?!"

Hyuga Hiashi spoke evenly.

Refusing to meet the Uchiha now would indeed spare them countless headaches.

But if they chose to avoid the meeting at this point...

Would that not imply they feared the Uchiha Clan?!

So even knowing that unforeseen complications might arise, he still chose to meet the Uchiha.

"Do as you like, then, but you'd better watch how far you go!!"

The elders gave Hyuga Hiashi a long look. Once he decided to meet Bai Ye, they knew they could no longer stop it.

They accepted the visiting request from the Uchiha envoy.

The Uchiha Clan.

"Looks like Hyuga Hiashi has some backbone after all."

Bai Ye muttered to himself, then rose and headed straight for the Hyuga Clan.

Since all of Konoha was waiting for the outcome...

And everyone wanted to see the Uchiha make fools of themselves, Bai Ye found himself intrigued instead.

The Hyuga Clan.

Hyuga Hiashi waited alone in the reception room.

The visiting request Bai Ye had sent specified that he would arrive thirty minutes after its delivery.

Clearly, the Uchiha were eager to resolve this matter. Once Bai Ye arrived, however, Hyuga Hiashi remained entirely unhurried.

In his view, he held the initiative now. Bai Ye should be anxious, not him.

"I already know why you're here. Why do you think our Hyuga Clan would give you that land?!"

Hyuga Hiashi was in no hurry.

Since Bai Ye had come, he surely had something in mind.

And after the things Bai Ye had done recently, Hiashi knew perfectly well that he was far bolder than Fugaku.

That was why he had agreed to meet him.

"Because you can't accept what happened."

"I... can't accept it?!"

Hyuga Hiashi froze upon hearing Bai Ye's words.

What?!

Do you even hear what you're saying?!

How did this suddenly become about me? What exactly can't I accept?!

Seeing Hyuga Hiashi's reaction, Bai Ye remained unhurried. He leisurely took a sip of tea before continuing:

"When Kumogakure came to Konoha to sign the peace treaty, your Hyuga Clan snubbed the Hokage. So later, when Kumogakure abducted your daughter, Konoha did nothing.

Then you rescued your daughter and killed several Kumogakure shinobi.

You thought you were in the right and that the village would stand with you. But you never expected the village to sell you out without hesitation.

Kumogakure demanded that Konoha hand over the killer, or they would declare war. But everyone knew perfectly well at the time...

Kumogakure couldn't go to war. And even if they did, Konoha was still capable of fighting.

Yet Hiruzen Sarutobi chose to compromise.

Everyone knew what Kumogakure was really after, too. The Byakugan...

In the end, your younger brother sacrificed himself to resolve the matter. Because he belonged to the Branch Family, Kumogakure couldn't obtain the Byakugan, either.

And so the whole affair ended without anything more coming of it.

But... I don't believe you could simply accept what happened."

Bai Ye spoke slowly, as though telling a story.

But with every sentence he uttered, Hyuga Hiashi's expression darkened further.

By the end, he could barely keep his composure.

He had never expected Bai Ye to bring this up.

This matter had become his sorest point.

Watching Hyuga Hiashi's expression, Bai Ye did not rush to speak again.

The incident was not actually a secret.

It was just that some of the details might not have been explained as clearly as he had laid them out.

But by combining the anime's plot with his own experiences, Bai Ye had figured out what had really happened.

Back when the peace treaty was signed, practically every clan had attended. Even Uchiha Fugaku had gone.

But the Hyuga Clan had not.

What had the Hyuga Clan been doing?!

They had been celebrating the birthday of Hyuga Hiashi's daughter, Hinata Hyuga.

Thus, not a single member of the Hyuga Clan had attended.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had probably remembered that slight.

Bai Ye did not believe for a moment that the subsequent incident had occurred without Hiruzen Sarutobi's tacit approval.

What a joke!

It had happened right under Konoha's nose, at such a sensitive time, and involved Kumogakure, which already had a record of such behavior.

There was no way Konoha could truly have paid no attention whatsoever.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had probably tacitly permitted it. Naturally, he had not intended to let Kumogakure take Hinata away, but rather to teach the Hyuga Clan a lesson.

His attitude toward handling the aftermath was also quite telling!

Konoha had clearly been capable of going to war with them, even if it had suffered heavy losses.

Some time had already passed since the Nine-Tails' Rampage.

And the actual number of people who died during the Nine-Tails' Rampage had not been that great.

Most importantly, a war with Kumogakure would definitely have brought Jiraiya back.

It was not a situation where they were incapable of fighting the enemy.

Moreover, the other three villages were unlikely to join the war.

Kirigakure was embroiled in internal strife, Sunagakure had its own troubles, and if Iwagakure joined in, Kumogakure would definitely attack it.

In other words, Konoha had been perfectly capable of fighting back then.

In fact, most people at the time had favored war.

Hiruzen Sarutobi alone had made the final decision not to fight and to pursue peace talks.

Had that not left the Hyuga Clan dumbfounded?!

After that incident, the Hyuga Clan had finally fallen completely into line.

In Bai Ye's view, the main reason Hiruzen Sarutobi had acted that way was that he had returned to power.

Had the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, still been alive, Hiruzen Sarutobi would naturally have had nothing to worry about.

But Minato Namikaze had died during the Nine-Tails' Rampage.

And that changed everything!

Normally, the next step should have been to choose a new Hokage.

But Orochimaru had enjoyed strong support!

Orochimaru had not defected yet at the time!

Granted, the things Orochimaru had done had effectively disqualified him from becoming Hokage.

But that did not mean there were no candidates.

If necessary, Jiraiya could absolutely have been brought back to become Hokage.

Yet Hiruzen Sarutobi had not done so. He had made a decision that defied his predecessors' tradition and returned to power himself.

But that created an enormous underlying problem.

Many people in the village refused to accept it!

Seriously?!

You, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had already stepped down. Shouldn't it have been time to choose the Fifth Hokage?!

How had you, Hiruzen Sarutobi, ended up back in power?!

That was something many clans and even ordinary ninja did not want to see.

Why?!

Because power and benefits needed to be redistributed!

Quite a few things had happened in the village during Hiruzen Sarutobi's time in power.

The village urgently needed someone without a clan background to resolve the conflicts between the clans, ordinary ninja, and the village itself.

And Minato Namikaze had been the best candidate.

But he had died in the end.

So Hiruzen Sarutobi's return to power at that point...

Naturally signaled that the effort seemed to have failed, and the village's conflicts remained unresolved.

It had even sparked an even greater conflict.

The Uchiha and Konoha had fallen out completely.

So if Hiruzen Sarutobi wanted to consolidate his rule afterward...

Then he had to reestablish his authority.

That had been the case with the Hyuga Clan, and even with the night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

Although Itachi had ostensibly been responsible, after the night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, virtually every ninja clan in Konoha had fallen into line.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had once again brought Konoha under his control.

Hadn't the later Konoha Crush also shown that, under those circumstances, the clans in Konoha had stood by and let Hiruzen Sarutobi die?!

The Hyuga Clan had been foremost among them.

When that incident happened, how many Hyuga Clan ninja on the battlefield had gone to help Hiruzen Sarutobi?

Bai Ye had seized on precisely that point. Hyuga Hiashi would not simply forget what had happened.

And as he watched Hyuga Hiashi's expression grow steadily darker...

Bai Ye added fuel to the fire. "And don't forget, if the Uchiha fall, which clan will Konoha target next?!

You don't really think the Hyuga Clan can keep hiding in its shell and never face any more trouble, do you?!"