I have an idea

The ANBU arrived late.

If Hiashi had not sent someone to fetch them, they would not even have known Naruto had gone out that night.

Lax. Far too lax!

He had never expected the ANBU, the elite among ninja, to have grown so lax.

Still, perhaps he ought to thank them for their laxity. Otherwise, his daughter might have been abducted.

Hinata was wiping away her tears, frightened and worried.

She had seen the kunai tear straight through the flesh of Naruto's hand, exposing the bone.

That must have hurt terribly. It would probably take ages to heal.

Hashirama Senju: Just a fatal wound. It'll heal in two minutes.

Naruto: Yep, yep! My injuries might look serious, but I recover really fast.

At Konoha Hospital, Hiashi and Hinata waited outside the doctor's door. Inside, Uzuki Yugao, who had been woken at home in the middle of the night, was temporarily acting as Naruto's guardian.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had rushed straight from home to the hospital with only a robe thrown over his unchanged pajamas.

The doctor emerged from the ward, his expression grave.

The Third drew a deep breath and began asking about Naruto's condition.

"Doctor, how is the patient?"

"Dead."

The sound of a heart breaking rang through the corridor.

Had my adorable little Naruto, a boy of my grandchildren's generation, really left me just like that?

Grandpa still had so much to pass on to you.

The books Grandpa wrote himself-On the Will of Fire, The Life of the Third, and How to Use a Telescope for Peeping (scratch that!)

You hadn't read any of them yet.

"What's the rush?"

The doctor looked speechlessly at their varied expressions.

"No, I meant that Cloud Ninja."

"You didn't think the Jinchūriki had died, did you?"

If the Jinchūriki had died, the Nine-Tails would already have blown up the hospital.

"Oh, oh, oh. Then how is Naruto?"

The Third rubbed his head. It seemed he really had worried himself senseless.

"Well, you brought him in just in time. A few minutes later..."

The doctor paused.

"What? Hurry up and tell us! Was Naruto badly injured?"

The doctor had the Third wrapped around his finger again.

"A few minutes later, his wound would have healed on its own."

With that, the doctor returned to his break room to sleep.

Being disturbed in the middle of the night was irritating enough. If the Jinchūriki had been seriously injured, then as the hospital's ace doctor, he would have been duty-bound to get up and treat him.

But!

The boy had practically finished healing himself. Waking him up for that was going a bit too far.

Don't think I'm afraid of you just because you're the Third Hokage. Back in the day, even the Second had to be humble when he came to me for treatment.

This doctor was already fifty-nine, an old-timer who had lived through Konoha's changing generations.

He had little combat ability, but his medical skills were excellent, so he had always worked at Konoha Hospital.

Yet after more than thirty full years of work, he was still only a lowly director.

Well, that had something to do with his perpetually explosive temper and sarcastic manner.

According to one rumor, Hashirama really had plunged a kunai into his own kidney back then. Madara had failed to stop him, and this doctor had healed Hashirama's kidney.

Neither Hashirama nor Tobirama had denied this. Instead, they had always remained silent.

That had something to do with a drug he had developed for bodily performance.

"Hmph. Don't expect to get any more Kidney Tonic Pills from me, Monkey."

As the doctor passed Sarutobi, he coldly delivered that threat, loud enough for everyone in the corridor to hear.

"Ahaha, let's hurry in and see Naruto."

The Third was having trouble saving face. Hiashi and the ANBU deliberately pretending not to have heard stood in stark contrast to the Hyuga Young Lady's curious gaze.

He hurriedly urged everyone to go and see Naruto.

The ward was brightly lit. Naruto snored away, occasionally mumbling in his sleep.

"First... Third... I'm the Dogth!"

In his dream, he was playing a game of dog-chases-people with his family.

Drool trickled from the corner of his mouth onto his pillow.

On the bed beside him lay the Cloud Ninja whose body had been pierced through. His eyes were also closed, and he looked peaceful too.

"Naruto-kun."

Hinata leaned her head closer, wanting to see how her friend was doing.

Hiashi reached out to stop her, but the Third stopped him.

"Let the children spend time together. We should go look at what the adults need to see."

Sarutobi's meaning was clear. They needed to discuss the matter of this Cloud Ninja.

According to the information provided by the ANBU and Hiashi, this Cloud Ninja had intended to steal the Hyuga Clan's bloodline.

For the Hyuga Clan, which had endured for so long and always upheld the purity of its bloodline, this was absolutely intolerable.

But Konoha currently lacked the strength to declare war on the Cloud Ninja.

Tomorrow, the Cloud Ninja might even frame the Hyuga Clan for killing their man.

Still, looking at the hole through this body and the heavy traces of Nine-Tails Chakra on it...

Who could pin this on the Hyuga?

Surely they could not tell such a barefaced lie.

"Hiashi, what do you think?"

Sarutobi tossed the question to the Hyuga Clan's head-Hyuga Hiashi.

"Lord Third, I believe the Cloud Ninja were certainly trying to steal our Konoha's Byakugan Bloodline Limit."

Hiashi spoke cautiously.

No kidding. You think I couldn't see that?

Sarutobi grumbled inwardly. Hiashi was becoming increasingly slick. He had even started saying "our Konoha."

"Then how do you think our Konoha should handle this?"

The Third smiled at Hiashi, whose head was lowered.

The atmosphere in the room was still fairly okay. Over to one side, Hinata was poking the whiskers that had grown back on Naruto's face.

The thing was, whenever she poked him, Naruto did not react, but her own face turned red instead.

"Hmm... Lord Third, I may have an idea."

Watching Naruto being teased by his daughter, Hiashi had a flash of inspiration.

Hey, I have an idea. (Puts on glasses, raises a finger, smiles.)

"Why don't we classify this incident as a provocation by Kumogakure?"

"This corpse represents more than us killing the provocateur. It also shows that our Jinchūriki is in perfectly good condition."

"That way, they'll be wary and won't dare say much."

"Then we can simply give them a way to back down."

"We'll say our village's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki accidentally went berserk during training and just happened to injure your man, who had stepped out to relieve himself."

The Third's eyes lit up as he listened to Hiashi's suggestion.

This idea seemed pretty good, didn't it?

The Third Shinobi World War had dragged on for so long, and Konoha had beaten the other ninja villages into submission without even using the Nine-Tails.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to tell them that their Nine-Tails was still under control?

Naruto's injury had also filled the Third with anger, making him take a rare hard line.

"Good. We'll do as you say."