The Third Hokage gave a bitter smile. He did not regret intervening, but he knew his credibility would take a heavy blow today. Still, he had no choice. How else could Takahashi Yū's anger be appeased? Let him leave the village? The other ninja villages would laugh themselves sick.
The Hokage was supposed to be the strongest. Now he could not subdue Takahashi Yū, and even ending this with his dignity intact was in question. Takahashi Yū had been branded a demon; now the Third's qualifications to serve as Hokage would also be questioned.
Honestly! The Third Hokage racked his brain in frustration. How am I supposed to wrap this up now? Damn the Hyūga! Damn Tsuna... ahem! Mito Uzumaki was still here. The Third knew Takahashi Yū well enough not to fear being killed outright, but he was definitely going to lose face!
The dust cleared from the huge crater, revealing a tall, soot-blackened figure holding a very strange pose. Struck head-on by ninjutsu of such power, he had not even used his hands to protect his vulnerable spots.
Instead, he was half crouching, both hands covering his crotch!
A bead of cold sweat ran down the surrounding ninja's faces. At a time like this, he was still worrying about that little root of trouble!
"Old man Sarutobi, you really surprised me. You nearly blasted my damn pants off!" The soot-blackened Takahashi Yū flashed a mouthful of white teeth and grinned at the Third.
The old Third held back, Takahashi Yū thought to himself. He had read the original story. In his Impure World Reincarnation body, the Third had used this move to clash head-on with the Ten-Tails!
Although the Third's chakra was limited now, and he could not increase the technique's scale without restraint as he could under Impure World Reincarnation, Takahashi Yū could clearly feel that the five attributes had not fully fused. Whether he had wanted to avoid affecting Konoha or genuinely had not wanted to kill Takahashi Yū, some of Takahashi Yū's anger subsided. He was using his own reputation to compensate Takahashi Yū's Undying Squad.
Of course, by Takahashi Yū's estimate, even a complete fusion would still fall some way short of hurting him. His hair and pants, however, would definitely not survive.
He wiped the soot from his face and gave the Third a villainous grin.
"Now, it's my turn!" Takahashi Yū told the bitterly smiling Third.
The instant he finished speaking, the ground beneath his feet exploded with a bang. Takahashi Yū charged with unstoppable force toward the Third, who stood still as though he had given up resisting.
The soot blew off his body as he moved, restoring his valiant appearance. Only his shorts, burned back to his thighs, still testified to the power of the Great Dragon Flame Bullet.
As he charged, he wound up a hook. His swinging fist compressed the air ahead into a hollow as it swept toward the Third's cheek.
Takahashi Yū had held back too. He could not actually kill the Third with one punch, but the wind from his fist still made the skin on the Third's face ripple like water. Terror showed in the Third's eyes. Had this brute failed to understand even that much? If he really punched him dead or seriously injured him, he would become a laughingstock.
Clank, clank, clank!
The sound of metal chains rang out.
Golden chains blotted out the sky as they surged toward Takahashi Yū. Several thick chains looped down over his shoulders and passed beneath his arms. The remaining thin chains rushed over him, covering him like golden armor and holding him firmly back.
Adamantine Sealing Chains!
His fist stopped less than a meter from the Third's old face. The violent wind from the punch sent the Third flying backward.
Under the astonished gazes of the ninja, he slammed into the ruins. The Third moved a stone off his head, stared up at the sky, and sighed. This matter could finally be put behind them. The aftermath was trivial compared with what had just happened, though the Hyūga would certainly have a hard time.
"This ends here!"
Mito Uzumaki appeared in a wheelchair pushed by a servant, a dense mass of Adamantine Sealing Chains spreading behind her as she addressed the ninja present.
The chains around Takahashi Yū kept fading. He gave his body a sharp shake, shattering all those that remained and drawing a wary glance from Mito Uzumaki.
Konoha's Retired Emperor had arrived!
"Ends here? The Hyūga murdered my teammate. This isn't over!" Takahashi Yū told Mito Uzumaki, undaunted by the chains dancing across the sky.
"More than half the Hyuga Main Family are dead or wounded, and fewer than one in ten of the branch family members stationed here survived. Takahashi Yū, listen to me. This ends here! I can place a Barrier Seal over that child's Caged Bird Seal." Mito Uzumaki's tone grew increasingly stern, without a trace of the kindness she had shown while speaking with Uzumaki Shui Ling earlier.
Takahashi Yū wanted to say that nobody needed her extra seal. Given time, his [Dan-Ability] trait would remove that disgusting Caged Bird Seal!
But he truly could not manage that yet. The Hyuga Main Family probably would not dare touch Ryūhei again, but Takahashi Yū dared not gamble on it!
If some Hyūga unafraid of death later killed Ryūhei with the curse, slaughtering every last Hyūga would not make up for it. It could never make up for a passionate soul who had risked his life defending his home and country before even turning ten.
"Captain..."
Takahashi Yū caught a call as faint as a mosquito's hum.
He turned and saw that Hyūga Ryūhei, who had been held in Yamanaka Ayano's arms all this time, had opened his eyes slightly. Yamanaka Ayano quickly covered the back of his head with her hand, chakra glowing in her palm as she tried to stabilize his mental world.
"Byakugan kid, how are you?" Takahashi Yū hurried over to Ayano and looked at Hyūga Ryūhei with concern.
Through Yamanaka Ayano's efforts, Ryūhei finally managed to open his eyes a crack. His lips moved slightly, but he still could not speak.
Beneath Ryūhei's barely opened eyelids, Takahashi Yū saw a pair of utterly dull eyes. He clenched his fists until they cracked.
He turned toward Mito Uzumaki, who sat composed in her wheelchair.
"I want Hyūga Tenmei dead! And I want two pairs of Byakugan compatible with Ryūhei's and Takeshi's bodies!" Takahashi Yū shouted at Konoha's Retired Emperor.
"From today onward, whatever causes Ryūhei's death, even an accident, I'll take the lives of the entire Hyūga clan!"
"Don't they love controlling the branch family's lives? Then I'll tie their lives to Ryūhei's!"
Standing amid the ruins of the Hyuga Clan Compound, Takahashi Yū roared before most of Konoha's ninja.
Takahashi Yū spotted the still-unconscious Hyūga Tenmei, who had been dragged to the outskirts. Before Mito Uzumaki could speak, he used the Body Flicker Technique to leap before the disgusting old man.
Whether he had acted for the Hyūga's stability or to protect the Main Family's position, Takahashi Yū severed his head with materialized killing intent!
"Pig Girl! Give me Takeshi's and the Byakugan kid's counts!"
Hearing that shout, Yamanaka Ayano felt as though she were back on the battlefield. Without objecting to Takahashi Yū's nickname for her, she answered reflexively.
"Captain, Takeshi killed fifty-nine enemies: eight Jonin and fifty-one chūnin and genin. Ryūhei killed twelve, all chūnin and genin!"
Yamanaka Ayano's attention remained in Ryūhei's mental world, but her mouth still delivered a string of precise figures.
"You heard her. I'm making the call on the Byakugan kid's merits and giving them to the Hyūga. From now on, he has no ties to them! The Hyuga Main Family must repay Takeshi's merits, whether in the Land of Water or the Land of Lightning. If they don't, Main Family lives will make up the count!"
Takahashi Yū spoke loudly. The other ninja muttered inwardly that it was questionable whether the Main Family even had fifty-nine people left. His opening attack had killed half the Main Family members who had stepped forward.
Mito Uzumaki rubbed her forehead, troubled by Takahashi Yū's utter lack of restraint. But the Hyūga had indeed crossed Konoha's bottom line by killing a comrade fresh off the battlefield. Konoha did not want to interfere with their usual oppression of the branch family, nor could it, but killing branch family members went too far, especially those with military achievements.
Mito Uzumaki could also understand the Hyūga's decision, but it had been too rushed-far too rushed for an old hand like Hyūga Tenmei, who had spent half his life navigating Konoha.
Yet Konoha's ninja felt no resentment toward Takahashi Yū now. Instead, they despised the Hyūga's persecution of the branch family! It was precisely because the Hyūga's actions had been so unreasonable, so contrary to the Will of Fire.
At that moment, Mito Uzumaki began to grasp something and gave Hyūga Tenmei's head a long look.
The clan heads exchanged glances too. Today's events had taken far too many twists. Their initial decision to stop Takahashi Yū from killing Hyūga Tenmei had inadvertently been the right one! Now the Hyūga clan head was dead, but Takahashi Yū did not have to break with the village over the tremendous damage to his reputation.
Moreover, the Hokage's faction had taken a blow to its credibility. That meant the members of the shinobi clans had actually come out ahead. If the other side suffered while theirs remained intact, wasn't that a gain?
The Nara Clan Head suddenly froze. He too seemed to have understood something. Hyūga Tenmei truly was a clan head! He could not possibly have failed to read Takahashi Yū's intelligence, yet he had still made such a foolish move after reading it!
Had he used his own life to pave the way for his descendants?
He had both dealt with the branch family's dual bloodline limits and opened a great breach between the main and branch families.
The Nara Clan Head narrowed his eyes. Hyūga Tenmei had two children, Hiashi and Hizashi. Barring any surprises, the main-and-branch-family system that had long plagued the Hyūga would end in his sons' generation!
Today's events could not be concealed. Setting aside Takahashi Yū and the Hokage's group, what remained were the Hyuga Main Family's atrocities. If the Hyūga still wanted to hold their heads high in the Shinobi World, they would have to change the ancestral rules governing the main and branch families.
Takahashi Yū had killed half of them. As for the other half...
The Nara Clan Head looked at the "Main Family Elite" slumped on the ground, all but wetting themselves in terror.
He shook his head. Unless Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga were fools, they would certainly be able to change the Hyūga!
The Nara Clan Head's gaze grew deep.
Furthermore, killing only the already renowned Hyūga Gōshi with the curse had not only enraged Takahashi Yū but also aroused the collective anger of Konoha's ninja. Leaving a child under ten alive had given both the Hyūga a way out and Takahashi Yū a way to back down.
What an... old hand.
The Nara Clan Head could not help marveling. With his aged body, he had secured a chance for the Hyūga to innovate. The Hyūga appeared to have suffered a heavy blow, but those who had died were actually Main Family members who did no real work. Their true main force had always been the branch family on the Land of Water battlefield!
The Hyūga were going to rise!
The Nara Clan Head withdrew his gaze and watched Takahashi Yū place Hyūga Tenmei's head beside Takeshi's body.
"Sigh... enough, everyone. The Hyūga murdered a war hero and were executed on the spot. Send the wounded to Konoha Hospital."
Mito Uzumaki sighed, giving instructions while signaling the servant to wheel her away.
Takahashi Yū walked over to Ayano and looked at Ryūhei, whose previously contorted face had relaxed under her treatment.
"Send the Byakugan kid to the hospital too. Wait for the Hyūga to deliver a new pair of Byakugan and transplant them into Ryūhei."
"Captain... the culprit who killed Takeshi died too. His injuries were too severe," Yamanaka Ayano told Takahashi Yū.
"Then transplant his eyes into Takeshi... let's wait until Ryūhei wakes up." Takahashi Yū rubbed his head too, answering with some frustration.
The Undying Squad members gathered around him, looking at him with concern.
"What are you looking at me for? Damn it, next time something happens, unleash your fluctuations immediately!"
Takahashi Yū wanted to vent his emotions now too. Looking at Takeshi's body still hurt.
Gekko Yūma sealed Takeshi's body and the head beside it separately, while Yamanaka Ayano took Ryūhei to the hospital.
Takahashi Yū plopped down on the ruins. Someone he had been drinking with just days ago was now gone forever. He felt his revenge against the Hyūga was not enough, but he could not continue either. Now he could not even find someone to vent on.
The Uchiha F3 and Nara Yūma exchanged glances. Yūma could roughly guess what Takahashi Yū was thinking.
"Enough, Captain. You've done enough," Nara Yūma said helplessly.
Takahashi Yū remained silent for a long time.
"No, it's nowhere near enough. Even making the killer pay with his life and burying his clan alongside him is nowhere near enough." Takahashi Yū opened his eyes, a flicker of resolve passing through them.
Now Nara Yūma was truly worried. He was not concerned for Takahashi Yū's safety, but that he would have nowhere left in the Shinobi World to call home.
He knew his captain had always had strange ideas, as well as moral boundaries that seemed rather laughable.
Takahashi Yū rose from the ruins and dusted off his tattered pants. The surrounding ninja had dispersed, and the Third's group was long gone too.
He patted Uchiha Shunji on the shoulder. "Thanks to your Konoha Military Police Force for cleaning up."
With the Hyūga severely short of remaining manpower, the Konoha Military Police Force was clearing the bodies, severed limbs, and blood from the Hyuga Clan Compound.
Takahashi Yū ambled toward the Farm. He needed to refine the ideas in his mind. He was going to change this twisted world!
The villagers along the road trembled as they avoided him. Wearing only his burned-short pants, Takahashi Yū walked down the middle of the road and returned to his house on Hot Springs Street, where he washed off the dust and blood and changed clothes.
He left home to look for the neighbors he had gathered at the Farm.
Walking along the Farm's newly taking-shape paths, Takahashi Yū's mood eased a little.
It's not time yet! Wait!
Takahashi Yū thought to himself that his greatest advantage in this world would always be the ideas he had brought from a harmonious society!
The Farm Estate in the distance was already half built, and the neighbors from Hot Springs Street were helping the carpenter. The two little redheads were playing with the orphanage children, while Mizuki and Yakushi Nonō, like two mothers afraid the children would hurt themselves, scolded them for running around.
Still holding hot tea, Uzumaki Shui Ling sat on a stump. Her gaze was already fixed on Takahashi Yū as she said something to Mizuki, who looked over as well.
Takahashi Yū gave a slight smile.
"Everyone, it's all right now. Let's go home!"
Before you continue