Hiruzen Sarutobi met Hyuga Hiashi's hopeful gaze as though he had not seen it at all.
The stalemate in the courtyard continued.
Standing opposite them, Kumogakure's deputy envoy Atsui was actually starting to feel uneasy.
Although tonight's plan to abduct the Hyuga Main Family's eldest daughter had hit a snag, the steps of escalating the incident and using it as a pretext to make demands had gone quite smoothly.
Only one thing was wrong: why had his older sister Samui still not appeared?
According to their agreed plan, Yugito Nii was supposed to lead a raid on the Uchiha Clan Compound, rescue Samui, then immediately head to the Hyuga Clan Compound to rendezvous and pressure the Third Hokage together.
They had not arrived yet, but surely he could not just keep waiting?
Atsui frowned. Knowing he had no other way out now, he could only steel himself and proceed alone.
He absolutely could not lose in a battle of bluster!
That was the core principle Lord Raikage had stressed over and over before their departure.
Atsui glanced at the Third Hokage standing in the courtyard, his eyes shifting.
Strangely, Hiruzen Sarutobi neither slammed a table in anger nor rushed to bow his head and apologize. Instead, he puffed away at his pipe, his gaze flickering. Who knew what schemes were going through his head?
"Third Hokage!"
"Konoha must give Kumogakure an explanation for this mess tonight!"
Atsui stepped forward and demanded loudly in a domineering tone:
"Why did a member of our Kumogakure delegation disappear for no reason, only to end up lying dead in the Hyuga Clan's courtyard?!"
"Is this Konoha's attitude toward peace talks?!"
"During the day, you let the Konoha Military Police Force detain my sister without cause. At night, seeing that we wouldn't bow down, you simply sent someone to murder our man and silence him, is that it?!"
"It seems Konoha really has no regard for Kumogakure!"
He piled on one grave accusation after another, every word laden with naked intimidation.
"Please calm down, Envoy Atsui. There must be some misunderstanding here. Konoha has always loved peace. We would never murder an envoy from your village."
Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled a cloud of smoke and hurriedly offered a placating smile.
"A misunderstanding? Even if I believed that nonsense, Lord Raikage never would!"
Atsui stiffened his neck, his arrogance reaching its peak. "If this is Konoha's sincerity in these negotiations, I guarantee Kumogakure will make you pay!"
"To tell you the truth, Lord Raikage sent urgent secret orders this evening. He was furious that Konoha arrested my sister without cause. Our army has already assembled at the border and can cross it to flatten the Land of Fire at any moment!"
The Fourth Raikage had already moved his troops to the border?!
Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart jolted, his expression shifting uncertainly. He abruptly turned toward Hyuga Hiashi, who stood nearby with his daughter held protectively in his arms.
"Lord Hokage! Don't listen to this brat twisting the facts!"
Hyuga Hiashi raised his voice in his defense. As the head of the Main Family of the foremost prestigious clan, his voice naturally rang out strong and clear:
"Today is my daughter Hinata's third birthday. Who could have imagined that these thieves from another village would sneak into our Hyuga residence under cover of darkness and try to abduct her!"
"I struck in haste to save my daughter, and failed to hold back my strength..."
Before he could finish, Hyuga Hiashi's voice suddenly caught in his throat.
He had met Hiruzen Sarutobi's cold, blade-sharp stare head-on!
"Clan Head Hiashi, are you publicly admitting that you personally killed Kumogakure's envoy?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi questioned him coldly, his face dark.
What was that supposed to mean?!
Hyuga Hiashi was utterly stunned, hardly able to believe his ears.
Someone had sneaked into his clan compound in the middle of the night to steal his child. As Konoha's supreme commander, it was bad enough that the Third Hokage would not speak up for his own people, but why was he turning around and using his words to silence him?!
"Yes, he died by my hand, but he was masked and carrying my daughter away. How could I possibly have known he was..."
Halfway through his explanation, a buzzing filled Hyuga Hiashi's head, and he understood everything at once.
The Third Hokage intended to make him, Hyuga Hiashi, the scapegoat!
He was going to pin the blame for the Kumogakure envoy's death squarely on the Hyuga Clan!
"Please calm down, Envoy Atsui. Since someone from your village died in the Hyuga Clan Compound, as Hokage, I will certainly make the Hyuga Clan give you a satisfactory explanation."
The moment Hiruzen Sarutobi stated his position, the two senior advisers behind him, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, immediately caught his meaning and chimed in, backing each other up:
"Exactly! Tonight's trouble was entirely caused by Hyuga Hiashi using excessive force. He should settle it himself!"
"Clan Head Hiashi, as the leader of a great clan, how could you be so reckless? You killed an allied village's envoy without even ascertaining the facts. Do you have any regard for the village's greater interests?!"
Mitokado Homura still bore the bruises from the beating he had received at the Konoha Military Police Force two days earlier. Now he sprayed spit as he berated a clan head from his own village, looking immensely imposing.
As for Hiruzen Sarutobi, after reprimanding Hyuga Hiashi, he turned to Atsui, and his stern official air instantly vanished without a trace, replaced by a fawning smile.
It was truly incomprehensible how the dignified leader of a village could present such drastically different faces to invaders from another village and to his own villagers!
"So, Lord Hokage, you mean I was wrong to kill a thief who sneaked into my courtyard to steal my child?!"
Hyuga Hiashi trembled with rage, staring at Hiruzen Sarutobi with humiliation written all over his face, one last shred of hope lingering in his heart.
The absurd scene before them was sickening enough to make one vomit, yet it was genuinely happening in Konoha.
Hiruzen Sarutobi cast a cold glance at Hyuga Hiashi, who refused to see the bigger picture and still would not willingly admit his guilt, and was just about to open his mouth to apply more pressure.
Rumble!
A burst of loud, synchronized footsteps suddenly came from outside the courtyard gates.
In the blink of an eye, a large contingent of fully armed Konoha Military Police Force officers charged straight into the courtyard and surrounded the scene!
"Uchiha Shanyang, who told your Konoha Military Police Force to come here?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's aged face darkened, his brows knotting tightly as he sharply questioned the deputy captain leading them.
"Our Konoha Military Police Force received an emergency report that a thug had broken into the Hyuga Clan Compound in the middle of the night to commit violence and cause trouble. Clan Head Hiashi, where is the suspect?"
Uchiha Shanyang did not even give Hiruzen Sarutobi a proper look. He turned directly to Hyuga Hiashi and asked about the case in a businesslike manner.
"The suspect has already been killed! I struck him dead on the spot with a palm strike!"
Seeing the Konoha Military Police Force appear in their white justice cloaks, Hyuga Hiashi first froze, feeling somewhat puzzled.
Had someone from the clan gone to the Konoha Military Police Force to report this just now?
He knew nothing about it.
But he had eyes. He could see that the moment Uchiha Shanyang entered, he had labeled the dead Kumogakure ninja a "suspected thug." He was clearly siding with Hyuga Hiashi!
All of Konoha High Command in the courtyard were forcing him to admit guilt, yet at this critical moment, it was actually the Konoha Military Police Force that stood up to support him!
Hyuga Hiashi was so moved that his eyes reddened. Had he not still been holding his daughter, he would have rushed over and given Uchiha Shanyang a bear hug.
"Good kill! Animals who break into homes to rob people deserve to be beaten to death on the spot!"
Third Squad Captain Uchiha Cong shouted at the top of his lungs, then casually shoved Uchiha Itachi beside him to the very front of the formation.
The corner of Uchiha Itachi's eye twitched twice. He knew perfectly well that his squad captain was creating another opportunity for him to "stand out and earn merit."
After surveying the situation in the courtyard, Uchiha Itachi fell silent for two seconds, sighed softly, and said in a low voice:
"I also believe that Senior Hiashi's decision to kill the suspect on the spot was entirely reasonable and justified."
That statement, at least, came sincerely from his heart.
If someone stole a man's three-year-old daughter from her bed in the middle of the night, any father who caught them would fight for his life and strike to kill.
Putting himself in Hiashi's shoes, what tragic fate would have awaited little Hinata tonight if Hyuga Hiashi had arrived a moment too late and failed to stop the abductor?
She was a daughter of the Main Family's direct line, possessing the pure Byakugan Kekkei Genkai!
Once she fell into Kumogakure's hands, even if she was lucky enough to survive, she would certainly be treated as breeding stock once she grew up, forced to bear children day and night!
With his own daughter about to be snatched away and turned into a breeding machine, what law in the world could find a father guilty for killing the child trafficker with a single palm strike?!
Hearing Uchiha Itachi's words, Hyuga Hiashi nodded vigorously, finally venting more than half the grievance pent up inside him.
"Uchiha Shanyang! Uchiha Cong! And Uchiha Itachi!"
"Do you have any respect for hierarchy or discipline?! I, the Third Hokage, am still standing here! Since when was it your Konoha Military Police Force's place to judge cases and pronounce guilt?!"
Seeing the Konoha Military Police Force arrive to undermine him and disrupt matters, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had always excelled at bullying his own people, flew into a rage on the spot. Pointing at Shanyang and the others, he unleashed a torrent of abuse:
"This matter requires no interference from you! In the name of the Hokage, I now order every one of you to get back to the Konoha Military Police Force building immediately!"
He still dared to issue orders in the Hokage's name?
The Police Force officers present all gave contemptuous sneers and stood completely still.
Only Uchiha Itachi, who had been pushed to the front, had uncertainty flickering in his eyes as he wrestled with his dilemma.
He was carrying out a mission as a triple agent, but the Third Hokage's indiscriminate capitulation to Kumogakure right now made it impossible for him to fathom what the old man was thinking.
Since he needed to remain undercover in the Konoha Military Police Force, he naturally had to follow the group's lead when expressing his views.
But now that the Third Hokage had issued an unequivocal order to their faces, should he obey the Hokage and turn to leave, or stand with his colleagues in the Konoha Military Police Force and defy him?
The choice was truly tormenting, as suffocating as being caught between Konoha High Command and the Uchiha Clan.
Uchiha Itachi lowered his head and sighed inwardly.
Whoosh!
Just as Uchiha Itachi agonized over his dilemma, the hundred-plus Police Force officers lined up behind him suddenly moved in unison!
The Uchiha officers parted to either side in perfect synchronization, as though they had practiced it thousands of times.
In just two or three breaths, a broad passage opened through the crowd.
Then a tall, straight-backed figure strolled in with leisurely steps, both hands in his pockets.
Once he saw the newcomer's face clearly, Hiruzen Sarutobi's entire aged face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot. Gritting his teeth, he forced a name through them:
"Uchiha... Xuanye!"
Before you continue