“You’ve asked these questions over and over.
How many more times do you need to verify them?” Inside the tent, Inaba Hyuga suppressed his rising anger, questioning the Root ninja standing before him in a low, heavy voice.
However, the ninja couldn’t care less, giving a contemptuous snort.
“Heh.
Just because you didn’t collude with an enemy village doesn’t mean we can’t interrogate you.” “…” Inaba Hyuga was rendered speechless.
He genuinely wanted to kill the guy right then and there and bury him in the woods behind the tent, but his rationality constantly warned him to stay calm.
In his current situation, he couldn’t afford any more suspicion or unwanted attention.
Right now, he was like an old general on a stage, his back already bristling with death flags.
All of this had started two weeks ago.
Two weeks ago, as the Third Shinobi World War continued to escalate, Konoha was forced to launch a second war mobilization.
At that time, Inaba, who had been transmigrated into this world for two and a half years, joined his unit and headed to the southern coast of the Land of Fire to join the war against Kirigakure.
Initially, everything had been calm and peaceful.
Having lived in this world for two and a half years, Inaba had adapted quite well.
He had even become one of the key talents groomed by the Branch House, building a modest reputation as a genius.
That was until a young master from the Head House—making his very first appearance on the battlefield and utterly lacking experience—straight up went and threw a massive feed!
That young master from the Head House, betting his ninja career on a greedy, reckless push to claim glory, ran straight into a Kirigakure ambush.
Not only was he beaten within an inch of his life, but one of his Byakugan eyes was stolen by Kirigakure.
When Inaba heard about this, he nearly lost his mind.
He wished he could grab that young master by the collar and scream: *Was that really worth charging into, young master?!* A member of the Head House was critically wounded and clinging to life, and a Byakugan had been stolen—this news instantly sent shockwaves through the entire Hyuga Clan!
The clan immediately issued an order requiring all Branch House shinobi in the vicinity of the battlefield to rush to the rescue unconditionally!
By sheer bad luck, Inaba happened to be nearby, so he received the command as well.
Left with no choice, he first requested permission from his squad leader, and after receiving approval, temporarily left his squad to answer the clan’s summons for reinforcement.
This sequence of procedures originally seemed completely fine.
Inaba’s squad leader was also an experienced veteran Jonin—cautious and composed by nature.
Nothing should have gone wrong.
However, the battlefield was always a treacherous place full of variables.
You never knew whether an accident or tomorrow would come first.
As the only reconnaissance ninja in the squad, Inaba’s departure ultimately reduced the team’s warning perimeter.
Thus, tragedy struck unexpectedly.
After he left, the rest of the squad inadvertently ran into an elite Kirigakure guerrilla unit.
In the end, every single member, including the squad leader, perished.
When Inaba heard the news, it felt like a bolt out of the blue!
Not because he had some deep bond with his former squad leader, but because his Jonin squad leader’s surname was Sarutobi!
The squad leader’s father was Hiruzen Sarutobi, and he had a younger brother named Asuma Sarutobi.
That’s right—Inaba’s former squad leader was none other than the Third Hokage’s eldest son, the undisputed crown prince of Konoha in this generation!
Even though it was Kirigakure who killed him, there was no denying that the leader’s death was inextricably tied to the temporary departure of Inaba, the squad’s sole scout.
In that moment, Inaba felt completely numb.
And the worst was yet to come.
Not long after, another piece of devastating news arrived: the young master from the Head House whom he had rushed to reinforce ultimately failed to hold on and died of his severe injuries in the frontline field hospital.
The stolen Byakugan was nowhere to be found, with virtually no hope of recovery.
For the first time in centuries since the Warring States Period, the Hyuga Clan had allowed their Kekkei Genkai to fall into external hands.
The entire clan was enraged.
The two surviving Branch House guards were immediately summoned back to the village, after which they vanished into thin air without a trace.
No one dared speak of it, let alone ask.
Even the remaining Branch House members who had failed to reinforce in time faced varying degrees of blame and condemnation.
Overnight, Inaba went from a Branch House genius nurtured by the clan to an ignored, forgotten outcast.
Misfortunes never come singly.
The clan’s abandonment quickly emboldened the Sarutobi Clan and Root, making them utterly reckless and unrestrained!
For days on end, Root and the Anbu took turns coming to question and investigate Inaba.
On the surface, they claimed to be screening for enemy spies, but both sides knew the true reason in their hearts— It was simply a middle-aged man who couldn’t accept the death of his son, trying every possible way to find an excuse for revenge.
After the Root ninja left, Inaba mused to himself, *Heh, no wonder after the war in the original plot, when the Kumogakure delegation openly came to Konoha to kidnap Hinata Hyuga and then turned around to frame the Hyuga Clan, Hiruzen Sarutobi didn’t stand up for the Hyuga Clan at all and even actively advised them to hand over a life.
So this was the root cause all along.
It seems the Third Hokage never truly forgave the Hyuga Clan.* Unintentionally unraveling a plot contradiction from the original series, if this were before he transmigrated, he might have felt a sudden sense of satisfying clarity.
Unfortunately, right now, Inaba could only manage a bitter smile.
Because this discovery was of zero help to his current predicament.
While he was mired in frustration, the tent flap was lifted, and a tall, valiant female ninja walked in.
Her cold tone hid a touch of awkward concern.
“Inaba, what did those annoying Anbu come to bother you about this time?” This girl was named Nanaha Uchiha.
She was one of Inaba’s few friends.
“They’re Root, not Anbu,” Inaba corrected, though he didn’t answer her question directly.
“Tch.
As far as us Uchiha are concerned, they’re pretty much the same—neither of them are good people.” Nanaha Uchiha spat, making no effort to hide her disgust.
Classic Uchiha.
Inaba instinctively opened his mouth to stop Nanaha’s reckless tongue—Root aside, the Anbu represented the authority of the Hokage after all, and badmouthing them inside a Konoha camp was asking for trouble.
But on second thought, his enthusiasm waned, and he decided to just let things slide.
Did he really need to care about this anymore?
Abandoned by the Head House, resented by Sarutobi, blacklisted by Root, plus having an Uchiha best friend—he had already collected every single negative flag and debuff Konoha had to offer!
At this point, even if he pulled an Itachi and slaughtered his entire clan, he doubted Third Hokage, Danzo, and their clique would ever accept him…
So what was left to save?
Why bother correcting her?
Screw it, let it be…
“I heard the Hyuga Clan has been rotating ninjas recently.
A lot of people on the front line are leaving the war zone to return to the village, replaced by a batch of newcomers.
Inaba, are you going back to the village next?
I advise you to think it over carefully.” Nanaha Uchiha asked, acting as if it were a casual inquiry.
This was internal Hyuga business; she had no standing to pry, but she couldn’t help coming over to offer a word of advice.
The reason, of course, was that she had also heard about Inaba’s recent ordeals.
Nanaha Uchiha had always been like this—cold on the outside, warm on the inside.
Outwardly aloof and proud, she actually cared deeply about the situation of the friends around her.
Because as an Uchiha, Nanaha didn’t have many friends either.
In that regard, she and Inaba were birds of a feather, two of a kind.
“Return to the village?
Ha!
Like hell I will!” Inaba scoffed coldly.
He wasn’t an idiot…
Returning to the village right now, loaded with debuffs and covered in death flags—he’d probably be covered with a white sheet and carried out the moment he set foot back in Konoha.
Staying on the front line at least offered a sliver of hope.
Right now, in this southern war zone of the Land of Fire, neither the Anbu nor Root dared to openly drag him away.
Because the top commander here was Orochimaru!
He was the only frontline commander in Konoha right now who wouldn’t give the Third Hokage much face.
So, Inaba took a deep breath, forcefully shifted the topic, and asked directly, “Nanaha, do you know what Lord Orochimaru’s recent moves are?”