Whoosh—!
A solitary, snow-white figure landed like a bolt of lightning slicing through the night sky, carrying a violently turbulent surge of chakra air currents as he crashed heavily onto the battle-scarred street.
Bang!
Hyuga Hiashi’s feet smashed hard against the gravel edge of the crater, the sheer force of the impact stomping two deep fissures into the ground.
Right after, the scene unfolding before him made the Clan Head—a man long accustomed to the brutal slaughters of the shinobi world—gasp in a sharp breath of the icy night air.
His stark-white eyes instantly widened to their absolute limit!
A thick stench of blood mixed with a horrifying, soul-scorching aura of wild chakra surged violently through the cold winter night.
The surroundings of the crater were nothing short of a living hell.
Three mutilated corpses were discarded haphazardly on the scorched earth like broken ragdolls.
One had its chest completely gouged through; another had its neck torn open by the sheer, horrific force of some beast’s bite; the farthest one had every bone in its body shattered, reduced to a mangled mess of flesh and mud.
In the center of this slaughterhouse-like crater lay a battered burlap sack.
And right beside the sack, sprawled flat on his back, was a fast-asleep, golden-haired little boy.
“Hinata!”
Hiashi’s eyes felt ready to burst, his heart gripped tight by an invisible fist.
He didn’t even bother activating the X-ray vision of his Byakugan; like a maddened tiger, he lunged down into the crater and tore open the dirt-caked burlap sack.
Inside, Hinata’s eyes were tightly shut, her face pale, her small body curled into a limp ball.
‘Dad, pull the damn bag a little lighter, will you?!’
Faking unconsciousness, Hinata complained wildly in her head, but on the surface, she maintained her best “I was knocked out, I am so weak and helpless” act, even cooperatively letting out an extraordinarily faint, delicate murmur.
Hiashi’s hands trembled as he cradled his daughter with extreme care into his chest.
Only now did he dare channel his chakra, activating the Byakugan to inspect her thoroughly.
“Breathing is steady, chakra pathway system is intact…
no external injuries?”
Hiashi’s heart, which had been lodged in his throat, finally slammed back into his chest.
As the overwhelming wave of lingering terror receded, it was instantly replaced by a towering rage that surged straight to the top of his skull!
He snapped his head around, his Byakugan locking dead onto those three horribly mangled corpses.
Through the blood and torn flesh, Hiashi clearly saw the metal forehead protectors etched with the cloud symbol.
“The Kumogakure diplomatic delegation…”
Hiashi grit his teeth, the veins on his forehead bulging out like furious little snakes.
He then shifted his gaze to Uzumaki Naruto, who was collapsed to the side, sleeping without a single care in the world.
Within the vision of his Byakugan, the intricate Eight Trigrams Seal on Naruto’s abdomen was radiating the extremely evil, violent, dark-red remnants of chakra.
That was—the Nine-Tails’ chakra!
As a top-tier powerhouse of Konoha, an extraordinarily “clear” chain of logic instantly clicked together in Hiashi’s mind:
The Kumogakure delegation secretly infiltrated the Hyuga compound and used sleep-inducing gas to kidnap Hinata.
During their underground escape, they happened to pass right underneath this Nine-Tails Jinchuriki kid.
Perhaps the movement of their Earth Style jutsu woke the Jinchuriki, or perhaps the bloodlust of the Kumogakure shinobi triggered the Nine-Tails’ seal.
Long story short, the Nine-Tails’ chakra went on a rampage, broke through the surface, and tore these three Kumogakure scumbags into shreds right on the spot!
Swish!
Swish!
Swish!
Just as Hiashi completed this flawless piece of self-deduction, over a dozen dark figures wearing animal masks dropped like ghosts from the surrounding rooftops and treetops, instantly encircling the entire crater.
peak Konoha ANBU had finally arrived.
Leading them was an ANBU wearing a dog-face mask with a mop of short silver hair.
His right eye, the only one exposed, flickered with an intensely cold light.
“Hiashi-sama.”
The dog-faced ANBU’s voice was low as his gaze rapidly swept over the area.
When he saw Naruto on the ground and the three Kumogakure corpses, his pupils abruptly contracted.
This residual chakra…
could it be…?”
“Kakashi!”
Hiashi completely ignored ANBU protocol, calling out the man’s identity directly.
Holding Hinata, he slowly stood up from the bottom of the crater.
Furious flames burned within his stark-white eyes, practically lighting up the night sky.
“I should be asking what you ANBU are damn well doing?!”
Hiashi’s voice boomed over the street like thunder, shaking the nearby accumulated snow off the branches.
“This is the defense of your Barrier Team?!
This is the patrol of your ANBU?!
The next head of the Hyuga Clan was kidnapped right from under your noses by these Kumogakure scumbags!”
The dog-faced ANBU froze, his face turning thoroughly grim beneath his mask.
“Kumogakure envoys?
Weren’t they stationed at the guesthouse preparing for tomorrow’s peace treaty signing?
How could they…?”
“Peace treaty?
What a hilarious joke!”
Hiashi scoffed repeatedly, pointing a single finger at the pool of shredded flesh on the ground.
” The proof is right in front of your eyes!
These wild dogs have wolfish ambitions—pretending to seek an alliance on the surface while breaking into the Hyuga Clan in secret to steal the Byakugan lineage!
If they hadn’t been unlucky enough to run into the Jinchuriki’s rampage while fleeing, my daughter would already be on her way to the Land of Lightning!”
The moment these words were uttered, all the surrounding ANBU drew in a sharp breath.
Kidnapping the eldest young lady of the Hyuga Main House?
That was an absolute red line capable of directly igniting an all-out war!
“Nngh…”
Right at that moment, the pretend-fainting Hinata cooperatively squirmed her small body in Hiashi’s arms, her tiny brow furrowing tightly as if she had suffered a terrible shock in her sleep.
‘Give it to ’em, Dad!
Keep laying into them!
Dump all the blame on Kumogakure and ANBU’s incompetence!
My stealth play this round was absolute perfection—this feels freaking amazing!’
Hinata was wildly cheering for Hiashi in her heart.
Whoosh!
Another sharp sound of wind-cleaving echoed out.
This time, the newcomer was not wearing an ANBU vest, but a Haori robe.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, landed on the edge of the crater with two bodyguards, his face grim.
This old man, who usually wore a kindly smile, was now frowning heavily, the pipe in his hand not even lit.
His gaze immediately locked onto Naruto on the ground.
Only after confirming that Naruto was merely unconscious and that the seal hadn’t broken completely did he let out a subtle sigh of relief.
However, when his eyes fell upon the three corpses of the Kumogakure shinobi, his aged face instantly sank to the absolute bottom.
“Hokage-sama!”
Hiashi gave the Third no room for pleasantries.
Carrying Hinata, he strode right up to the edge of the crater with an aggressive tone.
“You arrived just in time!
Please give the Hyuga Clan, and give Konoha, an explanation!”
“Hiashi…”
“The ANBU briefed me on the general situation on the way here.
The actions of the Kumogakure delegation have indeed violated the original intent of the alliance…”
“Violated the intent?
This is an outright provocation of war!”
Hiashi did not back down an inch, roaring at the top of his lungs:
“They wanted to steal the Byakugan!
They wanted to steal Konoha’s Kekkei Genkai!
If they had succeeded today, where would Konoha’s dignity be?!”
The Third Hokage fell silent.
Looking at the wreckage covering the ground, he rapidly weighed the pros and cons in his mind.
Originally, the Konoha higher-ups had been making compromises to avoid going to war with Kumogakure.
But now?
Kumogakure’s people hadn’t just crossed the line to commit a kidnapping—they had also been torn to pieces by the rampaging Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
This was an utter mess of a situation!
“Hokage-sama.”
Hiashi took a deep breath, suppressing the violent rage in his heart as he said word by word:
“Tomorrow is the day to sign the treaty.
If Kumogakure makes an issue out of these three corpses and turns around to accuse Konoha of intentionally assassinating their envoys, how do you plan to handle it?
Are you going to force Konoha to bow and compromise for despicable thieves like them?!”
This sentence struck right at the Third Hokage’s weakest spot.
In the original timeline, it was precisely because Hiashi personally killed the Kumogakure leader during the pursuit that Kumogakure dared to exploit the situation, forcing Konoha to hand over the killer.
But now?
The kills weren’t made by the Hyuga Clan!
They were shredded alive on their escape route by the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki who had rampaged for unknown reasons!
This was purely a “freak accident”!
How could Kumogakure possibly have the face to claim Konoha orchestrated an assassination?
Who told you guys to dig a tunnel under the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki’s bed in the middle of the night?!
Sarutobi Hiruzen puffed on his unlit pipe a couple of times, a sharp gleam flashing across his aged eyes.
“Hiashi, rest assured.”
The Third Hokage’s voice finally regained the authority of a village leader.
“The fault in this matter lies entirely with Kumogakure!
They broke the alliance first, and were subsequently backfired on by the Nine-Tails’ chakra during their sinister plotting.
Konoha will not back down a single step on this issue!”
Hearing these words, Hiashi’s tense body finally relaxed slightly.
Meanwhile, nestled in Hiashi’s warm, broad embrace, Hinata—who was keeping her eyes shut and pretending to sleep—could barely stop the corners of her lips from grinning all the way to her ears.
‘Hahaha!
It worked!’
Hinata was laughing uncontrollably in her mind.
‘Old Man Third has officially set the narrative!
Kumogakure was in the wrong first, and got counter-killed by the Jinchuriki’s rampage second.
Uncle Hizashi doesn’t have to die!
And little Neji won’t lose his dad at such a young age!’
‘Kumogakure, Nine-Tails…
you two better carry this massive, pitch-black scapegoat pot nice and steady for me!’
The night wind blew again, bringing falling snowflakes onto Hinata’s delicate, doll-like little face, only to melt away against the unsuppressible, mischievous warmth rising inside her.
The gears of fate, at this very moment, had been forcefully bent out of shape by a pair of tiny, little hands.