Chapter 109: Kakashi Comes to Visit
Minato ultimately departed, harboring indescribably complex emotions as he returned to the front lines. Leaving briefly posed no problem, but prolonged absence constituted abandoning one's post. Even though the Third Hokage wouldn't hold him accountable for this, his own principles wouldn't allow him to do such illegal and undisciplined things.
Before leaving, he found Kakashi and briefly mentioned his meeting with the Hokage, emphasizing that Lord Hokage guaranteed a thorough investigation would give Kakashi and his squad members an explanation.
But Kakashi showed no obvious reaction, only listening silently—unclear whether he'd actually listened. Minato could only remind Kakashi as much as possible not to act impulsively and to promptly consult Kushina if any problems arose.
Afterward, he recounted this helpless status quo to Kushina, entrusting her to watch over Kakashi and Rin during this period.
The day after Minato returned to the Hot Water Country front lines—
The Mist ninja diplomatic envoy, which had dawdled for over a week, finally arrived before Konoha Village's main gate. Looking at these two great Konoha gates before him, chief envoy Hyakubei breathed a long sigh of relief. They'd finally safely reached Konoha Village—a journey that should have taken three or four days but consumed double the time.
These days, Hyakubei hadn't dared relax his vigilance for even a moment, fearing bandits or mountain thieves would suddenly emerge, easily overwhelming Ritsu's Konoha ninja escort and slaughtering them all.
Just like the subtle relationship between the Mizukage and Master Yuan within their Hidden Mist Village, Konoha's interior clearly wasn't monolithic either.
During their port stop, Konoha ninja had contacted them. Since some wanted to use them against their own people, similarly others might eliminate them in advance, preemptively extinguishing danger invisibly.
So Hyakubei had truly been on tenterhooks this entire journey, treating every rustle like a major threat.
Fortunately, they'd ultimately arrived without major incident. The scares were mostly him frightening himself. But regardless, no disasters like bandit or mountain thief attacks occurred. They'd safely reached Konoha Village.
Of course, this relaxation lasted only this brief moment. Safely arriving at Konoha didn't mean Konoha was a safe place. Rather, Konoha was the source of risk—here they might be directly swept into internal conflict's vortex.
"This assignment is even harder than anticipated."
Hyakubei sighed.
Navigating this vortex skillfully while avoiding risks and simultaneously seizing maximum benefits for Hidden Mist Village—this wasn't simple or easy. One misstep and instead of gaining benefits, he might lose his life.
His gaze involuntarily focused on Ritsu's back.
Currently, Ritsu was speaking with an elderly woman—most likely Konoha's advisor elder Koharu Utatane. The atmosphere between them didn't seem good. Koharu's expression was cold and hard.
Though he couldn't see Ritsu's face, based on his experience dealing with White Yaksha these past days, this young outstanding figure probably wouldn't show any pleasant expression to the other party either.
"...Since that's the case, I'll hand these Mist ninja over to you, Elder Koharu. I have nothing more to do here, so I'll return to my clan to rest."
"Clan Head Hyuga, as you please."
Koharu kept a straight face, her tone as cold and hard as bricks.
Ritsu nodded slightly, too lazy to say another word to this advisor elder. He simply walked to Hiruko's side and asked: "Sensei, what are your plans next?"
"Ritsu, accompany me to the Military Police Force."
Hiruko said.
"Hmm? What for at the Military Police Force?"
"Some matters."
"Alright then!"
Ritsu nodded in agreement.
Then he returned to the group, saying: "Arima, come with me. We're going to the Military Police Force. Everyone else, go home! Rest well for a few days."
"Yes, Clan Head."
The clansmen answered loudly.
No one bothered with advisor elder Koharu or cared about the Mist ninja. They simply went straight home. As for non-Hyuga Clan members, they similarly received orders to return home.
However, Uchiha Izumo and Uchiha Teyaki didn't leave.
The two followed Ritsu toward the Military Police Force.
Seeing the original crowd disperse by half in a rush, the Mist ninja remaining on site felt somewhat at a loss. However, after staring at Ritsu's departing back for a moment, Koharu came before Hyakubei and said quite casually: "You're chief envoy Hyakubei, correct? Follow me!"
Koharu led Hyakubei and the other Mist ninja into Konoha Village as well.
Military Police Force headquarters building.
Ritsu's group's arrival caused a small stir. This place almost never had outsiders visiting. The Uchiha Clan's situation in the village was one of universal disdain—few were willing to deal with them. Ordinarily, those coming to the Military Police Force besides Uchiha Clan members were only criminals being escorted back.
Moreover, today's visitor was Ritsu, this young Hyuga Clan head.
Even Uchiha Clan members couldn't help feeling somewhat curious. What was the Hyuga Clan head doing at the Military Police Force?
With Teyaki leading the way, Ritsu proceeded unobstructed to the commander's office. Teyaki knocked forcefully on the door, calling loudly: "Clan Head, we're coming in!"
As he spoke, he pushed open the half-closed door.
Before Ritsu entered, through the opening door he saw Fugaku Uchiha seated behind the desk, plus Hiruko, Arima, and Izumo seated on the reception area sofa.
"Clan Head Hyuga, welcome, welcome!"
Fugaku stood up, coming around from behind his desk to the doorway to greet him.
"Clan Head Uchiha, pardon the intrusion."
Ritsu entered and greeted him.
Behind him, Hiruko, Izumo and Arima followed through the door. The instant the door closed, they transformed into clouds of chakra smoke and vanished.
The Hiruko, Izumo and Arima who'd accompanied Ritsu were all shadow clones transformed to resemble them. The real Hiruko, Izumo and Arima had long since left the main group, returning to Konoha Village ahead to spread rumors according to Ritsu's plan, stirring village winds and clouds.
During this period, no mishaps occurred. No one glimpsed the deception because Hiruko, as Ritsu's teacher, had no friends or acquaintances in the group besides Ritsu anyway. Arima constantly ran errands for Ritsu without time to chat with acquaintances. As for Izumo—besides Teyaki, only Ritsu dealt with him.
So this journey back to the village proceeded smoothly.
"Clan Head Hyuga."
This was Fugaku's first time meeting Ritsu. Couldn't be helped—Ritsu's qualifications as clan head were truly too shallow. Before his successful usurpation, he'd just been a somewhat famous Branch Family genius within the Hyuga Clan—not worth even a glance from Fugaku.
Of course, now Ritsu had already left an indelible deep impression on Fugaku. Because without even meeting him, this guy had used Elder Izumo as a fulcrum to leverage their entire Uchiha Clan into moving according to his will.
"White Yaksha's reputation is truly well-deserved."
Fugaku stared at Ritsu, saying quite impolitely: "Dragging our Uchiha Clan to charge into battle for you—even giving me twenty more years, I couldn't learn such methods."
These words made Hiruko frown. Arima widened his eyes even more, looking ready to rush forward and give Fugaku a Gentle Fist strike.
However, Ritsu raised his hand to stop Arima's impulse.
"Those words are incorrect."
Ritsu calmly met Fugaku's gaze directly. "The Uchiha Clan is absolutely not charging into battle for me. You're not puppets lacking self-awareness. Would you be stupid enough to pull chestnuts from the fire for others? At the end of the day, you're taking risks for yourselves—so the Uchiha Clan will no longer suffer discrimination and suppression, so the Uchiha Clan won't grow increasingly distant from the village, ultimately reaching the point of complete rupture and mutual destruction. That's why you agreed to join hands with me, isn't it?"
Hearing Ritsu's counter-question, Fugaku narrowed his eyes without speaking.
Instead, Izumo nodded, saying heavily: "Clan Head, Clan Head Hyuga is right. We're taking all these risks not for others but for ourselves. I'm truly sick of these days of being discriminated against, suppressed, and even betrayed and murdered on battlefields!"
"All this must change."
Izumo clenched his fists, speaking decisively.
Fugaku sighed. Precisely because of clan members like Izumo, Ritsu had bound their Uchiha Clan to the war chariot opposing village leadership at almost no cost. Otherwise, they could actually have chosen to stand aside, watching the Hyuga Clan oppose village leadership, then act opportunistically. Unfortunately, saying this now was too late. The clan's elders had already decided to seize this rare opportunity, joining hands with the Hyuga Clan to jointly resist village leadership's tyranny!
"Clan Head Hyuga, please sit and talk!"
Fugaku changed his expression.
Ritsu didn't dwell on the other party's previous poor attitude because he'd indeed bound the Uchiha Clan to his war chariot, charging into traps together. This was indisputable fact. He wasn't petty enough to hold a grudge to the death over one harsh remark—strictly speaking, it wasn't even a harsh remark.
He sat down on the sofa. Arima skillfully poured a cup of tea and placed it before him.
"Ritsu, was the journey smooth?"
Hiruko, seated across from him, asked.
"Nothing could happen on the journey. Those people above are bad, not stupid. So many Mist ninja jonin jointly ambushed me and I counter-killed them all. Unless their brains broke, they wouldn't do something as stupid as dispatching people for a roadside ambush."
"True enough."
Hiruko nodded.
Seeing this, Ritsu proactively inquired: "Sensei, Izumo-kun, what's the current village situation? Is our plan progressing smoothly?"
"The plan's progressing very smoothly. Rumors are flying throughout the village now. Especially the matter of the village being weak toward outsiders—despite defeating Rock and Sand ninja yet not daring to demand compensation—has made quite a few villagers dissatisfied."
Before Hiruko could speak, Izumo answered rapidly.
Ritsu nodded knowingly. This was inevitable. These years of intermittent war had considerably impacted the village. To exaggerate slightly, among ninja families in the village, almost every household had ninja die on battlefields.
Compared to major ninja clans, small ninja families and civilian ninja had borne the majority of Konoha's battlefield losses.
Besides sacrificing many people, the village's economy—or rather, the entire ninja world's economy—had been enormously impacted. Village prices had universally risen. For many villagers, life had become extremely tight and constrained.
Previously, not knowing anything didn't matter. Everyone barely hung on together. Everyone in the same class lived similarly—no one better than anyone else—so it was fine.
But now rumors were flying, saying if the village had demanded war reparations from Rock and Sand ninja back then, every household could have received money and life would be much better. Unfortunately, those bigwigs in the village abandoned the right to demand reparations for boring things like face, forcing everyone to continue this hard life. This naturally made people opinionated.
Simply put, never having seen light allows enduring darkness, but having seen light makes silently enduring this endless darkness with no complaints impossible.
Resentful thoughts inevitably emerged, unable to stop thinking how nice it would be to have two more compensation payments!
"The plan's first step is progressing smoothly, so we can now prepare the second step." Ritsu's gaze swept across everyone's faces.
His originally formulated plan divided into two steps. The first was spreading rumors throughout the village, attacking the Third Hokage's authority. The second was connecting all large and small families in the village who didn't support the Sarutobi Clan or Third Hokage, thereby expanding their own forces.
Though Konoha now had numerous civilian ninja, civilian ninja basically served as cannon fodder with essentially no voice. Village authority remained firmly grasped by numerous ninja families. Becoming Hokage didn't necessarily require all ninja families' support, but at least there couldn't be too many opponents!
At these words, Izumo clearly became excited.
But Hiruko frowned slightly. "Ritsu, isn't this too hasty? Though rumors have spread, how much damage the Third Hokage's authority suffered remains uncertain. Launching the plan's second step now—isn't it too risky?"
Connecting various families was most troublesome because if unsuccessful, they might inform the Third Hokage. The danger was extreme.
"Sens—"
"Commander."
Ritsu had just begun.
When he heard a voice from outside the door.
"What is it?"
Fugaku called loudly.
From outside came a reporting voice: "That Kakashi Hatake who transplanted Obito's eye is downstairs, saying he wants to visit Clan Head Hyuga!"
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