"It means I lied to you yesterday. There actually wasn't any battlefield one-night stand, nor any Byakugan baby."
"That was a special Transformation Technique performed by White Zetsu—a biological transformation even your Byakugan couldn't see through."
"..."
Hanabi stared blankly, her mouth agape.
She held her teacup with both hands, frozen like a statue.
Then, suddenly realizing something, she shook her head vigorously.
"No! If that's really the case, then why are you telling me now?"
She activated her Byakugan, veins bulging around her eyes as she stared directly at Makoto, searching for any kind of deception.
"Because you'll eventually find out about this matter," Makoto shrugged, leaning back in his chair.
"Rather than having you discover it later and hold a grudge against us, it's better to tell you proactively now. I want you to make your own judgment and decision."
Saying this, Makoto reached out and gently touched the corner of Hanabi's eye socket.
"You didn't really think we'd go through all this trouble just for a pair of Byakugan, did you?"
"..."
Hanabi still looked confused and puzzled.
Judge what? Decide what?
If they didn't want the Byakugan... then what did they want?
"Actually," Makoto leaned in, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "I come from the Shinobi World twenty years in the future. I returned to the present to accumulate strength to fight against an enemy capable of destroying the entire world."
"?"
Hanabi blinked.
Time travel?
"Whether you believe it or not is your judgment to make."
Makoto reached into his pocket and pushed a glossy photo across the table in front of Hanabi.
Same trick, different day, different person.
Seeing Makoto using this method again, Konan chuckled lightly from the corner. "Impressive. Did you prepare photos of every notable shinobi in the world?"
"Getting this photo was somewhat difficult," Makoto admitted with a sigh. "Since she'll become the next head of the Hyuga clan in the future, the security is tight. The Hyuga have Byakugan, making it hard to take secret candid photos."
"I only managed to get it because her nephew wanted the SSR Uchiha Sasuke card from my Ninja Card collection. I had to use the excuse 'I want to pursue his aunt to marry into the Hyuga clan' just to obtain this photo."
While Makoto and Konan were talking, Hanabi picked up the photo.
Her eyes widened.
The Hyuga kunoichi in the photo looked so familiar... yet so mature. She wore a stylish kimono, her hair was long and flowing, and she radiated confidence and power.
'Was this... my future self?'
She had grown into such a dashing, gorgeous, and beautiful kunoichi...
After indulging in her immersive fantasy for a while, Hanabi snapped back to reality.
She looked up at Makoto with awe.
"What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to become strong," Makoto said seriously.
"Why do the Hyuga clan and the Third Hokage even consider compromising with us right now? It's because they are weak."
"The same applies to the future. If you're not strong enough... your eyes will be gouged out. Your sister will be taken away for a forced marriage to a man on the moon. And later, you'll face enemies that make a Kage look like Genin."
"As I said before, everything I'm telling you is true. You're free not to believe it—the choice is yours..."
"You could even report what I've told you to your Father and the Third Hokage right now. You could expose me."
Hanabi paused.
She was already learning to anticipate responses.
"Correct," she whispered. "I could."
"But then," she continued, her voice gaining strength, "I'd lose the chance to become stronger. And I'd lose the opportunity to change those terrible things you mentioned."
"You're so clever," Makoto praised her with a genuine smile.
This was why Makoto enjoyed speaking with people like Sasuke and Hanabi.
The former valued emotions but also knew how to think critically, rather than being stubborn and impulsive like some blond protagonists.
No wonder Hiashi looked down on Hinata and wanted Hanabi to be the heir.
The girl had a shark's instincts.
"...Then I agree," Hanabi nodded firmly. "I will definitely become strong. To protect my sister and everyone else!"
After some thought, Hanabi's gaze grew resolute.
If it were someone else, they might have asked, "Can I really do it?" But Hanabi remained highly confident at this point.
Regardless of her confidence, Makoto still needed to give her the roadmap.
"The person who stole your eyes in the future," Makoto explained, "after transplanting them, evolved the Byakugan into the Tenseigan."
"I won't go into details, but a single strike from the Tenseigan can split the moon in half."
"The conditions for awakening the Tenseigan are the pure Byakugan of the Hyuga clan... and the Chakra of the Otsutsuki bloodline."
"Mhm!" Hanabi listened intently.
Hearing that the Tenseigan could split the moon, her eyes widened in shock.
She had never heard her father mention that the Byakugan could evolve.
Eyes could be transplanted, sure... but how would one obtain the Chakra?
'This must be what he meant by "obtaining" me.'
At this moment, Hanabi suddenly felt that going with Makoto wasn't a "sacrifice" or a "hostage situation," but an "opportunity."
Especially after learning the conditions for awakening the Tenseigan, Hanabi thought of her sister again.
"Why me?" Hanabi murmured softly, looking at her hands. "Actually, my sister is very capable too. And she's so gentle..."
Mid-sentence, she froze.
Because Makoto's hand had reached out and patted her head.
Makoto took a small flower pinned in Hanabi's hair—which had come loose during her earlier panic—and placed it gently in her palm.
"You found this flower," Makoto said softly, "just as I found you."
As this classic child-grooming line was spoken, Hanabi clutched the flower, her cheeks flushing red.
"Tch." Karin witnessed this scene from the corner and rolled her eyes so hard they almost got stuck.
'Little girl, how old are you? Why are you blushing like a bubble tea pot?! He's definitely a con artist.'
And so, successfully coaxed by Makoto, Hanabi bid farewell and returned home, clutching her flower and her dreams of moon-splitting power.
"Earlier, when talking about lacking power, I seemed to forget one thing," Makoto mused, staring at the door.
"Without power... her cousin Neji would become a Jinchuriki."
"Jinchuriki?" Konan asked, astonished. "Hyuga Neji? Which Tailed Beast would it be?"
Due to their previous preparations for capturing Tailed Beasts, the Akatsuki had investigated all Jinchuriki intel.
Could Neji really become a host? Did the Leaf have a secret beast besides the Nine-Tails?
"Hedgehog," Makoto deadpanned.
"?"
Konan was left speechless by Makoto's dark humor.
He means he died like a pincushion.
After a moment of silence in the room, Konan suddenly remembered something else.
"I recall you mentioned before that awakening the Rinnegan requires the combination of Indra's Chakra and Ashura's Chakra," Konan said slowly, connecting the dots. "Which is why you had Uchiha Sasuke drink Uzumaki Naruto's... milk."
"Now that Hyuga Hanabi has to awaken the Tenseigan, she would need the Chakra of the Otsutsuki Clan. Could it be that you want her to drink..."
Konan's eyes widened in horror.
This time, it was Makoto's turn to be rendered speechless.
He stared at her.
SLAP!
Just as Makoto opened his mouth to explain, Konan—realizing the outrageous filth that had just come out of her own mouth—turned pale, then flushed bright red.
She slammed her hand on the table, stood up, and turned to leave.
"It's all because I've been around you for too long that I'd have such perverted thoughts!!!"
After throwing out these angry words, Konan fled the room.
Watching the wobbling door, Makoto's lips twitched.
"Actually," he muttered to the empty room, "I was going to say that even without using methods like cell transplantation... if we're really talking about 'drinking milk,' the Otsutsuki Clan isn't exclusively male. Kaguya is a woman."
"It's actually possible to 'drink milk' that way. Something like 'Kaguya-mama, i want to drink milk'."
"Sounds like yours isn't any less perverted," Karin muttered under her breath, judging him.
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