Chapter 53: White Zetsu Wraps Up Filming
"Hanabi, you're too naïve. Don't be fooled by a stranger's false sentimentality, no matter what he says, he still can't explain why those Ame ninja appeared at our Hyūga estate!"
As the situation grew more and more unfavorable, Hyuga Hiashi began to panic. He spoke halfway to Hanabi, then, afraid that Shiromo might say something else to refute him, turned abruptly toward Shiromo and pointed at him with a trembling hand.
"And the day before yesterday, you came to the Hyūga compound, looked at Hanabi training alone, and said, 'Why is there no one here?' When I discovered you, you asked some inexplicable question and changed the subject before leaving!"
"There was such a thing?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned and looked toward Shiromo.
"Oh? Then Hyūga Clan Head, could you repeat exactly what I asked you for your Hokage?"
Shiromo remained perfectly calm.
The calmer Shiromo was, the more uneasy Hyuga Hiashi felt.
Hearing Shiromo say this, Hyuga Hiashi wracked his brain trying to recall the question from yesterday, yet he couldn't find anything wrong with it.
Meeting the Third Hokage's gaze, he could only comply.
"He asked me: if you encountered someone living outside the village who was born with the Byakugan, what would you do?"
"I said we could bring that person back and have them join the Hyūga branch family."
"What's wrong with that?"
Hiruzen looked at Shiromo again.
"Is the child still alive?"
Instead of answering, Shiromo cast a "sorrowful" glance toward the one-armed White Zetsu standing nearby.
The one-armed White Zetsu used his fingers to slice open his abdomen and pulled out a small White Zetsu baby with Byakugan eyes.
"Th-this is?!"
Both Sarutobi Hiruzen and Hyuga Hiashi were shocked.
"That's right. During the Third Shinobi World War, one of them had a relationship with a Hyūga clansman."
"Due to practicing secret techniques, combined with the chaos of war, the child failed to fully develop and could only be stored inside their bodies in rotation, absorbing nutrients and slowly forming."
"Because of this, every one of their bodies became extremely fragile."
"When I asked Hyūga Clan Head that question yesterday, I wanted to know how he would treat this child."
"After returning, I told them the answer."
"I didn't want the child to be branded with the Caged Bird Seal by the Hyūga clan the moment it was born, but they believed family bonds were the most important thing. Without consulting me, they came to seek you out today on their own, and as a result…"
Shiromo stopped there and did not continue.
Hyuga Hiashi stood frozen.
Hanabi's mouth fell open as tears gradually welled up in the corners of her eyes.
"Waaah…I didn't mean to! Baby, please don't die!"
Hanabi cried as she ran to the White Zetsu baby, reaching out to touch it, yet afraid she might hurt it.
"Hyūga Clan Head, there's no need to think about destroying this child's eyes. After death, the secret techniques we practice cause the body to completely plantify, the Byakugan is no exception."
"And also, little sister, it's not your fault. It was your father's palm strike…"
The one-armed White Zetsu spoke up to "comfort" Hanabi.
"No…if I hadn't attacked instinctively, if I had listened properly to what they were saying…"
Hanabi shook her small head repeatedly, filled with guilt.
"Sigh… what do you want to do about this?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a sigh.
The moment he said this, it was equivalent to admitting that Konoha was indeed in the wrong this time.
"What do we want to do? Konoha should already have precedent for handling this sort of thing. There's no need to ask us, is there?"
Shiromo smiled faintly.
"You! So you really do know about the Kumogakure incident! You came prepared, with premeditation!"
Hearing this, Hyuga Hiashi snapped back to his senses, his Byakugan bulging with veins as he stared fiercely at Shiromo.
"You're overthinking it, Hyūga Clan Head. If we truly wanted the Byakugan like Kumogakure did, we wouldn't have brought the child here. Isn't the Byakugan on the child's body still a Byakugan?"
"If we had simply hidden it and said nothing, would you really have chased us down to carve the Caged Bird Seal into the child's head?"
With a single sentence, Shiromo rendered Hyuga Hiashi speechless once more.
In his rage, Hyuga Hiashi had kept his Byakugan active the entire time.
When he examined the child's eyes, he found no abnormalities. And indeed, only after death did the Byakugan gradually disappear, exactly as the other party had said.
In other words, if they truly wanted a pair of Byakugan like Kumogakure, there would have been no need for them to appear at all.
"So what do you actually want? Could it be, like the Kumo ninja back then, that you want Hyuga Hiashi's corpse?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen tapped his pipe against the desk.
"Our Amegakure village loves peace. What would we want a corpse for? Just have Hyūga Clan Head come work for us for a few years."
"Oh, right, if you're worried we might covet the Byakugan, Hyūga Clan Head can carve the Caged Bird Seal onto himself, to prevent us from stealing his eyes."
Crack.
Hearing this, Hyuga Hiashi clenched his fists tightly.
Even if they weren't demanding his death, what difference was there, really?
"Father, let me go!"
Hanabi suddenly stepped forward and stood out.
"Hanabi, you…"
"Father, I was the cause of this incident. I must take responsibility."
Hanabi stubbornly lifted her head and looked at Hyuga Hiashi.
"Gentlemen, this matter is of great importance. Please allow us a few days to deliberate. After the Chūnin Exams conclude, we will give you an answer. How about that?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke in time, interrupting the argument that was about to erupt between father and daughter.
"No problem."
Shiromo said it didn't matter.
In fact, from the very beginning, he had already guessed that Sarutobi Hiruzen would ultimately choose to stall for time.
First, to investigate Amegakure's current strength.
For example, whether Hanzō of the Salamander was still alive.
And whether the intelligence on "Death Controlling Possessed Blood" was real.
Second, to stabilize Hyuga Hiashi and prevent the Hyūga clan from becoming disaffected during the Chūnin Exams, especially if the Tsuchikage and Mizukage decided to make trouble.
In particular, Amegakure, as part of the Iwa–Kiri alliance, suddenly clashing with the Hyūga clan today forced Hiruzen to suspect that Iwagakure and Kirigakure might truly be plotting something.
Caution was necessary.
—
After leaving Konoha.
Shiromo took out the scroll he had reclaimed, which contained the sealed bodies of seven White Zetsu, and handed it to the one-armed White Zetsu.
The meaning was clear: take them back to Amegakure and lay them to rest.
"There's no one around."
The accompanying Karin spoke up.
"Release them."
"Yes."
At Shiromo's command, the one-armed White Zetsu released the scattered White Zetsu bodies from the scroll.
Shiromo stepped forward and placed his hand on one of the bodies. The corpse rapidly restored itself, and a White Zetsu successfully "revived."
The reason Shiromo hadn't been able to heal Terumi Mei and Kurotsuchi earlier wasn't because too much time had passed, but because their wounds had already scabbed over and healed, they had undergone "change."
Just as Shiromo couldn't touch a person and turn them back into a fertilized egg.
Crazy Diamond's ability wasn't time reversal, it was restoration.
Likewise, Crazy Diamond couldn't revive someone who was truly dead.
Because once someone is completely dead, the soul has already left the body. Even if the body is restored, it would only be a living corpse that could survive for a short while.
But White Zetsu was different.
White Zetsu had no soul.
So, adhering to the traditional virtue of "diligence and frugality," Shiromo successfully repaired and revived all eight White Zetsu "actors" involved this time.
Why eight?
Because there was also that little Byakugan baby.
The one-armed White Zetsu's severed arm also recovered.
These were all future factory laborers, resources that absolutely could not be wasted.
(End of this chapter)