When all was said and done, the current situation really was remarkably dramatic.
Looking down toward Konohagakure from the air, Hinata flapped the ice wings on her back to remain hovering. As far as she was concerned, she currently had two allies: on one side, Danzo, the Root of Konoha; on the other, the entirety of Akatsuki.
And both sides needed to be restrained.
Danzo might be a Konoha shinobi, but the old man had long since lost sight of his original intentions after years spent in darkness. His selfish desire to become Hokage, along with the extremism that convinced him only his methods could make Konoha stronger, had already led this former student of the Second Hokage down the wrong path. If someone that harsh and severe truly became Hokage, Hinata would actually lose room to maneuver.
As a cold and selfish man, Danzo would certainly need the benefits Hinata could provide before becoming Hokage. But once he achieved the position, Hinata's value to him would plummet. At that point, as both a descendant of a great clan and a traitor connected to Akatsuki, she would absolutely be the first former ally Danzo moved to eliminate. Yes, it was as simple as burning a bridge once he'd crossed it.
That idiom might sound ridiculous, but if there was only one road forward and the person following behind was a competitor rather than a companion, burning a bridge once you'd crossed it was not stupid at all. It was a wise method for ensuring one's own victory. Danzo, conveniently enough, was shameless enough to do exactly that without a second thought.
Therefore, not only could Hinata not help Danzo become Hokage, she actually needed to find every possible way to restrain the ruthless old man, lest he achieve his goal and immediately turn on her.
Akatsuki went without saying. Pain and the Akatsuki members treated their own companions reasonably well, at least well enough that they would not burn bridges the way Danzo would, but that did not mean supporting them led to a good future.
The current Akatsuki was unquestionably under Uchiha Madara's control, single-mindedly pursuing the Infinite Tsukuyomi. The ending of the original story had already made the truth perfectly clear: Infinite Tsukuyomi was nothing but a conspiracy. People caught by Infinite Tsukuyomi might achieve everything they desired inside their dreams, but their real bodies would be hung from the branches of the God Tree and dried into White Zetsu. That was not how Hinata wanted to die.
So the conclusion was...
"Both sides are idiots who can't be allowed to run wild. Which means the protagonists from the original story really do still have value to me."
Having confirmed that, Hinata lazily cast Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals and instantly transported herself into Hinata's Room Basement beneath the Hyuga Compound. She cheerfully stretched her body and instinctively activated the Byakugan to survey the surroundings. Good. Her original body was still lying safely in the middle of the room, with no sign that it had moved at all.
That was how it should be. After all, she had undergone Soul Transmigration and inherited the original body's memories. But no one could clearly explain what a soul really was. This was her first time experiencing something like "transmigration," so naturally she had no experience with it.
Still, if there really had been some residual consciousness inside the body, it should have almost completely faded away by now, right?
It was like traces left by the use of an object. Sooner or later, the old traces would be covered and replaced by new ones until they disappeared completely.
Hinata's conclusion was not baseless. From her own experience, only two strange incidents had occurred so far. The first was the night she had groggily gotten up in the middle of the night and gone to the training ground to secretly watch Naruto.
The second was returning from an outing and discovering that her body had somehow ended up soaking in the pond.
Judging by the first incident, there should still have been a little residual consciousness left in this body, such as a desire to see Naruto, whom the original Hinata had loved. By the second incident, however, that residual consciousness did not even seem to possess a clear purpose anymore, to the point that the body had simply fallen into the pond for no reason.
Later, even after Hinata installed a Camera, she never recorded any further movement from the body. And this time, after she went out, the original body had once again remained completely still. That was enough to indicate that the spiritual imprint left in this body by the former Hinata should genuinely have vanished altogether. Those first two incidents had merely been her final struggles.
Furthermore, when Hinata consulted Yamanaka Ino, Ino's answer had been quite clear. These incidents were nothing more than hallucinations caused by Hinata exhausting herself too severely.
Satisfied with that conclusion, Hinata released the Soul Transfer Technique. Her point of view shifted once again, returning her to the body of Hyuga Hinata.
"Phew~~~ This feeling... the original body's training is still far too weak. Maybe I should strengthen it as well."
Hinata sat up and rolled her shoulders. Just as she was about to stand, she heard footsteps coming from the corridor. The Byakugan girl frowned slightly and activated her Byakugan. The people she saw made her instinctively raise an eyebrow.
"Onee-sama, it's Hanabi. Uzumaki Naruto-nii-san says he brought you Takoyaki. May we bring it in now?"
Hanabi's clear, sweet voice sounded perfectly natural. Hinata frowned slightly. She did not know why Hanabi and Naruto had ended up together, but she did remember telling Naruto to bring her Takoyaki. That worked out well enough. She really was a little hungry.
"Come in. I happen to be hungry."
Hinata sat up from the bedding but had no intention of leaving it. Everything she needed to do today was already finished, so she might as well spend the whole day relaxing properly.
"Urk~!"
A startled intake of breath sounded from outside the door, followed by a series of coughs. The sliding door opened, and Hanabi and Naruto appeared before Hinata. Naruto had one hand over his mouth as though he had choked on his own saliva, grabbing his throat and pounding his chest in visible distress.
"Hanabi, why are you here?"
Hinata spoke directly, clearly unwilling to continue interacting with this younger sister. She had already extracted all the value she needed from the Hyuga Clan, while Hanabi herself had been little more than background decoration in the original story. Her personal value was therefore approximately zero. Getting involved with someone like that would only add an unnecessary emotional burden.
"I happened to meet Naruto-nii-san, so I brought him in. Onee-sama, he wanted to bring the Takoyaki over properly, so he accidentally burned the skin on his stomach. Onee-sama, could you apply medicine for him?"
The Byakugan girl's expression was extremely calm, while her tone carried a rigid seriousness. Hinata tilted her head slightly, but it did not affect her judgment. If anything, she was quite happy to accept this kind of conversation in which neither side owed the other anything.
Naruto, meanwhile, stood there sweating, looking as if he had no idea what to do with his hands. Hinata raised an eyebrow and spoke with blunt directness. "Lift your shirt. Let me see."
"Uh~ I don't think that's... necessary, right?"
Naruto seemed ready to refuse while holding the Takoyaki box. Hinata merely raised her hand slightly and blew across the fingernails of her right hand. The blond boy's face went green the instant he saw the gesture. He quickly put the Takoyaki box down, grabbed the hem of his shirt with both hands, and lifted it in one fluid motion that looked almost instinctive.
"Hmm? Hasn't medicine already been applied?"
Hinata frowned after a single glance. A large area of the blond boy's stomach was indeed covered in blistered burns, but judging from the surface, ointment had already been applied.
"...I treated it for him first, so... Onee-sama, don't you think you should treat it again for him?"
Hanabi's expression was extremely serious, even carrying a faintly aggressive edge. Hinata only gave an indifferent little sneer. She opened the Takoyaki box Naruto had pushed beside her, took out a skewer, and bit into it with a crunch. The way the Byakugan girl chewed inexplicably called to mind a feeding beast.
"With treatment this crude, are you really the Second Young Lady of the Hyuga Clan?"
Only after swallowing the Takoyaki did Hinata speak lazily. Hanabi's expression immediately changed, and an odd fluctuation entered the Byakugan girl's voice. "Onee-sama... what do you mean by that?"
"What do I mean? Simple! Hanabi, if you truly wanted to help him treat his wound, then you never should have used a childish method like this!"
Hinata's voice abruptly turned cold. She had not misheard the implication in Hanabi's tone. It was as though Hanabi hoped to use her attitude toward Naruto's injury as a roundabout way of mocking Hinata for being cold and heartless.
Hinata had long since become immune to such low-level taunts. After all, someone standing at the top naturally had to accept slander and insults along with praise.
However, Hanabi's willingness to actively launch an "attack" against her did spark a trace of interest.
"If you truly wanted to help him treat his wound, then this is what you should do..."
Hinata stared coldly at Hanabi, then abruptly shouted, "Someone!"
There was normally no one serving inside Hinata's courtyard, for a very simple reason. Before, it had been because the Hyuga Clan had already given up on Hinata, so naturally she had not been allocated better resources.
As for now, it was simply because Hinata disliked anyone intruding on her private space.
Accompanied by a burst of light footsteps, a neatly dressed maid from the Hyuga Branch Family quickly appeared in the corridor outside Hinata's room. As if Naruto and Hanabi were not even there, she respectfully knelt before Hinata. "Your orders, Young Lady."
"Go summon a medical shinobi and have them treat the burn on this idiot's stomach."
Hinata issued the command with an indifferent expression. She was not remotely surprised by how quickly the maid had appeared. Without question, even if the Hyuga Clan did not openly display closeness toward Hinata, the enormous profits she had brought them meant that the treatment she deserved had already been quietly restored behind the scenes.
At present, Hinata's residence appeared to have no attendants on the surface, but at least three well-trained maids from the Branch Family were stationed nearby solely to listen for the Young Lady's orders at any moment.
"Hai~ Young Lady."
The maid immediately withdrew after receiving the order. Watching her leave, Hanabi instinctively bit her lip. Clearly, she understood what Hinata was trying to say.
"Hanabi, although I see you as nothing more than a mold Father and the elders are shaping, if you genuinely want to become the Head of the Hyuga Clan, then you need to learn how to use your power and status, and how to perfect the act of 'ruling.' That is knowledge you must improve. Understand?"
Hinata coldly looked at Hanabi, clearly intending to teach this ambitious yet extremely immature younger sister a lesson. Hanabi raised her head and looked at Hinata reluctantly, but in the end she still lowered it and forced out her answer.
"Yes... I understand..."
"...Onee-sama..."