As they moved through the trees, Ryusei let the silence stretch just long enough to make it uncomfortable, then spoke almost casually.
"You know, Renjiro… tell me something. Do you really believe your father's generation turned on Sakumo all on their own?"
Renjiro's eyes snapped toward him, but Ryusei didn't slow down.
His voice stayed calm, measured, as if they were discussing the weather.
"One day, the White Fang was hailed as the savior of the last war. Next, he was branded a traitor. Overnight. All of Konoha suddenly became so righteous that even his clan's honor couldn't save him. Doesn't that sound strange to you?"
Renjiro gritted his teeth, but Ryusei pressed on, his tone sharpening.
"In fact, it makes more sense the other way. Precisely because he was too good. Because his fame grew so large, it started to overshadow even the Hokage in his prime."
"You think the man sitting in that seat would let such a rival grow unchecked? No. He had to be pushed off the stage."
Renjiro's fists clenched as they leapt over another branch.
"Think about it, rumors that spread too fast, whispers in every corner of the village, the weight of the clan's honor turned against him until he had no way out but death. Doesn't feel accidental, does it?"
Ryusei let the words hang, then smirked, twisting the knife.
"And look at your Hatake clan now. Numbers are dwindling, and almost no new heirs are being born. You think that's just fate? Or maybe it's just your bloodline's… peculiar cultivation temperament."
He gave Renjiro a sidelong glance, his grin turning mocking.
"Dense men make poor lovers, after all. Your whole clan suffers for it. Perhaps that's why you're the last one left sparring with a cousin instead of building a family like the Hyūga and Uchiha. A tragic irony, don't you think? However, is that truly everything there was to it?"
Renjiro's jaw tightened, his eyes darkening at the jab, but beneath the sting, Ryusei could see the doubt he was planting take root.
Renjiro landed hard on a thick branch, his blade hand tightening until the knuckles whitened.
"Shut up," he snapped, sharper than intended. "You don't know anything about my clan. About him."
Ryusei only tilted his head, his grin faint but cutting. "I know enough to see the pattern."
Renjiro wanted to lash out again, to call him a liar, but the words stuck in his throat.
Because deep down, something in what Ryusei said echoed too well with the unease he had buried for years.
He remembered the way the village had shifted after Sakumo's death.
How suddenly neighbors, comrades, even relatives spoke of the White Fang with contempt, as if they had never cheered his victories before.
How even elders inside the clan had accepted it silently, almost fearfully, muttering about honor and disgrace rather than questioning why the entire village had turned overnight.
Renjiro clenched his fists tighter, but the doubt refused to leave.
"…Even if it's true," he muttered, low, "what good is saying it? He's gone. Nothing changes that."
Ryusei chuckled, dry and humorless. "Of course, nothing changes it. The dead don't come back. However, if they could drive the White Fang to his grave with whispers, what do you think they'd do to us? To you? To me?"
Renjiro's breath hitched, but he forced his voice cold. "Don't compare yourself to him."
Ryusei's smile widened, sly and merciless. "I'm not. I'm comparing them. Their methods. And if you can't see it yet, you will."
Renjiro stayed silent after that, leaping from branch to branch with heavy steps.
His heart thudded with anger, but under it there was something worse, recognition.
The words stung because they weren't all lies.
Kanae hadn't expected Renjiro to react so strongly.
For her, also listening to the entire exchange was like standing in a storm.
Hearing the bitter truths about the village leadership out loud, spoken with such clarity, tearing at Renjiro's pride, also shook her more than she cared to admit.
When Ryusei turned to her, she stiffened instantly.
His narrow eyes locked on her, sharper than usual, but there was something else in them, too. He closed the distance, his tone changing, carrying an almost unnerving warmth.
"I already understand why you did what you did," he said quietly, but it carried through even as they moved across the trees. "I won't hold it against you. You had no choice."
Kanae's mask snapped into place at once, cold and indifferent, her voice flat.
"I don't care what you think. Believe what you want."
But Ryusei didn't let her hide.
His expression didn't waver, and without moving his lips, a voice suddenly pressed into her mind telepathically.
Yes, it was also something that Ryusei recently learned how to do.
And this conversation was obviously something that Renjiro was not supposed to hear.
"Don't bother pretending. I know about your ambitions regarding breaking that cursed seal."
Kanae's eyes flew wide, her heartbeat hammering in her chest.
She almost stumbled mid-leap.
It wasn't just the shock that he could reach into her mind like that, but the topic itself.
That 'crazy' ambition to break out of that cage, the one thing she had never dared to voice aloud, and no one guessed it, not even the Main Branch constantly surveilling people like her, or else, she would have already been done for long ago.
Her hands trembled slightly on reflex, sweat dampening her palms.
The fact that Ryusei knew that he could even guess meant he had been watching her closely for a long time, truly understanding her more deeply than anyone else in this world.
"Hokage doesn't fix problems like yours," Ryusei's voice went on smoothly in her head.
"If he could, he would've already used your kind in his inner circle. But tell me, how many Hyūga did you see at the very top around him in ANBU? Not many, right? That's because the curse makes you unreliable to him. You'd always be torn between his leash and the Main Branch's leash. You were deluding yourself if you thought the system would ever save you."
Kanae's stomach sank like a stone.
Every calculation she had made, every compromise, every faint thread of hope that she could claw her way up through Anbu, that maybe there was still a path, it all cracked under his words.
She felt naked, exposed. 'He understands me more than anyone else ever has, but…'
Her breath hitched when Ryusei suddenly shifted, cutting through her spiraling thoughts.
He slipped closer mid-leap, his arm looping around her.
She froze as he pulled her into a brief, steady embrace, his chest brushing against hers, his voice still sliding through her mind.
"Hokage won't save you. But me? I'll surpass him. If you want freedom, if you want revenge, then don't do anything stupid like trying to kill me again. Wait. Lean on me. I'll find a way."
Then, with the same audacity as his grin, he bent and brushed a quick kiss against her cheek.
Kanae's body stiffened, her face heating violently.
She turned her head just enough to glare, but the warmth in her chest betrayed her, a crack in the ice.
The weight on her shoulders lifted, replaced with something dangerous, intoxicating - hope.
For the first time in weeks, she didn't feel like prey trapped in a cage.
"Only a lover would perhaps truly care enough to help someone with ambitions that high," the thought slipped in unbidden, making her ears burn red.
The realization cut deep.
After what just happened, she finally understood the village leadership would never lift a finger for her goals.
She quickly bit it down, but the truth was there: he had forgiven her, he had pulled her back, and she couldn't deny the sweetness, warmth, and even a flicker of happiness in that.
She didn't need to kill him after all.
Their bond hadn't broken; it had returned to what it was before, maybe even grown stronger.
And now, instead of being dragged along blind, he had set her on a path she could actually walk.
She glanced at him from the side, that slint-eyed, teasingly handsome face still hovering far too close, her heartbeat stumbling over itself.
She decided in that moment.
She would believe him.
She would lean on him.
Dangerous as he was, Ryusei would be her 'man'.
Everything that had been pressing her down, Kojiro's shadow, the Anbu's leash, the suffocating seal, was too heavy to carry alone.
Independent as she had always tried to be, she understood now she needed someone like him, talented enough, sharp enough, to help her break free and reach her revenge.
Renjiro, trailing slightly behind, nearly stumbled as his eyes widened.
He hadn't heard the silent words; he only saw Ryusei hugging Kanae openly, kissing her cheek, and Kanae, of all people, not resisting.
Worse, she looked flustered and as if... enjoying it and almost… 'gentle-looking' toward him afterward.
"Am I hallucinating?" Renjiro muttered under his breath, scowling.
Kanae, still pink, shot him a sharp glare to mask her embarrassment. "Shut up."
Ryusei only laughed under his breath, his usual teasing expression back in place, as if nothing had happened.