The banquet was at its liveliest. Tsunade and Sarutobi Hiruzen had just finished that loaded, meaningful conversation and were about to say something more—
When suddenly, an Anbu rushed in from outside the courtyard, breathing hard. It was clearly urgent.
"Hokage-sama!" The Anbu's voice was taut with barely concealed tension. "There's an emergency report!"
Hiruzen's brows knitted. Instinctively, he wanted to handle it quietly—but when he looked at the people around them, especially the person he'd effectively chosen as the next Hokage now watching as well, he sighed inwardly.
"Say it."
"The Kumogakure delegation… found the corpse of their missing companion in the Hyuga compound!"
The moment the words fell, Hyuga Hiashi's face turned a ghastly blue-green.
"Move! Let's go see!"
Tsunade didn't give anyone time to react. She strode out in long steps, her voice loud and unquestionable.
"I want to see what those barbarians from the Land of Lightning are scheming this time!"
Hiruzen felt a stab of regret—but in the end he still nodded. "Tsunade's right. Everyone, come with us."
The group surged toward the Hyuga compound in force. Tsunade walked at the very front, as if she'd become the spine of the entire procession. The Hokage, instead, ended up toward the back, confirming details with the Anbu who'd brought the report.
At the very rear, Hyuga Kiyonari held Hinata's hand, trailing behind. Feeling the tension in the strength of her grip, he could practically touch the anxiety in her heart.
He squeezed her hand slightly, then tilted his head toward her ear and murmured softly.
"Don't be nervous. I'm here."
"Mm."
Hinata nodded, her cheeks flushing faintly.
As they entered the Hyuga compound, they could see from afar a crowd gathered at the gate of Hiashi's residence. Along with Hyuga clan members, there were several Kumogakure envoys. They stood around a body, faces twisted with anger, pressing aggressively.
"Hokage-dono!"
The delegation leader, Nukai, saw people rushing in from outside and immediately charged forward, demanding an explanation.
But when he realized just how large the approaching group was, he halted mid-step. Then, the muscle-packed brain in his skull practically lit up with delight. To him, the more witnesses there were, the easier it would be to cement the "fact" that their comrade had died to Gentle Fist.
He was so focused on "proving" the evidence that he forgot something obvious—
You don't need evidence to extort someone.
"Konoha must give us an explanation! We've only just signed the ceasefire, and our comrade is already dead! And he died right here—inside the Hyuga clan head's residence!"
Hiruzen took a slow breath and walked to the front. "Let me see the situation first."
The others crowded in as well.
The corpse lay slumped against a wall. On the surface there were no obvious external injuries—no cuts from blades, no blood.
A forensic ninja stepped forward and reported the initial results. "Multiple internal organs are ruptured. The direct cause of death is cardiac failure. Preliminary judgment: Gentle Fist struck the heart and caused it to stop suddenly. For a more detailed conclusion, the body must be sent to the examination division for dissection."
"No!" Nukai cut in immediately. "If you take the body away, then everything is whatever Konoha says it is! How are we supposed to know whether your results are real or fabricated?"
The forensic ninja ignored him and continued. "Based on rigor mortis, time of death is approximately between thirty minutes and twenty minutes ago."
Tsunade stared at the body and suddenly asked, "What about the possibility of poisoning?"
The instant she said it, Nukai reacted as if stung, shouting, "What is there to test?! Are you trying to buy time so you can invent excuses?"
"The facts are clear: our comrade died inside Hyuga Hiashi's residence, and your own autopsy report says he was killed by Gentle Fist! The evidence is conclusive—Hyuga Hiashi is the murderer!"
Tsunade stepped forward to stand beside Hiruzen, her voice sharp. "Then shouldn't you explain why a Kumogakure ninja was inside the Hyuga compound in the first place? And specifically inside the Hyuga clan head's residence?"
Nukai didn't argue with Tsunade. He looked directly at Hiruzen instead.
"Hokage-dono—whatever the process, the fact is our Kumogakure ninja died in Konoha, and he was killed by the Hyuga's Gentle Fist!"
"The Raikage treats every comrade in the village as a brother. Now the Raikage's brother is dead. If Konoha cannot give us a satisfactory explanation, then I'm afraid… the Raikage will have to reconsider the peace treaty between our two villages!"
The moment those words landed, everyone's faces changed.
That was a threat to restart the war.
No one who'd come from Tsunade's banquet was stupid. Even Uchiha Itachi, still young as he was, could see it: these bandits' real target was the Hyuga bloodline limit—the Byakugan.
Where the man died, how he died, what really happened… none of it mattered anymore.
Because Kumogakure ignored all logic and bit down on one claim: Hiashi did it. It was blatant nonsense—naked blackmail—an open humiliation of Konoha.
At this point, Hiashi actually loosened his breath. For him, it was ultimately just death either way. But Hiruzen had far more to weigh.
His face went dark, then darker, veins standing out on his forehead as he fought to suppress the fury in his chest.
As the longest-serving Hokage in Konoha's history, he'd seen countless shameless tactics. But being humiliated this brazenly—right in front of so many clan heads and village leaders—this was the first time.
Kumogakure wasn't just slapping Konoha's face.
They were slapping his.
Hiruzen's fist clenched with a tight crackle. Without his iron discipline, he would've already exploded into curses.
These raiders had deliberately killed their own comrade, faked a Gentle Fist death, and framed the Hyuga—using it to force Konoha to hand over the Byakugan. And they weren't worried about Konoha exposing the truth, because the real leverage wasn't "evidence."
It was "war."
Konoha had just endured the Third Great Ninja War and the Nine-Tails disaster. The Fourth Hokage was dead. The village was weakened to its core—it couldn't afford another war.
"Hokage-dono," Nukai said again, a smug edge now in his voice. "Please decide. Will you hand over the murderer who killed our comrade—Hyuga Hiashi—or… will you choose war?"
The air had frozen solid. Everyone waited for Hiruzen's answer.
All the important clan heads of Konoha were standing here.
If he handed Hiashi over, perhaps it would shut Kumogakure up—but the consequence would be every clan living in fear, and in the worst case… Konoha splintering apart.
But if he didn't hand him over—would Kumogakure truly restart the war?
In Konoha's current state, could they really bear it?
~~~
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