Naruto: Cultivating to Immortality

Chapter 180 Hiashi Hyuga's Decision

With Orochimaru's departure, Hyuga Kanan once again fell into deep seclusion, turning a deaf ear and showing no concern for what was happening in the outside world.

Just then, Konoha received an envoy from Kumogakure. Since the outbreak of the Third Shinobi World War, Kumogakure and Konoha had never reached a peace agreement and remained in a state of hostility. Although the shinobi world had returned to peace, and neither side had sent shinobi forces to fight again, both villages still deployed large numbers of troops along their borders to guard against attacks from the other, forcing both villages to invest heavily in supporting these border troops. However, when news of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze,'s death spread throughout the shinobi world, Kumogakure realized this was a golden opportunity to take advantage of them. After all, Konoha's recent Nine-Tails attack had further depleted the still-recovering strength of Konoha, and they had also lost Minato Namikaze, a very capable Hokage.

During the siege of Kanan at the border between the Land of Iron and the Land of Fire, the Hidden Cloud Village suffered heavy losses. Their entire elite 500-strong ninja squad was wiped out, and they failed to obtain the Hyuga clan's Byakugan, leaving them deeply resentful and bitter. This time, the Hidden Cloud Village delegation, secretly sent by its leadership, accepted a special mission: to find an opportunity to seize the Hyuga clan's Byakugan. Believing they held the upper hand, the Hidden Cloud Village believed that even if Konoha discovered their actions, Konoha wouldn't dare easily provoke another war, at most forced to tolerate the Hidden Cloud Village's behavior. Furthermore, they could use the threat of war to force Konoha to hand over a pair of Hyuga clan Byakugan.

During peace negotiations with Hiruzen Sarutobi and other Konoha high-ranking officials, the delegation members noticed Konoha's increasingly weak stance. Even on many clauses unfavorable to Konoha, they didn't directly and forcefully reject them, instead using the need for further discussion as an excuse to delay. This revealed Konoha's weakness to the Cloud Village delegation, who saw it as the perfect opportunity to acquire the Hyuga clan's Byakugan. They reasoned that even if their plans were discovered, they wouldn't fear Konoha turning on them and attacking their delegation. Furthermore, if the plan failed, they could even use the pretext of reigniting the war to coerce Konoha's leadership into giving them the Byakugan.

As night fell, the fourth birthday celebration for the Hyuga clan chief's daughter quietly came to a close. However, in the stillness of the night, a thrilling event was brewing. Several mysterious figures stealthily infiltrated the Hyuga clan's territory, their target being the chief's daughter who had just turned one year old.

The Hyuga clan is renowned throughout the ninja world for its reconnaissance abilities. How could these kidnappers' every move escape their notice? Soon, alarms blared, alerting Hiashi, the clan head. His eyes were filled with fury and determination, as if spitting fire. Who dared to kidnap his daughter on his territory? This was a blatant provocation against him and the entire Hyuga clan!

Faced with such a bold and reckless individual, Hyuga Hiashi didn't hesitate to strike. His movements were as agile as a cheetah, each action carrying the force of a thunderbolt. In recent years, the Hyuga clan, through the training methods left behind by Hyuga Kanan, had experienced a qualitative leap in overall strength. As the clan leader, Hyuga Hiashi, who already possessed an extremely pure Byakugan, had now further enhanced it, his strength already surpassing that of ordinary people, and he was even on the verge of reaching the Kage level.

Facing these ninjas who dared to kidnap his daughter, Hiashi Hyuga's rage burned even more fiercely. His attacks were like a storm, leaving the formidable Cloud Ninja utterly unable to withstand them. In the blink of an eye, the kidnappers were dead.

However, Hiashi Hyuga didn't dwell on his anger for long. As the head of the Hyuga clan, one of Konoha's most prestigious families, he knew that no one in the village dared to openly provoke the Hyuga clan like this. Sure enough, when he uncovered the identities of the kidnappers who had abducted his daughter, he discovered they were members of the Cloud Ninja delegation. At that moment, Hiashi realized that their actions were clearly intended to provoke his clan, and perhaps there were further conspiracies awaiting them. Therefore, Hiashi decisively convened a meeting of the clan's high-ranking members that very night to discuss countermeasures and ordered the entire clan to be on high alert in case of an enemy attack. However, the entire night passed, and the anticipated attack did not occur, but this tranquility gave Hiashi an ominous premonition.

As light pierced the darkness, heralding the arrival of day, the Hyuga clan didn't receive the Cloud Ninja's continued attack on their clan. Instead, they were greeted by Hiruzen Sarutobi, the current Hokage of Konoha. Just as Hiashi Hyuga was feeling bewildered, Hiruzen's words caused the usually composed Hiashi's expression to change drastically. Hiruzen had come to the Hyuga clan to demand an explanation, accusing them of disregarding the peace negotiations between Konoha and Cloud Ninja, assassinating members of the Cloud Ninja delegation, and destroying the peace agreement that Konoha and Cloud Village had painstakingly negotiated. The Cloud Ninja delegation had now issued war threats, demanding a reasonable explanation from Konoha and that the perpetrators of the Cloud Ninja delegation be handed over to Cloud Ninja for punishment. Otherwise, Cloud Ninja would launch a new war against Konoha.

Without hesitation, Hiashi Hyuga explained the situation to Hiruzen Sarutobi. The incident was originally instigated by the Kumogakure delegation, who now intended to use it to threaten Konoha, a prospect Hiashi found utterly laughable. When had Konoha ever tolerated such provocation from another village, especially from one of Konoha's most powerful clans? It was blatant disregard for Konoha. In Hiashi's eyes, such matters were insignificant. If Kumogakure wanted war, then Konoha would give them the opportunity. As the strongest ninja village in the world, how could Konoha allow Kumogakure to humiliate them like this?

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi's attitude puzzled Hiashi Hyuga. Hiruzen Sarutobi, showing no regard for Konoha's reputation, demanded that Hiashi Hyuga hand over the murderer to quell the conflict between Kumogakure and Konoha.

As the longest-reigning Hokage of Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi was naturally aware of what had happened at the Hyuga clan's territory the previous night. He was fully aware that this was a conspiracy by the Hidden Cloud Village, and he also knew that it was the Hyuga clan leader, Hiashi Hyuga, who had made the move last night. But this was a rare opportunity to suppress the Hyuga clan, and he was not about to let it slip by easily.

In Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind, the presence of a powerful clan like the Hyuga in Konoha was highly detrimental to his rule. Although the Hyuga clan hadn't participated in Konoha's political changes in recent years, their steadily increasing strength had given them an unimaginable status and power within the village. Hiruzen's current plan was to suppress the Hyuga clan and weaken their position in Konoha. While the clan head wouldn't relinquish his position, Hiashi Hyuga had a twin brother, a member of the branch family. Forcing the Hyuga clan to hand over their brother, the clan head, would not only weaken their power and influence in Konoha but also reignite the rivalry between the main and branch families, preventing the Hyuga clan from uniting.

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew he couldn't force the Hyuga clan with a strong attitude. As a powerful clan in Konoha, the Hyuga clan was incredibly strong, and Konoha couldn't do without the Byakugan's help. Therefore, he needed to use the village's carelessness to pressure them. Hiruzen Sarutobi began to explain Konoha's current situation. During the Nine-Tails' attack, Konoha lost many elite ninja, and more importantly, the young Fourth Hokage. They no longer had the strength to fight another major war. Moreover, the Third Shinobi World War had just ended, and many villagers didn't want to continue the war. If another war broke out with Kumogakure because of the Hyuga clan, it would cause resentment among everyone in Konoha.

As someone raised from childhood to be the clan leader, Hiashi Hyuga clearly understood from Hiruzen Sarutobi's words that Hiruzen was using Konoha as leverage to force him to make a choice. Either hand over the murderer to Kumogakure and quell the conflict, or refuse outright and be seen as the instigator of the war by all the villagers, thus being ostracized by the entire village and denied the Hyuga clan a third option.

Hiashi Hyuga knew that if the Hyuga clan wanted to continue living in Konoha, they had to hand over the alleged murderer to Kumogakure. And Kumogakure's target was undoubtedly the clan's bloodline limit, the Byakugan, which was certainly aimed at him, the clan head. Handing over their powerful clan head to the enemy in exchange for peace would simultaneously undermine the Hyuga clan's prestige and cause them to lose face throughout Konoha.

In the end, Hiashi Hyuga decided to sacrifice himself to ensure that his clan could continue to live peacefully in Konoha. Moreover, the clan was still in a period of rapid growth, and as long as he could buy more time for the clan to continue to grow, the clan would surely rise to prominence in the ninja world. At that time, the mere Kumogakure would not dare to plot against the Hyuga clan, and Hiruzen Sarutobi would not dare to suppress the clan in this way.

Hiashi Hyuga's decision shocked Hiruzen Sarutobi. He knew that if Hiashi were handed over to Kumogakure this time, the Hyuga clan would truly harbor resentment towards the entire Konoha leadership. While they wouldn't stage a coup, it would be difficult to mobilize Hyuga ninjas in the future. Moreover, Hyuga ninjas currently in Konoha's ranks would likely abandon their Konoha ninja status and return to their clans. This would be a problem for Konoha. Without the Byakugan as a means of external surveillance, Konoha would lose its most valuable regional intelligence control. Furthermore, the ninjas on missions would likely be dissatisfied with Konoha's leadership. After all, having a Hyuga ninja on a mission was both safe and efficient. If Konoha forced the Hyuga clan head to hand him over to the enemy in exchange for peace, they would also be resentful of Konoha's leadership.