Reborn into Naruto World with Tenseigan

After his talks with Fugaku, Kuroto greeted Itachi and the others, then left the Uchiha District and made his way toward the Hyuga District.

As he was walking through the streets of Konoha, he thought about everything that happened in the past three days. The Coup d’état has been curbed while completely avoiding any major internal conflict or the negative impact it might have caused. At the same time, the Uchiha Clan’s groundwork has also been laid for them to recover their honor, status, and reputation without affecting their numbers too much. Considering everything that happened, except for a few accidents involving Aoki and Akatsuki, it is safe to say that almost everyone in Konoha should be satisfied with the current results.

Judging from the results, Kuroto also feels that the Commission he had supposedly ‘given’ to Amatsukami has been completed, so it should be fine to ‘pay’ them their fees.

‘But there’s one problem…’ thought Kuroto with a thoughtful expression.

The fact that Fugaku’s Mangekyou Sharingan has been kept by ‘Amatsukami’ will be a bit problematic. Initially, the fee for the counter-insurgency work was 300 million Ryō, with an additional 50 million Ryō for each pair of Mangekyou Sharingan that Amatsukami would give to the Konoha Village.

Not only were Shisui and Shinichi’s Mangekyou Sharingan not touched, but the Mangekyou Sharingan of Fugaku was ‘taken away’ by Amatsukami. Obviously, it wouldn’t be given to the village since it will be used by Sasuke in the future.

So, there is a possibility that the members of the Elders Council might try to reduce or renegotiate the price. After all, a pair of Mangekyou Sharingan is a very big deal. Not that there is anyone in Konoha, save for the Uchiha Clansmen, who can use the Mangekyou Sharingan… but still.

While thinking about how to handle this part, Kuroto muttered, “A direct meeting with those old foxes of the Elder Council isn’t the best choice… Given how shrewd Sandaime-sama can be, I might inadvertently end up giving him some intelligence that I don’t want him to have. However, the presence of someone from the Elder Council is also important; otherwise, things would be troublesome… What to do… what to do… it seems I can’t do this using a simple approach; I will have to plan out things.”

With such a decision, Kuroto increased his pace and soon entered the Hyuga District.

Hyuga District

While walking through the streets of the Hyuga District, the Hyuga Clansmen who were passing by or engaged in various activities noticed him wearing the Hokage Haori. They stopped to greet him respectfully before carrying on with their work.

Obviously, looking at Kuroto and how he has become Hokage, their hearts are filled with pride and respect. However, there were also some inexplicably complicated emotions hidden in their expressions.

Kuroto had expected this; he recognized the meaning of these emotions and thought to himself, ‘It seems the news about Hyuga Aoki being ‘alive’ has reached everyone’s ears.’

Although Aoki had killed most of the people they encountered on that night, he had spared Hizashi. Moreover, after he encountered the trap and rushed out of the village to return to his body, he had a small scuffle with Asuma and a few ANBU. Because of these two reasons, the fact that Hyuga Aoki is still ‘alive’ and broke free of the ‘Caged Bird’ reached the ears of the entire Hyuga Clan.

Even if the main family wanted to conceal this information, they were too late. The news of ‘Aoki’ being alive was a bolt of lightning for the entire Hyuga Clan, not just for the main family, but even the branch family.

Up until now, it has been widely believed that the ‘Caged Bird’ Juinjutsu cannot be undone or broken. Once the seal is implanted, then it is implanted, and the only thing that awaits is a lifetime of servitude and loyalty to the main family, with no means of opposition, as the main family has absolute control over the lives of the people in the branch family.

However, now that a person has appeared who has undone the supposedly unbreakable seal, it means that the ‘Caged Bird’ is no longer a lifetime of the bird cage. This also means that the absolute control that the main family had over the branch family has been broken.

The branch family now has ‘Hope’—a chance to escape this servitude. The same ‘Hope’ that they did not have until a few days ago has been rekindled in their hearts. But of course, not everyone welcomes this ‘Hope,’ and when referring to ‘not everyone,’ Kuroto is not talking about the people of the main family. Certainly, the main family does not wish for the members of the branch family to have this ‘Hope,’ but that’s another matter. Even many Clansmen who are part of the branch family do not want hope. After all, the fact that the ‘Caged Bird’ can be broken means that they are no longer permanently safe.

Those with greed who desire their Byakugan might try to steal their eyes. Unlike the Uchiha Clan, all the Clansmen of the Hyuga Clan awaken their Byakugan. Therefore, the lives of those who are not very strong, those who are not Shinobi, and those who never trained in Shinobi Arts are at risk.

Although there is ‘Hope’ that they no longer have to be bound for servitude for a lifetime, there is also fear that people will start targeting them for their Byakugan. This is the reason for complicated emotions. ‘I guess there are always both positive and negative sides to every situation,’ thought Kuroto as he made his way toward the center of the Hyuga District.

…

Patriarch’s Mansion, Hyuga District

The atmosphere at the center of the Hyuga District is quite depressing following the death of Hyuga Aoyama. Be that as it may, no one seemed to be mourning the death of that elder. In all the time Kuroto spent making his way toward the center of the Hyuga District, he did not hear anyone talk about the cause of death of the ‘Venerable Elder Hyuga Aoyama,’ as if, ‘So, they have concealed the cause of his death, huh?’

Perhaps the people of the main family might have thought that if they were to declare the cause of Elder Aoyama’s death, Aoki would earn the praises and worship of branch members who would be inspired to follow in his footsteps. This would further lead to far more chaos in the Hyuga Clan than the main family can handle.

For this reason, the main family seemed to have declared the cause of Elder Hyuga Aoyama’s death as natural passing and hurriedly dealt with his funeral. Following the day of his death, everything about the funeral was already handled, which greatly disappointed Kuroto. “It’s a pity; I wanted to pay him my respect for all the ‘help’ he provided me… sigh, I suppose I will visit his grave when I have time and tell him how I have avenged his death, so he can rest easy in the Pure Land.”

At the same time, another thought emerged in his mind, ‘Since Aoki was responsible for the death of two Elders of the main family, I guess it’s fine to say that he has also completed his and his brother’s revenge to a certain extent.’ Then, he shrugged, “Oh well, not that it matters to me in any way.”

After recovering his thoughts, Kuroto stepped into the Patriarch’s House. As soon as Hiashi learned of Kuroto’s arrival, he hurriedly came to meet Kuroto along with Elder Fukiage and Elder Sada.

As soon as the tea was served, and the maid left, Hiashi decided not to beat around the bush and got straight to the point, “Kuroto-kun… you must have heard about Aoki being alive, right? Was there any progress in tracking him?”

“Well, we have learned that he seems to be cooperating with the Akatsuki Organization. As for his exact tracks, there is no progress in that regard,” answered Kuroto. He added with a helpless expression, “The alliance did send people to the last known base of Akatsuki; however, we couldn’t find any trace of him.”

“Is… is that so?” muttered Hiashi in disappointment.

Silence dawned in the hall as the four people sat quietly. Although he looked anxious, there was no trace of fear in his eyes, unlike Elder Fukiage and Sada, who looked extremely uneasy, as if Aoki would appear out of nowhere and kill them in their sleep!

After a while, Hiashi said, “Kuroto-kun… knowing you, you should understand that the purpose of creating the ‘Caged Bird’ was not to control the branch family but to protect our Kekkei Genkai and the weak clansmen. It may bind them, but it is also a form of protection. Somehow, Aoki has managed to break the ‘Caged Bird,’ and if he sells that method to bounty hunters and other villages who have enmity towards us, the lives of all the branch members will be at risk.” He paused and spoke as he lowered his head, “Therefore, please help us deal with Aoki!”

The two elders sitting behind Hiashi hesitated for a moment, then they too lowered their heads, “Please!”

Looking at the three main members of the main family lowering their heads, Kuroto pondered for a moment, then said, “As far as I know, Aoki’s ability to break free from the ‘Caged Bird’ is somehow linked to the Ōtsutsuki Clan on the Moon. If you want me to help you, then you must tell me everything you know about the Ōtsutsuki Clan and what connections the Hyuga Clan has with them.”