Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 321: Brainwashing

"You're asking about the village? The village is huge! There are lots of fun places in the village. Next time, big sister will take you to play." Hearing Neji ask about Iwagakure, Riori Uzumaki said with great enthusiasm.

"There's a deserted street near the Ninja Academy, that's the most interesting place. A lot of kids go there to fight. When you're a bit older, big sister will take you to see it."

"Big sister has many friends in the village, but after graduating, Teacher Ishiro has been forcing me to train, forcing me to learn ninjutsu, so I haven't fought with them for a long time."

"But I've made rapid progress during this period. I couldn't beat them before, but I believe I can definitely win now. I've even learned to walk on water."

"Teacher Ishiro said that after learning to walk on water, one's strength will greatly improve. In the future, big sister will teach you, and I guarantee you'll win every fight."

"Oh, and, big sister has also learned the Shadow Clone Technique." After speaking, Riori sat up straight, then formed hand seals and cast a Shadow Clone.

"See? This is a Shadow Clone. Now when I'm alone, I fight with my Shadow Clone, so I'm never lonely again. Hahahaha," Riori said, pointing at her Shadow Clone and laughing loudly, a look of pride on her face.

"But you don't have enough chakra now. When you grow up, I'll teach you the Shadow Clone Technique, so you can also play by fighting yourself when you're bored."

Ishiro had originally not wanted to listen to what Riori was saying to Neji, but he couldn't stand the silly girl's loud voice. Not only Ishiro, but even the other ninjas nearby heard her.

Two question marks appeared in everyone's minds: "Is this how people from the Uzumaki clan view the village? Is it really okay to introduce the village to a two-year-old child like this?"

Within a radius of a dozen meters centered on the porcelain platform, everyone would occasionally cast a strange glance at Riori.

Koku was also one of them. He moved closer to Ishiro and asked in a low voice, "Lord Tsuchikage, is this really okay? Won't that Hyuga kid get a misunderstanding of the village?"

Ishiro was also a bit conflicted. With this performance from Riori, would his own brainwashing still be effective? Or rather, could this be considered Riori brainwashing Neji?

Although Neji was a genius, he was only two years old after all. Ishiro wasn't sure if he would form a peculiar, fixed impression of Iwagakure because of Riori's words.

In the end, Ishiro still did not interrupt Riori and Neji. Although the little girl's description had many strange and misleading tendencies, it was undoubtedly very effective in getting Neji to integrate into Iwagakure sooner.

The little girl was probably the youngest in her family before and had never been an older sister, always being the one who was lectured by others. So, encountering this opportunity to teach a younger brother, she was very enthusiastic, meticulously explaining everything she knew.

Including her unreliable supervising teacher who only knew how to bully her and would force her to practice ninjutsu at every turn.

Just like that, amidst Riori's narration, Neji slowly let down his guard and finally fell into a deep sleep.

Neji hadn't slept for a long time. From the time the rumors started circulating in the village that the Cloud was forcing Konoha to hand over Hiashi Hyuga until now, Neji hadn't slept.

In just a few short days, he first experienced the immense grief of his father's suicide, and the despair after witnessing the truly terrifying effect of the Caged Bird.

After that, he experienced the surprise of being pulled out of the cage by Iwa, as well as apprehension about the future.

Now, in the presence of Riori's silly appearance, he finally relaxed completely. And so, he fell asleep at once, and it was a deep, comatose sleep.

After Neji fell asleep, Riori continued to talk to herself foolishly for a long time. It wasn't until the silly girl discovered that Neji, who was supposed to be listening to her, had already fallen asleep that she remembered where she was.

She turned her head, saw Ishiro, and subconsciously shrank her neck.

The next day, when Neji woke up, the Iwa team had already set up camp again to rest.

After the clumsy Riori took care of Neji's washing up and eating, she was chased to the side by Ishiro to practice the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

Looking at the Tsuchikage sitting in front of him, ready to continue yesterday's topic, Neji felt a little flustered. After Riori's antics, he had already somewhat accepted Iwagakure.

In this state of mind, facing the Kage of a village, he was a little nervous.

But at this moment, Riori's shout happened to come from a distance, "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

The little girl was repeating her method of shouting while practicing ninjutsu again.

Listening to Riori's occasional shouts, Neji finally felt a little more at ease.

This scene was also seen by Ishiro. He felt it was somewhat magical.

"You and Riori are getting along well," Ishiro began.

"Big Sister Riori cares a lot about me." This was the first time Neji had spoken to Ishiro.

Ishiro nodded and said, "Yesterday I told you about the purpose of the Caged Bird. Have you thought about it? How do you feel about the Caged Bird now? Do you still hate it?"

Neji struggled for a moment and said, "Although I know the Caged Bird does have the function of protecting us, I don't know why I still can't accept it."

When he said this, Neji actually felt a little ashamed. Although he was the victim, he didn't know why he felt a sense of unreasonable self-blame.

Ishiro nodded. This was what he wanted. Neji was still a child, after all. Ishiro hoped that Neji would genuinely join Iwagakure, not just randomly choose a temporary shelter out of hatred.

Hatred can be resolved. Only when Neji himself clarifies the context of the matter and understands where exactly Konoha and the Hyuga main family have wronged him will he not waver.

Neji was indeed feeling hatred now, but this hatred was actually misdirected. Most of his hatred was directed at the Caged Bird itself and the distinction between the main and branch families. A small part was the fact that the main family could easily control his life and death.

In fact, his hatred for his father's death itself was not very great.

But this line of thinking was wrong. In this line of thinking, whether it was Hiashi Hyuga or the Konoha higher-ups, they could easily be forgiven.

Because as Neji grew up, when he witnessed the cruelty of the ninja world and the true function of the Byakugan, he would think, "If I didn't have the Byakugan, would I have died in this ninja world long ago?"

"Without the Caged Bird, how great a loss would Konoha have suffered?"

Then, however much he hated before, that's how deep his self-blame and shame for his past ignorance would be.

The result would be a 180-degree turn in the end; he would become a tool who truly fought to protect the main family.

Ishiro didn't want Neji to misplace his hatred from a young age. He needed Neji to pinpoint the biggest and most fundamental mistake of the Hyuga main and branch family system.

So Ishiro said, "You feel guilty? Do you have a feeling in your heart that what your great-uncle did was not wrong, that he had his own difficulties, that he was also doing it for the entire Hyuga clan?"

Neji didn't dare to look at Ishiro's eyes and subconsciously lowered his head.

"Sigh!" Ishiro sighed and said, "Neji Hyuga, you haven't understood the fundamental problem of your Hyuga clan's main and branch family system."

Neji quickly looked up at Ishiro. He urgently needed to understand this point now.

"Is your mood very complicated right now? You clearly feel that you have been greatly wronged, but after witnessing the main family's Byakugan being snatched away, you feel that this grievance is blocked by something," Ishiro directly pointed out Neji's feelings.

Neji subconsciously nodded.

"Do you not know what that thing is? I'll tell you. The name of that thing is called 'the greater good,' it's called 'the bigger picture,' it's called 'for the sake of the Hyuga clan,' it's called the 'Will of Fire.'"

"In your great-uncle's view, imposing the Caged Bird is to protect the Byakugan. What he did was not wrong. Even if you members of the branch family don't understand, it doesn't matter. He disdains to explain."

"Because he knows that without the Caged Bird, the Hyuga clan would be targeted by enemies on the battlefield and would suffer heavy losses. So in his eyes, your behavior can only be described with two words: childish."

"He won't explain to you. Even if you train hard and grow to a level that surprises him, he will stand on the moral high ground and tell you, 'You have finally grown to the point where you can know the truth.'"

"Then he will explain to you the function of the Caged Bird and the consequences of losing it. At that time, you will be the one who is wrong."

"As for the Konoha higher-ups, in their eyes, your branch family is completely being unreasonable. There has never been freedom in the ninja world. In the entire village of Konoha, only the Hokage can be called completely free."

"Even your clan head, after the Hokage gives an order, he also has to go to the front line. So they simply scoff at the freedom your branch family yearns for."

"Even if your Caged Bird is removed, don't you still have to listen to the Hokage's orders? Which of those ordinary ninjas, those ninjas from other clans, can ignore the Hokage's orders?"

Hearing this, Neji's three views were shaken. He felt that what Ishiro said was very right. It turned out that the result after removing the Caged Bird was completely different from what he had imagined.

"Perhaps, I really shouldn't hate them," Neji said with difficulty.

Seeing Neji's expression, Ishiro sneered and said, "Childish! After knowing what is blocking your hateful emotions, you no longer have hatred?"

"You don't even understand the reason why you feel wronged, and you want revenge?"

Hearing this, Neji felt a jolt, then sat up straight, bowed deeply to Ishiro with his forehead touching the ground, and said, "I beg you, Lord Tsuchikage, to tell me the real reason."

Ishiro shouted, "Raise your head! You are no longer a Hyuga branch family member. You are a villager of Iwagakure. You are no more lowly than anyone else. Get rid of the habit of kowtowing to people."

"Yes!" Neji immediately sat up straight upon hearing this.

"The Konoha higher-ups and the Hyuga main family are both vested interests. They are the party that benefits. They naturally hope that everything is stable, hope that it never changes."

"But their biggest mistake is that they have never stood in your shoes and considered things for you."

"No one has ever asked you if you were willing to destroy your own Byakugan, exchange them for a pair of ordinary person's eyes, become an ordinary ninja, or even become a civilian."

This suggestion from Ishiro might sound incredible to others, but for the people of the Hyuga branch family, it was like a sudden enlightenment.

Neji, as a member of the branch family, knew with just a little thought that the number of people in the entire branch family willing to do this would not be small. The intensity of their hatred for the Caged Bird was unimaginable to outsiders. Neji himself had often thought fiercely in his heart, "Why not just commit suicide?"

Since he even had the thought of ending his own life, who would still care about that pair of Byakugan that brought them misfortune?

As for whether anyone would still have designs on them after losing the Byakugan, this was actually very simple: don't live with the Hyuga clan, disperse among the commoners of Konoha, just like the Senju clan.

At that time, who would know which commoner was from the Hyuga clan?

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