Naruto: Hyuga Warlord

"What are your thoughts about the clan and the village, Jonin Soushu?"

Though his smile had faded, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's tone remained gentle.

"The village is just the village, and the clan is just the clan. I've lived like this for the past thirty-eight years; what else is there to talk about?"

Hyuga Soushu's answer showed almost no personal feeling at all.

How was such a vague reply supposed to smoothly steer the conversation toward the intended topic?

The Third Hokage had already envisioned a glorious future for Hyuga Soushu. He had carefully prepared persuasive words to weave a grand blueprint, eagerly waiting for Soushu to take the bait!

At this critical moment, how could he still refuse to bite the hook?

Therefore, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't satisfied with Hyuga Soushu's reply.

"Just last October you were promoted to Tokubetsu Jonin, then after serving at the Daimyo's court you were exceptionally advanced—it's only been two months!"

Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi took out his pipe, slowly filling it with loose tobacco as he spoke calmly: "Before October, you were just an obscure Chunin on the Land of Rain frontlines, but now Jonin Soushu has become a renowned expert celebrated throughout the Ninja World!"

"Jonin Soushu, in these two months you've traversed the path most ninja travel in their entire lives!"

With a snap!

Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi ignited the tobacco in the pipe with a chakra flame from his fingertip, then took a deep puff: "Don't you have any thoughts on this? Although your achievements have been enormous, your development path is nothing like others'. Still, there are plenty of people in the village who're keeping a close eye on you!"

"I'm still young. My road is long, and I'm far from reaching my true peak. So now isn't yet the time to share life lessons."

Hyuga Soushu chuckled softly, speaking with a calm and measured tone: "As for personal circumstances—personal intelligence is every ninja's top secret. Not even close blood relatives should be told. Of course, it's not that I don't trust the Hokage himself—it's just how every ninja operates. I hope this doesn't offend you?"

"Not at all!"

True to expectation, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head firmly.

Personal intelligence was each ninja's highest secret, one of the fundamental consensus across Konoha and the entire Ninja World. Therefore, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi had no intention of openly denying this principle.

"As for your conflict with Danzo—"

"I have no oppositional conflicts with Elder Danzo!"

Before the old monkey could finish speaking, Hyuga Soushu interrupted directly: "If he hadn't dragged me into his affairs, I wouldn't have any interest in provoking a worm rotting underground and wasting his life away!"

"Even if Danzo has countless faults, he remains an elder of the village!"

Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression immediately darkened: "Even if you're currently rising in power as a younger generation, you should still maintain necessary respect toward elders who've contributed greatly to the village!"

"I've already shown plenty of respect! Hokage-sama!"

Hyuga Soushu retorted sharply, "Otherwise, given Root's attempt to take me away just days after I returned to the village, even if I killed one of them, it would be perfectly justified!"

"You dare!"

The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi instantly became furious, completely abandoning all carefully prepared rhetoric: "It was the protection from the village's elders that sheltered you. Could it be that now you've grown wings and wish to imitate those disloyal rogue ninjas?"

"It was the humiliating Caged Bird Seal that protected me. Otherwise, my eyeballs might already be soaking inside test tubes within Root's laboratories!"

Hyuga Soushu sneered, pointing at the gleaming Konoha Headband on his forehead: "And what has this thirty-eight-year-old village ever done for the Branch House of the Hyuga Clan? Has it gone blind or is it simply blinded by greed, turning a deaf ear toward the recurring tragedies suffered by our Branch House?"

"A ninja clan is a clan, and the village is the village! These absolutely cannot be judged in the same way!"

The Third Hokage's face grew darker still. After taking a deep puff from his pipe, he surrounded himself in swirling blue-gray smoke: "Do not question what the village owes you—question instead what you owe the village!"

"Where the leaves dance, the fire endures forever."

Soushu recited the exact words of the Will of Fire in an eerily calm tone, his smile deepening.

He didn't say much else.

But somehow, he had said everything.

Demanding sacrifices without ever offering anything in return is nothing but barefaced exploitation!

"Youth must not let their passion run unchecked!"

The Third crushed the pipe in his hand, his expression darkening further: "Placing your clan above the village is wrong!"

"If the village cannot provide shelter from storms for individuals and their clans, then what meaning does its existence hold?"

Hyuga Soushu immediately employed the classic flair of keyboard warriors: "A ninja village that cannot maintain internal stability or external strength would be better off dissolved or destroyed earlier, saving us from endless wars across the ninja world!"

"Do you think the Hyuga main house would tolerate you without the village rank as a safeguard?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi ignited a flame atop his palm, reducing the shattered pipe to ashes. His previously stormy face suddenly shifted to one of calm indifference: "Jonin Soushu, think carefully!"

Some things are better left unsaid—voicing them would be outright impolite.

Originally, he had held onto some affection for talent, planning to use persuasive words to emotionally move and rationally convince Hyuga Soushu. He had even prepared a glorious future path for him—an opportunity to find sanctuary within Root, which shares origins with Anbu, should he betray the Hyuga Main House and face expulsion by the entire clan.

Even Danzo, who had been insulted repeatedly by Soushu, would presumably resolve conflicts with an open heart, happily welcoming a capable subordinate directly under the Hokage into Root's ranks. This way, the conflict could be resolved while simultaneously containing Danzo's increasing autocracy—all troubles solved at once, how wonderful it would be!

But why can't understanding and tolerance arise between people?

The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi was deeply puzzled!

"Hokage-sama, if a young man doesn't have some arrogance, can he still be considered youthful?"

Hyuga Soushu rose to his feet immediately and said, "The younger generation is destined to become Konoha's future leaders. How could they be allowed to already pick up the older generation's lazy and vulgar habits at such a young age? That would truly be irresponsible toward our village!"

After speaking, Hyuga Soushu didn't wait for the Hokage's response. He gave a slight bow with a relaxed air before turning and walking away.

This boy cannot be allowed to live!

After Soushu left, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's originally somewhat hesitant intention to kill immediately became firmly established in his mind!

For a newly promoted Jonin who had slain a Suna elder and achieved great merit, even though the two factions were in a semi-opposition state, as the Kage of a village, Hiruzen Sarutobi actually did not want to let him die pointlessly by his own people's blades—it would simply be too uneconomical!

Although in terms of strength, while Soushu possessed many strange techniques, ultimately real power decided everything. As the Hokage, Sarutobi still had sufficient means to subdue him. But more importantly, he had to consider what positions the Jonin in the Jonin Unit with relatively ambiguous attitudes would take.

But it didn't matter. Just as every day must have light and shadow, even if the higher powers above could not sully their hands with blood themselves, there were still ways hidden in the shadows, specially designed to deal with dissenters!

Then, he rang the bell on his desk and summoned an Anbu operative: "Go to Root's base and bring Danzo here!"

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