Looking at the fanatical and crazy faces of the people around him; Shisui felt terrified for a second. If such craziness were to spread within every one of the clansmen, then no doubt only destruction is waiting for the Uchiha clan!
Making up his mind, Shisui stood up and said, "Fugaku-Sama, I believe force is not the only solution to every problem, moreover the Uchiha Clan isn't strong enough to face the entire Village on its own. If the Uchiha Clan really fought against the village; then only destruction awaits us."
"Shisui, what are you talking about?"
"Are you being afraid?"
"Everyone knows that Uchiha is the most powerful, as long as we get rid of Sandaime, the position of Hokage will belong to the Uchiha Clan and the whole village will have to recognize us!"
The room was getting noisier by the second.
"Cough!"
Uchiha Fugaku finally couldn't sit silently and 'Coughed' lightly to stop the mess the Uchiha were making.
Shisui decided to not give in this time, "Blind actions will only lead Uchiha Clan to destruction!"
Uchiha Fugaku took a deep look at Shisui, then waved his hand, "Okay that'll be it for today, disperse!"
With Uchiha Fugaku's order, everyone suppressed their urge to continue and one-by-one got up and left.
Walking alone towards his home, Shisui covered his eyes with his hand and thought silently, "Maybe I awakened the Mangekyou to be able to save the Clan, but can Koto Amatsukami really change the fate of the Uchiha?"
…
Hyuga Clan, Kuroto's home.
Looking at the scroll of Four-Symbols Seal in his hands, Kuroto was thoughtful.
The difficulty of learning The Four-Symbols seal is much higher than his expectations, it not only involves Shape Transformation of Chakra but this technique highly revolves around nature transformation of chakra.
In fact, it isn't strange either, considering that many powerful forbidden techniques were actually developed using Four-Symbols Seal as the basis.
While Kuroto was pondering Yue walked inside carrying the fragrant dishes.
Smelling the rich fragrance, Kuroto was brought out of his thoughts and said to her with a smile, "Heh… it smells good, what's so special today?"
However, Kuroto didn't get the answer he expected.
After putting the dish on the table, Yue sat beside him silently with her head down,
A long silence... she didn't speak anything... he didn't speak anything either. Finally, Kuroto couldn't take it anymore, so after a sigh, he brought her closer for a hug.
In his embrace, Yue finally couldn't hold it, and tears started to come out.
"There was no news from you Kuroto-Kun, even Hizashi-Sama also said he has no information about you, I thought you had an accident, I-…"
Kuroto didn't speak anything, just let her vent, to ease her; he rubbed the back of her head softly.
After a few minutes, Yue finally calmed down, and then Kuroto whispered, "Didn't I tell you already, don't worry too much, or you'll get Grandma wrinkles, and if that happens…"
Listening to Kuroto making fun of her, Yue hmphed, as she started to get up and take the dish back.
Now Kuroto was in a panic, "Okay-okay, sorry. I was just trying to ease you a bit."
"One more time, and I won't forgive you!"
"Alright-alright… no more teasing. But Yue, haven't I told you already, to not worry, in fact, this mission wasn't that dangerous, we just needed to… a… hide… yeah that's right… just hide… and do some work… plus I get to be the hero of the village, although most of the villagers will never know of this, that's beside the point, but anyway, shouldn't you… you know… be prouder or something?"
Yue looked at Kuroto-Kun trying to reassure her and said with a pout, "You always do this… always lie to me about the dangerous things and talk as if they were nothing!"
"Well, what can I say… I am just that strong… dangerous things are just some time pass for me." Kuroto said with a fake arrogant snort.
That brought a chuckle out of Yue "Hehehe… alright fine… but you have to promise to be careful Kuroto-Kun!"
"Of course, I will!" Kuroto said with a smile.
"Anyway, what is the situation of Clan because of all this fiasco?" Kuroto asked quickly changing the subject.
Yue sighed in a depressed mood at Kuroto-Kun's question, "Including Aina-chan's father, more than a dozen members died in the conflict this time."
Hyuga Aina is Yue's neighbour only a few years younger than her. Aina's father Hyuga Takashi was one of the elites among the Hyuga Clan.
With Hyuga Takashi's death, the number of elites can already be counted with 10 fingers.
That is to say, the Hyuga Clan lost many ninjas in the Third Shinobi War, as well as now.
When Kuroto thinks of all the orphans left within the clan, he feels really sad about them.
Unfortunately, Kuroto is unable to do anything for them, which makes him more depressed.
"Kuroto-Kun, Hiashi-Sama said that when you are free, go to see him. Patriarch wants to have a talk with you." Yue's words again brought Kuroto out of his thoughts.
Kuroto nodded. Now he can activate and deactivate his Tenseigan freely, there is no need to hide away from the clansmen.
After having the meal with Yue, Kuroto walked towards the center of the Hyuga Clan.
Although the Hyuga didn't isolate themselves like the Uchiha, most of the Clansmen still lived around the Patriarch's house, so the Hyuga Clan land is also like a smaller village within Konoha.
When Kuroto arrived at Patriarch's house, he didn't even have to knock, a servant opened the door.
The servant greeted Kuroto politely, "Kuroto-sama, Patriarch is waiting for you inside!"
Kuroto was in a trance upon hearing the servant.
This is the first time he was referred to by 'Lord', and the servant who called as such was a chunin, such a thing was impossible in the past.
Coming out of his dazed state, Kuroto calmly walked into Patriarch's house, and after walking in through a corridor, Kuroto finally saw the Head of the Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Hiashi.
"Patriarch!" Kuroto greeted Hiashi-Sama with a polite bow.
Hyuga Hiashi who was seated calmly on a Zabuton nodded calmly, "Sit down."
As he got seated on a Zabuton opposite Hyuga Hiashi, Kuroto asked, "Hiashi-Sama wanted to see me?"
After a moment of silence, he asked, "Uchiha Shisui is your teammate in the Anbu department, right?"
"Yes, Hiashi-Sama."
"And I am sure you are aware of the Uchiha's situation in the village, right Kuroto-Kun?"
Kuroto frowned slightly at Hiashi's question, "What, do you mean Hiashi-Sama?"
Seeing the confused face of Kuroto, Hiashi decided to be a little blunt, "The conflict between Konoha and Cloud exposed Hokage faction's complete distrust and suspicion on the Uchiha. Therefore, I am a little concerned over what the Elder Council might be planning against the Uchiha."
As the patriarch of one of the major clans of the Konoha village, Hyuga Hiashi fully understands the importance of balance. Whether the village eradicates the Uchiha Clan or the Uchiha Clan takes control of the Village, both the situations are unacceptable for the Hyuga Clan.
When the Uchiha and the Hokage Faction are in balance, only then the Hyuga Clan will not become the target of either side and will be able to preserve itself.
But this balance that has been maintained for many decades has now collapsed and the weight is turning against the Uchiha Clan, in the eyes of discerning people, a fierce conflict is brewing, and this conflict is something that most would not want to see or be part of.
Hiashi continued, "With the near disappearance of the Senju Clan and the Uzumaki Clan, the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga clan are the only few of the Major Noble Shinobi Clans left. If the destruction of the Uchiha is allowed, the prestige of the Hyuga Clan will also fall. Whereas if the Uchiha take control of the Konoha village through unacceptable means, we will inevitably be susceptible and weakened more than we already have become. Therefore, I hope that you can do somethings to prevent either of this situation from happening using your identity as an Anbu."
How Shisui is the only Anbu within the Uchiha Clan, Kuroto is also a similar case. So, the Hyuga Clan now greatly values Kuroto. Therefore, asking Kuroto for doing such a thing is a natural course of action.
Kuroto also didn't deny and immediately agreed, "I understand Hiashi-Sama."
When it comes to the matter of dealing with the Uchiha, Kuroto's opinion aligns with that of the intentions of the Clan, that is, the Uchiha cannot be allowed to disappear.
Why is the reputation of the Hyuga so high?
Isn't it because the Hyuga is valued as an equal to the Uchiha Clan?
But if the Uchiha Clan were to disappear, the Hyuga Clan will become the next target.
After all, the Dojutsu Kekkei Genkai surpasses all other types of Kekkei Genkai and this is the very reason why they have a lot of enemies.
After discussing a little more about the situation about the Uchiha, Hiashi then took out a Bingo Book and handed them to Kuroto while saying, "You better be careful from now on!"
Kuroto was a little confused why would Hiashi-Sama say something like this?
But when he took the papers from Hiashi-Sama's hands, there was a single page that caught his attention. On that page, he saw a picture of his along with some description about him, and a bounty underneath with too many zeros. Upon counting the number of zeros, he finally exclaimed, "Twenty Million Ryo!?"
However, without waiting for Kuroto to be out of shock, Hiashi leisurely handed another paper to him while saying, "Here, this is a second one."
Kuroto quickly took the second reward list, and this reward list also had his picture with the same number of zeros, but the amount exceeded the previous one.
"Tw-twenty-five million Ryo? Wh-why such a high reward?"
Hiashi-Sama didn't care too much about his outburst or shock and said leisurely, "I am afraid you have offended some big shots. Such high rewards are too rare and will most likely attract some bounty ninjas. So, be careful and not leave the village casually!"
.................................................
Read up to Chapter - 172 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. : p-atreon.com/Milta_translations
