Starting Sign In From Naruto

Chapter 4: Who Takes The Blame



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Hearing this name, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but think of his former discipl —Tsunade.

With her strength, repelling the Cloud Village's forces wouldn't have been difficult.

However, ever since Dan and Nawaki's deaths, Tsunade had developed a severe hemophobia and left the village.

"Hiashi."

After a moment of silence and waiting for the nurse to leave, Hiruzen Sarutobi turned to Hiashi and asked for more details.

"Yes," Hiashi replied, narrating everything he experienced during the pursuit in great detail.

When he related the degree of destruction that befell the border forest, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura were surprised.

"Do you notice anything suspicious?" Danzo asked.

Could it have actually been Tsunade who rescued Hinata?

"No." Hiashi shook his head. For the Hyūga clan, equipped with the Byakugan, even the pitch-black night posed no obstacle to their vision.

If there had been suspicious individuals, it would have been impossible to miss them.

"Hmm," Danzo nodded. Since Hinata's body was fine and she simply needed rest, the truth would likely emerge once she awoke.

For now, the situation was quite troublesome.

The Cloud Village and Konoha had just started an alliance, but this event happened.

This would easily cause another war if not dealt with wisely.

And the village was in no condition to carry the weight of another war.

The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was gone. The jinchūriki, Naruto Uzumaki, had no control over the Nine-Tails and didn't even know that he was a jinchūriki.

The Uchiha clan's problems were no small matter either.

What the village needed now was stability.

"Hiashi, I hope the Hyūga clan can take responsibility for this incident," Danzo said, lifting his head to meet Hiashi's gaze with a low, steady voice.

"Danzo, what do you mean by that?" Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately expressed his discontent.

"It's simple," Danzo explained. "The leader of the Cloud Village's unit abducted the Hyūga clan's eldest daughter. In the process of escaping, he was discovered by the clan head and died during their encounter. As for what happened at the border, no one knows."

Danzo's reasoning was clear: according to Hiashi's account, the ninjas who abducted Hinata were already dead.

This was the only narrative by which to divorce the village from the situation.

It seemed the Hyūga clan was working on its own, with no knowledge of the situation and inadvertently attacked ninjas from Cloud Village.

This would clear the village itself from liability.

"Danzo, how can you do this?" Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately saw through Danzo's ploy. This would leave the Hyūga clan to act as a cushion between Konoha and Cloud Village.

"I know," Hiashi, as the leader of the clan, understood easily. He took his breath and readily agreed to what Danzo presented.

"Hiashi," frowning, said Hiruzen Sarutobi, hoping the two wouldn't be too impatient about this issue.

But Danzo was not perturbed. Finishing his command, he got up and turned to say, "Hiruzen, Hinata needs her rest. That's all for us to be here."

"Danzo!

Hiruzen Sarutobi shouted in frustration but could only see Danzo disappear through the doorway.

With a deep sigh of resignation, Hiruzen turned to Hiashi.

"Hiashi, there may be another way. Take good care of Hinata."

"I will, Lord Hokage."

With that, Hiruzen Sarutobi also left the hospital room, shaking his head.

However, Danzo hadn't gone far. He stood at the corner of the hospital corridor, seemingly waiting for Hiruzen Sarutobi on purpose.

"Danzo," said Hiruzen Sarutobi visibly showing his annoyance. "How can you let all of this on the Hyūga clan shoulders?"

"But isn't that the reason you brought me here?" Danzo asked with no emotional tone at all. "We both know just how important that alliance with Cloud Village is, no matter that they are planning this for the purpose of getting that Byakugan."

"We cannot show this, not with the unrest of the Uchiha clan, the death of Minato Namikaze, and our jinchūriki is in such danger."

Upon mentioning the Uchiha clan, the face of Hiruzen Sarutobi went dark.

"Homura and Koharu will stand on my side over this," said Danzo, firmly.

Since their aim is the Byakugan, let Hizashi pretend himself as Hiashi and offer himself. Then we will be able to close the Byakugan's secrets. The Hyūga branch family exists to protect the main family.

"And the Hyūga clan's sacrifice is for the village.

"Everything… is for the village.

"No, Danzo. This time, I will find another way. Whether it's the Hyūga clan or the Uchiha clan, there must be another solution," Hiruzen Sarutobi said, shaking his head.

Sigh…

He sighed inwardly. The reason he had called Danzo today was to have him shoulder the blame for the conflict.

But Danzo had deflected it onto the Hyūga clan instead.

"If you're worried, I'll handle it myself," Danzo said, his tone unyielding.

In fact, Hiruzen Sarutobi had heard Danzo say many times before that he would handle the Uchiha clan, but nothing concrete ever came of it.

"Let's discuss this later, Danzo," Hiruzen Sarutobi said, ending the conversation.

Another matter was equally pressing—identifying who had saved Hinata.

On a personal level, Hiruzen Sarutobi hoped it was Tsunade.

Though he had taken over as Hokage after Minato Namikaze's death, his body was growing frail.

He needed a successor.

Just when Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo were about to leave the hospital, Hiashi suddenly chased them.

"Lord Hokage, Hinata has woken up," Hiashi said.

"She's awake?"

"Who saved her?" Danzo asked without hesitating. More than Hinata herself, he was concerned about the identity of her savior.

"It was someone who claimed to be from the Senju…" Hiashi drew in a sharp breath, his expression and voice filled with disbelief.

"A black-haired boy…

"A boy?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo exchanged shocked glances.

It wasn't Tsunade.

It was a boy!

Could it be Senju Xu?

Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind immediately conjured the name, but he quickly shook his head, rejecting the idea.

He had visited the Senju compound several times in the past.

Senju Xu was a child utterly lacking in ninja talent, someone who hadn't even managed to get into the Ninja Academy.

Claiming that he had saved Hinata and destroyed the border forest?

Impossible.

Meanwhile, Xu Fan had already returned to the Senju compound, ready to rest and prepare for tomorrow's attendance at the Ninja Academy.

"I suppose Lord Third should know by now that I saved Hinata," Xu Fan thought to himself, estimating the timeline.

The name Senju, paired with his identity as a boy.

Knowing Hiruzen Sarutobi, he was bound to come and test him.

But that was exactly what Xu Fan planned.


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