"If I may, Yondaime Hokage-sama..." a clear, sharp voice suddenly cut through the quiet air.
Minato paused, his bright blue eyes turning toward the left side of the table. Every head in the room followed his gaze instantly.
Inuzuka Tsume was sitting up straight, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. She had a perfectly polite, respectful smile on her face, but her sharp eyes were gleaming with pure mischief.
She completely ignored the fact that Minato had not even explained the purpose of the morning gathering yet.
"I apologize for speaking out of turn before you begin." Tsume said, her voice smooth but dripping with an underlying tone of amusement.
"But I couldn't help but notice a small curiosity. Usually, village protocol dictates that each clan holds only a single seat at this council table to ensure proper balance. Yet today...
"We are honored by the presence of both the esteemed former head, Kozuki-sama, and the current head, Hiashi-sama."
She turned her gaze directly toward the two Hyuga men, her smile widening just a fraction as she threw a mischievous grin at their famous clan pride.
"Since the Hokage-sama has not yet stated the reason for this urgent gathering, I am simply wondering... which of the two distinguished gentlemen should we address as the official voice of the Hyuga today?
Surely, the great Hyuga clan doesn't require double the representation to deliver a single message?"
The reaction down the table was instantaneous, turning the tense atmosphere into a quiet, simmering battleground.
Before the Hyuga could even respond, Uchiha Fugaku let out a low, dry chuckle that rumbled from the right side of the table.
He didn't move an inch, his arms remaining tightly crossed over his chest, but his black eyes shifted toward the Hyuga elders with a cold, calculating gleam. He was more than happy to add fuel to the fire.
"Tsume-san raises a valid point, Hokage-sama.." Fugaku stated, his voice smooth, deep, and laced with quiet arrogance.
The moment the words left Fugaku's mouth, Minato's bright blue eyes narrowed sharply. Sensing the dangerous direction the conversation was heading, the Yondaime raised his right hand slightly off the table, palm flat, giving Fugaku a firm, warning look that silently commanded him to drop the subject immediately.
Right beside him, Hiruzen also moved quickly. The former Hokage didn't want a clan war breaking out before breakfast. Keeping his arm low so the rest of the table wouldn't see, Hiruzen frantically waved his fingers downward in a sharp, pressing motion, desperately signaling the Uchiha head to hold his tongue.
But Fugaku completely ignored them. Keeping his eyes fixed on the Hyuga elders, he deliberately looked right past Minato's warning glance and continued speaking without a single care.
"Protocol exists for a reason, specifically to maintain order among the clans. It is rather unusual for the Hyuga to simply decide the rules do not apply to them today. Perhaps they believe their internal matters outweigh the structure of this entire council."
The subtle insult hit its mark perfectly.
Hyuga Kozuki's face flushed a deep, angry red. His jaw clenched so hard the muscles in his face trembled, and his pale, pupil-less white eyes bulged slightly with pure rage.
Unable to contain his temper in front of his long-time Uchiha rival and the blunt Inuzuka head, the former clan chief slammed a heavy fist onto the dark wood table.
"Watch your tongue, you foolish woman!" Kozuki shouted, glaring fiercely at Tsume before snapping his gaze over to Fugaku.
"And do not pretend to lecture us on protocol, Uchiha! The Hyuga clan does not answer to your petty observations. Our presence here as two heads is a matter of absolute necessity, not a breach of selfishness!"
Beside him, Hyuga Hiashi closed his eyes for a brief second, maintaining his signature mask of ice-cold discipline.
The slight tightness in his shoulders was the only giveaway of his deep alarm. Sensing that the situation was rapidly spiraling into an embarrassing shouting match before the actual crisis could even be discussed, Hiashi placed a calm, firm hand on his predecessor's arm.
"Chichioya, please. Control your temper," Hiashi said, his voice dropping into a low, smooth tone that carried a commanding weight.
Instantly, Kozuki's head snapped toward his son, his pale white eyes narrowing as he glared at him in absolute fury, clearly offended that his son used a personal, familiar term like 'Chichioya' in an official meeting.
Hiashi didn't even blink, but he quickly caught the hint. He adjusted his posture slightly and opened his pale eyes, looking across the table with complete composure.
"Kozuki-sama, please. Let us not allow cheap provocations to distract from the gravity of why we requested this audience."
Across the table, Sarutobi Hiruzen quickly brought his unlit pipe up to his lips, using the gesture to hide the small, amused twitch of his mouth.
Before the argument could spark again, Namikaze Minato leaned forward. The gentle, warm attitude he usually carried was completely gone.
His bright blue eyes flashed with absolute, undeniable authority, cutting through the argument like a sharp blade.
"That is enough. All of you." Minato said. His voice wasn't loud, but it possessed a cold, commanding steel that instantly silenced the room.
Tsume stopped smiling, Fugaku's gaze narrowed, and even the furious Kozuki sat back in his chair. Minato kept his hands flat on the table, looking at every leader individually.
"We are not here to debate seating arrangements or air old clan rivalries. The Hyuga clan has brought forward a matter of extreme urgency that threatens the security of Konoha, and we will treat it with the seriousness it deserves."
The room fell into a heavy, expectant quiet as Namikaze Minato adjusted his posture, his hands remaining flat on the smooth dark wood. The playful energy Tsume and Fugaku had brought to the table vanished instantly under the Hokage's intense gaze.
"Early this morning, an incident occurred within the walls of the Hyuga estate." Minato began, his voice steady and completely serious as he looked around at the council members.
"According to the initial report sent to my office, three members of the Hyuga clan were found knocked out in a secluded area of the compound."
"They were not merely knocked out, Yondaime..." Kozuki interrupted sharply. He leaned forward, his hands gripping the edge of the table so tightly his knuckles turned white. His pale eyes swept across the room, dark with a mixture of grief and fury.
"Two of them are dead. Completely lifeless."
A collective murmur rippled through the left and right sides of the table. The casual bickering from moments before was entirely forgotten.
Utatane Koharu adjusted her position, her strict face tightening as she looked directly at the former Hyuga head. "And what about the third one?" she asked, her voice sharp and demanding. "What is the status of the other one?"
"The third one is my son..." Kozuki answered, his voice straining against the heavy emotion rising in his chest. "And he is badly injured. Hanging on by a thread."
A brief, confused silence blanketed the room.
Nara Shikaku didn't say a word. True to his lazy but brilliant nature, he simply leaned back further into his chair, his sharp eyes darting immediately from Kozuki's red face over to the perfectly pristine, unbothered current clan head.
Shikaku rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh, already deducing that the old man was leaving out a massive piece of the puzzle.
Beside him, Yamanaka Inoichi remained perfectly still, his analytical mind working quickly. He kept his expression neutral, but his eyes softened slightly with professional concern as he tried to read the heavy emotional distress pouring off the former Hyuga head.
But at the very end of the right row, Kurama Murakumo couldn't help himself. He leaned his elbow on the table, resting his chin in his hand with a mischievous look.
"Well.." Murakumo spoke up from the right side, his voice laced with a dry, teasing amusement, "your son is sitting right beside you, Kozuki-sama. And from where I am looking, he doesn't exactly look 'badly hurt.' "
Kozuki's face flushed a violent, angry red. He slammed both hands onto the table, half-rising from his chair as he shouted across the room in pure fury.
"Not Hiashi, you fool!" Kozuki hissed, his teeth bared as he corrected them. "My other son! Hyuga Hizashi!"
The announcement caused an immediate shift in the room's energy. Minato's eyebrows knitted together, his sharp mind instantly tracking the timeline of the morning's reports. He looked between Kozuki and Hiashi, his blue eyes narrowing slightly.
"Wait.." Minato said, his calm voice cutting through Kozuki's lingering echoes of rage. "I received the emergency dispatch directly from your compound guards, but I never received this piece of intel. My reports state absolutely nothing about Hyuga Hizashi being involved on this incident."
The revelation of Hyuga Hizashi's name hung in the air like a suffocating fog, but it was the sudden, sharp shift in the room's dynamic that truly deepened the mystery.
Down the left side of the table, Hyuga Hiashi froze. His ice-cold composure shattered for a fraction of a second, a look of profound, genuine confusion washing over his pale features.
His brow knitted together as he stared blankly ahead, his mind clearly racing to process a piece of information he had absolutely no knowledge of.
Across the room, two of the sharpest minds on the council caught that fleeting expression instantly.
Nara Shikaku narrowed his eyes, his lazy posture instantly vanishing as he leaned forward, his gaze locked entirely on the current clan head's bewildered face. 'Look at Hiashi.' Shikaku thought, his analytical mind quickly piecing together the bizarre puzzle.
'He's completely in the dark. Either the current clan head truly doesn't know a single thing about what happened to his own twin brother, or that old man Kozuki has finally lost his mind and is spouting absolute rubbish to save face.'
Right next to him, Uchiha Fugaku watched the exact same interaction, a slow, deeply unsettling smile creeping onto his face. The black eyes of the Uchiha head gleamed with absolute malice as he took in Hiashi's obvious shock.
'Well, well, Kozuki.' Fugaku thought to himself, his internal voice dripping with cruel satisfaction.
'Let's see just how long you can spout those fucking lies. Go ahead, dig your own grave. The entire truth is practically written right on your son's face.'
Sensing that the situation was entirely out of control, Hiashi snapped out of his daze. Acting on pure instinct to protect whatever shred of dignity their clan had left, he reached out and firmly gripped Kozuki's wrinkled hand, pressing it down against the wood to force the old man back into his seat.
"Chichioya, enough." Hiashi commanded in a harsh, urgent whisper, his voice trembling slightly with a mix of confusion and alarm. "Sit down."
But Kozuki was too far gone in his rage. With a sudden, violent twist of his arm, the former head violently broke free from his son's grip, ripping his hand away and glaring at Hiashi as if he were an enemy.
The heavy silence returned, darker and more tense than before, as the council watched the internal collapse of the village's most noble clan.
Kozuki stood tall, his chest heaving as he stared down the entire table, refusing to look back at his shocked son. The silence in the room was suffocating, every eye locked onto the former head as he prepared to deliver his final, crushing blow.
"The reason the Hokage's reports are empty is because we kept the truth contained within our walls." Kozuki said, his voice dropping into a dark, venomous whisper that echoed off the cold walls.
"The monster who slaughtered my clan members, the one who left Hizashi hanging on by a thread... is indeed present within the Hyuga clan itself. It was an inside betrayal."
The confession hit the room like an explosion. Murmurs broke out instantly, but before the whispers could spread, a heavy sigh slammed onto the table.
Akimichi Choza leaned forward, his massive frame shifting in his chair as he threw his hands up in complete, uncharacteristic annoyance. His usual gentle, patient expression was entirely gone, replaced by a deep, irritated scowl.
"Are you serious right now, Kozuki-sama?" Choza shouted, his loud voice cutting through the murmurs, dripping with pure frustration.
"If you already know the killer is hiding inside your own compound, why on earth did you call for an emergency audience with the Hokage? Why drag all of us out of our beds at the break of dawn just to watch your family drama?"
Choza threw a sharp glance at Minato before locking his eyes back onto the furious old man. "This council is for village-level threats. If it's an internal clan matter, you have your own elite guards, your own branch families, and your own laws. Sort the damn matter out on your own instead of wasting the Hokage's time with riddles!"
Kozuki's jaw dropped, utterly insulted that a usually quiet clan head had just called him out so bluntly in front of everyone.
The room became very quiet as Namikaze Minato leaned forward. The friendly, warm way he usually acted was completely gone. His bright blue eyes looked as cold as ice as he stared right at Kozuki.
"Hold on, Choza-san!" Minato said, cutting through the whispers in the room. "I think there is a misunderstanding. When Kozuki-sama says the killer is inside the clan, he does not mean a Hyuga family member did this."
"He means the enemy who attacked them is literally still hiding physically inside the Hyuga compound right now."
Everyone in the room gasped. The realization hit them like cold water.
Akimichi Choza's angry face vanished instantly. He looked very embarrassed. He quickly raised his large hands to apologize and bowed his head slightly toward the angry elders.
"Ah... I see. I am very sorry, Kozuki-sama. I completely misunderstood your words. If an active enemy is trapped inside a noble compound right now, that changes everything."
But Minato was not done. The gentle tone he used to clear up the mistake disappeared in a second. The air in the room felt heavy and hard to breathe.
"However, you should have been the one to explain that clearly, Kozuki-sama." Minato said, his voice sounding like sharp steel. "But it seems you are not very clear with your words today. Now, let's get to the most important point."
Minato rested his chin on his fingers, staring at Kozuki with scary intensity. "How exactly do you know that the man who killed your clan members is the same man hiding in your compound? "
The question hit the council like a punch.
"Well then Let me ask you clearly by reframing my question properly... how do you know for a fact that this person is still hiding right under your noses, but you still cannot find him with your famous, all-seeing eyes?"
Every single person in the room went completely stiff. The shock was absolute!
Across the table, Inuzuka Tsume's jaw dropped. Beside her, Kurama Murakumo stopped smirking, his eyes widening in pure shock. Even the smart leaders like Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi looked completely stunned. Minato had just pointed out the ultimate weakness in the Hyuga's perfect defense.
Uchiha Fugaku's evil smile turned into a giant grin. He looked like he wanted to clap! Asking a Hyuga how an enemy could hide from the Byakugan was the ultimate insult to their proud family.
Hyuga Hiashi sat frozen, his face turning completely pale as he realized how powerful Minato's logic was.
Beside him, Kozuki looked like he had just been hit by lightning. His pale eyes shook with shock and deep shame.
Minato absolutely rocked the room! Everyone was left completely shocked and speechless, waiting to see how the proudest clan in Konoha would answer for their ultimate blind spot.
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⚡ NEXT CHAPTER ⚡
A drunk elder's humiliation should have ended the meeting...
So why does a single word leave the Hokage frozen in place?
A child slips through the Hyuga compound.
A forgotten name resurfaces.
And just when the council begins to dismiss the threat—
The Uchiha reveal a prisoner already in their custody.
Who is the mysterious child?
And what terrifying truth is about to emerge from behind the bars of the Uchiha Police Headquarters?
👉 Next Chapter: The Return Of A Dead Man
SNEAK PEEK LINES 💬
"I deeply apologize to Hokage-sama and to this entire council."
"...he needs to go back to the compound immediately and sleep."
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—With love, one forehead poke away from collapse,
Sakura Shinomiya 💫
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