Some branch members of the Hyuga clan had been injured before and left the front lines to recover. The moment they separated from the main force, the clan branded them traitors and executed them remotely.
When he saw the shift in Hyuga Akira's expression, Chiba Shun pressed harder. "We really don't have the power to remove the Caged Bird Seal. You're destined to remain inside that cage for the rest of your life."
He let that sink in for a beat before adding, "But your child doesn't have to."
Hyuga Akira immediately thought of the son waiting for him back in Konoha. The boy had also been marked with the cursed seal. That one thought was enough to make his chest tighten.
Chiba Shun, however, kept speaking as though he had already seen through all of the man's doubts. "Kumogakure can find a few female shinobi for you. You can leave behind your bloodline, senior. As long as Konoha doesn't know those children exist, they won't be able to do anything to you."
"And when those children grow up, who will know they're your descendants? So many branch family members have been scattered to different places. Are you telling me none of them resent the main house?"
"You don't need to hesitate. Your child can breathe freely."
Hyuga Akira said nothing. If things were really that simple, the branch family would have broken away long ago. The truth was brutal. If a branch family member dared leave bloodline descendants outside the clan and they were exposed, the Hyuga would gouge out those children's eyes without mercy.
Chiba Shun obviously understood what he was thinking. He pointed at Yotsuki Ai and said, "Do you know who he is?"
"This is the only son of the Third Raikage. The future Fourth Raikage. He can promise your child will grow up safely. No one will mistreat him."
Then Chiba Shun lowered his voice slightly, as if confiding a secret that ought never be spoken aloud. "You should understand something. To a great ninja village, one pair of Byakugan is valuable. But a whole Hyuga clan is worth far more."
"If we captured an adult from the main family, yes, we'd rip out the Byakugan at once. But if we had a Hyuga child raised by Kumogakure from the beginning, one who truly respected the village, do you think we'd treat him as a mere tool?"
"He could live in the Hidden Cloud. He could build an entire Hyuga clan there."
Hyuga Akira's expression shifted almost imperceptibly. With his pale eyes, he covertly swept Yotsuki Ai from head to toe. The man did indeed resemble the Third Raikage described in Konoha's intelligence files.
Seeing that, Chiba Shun pressed on without giving him time to think calmly.
"The Uchiha clan's Sharingan can evolve. Our Raikage once said he'd seen old records from certain villages. According to those records, the Byakugan of the Hyuga clan can evolve too."
That finally broke Akira's composure. His eyes widened before suspicion immediately rushed in to replace the shock.
Chiba Shun knew exactly where that suspicion came from, and he answered before Akira even voiced it. "The reason no one in the branch family has ever awakened an evolved Byakugan is because of the Caged Bird Seal."
"As for the main family? They're nothing but watchdogs hiding behind the walls of Konoha. Expecting them to evolve the Byakugan would be even less realistic than expecting someone from the branch family to break that cursed seal."
"Your Hyuga clan has been reduced to a tool of the Hokage's faction because no one has evolved the Byakugan. But Lord Raikage knows the way to evolve it."
At that, Hyuga Akira's breathing turned ragged.
Yotsuki Ai, Killer Bee, and Sakai Hashi all exchanged strange looks. The three of them stared at Chiba Shun as though they were seeing a different person. He simply waved for them to move.
"Let's go," he said.
Then he looked back at Hyuga Akira one last time. "We won't kill you. But we don't have time to let you leave behind any bloodline today either. Go back to Konoha."
"In the center of the Land of the Moon, there's a little town called Sunrise Town. The only izakaya in the place has no signboard. If you ever decide you want to leave behind a trace of freedom... come there after this war is over."
After that, he turned and left without another word.
***
Yotsuki Ai and the others followed behind him.
Ai had chosen to trust Chiba Shun. In the end, a mere branch family member of the Hyuga clan wasn't important enough to shake Konoha's foundation. But if Chiba Shun's gamble actually worked, the reward would be beyond measure.
On the way back, Yotsuki Ai got annoyed by how slowly Chiba Shun was moving after draining himself dry. He simply slung Chiba Shun over one shoulder and ran toward camp at full speed.
As the wind howled past them, he asked, "Shun, will your method really work? Do you think he'll actually come?"
Chiba Shun shook his head. "I don't know. But from the look in his eyes, he's tempted."
"He won't agree today. Not immediately. But once this bait exists, he'll keep thinking about it. Every humiliation he suffers at the hands of the main family will pull him one step closer to the Land of the Moon."
"If he sees the head family use the Caged Bird Seal to punish branch members a few more times, maybe that'll be enough to push him over the edge."
After a moment, Ai asked, "The Hyuga don't intermarry with outsiders. If someone from their bloodline has a child with another person, can that child still awaken the Byakugan?"
For once, Chiba Shun had no confidence in his answer. "Probably. In the ninja world, bloodline inheritance mostly depends on the strength of the parents."
"But the Byakugan of a child born from a Hyuga and an outsider probably wouldn't be very pure."
Ai clenched a fist. "That doesn't matter. As long as it works. The Byakugan is too valuable on the battlefield."
His tone turned heavy. "The reason we got close to that Konoha team today was because they were isolated. If there had been several pairs of Byakugan watching out for us, we never would have gotten within striking distance."
"Worse, they could have spotted us in advance and baited us into a trap."
Chiba Shun nodded, the lingering fear still fresh in his chest. That was exactly why he had gone all out with Mountain Earth Technique the moment the battle began. He had wanted it over before reinforcements could arrive.
If the enemy had comrades nearby and they broke through while those reinforcements converged, his team might have been the ones left dead on the ground.
Then Ai suddenly remembered something. "Shun. Did my father ever tell you anything about the Byakugan evolving?"
Killer Bee turned his head too, obviously curious.
Before Chiba Shun could answer, Sakai Hashi burst out laughing. "Yotsuki Ai, you still don't get him. Shun never speaks a full truth if he can help it."
"I don't know how many times he's lied to me already. The whole Byakugan evolution thing? That's obviously nonsense. Anyone stupid enough to believe him deserves it."
Yotsuki Ai: "..."
Killer Bee: "..."
Chiba Shun rolled his eyes so hard it almost hurt.
Because of what had happened with Hyuga Akira, none of them felt like going deeper to hunt Konoha scouts. The four of them headed straight back to the Cloud camp.
***
With Yotsuki Ai leading the way, Chiba Shun was brought to the command tent of the Third Raikage.
The moment he finished explaining his idea, the Third Raikage shot to his feet.
His eyes gleamed as he stared straight at Chiba Shun. In that instant, his Lightning Release Chakra Mode rose on instinct, the pressure in the tent exploding outward like a storm.
The Third Raikage's thoughts were simple and violent.
Was this possible?
Would a branch family member of the Hyuga really be willing to leave bloodline descendants outside Konoha?
To him, that possibility was almost too valuable to grasp. Until now, the higher-ups of Kumogakure had never truly understood the hatred festering in the Hyuga branch family. In their eyes, the Caged Bird protected the branch family, while the branch family protected the main family. It looked like a perfect system.
A closed loop. Stable. Loyal.
The Hyuga clan must be united. That was what most outsiders assumed.
So when Chiba Shun was suddenly pinned in place beneath the Raikage's aura, he couldn't move at all. His chakra had already been wrung dry in battle. Under that pressure, his whole body locked up like prey caught in the sightline of a predator.
A heartbeat later, several ANBU dropped into the tent after sensing the Raikage's surge of power.
Only then did the Third Raikage wake from his own thoughts. He dismissed his chakra cloak, reined in his pressure, and stopped staring at Chiba Shun as if he were trying to peel the man's mind apart.
He waved the ANBU away and began pacing through the command tent.
Back and forth.
Back and forth again.
Then, at last, he made up his mind.
"Good," he said. "We'll do it. I'll send a few female shinobi to that izakaya and have them stay there for the long term."
After saying that, he turned to Killer Bee, who had also entered the command center.
"Killer Bee. How are you feeling?"
Killer Bee answered without a trace of worry, "Lord Raikage, I'm fine. The Eight-Tails is fine too. No problem at all."
The Third Raikage didn't react to Bee's tone. He simply nodded and continued, "The Iwa-nin haven't crossed the line. The Mist-nin have turned their attention toward the Land of Whirlpools. If that doesn't change, there won't be much profit for us this time."
"Once the Hokage arrives, negotiations begin. The three of you will come with me and act as my bodyguards."
Yotsuki Ai showed little reaction.
Chiba Shun, on the other hand, felt his eyes light up.
A temporary bodyguard to the Raikage was still a bodyguard to the Raikage. Even if the title only lasted for the negotiations, the weight it carried inside Kumogakure was real. His standing in the village would rise again.
After leaving the command tent, he couldn't help telling Sakai Hashi about it.
Sakai gave him a strange look and said, "Looks like even the Raikage knows you've got a black heart. That's why he's bringing you to negotiations with Konoha."
Chiba Shun's expression froze.
Was that really the reason?
The thought stuck with him all the way to the mess line.
***
He went straight to eat.
Today's consumption had been far too great. Never mind training. He had nearly drained himself empty in an actual battle.
If he had been operating alone, Chiba Shun never would have pushed himself that hard. It was Yotsuki Ai who had dragged him into danger and forced him to gamble everything.
Since that was the case, the least he could do now was eat back the cost.
A depletion this severe couldn't be restored in a day or two. For the next several days, Chiba Shun would definitely be weaker than usual.
Sakai Hashi didn't join them. He was in far too good a mood. He had gone off to collect mission rewards instead.
The four of them had hunted down plenty of Konoha reconnaissance shinobi together, and command had assigned their unit two A-rank mission records.
That meant Sakai Hashi could expect a sizable payout.
Chiba Shun had been part of the team too, but his share was almost nothing.
It was an easy situation to understand. If a jonin led three chunin on a mission, then even the weakest among them would still get a cut. But if three jonin led a single chunin, that chunin would receive very little.
Especially since Yotsuki Ai and the others had taken major risks just to force Chiba Shun to break through in battle.
Because of that, Chiba Shun had simply given up the mission rewards and all the spoils of war.
To him, successfully surviving an A-rank mission and taking another step forward was already the greatest reward he could ask for.