After reading the report, Ōnoki narrowed his eyes and tapped the paper with a thick, calloused finger. "This Chiba Shun… he's been to Konoha?"
Then his gaze sharpened. "Did he meet Hiruzen Sarutobi? Didn't Danzo Shimura try to have him killed?"
The adviser standing before his desk, a man named Saka, bowed his head slightly. "Yes. He went to Konoha as the leader of the Kumogakure Ninja Academy exchange group."
"As for whether he personally met Hiruzen Sarutobi, that part isn't certain. But the chances are high. After his trip to Konoha, Kumogakure and Konoha formed an alliance."
Ōnoki fell silent.
He leaned back in his seat, one hand pressing against his aching lower back as his mind sifted through the mess of the past year. White Fang's death had been too strange from the very beginning. Too sudden. Too convenient. Too perfectly timed.
How could the Cloud Ninja possibly have known in advance that Konoha's White Fang would break under pressure and kill himself?
That was the knot that had bothered him ever since the alliance between Kumo and Konoha had been announced. No matter how he looked at it, the entire thing reeked of manipulation.
And now, at last, a name had surfaced.
"Then the problem probably lies with Chiba Shun's trip to Konoha," Ōnoki said at last, his voice flat. "That visit wasn't as simple as it looked."
Saka's expression shifted slightly. "Third Tsuchikage… should we send someone to kill him?"
Ōnoki did not answer right away.
Instead, he lowered his gaze to the dossier again. Chiba Shun. Newly promoted jonin. A teacher at Kumogakure's Ninja Academy. The man who had helped drag that half-dead academy back from the brink. The man who seemed to keep appearing behind every major shift in the Cloud Village's recent rise.
Not a frontline monster.
Not a legendary bloodline genius.
And yet he was exactly the sort of person Ōnoki disliked most: a man whose value did not lie in raw strength, but in what he made other people do.
That kind of enemy was far more troublesome.
"We definitely need him dead," Ōnoki said at last. "But we can't do it ourselves. Konoha is still at its peak, and now isn't the time to provoke a direct war with Kumogakure."
He gave a cold snort.
"That brute Third Raikage wants to secure his position even more firmly? Fine. Then let the people in Kumogakure who oppose him do the dirty work."
Saka understood immediately. "The forces left behind by the Second Raikage?"
Ōnoki nodded. "Contact them. See whether they're willing to move against Chiba Shun."
Saka hesitated. "And if they refuse?"
Ōnoki's lips curled into a thin, humorless smile.
"Then post a bounty through the underground exchange. Ten million ryo."
Even Saka's breathing caught for a moment.
Ten million ryo was no small sum. That kind of money was enough to make missing-nin, bounty hunters, and half-starved rogues across the continent lose their minds. Even if the people inside Kumogakure didn't want to take action with their own hands, someone would be willing to pass along information.
Where there was enough money, there was always a knife.
"I believe someone will be interested," Ōnoki said coolly. "If Kumogakure's people won't act personally, they can still feed the prey's movements to wandering ninjas."
"Yes," Saka said at once. He bowed and withdrew to make the arrangements.
Once the door shut behind him, Ōnoki remained seated in silence.
He hated being played.
That was the heart of it.
The Third Raikage had forced him into a miserable position during the last crisis, using a show of strength, a bluff, and timing sharp enough to cut flesh. And now, the more Ōnoki looked back, the clearer it became that someone had been standing behind the brute, whispering into his ear and teaching him how to turn force into leverage.
A strategist.
A young one, which made it even more annoying.
Ōnoki's thick brows sank lower.
A man like that could not be left alive forever.
***
Five months later, in the Cloud Village Hospital, Chiba Shun stood outside a ward under heavy ANBU guard.
Beside him were Yotsuki A and the Third Raikage himself.
Shun's gaze swept the corridor once, then again, and a faint doubt surfaced in his mind. He did not see either of the two older advisers. Not Yukio. Not Sanada Masaki.
That absence was strange.
This matter was clearly no longer some minor secret. Yotsuki A had personally summoned him here, which meant Mei's delivery was important enough that they wanted him present the moment the child was born. And if even he was allowed to know, then why weren't the old advisers here?
Could it be that the Third Raikage had deliberately kept the Hyuga bloodline matter from them?
The thought lingered in Shun's mind.
Had the village's internal currents truly grown that complicated?
He did not get to think about it for long.
A baby's cry finally pierced the silence of the corridor.
The sound was thin and sharp, but to the people waiting outside, it was more important than any battle report.
A moment later, the door opened and a medical ninja stepped out, carrying the newborn in both arms.
The Third Raikage, Yotsuki A, Chiba Shun, and the surrounding ANBU all turned to look.
Or rather, they all looked at the child's eyes.
Shun's expression shifted first.
It was Byakugan.
There was no doubt about that. Those pale eyes were unmistakable. But they weren't pure.
Within the white was a trace of murky gray-white, like impurities stirred into clean water. The discoloration did not cover much, but it was there—small, undeniable, and slightly unsettling.
The Third Raikage frowned.
He clearly understood what that meant. The issue was no longer whether the child had inherited the bloodline, but whether this imperfect Byakugan could be opened and used the way a true Hyuga's could.
After a moment of thought, he said to one of the ANBU, "Test the child's talent in a few days."
"Yes."
The ANBU accepted the order and fell silent again.
At that point, Shun spoke up. "Lord Raikage, what name should this child have?"
The Third Raikage glanced at him, puzzled. To him, a name was just a name. What did it matter?
Shun immediately explained. "The given name isn't important. The surname is."
He looked at the child again before saying evenly, "How about Hyuga?"
The Third Raikage's brow furrowed deeper. "Explain."
Shun did not hesitate.
"We want these children to grow up with a deep sense of belonging to the village. The best way to do that is to make them hate the Hyuga main family in Konoha."
"The more they hate the main branch, the more grateful they'll be to Kumogakure for giving them freedom."
"Only if they see themselves as the same kind of people as the Hyuga in Konoha will that hatred become complete."
He let the words settle, then said, "So I suggest they keep the Hyuga surname."
The Third Raikage considered it for several breaths.
Then he slowly nodded.
"Fine. We'll do it that way."
Neither of them spared a thought for Hyuga Akira or the rest of the branch family in Konoha. At this point, what mattered was the child in front of them and what that child could become for the village in the years ahead.
Once he had confirmed the child's condition, the Third Raikage turned and left.
Before departing, he made one more thing clear: Shun Chiba's mission to lure Hyuga Akira and the other branch family members into leaving their bloodline behind counted as another S-rank mission.
Another S-rank.
Even Shun felt his heart jump at that.
Once the Raikage and ANBU withdrew, Shun stayed behind. He took the child in his arms and played with him for a little while, watching the pale, cloudy eyes blink without understanding.
Then, after the medical staff finished their work, he entered the room and handed the baby back to Mei.
"Lord Raikage agreed," Shun said. "The child can keep the Hyuga surname. You can choose the given name yourself."
Mei barely reacted to the matter of naming.
Her eyes went first to the baby's face, then to his eyes.
"Is there a problem with the Byakugan?" she asked.
Shun answered honestly. "It should still be usable. But it isn't as pure as his father's."
Mei did not seem disappointed.
If anything, relief washed over her face. She held the child tightly in her arms for a long time, reluctant to let go, as though afraid someone might still take him away.
Only after a while did she seem to remember that the conversation was still ongoing.
"Then…" she said softly, "let's call him Hyuga Jun."
Shun and Yotsuki A, who had re-entered by then, exchanged a glance and both nodded.
The name was simple. Clean. Easy to remember.
And more importantly, useful.
They stayed a while longer, studying Hyuga Jun in silence, before finally leaving the ward.
***
Outside the hospital, Yotsuki A let out a breath and glanced sideways at Shun.
"Do you think Mei's expectations are too high?" he asked. "This child's talent definitely won't match Hyuga Akira's. Akira was only an ordinary jonin."
"The village only cared about getting the Byakugan bloodline."
Shun understood what Yotsuki A meant immediately.
He was afraid Mei would place too much hope on the child, and that those expectations would crush him before he even had a chance to grow.
After thinking for a moment, Shun said, "High expectations are better than no expectations."
"The talent of shinobi with this kind of dōjutsu is often heavily influenced by the pressure and hope placed on them."
"The higher the expectations, the more potential the child may be forced to draw out."
He shrugged lightly. "If they're allowed to grow up without burdens, there's a good chance a child like this would end up mediocre."
Yotsuki A did not fully understand the logic, but he also did not argue. Chiba Shun would be the one handling these matters going forward, so there was no need for him to get too involved.
Instead, he asked a more practical question.
"Do you think Hyuga Jun's Byakugan can be purified through training?"
Shun considered it.
"Maybe," he said at last. "If we can awaken the Hyuga bloodline inside him to the level his father reached, it's possible the Byakugan could become purer."
"But the Hyuga's bloodline is very different from bloodline limits born from elemental fusion. It's an eye technique. Something inherited more directly. It may be difficult to strengthen it the same way."
Yotsuki A nodded.
There were not many bloodline clans in Kumogakure, and the village's research in that area was limited. He did not know much more than Shun did.
They walked on for a while in silence.
Then, just before they parted ways, Shun suddenly said, "Has Lord Raikage ever considered seizing more bloodline-limit children from outside villages? Children like Hyuga Jun?"
Yotsuki A thought of how his father sometimes spoke about the bloodline clans of Kirigakure and said, "Of course he has. But the major villages protect their bloodlines very closely."
"And taking another village's bloodline can easily start a war."
Shun did not deny that.
But he had already moved on to another possibility.
"What about the Uzumaki clan?" he asked. "Uzushiogakure was destroyed. There should be surviving Uzumaki scattered all over the world."
"They don't have a major village backing them anymore, so taking them in wouldn't necessarily trigger a war."
Yotsuki A was tempted.
That much showed in his eyes.
But in the end, he still shook his head.
"Kumogakure took part in the destruction of Uzushiogakure," he said. "Even if we find Uzumaki orphans, we wouldn't dare raise them openly."
Shun had expected that answer. What he was really worried about was something else.
Not the risk.
The Third Raikage's attitude.
So he asked, "Can you tell me what really happened when the Uzumaki clan was destroyed?"
Yotsuki A nodded.
"My father told me the full story before."
He looked ahead as he spoke, his voice steady. "It started during the Second Shinobi World War. Early on, Konoha was besieged by the other four great villages and also had to deal with Amegakure. Their situation was terrible."
"There had been battles before that, of course, but nothing on that scale."
"Even the Third Hokage and the Nine-Tails jinchūriki went to the battlefield. My father fought the Nine-Tails jinchūriki several times."
He paused, then continued.
"But when Konoha was on the brink of collapse, the Uzumaki clan stepped in. For some reason, Konoha had given them enough benefits that they were willing to enter the war."
"In truth, the Uzumaki joining the war didn't instantly reverse Konoha's weakness."
"But they bought Konoha time. And eventually, the Third Hokage's three disciples rose to fame as the Legendary Sannin."
"The rise of those three was the real turning point that forced the four great villages to pull back."
Shun understood immediately.
In the early years of that era, most villages had only one—or at most two—Kage-level fighters they could truly rely on.
But Konoha had suddenly produced a terrifying lineup.
Hiruzen Sarutobi. Danzo Shimura. Sakumo Hatake. Orochimaru. Jiraiya. Tsunade.
And if one also counted Mito Uzumaki, then Konoha had effectively fielded seven monsters.
No wonder the rest of the world had been forced to retreat.
Yotsuki A continued, "When the brutal Second Shinobi World War ended, my father and the others still weren't satisfied."
"So my father, along with the Third Tsuchikage, the Third Kazekage, and the Third Mizukage, led elite troops in a retaliatory campaign against the Uzumaki clan."
"In that battle, Uzushiogakure fell. The Uzumaki clan, already heavily depleted by the war, was declared destroyed."
"And the victors divided the Uzumaki legacy among themselves."
He lowered his voice slightly. "Our village obtained part of the Uzumaki sealing arts. That's how Kumogakure improved its tailed-beast seals."
After a brief hesitation, he added even more quietly, "Because of those seals, the village now intends to train a perfect jinchūriki."
Shun's eyes flickered.
He had not expected Yotsuki A to tell him something that sensitive.
Still, he only nodded. Then he asked, "What about Konoha? Did Konoha just watch as Lord Raikage and the others wiped out Uzushiogakure?"
Yotsuki A shook his head.
"Konoha did move. Just too late."
"We later learned that Mito Uzumaki was already old. After several battles with my father, she finally couldn't suppress Kurama any longer."
"While my father and the others were besieging Uzushiogakure, Konoha was dealing with a Nine-Tails rampage inside its own borders."
"The Nine-Tails is the strongest tailed beast. I heard Konoha suffered major losses that time."
"Although they eventually sealed it again, Mito Uzumaki's health was ruined afterward."
Then he added one more detail.
"And later, Konoha found another survivor of the Uzumaki clan and transferred the Nine-Tails into her."
"We planned an operation against that new Nine-Tails jinchūriki."
"It failed."
Shun immediately thought of Kushina Uzumaki. And then, just as quickly, of Minato Namikaze.
The image of the two together flashed through his mind.
Then he laughed softly.
"The Uzumaki clan really were Konoha's allies," he said. "But looking at the result, Konoha failed them completely."
"The Uzumaki risked everything to save Konoha in its hour of crisis, but when the Uzumaki themselves were facing annihilation, Konoha couldn't save them."
He looked at Yotsuki A. "With an example like that, it shouldn't be difficult to brainwash surviving Uzumaki orphans."
Yotsuki A stared at him for a long moment.
Then he nodded sharply. "I'll tell Father immediately."
The next moment, he vanished with the Body Flicker Technique.
He did not question Chiba Shun's ability to do that kind of work.
Anyone who had ever visited the Ninja Academy and seen what had become of the children there already knew: when it came to shaping minds, planting hatred, and forging loyalty, Chiba Shun was terrifyingly good at it.