"..."
"What, you have nothing to say?"
Hiashi Hyuga tried to find an excuse for the Hokage. "This was just for the sake of the greater good."
Tōshirō said with a self-deprecating tone, "Oh, that's a very big picture. At least someone like me, who doesn't have a big picture, would never hand over their own people."
"Shut up! Stop slandering the Hokage-sama!" Hiashi said sternly. "I respect you as the Uchiha clan head and for the contributions you've made to the village in the past, but that's no excuse for you to keep spouting nonsense."
"Slander? I'm not slandering. I'm just looking at it from a practical standpoint," Tōshirō sneered. "The Byakugan has the ability to see through things for a kilometer. It's too easy to find someone, especially in the Leaf Village. Kidnapping a member of the Hyuga main family from the Leaf Village is as difficult as reaching the heavens, unless you have Kage-level strength."
"But in reality, the person who kidnapped your daughter wasn't even able to take off his mask before you took him down, was he?"
"For a worthless person like that, I don't think the Cloud Village would have sent him to capture your daughter unless they were out of their minds. It can only mean that the Cloud Village was prepared to cause trouble from the start, and as for who gave them this opportunity, it must have been someone who deliberately leaked this information, which made the Cloud Village decide to take a gamble. No matter what, they would win, wouldn't they?"
Hiashi Hyuga: "..."
"Because they knew you would be able to find this person immediately and that you wouldn't hold back because you were so worried about saving your daughter, they came up with this plan. This way, there are at least two benefits."
Tōshirō held up two fingers. "First, they wouldn't have to worry about the Byakugan falling into the hands of others. Second, they knew that you, the Hyuga, wouldn't hand yourself over. Instead, you would choose to hand over your twin brother. After all, you two look exactly alike. In a way, you two represent the main family and the branch family. When Hizashi dies, the internal conflict of the clan, which already existed because of historical reasons, would be further intensified, which would weaken your power."
With that, Tōshirō asked in a feigned manner, "Do you think my analysis makes sense?"
Tōshirō's words were well-reasoned and well-supported. No matter how much Hiashi Hyuga didn't want to believe it, he couldn't find a single reason to refute him. "What was the motive?"
"Isn't the motive simple?"
"It was to threaten the elders' rule. An overly united and powerful Hyuga clan is not what the elders want to see. A Hyuga clan that's neither too strong nor too weak is in the elders' best interests."
Tōshirō smiled. "There's a saying, 'When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.' The Hyuga and Uchiha clans both fit that description."
"Hmph. You've said all this just to try and stir up trouble between the Hyuga clan and the elders, haven't you?"
"I'm just telling the truth," Tōshirō said. "If you paid close attention, you would have noticed that the Hokage position is passed down in a single line. To firmly control this power and keep it in the family, the elders have done many sinister things behind the scenes. I'll give you two examples to show you how dark our village really is."
Hiashi Hyuga was silent. He wanted to hear what Tōshirō had to say.
Tōshirō reminded him, "You must remember the time when the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was kidnapped, right?"
Hiashi thought for a moment and nodded.
"Don't you think some things are very similar? Why is it happening in our village again, and with the Cloud Village again? You have to understand that back then, not everyone knew that Kushina was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki like everyone knows about Naruto. Only a few people knew."
"How did the Cloud Village know that Kushina was the Jinchuriki and find her residence so accurately? Also, shouldn't an important Jinchuriki like Kushina have Anbu protecting her in secret?"
"Even if she was kidnapped, there should have been corresponding measures in place."
"But what happened? An important person like the Jinchuriki was kidnapped in the Leaf Village, and we knew nothing about it. By the time we reacted, the person was nowhere to be found, and we found nothing when we searched for her. Is our village a public restroom? Can people just come and go as they please?"
"Originally, if things had stopped there, it would have been one thing, but a young boy, Minato Namikaze, miraculously found her and rescued her."
"The reason is quite funny. It seems he was able to find her by following the strands of hair Kushina pulled out of her head and left on the ground. Do you know what this means?"
Tōshirō had a playful smile on his face, which piqued Hiashi Hyuga's curiosity. "What does it mean?"
Tōshirō's face darkened. "It means all the Leaf Village ninjas are worthless."
Hiashi Hyuga: "..."
Tōshirō rubbed his throat. "Talking makes me a little thirsty. Do you have any tea?"
Hiashi Hyuga: "..."
A few minutes later, Tōshirō took a sip of tea and moistened his throat. "Your tea is good. Your Hyuga clan knows how to enjoy life."
Hiashi Hyuga's face was grim. His expression seemed to be saying, "Stop talking nonsense and get to the point."
Tōshirō put down the cup. "Let me analyze the problems with this for you."
"First, a normal kidnapping, whether it's an impromptu one or a premeditated one, based on professionalism and efficiency, would be to knock the person out directly, not just shove a rag in their mouth."
At this point, Tōshirō smiled. "Are you curious about how I know what happened at the scene?"
Hiashi Hyuga nodded.
"It's simple. If they knocked her out directly, how in the world would she have been able to pull out her own hair?" Tōshirō was so frustrated he started cursing.
Hiashi Hyuga: "..."
Tōshirō continued, "Even if the kidnapper was an idiot and didn't knock her out directly, they would have tied her up, right? If her hands were tied, how in the world would she have been able to pull out her hair? It's not like she's going through male pattern baldness."
Tōshirō's words were crude but made a lot of sense. While Hiashi was speechless, he couldn't find a single reason to refute him.
"Honestly, I'm really curious about what position the Cloud Village was in when they kidnapped Kushina that allowed her to have the ability to pull out her hair during the kidnapping."
At this point, Tōshirō had a speechless look on his face. "It can't be that Kushina's hands and head were facing the same direction, right? Oh, wait, that's a possibility. Otherwise, the logic doesn't make sense. If that's the case, then I can only say, kidnapper, do whatever makes you happy. Are you an actor or something?"
Hiashi Hyuga: "..."
Tōshirō let out a breath, completely speechless. "Alright, now that I've talked about how unprofessional the kidnappers were, let's talk about our side."
"Our side is just as ridiculous. Logically, for something as important as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki being kidnapped, the Leaf Village would have immediately sent out the most professional search and rescue team. Other people might not have noticed, but the search and rescue team definitely would have. Plus, the Uzumaki clan's hair is so obvious. If the search and rescue team couldn't find it, there's only one possibility: that all their so-called professional experience went to the dogs."
"Of course, you could say that hair is too small and it's normal not to find it, which is true. But how could Minato Namikaze find something so small?"
"You have to know that when a person is moving at high speed, it's impossible for them to notice such a small thing. Unless their perception is at the level of the Byakugan or the Sharingan, and I don't think Minato Namikaze has either of those eyes. So, it's only possible that Minato Namikaze stopped somewhere to find the hair and then followed the direction the hair was falling to find the kidnapped Kushina."
"So, where was this place? I think it was probably at her home. Under normal circumstances, when someone goes missing, it's normal to go to the victim's house to search. So, Minato Namikaze must have found Kushina's hair at her home and then noticed it. So, another question arises."
"If that's the case, wouldn't the Leaf Village's rescue team have noticed it?"
"I don't think so, do you?"
"So, there's only one possibility: they chose to not see it."
Hiashi Hyuga was stunned. "Chose to not see it?"
Tōshirō said with conviction, "That's right."
Hiashi Hyuga asked, "Why?"
"That's a very intriguing question," Tōshirō said with a smile. "Let's do the math. Minato Namikaze had just graduated, right? Considering that he came from a civilian background, he had limited ninjutsu resources and no bloodline limit. His strength couldn't have been that great. It would be one thing if he was facing someone his own age, but the problem is that the people who carry out an important mission like kidnapping a Jinchuriki can't be kids his age."
"So, the probability of him succeeding in a solo rescue is very low. It would be a miracle if he didn't die. He wanted to save someone? What a joke. After all, you have to be at least a few jonin-level shinobi to be able to kidnap a Jinchuriki, right?"
"But the fact is, Minato Namikaze rescued Kushina directly, and he didn't even seem to be injured."
"That's very intriguing."
Tōshirō smiled. "Don't you think it's too contradictory?"
Hiashi Hyuga: "..."
Tōshirō said, "Of course, you could say that it's not that contradictory and that it's a possibility, but the probability is extremely low. Putting everything else aside, the fact that an important person like the Jinchuriki was kidnapped at her own home is simply unbelievable. Not to mention, the kidnapper was also very weak. If that's really the case, then there's no need for the Leaf Village, one of the Five Great Nations, to even exist. If it's this useless, it should just destroy itself to save its ancestors from being disgraced."
Hiashi Hyuga: "..."
Tōshirō said, "So, the result is very clear. The only way for these things to not be contradictory is that it was a premeditated, self-directed play."
"A self-directed play?"
"Yes," Tōshirō said with a hint of admiration. "Honestly, the elders really had the guts to come up with such a hero-saves-the-damsel plot."
In the original story, there's a scene where the Cloud Village ninja kidnaps Kushina and lets her walk. Yes, walk. What a joke. This is a kidnapping, a race against time. It felt like they were deliberately waiting for someone to come and rescue her, afraid that Minato Namikaze wouldn't make it in time to perform the hero-saves-the-damsel act.
"A hero saves the damsel?"
Hiashi Hyuga's mind was in a complete mess. If Tōshirō's analysis was true, he couldn't understand the elders' reason for doing this.
(End of Chapter)
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