Hiashi let out a long, weary breath, his gaze remaining fixed on the cooling tea.
"Whatever the reason may be but..," he muttered, his voice cold and dismissive, "There is no profit in this for us. It is a waste of time to dwell on their failures."
Kozuki didn't even seem to hear him. He leaned back, his eyes distant as if he were already seeing the future.
"For once," the old man whispered, a satisfied glint in his pale eyes, "We will have more respect in the eyes of the village and the Hokage. Such a disgrace has never happened from our side. We are the pillar of discipline; they are becoming a messy footnote."
Hizashi, still standing by the door, let his head drop slightly. He raised a hand, rubbing his temple and holding his forehead as if a massive headache was blooming behind the dark symbol of his branch house.
'I am so done with this conversation,' he thought, feeling the weight of his family's ancient rivalry.
Finally, Hiashi snapped. His calm mask cracked just enough for his voice to sharpen like a blade.
"Chichioya, you may say or think anything you like, but look at this Hokage of ours! He always tries to keep the Uchiha name from getting dirty. He will do anything to 'solve' the so-called suffering they have received for decades. He will bury this."
Kozuki let out a loud, dry "HAHA!" that echoed through the room.
"That is where you go wrong, my son! We still have the Konoha Council. Those old hawks will take this chance to drag that name through the mud. Finally, the Hyuga will have our full share of respect, without having to divide it with any other clan."
The room felt small, filled with the heavy ambitions of a man who refused to let the past die.
Hizashi let out a long, heavy sigh, his eyes dropping back to the paper. "And..." he began, his voice trailing off as if he were hesitant to even say the words out loud.
Kozuki rolled his eyes, his patience clearly wearing thin. "Now what is left?" he snapped, his voice sharp with annoyance. Then, a dark, mocking smirk stretched across his face.
"Now, don't tell me the women of the Uchiha clan are being killed off so fast that they've started running away too?"
Kozuki let out a loud, raspy laugh, the sound echoing off the cold wooden walls of the estate. But as the seconds ticked by, his laughter slowly died out, turning into an awkward silence.
Neither of his sons moved. Neither of them smiled. The room felt suddenly like a tomb.
Hizashi cleared his throat, the sound sharp in the stillness. Hiashi, trying to regain his composure, lifted his tea cup once more and began to sip, his eyes staring blankly at the floor.
"Among those children," Hizashi said, his voice now deathly serious, "two pairs of Byakugan were found."
The reaction was instant. Hiashi choked, a spray of tea flying from his mouth as he coughed violently, his lungs seizing up in pure shock.
The word 'Byakugan' had hit him like a physical blow.
Hizashi rushed forward immediately, abandoning the fallen newspaper on the floor. He patted his brother's back with hard, frantic thumps.
"Nii-san! Nii-san! Breathe!" he shouted, his usual calm completely shattered.
Hiashi hacked a few more times, his face turning a shade of red that matched the Uchiha crest. Finally, he raised a trembling hand, gesturing for Hizashi to stop.
He cleared his throat, trying to find his dignity again, though his eyes remained wide with horror.
Kozuki, meanwhile, looked as if he had seen a ghost. His face went pale, and the mocking smirk was replaced by a look of pure, unadulterated rage.
"What the hell are you saying?" Kozuki roared, his voice trembling with fury.
"How is that even possible? Our blood does not wander! Our eyes do not belong in a wasteland like Tetsu no Kuni!"
The silence that followed was heavy with the realization that the 'disgrace' they were just laughing at might actually be their own.
The scene shifted away from the heavy tension of the Hyuga estate, crossing the frozen borders back to the snowy landscape of Tetsu no Kuni.
The heavy, gold-trimmed curtains of the Grand Pavilion had been pulled back, revealing the pale light of a cold morning. High above the jagged, snow-capped peaks, the sun was a faint, milky disc struggling to break through a thick blanket of grey clouds.
The light was soft and flat, casting long, blue shadows across the balcony where Naruto and Sakura stood.
Naruto leaned his elbows on the railing, his eyes squinting at the muffled glow of the hidden sun. Beside him was Sakura who was speaking in a low, serious tone. They seemed to be discussing their next move, their voices lost to the steady whistle of the mountain wind.
In the outer portion of the pavilion, the atmosphere was a strange mix of energy and distraction. Mini-Sasuke was sitting cross-legged, his black eyes wide and full of life.
He was talking to Hinata with an enthusiasm that was rare for any version of a Sasuke, his hands cutting through the air as he described a technique or a memory.
Hinata, however, was miles away. While she nodded occasionally to be polite, her pale eyes—those same eyes that had just caused a storm in Konoha—were fixed entirely on the balcony.
She watched the way the clouded sunlight caught the back of Naruto's head, her fingers twisting a loose thread on her sleeve.
Further inside, the sound of rhythmic breathing came from Tenten. She had finished her morning cleaning and was sprawled out on the wooden floor, her head resting on her arm for a quick, deep nap.
Nearby, the quiet 'thud-thud' of bedding filled the air. Karin and Ino were working in a rare moment of peace, lifting the heavy, floral-patterned futons and stacking them neatly in a tall pile against the wall. They moved with a focused energy, clearing the floor space as the pavilion fully woke up to a day that would change everything.
The pale, clouded sunlight continued to wash over the pavilion, but the peaceful rhythm of the morning was suddenly broken.
Near the entrance, Ino and Karin paused in their work, a heavy futon held between them. They both tilted their heads, their eyes darting toward the thick wooden door.
"Do you hear that?" Ino whispered, her voice barely audible over the wind outside.
Karin pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, her expression turning sharp.
"Mumbling," she muttered. "Someone is right outside, but the energy feels... strange. Too fast."
They exchanged a look of confusion, wondering who would be wandering the halls of the Grand Pavilion so early. Suddenly, without a knock, the door slid open with a sharp clack.
Only Ino, Karin, and Hinata—who had been pulled away from her daydream of the balcony—noticed the movement. The others were still lost in their own worlds. Mini-Sasuke blinked, his enthusiastic story cutting off mid-sentence as he looked up at Hinata's startled face.
"Nee-san?" he asked, his voice tilting with curiosity. "Is something the matter?"
Before Hinata could even draw a breath to answer, a blur of motion stepped through the doorway. A familiar figure stood there, framed by the grey morning light, breathing heavily as if he had run across the entire Tetsu no Kuni.
It was Rock Lee, his green jumpsuit dusty and his expression unusually frantic, looking as though he carried news that couldn't wait another second.
Lee's voice ripped through the quiet morning like a sudden crack of thunder. "What are you all doing here?!" he shouted, his lungs expanding as if he were in the middle of a marathon.
He stood in the center of the pavilion, his eyes wide and his body vibrating with a frantic, restless energy that didn't belong in a room full of sleepy young ninjas.
From the inner shadows, Tenten sat up with a jolt, her hair a mess and her eyes barely open.
"Lee! What the hell?" she shouted back, her voice raspy from her interrupted nap. "Just because you are full of energy doesn't mean the rest of us are! Let us sle—"
She didn't even get to finish. Lee didn't stop to listen; he moved like a green blur, his feet skidding across the polished floorboards as he charged toward the balcony.
He opened the sliding doors open with a bang, letting a rush of freezing mountain air into the warm room.
Sakura jumped, her hand clutching her cloak as she spun around. "Lee- san! What the...? We were talking!"
But Lee didn't apologize. He reached out and grabbed Naruto's shoulders, shaking him slightly as if trying to wake him from a nightmare.
"Naruto-kun! What are you doing here?"
Naruto blinked, looking at the thick, bushy eyebrows of his friend with a look of pure disbelief.
"Gejimayu... could your talk wait just a second? I was in the middle of something really important with Sakura-chan."
"Naruto-kun!" Lee shouted even louder, his face inches from Naruto's. "I thought you would have taken everyone else by now! Why are you still standing here?!"
The dim light of the clouded morning seemed to hold its breath as the silence in the pavilion stretched thin. Naruto stood on the balcony, his heart pounding with a strange, hollow feeling.
Inside his mind, a storm of confusion was brewing.
'Taking everyone? Where?' He searched his memory for any plan, any hidden instruction he might have missed, but there was nothing.
The cold air of Tetsu no Kuni felt suddenly much sharper as he realized he had no idea why his comrade was acting this way.
His annoyance was visible in the way he stood. He shifted his weight, his sandals scraping against the wooden balcony floor with a harsh sound.
He crossed his arms tightly, his shoulders hunched up as he gave Lee a look of pure frustration. Every second Lee spent staring at him without explaining was a second wasted from his important talk with Sakura.
But Lee didn't back down. He leaned in even closer, his eyes wide and unblinking, vibrating with a frantic energy. "Naruto-kun!" Lee insisted, his voice cracking with urgency.
"We are the one! We are the only one who can move them all before it's too late! Why are you just standing here watching the clouds?"
That was the final straw. The heat in Naruto's chest exploded. His face turned a deep, heated red, and he shoved Lee's hands away with a violent jerk of his arms.
"What the heck?!" he roared, his voice echoing out over the snowy plains of Tetsu no Kuni.
"I told you, I was doing something important! And what are you even talking about? Taking everyone where? Speak sense, Gejimayu!"
As the echoes of their shouting died down, a heavy, suffocating silence filled the pavilion.
---
📊 BATTLE REPORT: 63-IRON 📊
LOSER: Rock Lee 🪨🟢
📢 A NOTE TO THE READERS:
Author's Thought🔍
First of all… I owe you all an apology 😭
I vanished for 15 days like a ninja using a forbidden disappearing jutsu. Unfortunately, the enemy was not a rival clan… it was my exams. And yes, they hit harder than a Hyuga palm strike.
Thank you for waiting patiently while I survived that battlefield. Your support honestly means a lot! 🤧
Now as a small peace offering… here's a tiny spoiler from an upcoming chapter 👀
At some point very soon, two characters will be running around in absolute panic… wearing yukatas.
Yes. Yukatas. In a situation where they absolutely should NOT be wearing yukatas.
How did that happen?
Why are they running?
Who thought that was a good idea?
You'll find out soon 😌
Thank you again for sticking with the story! More chaos is coming. 🔥
SNEAK PEAK LINES 💬
'His chakra is spiked like he has witnessed something horrible.'
'What did Lee- san expected Naruto-kun to do?'
---
—With love, one forehead poke away from collapse,
Sakura Shinomiya 💫
---