The next day, Hinata returned to normal. She trained with exceptional seriousness, and during sparring she was noticeably more proactive.
It looked as if everything was finally moving in a good direction. And yet… when Hyuga Homon came to report, Hyuga Hiashi's expression darkened even further.
The moment the "Life Simulator" cooldown ended, Hinata activated it immediately.
[Year 54 of Konoha. The Kumogakure delegation arrives, and Father becomes even busier. I find a chance to sneak out of the estate again, planning to go look for Neji-nii.]
[However, just outside the wall, I spot a suspicious figure. His skin is dark, very much like someone from the Land of Lightning.]
[Now, I have three choices.]
[1. Shout loudly that there is an enemy-village spy here.]
[2. Ignore it and continue looking for Neji.]
[3. Do nothing and immediately return to my room.]
"I choose the third."
[Before he notices me, I quietly retreat back inside the wall and run back to my room. Uneasy, I fall into a heavy sleep. The intruder seems to stop there—nothing happens that night.]
[At dawn the next day, a new choice lies before me.]
[1. Go find Kiyonari and Neji to discuss a plan.]
[2. Tell Father what I discovered last night.]
Hinata had already made her decision. She chose the first option—going to find Kiyonari in the simulator.
[I decide to find Kiyonari and Neji, tell them what I saw last night, and carefully explain that we absolutely cannot let the Cloud envoy die in Konoha.]
[Neji suggests that Uncle Hizashi can bring branch-family members to set an ambush in advance. If the intruder returns tonight, they can capture him together.]
[Instinctively, I look to Kiyonari. He agrees with Neji's suggestion and adds: our abilities are limited—we must rely on the adults. We should deploy early and prepare thoroughly.]
[Night falls. As bait, I climb over the wall again. The Cloud ninja sees me and immediately reaches out to grab me.]
[The branch-family members hidden in the dark reveal themselves at once, surrounding the intruder completely. But the Cloud ninja sees his mission has failed. A hint of resolve flashes in his eyes, and without hesitation… he chooses to kill himself!]
[He is dead.]
In that instant, a chill shot from Hinata's feet straight to the top of her head. Her face went white as paper.
Three simulations in a row… no matter whether she ignored it, called for help, or set an ambush to capture him, the outcome always pointed to the same conclusion. That could only mean Kumogakure had never cared whether the envoy lived or died. All they wanted was an excuse to start trouble!
"Their purpose in coming to Konoha is only the Byakugan!" she whispered in a shaken voice.
For Kumogakure, the best outcome would be to kidnap her outright. If the plan was exposed, the intruder would immediately commit suicide, and then Kumogakure would apply pressure and shift their target to her father.
It was a complete and total conspiracy.
"Haa…"
Hinata took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. Her trembling body gradually steadied itself through breath after breath.
After all this—and with the Life Simulator's help—if she still ran away the moment she faced a problem, it would be an insult to Kiyonari's trust.
She looked at the final lines of this simulation.
[This simulation has ended.]
[Evaluation: You still haven't understood what it is that truly killed the people you cherish.]
She couldn't understand why the simulator would say that.
Hinata shook her head, setting that heavy question aside for the moment.
Time quietly passed. Another day went by, and the arrival of Kumogakure's delegation was now only just around the corner.
Hinata opened the notebook again, her gaze settling, growing firm.
Fourth simulation—start!
[Year 54 of Konoha. The Kumogakure delegation arrives, and Father becomes even busier. I find a chance to sneak out of the estate again, planning to go look for Neji-nii.]
[However, just outside the wall, I spot a suspicious figure. His skin is dark, very much like someone from the Land of Lightning.]
[Now, I have three choices.]
[1. Shout loudly that there is an enemy-village spy here.]
[2. Ignore it and continue looking for Neji.]
[3. Do nothing and immediately return to my room.]
"I choose the third."
[Before he notices me, I quietly retreat back inside the wall and run back to my room. Uneasy, I fall into a heavy sleep. The intruder seems to stop there—nothing happens that night.]
[At dawn the next day, a new choice lies before me.]
[1. Go find Kiyonari and Neji to discuss a plan.]
[2. Tell Father what I discovered last night.]
This time, Hinata chose the second option.
[I tell Father what I discovered last night, and I lay out Kumogakure's conspiracy in full, framed as my own inference. Father frowns deeply, doubtful—but in the end, he chooses to believe me.]
[That night, he acts personally, sneaking outside the wall. The Cloud ninja is caught completely off guard. With one strike to a major tenketsu, he is knocked unconscious, then quietly hidden away in a remote storage room.]
[The next day, the Cloud delegation indeed comes aggressively to the door, claiming their important envoy has mysteriously disappeared inside the Hyuga compound, and demanding that the Hyuga household provide an explanation.]
[Amid their shouting, Hyuga Hiashi says he will send people to assist in the search. Then he personally leads Konoha's higher-ups and the Cloud delegation on a "search" through the compound—until, in front of everyone, they "discover" the "missing" envoy slumped beside a sake barrel, reeking of alcohol and snoring away.]
[The Cloud delegation's faces turn ashen. Their leader stares at his "dead-drunk" companion, trembling with fury, yet unable to say a word. Under the watchful eyes of Konoha, they can only swallow this "accident," take the man back in humiliation, and leave.]
[The Hyuga clan's crisis seems to be resolved.]
Hinata's taut body went limp. She nearly collapsed into her chair. "Finally… finally, it's going to work!"
She had protected the clan's bloodline limit from leaking out, protected her father, and protected Neji and Uncle Hizashi! A sense of achievement and pride she'd never felt before flooded her small chest.
More words continued to appear on the page, line by line, as if confirming her victory.
[That day, the ceasefire agreement is signed smoothly. By evening, the Cloud delegation sets out and leaves Konoha.]
"That's great—next, as long as we follow the simulator…"
But before she could finish, the situation in the simulator took a sudden, violent turn.
[Not long after, two cold corpses are delivered to the gates of Konoha.]
[The returning Cloud delegation is grief-stricken and furious, accusing the Hokage: not long after they departed, they were hunted down.]
[They point to the dark-purple internal injuries on the bodies, claiming it is ironclad evidence of Gentle Fist—and proof that Hyuga Hiashi took revenge on them!]
The smile on Hinata's face froze instantly. Her pupils shrank hard.
[The Cloud delegation's leader says they do not wish to rekindle war, but Hyuga Hiashi must pay for his "evil deeds." They demand that Konoha hand Hyuga Hiashi over to Kumogakure for trial, to appease the Raikage's wrath.]
[Faced with Kumogakure's shameless, glaringly flawed frame-up, Konoha falls into an eerie silence.]
~~~
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