Chapter 361: Filthy Politics
"Has your squad leader always been this brave?"
Amamiya Kenichi casually tossed the limp corpse in his hand to the ground, then glanced at the three trembling Genin in front of him. One of them had even wet himself.
Kenichi sighed inwardly. He really could not understand how someone with such weak nerves had managed to become a ninja. Had Konoha really fallen this far?
Still, it was normal that the three little quails in front of him had no intention of answering.
After all, just moments ago, their teacher had charged at him with tears in his eyes, shouting about bonds and close friends, only to be killed instantly. Even Kenichi had not expected a Jonin to be that brainless.
If someone like Naruto had rushed at him while shouting about bonds and comrades, Kenichi would have been wary.
But a nobody like this, a man who did not even have a name worth remembering, was not worth his caution at all.
Kenichi casually searched the dead Jonin's belongings, took the money, then used the Konoha forehead protector from the corpse to wipe his hands clean before glancing back at the three trembling Genin.
Under normal circumstances, he would not have minded taking these three little quails back to the lab as experimental material.
But he had something important to do right now, so all he could say was that these three were lucky.
Just as he was about to leave, Kenichi suddenly remembered something.
He walked back over, bent down, and picked up the quietest of the three, the one who had not said a word from beginning to end.
This one was from the Hyuga clan and possessed the Byakugan.
That was the real reason Kenichi had changed his mind.
If they had just been ordinary ninja, he would not have bothered with them at all.
"Am I going to die?" the Hyuga ninja asked, looking at Kenichi.
His legs were still trembling, but there was also a faint trace of relief in his eyes, as if he had his own story to tell.
"That depends," Kenichi replied casually, carrying him away.
He had no interest in the other two little quails. He had decided on a whim to take this Hyuga ninja because an important thought had suddenly occurred to him.
Earlier, when he had tried to analyze Nagato's Rinnegan, an idea had appeared in his mind. It sounded absurd, but it was not impossible.
What if he could further research the Byakugan, fully master the method of transforming it, and ultimately awaken the Tenseigan?
Would he not then possess both the Tenseigan and the Rinnegan?
And beyond that, was it possible for the Tenseigan and Rinnegan to evolve even further? Could those two supreme eyes fuse into something even more terrifying?
Just thinking about it made him interested enough to want to try immediately.
And now, a Hyuga ninja had delivered himself right to his hands.
Naturally, that made this man a ready made test subject.
Kenichi planned to use his Mangekyo Sharingan on him and see whether the Byakugan would show the same strange phenomenon as the Rinnegan had before.
As for whatever personal story the boy might have, Kenichi had no interest in hearing it.
He only wanted the Byakugan for research and, while he was at it, to study how to break the Hyuga clan's Caged Bird Seal.
"If I do not give Konoha something to keep it busy, the Akatsuki is going to be in trouble," Kenichi muttered as he hurried onward.
He was taking the Hyuga ninja to the Hidden Rain Village. That trip also gave him an excuse to meet with Nagato again and then head straight back to the lab.
Time was pressing.
His Shadow Clones were still in the middle of experiments, and Kenichi had absolutely no desire to experience that bone deep exhaustion again after dismissing them. The phrase worse than death truly had not been exaggerated.
As he moved, he glanced at the Hyuga ninja in his grasp.
"Kid, you're from the branch family, aren't you?"
"Yes," the boy answered quietly.
There was nothing strange about that.
Main family members almost never appeared outside anymore. Ever since Ao of the Hidden Mist obtained a Hyuga eye, the main family had all but stopped leaving Konoha. Missions were generally handled by members of the branch family.
That way, even if a branch family ninja fell into enemy hands, the Caged Bird Seal could not be broken, and their Byakugan would remain unusable.
On top of that, the main family possessed a way to activate the seal remotely and destroy the Byakugan entirely. In some ways, it was indeed a thorough system.
Even so, Kenichi still felt there were flaws in it.
The enemy might not be able to use a captured Byakugan immediately, true, but had every branch family member in the Hyuga clan truly remained utterly loyal over all these years? Would every one of them choose death the instant they were captured? Would every single one refuse to cooperate?
How could that be possible?
Such behavior might happen in his insect race, where hierarchy was absolute and obedience was built into the system. But human beings were the most complicated intelligent creatures in existence. Given enough time, there would always be one or two who made different choices.
Unless, of course, the Caged Bird Seal also somehow created reproductive isolation between the Hyuga and everyone else, which would have been utterly absurd.
If a branch family member, out of resentment, cooperated with a foreign ninja and became the source of Byakugan bloodline descendants in another village, then the next generation would not bear the Caged Bird Seal at all.
It did not even have to be that complicated.
A branch family member could secretly father a child, conceal its existence, and then smuggle that child into another village.
Kenichi had once seen something similar in Orochimaru's lab, a Hyuga branch bloodline specimen. Unfortunately, the patient had been riddled with cancer, and the eyes had been unusable.
If that happened, then the distinction between main and branch family would mean nothing. The Byakugan bloodline would simply leak out of Konoha altogether.
And yet, since Konoha's founding, the only famous case of a stolen Byakugan being used by an enemy was still Ao.
As he thought about it, Kenichi understood part of the answer.
Konoha guarded the Hyuga very carefully. Even when branch members went out on missions, they were usually accompanied by Jonin. Some branch family members had also clearly been brainwashed to such an extent that, if things went wrong, they would rather destroy their own eyes than let them be taken.
That might also be related to the fact that the Byakugan had a high lower limit, but its upper limit was relatively modest.
Among the three great dōjutsu, the Sharingan was still far more sought after.
If a transmigrator ever got a live selling system in the ninja world, the Sharingan would probably be the hottest product by far.
Orochimaru wanted it. Danzo wanted it. Even Hiruzen had hinted at his interest through Orochimaru. That alone showed how overwhelming the temptation of the Sharingan was to the elite of the ninja world.
By contrast, the ones who usually tried to steal the Byakugan were outsiders from other villages.
"Your branch family handles missions..." Kenichi murmured.
Then he smiled faintly.
The branch family's sacrifice really was convenient for Konoha.
He had another thought as well.
Kabuto.
He had only met Yakushi Kabuto once before, but he had already sent him to infiltrate Konoha. What Kenichi had not expected was that Nagato would find out so quickly that Danzo had been one of the masterminds behind Yahiko's death.
Now that Danzo was dead, he wondered what would happen to Kabuto next.
"I..." The Hyuga boy hesitated.
Pain flashed across his eyes, and he bit down on his lip without finishing the thought.
That was enough for Kenichi.
The boy definitely harbored resentment toward the main family.
And why would he not?
The branch family were not saints. How could they possibly feel balanced living such different lives from the main house? Even in a tiny company, internal strife was inevitable, let alone in a great clan.
"Do you want revenge on them?" Kenichi asked softly, like a devil tempting a lamb into hell.
The boy did not answer, but his silence was answer enough.
If Kenichi could unlock the Caged Bird Seal, then perhaps this boy could become a hidden card planted inside Konoha. Or perhaps he could be used to deepen the resentment between the Hyuga branch and main families, tying Konoha's hands from within.
Kenichi knew very well that Konoha would not let the Akatsuki off. Probes, investigations, infiltration, perhaps even the placement of spies like Itachi. If he could give them one more internal problem to deal with, so much the better.
"Does Danzo's funeral need to be arranged?"
In the temporary office set up within the ruins of the Hokage Building, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind a crude desk, handling village affairs as usual.
The one speaking was Homura Mitokado.
"No answer?" Hiruzen set down the document in his hand, pinched the bridge of his nose, and leaned back in his chair, staring at the makeshift ceiling above him.
Konoha's losses this time were not particularly severe, yet in some ways they had been.
The Hokage Building had been destroyed, countless documents and materials had been lost, and even the scrolls of forbidden jutsu had nearly become an issue. Fortunately, he had made preparations in advance, so the losses had not been catastrophic.
Still, rebuilding the Hokage Building would take money, and money was exactly what Konoha did not have in abundance right now.
But for Hiruzen, the greatest loss was Danzo's death.
His old friend had been the one in charge of Root.
Although Hiruzen had always disapproved of many of Danzo's methods, and although he had openly and secretly restricted Danzo's authority more than once, Root had undeniably done many things for Konoha.
A prosperous shinobi village needed many kinds of talent. It needed a leader like Hiruzen, yes, but it also needed a shadow like Danzo to carry out the filthy work no one else wished to see.
No village in the ninja world could truly call itself pure and righteous. Every village had dark secrets buried where no sunlight could reach. Those things needed someone to shoulder them.
Danzo had been that person.
And now, Danzo was dead.
"Arrange it," Hiruzen said at last. "Give him the highest funeral specifications allowed for an elder."
Homura nodded.
Under normal circumstances, a man in Danzo's position would not necessarily have qualified for such treatment.
But Konoha was in chaos now. There was too much to handle, too much to stabilize. In that sense, a grand funeral was not just a matter of sentiment, but politics.
More importantly, there were other matters tied to Danzo's death.
"So," Homura asked after a pause, "who do you intend to appoint as the new leader of Root?"
That was the real question.
Root was not an ordinary department within Konoha. It had its own funding, its own armed forces, its own hidden influence. It was obscure, but its power was considerable.
Homura had coveted it for a long time. Koharu almost certainly had as well.
Hiruzen did not answer.
He lowered his head again and calmly returned to the documents in front of him.
Seeing that, Homura understood and left.
After he was gone, Hiruzen finally looked up again.
There was bitterness in his eyes now, and something colder.
Danzo's body had not even been buried yet. The mortician was probably still stitching the corpse back into shape, and already these people were scrambling over his power.
What filthy politics.
"Perhaps," Hiruzen murmured to himself, "I should never have let Amamiya Kenichi leave the village."
If Kenichi had stayed, Konoha might have had a leader among its younger generation.
His background had been ideal. A direct descendant of the Hokage lineage. Orochimaru's disciple. Someone with every qualification to become Hokage.
Most importantly, he had possessed the talent and strength to match.
With someone like that, Hiruzen might have been able to pass the hat to Tsunade eventually...
Maybe.
He lowered his gaze to the documents before him.
With a single signature, he could decide the direction of a mission, the destination of a large sum of money, the path of countless lives. Others would obey him. Others would respect him.
This feeling was intoxicating.
So this was it.
He, too, was someone struggling in the same filthy mire.
Hiruzen shook his head.
"How's that kid doing?"
At that moment, Tsunade leaned against a nearby wall, drinking sake straight from the bottle.
She had just finished treating a large number of injured shinobi and looked exhausted, but she had still come here to ask about one particular person.
"Lady Tsunade," the ANBU captain replied respectfully, "the target was frightened, but his emotions are stable for now."
Tsunade narrowed her eyes, took another drink, and then looked downward.
Not far below, Naruto sat cross legged, diligently practicing chakra extraction.
She watched the small yellow haired boy in silence, her thoughts unreadable.
.....
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