Even after leaving the Foundation base, Hyuga Yu still felt a somewhat surreal sensation.
It was not just the abruptness of having his plans suddenly interrupted, but even more so the astonishment toward Danzo Shimura's sudden declaration of retirement. Was this still the same Danzo from his impressions—the one who was obsessed with power and would use any underhanded means necessary to obtain the position of Hokage?
Where on earth has this version of history drifted to?
Faced with a version of himself who possessed the capability to threaten Danzo's status within the Foundation, why hadn't the old man immediately concocted a reason to put an end to him, just as he had done with Yakushi Nono? Instead... he had actually extended concern over his well-being, managed this and that, and even explicitly forced a mandatory furlough upon him to ensure he rested?
Danzo, how could you possibly become like this?
Hyuga Yu could not make sense of it.
But very quickly, he realized another aspect. Even though Danzo had temporarily stripped him of his positions within Konoha—causing Hyuga Yu to lose the immediate assistance of the Foundation regarding his primary plans—this impact was actually not that significant.
The descent of the moon's Otsutsuki upon the shinobi world occurred on February 21st, which was a mere four days away from the present time around February 25th. Even if the Foundation had operated at full capacity, noticed the anomaly the very next day, and instantly dispatched a top-tier spy like Yakushi Nono to infiltrate the Land of Wind, the information she could investigate at this point remained exceptionally limited.
Precisely because it carried no grand value, yet shared a potential connection with his own secret itinerary within the Land of Rivers, Danzo had used this exact piece of intelligence to test him.
And now, following this round of testing, Danzo would instead dispatch operatives to step up the investigation into the anomalies within the Land of Wind and the Land of Demons. Regarding this matter, Hyuga Yu only needed to wait for the results.
As for the alternative document concerning the anomalous technological iteration in the Land of Lightning, it was likewise not an absolute necessity for Hyuga Yu to understand it exclusively through the Foundation's channels.
After reflecting for a moment, Hyuga Yu slowly exhaled a long breath. Because a massive deluge of incidents was frantically piling up at this exact temporal nexus—the extraterrestrial visitors, the threat of the moon's Otsutsuki, the preparation of the laboratory, the Fourth Hokage election, the subsequent processing of the Hyuga clan, the advancement of Yang Release technology, Rin Nohara's surgery, Orochimaru who had inexplicably begun obstructing him, and how to face Hyuga Natsu who had been a widow for half a year...
Despite having already isolated the influence of the Giant Tenseigan, Hyuga Yu had, predictably, still suffered a minor degree of impact. As a result, he felt a sense of chaotic disarray in the face of a massive volume of events awaiting resolution, so much so that he had simply lunged directly toward the main objective...
However, this style of behavior would clearly cause him to lose sight of one thing while focusing on another, and it was also somewhat far too rushed.
Thinking it over carefully, the core focus of the current experiment resided in verifying the theory and feasibility of utilizing the Chimera Jutsu to fuse the Kekkei Genkai of the Hyuga and Kaguya clans. Only after this single point was confirmed a success could the subsequent experiments possibly advance.
Furthermore, during the early phases of this experiment, Hyuga Yu's role in forcing himself into the mix was actually quite limited. In fact, under excessive interference, it would instead manifest a farcical phenomenon of an amateur directing a professional.
Hyuga Yu's advantage lay in his micro-manipulation surgical capability that surpassed every single medical ninja in the entire shinobi world, a skill he had honed entirely based upon the Byakugan. The stage where this research-oriented capability truly manifested its function was during the practical phase following the completion of theoretical verification, where he could break through the constraints of existing technological levels to accomplish matters that were originally impossible to achieve.
Hyuga Yu was not a superhuman. To put it bluntly, all he could do as a raw novice in the field of biological gene fusion was to believe—to believe that Hiruko's Chimera Jutsu could create a miracle!
Presently, advantageous conditions—including the research environment, research assistants, scientific apparatus, the experimental topic, and even a method to whitewash identities and dissolve debts—had all been provided to Hiruko. Aside from staring at Hiruko inside the laboratory to ramp up the pressure on him, Hyuga Yu did not possess any tangible function.
As the overall director of the Tenseigan Project, there was absolutely no necessity for him to keep his eyes continuously glued to such a single spot. He ought to coordinate matters across other domains.
So, how should Hyuga Yu act next?
At this point, Hyuga Yu quickly calculated a financial balance sheet in his heart. Presently, the only reason this plan of his could advance completely was because his experimental project currently appended itself beneath the system of the Konoha Hospital. He was able to rely upon the network of connections he had cultivated over many years inside the hospital and the authority he had just obtained to requisition a massive number of experts from the Konoha Hospital at virtually zero cost to participate in the early phase of the plan.
Yet quite clearly, this was far from enough.
Through negotiations with Director Matsuki, Hyuga Yu had learned that the Konoha Hospital—which possessed over 1,000 beds and an annual income exceeding 10 billion Ryo—presently held a liquid capital sum of 1.6 billion Ryo.
After carving out the wages that needed to be paid to the nearly one thousand doctors and nurses of the Konoha Hospital, not much remained of this sum. At most, it could only help Hyuga Yu update a portion of the equipment.
Once the first phase of theoretical verification concluded, four large-scale experiments would need to be unfolded subsequently, which involved constructing four professional laboratories within the Forest of Death. This was entirely distinct from using the Konoha Hospital to borrow a chicken to hatch an egg at this time.
By then, Hyuga Yu would need to recruit Konoha's top-tier medical ninjas, sealing ninjas, and Kekkei Genkai research figures. The four laboratories roughly estimated a requirement of 300 core personnel and 1,000 to 2,000 auxiliary personnel. Calculating their remuneration roughly according to the annual salary of a Jonin along with various allowances, the annual human resource cost alone for the laboratories would skyrocket to 1.5 to 2 billion Ryo.
Although acquiring the grounds through the Forest of Death appeared to be free on the surface, the construction, concealment, and maintenance expenses for the facilities could reach several billion Ryo during the initial phase.
Sustaining experimental subjects, specialized medicinal herbs, and barrier maintenance would annualize to another several billion Ryo in consumption.
Factoring in the acquisition, updates, and maintenance expenses for the various instruments in the laboratories...
Based on a rough estimation, in a single year alone, Hyuga Yu would burn through close to ten billion Ryo in funds.
Before any results were produced and monetized, aside from the portions subsidized by the ninja village, the Foundation, and the hospital, this entire sum would rely on Hyuga Yu burning through his own pockets.
And this was merely the establishment of a research base within the scope of Konoha. To establish a colossal research tower encompassing the scale of the entire shinobi world, multiplying this expense by ten would still fall short.
Yet how much money did Hyuga Yu currently possess?
Two hundred million Ryo.
This portion was the war reparations granted to him individually by Iwagakure. To a certain degree, it was illicit money that still required the assistance of the exchange houses under Kakuzu's subordinates to help launder. Ultimately, the amount that would land in his hands would, by an optimistic estimate, likely leave only half remaining.
One hundred million Ryo.
Once he exhausted the money on hand and the money from the Konoha Hospital, he would likely fail to endure until the conclusion of even the most cost-effective initial theoretical verification phase of the entire project.
Hyuga Yu absolutely had to devise a method to acquire money.
Stepping out from the Foundation base, Hyuga Yu traversed the deserted training fields and forests, making his way from the rear mountain of Konoha to the Konoha Hokage Rock. Sitting atop the head of the First Hokage's stone face, he gazed down at the Konoha shinobi village, which was brightly illuminated by lights beneath the night sky. Hyuga Yu pinched his chin as he reflected for a brief moment, after which he slowly pulled out the document Danzo had handed to him just now, unfurling the Investigation Summary of the Hyuga Sodo Incident.
Looking solely from the direction of acquiring money, Hyuga Yu currently possessed two paths. The first was to plunder the wealthy elite.
Hyuga Yu did not have much money, and to speak the truth, Konoha did not have much money either. Following several years of ninja warfare, the financial deficit of the ninja village was practically on the verge of leaping out from the white paper to assault the Third Hokage. This was also one of the reasons why the Third was in such a frantic hurry to abdicate, going so far as to step down before the Fourth Hokage had even been selected.
Therefore, even if he forcefully ascended to the position of Hokage at this time, what couldn't be acquired in terms of money would still remain unattainable. As powerful as Minato Namikaze was, within two years of ascending to the position, wasn't he still merely a tool for stamping Hokage seals...
The critical factor behind this was that Konoha had no money, Minato Namikaze had no money, and he possessed no means to satisfy the material demands of the various factions within Konoha. Furthermore, Konoha's taxes had long since been collected twenty years into the future by Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura...
However, this did not represent that the Land of Fire lacked money. Behind Konoha, the various nobles and financial magnates of the Land of Fire—spearheaded by the Fire Daimyo—possessed money in abundance.
And right now, these individuals had already been jointly targeted by Danzo Shimura and Hiruzen Sarutobi, and had been forcefully strapped onto the war chariot, completely unable to flee.
From the moment Danzo used the banner of "Tennin" to sever this group of people from the Hokage lineage, it seemed he had already formulated a complete set of bloodletting plans targeting them. Sorting to violence at this time to rob them would instead impact the execution of the Foundation's subsequent plans. Therefore, the core focus of plundering this batch of wealthy elites was, conversely, to alter the direction of the bloodletting, allowing their blood to flow directly into Hyuga Yu's wallet.
To achieve this, Hyuga Yu had to personally participate in the affairs of the Foundation, taking over the organization as well as this political novice gift pack that Danzo had prepared for him.
At this point, Hyuga Yu couldn't resist thinking: Could it be that Danzo Shimura had already anticipated this step long ago? Thus, holding onto a simple philosophy of "Oh, disciple of this old man, no matter what you wish to perform, you must first possess money," he had helped Hyuga Yu map out all of this.
Of course, this portion represented long-term money.
Whether it could be acquired still depended on subsequent developments.
As for the second path, it was still to plunder the wealthy elite.
Yet these wealthy elites were distinct from the others. It was the exact same rationale—
Konoha lacking money did not represent that the shinobi inside Konoha Village lacked money.
Following several years of the Shinobi World War, in order to guarantee the firepower of the ninja forces, gleaming silver had already been distributed directly into the pockets of the Konoha shinobi. Furthermore, the large-scale clans among the shinobi demographic had made a massive fortune out of the war during this exact process. The various major clans—who already controlled a vast amount of real estate, smelting, medicinal herbs, and casting industries—raked in exorbitant profits during the war. At the same time, the family ninjas could also receive the various war allowances distributed by the village as members of the Konoha forces.
If Minato Namikaze had not perished during the Nine-Tails Incident, according to the developmental progression inside the Infinite Tsukuyomi, the reason he could ultimately break free from the dilemma of being a Hokage stamp-handler did not rely on any worthless popular prestige, but rather... he obtained the hard cash support of the Uchiha clan.
Under this type of circumstance, a farcical scene would surface where the Military Police Force of the Uchiha clan barged into the Hokage's home to arrest someone, yet Sasuke, who spearheaded the operation, actually faced absolutely no repercussions whatsoever.
Given that the Uchiha clan was already so wealthy, to what degree of opulence must their equally famous counterparts, the top-tier large ninja clan that was the Hyuga clan, be enriched?
Hyuga Yu did not know, but as an orphan of the branch house, he had never lacked money since childhood, which served as a clear indicator.
At this time, Hyuga Yu flipped open the Foundation's investigation report concerning Hyuga Sodo. The investigation into the incident where Hyuga Sodo caused a massive scene at the assembly hall—as a project explicitly designated by the Third Hokage and the Fourth Hokage candidates—saw its processes handled with unbelievable speed. The individual was captured at noon, and the report had already been delivered to Danzo Shimura's office desk by evening.
Following the double interrogation of the Anbu and the Foundation, the causes and effects of this incident, the basic information of the event itself, the background and preconditions, the developmental process, the impacts and consequences, the motivations of the various parties, the reliability of the information, as well as the analytical conclusions were all laid out with crystal clarity upon the document.
Furthermore, this document was a version specialized exclusively for Danzo, going so far as to explicitly write out how Orochimaru manipulated the Hyuga branch house during the incident to ignite public discourse, as well as Orochimaru's motivations.
Hyuga Yu bypassed a massive volume of tedious content across the 66-page document, his gaze falling upon Hyuga Sodo's motivation for going frantic—
As the Grand Elder of the main house, Hyuga Sodo had been stripped of his position by the main house line during the Third Shinobi World War due to the incident involving his assault on Hyuga Yu. Consequently, he harbored a hidden hatred toward Hyuga Yu. However, this could not directly constitute his motivation for the assassination at the assembly hall. Following multi-faceted verification by the Anbu and the Foundation, it was ultimately discovered that:
Prior to Hyuga Yu's return to the village, Hyuga Mao—a member of the Hyuga main house and the daughter of Hyuga Sodo—was confirmed by eyewitnesses to have had both of her eyes gouged out, after which she quickly vanished into thin air.
This matter had been reported by the Hyuga branch house shinobi, Hyuga Iroha, and the conclusion of the report pointed toward another individual—Hyuga Natsu.
The investigation result conveyed by the branch house stated that Hyuga Natsu had emulated Hyuga Yu's behavior of gouging out and transplanting the eyes of Hyuga Genko, taking away both of Hyuga Mao's eyes. The Anbu's investigation halted at this point, and the Anbu's investigation result regarding Hyuga Sodo's motivation was classified as: a vendetta killing.
Reaching this point in the document, a line had been drawn beneath the words "vendetta killing," with two sharply and coldly penned characters annotated right beside it—
"Thorough Investigation"!
Hyuga Yu recognized this as Danzo Shimura's handwriting, which meant that this document had already passed through a second set of hands.
The Foundation had proceeded to dig further along this line, ultimately discovering that this matter appeared to be far from simple:
The reason Hyuga Natsu harmed Hyuga Mao was because during the period when Hyuga Yu faked his death to execute the Kirigakure collapse mission, Hyuga Mao of the main house—in order to appease the internal conflicts within the Hyuga clan and restore her father Hyuga Sodo's position as Grand Elder—had once forced Hyuga Natsu to remarry. She was to marry Hyuga源光's younger brother, Hyuga Tetsu, who had already been branded with the Caged Bird.
Furthermore, digging deeper into the matter of Hyuga Mao forcing Hyuga Natsu to remarry revealed that on the eve of the incident, a certain anomaly seemed to have occurred within the ancestral hall of the Hyuga clan. Hyuga Mao's behavior appeared to share a connection with Hyuga Hizashi, who was the nominal figurehead of the branch house at this time. Digging even further revealed...
The ancestral hall of the Hyuga clan had been burglarized in November of last year. A massive number of Byakugan from successive generations of the main house—which had originally been preserved here—along with branch house Byakugan that had been preserved through specialized processing, had gone missing.
Hyuga Mao's coercion of Hyuga Natsu appeared to be tied to this matter.
As for the case of the stolen Byakugan, it shared a connection with the main house ninjas on duty that night being "accidentally" reassigned away by Hyuga Hiashi.
Reaching this point in the document, the subsequent investigation became unsustainable. Various critical pieces of evidence were missing, rendering it difficult to continue the investigation even for the interrogation experts of the Foundation.
Yet at this moment, Hyuga Yu's gaze locked onto the line of text reading "forced Hyuga Natsu to remarry." His eyes suddenly darkened, and deep within his pure white pupils, a trace of manic, suppressed killing intent flashed past in that exact split second!
Immediately following this, Hyuga Yu's gaze shifted to the very end of the document. Upon seeing the investigation report detailing the massive theft of the Byakugan preserved by the main house, he narrowed his eyes into a slight, cold squint. "Heh~"
"Is this the reliance you hold to participate in the 'Tennin Contention'? Hyuga Hizashi."
"Teacher Danzo was not wrong at all. It seems that not just the main house, but the entire Hyuga clan needs to be thrashed severely with a club..."
The corners of Hyuga Yu's mouth curled into a cold smile. Within the palm of his hand, the churning 66-page investigation report flew up into the air out of nowhere, rustling and shaking. Ultimately, it transformed inch by inch into flying ash inside a lightless flame, drifting down toward the Konoha beneath the Hokage Rock.
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