Naruto: Traveling Through Time Starting with Seizing the Dragon Vein

"Danzo! What have you done?!" Hiruzen suddenly stood up and questioned him sharply.

“No need to be angry, Hiruzen. Someone has already made a choice for the sake of Konoha.” Danzo leaned on his cane and walked forward slowly. “Hyuga Hizashi, he agreed quite decisively.”

"You went to see Hitsuri?!"

“He is a branch family member of the Hyuga clan and looks almost exactly like Hyuga Hiashi. More importantly, he has the ‘Caged Bird’ curse mark on his forehead. Once he dies, the Byakugan will be automatically sealed and destroyed, and Kumogakure will get nothing.”

Danzo coldly stated this cruel fact: "Handing over Hizashi's corpse in place of Hiashi can both silence Kumogakure and prevent war, and preserve the secret of the Byakugan. This is the optimal solution with the least sacrifice."

"You're trampling on the village's bottom line! This will completely chill the hearts of the villagers!" Hiruzen was so angry that his finger was trembling as he pointed at Danzo.

Faced with Hiruzen's anger, Danzo did not back down and pressed on relentlessly.

"Hiruzen, you are always too weak. For the sake of the flourishing of Konoha, the roots buried deep within must be stained with mud and blood!"

Danzo stared intently at Hiruzen with his single eye, lowering his voice as he launched his most lethal psychological attack:

"Just like how you treated that kid named Naruto! We've already paid such a heavy price, do you really expect that hard-won peace to be lost because of your momentary pity?!"

"Look outside! The Daimyo doesn't want to fight anymore, the Konoha ninjas don't want to fight anymore, and the villagers don't want to fight either! You need to think about the whole of Konoha, Hiruzen... you're the Hokage!"

"You're the Hokage..."

These words struck Hiruzen's spine like a heavy hammer.

Hiruzen slumped back into his chair, his once straight back instantly hunching over.

He looked at Danzo's cold face, then glanced at the two advisors beside him who had tacitly agreed to his position.

He wanted to refuse; he wanted to fight to the death for the heroes of Konoha.

But... the two mountains of "the overall situation" and "peace" were weighing him down, making it hard for him to breathe.

He is the Hokage, and he has to be responsible for Konoha.

Compromise is like a bottomless abyss.

Once you've done it the first time, the second time will be extremely easy.

If Naruto's past can be compromised, then Hyuga Hizashi's life can certainly be compromised as well.

"That's it..." Hiruzen closed his eyes in anguish.

……

That afternoon, at the Hyuga clan's territory.

"Absolutely not! I am the head of the Hyuga clan, and I will take full responsibility for the trouble I have caused!"

After hearing the hints conveyed by the village's higher-ups, Hiashi Hyuga resolutely stood up, his eyes filled with anger and resentment. "I'm going to the Hokage Building right now, and I'll use my life to quell this storm!"

However, just as he turned around, he was suddenly struck hard on the back of the neck.

Hiashi stared wide-eyed in disbelief, his body collapsing uncontrollably as he looked at his twin brother standing behind him, his eyes filled with horror.

"Hisashi...you..."

Hyuga Hizashi slowly withdrew his hand, looking at his fallen brother. His face, which always carried a hint of bitterness and repression, now showed a sense of relief.

“Brother, all along, I have resented the main family and this ‘caged bird’ tattooed on my forehead, which represents enslavement.”

As Hizashi spoke softly, his eyes slightly reddening, "The higher-ups want to use my life, as a member of a branch family, to deceive Kumogakure and preserve the secret of the Byakugan... But this is not my intention."

Hiashi raised his head and looked at the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had just received the news and rushed over to stand at the courtyard gate. His eyes were incredibly bright, revealing an indomitable pride.

"Third Hokage, please inform Kumogakure that the murderer has been brought to justice."

Hizashi drew the short sword from his waist, a carefree smile playing on his lips, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

"I did not die as a member of the branch family to protect the main family... I chose to die as Hyuga Hizashi to protect my brother and my village!"

"Only at this moment have I truly gained freedom."

"Pfft!"

The blade pierced flesh, and blood splattered.

Hiruzen closed his eyes in anguish, tears streaming down his face. His hand, which could have stopped the blade, ultimately remained outstretched.

He chose to compromise once again.

He vaguely seemed to see the angry face of his second-generation teacher.

Chapter 131 Teacher, what brings you here?

"Pfft!"

The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh sounded particularly dull in the Hyuga clan's courtyard.

Blood dripped down the blade, and Hyuga Hizashi's body slowly leaned forward.

Hiruzen Sarutobi closed his eyes in anguish, tears streaming down his face, and turned away, unable to bear to look any longer.

However, while everyone was immersed in grief and heaviness, and even Hiruzen was engrossed in self-reproach, no one noticed that the air in the courtyard had been strangely distorted for a fraction of a second.

Shatter, you illusion, you mirage.

Hiruzen, the Anbu, and the Hyuga clan members who arrived at the scene saw "Hizashi lying lifeless in a pool of blood," but it was just a perfect illusion that Uchiha Tsukuyomi created on their retinas by using the ultimate Yin Release combined with a highly precise White Zetsu clone!

In the real physical space, the real Hyuga Hizashi was silently pulled into the shadows underground by an absolute gravitational force just before the blade was about to sever his carotid artery.

Am I...dead?

In the darkness, Hizashi touched his unharmed neck, looking completely bewildered.

"No, you have just been reborn."

……

A few days later, in the Land of Lightning, in the Hidden Cloud Village.

An ice coffin containing the body of the "Hyuga clan leader" was transported back to the Raikage Building intact by the Kumogakure delegation.

"Lord Raikage, Konoha has surrendered. This is the murderer's body they handed over." The Cloud Village Vice Envoy looked smug, even a little boastful. "Please have the Sensory and Medical Teams perform the autopsy and extract the secrets of the Byakugan!"

The Fourth Raikage, A, sat behind his large desk, looking at the ice coffin. His expression showed no joy, but rather an indescribable strangeness.

Roll your eyes?

Let alone whether the person lying in this ice coffin is really the Hyuga clan leader, even if he is, would he dare to verify it?!

Deep within his brow, the [Eight Thousand Spears - Heart Lock] belonging to Loulan had been faintly radiating a warning heat the moment the delegation brought the corpses into the village!

The mysterious Uchiha Tsukuyomi had already given him a death order through the mental network: go through the motions, collect the corpse, and then shut up!

"Alright, I understand. You can go now."

……

However, while the situation in Kumogakure was calmed down, the powder keg inside Konoha was completely ignited!

Paper cannot hold fire.

Especially with the instigation of "a certain Loulan force".

The news that Hyuga Hizashi was forced to die in place of the main branch of the family to appease the anger of Kumogakure spread like wildfire throughout the streets and alleys of Konoha, and even reached the ears of every ninja clan, large and small.

The entire Hidden Leaf Village was in an uproar!

Nara Shikaku sat on the porch of his house, looking at the dark clouds in the sky, his brows furrowed so deeply they could trap a fly.

"Even the Hyuga clan, the oldest and most powerful clan in Konoha, was forced by the higher-ups to hand over the life of the branch family head for the sake of so-called peace..."

Akimichi Choza and Yamanaka Inoichi sat beside him, their faces equally grim.

"Shikaku, if they can sacrifice Hyuga today, will they sacrifice us, Ino-Shika-Cho, tomorrow?" Choza crushed a potato chip in his hand. "What... is happening to the village?"

Shikaku thought of a certain servant he had been talking to for the past few months and murmured:

"A new Konoha...?"

Not only the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, but also Aburame, Inuzuka, and even those commoner ninjas without family backgrounds felt an overwhelming sense of sorrow.

The Hyuga clan was treated as a sacrifice to compromise with "peace".

What about them? Will they also one day become sacrifices in the compromise for peace?

Is this still the same Konoha?

The Hokage's prestige plummeted to rock bottom at this moment.

Even though they belonged to the group of people who were saved from the trolley problem, they still couldn't help but feel a chill at this moment.

"Danzo! Look what you've done!"

"People's hearts are unsettled, and the various clans are becoming increasingly alienated! This matter has brought Konoha to the brink of collapse!"

Hiruzen sat in the dark room, silently puffing on his cigarette.

"What's the use of saying all this now?" Danzo's voice was very low. "Peace has come, and everything can be salvaged. Our most important task now is to divert the villagers' attention."

What is the fastest way to divert internal conflicts?

It's about introducing an even more sensational topic.

"Hiruzen, do you still remember what Orochimaru did during the Fourth Hokage election?"

Upon hearing this name, Hiruzen's hand, which was holding a pipe, trembled violently.

"So many civilians and genin have recently gone missing in Konoha... The Anbu actually found clues a long time ago. Orochimaru is conducting extremely cruel forbidden jutsu experiments on living people!"

"No..." Hiruzen closed his eyes in anguish, "Orochimaru can still be saved..."

“He is your disciple, but he is also the best cornerstone for stabilizing the village. We need to quickly stabilize production after the hard-won peace we have achieved.”

"Expose Orochimaru's inhumane human experiments! Tell the villagers that those who went missing were killed by this heartless demon!"

If Orochimaru is classified as an S-rank rogue ninja and the village leader personally leads the Anbu to eliminate him, all the panic, doubt, and discontent in the village will instantly transform into overwhelming hatred for Orochimaru!

And you, the Third Hokage, by sacrificing family for the greater good and personally eradicating the village's scourge, will regain your prestige! Those voices of discontent against the higher-ups will vanish in the crusade against Orochimaru!

Danzo stared at Hiruzen. "Sacrifice a fallen disciple to ensure the stability and unity of the entire Hidden Leaf Village. Hiruzen, you are the Hokage. You have a responsibility to the village. I don't need to teach you how to choose, do I?"

If there is one, then there will be two, and then there will be three.

Compromise and sacrificing Orochimaru is nothing.