You can say the Hidden Cloud Village is domineering, but you absolutely cannot say they are cowardly.
In the original work, Madara displayed an invincible posture that left the Mizukage Mei Terumī utterly demoralized, but the Fourth Raikage remained as steadfast as ever.
The Fourth Raikage is definitely the toughest among the Five Kage.
The Fourth Raikage is also! Once the Fourth Raikage appears, even Naruto can't hold the gate.
After reading the Eye of the Moon Plan submitted by Hiashi, the Fourth Raikage extracted the most direct conflict between Madara and the Hidden Cloud Village.
"Hiashi, Uchiha Madara wants our Hidden Cloud Village's Two-Tails and Eight-Tails, right?"
Hiashi nodded: "Uchiha Madara plans to capture the Nine Tailed Beasts to revive the Ten-Tails, thereby becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki and gaining the power of the Sage of Six Paths."
The Fourth Raikage lightly pounded the table, but who knew his gentle punch would shatter it.
The Fourth Raikage shouted: "I will never let Uchiha Madara succeed. Whether it's the Tailed Beasts or the Eye of the Moon Plan, the Hidden Cloud Village will never agree to him."
"Tsuchi, summon all the Jonin in the Village for a Jonin meeting. Also, have Bee and Yugito attend."
"Yes!"
Currently, there are still about ten years until the main storyline. Important characters from the original work like Samui, Mabui, C, and Darui are around the same age as Kakashi and the others.
They haven't grown up yet.
But the Hidden Cloud Village's combat strength remains at its peak.
During the Third Great Ninja War, the Hidden Cloud Village fought against the Sunagakure, Konoha, and the Hidden Stone Village.
These battles were not large-scale troop confrontations but small-scale elite Ninja competitions.
The fight against the Hidden Stone Village was the most intense. The Village's previous Raikage also died from exhaustion after battling tens of thousands of Hidden Stone Ninjas for three days and three nights.
But this also prevented large-scale casualties among the Hidden Cloud Village's main forces.
Therefore, in the original work, as soon as the Third Great Ninja War ended, Konoha was severely weakened, and the other Ninja Villages weren't much better off!
But aside from the death of the Third Raikage, the Hidden Cloud Village's main forces suffered no casualties.
After the Nine-Tails incident, Konoha was severely weakened and didn't dare to oppose the Hidden Cloud Village at that time.
The Hidden Cloud Village just made some threats, and the Third Hokage knelt down, offering the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan to avoid an invasion by the Hidden Cloud Village.
The Hidden Cloud Village is the Ninja Village with the most aggressive combat style, the most centralized system, and the strongest clan cohesion among the Five Great Ninja Villages.
Just from the fact that there isn't a single person from the Hidden Cloud Village in the Akatsuki in the original work, you can see the unity of the Hidden Cloud Village.
Successive Raikage have united people with powerful Lightning Release and personal charisma.
The Fourth Raikage then looked at Hiashi: "Hiashi, I want to invite you to join the Hidden Cloud Village and make you a Raikage Advisor. I can also recommend you as a Raikage candidate."
"..."
Hyuga Hiashi hesitated, tempted. Even someone like him, bound by a bunch of the Hyuga Clan's ancient rules, was tempted.
Because the Fourth Raikage offered too much.
It's no exaggeration to say that if Hiashi just nodded, he would be the second most important person in the Hidden Cloud Village.
He knew what the Fourth Raikage valued in him.
In terms of strength, he is just an elite Jonin. The Hidden Cloud Village has many experts and doesn't lack him.
What the Hidden Cloud Village values is Hiashi's Hyuga Clan Byakugan Kekkei Genkai because he is a member of the Hyuga Clan's main family.
The Byakugan is recognized throughout the Ninja World as a strategic Kekkei Genkai, with comprehensive strategic value covering battlefield reconnaissance, tactical layout, information monopoly, and offensive-defensive systems.
It doesn't have the tactical value of the Sharingan, but in leading a war, the Byakugan's strategic value far exceeds that of the Sharingan.
It can be said that as long as a unit has the Byakugan, it basically has over a 50% chance of victory.
Konoha was able to defeat the four great Ninja Villages also because of the Byakugan's super strategic value.
In the original work, Ao, an ordinary Jonin, just by obtaining one Byakugan, became Mei Terumī's confidant and later the captain of the Shinobi Alliance's sensory unit.
Was it because he was exceptionally talented? Was the Byakugan very suitable for him?
No, it was all because the Hyuga Clan was too low-key.
The Hyuga Clan wished they had a Transparency Technique so no one could see them.
Hiashi ultimately refused.
In Konoha, Hiashi is just a Ninja Clan leader with no official position.
Although the Uchiha Clan was marginalized, they at least had the Police Force and could use batons to hit villagers.
The Hyuga Clan is so low-key that even commoner children can take advantage of the clan's young lady.
This isn't being low-key; it's being cowardly.
Externally, I am submissive; internally, I strike hard.
Because the Hyuga is a Ninja Clan particularly concerned with the continuation of the clan.
What animal in nature lives the longest?
Not the turtle, but the hydra.
Because it is an invertebrate, simply put, it has no backbone.
The more cowardly clans often survive to the end.
By the time of Boruto, the Senju and Uchiha have vanished, but the Hyuga stands alone at the top.
Hiashi was very tempted by the Fourth Raikage's recruitment, but he is not a person greedy for power.
Moreover, given the current situation in Konoha, with the Uchiha group firmly following the higher-ups, how could he, a member of the Hyuga Clan's main family, defect to another Village?
What's more, who knows if they can even defeat Madara?
He has a wife at home, and he loves his wife very much. Hizashi's child has already been born, so he can't fall behind.
Even if the Fourth Raikage said at this moment that he wanted Hiashi to be the leader of the Hidden Cloud Village, Hiashi couldn't agree.
Because it's obvious to everyone that these Kage are going to directly confront Madara.
Hiashi doesn't have that kind of ability.
"Alright! Please convey to the Third Hokage that I will go to Konoha soon to attend the Five Kage Summit he is hosting."
The Fourth Raikage wasn't particularly disappointed. Since becoming Raikage, he has never shown any negative emotions.
Although he was very disappointed inside, because even after offering the position of the second most important person in the Hidden Cloud Village, Hiashi still refused him.
The Fourth Raikage couldn't possibly vacate his own position for Hiashi to take.
Under normal circumstances, according to the Fourth Raikage's style, he wouldn't be so courteous to talented people.
He would directly control Hyuga Hiashi, then forcibly extract essence. After all, if Hiashi leaves the Hidden Cloud Village, he must at least leave behind a kidney.
The Hidden Cloud Village's only demand from Hiashi is serious consequences.
They have to squeeze him dry.
But with the threat of Madara looming overhead, the Five Great Ninja Villages must unite despite any major conflicts.
Ninjas must endure what ordinary people cannot.
Sunagakure.
The head of the Inuzuka Clan, Inuzuka Tsume, was sent as an envoy to the Sunagakure to inform them of important intelligence related to Madara.
Like the Hidden Stone Village, the Sunagakure had the Land of Rain and the Land of Grass as neighboring countries. They could have investigated and found out.
But no one believed it.
They all thought it was Konoha's strategic deception.
Madara has been revived?
Has Hashirama also been revived?
Konoha and the Sunagakure were still in a hostile state, so they didn't believe intelligence from an enemy country.
But as days passed, Sunagakure scouts discovered that Konoha had abandoned its front line against the Sunagakure and withdrawn all its forces.
Was Konoha serious?
When Sunagakure people went to investigate the Land of Rain, the sky fell—Madara had really been revived.
The Fourth Kazekage Rasa immediately dispatched Flying Ninjas with Ninja Eagles from the Village to quickly go to the Land of Water and recall Pakura, who had been sent as a bargaining chip for peace talks.