"Have the remaining members of the Hidden Cloud Village envoy group been sent back?"
Inside the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other three top leaders of the Hidden Leaf Village were discussing the peace negotiations with the Hidden Cloud Village.
"Mm, they've been sent back."
As soon as Mitokado Homura finished speaking, Danzo Shimura, who was leaning against the wall, snorted coldly.
"If you ask me, we should've killed all of them except one and sent that one back—let the Hidden Cloud Village see the resolve of our Hidden Leaf Village."
"Danzo, honestly… our goal is to make peace with the Hidden Cloud Village, not restart a war."
Utatane Koharu frowned as she spoke to him.
Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly exhaled a puff of smoke.
"The three of you—if you want to argue, do it at home. Doing it in front of me, an 'outsider,' isn't very appropriate, is it?"
"Outsider? What are you talking about, Hiruzen? You're the Third Hokage—how are you an outsider?"
Koharu turned her head, looking at him in confusion. Sure, what the three of them did yesterday wasn't exactly honorable. She and Homura had just stayed silent, but Danzo had even helped push Hiruzen into a corner. Still, politics was like that. Hiruzen shouldn't be this upset.
After all, even if he didn't want to retaliate, if he still intended to keep his seat as Hokage, the three of them were crucial support.
"Heh, so I'm not an outsider after all."
Hiruzen sneered. "If I'm not an outsider, then why were you two completely silent outside the Hokage building yesterday? And you, Danzo, you even helped outsiders deal with me. Very impressive. You almost forced me into early retirement."
So it really was about that…
Koharu frowned, about to lecture him for throwing a childish tantrum—because in her view, this situation was largely his own fault—
"That's because you're too weak, Hiruzen."
Before she could speak, Danzo snorted again.
"You were actually going to sacrifice Hyūga Hiashi just to make peace with the Hidden Cloud Village. Have you lost your mind?"
"You're saying I've lost my mind!?"
Hiruzen slammed the table and stood up.
"You don't know how to play the good cop–bad cop routine? How many times have we done this together? And now you're pretending to be the good guy!?"
"Learn how to talk properly!"
Danzo fired back without hesitation, leaving Koharu and Homura completely stunned.
Why did the way these two spoke sound… strangely familiar? Who did they learn this from…?
"You—!"
Hiruzen threw down his pipe, his eyes practically spitting fire, and vaulted over the desk straight at Danzo.
"Hey, hey, what are you two doing?! This is the Hokage building! Watch your status—watch your image!"
Koharu and Homura rushed forward in a panic, trying to pull the two apart.
Meanwhile, Akashō—who had gone to the Yamanaka clan again that day to fulfill his earlier promise of treating Yamanaka Haiji to lunch—heard from him that, according to an ANBU ninja, the Hokage's office had been unusually lively today.
Apparently, it started with Danzo and Hiruzen fighting. The other two advisors stepped in to break it up but got dragged into the chaos, and in the end, out of sheer frustration, they joined the brawl themselves.
After the all-out melee, when the four high-ranking leaders of the Hidden Leaf Village finally came out, they all looked utterly disheveled. Anyone who didn't know better might've thought they'd just participated in some kind of wild group activity.
...
Knock knock knock.
Akashō, who was holding a pile of intelligence reports and reading through them, tilted his head slightly as his Observation Haki spread outward.
"A Hyūga?"
He stood up, walked over, and pulled the door open, revealing a small figure.
Raising an eyebrow, he crouched down and pinched the child's rosy cheeks.
"Who are you?"
He had thought it was that little girl, Hyūga Hinata.
"G-Good morning, Akashō-sama."
The boy's pale eyes were filled with nervousness. His body stiff, he bowed slightly.
"It's my first time meeting you. I am from the Hyūga clan—Hyūga Neji. Hyūga Hizashi is my father."
"Oh, Hizashi's son, huh."
Akashō nodded thoughtfully.
"So that means… the one who came here with Hinata the other night was you?"
Neji's face filled with shock. "Y-you knew…?"
"What, I'm not allowed to know?"
Seeing the smile on Akashō's face, Neji lowered his head awkwardly. That night, he had only been curious about the "boy" Hinata had mentioned, combined with the praise from both his father and the clan head, so he followed her to take a look.
Instead, he witnessed the two leading figures of the Hyūga clan treating Akashō with great respect. Though he didn't fully understand their conversation, after returning, his father seemed to admire Akashō even more—and that, in turn, influenced Neji's own thoughts.
At that moment, Akashō suddenly raised an eyebrow and reached out, pulling open Neji's pants slightly to take a glance.