I Am Uzumaki Menma

The Konoha Hospital had become somewhat busy after taking in over thirty injured individuals.

Hizashi, who is placed in a private room, had actually regained consciousness long ago.

He simply didn't want to open his eyes.

Ever since being kicked away by Shura, he had been pretending to be unconscious.

Though he was slacking off, Hizashi could still clearly sense the chaos on the battlefield.

The arrogant and domineering Shura had swept through the battlefield with overwhelming strength, and even the Third Hokage and the others had been helpless to stop him when he left unscathed.

Only after the Medical-Nin finished treating him and left the room did Hizashi slowly open his eyes.

Staring at the pale ceiling, the scent of disinfectant lingering in the air, his mind replayed the battle in the assembly hall.

The mysterious power Shura had displayed could even interfere with the Byakugan's insight! In all of the Hyuga Clan's history, he had never heard of such a thing!

The nine summoned creatures had also suppressed the numerous Jonin led by Hiruzen.

At first, Hizashi had been worried that many of his clansmen might die or be injured in the battle.

But while pretending to be unconscious, he had overheard the Medical-Nin discussing… despite the intensity of the fight, not a single person had died.

'Even in a battle of this scale, Shura had still been able to control the casualties with ease?!'

'Just how powerful is Shura?'

Drip-

The sound of rain accompanied the breeze brushing past the windowsill.

Hizashi abruptly sat up, his gaze snapping toward the source of the sound.

A familiar figure leaned against the windowsill, the moonlight casting a divine, cold glow on the white three-eyed fox mask. The cloak behind him fluttered slightly in the night wind, exuding an aura of mystery and oppression.

Hizashi's Adam's apple bobbed, and he finally lowered his head, speaking respectfully, "Thank you for sparing us, sir."

Unconsciously, Hizashi had already begun using honorifics.

Tap!

Menma jumped down from the windowsill and slowly approached Hizashi.

"Last time I left, I said I hoped to hear your answer the next time we met." A deep voice came from behind the white three-eyed fox mask.

Shura had repeatedly proven his strength.

Whether it was entering Konoha Village twice as if it were nothing or single-handedly assaulting Kumogakure, everything spoke of Shura's overwhelming power… enough to suppress a Great Ninja Village!

His might was comparable to that of Madara and Hashirama in their prime.

With such a powerful figure offering protection, Konoha's pursuit squads would indeed be nothing to fear.

After all, this was no longer the Warring States Period, where clans ruled. The Hyuga Clan's branch family was also part of Konoha, so if Hizashi were to take some clansmen and leave, it would undoubtedly provoke Konoha's pursuit.

Hizashi had too much to consider.

"I still have a few questions. Could you enlighten me, sir?" Hizashi stepped barefoot onto the floor, his demeanor no longer as proud as before.

"Ask." Shura's robe fluttered slightly despite the lack of wind, and Hizashi thought he saw something moving within the white fur collar.

However, he paid it no mind and instead asked solemnly, "First, what connection do you have with the Hyuga Clan?"

"Second, will you use our Byakugan to synthesize that giant eyeball?"

Though Hizashi had only asked two questions, they were both critical… even concerning the safety of the Hyuga clansmen he would lead in defecting.

After all, he didn't want to lead his clansmen to defect only for them to end up as livestock.

"My fiancée has ties to the Hyuga Clan. Is that reason enough?" Menma slightly raised his head, the white three-eyed fox mask staring straight at Hizashi. A faint red light seemed to flicker in the hollow eye sockets.

Hizashi's breath hitched. In an instant, countless possibilities flashed through his mind, 'Was Shura's fiancée also a member of the Hyuga Clan's branch family? Was that why he understood the Hyuga Clan so well?'

'Or was she a Hyuga Clan's member who had been lost to the outside world?'

'What is the connection between him and the mysterious clan that hunted the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan in history?'

Hizashi couldn't figure it out. No matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn't understand.

"As for your second question-" Menma raised his hand and pulled out a glass tube. Inside, a pair of Byakugan floated in a pale green liquid.

"You can rest assured—I have no interest in live experiments like Orochimaru. The number of Byakugan needed to synthesize the Giant Tenseigan is far beyond what the current, dwindling Hyuga Clan's population could provide." The voice behind the mask was light.

'So that giant eyeball synthesized from countless Byakugan is called the Giant Tenseigan?' Hizashi silently memorized this key term.

As if seeing through his thoughts, Shura turned to gaze at the moon outside the window: "In a few years, I will seize that Giant Tenseigan. If your strength remains this pitiful by then-"

"-you won't be worthy of participating in this war." Shura's voice was cold.

'Seize the Giant Tenseigan?!'

Hizashi's heart lurched as he involuntarily recalled the 'history' Shura had shown him through Genjutsu.

'That overwhelming power… capable of annihilating an army of thousands in a single strike, of flattening mountains with a destructive beam!'

'The ones guarding that Giant Tenseigan were surely no ordinary foes, either.'

Hizashi had never heard of this history, nor had he ever encountered those mysterious Byakugan hunters in the Ninja World. Yet the sheer devastation of their battles in that vision should have left an indelible mark.

'So where are they hiding?'

For the first time, Hizashi realized just how little he truly knew about the world.

"Then, one last question." Hizashi took a deep breath, his white eyes fixed on the mysterious pattern on Shura's cloak, and asked, "The upheaval in the Land of Bears, which is now called the Land of Stars, and the drastic changes in Hoshigakure… That was your doing, wasn't?"

The turmoil in the Land of Bears and Hoshigakure was no secret among the Great Ninja Villages. Especially for someone like Hizashi, who is a branch family's head of one of the great shinobi clans and also the younger brother of the Hyuga Clan's head.

When news broke last year that the Daimyo and nobles of the Land of Bears had been slaughtered by Hoshigakure, Hizashi had already suspected.

'Shura does have such ability. He can control a Ninja Village and destroy the ruling class of a country.'

'But what is his true goal?'

"Correct." Since he intended to kidnap a portion of the Hyuga Clan's branch family with him, Menma saw no need to hide it from Hizashi.

"If you're asking for my purpose… unifying the Ninja World and ending this farcical extension of the Warring States Period. Is that reason enough?"

"Senju Hashirama ended the chaotic era of warring Ninja Clans. He clearly had the power to destroy other nations and Ninja Villages and completely unify the Ninja World, but he didn't do it. That was his greatest mistake, his most foolish decision!"

"Just think about it. If Senju Hashirama had unified the Ninja World back then, would there have been three Great Ninja Wars?"

Hizashi felt as if struck by lightning. Shura's rhetorical question opened a door to an entirely new perspective.

Following this line of thought… if, after the warring Ninja Clans had formed Ninja Villages and ended the Warring States Period, Hashirama had taken the final step and unified the Ninja World-

Yes, conflict and death might still have existed, but it wouldn't have been like now… three Great Ninja Wars in just fifty years, each with casualties far surpassing the clan wars of the past.

And more importantly… if Shura succeeded in unifying the world, then Hizashi, as the Hyuga Clan's leader who pledged loyalty early, would become a founding pillar of the new order.

Moonlight stretched and merged their shadows.

Hizashi stared at Shura's back, took a deep breath, and slowly knelt on one knee, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

He wanted to seize this chance to break free from the Caged Bird!

This wasn't just defection… it was a gamble with the fate of his entire clan at stake.

If he lost, the worst that awaited was death. The rebels would vanish without a trace, forgotten in a hundred years.

But if he won… he would become the new leader who led the Hyuga Clan to greatness once more!