Chapter 208: This Is Konoha Village!
"What would you do if Neji chose to compromise with the Main House?" Zetsu asked curiously.
"Very simple!" Yasushi waved his hand with a smile. "Then you, a 'Hyuga Main House member,' would suddenly appear and use the Caged Bird seal to give him a good taste of the Main House's trustworthiness!"
"...You really are a villain, Yasushi."
"Hahahaha... Thank you for the compliment, Zetsu."
The two chatted and laughed here, not taking the Hyuga situation seriously at all.
Just as Yasushi said before, regarding the Hyuga clan's civil war—what did victory or defeat matter?
Whoever won, it was internal conflict. Konoha's strength would be greatly diminished either way, achieving Yasushi's goal.
This outcome was obvious to everyone. But so what if they saw it?
The Main House and Branch House conflict had become irreconcilable. Even knowing the result, they simply couldn't resolve it. They could only choose the option with the smallest loss for Konoha Village.
What Itachi needed to do now was use the smallest cost to quell the Hyuga clan's internal chaos.
His choice was undoubtedly to abandon the few Main House members and choose the most powerful Branch House side.
Now the Main House members weren't happy.
"What are you talking about!" Those Main House members glared furiously at Itachi, loudly rebuking him.
"The Hyuga Main House are Konoha Village's most steadfast supporters! Since the village's founding, we've firmly supported every successive Hokage, never showing the slightest defiance toward the village."
"The Branch House system is our Hyuga clan's ancestral tradition. What's wrong with following ancestral traditions?"
"We've never done anything wrong—we're innocent!"
"The village should protect innocent us!"
After playing the victim, they pointed at Neji's side, shouting with righteous indignation:
"Those Branch House members are the traitors!"
"They're killing village comrades!"
"They're the criminals staging rebellion!"
"How can you side with that group of criminals just because they outnumber us, disregarding justice and village rules?"
Now Konoha's side had nothing to say, because from a factual perspective, the current situation really was like this.
The Main House hadn't violated any village regulations. The ones who launched the coup—the Branch House—were the genuine rebels.
The Main House had always been hardcore supporters of the Hokage faction, never making mistakes. If Konoha Village didn't protect the Main House and allowed them to be slaughtered by the Branch House, what would the other shinobi clans think?
Shinobi clan values differed from civilian shinobi values.
Civilian shinobi might focus more on right and wrong, but shinobi clans considered clan inheritance and clan interests most important.
To put it bluntly, which shinobi clan didn't have a pile of dirty secrets? Who could guarantee their clan was always right?
But as long as you picked the right side, even if you committed small errors, naturally Lord Hokage would protect you. The rod would be raised high and brought down gently—like warning instead of a red card.
But if you picked the wrong side, no matter how many meritorious deeds you'd achieved, strictly following the rules could torment you to death.
Your clan's contributions might be great, but greater than the Uchiha? And what was the result?
Actually, talk about the village suppressing the Uchiha was all nonsense.
The village simply strictly followed the rules—didn't show favoritism toward the Uchiha, that's all.
The regulations were written on paper. If someone deliberately made things difficult for the Uchiha without following the rules, did they think the Uchiha clan were vegetarians?
But when others strictly followed village regulations, nitpicking every word and action, the Uchiha clan could only suffer in silence, unable to speak their grievances.
Don't even mention why other clans could ignore the rules while the Uchiha had to follow them.
Others breaking rules was their mistake. Lord Hokage had already reprimanded and punished them.
You want to break the rules? Fine—let Lord Hokage reprimand you too and see if you can accept it!
The Uchiha couldn't accept it, so the Uchiha... were finished.
Other shinobi clans lacked such fierce pride. They allowed Lord Hokage to reprimand and punish them, obeying all orders, constantly gathering around Lord Hokage with the Hokage's will as their center—so they lived better and better.
For shinobi clans, a Hokage with personal favoritism was a good Hokage.
If you as Hokage don't show favoritism, how will you turn a blind eye to us shinobi clans?
But if you as the boss don't protect your subordinates, who would dare continue pledging loyalty to the Hokage faction afterward?
Seeing Konoha's side fall silent, those Main House members grew even more arrogant. They turned their target toward Itachi Uchiha, who had already expressed hostility toward the Main House.
"Truly the wicked Uchiha!"
"After slaughtering your own clan, isn't that enough? Do you want to see the Hyuga clan exterminated too?"
"Lord Hokage, this Uchiha must be in league with that Uchiha Yasushi—he's a spy hidden in the village!"
"Look at what he's done over these years—he's clearly been pushing Konoha Village toward the brink of destruction!"
"He's been constantly weakening the village's forces. Without him, how could the village have become what it is now?"
"Enough, all of you be quiet!" Seeing their words grow increasingly outrageous, Hiruzen feared further escalation of conflict and quickly interrupted everything.
"Itachi's loyalty is beyond question. Stop spouting nonsense!"
Seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi's anger, those Main House fence-sitters immediately shut their mouths and stopped talking. But their eyes remained full of warning—if Itachi Uchiha targeted the Hyuga Main House again, they definitely wouldn't be polite.
But just silencing them wasn't enough—the problem still needed solving!
Hiruzen's brow furrowed tightly. He couldn't think of any solution that would satisfy everyone.
"Heh, this is Konoha Village!"
Jiraiya suddenly sneered coldly, turned around, and left with his giant toad.
He'd finally understood—his teacher was planning to muddle through again. No matter what choice the teacher made next, fighting definitely wouldn't break out.
But whether the conflict could be resolved—he wasn't optimistic about that either.
He'd never been that kind of highly responsible person anyway. The only reason he'd been holding things together in Konoha Village was because Tsunade was dead, Orochimaru had fled, and everyone else capable of shouldering the burden had died off. There simply wasn't anyone who could handle this mess—he had no choice but to step up.
The continuous fighting had already exhausted him tremendously. The recent signing of those humiliating treaties had left him physically and mentally drained. He simply couldn't be bothered to deal with this mess anymore. Might as well just walk away and let them handle it however they wanted!
The village was already rotten to this degree. Getting a bit more rotten wouldn't make much difference.
Maybe after everything rotted away completely, there could even be a phoenix-like rebirth!
Hiruzen understood Jiraiya best. Seeing him leave, he knew he'd wounded his disciple's heart again and immediately grew anxious.
The current Konoha Village couldn't afford to lose powerful shinobi like Jiraiya. If Jiraiya abandoned the village again to go searching for some savior, he wouldn't even know what to do.
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