Danzo posed a classic shipwreck interrogation.
The premise was a ship on the verge of sinking; in other words, everyone on board was doomed to die. The complication was that one person had contracted a malignant infectious disease. If left alone, everyone on the ship would die from the illness before the ship even hit the bottom.
In this scenario, two choices were presented: kill the one to save the nine and delay the inevitable death of the group, or do nothing at all, since everyone was going to die sooner or later anyway.
However, Hyuga Yu realized instantly that what Danzo truly wanted to know was not the answer itself, but the process of arriving at it.
Shimura Danzo had once asked Uchiha Itachi this very same question in the official novel, Itachi Shinden. At that time, Itachi's answer had been:
"The sick person will die no matter what; that is his fate. If I were the captain, my top priority would be to save the lives of the other nine. I would choose to kill one to save nine."
After answering this, Shimura Danzo and the Konoha higher-ups accepted Uchiha Itachi, placing him as a spy within the Uchiha clan. Back then, the question was meant to test Itachi's caliber, and the focus was on highlighting the contradictory relationship between the Uchiha and the village.
But now—
Yu's eyes flickered slightly, and he answered calmly without a hint of hesitation, "If I were the captain, I would throw the sick person overboard."
Danzo nodded, showing no surprise at Yu's choice. A cold sneer played across his dark, somber face as he continued, "Then, what if the sick person... was you?"
"The captain has contracted a malignant infectious disease, and the news quickly spreads throughout the ship. The remaining nine crew members unite to throw you overboard."
"In that moment, as the captain—" Danzo narrowed his eyes, staring intently at Hyuga Yu, and asked in a low, haunting voice, "What would you do?"
Without any hesitation, Yu responded with an expression of pure composure, "The moment they attempt to rebel against the captain, they are no longer members of this ship's crew."
"Oh?"
Upon hearing this, the corners of Danzo's mouth curled slightly. He let out another cold laugh and asked, "But what if... there is actually no captain on this ship? What if the captain died when the ship first ran into trouble, and your position as captain is merely a delusion of your own? What if the other nine crew members do not recognize your authority at all?"
"In this situation, you are both diseased and misunderstood, and no one acknowledges your achievements."
"Crew member Hyuga Yu—"
"You... what would you do?"
Yu shook his head and said indifferently, "I would infect all nine of them, then tell them I have the only two bottles of life-saving medicine."
"In that moment, I am the captain!"
As he listened to Yu's answer, Shimura Danzo narrowed his eyes and nodded slowly.
On the surface, the first question was about a ship and a patient, but in reality, it was about Hyuga Yu and the Hyuga clan. It was a test to see if Yu, as a member of the Hyuga, possessed the mindset of a Hokage—whether he could consider problems from the perspective of the village as a whole. Yu had already provided the answer to that two months ago.
The relationship between the Hyuga clan and Konoha was not as strained as that of the Uchiha, but as a member of the Branch House, Yu and the Main House were naturally in two different camps. The Main House had even taken the initiative to move against Yu, offending him "to the death."
Yu couldn't wait to wipe out the Main House right now.
As for the second and third questions... those were what Danzo truly wanted to ask. They reflected the situation he currently faced.
He had dedicated his life's blood to the "ship" that was Konoha, but now that he was old, weak, and physically maimed, Hiruzen Sarutobi had sent Orochimaru to take over his political legacy. On the surface, it was a question about the conflict between a captain and his crew; in reality, it was about the reality of Root and the Hidden Leaf.
This question was meant to see if Yu, standing in his current position, possessed the determination and wisdom to gamble everything. But more importantly, just as Yu had initially guessed—the correctness of the answer wasn't the key factor in Danzo's final decision.
What he wanted to know wasn't the answer, but the process of reaching it. Specifically, Yu could not show a single moment of hesitation in answering any of the questions!
This stemmed from an incident during the First Great Ninja War.
Facing pursuit by the Kinkaku Force, Tobirama Senju and his guard unit discussed the need for a decoy to lure the enemy away, ensuring the others had time to escape. At that time, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, was secretly testing his subordinates to choose the right successor.
Although Danzo had wanted to volunteer as the decoy, he failed to speak up at the critical moment due to a temporary lapse of courage. Hiruzen Sarutobi beat him to it, leading Tobirama to appoint Hiruzen as the Third Hokage. Danzo had missed the seat of Hokage because of it and had regretted it for decades.
Therefore, in the cultivation and selection of a successor, while Danzo hoped they would make choices that aligned with his own views, what he valued most was the decisiveness of their will!
At this moment, not only did Yu answer without hesitation, but his answers almost perfectly matched Danzo's every imagination for a successor. This caused Danzo's heart to tremble slightly. He immediately turned around, a flicker of genuine emotion crossing his face where Yu could not see it.
But quickly, that expression was swallowed again by gloom and indifference. Danzo took a shallow breath and, with his back still turned to Yu, spoke in a cold voice, "Hyuga Yu—"
"From this day forward, I shall take you as my disciple."
"In your capacity as my disciple and 'Tennin,' the future successor of Root, I shall nominate you to campaign for the position of Fourth Hokage!"
Upon hearing these words, Yu's expression underwent a sudden shock. His eyes widened slightly as he stared at the old man's back in disbelief. At first, he found it incomprehensible, but quickly, combining the current state of Root, the timeline, and the outrageous actions Danzo would take in the coming years—he understood.
After the end of the Third Great Ninja War, the outbreak of the Nine-Tails' Rampage, and the death of Minato Namikaze, Danzo would go mad, sending Kakashi Hatake to assassinate Hiruzen Sarutobi to prevent him from reporting to the Land of Fire's Daimyo and resuming the mantle of Third Hokage.
Yu stepped back from his perspective as an insider and examined Shimura Danzo from a holistic view, suddenly realizing:
At this stage... Danzo didn't seem particularly keen on the Hokage seat himself?
It wasn't that he wasn't interested, but rather that Konoha currently had the popular candidate Minato Namikaze, and the Sannin hadn't fully departed yet. Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and even Tsunade were still in the village. Looking at the line of succession, the position of Hokage wouldn't fall to Danzo no matter what.
Danzo only truly began to plot for the Hokage seat once the retired Third Hokage decided not to immediately select a Fifth Hokage and instead resumed the office himself.
So...
Danzo intended to take him as a disciple, groom him to be Hokage, and even have him compete against the likes of Minato Namikaze and Orochimaru for the Fourth's position... was he serious?
This absurd thought couldn't help but sprout in Yu's mind.
He stood there stunned, speechless for a moment. Meanwhile, Danzo kept his back turned, holding his pose for a long time. When he didn't receive a response from Yu, his heart sank slightly. He wondered, Was my tone... too harsh? Why is this boy so silent?
"Ahem!"
Danzo's grim cough snapped Yu back to reality. Almost instantly, Yu realized the various benefits of having Danzo as a master. Whether from the perspective of personal interest or status within Konoha, as a member of the Hyuga Branch House, Yu needed a patron of this caliber supporting him.
He struggled to push himself up from the center of the ruins, ignoring the pain in his body, and knelt on one knee behind the old man. "Yes, Master Danzo!"
Danzo nodded with satisfaction, then began a calm analysis. "In the campaign for the Fourth Hokage, given your current age, strength, and achievements, it is impossible for you to be mentioned in the same breath as Minato Namikaze or Orochimaru... Therefore, although I will nominate you for the election—"
"The hope is slim."
"Furthermore, your status is also an issue."
Yu nodded. "I understand."
However, Danzo narrowed his eyes and said eerily, "But there is no need for haste. What you need now is to settle in, grow, erase the stains on your reputation, and—accumulate achievements!"
"Yes!"
Yu nodded seriously. No one would choose a member of the Hyuga Branch House controlled by the Caged Bird curse as Hokage. Thus, his immediate priority was to completely resolve the threat of the Caged Bird before the election began and to gain achievements that wouldn't pale in comparison to Minato or Orochimaru. Orchestrating the collapse of the Hidden Mist was a highlight on his resume, but that alone wasn't enough to beat Minato Namikaze, who was currently acting as a "firefighter" across all battlefronts of the war.
The benefit of having a Konoha high-ranking official as a teacher manifested now. Danzo thought for a moment, then glanced back at Yu, revealing a piece of information that was currently a top secret in Konoha: "In the direction of the Land of Grass, the war with the Hidden Stone has reached its final stages. The second round of negotiations between Konoha and the Hidden Stone is about to begin. These talks will discuss the ceasefire and reparations between Konoha and the Hidden Stone for the Third Great Ninja War."
"The first round of negotiations was led by Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze, but it seems no effective results were achieved."
"If you can achieve results in these negotiations, then... all the prior achievements of Minato Namikaze may very well serve as your stepping stone."
"In one week, I need you to do something—"
At this point, Danzo paused, a poisonous light flashing in his eyes. "Go to the Land of Rain. Make contact with the 'Demi-god' of the Hidden Rain, Hanzo of the Salamander. Also, contact an organization currently active in the Land of Rain that is dealing with the three great nations and indirectly influencing the outcome of these negotiations."
"The Akatsuki."
Danzo turned his head halfway, his face partially submerged in shadow, as he looked at Yu with cold indifference. "I have seen countless fools who can only talk big."
"If you want my support,"
"Then show me what you can do."
"Show me how you will 'infect' the crew with the disease, and how you will produce the 'cure' that doesn't exist to make them bow to you and become your so-called 'captain'!"
"I only want one result—"
"The Hidden Stone must not be allowed to have a ceasefire with Konoha, and Ohnoki must cough up reparations that satisfy me!"
With that, Shimura Danzo tucked his right arm away, leaned on his cane with his left hand, and stepped forward.
Soon, his figure vanished into the darkness.
It was as if he had never appeared.
The surroundings suddenly fell into a heavy silence. The rumbling of battle in the distance, following Danzo's departure, suddenly felt like a stuttering recording—sometimes smooth, sometimes stopping. In Yu's field of vision, a cluster of blurry mosaics suddenly appeared.
The entire world seemed to lag.
And the giant full moon in the sky revealed a massive, crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan pattern upon its surface!
Yu frowned, his expression tightening. Only then did he realize that he had already fallen under a Sharingan Genjutsu.
"When did this happen?"
Just then, he heard a familiar, urgent cry from the empty space beside him: "Hey, Tennin, wake up!"
"Hyuga Yu, are you still alive!?"
"He's in a Genjutsu! Yamato, inject chakra! Disrupt his chakra flow, hurry! The pursuers are coming!"
As a foreign chakra was injected into his body, everything before Yu's eyes suddenly blurred. His nostrils were filled with the metallic, rusty scent of blood.
Yu snapped his eyes open. Before him were the same ruins. The twelve Hidden Mist shinobi who had been surrounding him had been sliced in two by Wind Style, their blood splattered across the ground. Beside him were Yamato, Terai, and Shin—the three he had pre-arranged to hide near the battlefield to provide backup.
The three looked incredibly tense.
Terai was performing emergency bandaging on Yu's chest, where six ribs were shattered and a massive hole had been hammered into him.
Yamato had one hand pressed against the side of Yu's neck, continuously injecting chakra.
Shin was quickly painting a large ink bird using Super Beast Scroll, looking around warily.
Yu suddenly remembered—how could he not have arranged a back-up plan for himself?
After unsealing the Six-Tails and successfully stalling the Third Mizukage, the direction he chose to fall was precisely toward the location of Yamato's trio. He had pre-arranged for Shin to use the Super Beast Scroll here, ready at any moment to take the team and use their aerial advantage to escape the chaotic Hidden Mist.
He looked up abruptly at Terai and the others and asked, "Did Lord Danzo come by?"
Yamato immediately responded, "He was just here! But he left right after taking out the twelve Mist ninja who were surrounding you!"
"Did he leave any instructions?"
"Lord Danzo told us to take you back to the base in the Land of Bears and wait for further orders. He said... he has arranged other solo missions for you."
Hearing this, a sharp light flashed in Yu's eyes. That meant the conversation that took place within the Sharingan Genjutsu was real. Shimura Danzo had promised to take Yu as his disciple, inherit all of his political resources, and pave the way for him to become Hokage.
But the prerequisite was that Yu had to go to the Land of Rain and prove his worth as the successor of Root and Danzo during the negotiations between Konoha and the Hidden Stone!
Either make the war between the Stone and the Leaf continue, or make the Third Tsuchikage Ohnoki cough up a massive amount of war reparations!
As the Third Great Ninja War reached this point, the factor that could influence this event was the attitude of the Land of Rain, which was sandwiched between the Lands of Wind, Earth, and Fire.
Clearly, the "Akatsuki" founded by Yahiko played the role of an intermediary organization seeking peace through dialogue and mutual understanding—a group all three nations were trying to win over.
The growth of the Akatsuki had made the leader of the Hidden Rain, Hanzo of the Salamander, wary. In the original timeline, Danzo had formed a partnership with Hanzo on the condition of eliminating the Akatsuki, making the Land of Rain an ally of Konoha and gaining its support. However, the battle with the Akatsuki had drastically reduced the Hidden Rain's strength, resulting in no substantial results during the negotiations with the Hidden Stone.
Ultimately, the Hidden Stone had reached a peace agreement with Konoha without paying almost any price, becoming the biggest winner of the incident.
And now, the initiative for these negotiations, as well as the mission to investigate and win over the Land of Rain, had been placed in Hyuga Yu's hands by Shimura Danzo.
So, how should Hyuga Yu act?
Should he eliminate the Akatsuki as in the original story?
Or should he make the Akatsuki the dominant force in the Land of Rain?
————
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