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Prince of Tennis: Ninja of Tennis
The Anbu's report made Hiruzen's face look a little better.
"The Hyuga clan is still easier to deal with than the Uchiha."
"First, they actually cooperate with my orders."
"Second, they can keep their own house in order."
But compared to last time, the Hyuga situation was slipping.
Hyuga Hiashi wasn't Hyuga Sōchō.
The two men thought very differently.
This time the problem hit the branch family hardest.
Inside the Hyuga compound, branch members outnumbered the main family by a huge margin.
And this latest mess hurt the branch family the most.
"The main family squeezes us dry. The village leaders squeeze us too."
"We were born human. Why the hell do we have no rights?"
"Even Hizashi—former clan head's son, current clan head's own brother—died that easily."
"What about the rest of us?"
"To them we're not even people."
"Is there any point in living like this?"
Hiashi watched the Anbu leave, eyes flickering for a long time.
Then he went back to his study and sat in silence.
"What should I do?"
"Hizashi… what do you think I should do?"
"How do we break this goddamn curse on the Hyuga clan?"
...
Sunagakure's rumor team was still hard at work.
On the battlefield, Sand ninjas used the latest gossip to mock the Hyuga branch members.
"You Hyuga branch dogs are pathetic."
"Konoha crushes you. Your own main family humiliates you."
"You still stay loyal to the clan and the village? Aren't you scared you'll be the next Hizashi? Or do you think you're stronger than him?"
The Hyuga ninjas got angry.
But they couldn't argue back.
Deep down, most of them suspected the rumors were true.
Yet they couldn't disobey Hiashi's orders.
"Caged Bird! This fucking seal!"
"How much longer is this damn thing going to own us?"
Rasa looked at his system panel.
[Points: 1603!]
"The point gain is slowing down."
"Looks like I need to stir things up again. The Hyuga clan isn't like the Uchiha—they're too spineless. At this rate it'll take forever to hit 3000."
"Make a new Ninja Kill card for Hyuga Hizashi?"
"Or drop some fresh articles in the Ninja World Big Events Weekly?"
Right then someone walked in.
"Lord Kazekage, a letter from Kumogakure."
"Kumogakure?"
Rasa opened it and his eyes lit up.
"The Fourth Raikage wants to give Sunagakure an interview about Hyuga Hizashi?"
"Perfect timing!"
Rasa didn't think for a second that the Raikage was doing this to help Hiruzen.
More likely he wanted to use the real story to nail Hiruzen for selling out the Hyuga.
That only helped Cloud.
The ninja world right now was a powder keg.
Iwagakure and Konoha had teamed up to hit Sunagakure. On paper two villages against one should be an easy win.
Instead they got wrecked.
Konoha lost Jiraiya as a major piece.
Iwagakure lost over a thousand shinobi.
Cloud had been sitting back, waiting for the right moment.
Once Sunagakure looked like it was about to collapse, Cloud would've jumped in with Konoha and Stone to carve up the desert.
But that plan was dead now.
So Cloud was probably going to turn on Konoha instead.
From Cloud's point of view, attacking the Leaf had the highest success rate and the biggest payoff.
Rasa quickly gave orders to the newspaper office.
A reporter left Sunagakure at top speed, heading straight for the Land of Lightning.
"With the Fourth Raikage's interview, hitting 3000 points won't be hard at all."
"4000 or even 5000 isn't impossible either."
The Sand army had built a base around the Sun Disk as its core.
Looking up at the massive weapon, every Sand ninja felt a powerful sense of safety.
Leaf shinobi who saw it couldn't help but feel fear.
Iwagakure survivors felt nothing but pure hatred.
"Fucking Sunagakure!"
The Iwagakure ninjas' hatred for Sand had reached a boiling point.
"Konoha was the main attacker, but Sunagakure didn't set a trap for them—they set one for us instead?"
"They're targeting us specifically."
One Iwagakure ninja sighed.
"Lord Kitsuchi was too reckless. He got the intel and charged in without proper scouting or even asking the Tsuchikage."
"I heard Lord Ōnoki is furious."
"He's blaming Kitsuchi for getting over a thousand Iwagakure shinobi killed."
The ninja across from him looked moved.
"Lord Tsuchikage is truly great. The village comes first in his heart."
"Even though Kitsuchi was his son and died in this disaster, Lord Ōnoki didn't mourn him first—he blamed him for causing so many Iwagakure deaths."
"That's what a real Kage looks like."
"Way better than Hiruzen Sarutobi in Konoha."
"Hiruzen clings to power and crushes his own people for his own gain."
"He's a disgrace to every Kage!"
"This time it should've been Konoha losing that many shinobi. Instead we took the hit for them."
Iwagakure.
Hearing the talk made Ōnoki's mood improve slightly.
He'd lost his son and over a thousand elite shinobi.
Even during the entire Third Great Ninja War, Iwagakure had never suffered losses like this.
It had put Ōnoki in the worst mood of his life.
"Kitsuchi…"
Ōnoki sighed when he thought of his son.
His feelings were complicated.
On one hand, he hadn't wanted Kitsuchi to die—even after the reckless charge into the trap.
Ōnoki had hoped his son would run.
Even if it meant living in disgrace, even if everyone hated him, Ōnoki just wanted him alive.
Because alive there was still a chance.
Dead and everything was over.
On the other hand, Ōnoki realized Kitsuchi's death had actually helped him a lot.
It made him look like a truly great Tsuchikage.
Someone who treated his own son the same as everyone else.
Village first, always.
Better than any other Kage.
"If things keep going like this… maybe I don't have to step down as Tsuchikage after all."
"After all, no one in Iwagakure thinks I'm clinging to power anymore."