Chapter 10
Chapter 10
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 0
Chapter Title: The Illusion of Sacrifice
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Inside Konoha Hospital.
Hyuga Hizashi tossed and turned on the hospital bed for most of the night, finally dragged into slumber by sheer exhaustion.
In his dream, Hizashi vaguely sensed a whisper of wind.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in the Hyuga clan's meeting hall, bathed in the flickering glow of candlelight.
"Konoha no longer has the strength to keep fighting the Hidden Cloud Village. Our Hyuga clan must give them an explanation..." Hyuga Hiashi knelt at the head of the room, his shadow stretched long by the candle flames.
The main house elders and branch house shinobi below exchanged stunned glances.
"Why?! It was clearly those Hidden Cloud bastards who kidnapped Lady Hinata!" a branch house jonin burst out in frustration.
"Because we can't afford another war." Hiashi could hardly stomach it himself.
But right now, all of Konoha's pressure was bearing down on the Hyuga clan.
The hall erupted in uproar. In the shadows, the Byakugan of a main house elder gleamed coldly:
"What terms did the Hidden Cloud demand?"
Yeah, with the Hidden Cloud pressing so hard, what were they after?
All the Hyuga shinobi in the meeting hall turned their eyes to the clan head at the main seat.
"A killer." Hiashi's words froze the air solid.
As Hiashi's voice faded, the murmurs in the hall swelled even louder.
No Hyuga—main house or branch—could swallow such a demand.
The Hidden Cloud envoy had barged into Hyuga territory to kidnap the clan head's daughter and got himself killed on the spot. Now the victims were supposed to hand over the perpetrator?
"No need for the clan head to step in. If they just want the killer, one will do." The Byakugan beneath a main house elder's long brows pierced toward Hizashi in the branch house seats.
Hizashi was just about to blurt out: "What about the mysterious figure from last night?"
But his body rose against his will, striding forward to kneel before Hiashi. "Let me go, brother."
"The branch house exists to protect the main house. As clan head of the Hyuga, you can't be put at risk."
'No! That's not right!' Hizashi felt like his soul had detached, watching from the sidelines as his own cold-faced double spouted those words.
'What about that mysterious guy? Pin the envoy's death on him!' Hizashi bellowed at his spectral self.
But none of the Hyuga shinobi in the hall acknowledged him, pressing on with debates about practicality.
Hiashi tried to protest, only for his double to slug him and demand he shoulder the main house's duty.
Then Hizashi watched his double deliver final words to his son Neji before marching off to his death.
Once the Hyuga handed over the "killer of the Hidden Cloud envoy," the Hidden Cloud had no grounds to complain.
As a helpless spectator, Hizashi watched his double meet his end, watched his own funeral where his wife and child clung together, wailing in agony. A bone-deep chill gripped him.
'No! It's genjutsu!'
'Fake! All of it fake!'
The raw emotional surge clued Hizashi in. He began cycling his chakra to disrupt the illusion.
But he couldn't break free.
Sudden darkness swallowed his vision. Hizashi snapped back to Konoha Hospital.
He bolted upright in bed, drenched in cold sweat that soaked his bandages.
"Just a dream?" Hizashi panted, wiping his forehead with his right hand.
"Not a dream."
A flat voice cut in from the side.
Hizashi jolted, whipping his head around to see a long-robed figure in a white three-eyed fox mask leaning against the window. Moonlight bathed the mask in an icy sheen.
"You!" Hizashi tensed for battle, straining to rise from the bed—only to find himself pinned in place, unable to budge.
"Still genjutsu!" Cold sweat beaded on Hizashi's brow nonstop. Layered illusions like this were beyond most jonin.
Thud—