Chapter 381: The Turning Point
Hyūga Ayaka's seventeenth birthday could hardly be called thrilling—but it was certainly not uneventful either.
Who knew why Minato had remembered her birthday in the first place?
Perhaps it was because Kei, together with her as his partner, had personally handled her jōnin certification.
Perhaps it was because they were teammates.
Or perhaps—though no one said it out loud—there was just a trace of ambiguity between them.
Whatever the reason, Minato remembered.
And on the very day of Ayaka's birthday, he managed to say something that left both her and Kei deeply embarrassed.
"So...is this a date?"
That single sentence was devastating.
Who would have thought that the Fourth Hokage could one day turn into a gossip enthusiast?
The worst part was that neither Kei nor Ayaka had a good way to refute it.
And their awkward reactions only deepened Minato's misunderstanding.
In his mind, it was practically confirmed:
These two were already together.
The only thing keeping them apart was the invisible gulf created by their respective clans.
Minato wisely chose not to comment further. He had no intention of inserting himself into the internal affairs of ninja clans.
Of course, once future reforms took hold and jōnin authority expanded, many things might change—but that was a matter for later.
Still, the incident left its mark on Ayaka.
For several days afterward, she found herself unusually unsettled.
She was thinking.
Thinking about herself.
About what she had become.
She could feel it—something had changed. Subtly, quietly, but undeniably.
On the surface, she was still the same.
Her heart remained hard and cold.
Her actions were still decisive, ruthless, efficient.
Yet for some reason, when she faced Kei, she could no longer return to her original mindset—the one where cooperation was purely rational, detached, and transactional.
That state was gone.
Kei had given her something she had never expected.
Respect.
Born into the Hyūga branch family, Ayaka had grown up painfully sensitive to hierarchy and intent. Years on the battlefield had sharpened her analytical instincts to a frightening degree.
When Kei became Vice Commander of the Military Police yet still chose to go on missions with them, Ayaka immediately sensed something was wrong.
She knew what kind of man he was.
And that behavior reeked of hidden motives.
To her, it felt dangerous.
She was right.
Kei carried secrets—dark, unforgivable secrets—and from the beginning, she had been one of his objectives.
Only a chain of coincidences, combined with Imai Kenta's concern that Kei might start cleaning house, spared her from that fate.
Even so, the psychological scar remained.
Ayaka understood, with brutal clarity, that she had only two paths:
Either remain quietly in the village, obedient and harmless—
Or be eliminated by Kei.
Neither option was acceptable.
Because buried deep within her heart was a dream she had never abandoned:
Freedom.
Freedom without the Birdcage Seal.
Freedom without chains.
Fate, in its twisted way, gave her an opening.
On her return journey, she overheard Kei deliberately say something to Imai Kenta—something meant to be heard.
Even more ironically, when she finally gathered the courage to approach Kei directly, she stumbled upon his greatest secret.
It was cruel.
Cold.
Utterly merciless.
Ayaka knew with absolute certainty:
If she asked—and was rejected—her death would come swiftly.
She hesitated.
She feared.
But in the end, she chose courage.
Because to live trapped beneath the Birdcage was no different from being a walking corpse.
"It was fortunate that a marriage had already been arranged… and fortunate that I discovered something useful," she thought now.
Even recalling her second confrontation with Kei made her uneasy.
At the time, she had fully prepared herself to die.
If she had truly been forced to marry Hyūga Teru, then living would have been no different from death.
Yes, she had grasped Kei's Achilles' heel—but in influence, authority, and power, she was never his equal.
It was a reckless gamble.
One she had no choice but to take.
Fortunately, Uchiha Kei cherished his reputation—and more importantly, he was rational to the core.
Tragedy was avoided.
And she obtained the promise she sought.
Kei had been careful. Painfully so.
His words were always wrapped in ambiguity:
"Try."
"If possible."
"To the best of our ability."
And yet, he demanded something unimaginably dangerous in return.
She had to kill her own fiancé.
Hyūga Hikaru.
Thinking back on it now, Ayaka could only sigh.
Hikaru's death stirred nothing within her.
A man who treated her as property, who decided her future on a whim, driven solely by his own desires—
Such a person dying was simply… natural.
Even if she had killed him with her own hands, she would not have felt a single ripple of emotion.
What Ayaka truly sighed over was the realization that she had stepped onto a path that allowed no hesitation—a road where slowing down even slightly meant plunging straight into the abyss.
But… looking at it now, this path doesn't really seem like an abyss anymore.
When she thought back carefully, her cooperation with Uchiha Kei did not resemble the bottomless hell she had once imagined.
Yes, there were countless difficulties at the beginning.
Yes, there had been danger, suspicion, and pressure at every step.
Yet as their cooperation deepened, an almost unbelievable tacit understanding formed between them.
Most importantly, although Kei never fully lowered his guard around her—and although there were moments when she could clearly feel that she was being used—
No matter what, he always fulfilled his role as a collaborator.
He used his experiments to carve out a new path for her.
He sent his own people to uncover documents she had never even known existed.
He guided her toward discovering the hidden connection between the Hyūga and the Kaguya.
And above all—
He gave her something she had never experienced before.
Respect.
That respect, coupled with the constant support she received, caused her emotions to shift—slowly, quietly, without warning.
She no longer remembered when it had started.
But she remembered clearly when it became impossible to ignore.
Perhaps it was the chain of misunderstandings after Kimimaro was brought back.
She could not deny it anymore—their relationship had grown closer, warmer, more entangled.
And the peak of it all was her seventeenth birthday, pierced clean through by Minato's casual remark.
People had speculated for a long time.
They had whispered, guessed, and gossiped.
Those voices could be ignored.
But Minato was different.
He was the Hokage.
If he saw it that way, then it meant something terrifyingly clear:
Her relationship with Uchiha Kei had already sunk deep into people's consciousness.
And just as clearly—
She herself had changed far more than she wanted to admit.
What's wrong with me?
How am I supposed to face that bastard now…
Ayaka's mind was filled with confusion and frustration.
She was troubled by her unconscious changes.
Troubled by how close she had grown to Kei—
And troubled most of all by the fact that she didn't hate it.
She had no idea how she was supposed to face him anymore.
Ironically enough, Kei was also drowning in confusion at that very moment.
Because he had just received a report.
A report from the Land of Iron.
The contents weren't extensive—but they were enough to shake both Konoha and Kumogakure.
And enough to make Kei want to cough blood.
Uchiha Ryū had killed Kumogakure jōnin, Toroi.
Kei didn't have much personal impression of Toroi.
Aside from knowing that he possessed Magnet Release and was later revived through Edo Tensei, there was nothing particularly memorable.
Once you understood the essence of a bloodline limit, it stopped being mysterious.
The problem was—
Toroi held real authority within Kumogakure.
He was a die-hard loyalist of the Fourth Raikage, A.
A frontline combat captain.
And such a figure had been killed by an unknown Uchiha?
Why didn't Ryū leave him alive as a bargaining chip?
Why not bring back the head for interrogation?
At the very least, why not take blood samples for research?
Ryū did none of that.
Perhaps he judged it too time-consuming.
Perhaps he feared that carrying Toroi's remains would invite relentless pursuit.
So he made a choice that was decisive, ruthless, and frighteningly steady—
He burned Toroi to charcoal.
Bone and ash. Nothing left.
When Kei read the report, he was completely stunned.
Because, disturbingly enough—
He saw his own shadow in Ryū.
"This guy really is something…"
Kei stared at the report in the Military Police office, torn between laughter and exasperation.
According to Minato, the Third Hokage was furious.
And truth be told, Hiruzen wasn't wrong.
This act undeniably escalated the scale and intensity of the Konoha–Kumo conflict, severely impacting Konoha's interests in the Land of Iron.
If Kumogakure chose to avenge Toroi and expanded the clash into a full war—
Kei would not escape responsibility.
"Still… this is just speculation."
War inevitably kills people who were never meant to die.
Hiruzen saw that clearly, which was why he stopped at anger and didn't move against Kei.
No matter how you looked at it, though—
This was a lesson.
And more importantly—
It was a turning point.
Toroi's death was a major shock to the conflict between Konoha and Kumogakure.
Calling it a turning point wasn't an exaggeration.
No one expected a high-ranking, bloodline-bearing Kumogakure ninja to fall during what was essentially a pre-war skirmish.
This phase wasn't supposed to involve heavy hitters.
But Kumogakure had grown impatient.
Konoha's response speed was too fast.
Their losses were mounting.
So Kumogakure sent Toroi.
And Konoha responded in kind.
Whether through coincidence or exceptional intelligence gathering—
A Sharingan-bearing Uchiha was deployed.
Ninja battles were never about chakra quantity or rank alone.
They were about intelligence, timing, adaptability, and technique.
Ryū killed Toroi in mere minutes.
That alone proved his strength—but also his sharp judgment and mastery of combat.
The Sharingan was terrifying.
Even an unknown Uchiha, with it awakened, could kill a powerful enemy.
How could anyone not be shaken?
Ryū was no longer insignificant.
And as Kei predicted, if Kumogakure intended immediate revenge, they would have already reached Konoha's borders.
But they didn't.
Instead, they waited.
They tightened their operations while narrowing the scope of conflict.
This was a true turning point—
One that reduced losses for Konoha's mission ninjas.
One that marked a small but undeniable victory.
"But don't be naïve."
Kei sighed.
"They're pretending to be weak."
"They'll visit Konoha… and let their delegation die here."
"A perfect excuse to launch a real offensive."
This was Kumogakure's classic tactic.
Feign peace.
Blame Konoha.
Justify war.
Only this time, the board had changed.
Still, their plan remained dangerous.
And now—
Their envoy, Atsubi, was already on the way.
He would arrive tomorrow.
After half a year of bloodshed, Konoha's shinobi were in no mood for mercy.
Maintaining order—and protecting the envoy—fell naturally to the Military Police.
To Uchiha Kei.
---
"Kei," Minato said with a smile in the Hokage's office,
"Village security during this visit is entirely in your hands."
Snow blanketed the land as the conflict finally slowed.
Kumogakure had announced formal negotiations.
The shinobi world watched closely.
And Kei nodded calmly.
"I understand. Leave it to me."
We'll watch them carefully.
And if necessary… I'll personally send them on their way.
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