Tenzo Hyuga was in a terrible mood.
He'd run straight into the worst possible outcome.
If Hizashi was a one out of ten at throwing a "hat" on someone's head…
Then the bandaged, middle-aged man sitting across from him started at ten and went up from there.
In Konoha, every major clan had shared the same nightmare for years.
You'd be walking through some quiet stretch of trees, minding your business, and then Danzo Shimura would appear behind you out of nowhere and calmly say the village needed talent.
Now he was here, staring at Tenzo with that blank face, and it felt like the air had dropped ten degrees.
"The Hyuga have had private contact with Hidden Mist Village for thirty years."
Danzo spoke without any change in expression.
"What have you discussed with the Kaguya Clan all these years? Why does the Kaguya Clan believe the Hyuga can influence the Hokage's decisions?"
"Did the village approve it? What is the Hyuga's motive?"
"What are you trying to imply by bringing this letter here? What are the Hyuga trying to overturn?"
"What are you trying to destroy? Who's behind the Hyuga? Who instructed you?"
One question after another, cold and precise, landing like knives.
Tenzo's face slowly turned a shade darker.
So the "darkness of the shinobi world," the "root of Konoha," really wasn't just a name.
But Tenzo wasn't someone who could be crushed with a few shouted accusations either. This kind of hat being jammed onto his head, he wasn't accepting it.
Danzo's hand cut through the air, and his voice rose with it.
"The Hyuga's motive is collusion with foreign forces, hedging bets on both sides!"
"It looks like you're proactively reporting, but what you're actually doing is a vicious insinuation. You're trying to compare the Hokage to the Mizukage, and compare the creation of the Patrol Unit to Kirigakure's Blood Mist Village!"
"This is undermining the Will of Fire. This is digging out Konoha's roots."
Danzo turned his head toward Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"In my view, the Third Mizukage is standing behind the Hyuga. This is a staged act, playing victim while working against the village!"
"You're using the Hokage and the village's authority as cover to grab influence without restraint, and telling the outside world that the Hyuga are the real decision-makers in Konoha, the 'shadow Hokage'…"
Even Hizashi, listening from the side, went a little blank.
The worst part was, if you followed the chain all the way down… it almost sounded like it had a logic to it.
The anger Tenzo had managed to scrape together got flattened under one enormous hat after another, each one stacked neatly on top of the last.
His hands and feet went cold.
Somewhere in the middle of the suffocation, he even found himself admiring Danzo.
The Hyuga and Konoha weren't comparable in scale, but both of them sat in positions where their word carried weight.
Tenzo had used similar methods to suppress the Hyuga Branch House before.
But compared to Danzo's ability to spin outward, to escalate without limits, to drag everything up to the highest accusation possible…
Tenzo was nowhere close.
"You have nothing to say now?" Danzo's voice went even colder. "You've been exposed, and you're thinking of a counter?"
"You Hyuga like to call yourselves a great clan. Then tell me, who did your ancestors produce?"
"Did you produce a Madara Uchiha who could stand across from the First Hokage? Or an Izuna Uchiha who could contend with Tobirama-sensei?"
"Even the Uchiha wouldn't dare pull something like this. How do the Hyuga dare?"
Danzo slammed the table.
Veins jumped along his forehead, and for a second the look in his eyes was so intense it felt like he'd activated the Byakugan.
Those words hit Tenzo right in the lungs.
The Byakugan and the Sharingan, the Hyuga and the Uchiha, were always spoken of together as Konoha's two great dojutsu clans.
But anyone with eyes knew the truth.
The "together" part was generous. If you said it bluntly, the Hyuga were riding the reputation.
And Danzo's meaning was clear.
The village had already been patient with the Hyuga. Compared to the Uchiha, you should be grateful.
And you still wanted more?
"Councilor-sama," Tenzo said quickly, forcing a breath into his chest, "the Hyuga Clan has absolutely no such intent!"
"Look, Hizashi is doing well in Anbu, isn't he?"
In this moment, the branch house son he'd been wary of suddenly became a lifeline.
"Hizashi is doing well. He's a good boy," Danzo said, and then immediately sank his teeth in again. "But what does he have to do with the Hyuga?"
Tenzo went blank.
What does he have to do with the Hyuga?
That's my son. He has the Byakugan. How can he possibly have nothing to do with the Hyuga?
Tenzo, a man known for patience and restraint, nearly cursed out loud.
You can cut even that apart?
"The village just recruited Hizashi into Anbu, and you ran here the first chance you got," Danzo continued, voice flat and merciless. "You're not here for the village. You're here with this letter to claim credit, to block further movement out of the branch house."
"And you're trying to drive a wedge between Hizashi and the village."
"Good. Very good."
Danzo watched Tenzo's reaction and felt a clean, ugly satisfaction settle in his chest.
The Hyuga clan head had terrible luck.
He'd walked straight into Danzo's sights.
These past months, Danzo had learned a lot from Hiruzen Sarutobi.
And he'd enjoyed it.
But his old craft, his true habit, had been forced into storage for too long. It left an itch under his skin.
Now he was finally scratching it.
Danzo opened his mouth again.
Tenzo's heart tightened, the way it did when a heavy pressure wrapped around your throat.
Like a giant python was coiling higher and higher, cutting off air by inches.
This Hokage Building…
Was more dangerous than the Blood Mist Village.
Am I even walking out of here alive today?
At that moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled a stream of smoke and coughed once.
That was all.
Danzo had already formed the next words, but he shut his mouth immediately.
So fast and clean it surprised even Hiruzen.
What was that about?
"Sit. Both of you. Sit and talk." Hiruzen's tone set the room at once, easing the tension that had been stretched to the breaking point.
"Danzo, you went too far."
"The Hyuga have bled for the village. Even if there are small mistakes, they're still one of Konoha's pillars. Remember that. You can't label people enemies every time you get irritated."
Tenzo felt like a boulder had finally dropped off his chest. His whole body loosened.
The hat was still on his head.
But suddenly it was a lot smaller.
So the Hokage really did have some sense.
Even if the tactic was crude.
Same old routine. One plays bad cop, one plays good.
"Tenzo," Hiruzen said, looking right at him, "are you thinking Danzo and I are one red face and one white face?"
Tenzo gave an awkward smile and shook his head.
The Hokage could read minds too?
Hiruzen reached into a drawer and pulled out a document, laying it on the table in front of him.
It was a list.
A full list of names.
The roster for "Konoha Commissioner."
Tenzo's heart jolted.
This wasn't something drafted five minutes ago. It was too clean, too complete.
And there it was.
His own name.
Not only included, but placed ahead of Hizashi's.
The "Konoha Commissioner" position wasn't a secret in the village anymore. The jonin circles were buzzing. Even Genin had been arguing excitedly over who would make it.
Tenzo had assumed Hizashi would be chosen.
If Tenzo were the Hokage, he'd do it too.
Make Hizashi a Konoha Commissioner, leave the clan head out, and instantly you created a split, two centers of power staring each other down.
No matter how heavy the main house's pressure was, could it outweigh Konoha itself?
Hyuga branch house members would flood toward Hizashi like a tide.
A naked, poisonous move.
More vicious than the Blood Mist Village, because it wasn't just killing people.
It was killing hearts.
Tenzo had worried over that possibility for a long time.
If the Hokage really did that, what was he supposed to do?
But he'd never expected this.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had put Tenzo on the list too.
"Tenzo," Hiruzen said slowly, "Konoha believes in the Will of Fire."
"Between the village and the clans, it's never been you die or I die. It's working together, both sides winning."
His voice stayed calm, steady, like a man speaking about something he'd believed for a lifetime.
"That's Konoha's most fundamental difference from other hidden villages. I see every shinobi as a friend, a brother, a family member."
"Not as a tool. Not as expendable material."
In that moment, a thought slid through Tenzo's mind, quiet and unavoidable.
Maybe the Will of Fire wasn't just a slogan after all.
Maybe it was real.