Chapter 169: Teacher

Chapter 169: Chapter 169: Teacher

After leaving the main family’s estate, a pale-faced Hizashi said to Hyuga Kagami, "Sorry you had to see that."

Kagami shook his head. "It’s fine."

Being able to observe the activation of the Caged Bird curse seal from such close range had been quite valuable to Kagami. His only regret was that, with everyone right there, he couldn’t activate his Byakugan. Otherwise, he would have been able to observe far more clearly the chakra flow within Hiashi, who had activated the curse seal, and Hizashi, who had been subjected to it.

After they had walked for a while, Hizashi suddenly said, "Kagami, there’s something I’d like to ask of you!"

"What is it?"

Hizashi pulled Neji over to his side and said, "I want you to become Neji’s teacher!"

Kagami smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "You must be joking."

Hizashi’s expression turned solemn. "I’m serious. Compared to me, you’re much more suited to being his sensei."

Kagami asked with interest, "Why? No matter how you look at it, wouldn’t it be better for you to personally train Neji?"

Neji looked at his father, then at Kagami, clearly at a loss as to what was going on.

Hizashi gently stroked Neji’s head and sighed. "What happened today made me realize just how narrow-minded I am. Especially when I saw how calm you were... it made me deeply ashamed of myself!"

Kagami chuckled. "I wasn’t calm at all."

"No!" Hizashi stared intently at Kagami and said in a low voice, "You can’t fool these eyes of mine. Unlike everyone else, who merely hides their fear deep inside, your calm isn’t an act. I don’t understand how you can face the Caged Bird so calmly, but your composure has truly earned my admiration."

Kagami smiled and didn’t bother explaining further.

He had to admit that Hizashi’s intuition was remarkably sharp. But there was one thing Hizashi had gotten wrong—he had clearly overestimated Kagami’s strength of character.

The reason Kagami could remain so calm was simply because he had already found a way around the Caged Bird. That was why he could face it with such peace of mind.

If he were still bound by the Caged Bird, with his life and death completely at someone else’s mercy, his state of mind probably wouldn’t be much better than Hizashi’s.

Glancing at Neji, Kagami pondered for a moment before saying to Hizashi, "If you still haven’t changed your mind when the time comes, I’d be willing to become Neji’s teacher."

Hizashi breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I can rest easy."

After bidding farewell to Hizashi and Neji, Kagami strolled away alone, slowly leaving the Hyuga clan grounds.

Although evening was already approaching, the village remained as lively as ever. The streets and alleys were filled with villagers who had spent the entire day enjoying the festivities yet still hadn’t had their fill, while the izakayas and barbecue restaurants were positively bustling with noise and activity.

Walking along the brightly lit streets, Kagami sighed inwardly.

"Looks like everyone’s grown tired of war..."

Just then, a shout came from a second-floor window of an izakaya in the distance.

"Kagami! Over here, over here!"

Kagami looked up and saw Guy waving at him from the window. Anko and Hayate seemed to be beside him as well.

Kagami called back from the street, then made his way up to the second floor of the izakaya.

Only after taking a seat did he realize that it wasn’t just Guy, Anko, and Hayate. Several others from their generation were here as well, including Kurenai, Kakashi, Genma, and Ibiki.

Guy asked, "We’ve been looking for you all day! Where’d you go?"

"Had some clan business to take care of." After casually brushing off the question, Kagami looked around curiously. "How’d everyone manage to get together this time? Don’t any of you have missions?"

After several years of experience and training, Kagami’s peers had all grown into capable shinobi who could handle missions on their own. Normally, everyone had their own assignments, making it extremely difficult for so many of them to gather in one place.

"Cough, cough..." Hayate cleared his throat lightly before answering, "It’s because of the festival. Aside from the shinobi needed for essential duties, almost everyone else was given the day off."

Ever since injuring his lungs during the Third Shinobi World War, Hayate had always looked somewhat sickly. He could barely get through a few sentences without coughing softly several times.

Kurenai nudged Hayate with her elbow and teased, "By the way, where’s Yugao? How come you didn’t invite her?"

Hayate’s face immediately reddened, and he started coughing again. It took him a while to recover before he finally answered, "She’s on a mission."

With so many shinobi from the same generation gathered together, and everyone already knowing each other so well, there was little they couldn’t talk about freely. Before long, the whole group had descended into lively banter and laughter.

Sitting quietly beside the window, Kagami gazed out over the brilliantly illuminated village as his thoughts began to wander.

Kakashi moved closer and sighed. "Peace really is wonderful."

Kagami smiled. "Yeah. This festival gave everyone a chance to finally release all the pressure they’ve been carrying. Without it, who would’ve known just how desperately everyone longed for peace?"

Kakashi glanced around. Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, he lowered his voice and whispered, "Have you heard? The Uchiha have been trying to make contact with the Kumogakure delegation. They’ve even clashed with the ANBU several times because of it!"

Kagami had been secretly keeping an eye on the Kumogakure delegation all along, so naturally he already knew about this.

"Yeah, I’ve heard about it too."

Kakashi said worriedly, "If this keeps up, the rift between the Uchiha and the village is only going to grow wider!"

Kakashi had deep ties to the Uchiha.

His best friend, Uchiha Obito, had given him a precious Sharingan, while his comrade, Uchiha Shisui, had shouldered tremendous pressure to keep the secret that Kakashi possessed a Mangekyo Sharingan.

Because of that, Kakashi sincerely hoped that the Uchiha and the village could coexist peacefully.

Kagami let out a quiet sigh as well.

At this point, there was essentially no longer any possibility of reconciliation between the Uchiha and the village.

The problem wasn’t that the Uchiha wanted to rebel and seize power. Ever since Konoha was founded, the Uchiha clan had always wanted to take control of the village. That desire had never changed from beginning to end.

The real problem now was that the steadily weakening Hokage faction could no longer keep the Uchiha in check.

Therefore, there were only two ways to solve the problem.

Either strengthen the Hokage faction until the Uchiha, just as they had for the past several decades, no longer dared to make any reckless moves.

Or weaken the Uchiha until they no longer possessed the strength to pursue their ambitions.

But the Uchiha clan was currently like a powder keg. The moment the village took action to weaken them, it would inevitably provoke the Uchiha into striking back.

When that happened, either the village would wipe out the Uchiha clan, or the Uchiha would successfully seize power.

Of course, there was also the possibility that Konoha itself would be torn apart in the process.

Suddenly, Anko, reeking of alcohol, staggered over to Kagami.

"Kagami, I challenge you!"

Kagami looked at her. "You’re drunk."

"I’m not drunk!" Anko slammed the bottle in her hand onto the table and declared, "Come with me! We’re going to the training grounds!"

With that, Anko leaped straight out the window.

Kagami sighed helplessly. "I’ll go check on her."

Kakashi asked, "Want me to come with you?"

Kagami shook his head, then flickered out through the window after her...