Chapter 174: Capacity and Strength

Chapter 174: Chapter 174: Capacity and Strength

The demand made by the Kumogakure jonin immediately put the ANBU captain who had accompanied them in a difficult position.

On one side was the delegation representing Kumogakure, and on the other was one of the village’s great Kekkei Genkai clans. Neither was a party he could afford to offend lightly, so for a moment, he had no idea what to do.

Hyuga Hiashi stared coldly at the Kumogakure jonin.

"That’s impossible."

Gloya’s corpse had already been taken away by Hyuga Kagami, so there was no way Kumogakure would find anything even if they searched.

Even so, Hiashi could not simply allow Kumogakure to enter the Hyuga clan compound and conduct a search as they pleased.

This concerned the honor of the Hyuga clan.

If Kumogakure merely demanded a search and the Hyuga clan immediately gave way, not only would the Hyuga clan’s prestige suffer a severe blow, but those with ulterior motives might also notice that something was amiss.

Seeing this, the ANBU captain hurriedly tried to persuade the Kumogakure jonin.

"Let’s search elsewhere first. The Hyuga clan has no reason to attack or abduct Gloya-san."

But Kumogakure had already come prepared for a confrontation, so the Kumogakure jonin refused to yield even an inch. He snarled viciously, "You Konoha shinobi attacked the chief of our Kumogakure delegation! This is a blatant violation of the peace agreement! If you refuse to let us search now, then I’ll have no choice but to return to Kumogakure immediately and report everything truthfully to Lord Raikage!"

The ANBU captain’s expression stiffened.

By now, even he was beginning to feel irritated by Kumogakure’s unreasonable behavior.

But with things having already reached this point, he had to make a decision immediately. Otherwise, the hard-won peace between the two nations might go up in smoke.

And so, the ANBU captain walked over to Hiashi and whispered into his ear, "Lord Hiashi, why don’t we just let them go in and take a look? I’ll keep the situation under control and make sure word of this doesn’t spread."

Hiashi was well aware of Kumogakure’s sinister intentions. His refusal just now had merely been for appearances, and since he had already put on enough of a show, he took the offered way out and nodded.

The Kumogakure jonin’s face lit up, and he immediately led his subordinates into the Hyuga Main Family residence.

The accompanying ANBU captain followed them inside as well. Seeing that there were no traces of battle anywhere in the residence, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he did not believe that the Hyuga clan would attack the chief of the Kumogakure delegation for no reason, Kumogakure’s adamant accusations had still left him faintly worried.

After searching the entire place and finding absolutely nothing, the Kumogakure jonin’s expression darkened.

The ANBU captain accompanying them was no longer polite and said in a deep voice, "Since we haven’t found anything, let’s search somewhere else."

The Kumogakure jonin snorted coldly.

"Don’t be so hasty!"

With that, he formed a hand seal and briefly sensed his surroundings. Then, his gaze suddenly turned toward the distance, confusion appearing on his face.

"Huh? Why would it be over there?"

......

Meanwhile, on Hyuga Kagami and Shisui’s side...

The two of them were speeding toward the outskirts of the village with Gloya’s corpse in tow.

Kagami had not yet decided exactly how he should dispose of Gloya’s body.

But there was one thing he was certain of.

Getting the corpse as far away from the Hyuga clan compound as possible was definitely the right move.

After a brief silence, Shisui finally couldn’t hold himself back any longer and asked Hyuga Kagami, "Senpai, do you think what Gloya said was right or wrong?"

There was no doubt that Gloya’s final words before his death had left a considerable impact on Shisui, filling his mind with many doubts.

Kagami casually replied, "Some of what he said did make sense."

Kagami partially agreed with Gloya’s views on the shinobi village system.

It had only been fifty years since Konoha was founded.

The other major shinobi villages had been established even later than Konoha. In other words, the shinobi village system itself had existed in the shinobi world for only about fifty years.

Because the First Hokage had stood unrivaled above his entire era, the shinobi world had enjoyed peace and tranquility during the first ten years of the village system.

But the moment the First Hokage died, everything changed.

Setting aside those first ten years while the First was still alive, three Shinobi World Wars had erupted in the mere forty years that followed.

On average, a horrific war engulfing the entire shinobi world broke out once every thirteen years.

In other words, every Shinobi World War consumed an entire generation.

Then, after a decade or so of recuperation, once a new generation had grown up, another great war would erupt...

And another entire generation would be lost.

This cycle had already repeated itself three times!

Shisui asked, "You also think the First Hokage was wrong?"

Kagami replied calmly, "The First Hokage did indeed miss the best opportunity to unify the shinobi world, but there’s really nothing to criticize him for."

The First Hokage had lived through the chaos of the Warring States Period and wholeheartedly desired change. That was why he created the shinobi village system. As far as his original intentions were concerned, the First Hokage had indeed done nothing wrong.

Judging the decision he made back then based on the situation today would, to a certain extent, be unfair.

After all, even now, no one could say with certainty that war would truly disappear if the shinobi world were unified.

No one could know what the future held.

So dumping all the blame for these wars onto those who came before was, in truth, merely a reflection of the incompetence of their successors.

In Kagami’s opinion, the First Hokage’s real mistake was distributing the Tailed Beasts among the other villages.

Perhaps the First Hokage had done so because he wanted to maintain a balance of power between the villages, allowing them to restrain one another and thereby preserve peace throughout the shinobi world.

But reality had gone completely against his wishes.

Instead of preventing war, the First Hokage’s decision to distribute the Tailed Beasts had only intensified it, and Konoha had suffered greatly as a result.

Take the current situation, for example.

If Kumogakure did not have Killer B, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, and Yugito Nii, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki—two perfect Jinchuriki—they would never have had the confidence to start a war in the first place!

Shisui thought for a moment before asking, "Then do you think Kumogakure is right?"

"Kumogakure?"

Kagami chuckled softly before saying disdainfully, "Kumogakure may have the ambition to unify the shinobi world, but unfortunately for them, they don’t have the strength to do it."

Ambition was certainly important.

But without the strength to match it, no matter how grand that ambition might be, it was nothing more than empty talk.

At present, Kumogakure’s overall strength was roughly on par with Konoha’s.

If there were no need to guard against the other shinobi villages and the two villages could fight one-on-one, Konoha had absolutely no reason to fear Kumogakure.

After all, the Third Hokage of the present was not the aged Third Hokage who, ten years later, would be suppressed by Orochimaru during the Chunin Exams.

Konoha’s problem was that in every Shinobi World War, it was always fighting multiple enemies at once.

Faced with Kumogakure’s provocations, Konoha not only had to guard against the other shinobi villages taking advantage of the situation, but also had to remain wary of a rebellion from the Uchiha clan within the village.

That was why Konoha appeared so constrained and seemingly weak.

Shisui asked curiously, "Kumogakure still isn’t strong enough?"

In Shisui’s eyes, Kumogakure—with the Fourth Raikage, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Killer B, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki Yugito Nii, and a large number of elite shinobi under their command—was an extraordinarily powerful shinobi village.

That was why he was so surprised by the disdain Kagami showed toward Kumogakure.

Kagami gazed into the distance and said quietly,

"The waters of the shinobi world run far deeper than you think!"