Chapter 239 I Never Expected a Smooth Road

This mission was like a rare moment she managed to squeeze out from her busy schedule; she rushed to Sunagakure like the wind and then hurried back to Konoha just as quickly.

That night's conversation only yielded a vague and ambiguous answer.

Glancing at Haruko Hayama walking beside him, Kakashi Hatake casually asked, "How did you know the Kazekage's wife would be in mortal danger? It was as if you had foreseen it."

Haruko smiled at him. "I guessed."

It was as if he knew too much, and she was too lazy to make excuses to fool him anymore.

"..."

Kakashi Hatake fell silent, staring ahead as he walked, radiating an inexplicable air of displeasure.

Taking advantage of her height, Tsunade brought his grumpy face into view, turned a corner, walked from Haruko's other side to the two of them, and deliberately pushed aside the sulking Kakashi Hatake.

"That brat is just a brat, he's not considerate at all, no wonder no girls like him."

Startled by her jostling, Kakashi Hatake looked at her expressionlessly. "Back in Sunagakure, I saw Tsunade-senpai pestering her with questions."

Tsunade's haughty expression froze, and the next second she stood with her hands on her hips, looking at him with a mixture of embarrassment and anger, "What a pervert, eavesdropping on our conversation!"

"...You were talking in the living room."

"So you were eavesdropping too!"

Suddenly remembering Minato Namikaze's quiet advice not to reason with girls, Kakashi Hatake, faced with Tsunade's relentless slander, once again understood this profound truth derived from his teacher's own example.

Seeing that he was speechless, Tsunade let out a victorious laugh.

Haruko quietly leaned closer to remind her, "All the information gathered for this mission is with Kakashi."

As the Jonin who had taken on the mission, Tsunade, who had to return to report, suddenly stopped laughing. Seeing that Kakashi Hatake, whose role had been completely reversed, was watching the show with amusement, she struggled to maintain her adult pride.

She extended her hand without ceremony, saying, "I'll reluctantly help you deliver this intelligence."

Having completely lost all his Sannin bias towards her, Kakashi Hatake speechlessly took a scroll out of his bag and handed it to her.

After quickly taking the scroll from his hand, Tsunade muttered as she left, "Finish your job and hurry up and go for a drink." Haruko, who heard everything clearly, couldn't understand why the cute blonde little girl from before had grown up into a gambling drunkard.

"What's your next plan?" Kakashi Hatake's voice brought her back to reality.

Haruko was surprised that he agreed to bring him along, and judging from his tone, it seemed that he wanted to continue to participate in her future plans.

Haruko reluctantly changed the subject, "Doesn't Kakashi need to busy himself with a new mission?"

"There's no rush."

Noticing that she had quickened her pace, Kakashi Hatake quickened his pace as well, knowing that he wouldn't get anything out of her. Taking advantage of the fact that they were alone, he brought up another matter.

How are you feeling?

"Why are you asking this all of a sudden? I'm fine."

"I heard everything." Seeing her confused look, Kakashi Hatake felt a surge of anger. "You've been coughing a lot at night for several nights, and it's been really bad."

Perhaps not expecting him to discover her, Haruko opened her mouth, her expression gradually becoming strange.

"Kakashi... you really are eavesdropping."

"...I overheard it by chance when I came back from investigating in the middle of the night."

Haruko remained skeptical of his "coincidence," and explained in a few words, "He just caught a slight chill. The temperature difference between day and night in Sunagakure is quite large, so Kakashi doesn't need to worry."

"Uchiha Haruko."

Kakashi Hatake stared at her intently for a few seconds, then pronounced her full name. As Haruko was still in a daze, he uttered, word by word, "Your body is your own."

His sharp words were mixed with an undisguised concern, a hidden anger at her lack of care for her health.

"I know, thank you for worrying about me." Haruko felt a warm current flow through her heart, and added coaxingly, "Kakashi is so nice!"

To her surprise, Kakashi Hatake followed up with, "Is it so good that you want to thank me?"

"certainly!"

"Then take me with you when you proceed with the next step of your plan."

After chatting for a while and ending up back at the same point, Haruko was both amused and exasperated. She stopped and asked, "Kakashi, are you coming home with me?"

"What?"

Following her gaze, Kakashi Hatake looked around and realized that he had unknowingly followed her into Uchiha territory.

I'm so glad I wore a mask so that others couldn't see my embarrassment.

Kakashi Hatake coughed lightly and, before leaving, reminded her again, "Remember to take me with you."

Watching his hurried, embarrassed figure disappear into the distance, Haruko couldn't help but laugh.

All the joy seemed to be paving the way for the dark clouds that would follow. After returning home, Fugaku Uchiha sat in his room waiting for her with a serious expression.

During her absence, the Hyuga clan was in turmoil. The Hyuga clan, which was listed as a key participant in the peace reform, was plagued by constant conflicts between the main family and the branch family. What were originally just minor frictions escalated into an event that shocked both the clan and the outside world.

One of the branch family members looked at the young master of the main family with murderous intent. The elder of the main family sensed this and immediately used the Caged Bird Seal to destroy his brain nerves, causing him to die on the spot.

They didn't even give them a chance or a buffer, as if the main family was just waiting for this opportunity to make an example of them and warn all the branch family members that even with the reforms ordered by the Hokage, their lives were still firmly in the hands of the main family.

To protect the Hyuga's public image, the main family convicted him of betraying the Hyuga during the subsequent trial, elevating the conflict between the main and branch families to a matter of loyalty to the entire Hyuga clan.

"How could this be..." Haruko looked at him in disbelief, completely unable to understand how things had developed to this point.

Fugaku Uchiha slowly picked up his teacup, his gaze drifting to the darkening sky outside the window, and said softly, "This is an internal matter of the Hyuga clan; outsiders have no right to interfere."

After saying that, he took a sip of tea, the bitter liquid swirling in his mouth. "That's how politics is. It looks respectable on the outside, but the darkness is all inside."

The sound of the teacup hitting the table echoed in the room, heavy and lingering.

Haruko gritted her teeth and squeezed her clasped hands together, trying to suppress her anger, but she couldn't.

Previously, she had fought valiantly on the battlefield and witnessed countless battles between people. She thought that such cruelty had reached its limit, but she never expected that political killings would be even more cold-blooded and ruthless.

In a world where even children must learn to step onto the battlefield from a young age, there are those who treat soldiers' lives as worthless, dismissing them lightly on the chessboard of politics.

They did not die heroically in the flames of war, but became victims of infighting during peacetime.

At this moment, she finally understood why Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had once been so full of vigor and sat on the position of Hokage, had gradually become indecisive during his long political career.

The already complex situation could easily lead to an abyss if not handled carefully.

"The Caged Bird Seal is the Hyuga tradition, and no one can interfere with or break it. Unless they voluntarily abolish the Caged Bird Seal, no matter how much they are persuaded, there will still be inequality within the Hyuga."

Haruko understood this principle as well, but she had previously harbored wishful thinking, believing that equality could be achieved through reform and persuasion. Now it seems she was indeed naively harboring illusions about those politicians.

Haruko took a deep breath. "I understand. Leave the rest to me. The Uchiha have done their best."

Since gentle methods will only embolden them, let's adopt their attitude and use their methods to threaten them onto the path of equality.

Fugaku Uchiha gave her a deep look. "Have you made up your mind?"

"Um."

She stood up, completely shedding her usual gentleness, revealing a chilling aura, like a sharp blade in the cold wind, sharp and cold.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her walk to the door. Fugaku lowered his eyes, as if they had already reached some kind of tacit understanding, requiring no further words.

"Then let's go, this road won't be smooth."

Haruko stopped at the doorway, her figure outlined by the light streaming in from outside, appearing sharp and resolute.

"I never expected things to be smooth."