"…What the…" the Third Hokage muttered under his breath, scanning the report handed to him by Mayabi Uzuki.
According to it, most of her class had been hospitalized… after Kadoya Uchiha decided to "dance" with them.
Hiruzen sighed heavily, already feeling a headache creeping in. With the Second Ninja War in full swing, many of Konoha's shinobi had been dispatched to the front lines, leaving the village and the Academy short-staffed. In response, he had quietly begun pushing for early graduation, hoping to bolster the next generation of fighters.
But now… after reading this?
One student hospitalized the entire class.
Even if that student was Kadoya Uchiha, Kagami Uchiha's son, and a prodigy so talented that both Orochimaru and Tsunade spoke highly of him, it was still concerning.
Brilliant or not, the boy was a handful.
Hiruzen leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples.
If Kagami were still alive… would Kadoya have turned out differently? Less of a troublemaker? It was hard to say.
He set Kadoya's file aside and picked up the next one.
Minato Namikaze, a civilian-born, yet top of his class. A polite, focused boy with a promising future. Hiruzen found himself smiling faintly at the photo attached to the report.
That warm, confident smile reminded him of a young Jiraiya, minus the perversion.
Minato had already proven himself capable. He'd even formed a contract with the Toads of Mount Myoboku.
Then his eyes drifted to the next file.
Saiguu Hyuga.
Tsunade had mentioned wanting to take her in as a personal disciple. From what Hiruzen had read, the girl possessed remarkable potential.
But there was also… new information from the ANBU.
He frowned slightly, eyes scanning the sealed report.
Saiguu, a rising genius of the Hyuga, yet they still did that to her.
Truly, the Hyuga are really ruthless.
...
Congratulations! Title Unlocked: [The Problem Child IV], [Evil Uchiha II]
Reward: + 2 System Points + 500 Ninja Points + 500 Evil Points + 1 Sharingan Level
'Huh, I thought the system was broken for a second there.'
Kadoya couldn't help but thought, after all, it had been a few hours since his "dance" with the Uchiha and students, and his reward finally came.
Although this wasn't much, free loot is still free loot.
Now that class is over and Minato is buying flowers and fruits to bring to Kushina in the hospital.
Kadoya decides to use the power of the Millennium Ring to locate his friend, Saiguu Hyuga, who didn't come to class today.
After wandering toward the direction of the Millennium Ring, Kadoya noticed a girl violently striking the wooden tree. This was Training Ground #17, which stood on the opposite side of Training Ground #7, all the way across the other side of the village.
Approaching the lone girl busy punching down that poor tree, Kadoya made his presence known.
"Yo, Saiguu-" He paused, his cheerful expression dropped the moment she turned back to face him.
Saiguu has taken off her Ribbon of Friendship, and her once short hair has grown back to shoulder-length, but the most noticeable change is the white bandage on her forehead.
Originally, she didn't care too much if the elders suddenly put the Caged Bird on her; she said to herself that she would ask Kadoya to help break it. But that's just all her hyping herself up, and she knew it.
Her relationship with Kadoya was nothing more than a friend and a teammate, even if she asked him to help break the Caged Bird, she wasn't sure whether he could do it or not.
Plus, if he failed and she died, he might make him feel guilty for causing her death.
So instead of looking for Kadoya, she ran.
She was happily spending time with her friends and drinking with her teacher just yesterday, only to wake up the next day with the Caged Bird placed on her by those elders. All for the sake of the preservation of the family's legacy.
Like hell she would believe that!
Her mind was filled with thoughts of destruction and a growing hatred.
As her thoughts of hatred and anger intensified, her once gentle and fair face transformed into a distorted and fierce visage, devoid of its former gentleness.
She attacked the thick wooden tree with the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist. Gradually, her attacks became increasingly forceful, fueled by her need to vent and grow harder.
Even as her fists bled and the pain persisted, Saiguu showed no signs of stopping. Instead, she embraced the pain, hoping it would counter her emotional numbness.
Inflicting physical pain on oneself had always been an effective remedy to counter emotional numbness. By experiencing this physical pain, one could truly feel alive.
She is reminding herself that she was a person, not a captive "livestock" of her family.
Only when he showed up did she finally stop.
The sun was setting, casting a bright orange hue across the empty training ground. The two stood in silence as the wind blew past both of them, causing their hair to wave gently in the wind.
Although they had known each other for years, this was the first time he had ever seen her this vulnerable.
The usually calm and cool-headed Saiguu Hyuga finally shows a moment of vulnerability.
As someone who always seeks strength, Saiguu couldn't muster up the courage to face her friends now that she is bound by this cursed seal.
She tried to run, only to find her back pressed against the used wooden tree, Kadoya's firm hand placed beside her head as he cornered her under the tree.
"So this is your reason for not showing up today, huh?"
He asks in a calm, almost detached tone.
She turned her face away. "Why are you here?"
Her voice turned stiff and unfamiliar.
Saiguu was perplexed as to why or how Kadoya had come here, surely this idiot couldn't have wandered all the way across the village and come to the training ground where she was hiding.
He leaned closer, voice laced with a dangerous calm. "There are many reasons. But mostly? I'm drawn here... by the hatred burning in your heart."
He smiled.
"I like you better this way."
Her head snapped toward him, eyes wide in disbelief. "What?"
He lifted her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. His smile deepened, unreadable.
"Yes. The current you... is the one I like most. Because now, your wings have been clipped. And now you're starting to understand."
Saiguu widened her eyes, surprised by Kadoya's words. Why is he talking like that? Did he lose more screws and now his brain is falling apart or something?
A cold shiver ran through her. His words were unsettling, too intimate. Yet they echoed something inside her, something dark and truthful.
"So let me ask you…" he said, eyes glittering. "Do you want revenge? Do you want to see the Hyuga kneel? Or will you forgive them and walk the path of peace?"
Saiguu opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off.
Although his words sound a bit crazy and mentally deranged, she couldn't help but feel that each word that came out of his mouth struck at her heart's string.
"So... what is your choice?" Kadoya asked with a smile, but instead of letting her speak, he continued.
"It didn't matter what your choice was. After all, the current you... Feel inferior, don't you?" Kadoya's words instantly filled Saiguu's chest with an overwhelming aura of hostility.
This sentence wounded her pride and self-esteem. All the negative emotions flooded her heart, causing Saiguu to lose control in an instant. She lunged at Kadoya, throwing a punch toward him.
He smiled faintly, recognizing Saiguu's attack as feeble and deceptive, a product of her anger dominating her composure.
With such a level of attack, there was no need for him to be on guard. This much he understood.
So, he caught Saiguu's fist with ease, pinning her back against the tree, rendering her immobile.
She struggled but was unable to break free from his grasp.
"In this world, power is everything. Without power, you will only be a pawn in someone else's game. You can't make others bend to your will."
He said before letting out a chuckle.
Then, with maddening nonchalance, he said, "Last night, thirty-seven Uchiha came to remind me of that."
Saiguu widened her eyes in shock, she clearly was not expecting her friend would suffer betrayal from his clan on the same night as her.
"They tried to crush me. I crushed them first. Now I'm the new clan head." He said with a smirk, recalling the submissive expression on that old fox.
As expected of Fugaku's father. Like father, like son. Weak and submissive.
He chuckled softly, like it was nothing.
Her stomach twisted. Rage and shame boiled up from within. They had suffered betrayal on the same night, yet he had risen while she sank.
He took control. She was branded.
Her breath trembled. Her eyes dropped to the ground.
The humiliation. The helplessness. The inequality of it all.
Every time she glimpsed the mocking expressions of the clan members, she felt an overwhelming urge to trample upon their pride. She wished to make them experience the humiliation and despair of having their dignity and freedom manipulated.
Even now, the moment she saw her own white eyes in the mirror, she has to push down the urge to pluck them out and crush them with her own hands.
What's the point of these eyes when having them meant you would become a slave?
The more she thought, the angrier, bitter she felt. She originally worried about the "Caged Bird" because her cousin got placed with one, but now being pushed into this position, not by force, or by choice. But by betrayal... something inside her just snapped.
Her freedom. Her future. All stolen. Her fate now would only be to die for those cowards.
She looked up, eyes dead of light.
"You're right," she whispered. "I'm not like you. I'm weak."
But then, a smile a slow, chilling smile stretched across her lips.
"But you have power, don't you, Kadoya?"
She asks with such finality that Kadoya almost wonders did she unlocked the power to see into the future or read minds.
Still, he kept his composure and simply replied.
"Of course I can, are you willing to do whatever it takes?"
Her smile never faded. She stepped closer, still pinned, her voice dropping into something low, intimate, unhinged.
"Use me as you see fit, you can do whatever you want to me, I don't care what happens to me, as long as I get the power to destroy them."
Kadoya: "..."
Why are you speaking like that?
Your smile is reminding me of something...
Although taken aback, Kadoya decides not to pay too much attention to it.
After all, similar to Minato. Saiguu is one of his investments, his aim for strong allies, and if he could help her unlock the Tenseigan.
Then... when he eventually unlocked the Rinnegan, or "borrow" Madara's Rinnegan.
He could dance with her on the moon... let's just hope she didn't get too happy, cutting the moon in half and throwing it at him.
Still, according to his memory, the Tenseigan can only be awakened by an Ōtsutsuki implanting the Byakugan onto themselves. But in order to awaken the Tenseigan, one needs the "Pure" Byakugan.
Whatever that means.
Although Saiguu isn't an Ōtsutsuki, that didn't mean he couldn't help turn her into one. Or found some alternative with his cheats.
Like how, instead of Minato Namikaze, we now have Minato Uchiha.
What? You're saying that Uchiha can only have black hair?
Look at the creator of Izanami and tell me what hair color that Uchiha have?