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Damn it!!!
Bastard!!!
Hyuga Hiashi was roaring inside his head, fury boiling over.
There's a saying: when you curse someone, don't hit their sore spot; when you fight someone, don't slap their face. But Akira didn't just rip open the wound, he dumped a fistful of salt straight into it. The kid was downright unhinged.
Hiashi wanted nothing more than to rush over and slaughter him on the spot, but the moment he thought about the gap in their strength, he could only grit his teeth and swallow it.
Akira ignored Hiashi's useless rage and turned to the Uchiha behind him.
"Hey. Someone go get me a hemp rope."
He hadn't expected anyone to respond, but the words had barely left his mouth when an excited Uchiha stepped forward.
"Here, here! I've got one ready!"
It was a young Uchiha, maybe sixteen or seventeen.Ignoring Fugaku's razor-sharp glare, he trotted over, beaming, with a thick coil of rope in his hands.
"Sir, here you go! My family runs a pig-slaughtering business. This is pig-tying rope. Strong as hell, super reliable!"
Akira took the rope and gave the kid an extra look.
Noticing the glance, the young Uchiha hurriedly explained.
"My older brother was on a mission with a Hyuga. They ran into an ambush. That Hyuga coward ditched my brother and ran for it. My brother died because of it."
"So yeah, anytime someone makes the Hyuga clan lose face, I'm happy to help."
Akira nodded in understanding. So there was history here. No wonder the kid was so eager.
As he casually adjusted the rope in his hands, Akira asked,
"You've got potential, kid. What's your name? Stick with me in the future, I'll have your back."
The young Uchiha lit up. This was exactly what he'd been waiting for.
Being called "kid" by a seven-year-old didn't bother him in the slightest. In the ninja world, strength was everything.
"Sir, my name is Uchiha Sasuke."
…What kind of name is that?
Akira couldn't help complaining internally. No wonder this guy was so cooperative. Fate itself had written him into this mess.
"Mm. Not bad," Akira said with a solemn nod, then waved him away.
Rip!
With one brutal tug, Akira shredded Hyuga Tokuma's clothes to pieces.
Instantly, a pair of pink shorts covered in little pig patterns was exposed to everyone's view.
Oh wow. Didn't expect a grown man to be into this kind of thing.The crowd stared with undisguised interest.
Akira showed no mercy. The rope whipped around Tokuma's body, looping up and down, and in no time at all, he was tied up like a dumpling.
Maybe the rope was too tight. The unconscious Tokuma groaned and slowly woke up.
The first thing he saw was a ring of people around him, clicking their tongues, eyes full of mockery.
Where am I? Why are they all staring at me like that?
Freshly awake, Tokuma's mind was foggy. Then the tightness around his body snapped him fully alert, and he finally noticed his current condition.
Bare all over, bound tight, with a pair of bright pink pig-print underwear stealing the spotlight.
In an instant, he understood everything.
"AHHH!!!"
He let out a shrill scream. Shame and rage twisted his face into something almost demonic.
At that moment, he finally understood how Hyuga Ko must have felt back then.
"You bastard! What do you think you're doing?! Don't go too far! Let me go right now! Let me go!"
Tokuma screamed hysterically.
What he was suffering now was worse than death.
"Quit barking," Akira said calmly. "Wasn't this your idea of punishment in the first place?"
"I'm just carrying it out exactly as you suggested. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself."
Holding the end of the rope, Akira leapt up and landed atop the village gate.
He looped the rope over a wooden beam in the gateframe, grabbed the end, and jumped back down.
One up, one down. Tokuma was hoisted straight into the air.
"Wait! Stop! I beg you!"
Tokuma's viewpoint rose higher and higher, and he saw more and more onlookers gathering around, eager for the show.
He was about to die of shame.
"I was just joking! I never meant to actually do something this cruel! Please, let me go! I'm begging you!"
Akira acted as if he hadn't heard a word. After securing the rope to the gateframe, he spoke evenly.
"This guy stays hanging here for two days and two nights. Until the time's up, no one touches him."
He paused, and a terrifying pressure surged out from him, like the arrival of a king.
"If anyone dares let him down early, I don't mind hanging one more person beside him."
As he said this, Akira's gaze never left Hyuga Hiashi.
Hiashi's face turned ashen.
A threat. An open, naked threat.
Hiashi knew it. If he dared free Tokuma, this insane little brat would absolutely strip him bare and hang him up too, clan head or not.
After words like that, even forcing his clan's ninja to rescue Tokuma would be useless. No one would dare move.
Being stripped naked and hung at the village gate for public viewing was a level of humiliation no one wanted to experience.
"Heh. Looks like it worked."
Seeing the fear spread through the crowd, Akira nodded in satisfaction.
He turned around with a smile, mood light and cheerful, pleased with himself for once again returning insult with interest.
He had barely walked a short distance toward the Uchiha district when—
Whoosh!
A sharp tearing sound cut through the air.
A rapidly spinning shuriken flew in from nowhere, slicing cleanly through the rope.
The moment Akira saw it, his smile vanished. His expression darkened, and all his good mood evaporated.
Who the hell was bold enough to slap him in the face in public like this?!
"So what?"
"Are you planning to hang this old man up there too?"
The person hadn't even appeared yet, but an aged voice echoed across the area.
"It's the Third Hokage! The Third Hokage is here!"
"Good! The Third is here. Let's see if that Uchiha Akira brat dares keep acting so crazy!"
"Third Hokage-sama, you must stand up for our Hyuga clan!"
The injured Hyuga members shouted excitedly.
The surrounding spectators also stirred. No one expected even the Hokage to be drawn into this. Things had just gotten interesting.
Under countless gazes filled with admiration, reverence, and awe—
Sarutobi Hiruzen, wearing the Hokage hat, walked forward at a steady pace, several ANBU ninja following closely at his side.
"..."
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