25 Hyogi Hyuga

Ashiba quickly reached a door that was secluded from other rooms. He opened the door as two people came into his view. Both of them looked old with long grey hair and white pupil-less eyes unique to the Hyuga clan. They also wore traditional robes which consist of a loose fitting kimono. 

Those two were none other than Hyogi the current Patriarch and an elder of the Hyuga clan!

"You look strong as ever, Hanma." The leading person of the two said as he looked at Ashiba with a cautious gaze. He could still remember those red eyes full of mockery when he first met with this monster, and those words that seemed to mock the strength of their clan.

"Ohh, is this all your famous byakugan and proud gentle fist can do?"

Those words remind him to never underestimate this person. So even if they were currently in an alliance, Hyogi still was very cautious of Ashiba.

"And you still look weak as ever." Ashiba said as he looked at the Patriarch of the Hyuga clan, with obvious disdain on his face. He still remembered when the other person came looking for eight months ago, looking to make a deal. Ashiba was excited when the other person wanted a small fight to test his strength. 

But he was disappointed, as all other person could try to make up for their gap in strength by trying to block his tenketsu nodes to block his chakra. Which didn't work at all, as Ashiba didn't use chakra for fighting.

So in the end the fight turned out to be a total disgrace for Hyogi while a massive disappointment for Ashiba.

Hyogi didn't show any reaction to Ashiba's mocking words, while the elder behind him had clear anger on his face.

"You thi-" Hyogi put his hand on the elder's shoulder stopping him from saying anything that he would come to regret later on.

Hyogi coughed slightly before sitting down again, signaling the elder to calm down and sit.

Ashiba just looked at these two with an interesting look in his eyes.

"I think we should get down to business." Ashiba said as he sat down at the opposite end of them. Taking more space than the other two combined.

"So tell me, do you finally have some good news for me?" Ashiba said with a smile as he tilted his head looking at the two white eyed bastards.

"Yes, we finally need you to fulfill your end of the agreement. The Uchiha clan has been becoming restless recently, I am afraid it won't be long before they make a move." Hyogi said with a calm tone as he described the current situation between the Uchiha clan and Hyuga clan. 

Ashiba also smiled widely. Finally he can enjoy some action. He had made a deal with the Hyuga clan months ago. The content of which was that the Hyuga clan will provide him with resources and shinobi slaves. 

In return he will be a guest elder of Hyuga clan who would help them fend off Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju who have gotten too strong for them to deal with. That's why they came to him after hearing his reputation of forcing Hashirama to retreat.

Of course, for Ashiba this was a win-win situation. He will get benefits and he can fight some worthy opponents. And after he is done playing with Madara and Hashirama, the Hyuga clan won't have any value anymore.

"Madara Uchiha, I am looking forward to meeting with him." Ashiba said with an expectation in his tone. Even though he knew Hashirama was the stronger of the two. But he knew Madara will also not be a pushover if he is able to contend with Hashirama.

"I warn you Hamma, Madara Uchiha is not to be underestimated. Don't disregard him just because of his age." Hyogi warned Ashiba as he thought the latter was underestimating Madara because of his age. Of course, he didn't know that Ashiba himself was just eighteen years old.

It's likely that other than Ashiba himself, nobody else knows his real age. So Hyogi assumed Ashiba was not a young man just by seeing his appearance.

Crack!

The table between them cracked as fragmentation flew all over the room just by a slight force from Ashiba's hand.

"You don't need to remind me if I'm underestimating someone!" Ashiba's glowing crimson eyes caused Hyogi and Hyuga elder to form beads of sweat.

"That aside, when is the next batch of shinobi slaves coming?" Ashiba said as the crimson glow in his eyes retreated. Shinobi slaves were important to the development of the clan; he had given them to Renju to train. Who first made all of them remove their inherent weaknesses like he did. As most of them were young, it was easy to brainwash them.

"Soon, they will be delivered." Said Hyogi as he closed his eyes as if thinking about something.

"In about a month, the Uchiha clan will make their move. I hope you're ready by then." He said as he opened his eyes looking at Ashiba.

"You should worry about yourself, because I will only deal with Madara, other Uchiha members are not my problem. I heard Izuna Uchiha is not easy to deal with either." Ashiba said as he looked at Hyogi with an interesting look in his eyes.

"Humph! I can still handle Shinobi at that level. You don't need to worry." Hyogi said with obvious confidence in his words.

"Kahahaha, I hope so."

Ashiba spent some more time going over the various things in their agreement before the two Hyuga left. While he sat alone in the room, pondering over some matters.

After another hour or so, a knock could be heard from the door.

"Come in."

Renju opened the door and came, quickly started reporting the situation.

"The banquet has ended with no accidents, all the guests have left. I have also left some of my subordinates with Osaki to solve his friend's troubles. But- "

"But what?" Ashiba said with a frown on his face.

Renju didn't hesitate anymore and quickly told the whole story.

It turned out that Mito wanted to see Baki, but Baki didn't want to meet her. Speaking of Mito, since she gave birth to Baki she has rarely seen him as he lives in the right residence while she lives in the left.

On the other hand Baki himself didn't acknowledge Mito as his mother even though he was just a kid. So this created a strange relationship between "mother" and "son".

Of course, Ashiba didn't care about their little antics. He thought for a while before ordering.

"Remind her what her place is in this residence. If she doesn't understand I will need to get rid of her and remind her that she lost her value as a tool. And here I thought she could birth another child for me." Asbiba said with a bored expression as if what he was talking about wasn't important as his battle with Madara in the near future.

Renju didn't change his expression because of Ashiba's words and what might that imply for Mito. He just replied like a honest loyal servant.

"As you wish."

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[A/N] I am kinda sleepy when writing this chapter so it might be a bit rough.