Koshin's brows furrowed together, and he asked again, "What about their physical condition?"
Sota thought for a moment, "All quite healthy."
Koshin now had reason to believe that this group of people were all private soldiers of the Third Hokage.
There were two reasons: First, there indeed were some Konoha ninjas at the border.
But now was peacetime, and the number of people at the border watchtowers was pitifully low.
At most one or two hundred, definitely not thousands.
Moreover, the conditions at the outposts weren't great, usually they were assigned to those who had made mistakes.
Those places were so remote they didn't even have water, electricity, or gas; they had to handle their own food.
It was impossible for everyone there to be in good health and to have undergone group-style training.
A terrifying thought emerged in Koshin's mind, 'Can all these people be from the Sarutobi clan?'
He shook his head, 'Over a thousand Sarutobi clan members, how many resources will it take to support that?'
"Koshin-sama, should we report all this information to the main family?", Sota suggested. The Hyuga branch family harbored the same hatred toward both the main family and the Third Hokage.
After the Third Hokage tricked the Hyuga clan last time, they already had no trust in Konoha.
Koshin nodded in satisfaction; he had been thinking the same.
But the fact that Sota could also think of it showed he had a brain.
"I'll handle this matter. You continue gathering information on this group and report back anytime."
"Yes," Sota quickly went down.
Koshin sorted out his thoughts, then immediately headed toward the Hyuga main family estate.
———
Hiashi and the Great Elder happened to be there.
They were curious about Koshin's return, since he had already come to report once.
Now, with not much time passed, he came again.
"Koshin, what happened?"
Koshin always wore a poker face when facing members of the main family, and this time was no exception.
He first bowed to Hiashi and the Great Elder Sarumito, then opened his mouth and said, "Clan Head, Great Elder, the people that the Third Hokage recalled this time number around one thousand."
"More than half of them have chakra levels above chunin, and the rest aren't far off."
"All of them are physically strong and healthy. They refer to each other by given names, not surnames."
After speaking, Koshin returned to a robotic state.
Only reporting, not speculating, and not offering suggestions.
Hiashi and the Great Elder had been discussing this matter already, and now that Koshin brought this supplemental information, their expressions grew dark.
This added intelligence strongly indicated that these were indeed the Third Hokage's private soldiers.
The Hyuga clan had already been tricked once.
Not long ago, the Uchiha clan had nearly been wiped out. It was time they started thinking for themselves.
With the Third Hokage's power so great, if the Uchiha fell, then wouldn't the Hyuga clan be swallowed whole by the Third Hokage?
After all, nearly 100% of Hyuga clan members awaken the Byakugan, and once awakened, it has massive utility.
In any mission, the most favored personnel were surely Hyuga clan members.
Even the powerful Uchiha nearly fell, there's no way the Hyuga clan could resist the Third Hokage.
"Koshin, what do you think?", Hiashi asked as usual.
Koshin maintained a poker face, "Our branch family supports any decision of the main family."
The Great Elder exhaled, "Koshin, you've served as elder for several years now. You can also help with the clan's strategies."
Koshin continued, "A wise clan head will lead us through all hardships."
Though his words were passionate, Koshin recited them in a mechanical tone.
Like an automatic reply.
"You…", The Great Elder choked on his words, neither able to go up nor down, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
Hiashi shook his head slightly, "Koshin, you may leave."
Koshin bowed respectfully to the two, then retreated.
The Great Elder Sarumito spoke bitterly, "Hiashi, this won't do."
Hiashi still felt a certain guilt over his brother's death.
Now that the branch members had become like this, it was a silent rebellion against the main family.
But this kind of passive resistance left the main family helpless.
Even though they hadn't punished the branch family in the past two years and had improved their treatment, it still hadn't improved the branch family's morale.
If it weren't for the potential destruction of the entire Hyuga clan, the branch family likely wouldn't even report this.
Hiashi spoke with a trace of weariness, "We'll talk about the branch family later. The critical issue now is that the Third Hokage's strength is a bit beyond imagination."
The Great Elder Sarumito responded deeply, "The Uchiha must not fall."
Hiashi nodded in agreement, "The key is, what do we do?"
The Great Elder's eyes gleamed with scrutiny, "We need to talk with the Uchiha."
"The Uchiha's inaction means they are waiting for external power."
"They may even have contacted other ninja villages."
Hiashi didn't refute the Great Elder's words. Although the Uchiha had three Mangekyo Sharingan users and over four hundred combat personnel, Konoha still had more people. Calculating by each clan having dozens of ninjas, it easily added up to several thousand.
An even larger number of ninjas didn't belong to any clan.
In such a dangerous ninja world, with the big tree that was Konoha, these lower-tier ninjas could still live fairly well.
Their sense of belonging to Konoha was naturally strong.
The Third Hokage still held prestige among this group.
If the Uchiha rebelled and the Third Hokage ordered these people to hold the line, they would obey.
If the current Uchiha had someone who could use Perfect Susanoo, a single person could overturn Konoha's regime.
But right now, the Mangekyo Sharingan power the Uchiha displayed hadn't yet reached the level of class transcendence; they might even be worn down to death.
Not to mention, the Third Hokage still had the Reaper Death Seal, which could drag people down with him.
Although not everyone knew about the Third Hokage's forbidden technique, as the Professor of Ninjutsu, the Third Hokage definitely had some tricks up his sleeve.
No one knew exactly how many people were in the Anbu.
And Root was also a large organization hidden in the shadows.
Though they had lost several dozen combatants previously, no one knew how many remained in hiding.
The Uchiha weren't as safe as imagined.
It was very possible they had contacted other ninja villages.
Trying to cooperate to take down Konoha, in exchange for a bit of Land of Fire territory or other benefits, these were all common political maneuvers.
But such a maneuver by the Uchiha depended on how many allies they could draw in.
Two kinds of allies, one was other villages wanting a piece of the pie.
The other was people within Konoha dissatisfied with the Third Hokage's rule.
But such an operation was extremely risky, one misstep could lead to the destruction of the entire Konoha.
"I'll personally go to the Uchiha and probe Fugaku's intentions," Hiashi said in a deep voice.
For now, although the Hyuga were still on Konoha's side, safety wasn't a concern.
The Uchiha might even try to win over the Hyuga.
The Great Elder nodded slightly, "Now that Konoha's surveillance is all our people, there's no time to delay. Go."
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