Time came to noon.
Hyūga Kumokawa walked back from Konoha Hospital towards the Hyūga compound, glancing down at his palm wrapped in bandages.
Thanks to his body's increasingly potent regenerative abilities, the wound on his hand had actually healed completely on the way to the hospital.
He had simply reopened a wound on his palm to avoid unnecessary attention.
Even so, the medical ninja at the hospital had remarked on his unusually strong healing factor.
Of course, Hyūga Kumokawa had his own reasons for doing this.
"..."
Lost in thought, he arrived outside a training ground. Looking up, he saw a figure respectfully surrounded by several others.
Hyūga Aoi. The daughter of a Hyūga Main Family elder.
Her long black hair seemed to flow in the sunlight. Her healthy, rosy cheeks at sixteen still held a hint of baby fat, but her white eyes were like blades tempered in ice.
"Get out of my way!"
She kicked a kneeling branch family member away without a hint of mercy. The man only let out a muffled grunt, suppressing the pain, daring not to show—or even feel—any resentment.
"Useless."
Hyūga Aoi shot him a look of disgust, her gaze sweeping over the other branch family members present. Her tone was irritable. "All of you are useless! Not a single one of you dares to fight back. Did my father send you worthless people to protect me?"
The surrounding branch family members hung their heads low, their posture humble and reverent, not daring any rebuttal or transgression.
The Main Family elder only had this one daughter. Spoiled from childhood, her personality had grown willful, arrogant, and tyrannical.
If that were all, it wouldn't be a big deal. Many Main Family children were like this.
But she was bellicose and fiercely competitive, always wanting to leave the village to fight on the battlefield. In the eyes of the branch family, this was recklessness. In the eyes of the Main Family, it was inviting trouble.
This time, she had been denied her request to leave the village again by her father. In her frustration, she wanted these branch family members to go all out in sparring with her.
But how could they dare? Although Aoi hadn't yet learned to use the Caged Bird seal (Juinjutsu), if they accidentally injured her, her father could still torture them with it.
Compared to the soul-deep, agonizing pain of that seal, the insults and slaps they endured now were nothing. If Hyūga Aoi demanded it, they would even kneel and bark like dogs.
"Wait." As if noticing something, Hyūga Aoi frowned. "Is someone missing?"
At her words, the branch family members glanced up briefly, their eyes meeting, silently acknowledging who was absent.
"Lady Aoi."
After a moment of silence, the Hyūga clansman who had intercepted Hyūga Kumokawa that morning spoke first, his voice respectful. "It's…"
"Lady Aoi, I am here."
Before he could finish, a familiar voice sounded, making his body flinch. The bruised ache in his abdomen flared again.
Hyūga Aoi frowned, turning to see Hyūga Kumokawa approaching. "So it's you who's missing. You failure."
Hyūga Kumokawa ignored her mockery. He merely raised his bandaged hand slightly and bowed his head. "My apologies, Lady Aoi. My hand is injured. Today, I'm afraid I cannot…"
Whoosh!
The sharp whistle of something cutting through the air reached his ears. He instinctively turned his head to evade. A fist grazed past his earlobe, the displaced air stirring the black hair tied behind his head.
Hyūga Kumokawa calmly lifted his gaze from his bowed position, meeting a pair of emotionless white eyes.
"Enough of your excuses," Hyūga Aoi's voice was cold. "Let's see if you've made any progress, you failure."
As she spoke, her fist withdrew, transforming into a palm that shot towards Hyūga Kumokawa's chest.
But in the next instant, the figure before her seemed to "drift" backwards, evading the strike as lightly as a leaf carried by the wind.
A flicker of surprise passed through Hyūga Aoi's eyes. Fierce veins bulged around her eyes as she assumed the true starting stance of the Gentle Fist.
Her right hand became a blur, three fingers pointed, aiming for Kumokawa's left shoulder.
"..." Seeing this, Hyūga Kumokawa sighed inwardly. 'So troublesome.'
Although he didn't want to reveal himself so soon, kneeling obediently like a dog wasn't an option either.
After enduring for three years just to seize this chance to change his fate, if he kept kneeling now, wouldn't those three years of endurance have been for nothing?
So, did he want to stand tall, or did he want to earn the "points"?
'I want to stand tall, and earn the 'points' too.
Since that's the case…'
Hyūga Kumokawa slowly closed his eyes.
Sure enough, he entered that state of total concentration once more. Beyond the perception of his spirit, all five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—were completely sealed off.
Thud!
His body spun and leaned back abruptly. Hyūga Aoi's fingertips brushed past the tip of his nose, leaving an inch-deep palm print on the wooden post behind him. Splinters of wood drifted down onto his eyelashes, carrying the bitter fragrance of pine resin.
Hyūga Aoi's punches and palm strikes followed in rapid succession, swift and relentless. But in Hyūga Kumokawa's perception, they were agonizingly slow.
The boiling blood within him surged like a tidal wave, a searing heat akin to magma, allowing his body to keep pace with the speed of his thoughts.
He was like the only being moving at normal speed in a slow-motion film, navigating freely along a timeline stretched to an extreme length.
"What's going on?"
Watching her every move being dodged by Hyūga Kumokawa—with his eyes closed, no less—Hyūga Aoi's pupils contracted. Her expression shifted from surprise to excitement, but her movements gradually grew more frantic.
Hyūga Kumokawa could "see" that her seemingly fierce attacks actually left an opening beneath her ribs with every turn.
In the next second, seizing the gap in her mistake, Hyūga Kumokawa's raised hand moved with fish-like agility, curving past his chest to grab Hyūga Aoi's wrist. His other arm pinned her arm, and a twisting force traveled along her bones and tendons…
Crack! Snap!
In a split second, two distinct sounds came from Hyūga Aoi's arm.
One was the sound of a joint being dislocated. The other was the sound of it being reset.
The movements were practiced and fluid, not even giving her a chance to cry out in pain, leaving only a fleeting sting.
Before she could recover from the shock, Hyūga Kumokawa moved again.
His entire body seemed to vibrate with an amplitude barely visible to the naked eye. A penetrating force instantly traveled from his spine, through his muscles, to his arm, whipping it towards Hyūga Aoi like a lash.
Thwack!
It sounded like the sharp crack of a taut bamboo pole released at its breaking point, striking the air. A faint, mist-like haze seemed to burst in the air.
The blow landed on the arm Hyūga Aoi had raised in defense, sending her staggering back several steps as if struck by a hammer, about to fall ignominiously to the ground…
'It wouldn't be good if she ended up too humiliated.'
Hyūga Kumokawa sighed inwardly. He reached out, grabbing the collar of Hyūga Aoi's clothes, and gave an unceremonious yank.
"Had enough fun, 'Lady' Aoi?"
Hyūga Kumokawa opened his eyes, looking into Hyūga Aoi's trembling pupils. A hint of biting sarcasm laced his voice as he spoke in a low tone. "If you truly wish to go to the battlefield, you should at least understand…"
"…on this land soaked in blood, within this cruel clan, you are alive because many lives were sacrificed."
"Those who live must be worthy of such sacrifices."
"Unfortunately, in my eyes… you are not."
With that, he released her, giving her a slight push.
Ignoring the mix of stunned, fearful, and shocked gazes around him, Hyūga Kumokawa offered Hyūga Aoi a slight bow, then turned and walked away.
With his back to Hyūga Aoi's gaze, his expression remained calm, his pace measured as he walked out.
But the moment he stepped out of the training ground, the awaited prompt sounded in his mind.
Ding!
[Your lie has been judged as [Insincerity], [Leading On]. Hyūga Aoi experiences intense emotional fluctuation, reaching the state of [Self-Doubt]. 300 Fulfillment Points acquired…]
"…Tch. That's slander," Hyūga Kumokawa muttered under his breath, the smile vanishing from his face. "I could never do something like deceiving a woman."
After the jest, a flicker of movement caught the corner of his eye. A familiar figure—a young face filled with resentment—ran out from another courtyard.
That was… Hyūga Neji.
"Well, well," Hyūga Kumokawa narrowed his eyes, a smile playing on his lips. "My main character has appeared."