The time arrived at noon.
Hyuga Kawa walked back to the Hyuga compound from the Konoha Hospital, looking down at his bandaged hand. Thanks to his body's increasingly powerful self-healing ability, the injury on his hand had actually healed completely on the way to the hospital. However, to avoid unnecessary attention, he had cut a fresh wound on his palm. Even so, the medical ninja at the hospital still remarked that such strong self-healing ability was rarely seen.
Of course, Hyuga Kawa did this for other reasons too.
"..."
Lost in thought, Hyuga Kawa had already reached the outside of a training ground. Looking up, he saw the figure respectfully surrounded by several people.
Hyuga Aoi, the daughter of a Main Branch elder of the Hyuga clan. Her long black hair seemed to flow in the sunlight. The sixteen-year-old girl's healthy, rosy cheeks still held a touch of baby fat, but her white eyes were like ice-tempered blades.
"Get lost!"
She ruthlessly kicked a kneeling branch family member, who merely grunted, enduring the pain, not daring to show or even harbor any dissatisfaction.
"Useless."
Hyuga Aoi glared at him with disgust, her gaze sweeping over the other branch family members, her tone irritated. "All of you are useless! Not a single one dares to make a move. Father actually sent you useless people to protect me?"
The surrounding branch family members lowered their heads, their attitudes respectful and humble, not daring to refute or overstep. This was because that Main Branch elder had only this one daughter, who had been pampered since childhood, leading to her rude, spoiled, and willful personality. If it were just that, it wouldn't be much; many Main Branch children were like this. But she was particularly belligerent and competitive, always wanting to go to the battlefield outside the village to kill enemies.
This time, she was in a bad mood because her father had once again refused her request to leave the village, so she was taking it out on them, the branch family members, insisting that they use their full strength to spar with her. Not to mention the risk of accidentally injuring her if they fought with full strength, any transgression now would result in torture from the Cursed Seal. Forget the current harmless insults and beatings; as long as they didn't experience that torment from the depths of their souls, a pain worse than death, they would even kneel and bark like dogs if Hyuga Aoi wished it.
"Wait a moment." Hyuga Aoi seemed to notice something, frowning as she questioned, "Is someone missing?"
At these words, several branch family members subtly raised their heads, their gazes briefly meeting, all seeing who was absent.
"Lady Aoi."
After a moment of silence, the Hyuga clan member who had been on duty and stopped Hyuga Kawa that morning was the first to speak, respectfully, "It's..."
"Lady Aoi, I'm here."
Before he could finish, a familiar voice reached his ears, making his body tremble uncontrollably, feeling the bruised area of his abdomen begin to throb faintly again.
Hyuga Aoi frowned and turned to see Hyuga Kawa approaching. She said coldly, "I wondered who was missing. So it's you, you waste."
Hyuga Kawa ignored Hyuga Aoi's taunt, simply raising his bandaged hand and lowering his head slightly. "I apologize, Lady Aoi. My hand is injured. I may not be able to today..."
Whoosh!
A whistling sound suddenly entered his ears. He instinctively tilted his head to dodge, and a fist grazed his earlobe, the force of the punch stirring the black hair tied behind his head. Hyuga Kawa calmly raised his lowered brows and eyes, meeting a pair of emotionless white pupils.
"Less talk," Hyuga Aoi said coldly. "Let me see if you, a waste, have made any progress."
As her words fell, Hyuga Aoi retracted her fist, turning it into a palm, and pushed it towards Hyuga Kawa's chest. But in the next moment, the figure before her, with an almost "floating" gait, evaded the palm strike like a leaf blown by the wind. A flicker of surprise crossed Hyuga Aoi's eyes, and grotesque veins crawled around her eye sockets. She adopted the true starting stance of Gentle Fist. The next moment, her right hand became a blur, three fingers pressed together, about to strike Kawa's left shoulder.
"..." Seeing this, Hyuga Kawa sighed inwardly. "How troublesome." Although he didn't want to stand out so early, it was impossible for him to obediently kneel like a dog. After all, he had endured for three years to get a chance to change his fate. If he continued to kneel like a dog now, wouldn't his three years of endurance have been in vain?
So, did he want to stand, or earn "money"?
"I want to stand and earn 'money'."
In that case.
Hyuga Kawa slowly closed his eyes. Indeed, he once again entered that fully concentrated state. Aside from spiritual perception, all visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile senses of his eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body were now completely sealed.
Bang!
His figure suddenly spun backward and leaned back. Hyuga Aoi's fingertips grazed past his nose, leaving an inch-deep palm print on the wooden dummy behind him. Fine wood shavings fluttered onto his eyelashes, carrying the bitter scent of pine resin. Hyuga Aoi's fists and palms came one after another, their movements swift, yet in Hyuga Kawa's perception, they were incredibly slow. Meanwhile, the boiling blood within him flowed like a torrent, a burning sensation like magma, allowing his body to keep pace with his thoughts. He was like the only normal-speed entity in a slow-motion film, freely moving through an extremely drawn-out timeline.
"What's going on?"
Watching all her seemingly sharp attacks being completely dodged by Hyuga Kawa with his eyes closed, Hyuga Aoi's pupils contracted. Her expression became excited, but her hand movements gradually grew impatient. Hyuga Kawa could "see" that her seemingly fierce attacks, in fact, exposed her undefended side each time she turned.
In the next second, seizing the moment of her mistake, Hyuga Kawa's raised palm moved like a fish, artfully curving from his chest to grasp Hyuga Aoi's wrist. His other arm also blocked her arm, and a force twisted through his bones and muscles...
Crack! Snap!
In a brief instant, Hyuga Aoi's arm made two sounds. One was a dislocation, and the other was a re-setting of the bone. The movements were fluid and skilled, not even giving her a chance to cry out in pain, leaving only a momentary sting. Before she could recover from her astonishment, Hyuga Kawa's body moved again.
His body seemed to subtly vibrate with a tremor indiscernible to the naked eye. A penetrating force instantly transmitted from his spine, through his muscles, to his arm, which he swung like a whip towards Hyuga Aoi at his side.
Bang!
It sounded like the cracking sound of a taut bamboo pole suddenly released after being bent to its breaking point, striking the air. A wispy, white mist could be seen exploding in the air. The strike landed on Hyuga Aoi's arm, which she had raised to block. It made her reel back several steps uncontrollably as if struck by a hammer, on the verge of falling awkwardly to the ground...
If she fell too awkwardly, it would be hard to deal with.
Hyuga Kawa sighed, raising his hand to grab Hyuga Aoi's collar, pulling hard with no pretense of gentility.
"Had enough fun, Lady Aoi?"
Hyuga Kawa opened his eyes, looking at Hyuga Aoi's trembling gaze. His tone held a hint of sharpness as he lowered his voice. "If you truly wish to go to the battlefield, you should at least understand that..."
"On this blood-soaked land, within this cruel clan, you are alive because many lives made sacrifices."
"Those who live must be worthy of such sacrifice."
"Unfortunately, in my opinion, you are not yet worthy."
With that, he raised his head, released Hyuga Aoi's hand, and pushed her away. Ignoring the astonished, fearful, or shocked gazes around him, Hyuga Kawa bowed slightly to Hyuga Aoi, then turned and left. With his back to Hyuga Aoi's gaze, Hyuga Kawa's expression was calm, and his steps were steady as he walked away.
But the moment he stepped out of the training ground, the system notification he had been waiting for sounded in his mind.
[Ding!]
[Your lie has been judged as [False Sincerity] [Attracting Attention]. Hyuga Aoi has experienced strong emotional fluctuations, reaching the level of [Self-Doubt]. You have gained 300 Realization Points...]
"...Tsk, that's slander."
The smile on Hyuga Kawa's face instantly vanished. He whispered, "Deceiving women is something I cannot do."
After saying his joke, he glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw a familiar figure, a young face filled with resentment, running out of another residence. It was... Hyuga Neji.
"Oh, look," Hyuga Kawa narrowed his eyes and chuckled. "My protagonist has appeared."