"You!" I shouted, instinctively dropping into a basic taijutsu stance.
The Hyūga froze, wide-eyed, like a deer caught in headlights. I didn't lower my guard. I had no illusions about matching a Hyūga in hand-to-hand combat, but I wasn't going to be knocked out again — not without a fight.
"Izuku! What are you doing?!" Naruko yelled, her voice cutting through the tension.
Without taking my eyes off the Hyūga, I answered, "She attacked me."
"What? When?" Naruko demanded. I caught a glimpse of her orange menace of an outfit as she hurried to my side.
"Yesterday," I said, voice steady.
"...Hinata?"
The Hyūga — Hinata, apparently — had been turning progressively red throughout the exchange. As Naruko spoke her name, Hinata's face reached a shade of crimson that looked almost painful — and then, with a soft thud, she fainted.
XXXXXXXXX
"Gomennasai!"
The Hyūga girl who had been stalking me—and had, just moments ago, knocked me out after breaking into my house—stood by my bed, looking incredibly contrite as she bowed deeply.
We were back at my apartment. Having brought hinata here at—naruko's insistence—after she passed out.
I blinked, dazed and confused.
Weren't Hyūga supposed to be stuck-up?
Thankfully, while I was still mentally rebooting, Naruko picked up the slack.
"Ne, Hinata-chan, why'd you beat the brakes off Izuku?" Naruko asked, hands on her hips. "I know he's weak and all, but that doesn't mean you can just do whatever to him, dattebayo!"
My eye twitched.
Thanks, Naruko. Always nice to know you think so highly of me.
Hinata stammered, clearly struggling to get the words out. Slowly, as my confusion ebbed, I softened my expression and gave her an encouraging look.
"It's okay, Hinata. Please… just tell us why."
She hesitated a moment longer, then visibly gathered her courage.
"I… I'm sorry. I-I was worried about Naruko‐san" she finally admitted, her voice trembling. "S-she's a wonderful person and has been hurt before by people pretending to be her friend. I just wanted to make sure you weren't like that. When you found me, I panicked. I shouldn't have struck you. I… I'm so sorry."
I blinked again, this time in surprise someone had gone to such lengths to hurt Naruko.
Then again… maybe I shouldn't be so shocked. My thoughts flickered back to my first day at civilian school. Children could be cruel.
When I turned to Naruko, her head was bowed, her long hair curtaining her face. Hinata, catching sight of her posture, paled even further, her breathing quickening.
The tension shattered when Naruko finally looked up, eyes brimming with tears.
Without hesitation, she launched forward and wrapped Hinata in a crushing bear hug.
"That's so sweet! You're my new best friend, Hinata-chan!" she exclaimed, her voice thick with emotion.
Overwhelmed, Hinata promptly passed out from overstimulation.
Naruko, oblivious at first, continued hugging and shaking her around enthusiastically until she finally noticed how limp Hinata had gone in her arms. Panic spread across her face as she started fretting over her unconscious friend.
I could only watch the chaos unfold. How did my life end up like this?
XXXXXXXXX
I was supposed to meet Lee today—a regular appointment between us, part of my ongoing project. Naruko had insisted on tagging along, dragging Hinata with her under the justification of their newly cemented "best friendship." I didn't have the energy to argue, so I let them come with me to the training ground where I usually met Lee and Guy.
To my surprise, the green-clad duo weren't alone. They were accompanied by a young girl with twin hair buns, dressed in a red-and-white cheongsam, and… another Hyūga. Small world.
"Izuku! How wonderful for you to join us here as we stoke the flames of our youth!" Guy boomed, striking an exaggerated pose.
"I'm glad to be here, Guy-san," I replied politely.
"Yosh!"
"Nice to see you too, Lee."
Turning to the unfamiliar faces, I gave a small bow. "Nice to meet you. My name is Izuku."
The girl returned the gesture with a warm smile. "Nice to meet you too. I'm Tenten—Higurashi Tenten." She gestured to the other Hyūga, whose pale, cold eyes had been fixed on Hinata with unsettling intensity. "And this is Neji."
"S-sorry to intrude, Neji-nii-san," Hinata murmured softly, almost shrinking under his gaze.
"Hinata-sama," Neji replied, spitting the honorific like a curse, though his tone remained carefully controlled and polite. The amount of contempt packed into those syllables was almost impressive.
"I see you've found… companions more suited to your proclivities," he added, his voice dripping with disdain as his chin tilted incrementally higher.
Ah. A sorcerer who acts like a sorcerer. For a second there, I'd been worried reality was falling apart.
"…Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Naruko asked sharply, narrowing her eyes.
"It means," Neji said smoothly, with a faint, insincere smile, "that I'm glad Hinata-sama has found companions of similar calibre."
"Ohhh! Okay!" Naruko chirped with a sunny grin, completely unfazed. Truly, a natural blonde.
I shook my head and turned back to my reason for being here.
"Lee, if you could come here for a moment," I called, pulling a scroll from my pocket.
Using fūinjutsu that responded only to certain chakra thresholds to record Lee's chakra behavior in various stances had been complicated enough. Modifying the seal to transmit that data to another seal, storing the reactions, parsing the information, and cross-referencing it with similar data I'd recorded from myself while making hand seals? That had been tedious.
Not hard, exactly—but laborious and full of tiny, interlocking steps. If I'd had more sealing tags and materials to work with, I might've been able to simplify it. But I didn't—so here we were.
Still, it had taught me a lot. Between that and my own progress in refining my chakra control, I was slowly building the foundation I needed to finally start crafting real spells.
"Here, Lee. This scroll should contain a direct translation of standard hand seals tailored to fit your unique chakra network," I explained, handing the scroll to him.
"…You mean…?" Lee asked, eyes wide and glistening.
I smiled. "With this, you should be able to use jutsu."
"USOOOOO!" Lee shouted, overcome with emotion. "Izuku-san, I will do one thousand—no, one hundred thousand laps around Konoha to celebrate! Thank you!"
Before I could react, he enveloped me in a hug so powerful it squeezed the breath from my lungs. Literally.
I was on the verge of blacking out before Guy managed to pry Lee off me, effectively saving my life.
"Yosh! I agree with my most youthful student. Young Izuku—you have my sincerest thanks," Guy declared, clapping a hand over his heart with theatrical passion.
Tenten stepped forward, eyebrows raised. "Wait—you figured out a way for Lee to use jutsu?" she asked, clearly surprised.
"I think so, but he'll need to test it first," I said.
"Well, there's no time like the present! Lee!"
"Yes, Guy-sensei!"
"Show us your youth!"
"Hai, Guy-sensei!"
Lee placed the scroll carefully on the ground, opened it, and skimmed its contents. Without hesitation, he leapt to his feet, dropped into a perfect split, and twisted until the back of his left calf touched the small of his back.
I winced and resisted the urge to grab my own hamstrings. And it only got worse from there.
But as Lee continued flowing through the sequence, I felt a shift in the atmosphere—a gathering of chakra. It built steadily until, with a sharp burst of chakra smoke, a second Lee appeared beside him.
This clone was paler, with slightly off-colored clothing, strangely hued skin, and no shadow.
A Bunshin.
"OSUUUU!" Rock Lee roared, springing to his feet as though he hadn't just scarred me with his flexibility display, and pranced excitedly around his clone.
"Great work, Lee!" Tenten cheered, clapping her hands.
"Aww man, even Bushy Brow can make a clone now?" Naruko groaned, crossing her arms.
I glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. "What's bothering you?"
She huffed. "That stupid clone jutsu doesn't work for me."
I gave her a small smile. "I'll help you out with it."
Her eyes lit up and, with a bright yell, she threw her arms around me in a hug. Over her shoulder, I caught Neji watching us—his expression a mask of contempt, cold and calculating.
I decided I'd be keeping a close eye on him. He gave me a bad feeling.
XXXxXXXXX
Hidachi had a secret.
She smiled at her father and kissed him on the cheek as she left the house. She wasn't usually this happy to get to school, and it showed in the way her dad's eyes bulged in concern.
A big, bad secret she kept from everyone else.
She skipped down the road, inhaling the scent of roses on sale, waving at the passersby, and greeting all the nice uncles and aunties who were up this early. Though they all looked a bit unnerved. Wonder why?
It was a secret she knew she shouldn't have, but she couldn't help herself.
She smiled as she passed through the school gates and caught sight of her target—the pretty shinobi boy. The killer.
She liked killers. That was her secret.
No, not really. She didn't actually like killers.
Let her rephrase that.
She liked killing. She liked it a lot.
A beatific smile spread across her black-stained lips. And now, she had her own little killer to help her get good at it.
Things were looking up for her!