Observing * Shūichi

Izuna stood in front of the two people.

"That..."

Shinya suddenly turned his head.

"Lord Izuna! You've come at the perfect time! You be the judge!"

Hideki also spoke at the same time.

"Lord Izuna! Please speak to him!"

They spoke in unison, then simultaneously fell silent and glared at each other.

Izuna opened his mouth.

I'm telling you guys—

"Listen to me!" Shinya interjected, "That piece of music just now should clearly be played according to the score! His drumming was completely wrong!"

"That's because you played too fast!" Hideki retorted immediately. "Look at the score yourself, that section is supposed to be slow! You played it like a horse race, how am I supposed to keep up?"

"A slow movement? This is a slow movement? Are you hearing things?"

You're the one with the problem!

Izuna: "..."

The two continued arguing, their voices growing louder and their faces getting closer and closer until they were practically touching noses.

As for Izuna, Izuna seemed to have completely blanked out his mind, lost in thought.

Tetsuya pulled Akari down to squat on the ground, pretending to organize props, without even looking up. The other actors also dispersed, going about their business, and no one looked in their direction.

Shūichi stood behind Tetsuya, looking at the scene with a somewhat bewildered expression.

"Tetsuya," he couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Why didn't Lord Izuna stop them?"

Tetsuya glanced down at him.

"Stop?" He repeated the word, his tone somewhat subtle.

Shūichi of hair.

"Wasn't he a very tough guy?" he said, lowering his voice even further. "Back then, he interfered very forcefully in matters concerning our Hyuga Clan. To this day, the family is still racking their brains trying to figure out a solution."

He paused, looking at the two people still arguing, and at Izuna standing motionless to the side, as if sealed away.

"Why don't you even know how to stop their argument?"

"Hmm..." Tetsuya took out the costume he had specially prepared from the tent, shook it out, and put it on. He straightened his clothes while looking at Shūichi.

"Because they weren't really arguing."

Shūichi for a moment.

They're just playing around.

"Play?"

"Well, arguing is part of youth," Tetsuya said casually. "Those two are like that Tenten, we're used to it."

A voice came from the side.

"Tetsuya, you sound like an old man."

Akari, sitting on the box, was already dressed and smiling at him.

Tetsuya lowered his head and met those smiling eyes.

"That's your old man too."

Akari's face flushed red.

"Ugh, how annoying--"

She reached out to pat Tetsuya, Tetsuya laughed and dodged, and the two of them started playfully bickering.

Shūichi stood to the side, watching this scene with a somewhat complicated expression.

He couldn't understand.

Is arguing a good thing?

Shūichi's gaze drifted in that direction.

Izuna finally moved.

He reached out and placed his hands on Shinya's and Hideki's shoulders, one in each hand. The two men paused simultaneously and turned to look at him.

Izuna said something, but it was too soft to hear. However, Shinya and Hideki's expressions changed; one scratched his head, and the other coughed, each taking a step back.

Then they picked up their instruments and began tuning them.

The argument ended just like that.

Strangeness.

Rehearsals have begun.

Music began to play from the open space. The Biwa made a strange sound he had never heard before, and the drumbeats were also odd, unlike the heavy, traditional music. The combination created an indescribable feeling.

Shūichi stood to the side, unsure of what to do.

He came along, not to perform. Tetsuya and the others were busy, Akari and Rei were preparing, and those he didn't know were also busy in their respective positions.

Nobody paid him any attention.

However, this is just right, because he enjoys observing.

Observe what others do, how things unfold, and what lies hidden beneath their actions and expressions.

Take, for example, the Rotation.

He had already learned this move himself before Hyuga Ibara taught it to him.

As a child, he often stood by the Training Ground watching the adults practice. He watched those complex movements and exquisite techniques again and again, absorbing them into his eyes and memorizing them.

Later, when Hyuga Ibara was about to teach him how to Rotation, he tried it out.

It was very easy to do.

Although it was unfamiliar and the Chakra output was not stable, it was indeed Rotation.

The adults were all astonished.

"Genius!" "This child is exceptionally gifted!" "The Hyuga Clan has produced another remarkable one!"

That's what they said.

Shūichi didn't say anything at the time.

He just thought, this isn't talent, it's just from watching too much.

He's watched it so many times, for so many years, how could he not know it?

But that night...

He couldn't see through Izuna's attack no matter what.

That feeling was like splashing on the surface of water.

He remembered that when he first charged towards Izuna, he was confident.

Izuna's fist landed, his cousin blocked it, and was then sent flying. In that instant, an opening appeared in Izuna's ribs.

He saw it.

So when he rushed forward, his palm was aimed at that spot.

Then his palm missed its target.

Izuna turned slightly to the side.

At such a tiny angle, his palm grazed the other person's clothes.

Shūichi moment.

But he didn't stop.

The second, the third, the fourth palm strike. He used every move he knew. He unleashed one set after another of the techniques he had practiced countless times.

But I just can't hit it.

Shūichi's every palm strike grazed past his opponent's body, just a hair's breadth away.

The feeling was like hitting the surface of water. The ripples spread out, the fist missed its target, but the surface of the water remained completely still.

He had experienced this feeling of powerlessness when he was a child.

Back then, Tetsuya would occasionally teach him Gentle Fist when he had free time.

Tetsuya, the Young Clan Head, was a recognized genius in the clan. He was a few years older than him, and at the time, he was thirteen or fourteen years old, but his Strength had already far surpassed that of his peers.

Shūichi remembers standing on the Training Ground, charging at Tetsuya again and again, only to be knocked down again and again.

That feeling is very similar to what I feel now.

It's as if there's no way to defeat it.

But the difference was that back then he was occasionally able to find a weakness.

Tetsuya reveal an opening, though only for a fleeting moment, that moment truly existed. Shūichi seized upon it a few times, and although he ultimately lost, at least he encountered it.

But when I faced Izuna that day, there was nothing.

Not even once.

Every time he thought he saw an opening, the opening would vanish in the next instant, replaced by an oncoming fist.

It was as if that person knew all his moves in advance.

The overwhelming sense of defeat brought him to tears.

Shūichi remembers kneeling on the ground, his knees digging into the sand, tears streaming down his face.

It's too far.

That person is too far away from him.

He knelt there and heard the man say:

"Next."

The humiliation of that moment made him press his head firmly against the ground, grit his teeth, and feel hatred rising from the bottom of his heart.

Just as he was secretly vowing to make this person pay, the person who had humiliated them scratched his face, looking extremely embarrassed and said something.

"Hey~ I think I went a bit overboard~"

Shūichi was completely stunned when he heard this.

What?

Then the person squatted down. He just squatted down on the spot, hugged his knees, buried his face, and curled up into a ball.

He started muttering to himself.

Phrases like "I thought I'd probably be defeated," "I didn't expect you guys to be so weak," and "Sorry, I was too strong" are all unacceptable.

Someone nearby was laughing.

The white-haired one, Tobirama Senju, covered his mouth and laughed so hard his shoulders shook.

And there's Hashirama Senju, whistling, his eyes darting around as if trying to hide himself.

Madara Uchiha's gaze fell on Hashirama Senju, his eyes filled with malice.

The Clan Head sighed, rubbing his temples with a headache, but he looked much better than before.

That person instantly lifted everyone's spirits from the previously heavy atmosphere.

The situation was still just as serious. No matter how Izuna intended to humiliate him, it was already a fact. Even as a boy, I knew that what should have been a huge incident had turned into a farce.

Hyuga lost.

But the one who won slunk Earth Flow.

He knelt on the ground, watching this scene, and suddenly the pent-up anger in his heart didn't know where to go.

Curiosity followed.

But I wasn't that curious; I just found it interesting.

Because he knew that Izuna was not someone anyone could approach, let alone the Hyuga family whom he had just defeated.

Not everyone shared his curiosity; the vast majority of the tribe felt that this defeat was a disgrace.

He probably won't see Uchiha Izuna for a long time to come.

After that day, the Hyuga Clan changed.

The elders held a meeting all night, and the next day the Clan Head went to the Hokage Building in person. When the adults were talking, they would send the children away, occasionally letting out a few words, such as "This is troublesome" or "It's not easy to handle."

Shūichi didn't quite understand and didn't pay much attention.

He thought his life might go back to the way it was before.

After all, reform cannot be accomplished overnight. For now, he only needs to follow the adults' lead and work hard to increase his Strength.

But on the third day...

Shūichi was training on the Training Ground when he suddenly heard a commotion coming from the doorway.

He turned his head.

Curious about what had happened, I followed them.

When he reached the entrance to the clan's territory, he found a person standing there.

Her dark blue clothes, upright posture, and beautiful face were all part of her striking appearance.

Uchiha Izuna.

Shūichi was stunned.

The guard at the door stood in front of him, looking very wary.

After Izuna said something to him, the guard left for a while.

After a while, the Young Clan Head, holding his fiancée's hand and carrying the recently famous young girl from the branch Branch Family, followed them out.

Tetsuya was actually smiling when he left.

They seemed extremely eager to get started.

... I feel a little embarrassed.

But why is Tetsuya so happy? Is it because he can leave the clan's territory?

But there's not much to see in Konoha... Could it be because of Izuna?