This was great... finally... finally...
She said it... she said it properly!
Looking at the billowing dust ahead that almost completely blocked her vision, Hyuga Hinata wore a relieved smile.
She was satisfied.
Though she had lost—a crushing defeat at that—she was satisfied at this moment. Watching the boy who had practically grown up alongside her charging toward her through the suddenly rising dust, Hyuga Hinata felt a sense of release.
She had said it.
She had properly spoken the words that had been weighing on her heart.
Yes, the one who had truly been suffering all this time was Neji.
Compared to her own experience of being neglected and looked down upon for lacking talent, her brother was a genius among geniuses. Within the Hyuga Clan, his standing was much like that great genius Aunt Yumiko had once mentioned, Taki Chiba, in Konoha. Yet because he was a member of the branch family, his position was extremely awkward. Between the main family and branch family, there had been resentment and an almost irreversible gap in status ever since the clan system had been established. And after that incident, the pain her brother had endured was far beyond anything she had suffered.
For all these years, she had watched her brother struggle in pain. He clearly hated the main family so much, hated them so deeply, yet he had no choice but to train with her, a member of the main family who was far inferior to him. Every day, he sparred with her, spent every waking moment with the daughter of his enemy, and even had to improve her strength—all without showing the slightest resentment.
Honestly, she could hardly imagine such pain.
Even though Neji was right by her side.
And she had watched Neji go from facing that