Fish

The wind was a little noisy, and Yuzuru Hyuga could not hear clearly. He simply stopped training, steadied his breathing, and adjusted his glasses.

"Kaoru Hyuga, if I remember correctly."

"What did you want to ask me just now?"

he asked.

The girl gave a light jump from the riverbank, sliding down the grassy green slope with gentle, nimble movements, a little like skiing.

"Heave-ho."

She let out a cute little exertion sound and landed safely on the flat ground by the river.

She patted her skirt and shook the grass clippings from its hem, then raised her head and looked at him with a faint smile Yuzuru Hyuga found rather familiar. "I was asking, Young Master Yuzuru, what is the point of training so desperately and working so hard?"

"We are from the Branch House. No matter how hard we try, we cannot change that."

"No matter how outstanding Young Master Yuzuru is, in the end, he will only become a more powerful Lord Hizashi."

"Such a future..."

"Does striving really have any meaning?"

She asked with a smile. Only after she came closer did Yuzuru Hyuga realize that the girl was a head taller than him.

Well, if nothing unexpected happened, she was eight this year.

Though the girl, three full years older than him, should only have been a child, Yuzuru Hyuga did not underestimate her because of that—Itachi Uchiha had entered the ANBU at eight. In this world, age was no reason to look down on someone.

Besides.

Yuzuru Hyuga smiled faintly. "Is that not the fate of the Branch House?"

Kaoru Hyuga shook her head and blinked at him mischievously. "Young Master Yuzuru, that is not what I was asking."

"You cannot just give up completely because you are in the Branch House." The phrase "give up completely" greatly pleased the girl.

Kaoru Hyuga pondered for a while, then smiled. "That is quite an interesting way of putting it."

"By the way, Young Master Yuzuru really has remembered everyone in the Hyuga Clan by name." Kaoru Hyuga changed the subject and put on an impressed expression. "I thought you would not remember me."

Indeed, if I had not deliberately memorized everyone's names, I would not have known who you were.

Yuzuru Hyuga searched his memories for an impression of the girl, but all he could recall was that she was the daughter of a Branch House Jonin—or rather, an orphan.

Her father's name had been on the casualty list from the Third Shinobi War. Her mother seemed to have died in an accident when she had been very young, though he had forgotten the details.

"Have you encountered any difficulties in your life lately? If you need money or help with anything, please tell me anytime." Yuzuru Hyuga's words surprised the girl.

Kaoru Hyuga looked at him quietly for a while. Beneath those black-rimmed glasses, his Byakugan held only gentleness and concern.

What a terrifying man.

Kaoru Hyuga did not even want to call the monster before her a boy.

Yes, a monster.

She had never imagined that a boy of only five could accomplish so much.

Perhaps others would simply assume that the boy was naturally like this—born with a good memory, kindhearted, and compassionate. But Kaoru Hyuga had never thought so.

Because she knew Yuzuru Hyuga's secret, an enormous secret she should never have discovered.

A secret she had treasured and protected for two years, hidden from everyone else; in this world, it might belong to only the two of them.

"Why are you hiding the curse mark on your forehead, Young Master Yuzuru? You never used to conceal it. You did that to spur yourself onward, did you not? Then why have you been covering it with a headband lately?" she suddenly asked.

The gentle smile in Yuzuru Hyuga's eyes gradually vanished.

Something was wrong.

He lightly adjusted the black-rimmed glasses on his nose. "Ah..."

Yuzuru Hyuga lowered his gaze and pondered for a moment. Then, the instant he looked up, it was as though his soul had changed, and his temperament underwent a complete transformation as he slowly stepped forward.

Even though he was still slightly shorter than Kaoru Hyuga.

But when he raised his head again, those cold, pure eyes, crystalline as though formed from countless snowflakes, held only a dangerous gleam and a terrifying pressure that left Kaoru Hyuga momentarily dazed.

"What exactly do you want to hear from me?"

His tone remained gentle, but none of his usual easygoing smile remained on his face.

Kaoru Hyuga looked at Yuzuru Hyuga like this.

Then, she suddenly revealed an incomparably sincere smile.

"Is this not how it should be?" she said softly. Her expression became slightly excited, and her cheeks flushed.

Yuzuru Hyuga extended his hand and lightly pressed two fingers to her chest. Kaoru Hyuga neither dodged nor avoided him. His action brought a hint of shyness to her smile, and their posture seemed somewhat intimate, but the terrifying dark-blue chakra flickering on his fingers made it far less pleasant.

"Though I do not like doing this, I am sorry."

"Can you tell me what exactly you want to say?"

There was apology in Yuzuru Hyuga's eyes, and killing intent as well!

What startled him was the girl's next action.

She took a step forward and reverently cradled the hand filled with terrifying chakra in both of hers. As if offering up her heart, she moved closer to him. Her eyes shone with desperate longing and sincerity. "Young Master Yuzuru, please take me with you! No matter where, no matter what you want me to do."

Yuzuru Hyuga fell silent for a moment, and at that point, he roughly guessed the girl's intention.

Could she possibly think...

That because I have been working so desperately, and have even been rather active lately, I found a way and a plan to break the Caged Bird, and intend to run away?

More than the girl's purpose, however, Yuzuru Hyuga cared about something else.

There was not the slightest smile on his face. The girl's reverent appearance and sincere gaze did not shake his expression in the least, and even the chakra on his right hand, buried in something soft, did not recede.

"Answer my question."

Yuzuru Hyuga's words did not disappoint Kaoru Hyuga. She merely gazed gently at him with her beautiful eyes. "Young Master Yuzuru... do you know when we first met?"

Yuzuru Hyuga swiftly retraced his memories from the past several years. He had transmigrated through reincarnation, crawling out of the womb, so even his memories from infancy were not vague. He carefully searched from the beginning, yet still found nothing.

"Two years ago, when you were with your father?" That was Yuzuru Hyuga's impression of their first meeting.

Kaoru Hyuga shook her head and softly described her first impression of Yuzuru Hyuga.

"The first time I saw Young Master Yuzuru was on the day you were branded with the Caged Bird."

Yuzuru Hyuga quickly retraced his memories of that day.

Then he discovered a suspicious detail in those memories worth considering.

"That night... what did you see?"

A cold glint flashed through Yuzuru Hyuga's eyes.

Kaoru Hyuga smiled softly and began recounting it. "That night, I could not sleep, so I secretly wandered around the Branch House alone. By chance, I heard sounds coming from the training ground..."

That had been the darkest day of Yuzuru Hyuga's life since transmigrating.

Under Hizashi Hyuga's watchful gaze, he had been personally branded with the Caged Bird seal by an elder of the Hyuga Clan.

Though he had appeared calm and obedient at the time, and had not complained to his father even once.

That night, unable to sleep, he went alone to the training ground.

Crying?

He was not that weak.

But the anger and hatred born from the Caged Bird curse mark were completely impossible to suppress.

So he vented his fury in the training ground as though he had lost control, silently yet violently slamming his fists into an innocent wooden post again and again. Only after both fists bled profusely did he slam his forehead against the post and make his decision.

He still remembered it clearly: feeling the sharp pain in his forehead, he gritted his teeth and swore an oath.

"I will tear apart this cage with my own hands."

Afterward, he treated his own wounds and returned to his room.

At the time, Yuzuru Hyuga had trained for barely half a year and was not necessarily even strong enough to qualify as a Genin, so he had not noticed.

A girl had been quietly hiding behind the training ground door, witnessing the only time he had lost emotional control since transmigrating through the crack in the door.

From then on, Kaoru Hyuga had unconsciously begun paying attention to his every move.

"From then on, I often watched Young Master Yuzuru secretly from within the crowd."

"What surprised and confused me was that the Young Master Yuzuru who had been so sharp and intimidating that night disappeared."

Kaoru Hyuga continued, recounting what had happened afterward.

Yuzuru Hyuga was somewhat distracted. The chakra in his hand had vanished, but Kaoru Hyuga still held his hand, maintaining the same posture as before.

"Young Master Yuzuru became gentler, more mature, and more composed."

"You began remembering the name of every Branch House member and deliberately tried to build good relationships with each of them."

"You also became more diligent."

"On your longest day, Young Master Yuzuru stayed alone in the training ground for twelve hours."

"Unfortunately, I could not approach Lord Hizashi's training ground. I could only watch from afar as Young Master Yuzuru went in and came out, day after day."

"I began to wonder what exactly Young Master Yuzuru was thinking, and what the purpose of all this was."

A trace of yearning and excitement appeared in Kaoru Hyuga's eyes. "Only now did I dare to be certain of what Young Master Yuzuru truly wanted. You must have the same thoughts as I do!"

Only anticipation remained in her pale eyes. "So... Young Master Yuzuru, please tell me."

"You train so hard, work so hard to become the hope in the eyes of every Branch House member, and become a genius acknowledged by everyone. What is the meaning of all this?"

What she asked about was meaning.

But Yuzuru Hyuga understood that she was asking about his purpose. She even eagerly wanted to know whether he had a plan, how far that plan had progressed, and wished reverently to join it.

He looked at her coldly for a while before withdrawing his right hand.

"What right do you have, and in what capacity are you questioning me?" he said.

Kaoru Hyuga merely smiled.

She met the boy's gaze without dodging or avoiding it, faced her heart, and gave her answer. "Please grant me freedom!"

"Whether it is my twisted, sick soul or this useless body that you desire, I am willing to offer everything, so long as I can break free from this cage, even if only for one second."

In the end, Kaoru Hyuga's words received no direct answer.

Yuzuru Hyuga merely put on his gentle smile again and said softly, "Then remain quiet for now."

"Yes!" Kaoru Hyuga's voice was filled with joy.

"And I think that yearning for freedom is human nature. It is not something twisted or sick."

Yuzuru Hyuga had given her part of a direct response.

Yet she merely smiled gently with slight embarrassment, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

The two fell into silence. Having lost interest, Yuzuru Hyuga stopped training, picked up the bucket containing the large fish and his fishing rod, and returned to the Hyuga Clan estate with her, one before the other.

That night, Yuzuru Hyuga asked Hizashi Hyuga to investigate all of Kaoru Hyuga's information overnight.

PS: Sometimes, just a tiny sliver of hope is enough to make someone give their all.

Ah, where is my hope? Oh, favorites and recommendation tickets, is that it? There they are! Time to write up some chapters in advance!