Just Be Yourself, Even If You're a Pervert

Yuzuru Hyuga's words made Kaoru Hyuga's smile grow even brighter. She seemed to have anticipated this moment long ago—perhaps even looked forward to it.

But when Kaoru Hyuga took her stance and charged at him,

a hint of surprise appeared in Yuzuru Hyuga's eyes.

He sharply sidestepped, avoiding a fair palm wrapped in chakra, and said softly, "Interesting."

"Ever since I decided to stay by Master Yuzuru's side, so that I could keep up with Master Yuzuru's footsteps..."

Her crisp voice rang out before him. As their two pairs of Byakugan met, veins bulged around their eyes, and both were already prepared for a head-on clash.

"I've given it everything I have."

The two engaged in fierce close-quarters exchanges, their hands infused with Gentle Fist chakra moving so fast that afterimages could be seen in the air.

Dull thuds rang out one after another. Yuzuru Hyuga used an utterly ordinary Gentle Fist palm strike, intending to knock her back.

"Eight Trigrams!"

At the very instant she was nearly sent flying, Kaoru Hyuga spread her hands apart. Her opening stance looked quite familiar to Yuzuru Hyuga.

"Thirty-Two Palms!"

The girl's sharp cry was followed by a relentless barrage of thirty-two strikes.

At some point, a faint smile had appeared on Yuzuru Hyuga's face. He did not choose to dodge. Instead, with overwhelming mastery, he blocked every strike with practiced ease. Then, at the instant her movements stalled, the two of them almost simultaneously spread their palms.

"Rotation!"

The same spinning motion, the same spiraling chakra barrier bursting forth. Kaoru Hyuga's Rotation barely held out for a second before shattering with a boom, sending her flying from Yuzuru Hyuga's attack.

"Rotation: Flash Chain!"

Such a fast Body Flicker Technique!

Kaoru Hyuga marveled inwardly. Her Byakugan's exceptional three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vision allowed her, at the instant she was knocked away, to "see" Yuzuru Hyuga appear behind her with the Body Flicker Technique.

Though disaster loomed over her and a devastating blow was imminent, she actually revealed a smile Yuzuru Hyuga found difficult to understand.

Kaoru Hyuga's smile genuinely threw Yuzuru Hyuga off, but his movements did not stop.

Rotation: Flash Chain was an improved taijutsu combo based on the Shadow Leaf Dancing technique. Its defining feature was maximizing the damage dealt through Rotation.

Which meant—

"First Flash."

Yuzuru Hyuga spread his hands on the ground. What should have been a Rotation expanding in all directions no longer required him to spin. He merely raised one hand, creating a sideways-spinning blue chakra barrier. The rotating chakra exploded, blasting Kaoru Hyuga into the air and sending scraps of her once-pretty dress flying everywhere.

"Second Flash."

Using his incredible speed, Yuzuru Hyuga somehow moved after her yet arrived first, appearing beside Kaoru Hyuga as she hung in the air after being blasted upward.

In theory, whether this Flash Chain ended depended entirely on his own will. As long as the enemy had no means of breaking free, he could endlessly use Rotation and the Body Flicker Technique to end their life amid the dizzying whirl.

Rotation's inherent ability to both attack and defend also meant that once he made his move, the enemy could only take the beating. Other than dodging, there was no way to retaliate.

But just as he was about to strike, Yuzuru Hyuga saw that Kaoru Hyuga's face still bore a smile, and her Byakugan were still calmly watching him.

She seemed somewhat absent-minded.

So Yuzuru Hyuga stopped, reached out, caught her in his arms, and landed steadily.

Kaoru Hyuga instinctively reached out to embrace him, only to realize that he had already let go.

The intense pain made her legs go weak, and she nearly failed to remain standing. After staggering two steps, she barely managed to steady herself.

"I'm sorry, Master Yuzuru. I disappointed you."

She lowered her head, long hair falling beside her face and hiding her expression as she spoke softly.

"No. Your performance was already far beyond my expectations."

Yuzuru Hyuga was simply stating the truth. The strength displayed by this previously unknown clan member was enough to earn his admiration. Even Neji at the same age would not have matched her—of that, he was well aware.

Judging solely by the talent and strength she had displayed, among those of the same age, perhaps only rare geniuses like Kakashi, Itachi, and Shisui could surpass her.

Especially within the Hyuga Clan. As a member of the Hyuga Branch House, if Yuzuru Hyuga had not existed, she might have been the true once-in-a-century genius of the Hyuga Clan.

But why had someone like her remained obscure in the original story?

After giving it some thought, Yuzuru Hyuga came up with many possibilities.

Thinking of her longing for freedom, her somewhat extreme personality, and her current life experiences, the most likely possibilities were probably suicide—or simply giving up entirely.

Just a few words of praise from him made Kaoru Hyuga's cheeks flush rosy red.

She looked up. Her pale eyes seemed to be turning slightly red as well. Beyond her barely concealed excitement, her tone held an eager impatience. "Really? Master Yuzuru? Does someone like me have the right to stay by your side?"

Yuzuru Hyuga adjusted his glasses and gave her the answer she longed for beneath her hopeful gaze.

"Mm."

"Although I don't know what exactly you mean by companionship, if you merely mean following by my side as I understand it, then I acknowledge your talent."

Yuzuru Hyuga gave his approval openly. At the same time, he looked at her somewhat tattered dress, then at the wounds that were still bleeding in places, and calmly said before she could reply, "Come with me."

Kaoru Hyuga had no choice but to swallow many words, but even so, a simple affirmation and acknowledgment from Yuzuru Hyuga made her smile incomparably radiant and happy.

Following closely behind him, she childishly chased Yuzuru Hyuga's shadow, yet carefully avoided stepping on even a fraction of it.

It was not until they entered an ordinary, not particularly large bedroom that Kaoru Hyuga suddenly realized where she had followed him to.

Kaoru Hyuga looked around. The clean room held few furnishings and no unnecessary decorations. In the spotless space, only several coats suited to Yuzuru Hyuga hung from a rack. It was obvious this was his room.

"Master Yuzuru, do I need to take a bath? I'm covered in blood and flesh... I must look awful, right?"

Though she had never seen what her back looked like, Kaoru Hyuga could guess that the Rotation that had sent her flying into the air must have left her back a bloody mess.

She stood there awkwardly. Her cheeks were crimson, and her pale eyes seemed to have caught the color of her face. Her hands gently touched her cheeks. She appeared somewhat shy, yet also a little impatient.

Yuzuru Hyuga's hand paused slightly as it reached for the wardrobe. He turned his head and stared at her with an utterly bizarre expression, as though he had seen something unbelievable. Only when her face filled with panic and unease did he speak helplessly in a soft voice. "Do you know my birthday?"

"June 8th! Ah! Right, tomorrow... Tomorrow is Master's birthday!"

She did not know what she had thought of, but a faint blush returned to her face.

"So how old will I be tomorrow?"

"...Five years old?"

Kaoru Hyuga met Yuzuru Hyuga's calm gaze and finally realized where the problem lay.

"My bodyguard... is a pervert?" Yuzuru Hyuga softly said it as a statement, yet there was no disgust or disdain in his voice.

He turned away and pulled out some loose clothing from the wardrobe. Fortunately, he had many white robe-like garments, and even if they were a little small, they would not look too strange when worn.

He casually took one and tossed it to Kaoru Hyuga.

Kaoru Hyuga caught it, blankly looked at the white robe in her hands, then suddenly lowered her head uneasily. "Master Yuzuru, I'm sorry."

"...Just be yourself."

Just as Kaoru Hyuga grew slightly delighted over those few words, she saw Yuzuru Hyuga adjust his glasses and lightly add, "Even if you're a pervert."

Kaoru Hyuga lightly bit her lip, but she was not sad. That was because she seemed to vaguely realize that compared to the gentle, polite, mature Master Yuzuru, this version of him felt increasingly real. In other words, didn't that mean she had taken another step closer to Master Yuzuru?

What's wrong with eight-year-old me liking five-year-old Master Yuzuru?

She thought it with perfect confidence.

"Wear my clothes for now. Later, I'll have a maid come apply medicine to your wounds."

"From today onward, train with me. Of course, don't reveal Rotation or the Eight Trigrams Palm to anyone else."

"If someone asks why you're following me around..."

"Just show them the way you looked today."

Yuzuru Hyuga smiled faintly, his arms folded before his chest, his words carrying another meaning. "After all, if someone wants to put another lock on my cage, who could be more suitable than a Branch House girl whose parents are both dead?"

Kaoru Hyuga understood what he meant and read the danger contained within his words, yet she happily accepted it. "Then can I act like this outside too?"

"Please restrain the parts that involve being a pervert."

Yuzuru Hyuga sighed and adjusted his glasses. "Especially don't let Father find out."

"Otherwise... he'll definitely be very happy." Seemingly recalling a certain scene, a trace of displeasure could be seen on Yuzuru Hyuga's face.

"Anyway, that's it."

He did not explain further. He had Kaoru Hyuga wait in the room, then called for a maid to treat her wounds. Once she had cleaned herself up and changed clothes, they returned to the training grounds to continue training.

You want to follow by my side?

Fine.

First, keep up with my training intensity.

Unexpectedly, Kaoru Hyuga persevered extremely well, and her improvement could even be described as astonishingly rapid. As long as Yuzuru Hyuga had explained something to her, she understood it as quickly as the monkey who had been struck on the head by Patriarch Subhuti.

That made Yuzuru Hyuga think of true geniuses like Itachi Uchiha and Shisui. Just how fast had they progressed?

It was not until evening, when his mother personally came to stop what could only be called "abusive" training, that the session was temporarily halted.

That night, Yuzuru Hyuga had Kaoru Hyuga return to sleep while he secretly continued training on his own.

I'll grind all you geniuses into the ground!

Only after exhausting himself completely did he return to his room, satisfied, to rest.

Early the next morning, after attending morning lessons with the Hyuga elders, he leisurely headed to the academy. Interestingly enough, Kaoru Hyuga had not enrolled in the Ninja Academy, even though children her age were already in their second year.

Clearly, she had her own reasons for that before, and Yuzuru Hyuga neither cared nor intended to have her enroll.

After school, however, Yuzuru Hyuga saw three people at the academy gates who surprised him somewhat.

They were none other than Itachi Uchiha and Shisui Uchiha, whom he had not seen in a long time, along with Izumi, whose smiling face brimmed with excitement at their long-awaited reunion.

PS: She isn't yandere—or rather, not the kind of yandere you're thinking of. Please read with confidence. I'm good at writing women. As for the number of female leads, it'll most likely be a harem, so there's no need to ask again.

Also, regarding questions raised in the chapter comments: if I haven't replied, then someone has definitely already asked it. You can look through the chapter comments for my explanation.

For parts I consider Kishimoto's plot holes or areas where the source material was insufficiently researched, I'll make fanfic adjustments and revisions to fill them in reasonably—or so I believe. So please don't dwell on them too much. Of course, if there are any strange plot holes caused by my own oversight, feedback is welcome. The programmer will fix them promptly.

That's all! Love you all~