Kaoru Hyuga found it hard to contain her joy. Even though he had suddenly rapped her on the head for no reason, leaving her slightly aggrieved, she still held both hands before her chest and declared loudly and devoutly:
"Let me do research for you! Perhaps my dull mind cannot blaze new paths from nothing as you can, but as long as you need me, I will do my utmost in any field you require."
Yuzuru Hyuga merely shook his head and lightly rapped her forehead again with his knuckles.
"Don't belittle yourself. In terms of intelligence alone, I don't think you're inferior to me."
Yet Kaoru Hyuga immediately denied it after Yuzuru Hyuga finished speaking. "No, I must object on this point alone. In my eyes, your excellence is beyond question, and far beyond my reach."
"Please stop so recklessly pretending to praise me when you're actually expressing your admiration. Honestly, I don't know how I'm supposed to react."
Yuzuru Hyuga saw the strange emotions flowing through her pale eyes. He shook his head helplessly and withdrew his hand.
Only then did Kaoru Hyuga reveal a regretful expression, though she still asked pitifully, "Then?"
"It would be better if you were more direct. It would look more natural," Yuzuru Hyuga said with a sigh.
Kaoru Hyuga stopped hiding it. Covering her mouth, she laughed softly. "Sorry. Next time, I'll express my admiration and worship for you more frankly."
"Stop using honorifics. Didn't we talk about that before?" Yuzuru Hyuga corrected her.
"I understand, Young Master Yuzuru." She studied Yuzuru Hyuga with a smile. After a moment of silence, she suddenly said softly, "You've lost weight."
She still had not changed the way she addressed him.
"Me? How long was I even gone? How could I have lost weight? Besides, the amount I train at home every day is much greater than when I'm out doing missions."
Yuzuru Hyuga spoke irritably.
But Kaoru Hyuga insisted, "I secretly watched you for a long time the day before you left. You clearly lost a little weight. Soldier pills really can't fully replenish the nutrients a ninja needs."
"I've decided."
She said seriously, "My research will begin with soldier pills."
"Do as you like." Yuzuru Hyuga had no intention of restricting her. In truth, no matter what kind of research she pursued, she would accumulate plenty of corresponding knowledge along the way. Once she had a certain foundation of learning, everything else would become much more convenient and efficient.
Looking at the longing in the girl's eyes and her earnest expression, all Yuzuru Hyuga could do was say gently, "No matter what you do, take care of your health. If one day your body prevents you from continuing to bear my expectations of you, I'll be very disappointed."
At that moment, he deliberately changed some of his wording to avoid giving the girl the wrong impression of his attitude. But clearly, Kaoru Hyuga heard only his concern.
She smiled happily, and even her pale eyes seemed tinged with crimson. "Ah, I will, Young Master Yuzuru."
Until Young Master Yuzuru's wedding ceremony—no, until the wedding ceremony of Young Master Yuzuru's descendants—I don't want to miss any important moment in Young Master Yuzuru's life. Of course, if I could be the heroine of Young Master Yuzuru's wedding ceremony, that would be even better.
What exactly are you thinking?
Yuzuru Hyuga looked at Kaoru Hyuga, but she seemed lost in her thoughts. Blushing, she held her cheeks and lowered her head.
Even if I'm not, it's fine. As long as I can drink Young Master Yuzuru's wedding wine that day, it'll still be a wonderful thing. Ah, if I could, when the bride can no longer bear—
"Please wait until I'm eighteen—forget it. For a ninja, at the very least, wait until after my twelfth birthday before thinking such strange things," Yuzuru Hyuga decisively cut off her train of thought.
Although he had no idea what she was thinking, he had a feeling it was nothing good.
Although the ninja world had advanced technology, with multi-story buildings, electricity, and even something as fantastical as movies, it was still, after all, a feudal society.
Yuzuru Hyuga did not think he absolutely had to wait until he was eighteen to consider matters of romance. At least in the ninja world, at this age, both boys and girls understood what they needed to understand. Their feelings could no longer be arrogantly dismissed as those of children.
There was no rush to get married, though. At the very least, that could wait until after eighteen.
"Twelve years old!?" Kaoru Hyuga suddenly grew excited. "As long as it's after Young Master Yuzuru turns twelve, I can—mmph."
Yuzuru Hyuga reached out and covered her mouth, only to discover that the temperature of her face was rapidly becoming hot enough to burn his hand. As though shocked by electricity, he quickly let go.
"Stop!"
He pressed a hand to his forehead. "Calm down."
Does this count as an indirect kiss?
Kaoru Hyuga only stared blankly at his hand—the hand that had just lightly rested on her lips, now placed against Yuzuru Hyuga's forehead.
"...Excuse me. I'll have my father send you the study materials. As for everything you need for your experiments, just make requests to my father," Yuzuru Hyuga said. He could practically tell what she was thinking from her eyes.
"This is for you too. It contains some key points of knowledge I organized myself." He took out a summoning scroll.
Sealed inside were stacks upon stacks of manuscript paper covered in his handwriting. They were not bound together, and there were quite a few of them. If he had not long ago begun accumulating theoretical knowledge and recording it by category to establish a system, he would never have had enough time.
He had stayed awake all night, piecing together those materials in his room, writing new sections, making revisions, and compiling nearly all the theoretical knowledge he had accumulated so far.
Once someone thoroughly understood this knowledge, they might not immediately become extraordinarily capable, but at the very least, low-level ninjutsu—especially the fields of ninjutsu Yuzuru Hyuga had already mastered to the highest level—would no longer hold the slightest obscurity.
After all, bringing any ninjutsu to level ten meant mastering it perfectly.
So-called perfect mastery was not limited to simply casting it. It also required an extremely thorough understanding of its underlying principles.
Though time had been short, that knowledge had already formed a system in his mind. As supplementary foundational knowledge, he had spent the whole night writing it out with clear reasoning, so it was generally explained plainly enough.
Kaoru Hyuga hurriedly accepted what he handed her.
Yuzuru Hyuga shook his head helplessly and smiled faintly before turning to leave.
Kaoru Hyuga reined in her uncontrollable excitement and bowed ninety degrees toward his back. "Young Master Yuzuru, please take good care of yourself. I will wait at home for your triumphant return."
"Yes. I hope that when I return next time, you'll have become a little more reserved." Yuzuru Hyuga's teasing voice kept the heat in her cheeks from fading for a long while.
She watched him leave and disappear into the distance. Only after a long time did Kaoru Hyuga reluctantly withdraw her gaze. Dazedly, she reached out and touched her lips, then suddenly remembered something. Carefully extending her soft pink tongue, she lightly traced the outline of her lips, missing not a single spot, before pursing them regretfully.
Young Master Yuzuru's scent disappeared too quickly.
"I must become someone Young Master Yuzuru needs."
Without the slightest hesitation, she stopped the training she had persisted in for so long. Without any attachment, she left the training grounds and returned home, turning everything upside down to find every book that might possibly be related to knowledge. She even sought help from Sakura Hyuga, who still managed the Branch House's logistics, before carrying a towering stack of books back to her bedroom.
She began studying with complete concentration and a face full of smiles.
Her happy, contented appearance did not look as though she were beginning to study dull, tedious theoretical knowledge from scratch. Instead, she looked more like a girl reading a romance story she adored.
Meanwhile, Yuzuru Hyuga did not dwell too much on her situation. The seeds he had planted would need to sprout branches before he could judge how the shoots would grow and how well they would develop.
Even if this seed seemed a little broken.
Compared to that uncertain future, he was more focused on what lay before him.
For example—the mission ANBU needed to carry out next.
Before you continue