Rotation! Life Returns!

"Ah! It's Yuzuru!!!"

When Yuzuru Hyuga appeared at Izumi's doorstep, before he could even greet her, the girl who came to open the door shouted out in delight.

Yuzuru Hyuga blinked, and the girl in front of him flushed red, covering her face. "I haven't even brushed my hair yet. Mom!"

She turned and trotted back into the house. The ninja couple sitting in the living room exchanged glances, then both stood up together.

"Come on in first."

Before the beautiful woman could ask, Yuzuru Hyuga bowed politely. "I am Yuzuru Hyuga, a friend of Izumi's. I have something to discuss with her today and would like to take her out for a while, if that's alright?"

"Of course, no problem." Upon noticing his white eyes, the couple understood his identity without further explanation.

"My name is Kawai Hazuki. I'm so glad you came to visit. She's mentioned you at home quite a bit. Please, have a seat. Would you like some snacks?"

Mrs. Kawai's smile was warm. As a former member of the Uchiha, she had changed her surname after marrying this chunin from the village, thoroughly enjoying the peaceful life she'd gained after leaving the Uchiha behind.

"Mrs. Kawai, Mr. Kawai, I'll just wait for Izumi at the door. Pardon my rudeness." Yuzuru Hyuga remained standing at the entrance, bowing with an apologetic expression, making no move to come inside.

If he went in, they'd have to prepare things out of hospitality—too much trouble.

The couple exchanged another look, and Izumi's mother hurried off to help her daughter fix her hair, soon delivering the blushing, beaming girl to Yuzuru Hyuga's side.

"Izumi, don't cause little Yuzuru any trouble!"

Izumi giggled. "I know, Mom! We're off!"

She grabbed Yuzuru Hyuga's sleeve.

But Yuzuru Hyuga still bowed his head politely. "Pardon my rudeness. This first visit was rather rushed."

"Oh, you. Our family doesn't stand on ceremony." Mr. Kawai seemed a bit out of his depth. As a civilian ninja, faced with Yuzuru Hyuga's courteous, refined, and noble demeanor, he didn't know how to react.

Hadn't the other Hyuga clan members he'd seen in the village been nothing like this?

Yuzuru Hyuga smiled and nodded. "Yes, I understand. Well then, we'll be going now?"

"Please be careful."

After saying goodbye to Izumi's parents and heading downstairs, she excitedly tugged at Yuzuru Hyuga's sleeve. "What are we going to play? How about house at the park? Or ninja games?"

Aren't those all just make-believe?

Yuzuru Hyuga's expression turned apologetic. "Izumi, there's something I'd like to ask you."

"What is it? If I can do it!" She didn't find it troublesome at all; instead, she was thrilled.

"Your mother—she's from the Uchiha, isn't she?" Yuzuru Hyuga asked.

Izumi froze, then bit her lip. "Yeah."

She'd always thought it was a secret, never telling anyone—the Uchiha's reputation in the village was never great.

"Could you go to the Uchiha compound and call someone out for me? Itachi Uchiha."

After Yuzuru Hyuga finished speaking, Izumi hesitated for a long time before finally nodding. "I don't know if I can. I've never been to the Uchiha compound either."

"That's fine. Just go and say it. Once Itachi comes out, tell him I'll be waiting at the usual place. Oh, the usual place is the park. You'll come too, right? This afternoon, I'll take you to play ninja games."

As Yuzuru Hyuga spoke, he paused, thinking it over. Serious training was part of ninja games too, wasn't it?

He'd start by teaching her how to refine chakra. After all, she was a woman who could awaken a three-tomoe Sharingan in the relevant novels—her talent should be decent.

Little did Izumi know that the ninja games in her mind were about to take a turn. She beamed. "Leave it to me!"

And so, she bravely set off for the Uchiha compound alone. As expected, she was stopped at the gate, but since she was just a child, no one made things too difficult. After she said she wanted to find Itachi Uchiha, someone went to fetch him.

Before long, a bewildered Itachi Uchiha appeared at the entrance. After Izumi whispered a few words to him, he nodded silently and politely asked her to wait a moment.

After going back inside to inform his family, he followed Izumi to find Yuzuru Hyuga.

At the park, Yuzuru Hyuga was staring blankly, his Byakugan activated.

Izumi happily started to run over and greet him, but Yuzuru Hyuga waved her off. Pouting, she followed his gesture and stood at the corner of the park.

When he saw Itachi Uchiha appear, his Byakugan calmed. "Long time no see, Itachi."

Itachi Uchiha hummed in acknowledgment. He seemed much more recovered, his expression calm as he asked, "What's the matter?"

"Morning training."

The moment Yuzuru Hyuga's words fell, Itachi Uchiha didn't cooperate like before. He just shook his head. "I don't want to—"

A sound of breaking wind reached his ear almost as he spoke. Itachi Uchiha instinctively dodged, reflexively drawing a kunai and slashing out.

Damn it! Itachi Uchiha's pupils widened slightly. Yuzuru Hyuga's sudden attack had made him strike with full force instinctively, and for the current Itachi Uchiha, going all out meant a killing blow!

The sharp kunai swung toward Yuzuru Hyuga's neck, but the next moment, Yuzuru Hyuga's calm eyes vanished before Itachi Uchiha, replaced by a puff of smoke and a wooden stump.

Substitution Technique.

For Yuzuru Hyuga, the Substitution Technique—already maxed out—was a skill he could use with just a thought. In terms of mastery over this single technique, even the Fourth Hokage at his peak might not match him.

Itachi Uchiha's kunai stabbed into the wooden stump. The next instant, a fist wrapped in chakra slammed into his shoulder and back, sending him flying forward.

"You!" His brow furrowed tightly.

Then he realized Yuzuru Hyuga wasn't pulling his punches like before.

As he rolled to his feet, Yuzuru Hyuga was already upon him, veins bulging around his Byakugan.

The Byakugan fixed on the faintly glowing blue chakra points within his body, and the Gentle Fist came crashing down on Itachi Uchiha like a storm.

Even without knowing what had gotten into his friend, the suppressed emotions within Itachi Uchiha were ignited in that moment.

He leaped sharply backward, and in the instant his kunai flew from his hand, his fingers quickly pulled multiple kunai from his weapon pouch.

If there was one skill Itachi excelled at above all else, it was his Kunai Throwing Technique.

Though only four years old, he could already send multiple kunai hurtling along different trajectories to strike all of an enemy's vital points in a single moment, even sealing off their escape routes.

Yet, just as Itachi worried he might have been too harsh—

Expressionless, Yuzuru Hyuga simply planted his feet in a horse stance, assumed a strange starting posture, and then spun his body once in a sudden rotation.

Itachi Uchiha's pupils shrank!

"Rotation!"

A sharp shout.

A faint blue vortex appeared eerily in the air for an instant, and the multiple kunai were mercilessly deflected, flying off in all directions.

Then, with a single charge, Yuzuru Hyuga closed the gap of several meters. At a distance where Itachi Uchiha could no longer throw kunai, the Gentle Fist struck again and again, hitting multiple chakra points across Itachi's body as he stared in disbelief.

Chakra flow stalled.

Limbs lost control.

Breath caught in his throat.

The Gentle Fist's strikes on chakra points inflicted varying damage, but in that moment, they made Itachi Uchiha feel an emotion he had been wrestling with for days—familiar and terrifying.

Death.

A pale fist stopped right before Itachi's face. The wind from its swift force stung his eyes and sent the stray hairs on his forehead dancing wildly.

"You're already dead."

Yuzuru Hyuga slowly rose to his feet.

Itachi Uchiha lay on the ground, silent.

In the distance, Izumi finally snapped out of the sudden, terrifying fight and cried out loudly, "Stop fighting, you two!"

Only when she realized the battle was over did she sniffle, sob, and hug her knees as she crouched on the ground.

Yuzuru Hyuga blinked, looked at Itachi. "Go cheer her up."

"It's not my fault." Itachi lay on the ground, staring at the clear blue sky with a look of utter despair.

Yuzuru Hyuga curled his lips into a smile and reached out a hand.

Itachi hesitated for a moment, then grabbed it and stood up.

"So, do you really need to think so much about life and death?"

Yuzuru Hyuga's words struck a chord in Itachi Uchiha's heart.

Looking at Yuzuru Hyuga's expression, Itachi Uchiha shook his head silently.

You don't know, Itachi thought. You haven't seen the fields of corpses with your own eyes. You haven't ended a life yourself. How could you understand the weight of it all?

Yuzuru Hyuga gave a wry smile, then just ruffled his hair. "All I know is, standing still won't get you answers."

Itachi Uchiha remained silent, and Yuzuru Hyuga couldn't be bothered to keep lecturing this brooding blockhead. If he wouldn't speak or accept it, nothing said would matter.

Rather than using words—a slow method that didn't even grant experience points—

Yuzuru Hyuga preferred another approach.

"Starting today, every morning, train here."

He gave Itachi Uchiha no chance to refuse. "Otherwise, I'll personally come find you at the Uchiha compound."

"Beating up the Uchiha Clan Head's son right in front of him—that would be interesting." The smile on Yuzuru Hyuga's lips made Itachi Uchiha's mouth twitch.

So, how had he ever thought to become friends with someone like this?

Itachi Uchiha fell into deep thought.

"Go cheer her up!"

What was a little brat thinking about all this heavy stuff for? Couldn't he just be simple like other kids?

Yuzuru Hyuga kicked him in the butt. Itachi Uchiha shot him a wordless glare, but when he saw Izumi still crouched on the ground sobbing, his heart softened. With a sigh, he walked over and spoke to her in a low voice.

Izumi ignored him, instead looking at Yuzuru Hyuga with her big, watery eyes.

Itachi Uchiha gave Yuzuru Hyuga the same dead-fish eyes as Kakashi—Your turn.

Yuzuru Hyuga sighed and walked over. As he passed Itachi, he muttered under his breath, "Can't even comfort a kid, and you're thinking about life's big questions."

Itachi's face puffed up in anger, but he stayed silent.

Yuzuru Hyuga crouched down, and with just a few words, he wiped away Izumi's tears. Soon, she was grinning again, clinging to his arm and bouncing back to her feet.

Yuzuru Hyuga shot Itachi a look of contempt.

Itachi Uchiha wanted to go home.

"Ninja game! Ninja game! Itachi, you play too!"

Izumi giggled and tugged at his sleeve.

Itachi Uchiha wordlessly looked at Yuzuru Hyuga, wanting to refuse but not knowing how to speak up. At that moment, he suddenly recalled their earlier encounter and couldn't help asking, "That move you used just now—was it Rotation?"

"Yes." Yuzuru Hyuga gave the answer.

"Isn't that—" Itachi Uchiha hesitated.

After parting ways with Yuzuru Hyuga last time, he had asked around about the Hyuga clan.

The Main House and Branch House of the Hyuga family weren't exactly a secret. Soon enough, he understood Yuzuru Hyuga's situation and had even felt sad about it ever since, yet he never dared to bring it up, afraid of hurting his friend's heart.

But.

Rotation was a secret technique of the Hyuga Main House. How had he, a member of the Branch House, learned it?

Yuzuru Hyuga just blinked. "I know the principle. I gave it a try, and it worked."

"To be precise, when I woke up this morning, I thought about beating you up. Just Gentle Fist alone probably wouldn't be enough to dominate the scene, so I pondered Rotation and the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. I haven't figured out the Sixty-Four Palms yet, but Rotation—unexpectedly, if your chakra control is strong enough, it's pretty simple."

Itachi Uchiha's mouth twitched. "Is that so!"

"Ninja game! Ninja game!" Izumi clamored.

"Alright. Ninja Game, Act One: Ninja Academy."

"Itachi Uchiha, as the Fifth Hokage, I appoint you as the school teacher. Your current mission: guide Izumi in completing the Chakra Refinement Technique."

"This mission is an E-Rank Mission. Completion reward: dumplings! Failure penalty: twenty rounds of Combat Training."

"Begin now!"

"Yay! Yuzuru! I want dumplings!"

Watching Izumi's eyes sparkle with excitement, Itachi Uchiha sighed and pressed his hand to his forehead—she's only thinking about dumplings, and the Combat Training will still fall on me.

Looking at that bastard Yuzuru Hyuga's infuriating smirk, Itachi Uchiha made up his mind.

When he got home today, he was going to find Shisui and talk to him.

He could definitely give this guy a good beating on his behalf!

Meanwhile, Yuzuru Hyuga dumped Izumi on Itachi Uchiha for teaching, let out a sigh of relief, and slipped off to the side.

If he actually got stuck playing ninja games with a four-year-old girl, he wouldn't get anything done all afternoon.

He opened the System Panel.

Looking at the text on it, he couldn't help but smile.

[Eight Trigrams Palms Rotation (A): Level 1 (79/1600)]

But in truth, what delighted Yuzuru Hyuga wasn't this A-rank secret technique he had only grasped in a flash of inspiration.

It was—

[Chakra Refinement Technique Life Return: Level 1 (21/1600)]

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