Hyuga Hiashi's voice echoed through the entire room.
The booming sound made the wind chimes hanging in the room jingle wildly.
After snapping out of his stunned state, Roman realized that the Hyuga Hiashi before him was already furious. He glanced helplessly at Hinata and communicated through their minds:
I told you there were risks to bringing me over to sleep with you. Look at the way Old Man Hiashi is staring at me—like a lion picking out its prey, itching to devour me.
Hinata received his thoughts, shrugged, and replied mentally:
Don't panic!
My father probably only noticed that you came to play with me early this morning, and while we were playing, climbed onto my bed.
He hasn't discovered that you came back with me last night and that we slept together.
Otherwise, knowing him, he wouldn't merely look angry.
He would have fainted already.
Roman: So you're saying we should be grateful that he didn't discover the truth about me spending the night in your bedroom?
Hinata Hyuga: It wouldn't be a big deal even if he did. We were only together yesterday; we didn't do anything, right?
Roman: ...
Hinata Hyuga: Anyway, leave it to me.
Standing at the entrance to Hinata's bedroom, Hyuga Hiashi watched Roman continue lounging in bed and exchanging looks with Hinata. He grew even angrier, strode over, and reached out to drag Roman off the bed.
"Stop, Father."
Hinata reacted quickly, directly raising her hand to block Hiashi's grabbing move. "You shouldn't blame Roman. If you must blame someone, blame me. I asked Roman to come up and help me get dressed."
"Help you get dressed?" Hyuga Hiashi laughed bitterly in anger. "If he was only helping you get dressed, why is half of Roman's body under the blanket?"
Hinata said, "I didn't want to get up, so I invited Roman onto the bed to tell me jokes."
The veins on Hyuga Hiashi's forehead bulged. "Just telling jokes?"
"Yes." Hinata Hyuga nodded calmly. "Besides, at our age, even if we wanted to do adult things, we couldn't."
"..."
Hyuga Hiashi fell silent.
He had not expected his daughter to be this mature already, to even know about things between adults.
But on second thought, it made sense. If she were not this mature, she would not have started keeping a pretty-boy young man at such a young age.
After thinking that, Hyuga Hiashi shot Roman, that blond brat, a vicious glare.
Roman did not care about that Byakugan glare. Since entering the Hyuga Estate yesterday, he had been glared at by Old Man Hiashi's Byakugan dozens of times already. He was used to it.
Seeing how unconcerned Roman was made Hyuga Hiashi even angrier. The veins on his forehead bulged further, and the anger in his eyes intensified.
That look immediately drew Hinata's protection. She stretched out a hand to shield Roman behind her. "Father, don't look at Roman like that. Your daughter asks that you treat him better. He is very important to me."
"Hmph."
Hearing that only made Hyuga Hiashi angrier. He snorted coldly, turned away, and spoke in an icy voice as he walked. "Today, you are going to the Main Family's secret chamber to learn more advanced ninjutsu. Don't forget."
Once he finished speaking, Hyuga Hiashi vanished from the room.
Only after Hyuga Hiashi's back disappeared did Roman give Hinata an admiring look:
As expected of you!
You really managed to smooth things over with Old Man Hiashi, even after getting him that worked up!
"Who else could it be? I'm the Hyuga Clan's genius, after all. The Main Family opening its secret chamber to me proves it."
Hinata lifted her pale, slender neck proudly. But after saying that, she suddenly thought of the extremely pure Byakugan power within Roman, as well as his special physique that had even awakened Vacuum Attack. She could not help shaking her head.
"Of course, the Hyuga Clan's greatest genius isn't me anymore. It's you!
"And if you reveal that extremely pure Byakugan, even Vacuum Attack itself, to my father, his attitude toward you will probably undergo a complete change!
"To cultivate a Byakugan of even higher purity, he would absolutely agree to let you be with me. He would even make you my real child husband and the Hyuga Clan's live-in son-in-law."
Roman shook his head. "If I reveal everything to Hyuga Hiashi, or even to the Hyuga Clan, what awaits me would indeed be a complete change. But it wouldn't be the good kind you described.
"It would be an utterly terrible change. First, Old Man Hiashi, who already dislikes the sight of me, would definitely not treat me as the Hyuga Clan's son-in-law. He would brand me with the Caged Bird Seal and completely control me!
"Then, once Danzo and Orochimaru, those two shady bastards, got wind of it, they would definitely come sniffing around. They would conduct human experiments on me to see how an ordinary person like me managed to steal the Hyuga Clan's Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan, and try to reproduce those results in others!"
Hinata Hyuga copied Roman, rubbing her delicate, adorable little round face that had not fully grown in yet. "Isn't that a little too conspiratorial?"
"No. At least Orochimaru and Danzo are exactly like that. And I'm certain the Hyuga Clan isn't united as one. There are definitely people from Root, or Anbu, among them."
Roman added, "So I won't reveal my power in front of others. At least, not until I become an expert who stands above the Hokage.
"And with you, me, and the Soul Resonance of the other Roman Reincarnators in Chaos Hall, it shouldn't take us long to become experts comparable to, or even surpassing, the Hokage.
"For the time being, while I remain with the Hyuga Clan, I'll continue entrusting all my Chakra to you... to keep anyone from discovering that I'm not an ordinary person."
"Fine."
Hinata did not argue. She simply nodded in understanding.
Tap, tap.
Then she jumped out of bed and said to Roman, "Let's go to the Main Family's secret chamber and learn more of the Hyuga Clan's secret techniques."
Roman said, "I probably won't be able to get in."
"It's fine. Just wait for me outside." Hinata smiled and held out her hand to Roman. "If anything happens, I can still look after you. And once it's all over, it will be easier for me to pass all the Hyuga Clan's secret techniques on to you!"
"Okay."
Roman reached out and took Hinata's small hand.
Near the afternoon, Hinata, who had just finished studying in the Main Family's secret chamber, found Roman.
Through eye contact, mental resonance, and the transfer of soul information, she passed the many taijutsu secret techniques and ninjutsu mastered by the Hyuga Clan to Roman:
Eight Trigrams Gentle Fist: Acupoint Striking!
Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!
Eight Trigrams Empty Wall Palm, Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher!
Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists!
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!
Water Dragon Bullet Technique!
After receiving the information, Roman rubbed his chin and mentally communicated with Hinata:
Those old geezers from the Hyuga Main Family really dug out everything they had and taught it all to you! At the very least, you've inherited every ninjutsu the Hyuga Clan has ever used in Naruto.
Even the Eight Trigrams Empty Wall Palm, which two Hyuga Clan members together could use to knock away a Ten-Tails attack, and the Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher, which could blow apart a small mountain, along with other Nintaijutsu.
Hinata Hyuga:
I think it's only so-so. If nothing unexpected happens, those two powerful long-range ninjutsu probably evolved from Vacuum Attack in the Hyuga Clan's bloodline inheritance.
I guess the Vacuum Attack you naturally mastered should be even more powerful than both Eight Trigrams Empty Wall Palm and Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher.
Roman: Maybe. We'll find out once we test it in the Forest of Death later.
Hinata: Also, I think the biggest gain this time isn't the Hyuga Clan's Nintaijutsu, but those Water Release ninjutsu.
"You should know that our Water Release Nature Transformation has been greatly enhanced through Soul Resonance with Furina, the Fontaine Hydro Archon and the most powerful Oceanid.
"If nothing unexpected happens, the power of A-rank Water Release ninjutsu like Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique and Water Dragon Bullet Technique will increase dramatically!
—Reaching the level of S-rank ninjutsu!
"In a sense, if the two of us join forces and combine our Chakra, we might already possess strength close to that of a weaker Kage?
"By the way, should we go to the Forest of Death now and test the power of these ninjutsu?"
Roman: Sure.
After gaining Roman's agreement, Hinata silently ended their mental exchange, took Roman's hand, and left the Hyuga Estate with him, heading toward the Forest of Death.
Meanwhile, the Hidden Cloud Ninja preparing to sign a Peace Treaty with Konoha had already arrived and settled into an inn in Konoha.
They quickly gathered intelligence on Konoha and learned a particularly startling piece of news:
The Hyuga Clan's eldest daughter had been abducted by a commoner named Roman?!
And she had even disappeared from the Hyuga Clan with him?!
Before you continue