Hyuga Ao went cheerfully off to school, and her good mood from last night had lasted until now. She almost looked like the players new to a holographic game, hopping all the way there.
Fortunately, she was in the Embryonic Breathing stage, which let her keep this mood under control. Even so, the delight in her eyes and brows was obvious at a glance.
When Hyuga Ao arrived at school, she saw Minato chatting happily with Kushina at their seats. Her brows furrowed, and she realized that things were not so simple.
Yesterday, Hyuga Ao had temporarily switched seats with Minato in order to drive away the other person at their three-person desk and make room for Kushina.
Now that the seats had been switched back, the arrangement was Kushina on the left, Namikaze Minato in the middle, and Hyuga Ao on the right.
This was practically the protagonist treatment: a childhood sweetheart who was a genius from a prestigious clan, a noble princess who had descended from heaven... Were you the legendary Yasashi male lead?
Hyuga Ao slowly typed out a question mark.
She walked over and patted Namikaze Minato on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Hyuga Ao's displeased expression, confusion in his eyes. Why is she acting up again?
Hyuga Ao pointed at her original seat and said:
"From now on, you sit on the outside, and I'll sit on the inside."
Whatever. Since Hyuga Ao had spoken, Minato could only obediently move over. It was frustrating when you couldn't beat someone.
Meanwhile, Hyuga Ao quickly greeted Kushina before beginning to pull scrolls out.
Kushina curiously leaned over to look, only to find that the scrolls were all books with titles like <The Practical Collision of Wind Release and Fire Release>, Changes in Nature and Changes in Form, Several Levels of Chakra Control, and A Brief Discussion of Transformation Techniques.
Hyuga Ao said, "Minato, here are all your books. I've finished reading them."
After seeing Namikaze Minato put the books away, Kushina was immediately astonished. Generally speaking, the shinobi world took its secret techniques and transformation techniques very seriously, and people would not casually show them to others.
That was why civilian ninja who wanted to learn ninjutsu could only exchange merit for it or learn from a teacher.
It was extremely rare for someone like Namikaze Minato to show his family's collection to Hyuga Ao. In other words, if such a thing happened, it meant that their relationship was already very close.
Could it really be like she heard yesterday—that the two of them are dating?
At this thought, Kushina's heart began to itch like a cat's claws were scratching it.
Fortunately, Kushina was a straightforward girl. She asked directly:
"Ao'er, Minato, are you two in that kind of relationship?"
As she spoke, she curled her fingers into a gesture indicating a couple.
At those words, Hyuga Ao and Namikaze Minato exchanged a glance, each seeing a hint of disdain in the other's eyes.
They answered in unison, "No."
"Then why is Minato willing to lend his books to you, Ao'er?" Kushina asked in confusion.
Hyuga Ao then began to explain everything in detail.
As it turned out, when Hyuga Ao and Namikaze Minato had first met a year ago, she had demonstrated her special skill of striking the numbing points in the muscles. Minato had been curious and asked about it.
Under Hyuga Ao's guidance, that had eventually turned into her teaching Namikaze Minato how to perform and practice Wing Chun, while Minato showed Hyuga Ao the books he had collected at home.
Kushina was extremely envious after hearing this. She wished she could have a friend like that, someone to train and play with.
Although she really wanted to join them, she thought of Grandmother Mito and her vague awareness of her own identity. Sensible as she was, Kushina did not say that she wanted to join them.
Nearby, Minato watched the girls chat and laugh with a smile. He vaguely sensed that today's Hyuga Ao was different from before. It was as though a heavy stone in her heart had been set down, making her much more relaxed and genuine.
A year ago, Hyuga Ao had used three tactics to build a good relationship with Namikaze Minato.
The first was acting familiar from the start. For someone with Minato's personality, unless you did something that made him especially dislike you, he would not reject your deliberate approach. After you drew close, he would observe what kind of person you really were.
The second was displaying her mystery and strength. However, this tactic did not attract Namikaze Minato all that much, because he was actually the mature-for-his-age type. At most, it only made him somewhat curious.
The decisive tactic was the third: playing the victim and showing sincerity.
Minato had never imagined that, in bright Konoha, there could be people who used Cursed Seals to control others. When Hyuga Ao said that she wanted to befriend some talented people in advance and hoped they could help her in the future, she had moved him by seeking his help.
That was why Hyuga Ao's plea for help had touched Namikaze Minato.
Minato wanted to help this girl whose fate had already been decided. Only then did Hyuga Ao and Namikaze Minato begin exchanging what they had learned.
It was through their actual interactions that he discovered Hyuga Ao was actually a decent person. Their relationship then gradually became the close brotherly bond they shared now.
Over the course of that year, Namikaze Minato discovered that Hyuga Ao carried tremendous pressure in her heart. She was rarely truly happy, and much of the time she forced herself to find amusement. Things like interrupting him while he practiced with the Wood Dummy were examples. He did not know whether this was simply her nature or the result of too much mental pressure.
Minato collectively referred to this situation as her "acting up," like a fit that appeared every now and then. When it happened, all he had to do was ignore her.
But the current Hyuga Ao looked much more normal, so he could not help asking, "Has something good happened to Ao'er recently?"
When Hyuga Ao heard Minato's question, she immediately wanted to tell him that she had found a way to undo the Caged Bird. But then she remembered that there might be Anbu around Kushina, and that the classroom was crowded, so she only said:
"I'll tell you when we have time."
Kushina really wanted to know what had made her good friend so happy, but when she saw the look on Hyuga Ao's face, clever as she was, she suppressed her curiosity.
Hyuga Ao suddenly felt extremely satisfied and happy as she looked at Kushina and Minato on either side of her. Minato could tell how she was doing from her expression, while Kushina saw that she did not want to talk and stopped asking.
With her mind suddenly clear, Hyuga Ao immediately felt something settle inside her.
The vague sense of unreality in her life slowly faded as well. Combined with the first Caged Bird seal she had undone the previous night, Hyuga Ao's spirit immediately became much purer. After discarding the dross and retaining the essence, many of the chaotic thoughts in her mind vanished at once.
Hyuga Ao had spent the past year working herself to the bone. Someone who had never deliberately befriended anyone before had begun making a special effort to befriend Minato.
Her originally easygoing, carefree days had turned into a routine of practicing punches every morning and evening, maintaining a Shadow Clone to attend school, and going to Minato's house to read his family's collection herself. At night, she still had to try to undo the Caged Bird. It was truly bitter and exhausting.
Hyuga Ao had managed to sustain such intense study and training for a year mainly because of the pressure exerted by the Caged Bird and the support of her Embryonic Breathing cultivation.
But she herself did not actually like it. It was worlds apart from the easy life she had led in her previous life.
That was why she had grown irritable, accumulating countless tangled thoughts in her mind. This period had gone so far against her nature that she had nearly been driven into a split personality. She often caused trouble, entering the state Minato called "acting up."
But.
At this moment, Hyuga Ao truly faced her own heart and discovered that she had already begun to regard Kushina and Namikaze Minato as friends. At last, she experienced the bonds unique to Naruto and understood the beauty of having such bonds.
At this moment, the shinobi world no longer gave Hyuga Ao only the cold cage of the Caged Bird. It had also given her the warmth of friendship.
Hyuga Ao was moved. As she experienced the power of that emotion, her control over Embryonic Breathing became clearer, and her control over her body grew more natural.
Her expression became gentler, and she finally stabilized completely. She gained a real sense of herself in the shinobi world, clearly recognizing that her name was now Hyuga Ao. She was no longer the person she had been in her previous life.
"I can't go back." Hyuga Ao sighed.
She looked at Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, who had moved her so deeply, and swore in her heart:
"Minato, Kushina, I absolutely won't let you die. If I can't even protect the two of you, then what kind of transmigrator would I be? I might as well go home and raise pigs!!!"
Before you continue