Hyuga Tetsu,
A Branch House ninja in the same year as Hyuga Yu at the Ninja Academy, though a year older.
He had brown hair tied into a neat ponytail and a square, proper-looking face. He looked like the sort of person who took everything far too seriously.
Hyuga Yu had not had much contact with him before. They had only run into each other a few times while carrying out missions with the border Reconnaissance Unit. At the time, Tetsu had been a member of Reconnaissance Unit Team Nine.
Perhaps they had exchanged a few words during breaks between shifts,
but Yu had been too busy practicing the [Byakugan Invisibility Jutsu] back then to remember what Tetsu had said to him.
"Don't remember?"
"Last year, when Team Eight and Team Nine were carrying out a patrol mission, we talked."
At that moment, Hyuga Tetsu looked at Hyuga Yu, his brow furrowing slightly as he spoke in the tone of an older brother, despite being only a year older:
"Back then, I asked you what exactly you were thinking."
"Why couldn't you act normally?"
"You kept clinging to those bizarre methods, ignoring what others thought, always doing whatever you pleased and believing you were right."
"But what was the result?"
"You used tricks to awaken your Byakugan early, yet neglected the clan's secret techniques. Your failure in the Chunin Ninja Exams was the price you deserved to pay!"
Listening to this, Hyuga Yu's expression did not change. He merely replied flatly,
"Oh."
"You—"
Receiving such a perfunctory answer, a vein twitched on Hyuga Tetsu's forehead as he was about to lose his temper.
Hyuga Yu cut him off first. "Is there anything else?"
Hyuga Tetsu took a deep breath and suppressed the dissatisfaction rising in his chest. With a dark expression, he brought up another matter and demanded,
"I heard you gave up Elder Chōkō's letter of appointment?"
Hyuga Yu gave him a strange look, then nodded calmly. "That's right."
Hyuga Tetsu grew even angrier at Yu's indifferent attitude.
He clenched his fists, his face darkening as he glared at Hyuga Yu and barked,
"What exactly are you thinking?"
"You, Hyuga Yu, have neither talent nor strength. You were only lucky enough to have parents who saved an elder of the Main House, which was why you received such an opportunity—such preferential treatment, letting a Branch House member act so recklessly!"
"Do you know how precious an opportunity you rejected?"
"Do you know Elder Chōkō had been waiting all this time for the chance to repay your parents' kindness?"
"Do you know how many people in the Branch House envy you?"
Hyuga Yu smiled.
"Envy what? Envy that I get to kneel and kowtow to people every day?"
Hyuga Tetsu's face turned livid. He pursed his lips, then laughed in anger and pointed at Hyuga Yu as he demanded,
"Hyuga Yu!"
"Are you still clinging to that unrealistic ninja dream of yours?"
"Even if you don't care about other people's ridicule or the Hyuga Clan's reputation—"
"Why don't you think about Natsu?"
"What did Natsu do wrong to end up with trash like you?!"
"Starting as a servant, accepting training step by step, being entrusted with important responsibilities, and becoming a steward for the Main House—Hyuga Yu, whether it's me or you, we both understand that this is the highest path you can reach in your life!"
"It's also the only way you could ever be worthy of Natsu!"
"But now, now... you threw that opportunity away with your own hands!"
Hyuga Tetsu stared at Hyuga Yu with a look of bitter frustration. Bloodshot veins had appeared in the whites of his eyes, and his gaze contained regret, annoyance, and, above all, fury.
A fury that wished he could take Yu's place.
Hyuga Yu understood.
He tilted his head and looked at Hyuga Tetsu with an amused expression.
"You like Natsu?"
At those words, Hyuga Tetsu's body jolted. The anger on his face vanished as quickly as snow beneath the warm sun, replaced by an embarrassment as blazing as scorched earth in midsummer.
He pressed his lips together, his whole body trembling for a moment.
Then he lowered his face and head, stiffly reaching out and grabbing Hyuga Yu's arm as he spoke in a muffled voice,
"Come with me!"
"Go apologize to Elder Chōkō. Beg him to take back his decision, and continue serving the Main House."
"I... I'll help you become a steward for the Main House. Even... even the chief steward overseeing all Hyuga Clan affairs."
Hyuga Tetsu was still only fourteen. He could not hide his feelings, and in a moment of impulsiveness, he made such a twisted promise to Hyuga Yu.
However,
Hyuga Yu shook his head and calmly pulled his arm free.
Hyuga Tetsu raised his head in disbelief, glaring at Hyuga Yu with a dark face.
"You... I've already yielded this much. What more do you want..."
As he spoke, panic rose on his face again.
"I understand. I can still—"
"That's enough, Tetsu." Hyuga Yu cut him off, turning slightly to let him see behind him.
At that moment,
a wooden door marked 205 opened in the second-floor corridor of the apartment building.
A young girl stood smiling in the doorway. She wore a white spaghetti-strap dress, her long hair tied back. Her skin was so fair and tender that it seemed to glow, and beneath the corridor's incandescent lights, she looked like a delicate porcelain doll.
Yet like a virtuous wife, she tilted her head toward them, wearing a gentle smile no one could find fault with.
It was Hyuga Natsu.
"Natsu..." Seeing the girl, every word in Hyuga Tetsu's throat caught. In the end, he could only raise his head helplessly and look pleadingly at Hyuga Yu, who wore an amused expression.
As though begging Yu to accept his conditions,
as though he would sell his soul to the devil merely for a proper reason to stand before the girl.
But Hyuga Yu was not the devil.
He looked at Hyuga Tetsu calmly, so calmly that he almost seemed indifferent. A dark, indescribable gleam gradually flickered in his eyes.
Then,
he suddenly asked,
"Tetsu, is Team Nine's transfer order for tomorrow?"
"Yes. That's why, when I heard about this, I immediately came to find—" Hyuga Tetsu nodded instinctively, but halfway through, his expression turned awkward. He raised a hand and hastily tried to explain.
"No, don't misunderstand. What I mean is..."
Hyuga Yu frowned slightly, thinking for a moment before asking again, "Is the destination Grass Wave Coast?"
Grass Wave Coast,
was located on the eastern side of the Land of Fire and connected to the Land of Waves. At this time of year, it was one of the main routes to the eastern coastal front of the Land of Fire.
Hyuga Tetsu froze in place, his expression seeming to say, How did you know? Yet he forcibly swallowed the words before they could leave his mouth.
Ninja missions were subject to confidentiality rules, especially during wartime. Although Tetsu's mission was not the most critical part of the operation, it was still extremely important.
He could not tell Hyuga Yu.
But from the change in Hyuga Tetsu's expression, Yu had already guessed the answer.
Team Nine, where Tetsu served, was led by a Hyuga Clan Jonin. They had only returned to the village from the Land of Rain battlefield half a month ago, and by convention, they should have rested in the village for a month.
Yet when Yu passed the training grounds, he had seen Team Nine's members replenishing their ninja tools. They had clearly received an urgent mission to leave at short notice, and there were not many missions at present that required Hyuga Clan members to head out specially.
From this, he inferred that
the Main House young master, Hyuga Genko, would likely leave the village for the Kirigakure battlefield tomorrow.
Seeing Hyuga Yu suddenly fall silent and lose himself in thought, Hyuga Tetsu gritted his teeth and spoke forcefully again.
"Anyway, I don't have much time to discuss this with you. Hyuga Yu, you have to come with me to Elder Chōkō right now."
"Tetsu."
Tetsu's impatient voice brought Hyuga Yu back to himself. His expression shifted slightly, as though he had made some decision, and he interrupted with unusual calmness.
"What?"
"I won't give Natsu to you."
Hyuga Tetsu's eyes widened abruptly. "You... what are you talking about?"
"I'll become a Chunin, a Jonin, an elite Jonin."
"And then,"
"become Hokage."
Hyuga Yu suddenly spoke with certainty, calmness, even indifference.
"You're right. I'm going to see this absurd ninja dream of mine—"
"through until I die."
Hearing such a completely irrelevant response,
and seeing Hyuga Yu so calm and serious,
Hyuga Tetsu suddenly felt his mouth go dry.
Yet strangely, he also felt a faint relief, as if he had been granted a pardon.
"You... you really are..."
"Crazy."
Before you continue