The Disappointed Squad

Yuzuru rested at the camp for three days, then received orders to form a new squad and take part in the mission to defend against the Land of Rivers.

The new squad was designated the "Eleventh Reconnaissance Squad" and assigned to the Land of Wind front. Its mission was passive defensive surveillance, meaning the squad would stay in the Land of Rivers and take no action across the border.

In other words, as long as the Sunagakure ninja on the other side didn't attack first, both sides could leave each other in peace.

With Iwagakure shifting its direction of attack, Konoha had adjusted its own deployments accordingly... Since Iwagakure showed greater intent to attack, Konoha naturally defended in the south and attacked in the north.

With its frontline forces stretched thin, Konoha had to prioritize when fighting on three fronts.

Once he received his new orders, Yuzuru immediately understood the nature of the mission he'd be taking part in. In a word, he was just "filling a gap."

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Sensory and reconnaissance ninja needed teammates to protect them during missions, which was why they needed someone like Yuzuru.

Still, he didn't mind. He was happy to accept a mission like this. Filling a gap in the Land of Rivers was better than fighting on the front lines in the Land of Rain.

Unfortunately, with Torifu Akimichi reassigned to Konoha, Yuzuru's original squad had been disbanded. His new teammates would be strangers whose abilities he knew nothing about.

He could only hope they wouldn't be the kind to hold him back.

And Yuzuru's guess about who would be in charge had been right. After his old squad was disbanded, either Special Jonin Kairi Omori or Chunin Hazuki Uchiha could have become the new squad leader. Only Yuzuru wouldn't be given that opportunity.

His credentials were a problem.

When the new squad began assembling, Yuzuru was the first to arrive at the meeting place. When his first teammate arrived, he froze for a moment... Hm? A member of the Hyuga Clan?

Was this squad's lineup really that impressive?

The young ninja walking toward him looked a year or two older than Yuzuru. With his long hair, white clothes, and wide sleeves, he looked very much like a member of the Hyuga Clan... Would their reconnaissance squad really have such a powerful and useful scout?

The Byakugan was a "see-through eye" that could survey the entire battlefield, making it an invaluable strategic asset. If Yuzuru remembered correctly, when Hinata Hyuga took part in the mission to pursue Sasuke with the Hawk Squad in the original story, she easily found tracks ten kilometers away... Ten kilometers certainly wasn't the limit of a high-purity Byakugan.

Even a Hyuga Branch Family ninja was a valuable reconnaissance asset.

So setting aside the unusual circumstances when Torifu Akimichi had been squad leader, could a ninja from a civilian background like Yuzuru really be assigned to a squad alongside a member of a prestigious clan?

But then Yuzuru noticed something off about the newcomer. He only looked like a Hyuga ninja. As he came closer, Yuzuru spotted the difference... Everything about the approaching ninja seemed very "Hyuga," except for the black eyes in his eye sockets.

Where was his Byakugan?

"Hello. Are you a member of the Eleventh Squad?" the other ninja asked as he walked over.

"Yes, I'm Yuzuru, a Chunin in the newly formed Eleventh Squad. Nice to meet you."

"Then we'll be teammates from now on... I'm Shinnosuke Kohinata, a Genin. I look forward to working with you." He was very friendly, and even rubbed the back of his head bashfully as he introduced himself as a Genin.

Kohinata? Yuzuru was curious. Not Hyuga? What did Kohinata mean?

"Don't worry about it. I was a Genin just a few days ago, too... The less ability you have, the less responsibility you get. We just need to do our jobs."

"Okay... Yuzuru, you're curious, aren't you? You've never heard of the Kohinata?"

"Sorry, I thought you were from the Hyuga Clan. I really have never heard of the Kohinata name."

"The Kohinata have a little connection to the Hyuga. We're a small, independent ninja clan. We used to be part of the Hyuga Clan, but our bloodline grew too diluted, so we were eventually expelled and took the name Kohinata..."

"You can tell just by looking at my eyes. Our bloodline is so diluted that we can't even awaken a Kekkei Genkai."

"Without the Byakugan, we can't be Hyuga, so we can only be Kohinata."

"Look on the bright side. We were both cast out, and since we're no longer Hyuga, there's no main family or branch family to divide us. We're not subject to the Caged Bird, either."

Hm? Why did everyone with even the slightest connection to the Hyuga seem to resent the Caged Bird? Was it really appropriate to tell someone he'd just met all this? For all he knew, Yuzuru might not even know what the Caged Bird was... He thought Shinnosuke Kohinata was a little strange.

He remained skeptical. Was there really a Kohinata Clan? Was this guy making up fan fiction? Had there ever been a ninja clan called the Kohinata in the original story?

The Hyuga Clan's Byakugan varied in purity, but didn't they all have those eyes from birth? And once they reached a certain age, Hyuga could use their Byakugan. They didn't need to go through an awakening process like the Uchiha.

In other words, the Byakugan came from Kaguya Otsutsuki. Could that bloodline really become so diluted?

Yuzuru had only read the original manga, but a clan called the Kohinata did exist in some obscure stories. Its origins were more or less as Shinnosuke described... Later, an ordinary Jonin named Mukai Kohinata used Taijutsu to beat up the Uchiha prodigy duo, Shisui and Itachi.

Having no Byakugan and not being subject to the Caged Bird sounded like a good thing, but the Kohinata Clan was treated even worse than the Hyuga Branch Family... Their bloodline was too diluted. If a child was born without the Byakugan, it meant that none of their descendants would ever have it, either.

To most people, Kohinata ninja were just civilian ninja.

Without the Byakugan, Shinnosuke Kohinata could only be a Genin. Given the Hyuga Clan's feudal ways, they had good reason to expel him.

Sometimes you had to cut off the dead weight. This was even done with the "deeper consideration" of preventing the clan's bloodline from being "contaminated."

"You don't have to rack your brains trying to comfort me. Without the Byakugan, we've been looked down on all these years. I'm used to it." Shinnosuke Kohinata seemed to have made his peace with it.

"Comfort you? Not really. I grew up in Konoha's Orphanage."

"..."

Yuzuru's meaning was simple: however bad things were for him, could they really be worse than they were for Yuzuru?

"Uh, sorry. I'm a little insensitive."

"It's fine. I just mean that neither of us needs to worry about these things."

What should have been a normal first meeting between teammates had turned into a contest over who had it worse.

"Since we're on the same squad, I'll tell you about myself first. I mainly fight with Taijutsu... but I'm not very strong, and my attacks are pretty limited," Shinnosuke Kohinata continued.

"Funny, I can pretty much only use Taijutsu, too," Yuzuru said, half-jokingly.

"Aren't you a Chunin? You should know a couple of Elemental Ninjutsu, right?"

"Unfortunately, I was promoted on the battlefield. I got the promotion because my previous squad completed a dangerous mission... Really, it was all thanks to our old squad leader."

This was bleak. The more they talked, the more it seemed that there was no one who had it worst—only someone worse off than the last.