Deceiving Women Is Something I Can't Do (Serious Face)

It was noon.

Hyuga Yunchuan walked back from Konoha Hospital to the Hyuga Clan Grounds, lowering his head to glance at the bandaged palm of his hand.

With this body's increasingly powerful regenerative ability, the injury on his hand had actually healed completely on the way to the hospital.

He had merely cut another wound into his palm to avoid drawing unnecessary attention.

Even so, the hospital's medical ninja had remarked that such strong regenerative ability was rare.

Of course, Hyuga Yunchuan had other reasons for doing this as well.

"..."

As he pondered, Hyuga Yunchuan arrived outside a training ground. Looking up, he saw the figure respectfully surrounded by several people.

Hyuga Aoi, the daughter of one of the Hyuga Clan's Main Branch Elders.

Her long black hair seemed to flow beneath the sunlight. The healthy rose-colored cheeks of the sixteen-year-old girl still retained a touch of baby fat, yet her pale eyes were as sharp as blades tempered in ice.

"Get lost!"

She ruthlessly kicked aside the Branch Family member kneeling before her. The man merely suppressed his pain with a muffled groan, not daring to show—or even feel—the slightest dissatisfaction.

"Trash."

Hyuga Aoi shot him a disgusted look, then swept her gaze across the other Branch Family members. Her tone was irritated. "You're all trash! Not one of you dares to fight back. Father actually sent useless trash like you to protect me?"

The surrounding Branch Family members kept their heads lowered, their attitudes respectful and humble. None dared to argue or overstep their bounds.

That Main Branch Elder had only this one daughter, and his pampering since childhood had made her domineering, spoiled, and willful.

If that were all, it would not have meant much. Many Main Branch children were like that.

Unfortunately, she was aggressive, competitive, and always wanted to leave the village and kill enemies on the battlefield.

This time, her father had once again refused her request to leave the village. In her foul mood, she took it out on these Branch Family members, insisting that they use their full strength to spar with her.

Leaving aside whether they might accidentally injure her while sparring at full strength, any act of overstepping would now bring the torment of the Curse Mark.

Forget a few painless insults and beatings. So long as they did not have to endure that agony from the depths of their souls, worse than death itself, they would even kneel and bark like dogs if Hyuga Aoi wished it.

"Wait." As though she had noticed something, Hyuga Aoi frowned and questioned, "Is someone missing?"

At those words, several Branch Family members slightly raised their heads. Their gazes met briefly, and they all knew who was absent.

"Lady Aoi."

After a moment of silence, the Hyuga clansman who had stopped Hyuga Yunchuan during morning duty spoke first, respectfully saying, "It was—"

"Lady Aoi, I'm here."

Before he could finish, a familiar voice rang out. His body trembled involuntarily, and his bruised abdomen began to ache faintly again.

Hyuga Aoi frowned and turned her head, seeing Hyuga Yunchuan approaching. She said coldly, "So you're the one missing. It's you, trash."

Hyuga Yunchuan ignored Hyuga Aoi's mockery. He merely raised his bandaged hand and lowered his head slightly. "My apologies, Lady Aoi. My hand is injured, so today I may be unable to—"

Buzz!

A shrieking rush of air suddenly reached his ears. He instinctively tilted his head aside, and a fist grazed past his earlobe. The force of the punch sent his black hair, tied behind his head, flying.

Hyuga Yunchuan calmly raised his lowered eyes and met a pair of utterly emotionless pale eyes.

"Less nonsense." Hyuga Aoi's tone was cold. "Let me see whether trash like you has improved."

As her words fell, Hyuga Aoi withdrew her fist, turning it into a palm strike aimed at Hyuga Yunchuan's chest.

Yet in the next moment, the figure before her drifted backward with a gait that was almost floating, evading the palm strike like a fallen leaf blown by the wind.

A flash of surprise crossed Hyuga Aoi's eyes. Savage veins bulged around her eye sockets as she assumed the true opening stance of the Gentle Fist.

In the next instant, her right hand became an afterimage. With three fingers held together, she struck toward Yunchuan's left shoulder.

"..." Seeing this, Hyuga Yunchuan sighed inwardly. What a hassle.

Although he did not want to stand out so soon, it was equally impossible for him to obediently kneel down and act like a dog.

After all, he had endured for three years before gaining this chance to change his fate. If he kept kneeling like a dog now, would those three years of endurance not have been for nothing?

So, did he want to stand tall, or did he want to make money?

I want to stand tall and still make money.

In that case.

Hyuga Yunchuan slowly closed his eyes.

Sure enough, he entered that state of total concentration once more. Aside from his mental perception, his sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch were all sealed off.

Bang!

His body suddenly spun and bent backward. Hyuga Aoi's fingertips swept past the tip of his nose, leaving a palm print an inch deep in the wooden post behind him. Splinters drifted down onto his eyelashes, carrying the bitter scent of pine resin.

Hyuga Aoi's fists and palms followed one after another, her movements swift. Yet in Hyuga Yunchuan's perception, they were incomparably slow.

The blood boiling within his body surged like a tide, and the scorching sensation was like lava, allowing his body to keep pace with the speed of his thoughts.

He was like the only thing moving at normal speed in a slow-motion film, freely wandering through a time stream stretched to absurd lengths.

"What's going on?"

Watching every one of her attacks get evaded by Hyuga Yunchuan with his eyes closed, Hyuga Aoi's pupils contracted. Her expression grew excited, but the movements of her hands gradually became impatient.

Hyuga Yunchuan could "see" that beneath her seemingly fierce offensive, she exposed an opening beneath her ribs every time she turned.

In the next second, seizing the gap in her mistake, Hyuga Yunchuan's raised palm curved deftly from before his chest like a fish. He caught Hyuga Aoi's wrist, while his other arm locked against hers, twisting with force along the tendons and bones...

Crack! Crack!

In that brief instant, Hyuga Aoi's arm made two sounds.

One was a dislocated joint. The other was it being set back into place.

The motions were practiced and fluid, not even giving her the chance to cry out in pain. Only a fleeting stab of agony remained.

Before she could recover from her shock, Hyuga Yunchuan moved again.

His body seemed to tremble with an amplitude too slight for the naked eye to see. A clear, penetrating force instantly traveled from his spine through his muscles and into his arm, which he swung like a whip toward Hyuga Aoi at his side.

Bang!

It sounded like a tough bamboo stalk bent to its limit, then suddenly released and cracking through the air. A thin mist like white gauze could even be seen bursting in midair.

The blow smashed into Hyuga Aoi's arm raised before her, making her stagger backward several steps uncontrollably as though struck by a hammer. She was about to fall to the ground in a most undignified heap...

If she looked too pathetic, it would be hard to deal with.

Hyuga Yunchuan sighed, reached out to seize Hyuga Aoi by the collar, and gave her a forceful, utterly ungentlemanly tug.

"You've had enough fun, haven't you, Lady Aoi?"

Hyuga Yunchuan opened his eyes and looked at Hyuga Aoi's trembling gaze. A trace of sharpness colored his voice as he lowered it and said, "If you truly wish to go to the battlefield, then at the very least, you should understand..."

"On this land soaked in blood, within this cruel clan, the reason you are alive is because many lives made sacrifices."

"Those who live must be worthy of those sacrifices."

"Unfortunately, in my eyes, you are not worthy yet."

With that, he raised his head, released Hyuga Aoi's hand, and pushed her away.

Ignoring the astonished, fearful, and shocked gazes around him, Hyuga Yunchuan gave Hyuga Aoi a slight bow before turning to leave.

With his back to Hyuga Aoi's gaze, Hyuga Yunchuan's expression remained calm as he walked away at an unhurried pace.

But the moment he stepped out of the training ground, the notification he had been waiting for sounded in his mind.

[ Ding! ]

[Your lie has been judged as [False Affection] [Attracting Butterflies and Bees]. Hyuga Aoi has experienced intense emotional fluctuations, reaching the level of [Self-Doubt]. You have obtained 300 Reality Points...]

"...Tsk, that's slander."

The smile on Hyuga Yunchuan's face immediately vanished. He said softly, "Deceiving women is something I can't do."

After the joke, he caught sight of a familiar figure from the corner of his eye. A young face filled with resentment emerged running from another residence.

That was... Hyuga Neji.

"Oh, look." Hyuga Yunchuan narrowed his eyes and smiled. "My protagonist has appeared."