I Can't Bring Myself to Deceive Women (Serious Face)

It was noon.

Hyuga Yunchuan walked back to the Hyuga clan grounds from Konoha Hospital, lowering his head to glance at the bandaged palm.

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

But to avoid drawing unnecessary attention, he had cut another wound into his palm.

Even so, the medical ninja at the hospital had remarked that such powerful regenerative ability was rare.

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

"..."

Lost in thought, Hyuga Yunchuan arrived outside a training ground. Looking up, he saw a figure respectfully surrounded by several people.

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

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

"Get lost!"

She mercilessly kicked aside the Branch Family member kneeling before her. The man only grunted through the pain, not daring to show—or even harbor—the slightest dissatisfaction.

"Trash."

Hyuga Aoi glared at him with disgust, then swept her gaze across the other Branch Family members. Her tone was irritated. "All of you are trash! Not one of you dares to fight back. Father actually sent useless trash like you to protect me?"

The surrounding Branch Family members lowered their heads, respectful and humble, not daring to offer any rebuttal or make the slightest transgression.

That Main Branch Elder had only this one daughter. Spoiled since childhood, she had grown arrogant, willful, and unruly.

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

But she was belligerent and fiercely competitive, always wanting 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 a foul mood, she vented her anger on these Branch Family members, insisting that they spar with her at full strength.

Not to mention whether they might accidentally hurt her while sparring at full strength, any transgression now would bring the torment of the Curse Mark.

Forget a few harmless insults and beatings. So long as they could avoid that agony from the depths of their souls, worse than death itself, they would even kneel down and bark like dogs if Hyuga Aoi wished it.

"Wait." Seemingly noticing something, Hyuga Aoi frowned and demanded, "Is someone missing?"

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

"Lady Aoi."

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

"Lady Aoi, I'm here."

Before he could finish, a familiar voice came from behind him. His body trembled involuntarily, and his bruised abdomen began to ache faintly again.

Hyuga Aoi frowned and turned, spotting Hyuga Yunchuan walking over. She said coldly, "So you're the one missing. You useless trash."

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

Buzz!

A shrieking sound tore through the air. He instinctively tilted his head aside, dodging as a fist grazed past his ear. The force of the punch lifted the black hair tied behind his head.

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

"Enough nonsense." Hyuga Aoi's tone was icy. "Let me see whether a piece of trash like you has improved at all."

As her words fell, Hyuga Aoi drew back her fist, turned it into a palm, and thrust it toward Hyuga Yunchuan's chest.

But in the next instant, the figure before her retreated with a gait that was almost floating, slipping away from the palm like a fallen leaf borne by the wind.

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

In the next moment, her right hand became an afterimage. Three fingers came together as they shot toward Yunchuan's left shoulder.

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

Though he did not want to stand out so early, there was no way he would 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 and acting like a dog now, then 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 the "money."

In that case.

Hyuga Yunchuan slowly closed his eyes.

Sure enough, he entered that state of total concentration once more. Other than his mental perception, the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch from his eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body were all sealed away.

Bang!

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

Hyuga Aoi's fists and palms followed one after another, swift in motion, yet incomparably slow in Hyuga Yunchuan's perception.

The blood boiling within him surged like a tide, its scorching heat like magma, allowing his body to keep pace with his thoughts.

He was like the only thing moving at normal speed in a slow-motion film, freely weaving through a timeline stretched to extreme length.

"What's going on?"

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

Hyuga Yunchuan could "see" that, while her attacks appeared fierce, every turn exposed an opening beneath her ribs.

In the next second, seizing the gap in her mistake, Hyuga Yunchuan's raised palm deftly curved past his chest like a fish and grabbed Hyuga Aoi's wrist. His other arm braced hers as force twisted through muscle and bone...

Crack! Crack!

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

One was a dislocation. The other was the bone being set back in place.

The movement was skillful and fluid, not even leaving her time to cry out in pain—only a momentary stab of agony.

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

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

Bang!

It sounded like a sturdy bamboo stalk bent to its breaking point, suddenly released and snapping through the air. A thin mist like white gauze burst open in the air.

The blow struck Hyuga Aoi's arm raised before her, sending her staggering back several steps as though struck by a hammer. She was just about to fall disgracefully to the ground...

If things got too embarrassing, it would be difficult to handle.

Hyuga Yunchuan sighed, raised a hand to grab Hyuga Aoi by the collar, and gave it 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 entered his voice as he lowered it. "If you truly want to go to the battlefield, then at the very least, you should understand..."

"On this land steeped in blood, within this cruel clan, you are able to live because countless lives have made sacrifices."

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

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

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

Ignoring the stunned, 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 remained calm, his footsteps steady as he walked out.

But the instant 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 [Insincere Affection] [Attracting Bees and Butterflies]. Hyuga Aoi has experienced intense emotional fluctuations, reaching the degree of [Self-Doubt]. You have obtained 300 Reality Points...]

"...Tch, that's slander."

The smile on Hyuga Yunchuan's face immediately vanished. He said quietly, "I can't bring myself to deceive women."

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

That was... Hyuga Neji.

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