Two Weeks Before Enrollment

The state of readiness continued for an entire day. The Anbu and the Hyuga Clan conducted a thorough search of the area around the village, questioning every person they came across. At astonishing speed, they finished checking all the villages surrounding Konoha.

In the end, they found nothing. The villages around Konoha had little traffic, and anyone could ask a villager whether a stranger had shown up. Naturally, the search progressed very quickly.

After leaving the shelter, Fuyuki didn't run around either. He chose to stay home and read the Magic Book.

It wasn't that he was afraid of Orochimaru or anything. He simply didn't feel like going out.

He was the Ancestor's favorite little darling. If he ran into an opponent he couldn't beat, all he had to do was call the Ancestor over.

His Summoning Technique training had hit a bottleneck. Just as Orochimaru had said, summoning a High-level Spirit didn't require practice or luck. What Fuyuki truly needed was chakra—more chakra than a Genin had!

Unfortunately, chakra wasn't something he could just increase at will. He would have to wait for his body to mature, or catch a Great Fox!

Neither option was any good. With his current abilities, Fuyuki couldn't manage either one.

So he could put his Summoning Technique training on hold for now. These days, Fuyuki was just like a young nobleman, wandering around with his maid and occasionally beating up some bastard. He was living quite comfortably.

"Master Fuyuki, you can't. If the Clan Head finds out, he'll punish me."

Natsumi, who was usually so poised and confident, now looked especially flustered. Her face was flushed, and she even bit her red lip unconsciously, revealing a young woman's bashfulness.

"What are you blushing for? I just asked you to bring me the Icha Icha Paradise from your room so I could take a look."

Fuyuki looked utterly baffled. It was only a fictional romance novel. Could that old wizard Jiraiya really have written anything that scandalous?

If the original story hadn't featured Icha Icha Paradise so prominently, and Kakashi reading it, Fuyuki wouldn't have had the slightest interest in Jiraiya's fictional romances. As the Hyuga heir, he was surrounded by beautiful women. He just hadn't found anyone he liked.

"All right, then!"

Natsumi's face was as red as a heated branding iron. She slowly moved away from Fuyuki, stiffly taking one step after another as she headed for her room to fetch Icha Icha Paradise. She had never expected her young master to be interested in that sort of thing.

What should I do, what should I do? What if Master Fuyuki finds out I have such an unusual hobby? Oh, how embarrassing!

I should've hidden the book instead of leaving it on the shelf!

Fuyuki didn't have to wait long. The maid returned with Icha Icha Paradise, its cover embossed with gold. It was a rare, signed collector's edition, the sort of thing that could even appreciate in value. She had asked a good friend on a mission in the Land of Water to buy it for her.

You couldn't find a collector's edition anywhere in the Land of Fire. Lord Jiraiya's books sold far too well. You could only get them in less populated countries.

"Let go. I may be young, but I've seen plenty. It's just romance." Fuyuki snatched the book from the maid's hands and opened it with a dismissive look.

As someone who'd crossed over from another world, he'd seen all sorts of strange relationships.

But when Fuyuki turned past the table of contents and saw the main text, he froze. Staring at the illustrations and descriptions in astonishment, he blurted, "Oh my god! Medical Ninjutsu can be used like that?! What the hell?!"

Hearing her young master's exclamation, Natsumi blushed and silently lowered her head, not daring to look at him.

Oh no, was this the kind of public humiliation Master Fuyuki used to put me through?

This is so embarrassing! Don't look at my book!

After taking a couple more glances, Fuyuki closed the book and handed it back to the maid. "It's too soon for me. The contents are downright terrifying. As far as I'm concerned, people shouldn't do what's described in there. At the very least, they really shouldn't!"

He'd barely read two pages, yet he could no longer look at Medical Ninjutsu—which saved countless lives—in the same way. He didn't think he could keep reading. Otherwise, he'd never be able to look at ninja the same way again.

Fuyuki couldn't believe Jiraiya had written this. If he really had, then he deserved to be beaten to death by Tsunade!

Where was the romance?

This young master's worldview had nearly been shattered!

"Understood, Master." Natsumi looked as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She took the book and tucked it into the front of her kimono, hiding it away as if nothing had happened. "Master, your Ninja Academy Entrance Exam is in two weeks. Aren't you going to start doing some recovery exercises?"

More than three months had passed since Orochimaru was killed, and the Ninja Academy's October enrollment season was approaching. Three months ago, Fuyuki had stopped attending training camp, claiming he wasn't feeling well.

In fact, Fuyuki really hadn't been feeling well. Forbidden Summoning wasn't without side effects. The magic had one particularly frustrating drawback: the creatures summoned had no physical forms, so the Summoner had to lend them their own body as a vessel.

During the process, because the summoned creature was stronger than the Summoner,

the summoned creature could affect the Summoner's will. It wasn't a serious problem, and the negative effects would fade after some time. But Kaguya Descent had also left Fuyuki with a negative buff.

That was arrogance. Once he started fighting, he couldn't control how hard he hit. An irrepressible urge welled up inside him to crush the ants who dared to provoke a "god."

That was the first issue. The second was that he wasn't suited to intense exercise right now.

He was constantly summoning a Life Spirit to nourish his body and make himself stronger.

The benefit of Yin-Yang Release was that his chakra increased. Fuyuki was now constantly working to build up his reserves.

"Heh. Do you think the entrance exam will be difficult?" Fuyuki shook his head. "It's just a lap and an obstacle course. I could get the best score with my eyes closed."

The Ninja Academy Entrance Exam was designed to test whether incoming children had chakra. As long as they did, even a six-year-old could grit their teeth and pass.

"Master, it makes no difference whether your eyes are open or closed."

Natsumi teased him. With the Byakugan, it made no difference whether his eyes were open or shut. The Byakugan could even see through flesh and blood, so a thin layer of eyelid was no obstacle. "You need to watch out for the Uchiha second son. His older brother is a genius. He completed the entrance run in thirty-two point five seconds, so his younger brother probably isn't any less talented."

"If you lose to him, the Clan Head will blow his top."

Fuyuki turned his head and propped his cheek on one hand, looking at the maid kneeling beside him. "How did you just address me?"

An experienced Chunin or Special Jonin would use an honorific without even thinking about it. The Hyuga Clan had strict rules, but it also respected the strong. Once someone became a Jonin, they could drop the honorifics when speaking to any clan member except the Clan Head.

The maid didn't need to use honorifics with him. Natsumi hadn't used them with him before, either.

It was only after the Orochimaru incident that the sixteen-year-old girl had started addressing him so formally.

"Since you're using honorifics now, I assume you acknowledge my strength. That Uchiha blockhead is nothing."

Natsumi froze. A blockhead? But Master, aren't you the second son in your family, too? Aren't you insulting yourself?

"That may be true, Master Fuyuki, but don't think you can change the subject. You haven't fought in two months. You should do some recovery training, just in case you get a cramp from exercising too hard during the exam."

"Mm. I'll do it tomorrow."

P.S. Please vote and support this chapter! It took me a long time to get the contract sorted out today, so the update was late.