The next morning.
After breakfast, Xingzhuo spent the entire time making slips of paper inscribed with sealing techniques.
Yun Fei helped him exchange for enough paper to fill half a room from the elder in charge of the clan's supplies. Afterward, he went to practice the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms that Young Master had taught him.
It was rather strange.
Yun Fei could use ordinary paper to hold sealing techniques.
And the sealing slips he made were just as good as the Sealing Scrolls sold on the market.
So Yun Fei had only needed one stack of sealing slips to trade for a roomful of ordinary paper.
Elder Qiyan, who managed the clan's supplies, had even come by in person, hoping to buy Xingzhuo's sealing slips at the family price of one hundred ryō apiece. He wanted an initial order of two thousand, to distribute to clan members who didn't have Sealing Scrolls.
Xingzhuo didn't need to ask anyone. He knew that if the slips were tested over a long period and proved just as reliable and stable as Sealing Scrolls—
They could sell for at least ten thousand ryō apiece.
But they hadn't been tested over time, and Elder Qiyan genuinely intended to distribute them to every clan member without a Sealing Scroll.
It was the kind of deal that benefited the clan and made him money, too.
Xingzhuo agreed without hesitation.
Living at home was one thing, but without a Sealing Scroll, traveling outside meant switching from living to surviving.
Xingzhuo didn't want to waste Yun Fei's time.
In his eyes, Yun Fei was a genius no less talented than Hyuga Neji. He was even more resilient, and thanks to Xingzhuo's presence, he had none of that deep-seated bitterness.
So after reaching an agreement with Elder Qiyan, Xingzhuo had him send people over to cut the paper into slips.
Leaving the cutting time aside, Xingzhuo could make one sealing slip every two seconds at full speed.
The small amount of chakra he used was replenished with each breath. He didn't even need to rest.
It was nearly noon.
Yun Fei was training in the backyard.
Five ordinary Hyuga Clan members without Byakugan were cutting paper in a room.
Xingzhuo glanced at the two slender figures who had been waiting outside for a long time, then finally stopped working.
He looked up at the clock on the wall. Two hours had passed, and he had made at least three thousand sealing slips.
He hastily set aside more than two thousand of them.
He didn't tell the people cutting the slips to stop.
After rubbing his slightly numb wrists, he headed outside.
The two women waiting out there were Branch Family members he had asked Elder Xiao for the day before.
It was rather ridiculous.
The tiny Hyuga Clan had somehow divided itself into ranks and classes.
The highest rank, of course, was the Main Family line of the clan head.
Next came the Main Family line of the elders.
Normally, there were only two people in each of those lines: the one in charge and the heir.
The clan head's line currently had three Main Family members. That was because Hyuga Tianren had used his authority to delay the decision on who would inherit the position.
Below those two Main Family lines was the entire Branch Family.
Some Branch Family members were children born from marriages within the clan. The rest had all once been among the Main Family's heirs.
Under this cruel system, Branch Family members rarely married within the clan, while the Main Family elders were also reluctant to have many children.
Of course, there was one exception: clan members born unable to awaken the Byakugan.
They were born with ordinary black or brown eyes.
There was no need to place the Caged Bird Seal on them to protect the Byakugan.
As a result, they had become the largest group in the Hyuga Clan—and, correspondingly, the lowest in status.
The two people waiting at Xingzhuo's door were Branch Family members.
The people cutting paper in the room nearby were ordinary Hyuga Clan members.
As soon as he reached the door, he saw the two waiting there.
They noticed his arrival at once.
The woman and the girl immediately knelt and bowed.
"Greetings, Lord Xingzhuo!" *2
Xingzhuo waved for them to get up. "We don't do kneeling here. Come inside and talk."
He led the way in.
When he passed the room where the paper was being cut, Xingzhuo stopped and told the workers to go eat first, rest for two hours at noon, then come back to help with the cutting.
To be honest.
He wanted to keep them here and have them cut paper for him from then on.
He just hadn't figured out how to keep them yet.
No—how to persuade them to stay.
He brought the two women into the reception room. After some effort, he got them used to the chairs and settled them into their seats. Only then could he take a good look at them.
They were two women with somewhat similar features.
To be honest, even among the Hyuga Clan, whose members tended to look alike because of their Byakugan, these two looked remarkably similar.
He couldn't tell which one was Hyuga Shiin and which was Hyuga Ren.
One looked gentle, around thirty years old; the other seemed young and green, perhaps sixteen or seventeen.
Both wore faded cloth clothes, and their hands were covered in calluses.
The younger one had her hair in a shrine maiden's style and used straight bangs to hide the Caged Bird Seal.
The older woman wore her hair loose and casually tied the ends together behind her back.
Neither wore a Konoha Forehead Protector. It seemed neither had joined the village's shinobi system; they were clan shinobi.
Judging by the calluses on their hands, they were seasoned Gentle Fist practitioners.
Neither of them was likely to be weak.
He just didn't know what their personalities were like, or whether they could become his people.
As he thought this, he used System Inspection on the two women.
After a quick glance, he learned that the older woman was Ziyin, while the younger one was Lian.
Their chakra levels were just as he'd expected: Zi had the reserves of a seasoned Chunin, a full 4,500 points.
Lian had 1,900 points, putting her at the upper end of Genin, close to Chunin.
Both knew only the basic Three Body Technique and Gentle Fist. They knew no other taijutsu or ninjutsu.
While Xingzhuo watched and considered them,
the reception room was frighteningly quiet. After the paper cutters left, even the rustling sounds disappeared, making the two women who had waited all morning increasingly uneasy.
Meanwhile, Xingzhuo unconsciously tapped his knuckles against the table.
"Tap... tap... tap..."
The sound seemed unbearably grating.
The women's throats tightened, and cold sweat broke out.
Only when Xingzhuo saw their clothes beginning to grow damp did he realize he had been silent for too long. He spoke up:
"I asked for you because I need people to work for me. I don't expect my subordinates to be especially strong or loyal. I only ask that they not betray me easily."
"In return, I'll treat them with respect and pay them fairly. I won't betray them easily, either."
"Unless something unexpected happens, you'll be working for me from now on. So first, introduce yourselves. Tell me your names, ages, what you're good at, and what you like and dislike. Tell me as much as you can."
That was what he said.
Then, as if he'd just remembered something, he called out loudly, "Cousin, come here for a moment."
He explained, "Since this is our first meeting, it's best if we all get to know one another at once."
The two women stood up nervously and nodded repeatedly to show that they agreed.
Before you continue