A Leisurely Stroll

"Young master, I don't have any particular preferences. As long as it's food, I'm happy."

Hyuga Yunfei replied earnestly.

But Hyuga Hoshishaku wasn't buying it. Without even turning around, he said:

"That won't do. Good food is a brief, beautiful salvation from a bitter life. If you don't have any favorites, I'll take you around to try a few places. We're bound to find the salvation that's right for you."

Yunfei pressed his lips together at that, looking a little dazed, but he quickly came around.

He nodded again. "Yes."

Only his tone had changed subtly from before.

Hoshishaku glanced back at Yunfei as if by chance.

He soon realized that his cousin seemed different from the way he had been that morning at the training grounds.

Back then, his eyes had revealed panic, unease, and numbness.

Now, though, they held a little more life.

Or rather, there was a light in them.

At the thought, Hoshishaku nodded to himself.

He knew how to handle his clan. He had plenty of reasons for both teaching Yueye a lesson and deliberately treating his cousin a little better.

There was no need to mention Yueye; that was simple rivalry.

But there were several reasons for how he treated his cousin.

Besides feeling sorry for him and empathizing with what he had gone through,

there was another important factor: building a bond.

After all, this was the world of Naruto.

It wasn't the world he had once known, where money ruled and everyone was consumed by greed.

Here, there were not only daimyō and clans, but also all kinds of outdated systems and backward ideas.

In this world, if you cared about someone and formed a bond with them, they generally wouldn't harbor ill intentions toward you.

Looking back over the history of Naruto, perhaps Uchiha Obito was the only one who directly or indirectly killed the Fourth Hokage and his wife, despite all the kindness they had shown him.

His betrayal was tangled up in schemes, love, and hatred, and he even had his own theory of a "peaceful world of dreams."

A betrayal like that would be nearly impossible to repeat.

So, setting aside that special case,

the general sentiment in this world was actually decent in some ways.

And if one added a further condition to this reasoning—

if someone in a higher position showed care for someone beneath them, the other person would generally be willing to risk their life for them and would have serious qualms about turning against them.

Although Hoshishaku didn't need his cousin to risk his life for him,

as he pursued his goal of bringing the Hyuga clan under his control,

he would need to cultivate loyal followers.

The Hyuga Clan Grounds were in a bustling part of Konoha.

All the neighboring areas were occupied by important village buildings and clan compounds.

Hoshishaku had always wanted to complain that Konoha was absurdly huge in real life.

Apart from Kage Rock to the north, every other direction was filled with buildings as far as the eye could see.

That was why, whenever he went out to complete exploration missions, he had never dared to venture far, and had only wandered around nearby.

Now he had his cousin as a bodyguard, and his physical abilities had improved considerably in every way after drawing from the gacha.

So, as soon as they left the clan grounds, Hoshishaku headed toward places he had never visited before.

Today, he was determined to have a proper look around Konoha.

Just then, Hyuga Yunfei asked in a low voice, "Young master Xingzhuo, should I conceal myself and follow you?"

Hoshishaku turned back, curious. "Huh? Why would you hide?"

"If I stay by your side, I might spoil your enjoyment. Young master Yueye gave me that instruction before."

Hoshishaku's expression turned a little strange, but he still refused. "That's a ridiculous order. Forget everything he's ever told you. Just follow me like this from now on."

He turned back and added, "Going shopping alone isn't any fun."

And so the two figures, one tall and one short, walked one behind the other from the Hyuga Clan Grounds, weaving through Konoha's streets and alleys.

In less than three hours, they had eaten their way down an entire street.

Hoshishaku didn't rub his belly and head back toward the clan grounds until the sun had set.

"There wasn't anything truly extraordinary, but the fried skewers and the dango were really good."

He said it with a sigh.

He was also pleased that he had completed two of his daily missions.

One was the exploration mission, which required him to spend an hour exploring outside.

The other was the stamina-restoration mission, which involved buying food and eating out.

The only mission left was the duel task, where he had to defeat three people. He still needed to beat two more.

Hoshishaku planned to spar with Yunfei after they got back to the clan grounds, then find another member of the Branch Family somehow.

Ideally, he'd get Yunfei to find someone who had bullied him.

That way, he could complete the mission and win someone's loyalty. Perfect!

Yunfei, who had been following his young master and eating all along, was grinning foolishly now.

He no longer looked troubled at all.

"By the way, where did you live before?" Hoshishaku asked.

"Young master, I lived in a room in the Branch Family compound."

"You lived alone, right?"

"Yes."

Hoshishaku rubbed his chin. "Then move into my courtyard when we get back. I have plenty of empty rooms, and the back courtyard is spacious enough for training."

"Huh?"

"What do you mean, 'huh'? It's settled. As my bodyguard, shouldn't you live closer to me?"

"Yes, young master."

There were plenty of reasons for making this decision.

But the biggest reason was loneliness.

As one of the Main Family's next heirs, Hoshishaku had lost his mother when he was young and lived alone in his current courtyard.

When he was little, the older women of the Main Family had taken turns looking after him.

But once he'd grown up a little, apart from the servants who came to clean the house in shifts, he was alone in that courtyard most of the time. It was very quiet.

If he hadn't often gone to training and eaten at his father's place, Hoshishaku felt he might have gone mad from loneliness.

As he was thinking about all this, five or six children came charging out of a nearby alley, chasing and playing with one another.

They were called children, but they were about the same age as Yunfei, around ten or so.

The moment they saw Hoshishaku and Yunfei, they seemed to be startled.

They all fell to the ground and didn't dare say a word.

Just as Hoshishaku wondered if he had food stains on his face and was about to touch it,

the boy leading the group suddenly picked up a stone and threw it at his eyes.

At the same time, the boy shouted in fear and disgust, "You freak with those white eyes, get lost!"

His words seemed to give the other children an idea. They also picked up stones from the ground, ready to throw them this way.

In the blink of an eye, Yunfei stepped forward from behind Hoshishaku, ready to knock the stones out of the air.

But Hoshishaku grabbed his shoulder and gently pushed him aside.

At the same time, he reached out and neatly caught the first stone thrown at him, then hurled it right back, hitting the child on the head.

It all happened within two or three seconds.

The first "Ow!" rang out,

and the other children who had thrown stones didn't escape either.

After Hoshishaku's unrelenting retaliation, nearly all the children were clutching bumps on their heads and wailing.

Hyuga Yunfei stared at the scene, stunned.

Hoshishaku brushed the dust off his hands and spoke to the children in a somewhat nasty tone. "Tsk, what a bunch of annoying little brats. If there's a next time, I won't hesitate to slap your faces swollen and teach you a lesson."

A flash of viciousness crossed the face of the boy who had attacked first.

He suddenly grabbed a brick beside him, scrambled to his feet, and swung it at Hoshishaku without a second thought.

"You freak, just die!"