The Unknowable Fire

In the days since Kamizuki Hyuga became the heir to the Hyuga Clan, Genma Shiranui had been away on a "Special S-Rank Mission" personally assigned by the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen. During his absence, his three adorable subordinates were left with no choice but to continue performing the simplest D-Rank missions.

Ah! You might ask, since they were the ones picking up the missions, why didn't they just choose something a bit more difficult?

Well, let me tell you: the reason is that without their assigned jonin sensei present, they were generally not permitted to accept any missions on their own.

Because Genma had given them a special token before he left—one specifically for this situation—they were allowed to take on a few low-level tasks so that the three little brats wouldn't be bored to death with nothing to do all day.

That was the only reason they could take on missions like D-Rank tasks.

As for the "Special S-Rank" mission Genma had gone off to execute, there was no way the three little brats could have known about it; such high-level missions were strictly classified secrets.

It took a full week before Genma Shiranui finally returned from wherever he had been carrying out his mission.

However, word had it that he had been injured during the operation, and upon his return, he needed to recuperate at home for a few days before he could continue participating in other missions.

Once Kamizuki and the others heard this, they decided to visit Genma at his home to check on his injuries.

On the morning of the second day after Genma Shiranui returned to Konoha, the three members of his team—Kamizuki and the others—gathered early at Ichiraku Ramen.

After finishing their breakfast at Ichiraku Ramen, the three of them headed to the street to buy some fruit, such as apples and bananas. Sakura Mangetsu even stopped by Ino's House to buy a bouquet of flowers, intending to carry these gifts to Genma's home to visit him.

This was Kamizuki Hyuga's first time visiting Genma Shiranui's home. Guided by Taichi Kato and Sakura Mangetsu, he arrived at the Shiranui Clan compound, located two thousand meters west of the Hokage Building.

Led by Taichi and Mangetsu, Kamizuki arrived before the gate of a courtyard.

This courtyard was situated in the very center of the entire Shiranui compound. It was a traditional Japanese-style villa, slightly larger than the surrounding houses, and the area in front of the gate was kept impeccably clean.

Since joining the Genma Team, Kamizuki had not learned much about Genma Shiranui, possessing only the most basic information.

In truth, deep down, Kamizuki felt very curious about Genma Shiranui—or rather, he was curious about the entire "Shiranui" clan.

Back in his previous life on Earth, whether he was playing Japanese games or watching Japanese anime, he would occasionally come across the surname "Shiranui."

He was very curious if this "Shiranui" clan had any connection to the "Shiranui" he had seen in those two-dimensional worlds on Earth.

On the way there, Kamizuki had already gathered some information about the Shiranui clan of this ninja world from Taichi Kato and Sakura Mangetsu.

According to Taichi and Mangetsu, Kamizuki learned that the "Shiranui" clan of this world was:

Legend had it that the "Shiranui" clan was an extremely ancient family that had existed since the time of the Sage of Six Paths.

During the initial era of war, the "Shiranui" clan was a very powerful samurai family, and all their clansmen were samurai.

After the Sage of Six Paths founded the Ninshu and taught the way of ninjutsu, ninjas gradually replaced samurai as the dominant force in the world.

The leaders of the Shiranui clan discovered this fact and, with great wisdom, chose to grow with the times. They turned to having their clansmen study ninjutsu, and eventually, after countless generations, the Shiranui clan combined their original bushido with modern ninjutsu to form a special style known as the "Shiranui Style."

Later, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha led many large and small clans to create Konoha, and the "Shiranui" clan was among those families, having made great contributions.

After Konoha was established, during the reign of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, he founded the Ninja Academy of Konoha. It was decreed that children from all clans belonging to Konoha must enter the Ninja Academy to study before they could become genin.

However, only the people of the "Shiranui" clan did not have to comply; as long as they were certified by the Shiranui clan, they could become genin directly without entering the Ninja Academy.

In other words, the people of the Shiranui clan had their own specialized ninja system and were not subject to interference from Konoha.

Kamizuki followed Taichi and Mangetsu to the main gate, where he saw a stone monument standing 1.2 meters tall, inscribed with three imposing characters: "Shiranui."

After the three of them tidied up their appearances in front of the gate, Taichi Kato slowly stepped forward and knocked on the door.

They waited less than a minute before a middle-aged man dressed in servant attire came out to open the gate for them. After a brief inquiry, the middle-aged man led the three of them into the villa.