Hyuga Branch House "Caged Bird"

Under the guidance of Hiashi, Kamizuki spent his first day learning how to refine chakra, and it took him less than two hours to successfully extract his first trace of it.

As the older sister, Hinata was much slower than her younger brother Kamizuki; it took her two full days to successfully refine her first trace of chakra.

However, Hinata had still managed to refine chakra within the timeframe Hiashi expected, and she did not let him down.

One must know that Hatake Kakashi, the number one genius of Konoha in his time, had also spent nearly ten hours before successfully refining chakra.

Looking at Kamizuki's speed, if one were to look across the entire Konoha Village—no, across the entire Ninja World—there was truly no one who could compare to him.

Today is January 1st, the first day of the New Year. Every New Year's Day, whether they are from the Main House or the Branch House, the members of the Hyuga Clan gather at the clan grounds to celebrate.

The Hyuga Clan is divided into: the Hyuga Main House and the Hyuga Branch House.

Main House: The true heirs of the Hyuga Clan, bearing the heavy responsibility of protecting and carrying forward the clan.

Branch House: The guardians of the Hyuga Main House, whose duty is to protect the Main House.

There can only be one heir to the Main House. If there are multiple descendants in the same generation of the Main House, only the most outstanding one is chosen to inherit it, while the others become the Branch House. (In the future, either Hinata or Kamizuki will become a member of the Branch House.)

In other words, there is only one person per generation in the Main House, and by this logic, even after thousands of years, the Hyuga Clan has only one Main House. The Branch House, meanwhile, remains the eternal guardian of the Main House.

Led by the current clan head, Hyuga Hiashi, the members of the Hyuga Clan participated in the grand ceremony to pay respects to their ancestors.

Afterward, Hiashi took Hinata and Kamizuki to visit the seats of the clan elders to offer their New Year's greetings one by one.

As the current head of the Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Hiashi placed great importance on these rituals.

Not long after Hiashi returned to his seat as the head of the family, Hizashi Hyuga—who had escaped death due to the butterfly effect caused by Kamizuki—brought his five-year-old son, Hyuga Neji, to offer New Year's greetings to Hiashi. (Of course, only Hyuga Kamizuki knew that it was because of his own appearance that Hizashi Hyuga had been spared.)

This was the first time Hinata and Kamizuki had seen this cousin, not counting their infancy.

At this moment, Hyuga Neji looked like a little boy, much like he did in the anime. At five years old, he was about the same height as the four-year-old Kamizuki. He wore a white kimono, his hair draped casually over his shoulders, and his forehead was already marked with the "Caged Bird" curse seal that all members of the Hyuga Branch House bore. When he saw Hinata and Kamizuki, he offered a slight bow, but his face still held that same rebellious attitude seen in the anime.

The "Caged Bird" curse seal consists of a blue cross mark on the forehead of a Hyuga Branch House member, accompanied by two swirling patterns pointing in opposite directions. It is a seal cast by the Hyuga Main House to restrict the abilities of the Byakugan, and it only disappears upon the bearer's death.

At the same time, it has the effect of allowing the Hyuga Main House to destroy the brain tissue of the person bearing the seal at will. It is a curse seal unique to the Hyuga Main House.

In fact, when Kamizuki watched the anime in his past life on Earth, he felt that the "Caged Bird" seal was truly redundant. This technique not only restricted the Branch House's application of the Byakugan but also hindered the development of the Hyuga Clan as a whole.

What Kamizuki did not know was that in Hyuga Hiashi's heart, he felt the same way; that was why, up to this point, Hiashi had not announced which of them, he or Hinata, would inherit the Main House.

The Hyuga Clan's New Year celebrations and ancestral rites lasted an entire day before concluding. Only after Hiashi's final announcement did the clan members disperse to return to their respective homes.

After the New Year, the new semester of the Konoha Ninja Academy was about to begin.

Konoha Ninja Academy: The place where all ninja training begins. After completing basic training at the academy, ninjas are assigned to different squads to train under their own teachers and accept missions suited to their respective levels.

It was founded by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. During that era of war, establishing a school was a top priority to ensure the stability and efficiency of combat capability and education.

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, inherited the operation of the academy as the third leader. He placed special emphasis on cultivating talent and devoted his full efforts toward that goal.

Kamizuki's plan for this year was for both himself and Hinata to enter the Ninja Academy.

Since the start of the year, he had repeatedly begged Hiashi to let him attend the academy, but Hiashi had rejected his wish on the grounds that he was too young.

In the end, Kamizuki had no choice but to use his trump card: he asked his mother, Hyuga Huayan, for help. Under the influence of her pillow talk, Hiashi finally agreed.

However, Hiashi only agreed to let Kamizuki attend school; he did not agree to let Hinata go.

Hiashi's reasoning was that, given Kamizuki's aptitude and talent, he barely met the standards of the Ninja Academy, while Hinata's aptitude and talent were still quite a distance away from the enrollment requirements.

Of course, this was just an excuse Hiashi had made up. With the diligent training Kamizuki and Hinata had undergone during this period, their progress had been significant.

Especially Kamizuki's progress—his chakra levels had already reached the standard of a genin, and he could now perform the "Eight Trigrams Twenty-Four Palms" of the Gentle Fist. It was no exaggeration to say that Kamizuki's current strength was already at the genin level.

As for Hinata's strength, it could only be said that she was slightly stronger than she was in the original work.

When Hyuga Huayan broke the news to them, Kamizuki was overjoyed; he could finally go to the Ninja Academy this year.

Little Hinata, standing beside Kamizuki, looked somewhat dejected. She felt very disappointed that she couldn't go to school with her younger brother.

The next day, Hinata still felt very uncomfortable, so she decided to go out for a walk by herself.

Hyuga Hinata walked aimlessly through the streets of Konoha Village, wearing an expression that clearly said, "This young lady is very unhappy."

She didn't know how long she had been walking, but the path became increasingly remote and deserted. Finally, she arrived at a small, completely empty alleyway. Just as she turned a corner, three hooligan-like brats suddenly jumped out from behind her, blocking her path.

Judging by their appearance, these three brats were only a little older than Hinata, likely around six or seven years old.

They surrounded Hinata with wicked grins on their faces. Little Hinata had never encountered such a situation before; she was so frightened that she was stunned, forgetting to resist for a moment.