Chance Encounter

Hyuga Shinichi returned to his dim room, lay on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. He reached up to touch his eyes, and as his mood relaxed, he felt his eyelids beginning to flutter.

Perhaps due to eye strain, his sleep that night was exceptionally deep and peaceful.

Outside the room, guards remained on duty, their numbers even greater than before; some who were originally off-duty had joined the ranks.

Although the Council of Elders had warned that the conversation must remain confidential, paper cannot wrap fire. The words Hyuga Shinichi had spoken were like a spark, igniting hearts that had once been forced into helpless resignation.

Hyuga Nimitsu, seeing this scene through the window, smiled and remarked.

"It seems a wind of change is about to blow through the entire Hyuga clan. How much longer must we wait? It's truly something to look forward to. Oh well, time to sleep. Goodnight."

In another room, Hyuga Nikku also gazed toward Hyuga Shinichi's room, staring at his own "Kyōka Suigetsu," his usually cold face maintaining a constant smile.

If it's you... perhaps... it really could...

Early the next morning, after requesting a day off from the academy, Hyuga Shinichi began his training, though he moved the location to an open space atop the Hokage Rock.

As for how he got up there, he naturally focused his chakra into his limbs and climbed up slowly, resting for a while on the stairs whenever he couldn't climb any further.

After the Byakugan erupted last night, it felt as if his meridians had been cleared; problems that had previously stumped Hyuga Shinichi were now becoming easier to solve, just like his ability to reasonably distribute chakra to climb the earthen wall.

This nearly caused the three guards sent by the clan to secretly protect Hyuga Shinichi to jump out and intervene.

Hyuga Shinichi felt the flow of chakra within his body and immediately picked up a tree branch.

"Wind-Style Sword Art: Wind Flow Coverage!"

The Wind Flow Coverage, which he previously couldn't maintain for long, now easily enveloped the branch and held steady.

He thought that if he were to use a sword made of chakra metal, it would surely be even easier, as natural as breathing. Without further thought, he struck while the iron was hot and continued his original training.

Time passed slowly under Hyuga Shinichi's training until the afternoon, with a lunch break spent eating rice balls and water he had bought on the way.

The sky was replaced by golden hues. Hyuga Shinichi, drenched in sweat, sat on the First Hokage's head, watching the clouds burn like flames. The sunset bathed Konoha in a crimson glow, and he pondered many things.

There were matters of the clan, and matters of the Byakugan.

Since last night, the Byakugan's pressure had not manifested even once. Where had it gone wrong?

Recalling that moment, he remembered being very angry. The chakra in his body had begun to riot along with his mood, and when it reached a certain point, it erupted in tandem with the activation of his Byakugan.

This reminded Hyuga Shinichi of the anime, where the First Hokage and Second Hokage, summoned by Impure World Reincarnation, displayed chakra bursts that could affect the surrounding environment, even causing minor earthquakes.

The principle behind the Byakugan's pressure should be similar: gathering chakra into the eyes and releasing it in an instant to achieve an effect on the surrounding environment.

Having the theory was useless; he tried several times in succession, but only managed to activate the Byakugan normally.

Could I be looking in the wrong direction? This made Hyuga Shinichi recall the settings from another anime in his past life: Conqueror's Haki.

Conqueror's Haki was more akin to spiritual energy, and the chakra in the Naruto world was a product synthesized from spiritual energy and physical energy.

"I have a new line of thought, but it seems to be making the problem more and more complicated."

How could he make spiritual energy act upon the Byakugan and then erupt like Conqueror's Haki? His mind was a mess, and he couldn't figure out where to start.

At that moment, an Anbu ninja suddenly appeared behind Hyuga Shinichi, and the three Hyuga guards no longer hid, instantly surrounding the Anbu.

The Anbu was not panicked by this and spoke up.

"Uzumaki Mito invites you down for a talk. Can you come with me?"

Hearing the Anbu, Hyuga Shinichi looked down at the base of the Hokage Rock and saw Uzumaki Mito sitting on the rooftop of a tower, looking at him with a kind smile.

Seeing that Hyuga Shinichi had spotted her, she waved at him.

"It's fine. You've all worked hard today."

Hyuga Shinichi first thanked the three Hyuga guards. In truth, he had spotted them with his Byakugan the moment he left the clan grounds, but they wouldn't show themselves even when he called out.

When he went to find them, they played hide-and-seek, jumping to distant positions and always maintaining a distance where they could protect him at a moment's notice.

The three Hyuga guards said nothing; they glanced at the Anbu ninja and jumped away again. Hyuga Shinichi didn't need to activate his Byakugan to know they were still hiding nearby.

"Um, could you please take me down?"

Hyuga Shinichi looked at the Anbu ninja and said. After training all day, his chakra reserves were depleted from attempting the Byakugan pressure, so he had no choice but to ask him to carry him down.

The Anbu ninja nodded, grabbed Hyuga Shinichi, and jumped off the Hokage Rock.

After bringing Hyuga Shinichi to the tower rooftop, the Anbu ninja jumped away to conceal himself.

"Mito, what a coincidence that you're here too."

"Mm, I just wanted to come and see Hashirama. I didn't expect to see you up there. Looking at you just now, were you thinking about something?"

"Yes, Mito. I was thinking about matters within the clan."

Hyuga Shinichi was indeed thinking about the clan. His current intense training was driven more by an urgency to change the status quo of the clan.

He had nothing to hide from Uzumaki Mito, so he told her everything that had happened in the clan yesterday.

"Oh? So you feel the Hyuga clan is too conservative and that the clan system is not very reasonable?"

"Yes. No one should have their fate decided from birth. Life should have many choices, rather than being branded with the Caged Bird and forced to protect others for one's entire life. Furthermore, we are all of the same clan, all family; this also restricts the clan's development."

Uzumaki Mito was surprised that Hyuga Shinichi, born into the Main Branch, could hold such views. Interested, she asked:

"Then what do you intend to do?"

"I don't know. I can only think of becoming stronger—strong enough that no one can threaten my clansmen. I want to protect the Hyuga and everything I cherish myself. If I can do that, the clan won't need that kind of system anymore to ensure its survival."

At this moment, looking at the youthful and earnest face of Hyuga Shinichi, Uzumaki Mito saw the image of Senju Hashirama. She recalled how, when Senju Hashirama used to tell her that he wanted to protect everyone in the village, he had worn that exact same expression of sincerity.

In the eyes of Uzumaki Mito, the face of Hyuga Shinichi seemed to overlap with the First Hokage Rock behind him.

Uzumaki Mito collected her thoughts, then posed a difficult question to test Hyuga Shinichi.

"Then let me ask you: can you truly protect everyone? Even if the day comes when you have the strength to protect what you cherish, there will come a day when you are no longer there. People will still have to go out on missions. What will you do then?"

"I..."

Seeing that Hyuga Shinichi could not answer, Uzumaki Mito did not press the topic. Instead, she stood up, turned to look toward Konoha, and narrowed her eyes as she asked, "Shinichi, how do you view the village?"

The evening breeze stirred the withered, long hair of Uzumaki Mito, which had lost its vibrant red hue due to her advanced age.

Hyuga Shinichi walked to the side of Mito and tilted his head to look at this elder who had witnessed everything from the founding of Konoha to the present day, the sunset casting its glow upon a face etched with the marks of time.