Surprise

At this moment, a person walked through the main gate of Riyue's home. "Riyue, I'm back! Did you miss your big sister Mizuki?"

"Oh? Brother Hizashi, Brother Hiashi? Why are you two here?" Mizuki walked over with her backpack, looking travel-worn as if she had just returned from a mission outside the village.

"Big Sister Mizuki." Seeing her, Riyue felt a surge of joy and waved his hand.

"Little Sister Mizuki is here. We were just about to leave." Hizashi and Hiashi nodded at Mizuki, preparing to depart.

"Riyue, why were Brother Hiashi and Brother Hizashi here?" Mizuki seemed to sense something and turned to ask Riyue.

"Let me explain it," Hizashi said, recounting the earlier events to Mizuki.

"I'm going to find Rixin and have it out with him!" After learning the full story, even the good-natured Mizuki couldn't help but flare up. She stood up, ready to go find Rixin immediately.

"Riyue has only been lying in bed for a month, and he's already back to his old tricks. What has Riyue ever done to him? Why must he torment Riyue like this? Does he want to kill him? If no one is going to handle this, I'll go to the Council of Elders! I'll go to the Clan Head! Don't think the Main Branch can do whatever they want!" Mizuki was aware of some of the friction between Riyue's branch family and certain members of the Main Branch, but she found it hard to imagine that they could be so despicable as to not even spare a four-year-old child.

"Don't get worked up, Mizuki!" Hiashi and Hizashi hurriedly held her back.

"Sister, let it go. I'm fine," Riyue also urged.

Mizuki's intentions were good, but would the Council of Elders really turn against a Main Branch elder for the sake of a four-year-old orphan from the branch family? Furthermore, since Rixin was the one who did it, his father could simply feign total ignorance. Even if they took it to the Hokage, it would only be dismissed as a squabble between children. Did the elder kill Riyue's father? Did the Main Branch elder want Riyue dead? Did Rixin harm Riyue with his father's support? Where was the proof?

Riyue had seen plenty of this in his past life. Back then, he was a doctor; no one dared to offend him, and many tried to curry favor because everyone gets sick eventually, especially when Zhao Ming was a surgeon who could save lives. He had lost count of how many red envelopes he had turned down; his first task after surgery was usually to return them, and at class reunions, he would get a headache from people taking turns to toast him. Sigh, snobbery. Even after transmigrating, it was the same. However, in the world of Naruto, strength was what mattered most.

Hiashi and Hizashi also sighed, looking quite helpless; the Hyuga clan was not under their control at the moment. Both of them detested the conflict between the Main and Branch branches and desperately wanted to resolve the tension. Unfortunately, things were not that simple.

Mizuki was eventually persuaded to stay, mostly because Riyue hadn't been injured this time. However, all three warned Riyue to be careful. Mizuki even hoped that Riyue would go out with her whenever he left the house, though Riyue politely declined; he didn't fear Rixin's petty tricks.

After seeing Hiashi and Hizashi off, Mizuki looked at Riyue with concern. It seemed that ever since Riyue had suffered his head injury, he had changed. The kind, cheerful, and easygoing cousin was still there, but he was no longer timid, weak, or prone to crying. He had become confident and composed, like a little adult.

"Riyue," Mizuki said, looking at him.

"Yes?" Riyue was startled.

"I feel like you've become more mature and stronger," Mizuki smiled.

"Uh... Big Sister Mizuki, can you promise me something?" Riyue felt a bit guilty and hurriedly changed the subject.

"What is it?" Mizuki asked, feeling a bit strange.

"Can you teach me how to use the Byakugan and the Gentle Fist?" Riyue looked at her earnestly.

"I can, but you're still too young. Wait until you start the academy and refine your chakra..."

"Big Sister Mizuki, let's spar. I promised to give you a surprise, remember?"

Riyue smiled slightly, radiating a sense of confidence.

The next day, Mizuki and Riyue arrived at a clearing in the woods. They stood face to face, preparing to spar. Both wanted to test their current strength.

Mizuki smiled faintly, "Come on, Riyue. Attack me with the resolve to kill."

Riyue asked, "Big Sister Mizuki, aren't you going to activate your Byakugan?"

"If you can make me, a Chunin, activate my Byakugan, then you win!" Mizuki said seriously.

"Alright then, be careful, Big Sister." Riyue stepped into a lunge, raising his hands to take a stance. Mizuki stood with her hands on her hips, waiting for him to attack.

"Bring it on!"

As soon as the words left her lips, Riyue moved. He quickly threw a practice kunai straight at Mizuki, then flicked four shuriken with his other hand, followed immediately by another kunai. The kunai flew rapidly toward her. Mizuki nodded inwardly, Good aim and force.

She pulled out a kunai and "Clang!" deflected the wooden projectile. The moment she made contact, the sound of wind cutting through the air came from both sides; two shuriken spun in C-shaped arcs, flanking her. Mizuki immediately jumped backward, the two shuriken crossing in front of her. Then, two more came head-on, one high and one low. Mizuki raised her kunai to block, but just as she was about to deflect the first one, the two shuriken suddenly changed direction, flying in inverted J-shaped arcs toward her left and right.

Did he miss? As expected, throwing four shuriken at once is still too much for Riyue, Mizuki thought.

No! The next moment, she realized something was wrong. After the two shuriken cleared the path, a kunai was hidden behind them, flying straight at her. Mizuki instinctively moved to dodge, but just as her body shifted, she froze. On both her left and right sides were the "missed" inverted J-shaped shuriken.

Mizuki reacted quickly, intending to leap backward to create some distance and buy herself half a second to deflect the kunai. But the sound of wind behind her ears forced her to stop mid-jump. The two C-shaped shuriken that had crossed in front of her earlier had changed direction in mid-air, forming two S-curves that circled behind her. Their trajectories combined into a figure-eight, sealing off her retreat!

"Oh no!" Mizuki was surrounded from all sides, and in an instant, the kunai was right in front of her!

The kunai in front and the two shuriken from behind struck their targets simultaneously. Yet, Riyue didn't feel a shred of excitement, because where Mizuki had been standing, a piece of wood struck by the practice shuriken lay on the ground.

"[Body Replacement Technique]?" After throwing the last kunai, Riyue began to move, as if he had anticipated she would use the technique.

Mizuki hid behind a tree and let out a breath. "Did he calculate everything the moment he threw that first kunai? Using the first one as bait to lure me into his trap step by step. This little cousin of mine..."

A voice came from right beside her!

"Big Sister is truly a Chunin, managing to use the [Body Replacement Technique] even in that situation!"

Mizuki looked up and focused. Two Riyues were charging at her with kunai, only a few steps away.

"So fast! [Clone Technique]? Which one is the real one?" Mizuki used her kunai to block the Riyue on the right and reached out with her other hand to grab the wrist of the Riyue on the left, while simultaneously planting her right foot to sweep them both away. As soon as she made contact with the one on the right, she didn't feel the impact of a kick. "Poof!" The Riyue vanished into a puff of white smoke.

"Then it must be the one on the left!" Mizuki smiled slightly. As she kicked out with her right foot, her left hand grabbed the arm of the Riyue on the left. "Poof!" That one also turned into a puff of white smoke.

"Oh no! They're both clones, so the real one..." Mizuki instinctively activated her Byakugan to observe behind her. The moment she did, she was shocked, but her leg was already committed to the kick and couldn't be pulled back.

"Big Sister, you underestimated me!" A wooden kunai was gently pressed against Mizuki's neck. The outcome was decided!

Riyue was crouched face-down on the tree trunk he had been clinging to, hovering directly above Mizuki's head, reaching down to hold the kunai against her throat. Mizuki stared blankly at her cousin. Through her Byakugan, she could see the flow of chakra within Riyue's body, and she felt as if she didn't even recognize him anymore.

"Hehe, Big Sister, not only did you activate your Byakugan, but you also lost." Riyue smiled, put away the kunai, and flipped down to stand beside her. Mizuki remained stunned, her eyes wide as she stared intently at him.

"Uh... Sister?" Riyue felt a bit awkward. He wasn't a giant panda; there was no need to stare at him like that, right?

Mizuki snapped back to reality, realizing she had lost her composure, and asked, "Riyue, when did you manage to cultivate chakra?"

"About four months ago, I think," Riyue said, scratching his head.

Mizuki thought for a moment before asking, "Riyue, when you asked me to activate my Byakugan at the start, you were actually trying to provoke me into not using it so you could spar with me, weren't you?"

"Hehe, if you had activated your Byakugan, you would have known exactly how much chakra I had and wouldn't have been so careless. You would have easily seen through my Clone Technique," Riyue nodded.

"The shuriken were calculated from the start. You used the Clone Technique to distract me from the front and draw my attention, while you clung to the tree, snuck up on me from above, and successfully launched a sneak attack."

"Mhm. You didn't know I could climb trees, so you didn't guard against an attack from above. You also didn't know my chakra levels, so you couldn't tell how many clones I could create, leading you to assume one of the two clones was my real body. While the clones drew your attention, I was able to strike from the tree. But all of this was predicated on you not using your Byakugan," Riyue smiled.

The reason Mizuki lost was fourfold: first, she underestimated her opponent; second, she didn't know what tricks Riyue had up his sleeve; third, she didn't use her full strength; and fourth, she fell for Riyue's scheme, lost the initiative, and was quickly suppressed. It just goes to show that if used correctly, techniques really can allow the weak to overcome the strong.

"Riyue, it seems your chakra refinement, Body Replacement, Transformation, and Clone techniques, shuriken throwing, and even your chakra control are all quite impressive. Your chakra levels have even reached the level of a genin. Is this all the result of your hard work?"

"Mhm! Sister, this is the surprise I wanted to give you," Riyue said earnestly.

Mizuki gently hugged the four-year-old Riyue. "Little Riyue, to think you've become a ninja at only four years old. Our Hyuga Branch Family has produced a genius. Sister is truly happy; thank you for this surprise." Mizuki smiled, her eyes curving into crescent moons.

"Hehe, as long as you're happy, Sister. I'm going to train hard and become a ninja who can stand on his own two feet. Then, I'll be able to protect you." There wasn't a hint of falsehood in Riyue's words; Mizuki was a family member he cherished, and that had been true from the very beginning.

With Mizuki's affirmation, Riyue's heart was filled with confidence!