A Free House

"Fencing?" Neji looked a bit confused by Takasaki's words. "Is that a type of swordsmanship?"

"Tell me in detail why you've come to apologize. Honestly, I don't feel like you owe me anything."

Having successfully scrounged a barbecue and filled his stomach, Takasaki felt it was time to talk business.

In any case, if Neji wanted to fence with him, there was no way he would agree.

Even if Neji asked him to pay for the barbecue, he wouldn't pay a cent.

At worst, he would just run away.

"It's like this. After you left the Hyuga Clan Mansion, I was sparring with Hinata and unexpectedly discovered that she could hold her own against me for three minutes..."

Neji sat on a low stool, explaining in detail.

Takasaki was a bit confused at first, but as he listened, he began to understand, and his heart relaxed slightly.

He didn't forget to scarf down a few skewers and drink a couple of beers while listening.

After the third beer went down, Takasaki roughly grasped the situation.

Simply put, Hinata's strength had progressed by leaps and bounds over the past month. When Neji and Hiashi Hyuga asked for the reason, Hinata said she had been inspired by Takasaki.

Therefore, Neji believed that Takasaki having more contact with Hinata was a good thing.

Even Neji himself had been infected by Takasaki's hard work, which was why he had come to apologize in person.

"How could I have inspired Hinata? I'm just a dead-last myself," Takasaki said with a wave of his hand and a smile, feeling much more at ease.

Actually, he was also curious about the reason for Hinata's rapid improvement, since in the original story, Hinata's strength had increased bit by bit.

Takasaki was curious, but he didn't really care.

No matter how fast Hinata's strength progressed, it couldn't possibly be faster than his; after all, not everyone had a Diary cheat.

In the future, when he married Hinata and brought her home, he would have a hundred ways to make her spill the beans under the covers.

The key point was that Neji wasn't here to challenge him to a duel, but had a legitimate reason to thank him, which was the most important thing.

As for why Hinata said she was inspired by him?

It didn't matter; he could just ask her in private later.

"Takasaki-kun, you are not a dead-last. You have already mastered the Clone Technique; the only dead-last in the class now is Naruto."

Neji said solemnly, "And I have seen your hard work with my own eyes. When I came to apologize, I saw you still practicing the Clone Technique at the window. You must have put in astonishing effort in places where none of us could see."

"Stop the flattery, or the skewers will get cold."

Takasaki felt a bit guilty from Neji's praise.

He felt that in Neji's mind, he had already established an image of someone who worked hard in secret to become strong and then stunned everyone.

In truth, if one were to talk about hard work, he had only started two days ago, since he had only obtained his system cheat a few days prior.

Then again, this feeling of having just started to work hard, only to be seen and fiercely praised and admired by a young master of the Hyuga family, was actually quite nice.

They chatted for a while.

Neji and Takasaki became familiar with each other, especially when Neji saw Takasaki accept the property deed he had brought, and the weight on his heart finally lifted.

It seemed that Takasaki had truly forgiven him.

He had essentially completed the task assigned by the clan head.

Next, he only needed to ask Takasaki how to change his fate.

For some reason, he always felt that Takasaki seemed a bit different from before, as if he were hiding some secret.

Neji was well-versed in social nuances.

He was already a ninja who had graduated from the Ninja Academy, and since he couldn't drink alcohol before the age of 20, he used a soft drink to toast with Takasaki.

The pitcher of beer he brought was down to the last bottle, and Takasaki's mouth was covered in grease from the skewers.

Takasaki was almost ready to sing a duet of "Good Brothers" with Neji.

It was clear that Takasaki didn't have much of a tolerance for alcohol, and he was slurring his words from the intoxication.

With the atmosphere set, Neji finally spoke up: "Takasaki-kun, actually, there is something I would like you to clarify for me."

"Oh? Let's hear it." Takasaki raised his eyelids, pretending to eat a grilled chicken wing, while the drunkenness in his mind cleared up by more than half.

This guy Neji really did have something on his mind.

"It's about this."

Neji's expression became somewhat serious. He put down his glass and unwound the bandage tied tightly around his forehead, revealing the green mark on his brow.

The Caged Bird seal.

"Can my Caged Bird seal really be broken?" Neji asked earnestly. "I remember you said at the Hyuga Clan Mansion that you seemed to have a way to break the Caged Bird seal."

So that was what this was about, Takasaki realized with a start.

When he had been teasing Neji with the Three Body Technique at the Hyuga Clan Mansion earlier, he had indeed hinted vaguely that he had a way to break the Caged Bird seal.

At the time, he had just wanted to provoke Neji and make him lose his composure.

After all, he had already crossed paths with Neji, and since he couldn't beat him in a fight, he could only try to get the upper hand with his words.

In reality, could Takasaki break the Caged Bird seal?

Of course not.

At least not right now, though that didn't mean he wouldn't be able to in the future.

Who knew? Perhaps one day, the Diary would reward him with a method to break the Caged Bird seal.

Therefore, Takasaki didn't completely extinguish Neji's hope, but instead kept him hanging: "It can definitely be broken; it's just that I don't have the method for it at the moment. I once dreamt of the solution, which is why I spoke to you like that earlier."

"You dreamt of it?"

Neji looked a bit bewildered.

Takasaki, feeling slightly tipsy, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Neji, we've gotten to know each other through our fight. From now on, your business is my business, and your sister is my... sister! The villagers have faith, the nation has strength, and we are all students about to graduate from the academy. We all have a bright future ahead of us, so who can say what will happen later? In any case, if I ever discover a way to break the Caged Bird seal, I will be sure to tell you immediately!"

Takasaki knew how to climb the social ladder.

As a commoner with nothing to his name in a place like the Leaf Village, where social classes were deeply entrenched, he needed to build connections to serve as a protective umbrella if his own strength didn't improve quickly enough.

The Hyuga Clan was a prestigious family that had been passed down since the Warring States Period.

Clinging to the Hyuga Clan was a surefire bet.

To this, Neji nodded heavily: "From now on, you are my comrade!"

It wasn't that Neji was too foolish to realize he was being played by Takasaki.

It was simply that breaking the Caged Bird seal was of vital importance to him, and he had to seize even the slightest glimmer of hope.

Even without that hope, he felt it was necessary to maintain a good relationship with Takasaki, if only because of how he had inspired Hinata to become stronger.

After Neji left.

Takasaki took a look at his living environment, which was so dilapidated that even a thief would leave two hundred ryo behind in tears before walking out.

He pulled out the property deed and the front door key that Neji had given him: "My future brother-in-law has already prepared a new home for me and my wife Hinata, so there's no reason for me not to move in. Time to move!"

Moving was a simple affair; Takasaki just packed a few clothes and some toiletries.

The new house Neji had prepared for him was a fully furnished apartment in the central commercial district of the village, so he only needed to bring his bags and move in.

He would get a good night's sleep tonight and write a diary entry tomorrow to thank his wife Hinata.

Without Hinata's rapid progress, his future brother-in-law would never have been so kind to him.

"Come to think of it, what exactly caused Hinata to become so much stronger? And why did he say it was because she was inspired by me?" Takasaki pondered as he shouldered his backpack, dragged his suitcase, and headed out the door.