The Hyuga Clan, inside the Hyuga Hiashi estate.
Hyuga Hiashi and Hinata Hyuga sat facing each other.
Hyuga Hiashi looked stern. His tightly furrowed brows showed that he was not in a good mood.
As for Hinata,
she was a little stiff and nervous,
but there was an unusual determination in her eyes.
"So this is why you became friends with Uchiha Sasuke?"
"Because of a bowl of ramen?"
Hyuga Hiashi finally spoke.
His own daughter had gone out late at night to get something to eat because she hadn't had enough.
And he hadn't noticed a thing.
If Hinata hadn't told him herself, perhaps he really wouldn't have paid it any mind.
After all, the Hyuga Clan was one of the village's great clans.
And they practiced Taijutsu.
The amount of food prepared for them was already quite generous.
Yet he hadn't expected Hinata to need so much food!
"It wasn't one bowl. It was twelve."
Hinata earnestly corrected Hyuga Hiashi.
"I..."
For a moment, Hyuga Hiashi didn't know how to respond to Hinata.
Ever since Hanabi Hyuga was born, Hyuga Hiashi had been demanding of Hinata to the point of being downright exacting.
Because he wanted to break certain rules.
And these were rules that had existed in the Hyuga Clan for a long time.
The Main Family and the branch family!
Back then, his own younger brother, Hizashi Hyuga, had died in his place.
The blow to Hyuga Hiashi had been immense.
And now, Hanabi and Hinata might face the same situation in the future.
That was why Hyuga Hiashi had been so harsh with Hinata.
He wanted her to have enough strength to abolish this rule in the future, using her position as clan head.
But Hinata's talent had disappointed Hyuga Hiashi.
Her progress in training had been extremely slow.
He had thought Hinata simply lacked talent, but it turned out she hadn't been eating enough.
In just these past few months, Hinata's improvement had been visible to the naked eye.
This left Hyuga Hiashi conflicted.
Hinata getting too close to the Uchiha could lead to unknown dangers and problems.
But... Hinata's personality...
If he made her distance herself from that Uchiha boy now, it would probably have a huge impact on her emotionally.
"Father, do you also have a bad opinion of the Uchiha Clan?"
"Could you tell me about the Uchiha Clan?"
Hinata gathered her courage and addressed the source of their disagreement directly.
She wasn't stupid. On the contrary, she was exceptionally clever.
She knew about many things.
"Hinata, you... All right, I'll tell you."
"The Uchiha Clan was one of the two great clans that founded the village. Back then, they were known alongside the Senju Clan as Konoha's two strongest clans."
"But the Uchiha Clan members' prideful nature, and their pursuit of power..."
Hyuga Hiashi knew the Uchiha well.
Soon, he had recounted the Uchiha Clan's history, from Madara Uchiha to Fugaku Uchiha in the present day.
He even included rising prodigies like Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi.
As for Sasuke...
Hyuga Hiashi didn't mention him in particular.
"One of the two great clans that founded the village!"
"A clan that has performed impressively in several Shinobi World Wars!"
"During the Third Shinobi World War, they faced Kirigakure alone and broke its offensive!"
"Now they're brimming with geniuses, with numerous elite Jonin in the clan!"
"And a clan like that is shunned just because they're proud?"
"As for the Nine-Tails Rebellion... wasn't that never confirmed either?"
Hinata poured out all the information she had learned.
The determination in her eyes was even stronger than before.
Did Hyuga Hiashi not know this information?
The reason the Hyuga Clan had managed to maintain such a large presence in Konoha all this time
was that they stayed out of power struggles.
But if they got involved with the Uchiha, the attention of the Konoha High Command would naturally turn toward them.
And then...
But Hyuga Hiashi couldn't bring himself to say that.
"Father, Uchiha Sasuke and I are friends now."
"I'll work hard in my training and meet your expectations."
"So could you please not stand in my way?"
Hinata lifted her head and met Hyuga Hiashi's eyes.
She made her request firmly, one word at a time.
Faced with his daughter's request, Hyuga Hiashi thought for a moment, then seemed to reach a decision.
"Hinata, do you know what your decision means?"
Hyuga Hiashi stood up.
"I do."
Hinata stood as well and activated her Byakugan.
"Good!"
"Then prove your resolve through your actions. If you ever slack off, then..."
"I understand, Father!"
Before Hyuga Hiashi could finish, joy appeared on Hinata's face.
Hyuga Hiashi nodded, indicating that Hinata could go rest.
"I hope I haven't made the wrong choice."
A helpless look crossed Hyuga Hiashi's face.
He... had staked everything he had on Hinata.
And he could see how much Hinata had changed.
The Hinata of before would never have said something like that.
Her change in personality also gave Hyuga Hiashi confidence that she could change the clan's rules.
If Hinata remained timid and meek, she wouldn't be able to accomplish something like that.
But now... things were different!
At the same time, in the forest.
"Is this the new training method Sasuke-kun told us about?"
"It looks really interesting."
Rock Lee's eyes, brimming with wisdom, opened wide as he asked.
"It's not interesting at all. It hurts a little, too."
"But it's much more effective for improving the body than ordinary training."
Naruto, who had been experiencing this training method all along, spoke with deep feeling.
At the same time, he remembered the fear of being at the mercy of Sasuke's Lightning Style.
The guy would even shock him now and then during class.
If Naruto hadn't had such strong willpower, the teacher would have kicked him out of class long ago.
"Naruto, Lee."
"No matter what direction your training takes, a strong body is the foundation."
"Lee goes without saying; he has the best physical conditioning of the three of us."
"But he still has plenty of room to improve."
"So from now on, our training can't just be focused on one thing like before."
"Today, we'll complete ten rounds of body tempering."
"After that, we'll treat our physical training as a way to master our bodies."
"Are you ready?"
As Sasuke finished speaking, powerful arcs of electricity danced between his hands.
Looking at the arcs of electricity in Sasuke's hands, Naruto and Lee couldn't help twitching their mouths.
This was probably... going to hurt a little!
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