The Hyuga Clan's Scheme

As Kawaki Aoba read page after page, the expression on his face grew increasingly strange.

The contents recorded in this book were none other than the signature technique of the Hyuga Clan: the manual for the Gentle Fist.

What kind of maneuver was this, hiding a Gentle Fist manual under his bed?

Kawaki Aoba truly couldn't fathom it. Was the Hyuga Clan trying to frame him? But framing someone who had lost his eyes for stealing the Gentle Fist Art of Eight Trigrams—a technique that could only be practiced after awakening the Byakugan—were they trying to laugh themselves to death?

Kawaki Aoba felt that things were not as simple as he imagined; behind this manual, there must be a greater conspiracy waiting for him.

Regardless, since the Hyuga family had sent him such a generous gift, he would simply accept it.

Although he lacked the Byakugan, which would significantly diminish the power of the Gentle Fist Art of Eight Trigrams in his hands, he could still use it for a sacrifice.

Kawaki Aoba began to focus intently on memorizing the training methods of the Gentle Fist, while his Shadow Clone Technique encountered a minor problem.

"Give it to me, give it back right now."

"You guys are being way too much."

"Haha, you want it? If you want it, come and get it yourself."

"What a total loser. You can't even protect your own things; how could someone like you ever become a ninja?"

On a somewhat secluded street, Kawaki Aoba's shadow clone stumbled upon a rather cliché scene.

A girl, roughly ten years old, was surrounded by several boys of similar age.

Analyzing their words, the cause of the situation was obvious: the group of boys had taken something from the girl and refused to return it.

At their age, such things happening was quite common.

But... could someone explain to Kawaki Aoba why that girl felt such intense excitement the moment she saw him?

Also, were there not too many Hyuga ninjas coming to monitor him?

Within the range of his Observation Haki, the number of Byakugan-wielding ninjas monitoring him had increased from one to three, and the latter two were clearly not with the first one.

No, to be precise, the missions they had received were different.

The first one was purely for tracking and surveillance, but as for the latter two...

Kawaki Aoba used his Observation Haki to carefully sense the emotions of the little ones ahead. Aside from the bullied girl, everyone else's emotions were genuine.

Like the book under his bed, was this also an arrangement by the Hyuga family? But what was the point of this?

Just as Kawaki Aoba paused, the group of peers opposite him, guided intentionally or otherwise by the girl, began moving toward him.

At the same time, the emotions radiating from the girl shifted from pure excitement to a mix of nervousness, apprehension, and excitement.

Kawaki Aoba was no stranger to such emotions; he had felt the same way during his first mission to wipe out a group of bandits.

Without the slightest hesitation, Kawaki Aoba turned and left.

Knowing there was unknown trouble and enemy schemes ahead and charging in anyway was not bravery; it was not very ninja-like.

Therefore, Kawaki Aoba chose to change his route without a second thought.

Let them scheme and plot all they wanted; he wasn't playing along, and he wanted to see what they could do about it.

Seeing Kawaki Aoba leave, the girl was stunned. She had intended to chase after him and demand to know why he hadn't staged a "hero saving the beauty" scene in front of her, but the boys surrounding her were too annoying and blocked her path at the critical moment.

The Hyuga ninjas hiding in the shadows were also bewildered. How was this different from the plan? Shouldn't a genin of their age step forward at a time like this?

But since Kawaki Aoba had made up his mind not to take the bait, what could they do? Jump out and intercept him? That was impossible; hadn't they lost enough face recently?

Following this, Kawaki Aoba's shadow clone began wandering all over the Hidden Leaf Village with the original Hyuga ninja still in tow.

As for the two who had followed later, they had already left and returned to the Hyuga compound.

After wandering for quite some time, until he felt it was enough, Kawaki Aoba's shadow clone finally headed back.

Back at home, his real body had long since transformed back into an unremarkable shuriken.

After trailing Kawaki Aoba's shadow clone for a stroll and returning to its original position, the Hyuga ninja almost cursed out loud.

If he weren't confident that his concealment couldn't be discovered by a blind man, he would have thought he was being played by that ungrateful brat.

Subsequently, Kawaki Aoba took advantage of the moment the opponent closed their Byakugan to swap his real body back.

As the memories of the shadow clone returned, Kawaki Aoba finally had some guesses regarding the Hyuga family's baffling scheme.

If his judgment was correct, the Hyuga family wanted to use his own methods against him.

Since he had worked with Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others to play the second elder of the Hyuga family and successfully framed him, the Hyuga family wanted to retaliate with the same tactics.

Moreover, they even wanted to strike him down in one blow.

For the major ninja clans of the Hidden Leaf Village, what was most important? Was it the powerful ninjas that appeared in every generation, or the prosperity of the clan?

Neither; the most important thing was their foundation—their Kekkei Genkai or secret clan techniques.

This was also what the village valued most. Taking Kawaki Aoba himself as an example, after his seal-less ninjutsu, White Lightning, was "developed," he had proposed handing it over to the village himself.

Otherwise, according to the village's rules, as long as he was alive, the ninjutsu he developed would be his trademark; for others to steal it would be a grave taboo.

The penalty would range from paying a heavy price to beg for his forgiveness to being severely punished for serious offenses.

If this was the case even for a lowly genin like him, it was even more so for the core secret techniques of the major clans.

The Gentle Fist, which complements the Byakugan, is undoubtedly the core of the Hyuga clan.

Since they had already become enemies, Kawaki Aoba did not mind thinking of them in the worst possible light.

His Observation Haki expanded gradually, only stopping once it had encompassed the entire Hyuga clan compound.

Hyuga clan compound.

The two Hyuga ninjas who had previously received the mission to orchestrate a "hero saves the beauty" scene for Kawaki Aoba had already returned.

At this moment, these two ninjas were kneeling respectfully on one knee in a grand hall, while before them sat three elders and one youth in the seats of honor.

These four were the highest authorities of the Hyuga clan: Hyuga Huoshu, Hyuga Hiashi, Hyuga Xingcun, and the elder of the clan's weakest lineage, the Hyuga Second Elder.