The Matter Was Settled

"Xia, didn't you sleep well last night?"

Seeing Hyuga Natsu yawn, looking a little listless, Yu Zhihui asked with concern.

"Yeah. I was with Big Brother Gen last night, and we didn't get home and go to bed until really late."

Hyuga Natsu said it in a perfectly calm voice, making it easy to imagine all sorts of things. She didn't notice the strange look Yu Zhihui gave her after hearing that.

Even now, Hyuga Natsu still hadn't entirely figured out what had happened last night. All she knew was that a ninja had broken into Uncle Hiashi's house and grabbed Miss Hinata.

Luckily, Uncle Hiashi had noticed and killed the ninja, rescuing Miss Hinata. But she hadn't really understood what Hyuga Gen did afterward.

"Clan Head, is that person dead?"

"Why are you two here?"

Hyuga Hiashi asked in confusion. He was genuinely surprised to see these two juniors in front of him. At first, he'd thought more accomplices of the enemy had arrived.

"That doesn't matter. Xiaojin, hurry and take this person away from Konoha. Don't let anyone see you. The farther away, the better. Take him beyond the Land of Fire's border, preferably northeast."

Hyuga Gen said hastily. Lights had already come on; it seemed someone in the gatehouse had noticed something amiss.

"What are you trying to do?"

Hyuga Gen frowned. He still didn't know who the person who'd caught the kidnapper of his daughter was, and he wasn't about to let him take the body away so easily.

"Clan Head, please trust me. I'll explain everything later. Someone's coming, and it'd be better to keep this matter quiet."

"Uncle Hiashi, just trust Big Brother Gen this once. He must have his reasons, and he'd never do anything that would harm the clan's interests."

Hyuga Natsu was always so dependable when it mattered.

"Xiaojin."

This time, Hyuga Hiashi didn't stop them. Perhaps he hadn't reacted in time and simply forgot to intervene; perhaps Hyuga Natsu's words had persuaded him.

With its sharp claws, Xiaojin grabbed the Cloud Village kidnapper, whose eyes were still open in death, and vanished into the night in the blink of an eye.

"Clan Head, Natsu and I will be going now. Just remember to act as though nothing happened, and don't tell anyone. I'll explain everything tomorrow."

With that, Hyuga Gen led Hyuga Natsu away.

Hyuga Kamen watched Hyuga Gen and Hyuga Natsu's retreating figures, lost in thought. Then he suddenly remembered what Kamen had said earlier: Cloud Village might be plotting to steal the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan.

Considering the situation, Hyuga Hiashi could more or less guess who the culprit was. He was furious. But then he remembered what Hyuga Gen had said, and gradually calmed down. More importantly, there was no evidence now. The body had been taken away, so there was nothing he could accuse anyone of.

"Clan Head, did something happen just now?"

"Nothing happened. There was a rat squeaking and keeping me awake, so I was going to catch it. Unfortunately, it got away."

Watching Hyuga Hiashi's back, the two guards exchanged glances. They thought their clan head was quite a comedian, but they also felt they might have neglected their duties. They silently resolved to clear out the animals around the compound—snakes, rats, cockroaches, and the like—so nothing would disturb the clan head's rest.

"Why are you looking at me so strangely?"

Seeing Yu Zhihui stare at her strangely the whole time, Hyuga Natsu couldn't help asking.

She had no idea how suggestive what she'd just said sounded. The boys nearby had heard her, and some blushed, some ground their teeth, and others looked utterly despairing.

The goddess in their hearts had actually... actually...

"N-nothing."

Yu Zhihui gave an awkward smile.

By now, Yu Zhihui seemed to have figured it out. Thinking of the way she'd just looked Hyuga Natsu up and down, lingering on her thighs and waist, Hyuga Natsu shot her a fierce glare and huffed off to her seat.

"Natsu, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have thought that way. Can you forgive me?"

Yu Zhihui ran up to Hyuga Natsu, took her by the arm, and shook it pleadingly.

"I can forgive you, but you have to treat me to barbecue and hot pot."

"No problem."

"I wonder what Big Brother Gen is thinking. He's a major shareholder in the restaurant, but he still makes us pay every time we go."

Hyuga Natsu couldn't understand it.

Of course, it was the same for everyone. Even Yu Zhihui, the owner's daughter, had to pay out of her own pocket when she went there.

"Honestly, these boys are so annoying. They eavesdrop on us. They're like flies, turning up everywhere."

The boys nearby immediately pretended to be busy, looking away from the two girls. Some acted as if they were chatting with their friends; others picked up a book and pretended to study seriously, not noticing that they were holding it upside down.

Yu Zhihui suddenly felt a little sorry for the boys in their class. But her sympathy lasted only a second. She couldn't help it if they kept swarming around her like sticky plasters, and she silently mourned them for three minutes.

Hyuga Natsu was incredibly popular in their class. She was cute and beautiful, with a baby face and a voluptuous figure. Even Yu Zhihui couldn't help envying her, let alone the boys.

But Hyuga Natsu was quite aloof at school and gave the boys no encouragement. Once, a boy wrote her a love letter and confessed his feelings. She tore it up without even reading it, then gave him a glare that scared him away on the spot.

After that, no one dared give her a love letter or confess their feelings.

She went to school with Hyuga Gen without hiding it from anyone, and often linked arms with him. The boys in their class acted as though they hadn't seen it and continued hovering around Hyuga Natsu, trying to win her favor. It seemed they enjoyed being hurt all the more for it, a reaction Yu Zhihui couldn't understand.

She'd received plenty of love letters herself. Maybe because she'd been helping out at the restaurant in recent years, she treated people warmly. She'd turned them all down gently, but kept some of the letters. Sometimes she found them rather amusing to look at.

But she knew she could never forget that not particularly tall figure who had once stood in front of her.

Meanwhile, in a dimly lit underground room.

"Have the Cloud Village envoys left? Did they do anything unusual over the past few days?"

"Lord Danzo, they've already left. We didn't notice anything unusual."

One of the two people kneeling below answered.

"Oh? Perhaps I was overthinking it."

Danzo frowned and muttered to himself.

"Fine. You may go."

Meanwhile, just after leaving Konoha, Dodai and his group stopped not far away. He sensed that the people who had been watching them earlier seemed to have left.

"Lord Dodai, can we dispel the jutsu now?"

"Not yet. Wait until we've crossed the Land of Fire's border."

Dodai spoke cautiously. There were four of them now, which meant one of them was clearly an impostor.

"Strange. Why hasn't the Hyuga Clan made a single move? Did the mission fail? Even if the person was caught, they should have come to us and demanded an explanation."

"But we didn't sense Saiji's chakra anywhere in Konoha. Could the mission have succeeded? If it did, he hasn't left any signs along the way."

Dodai was deeply puzzled.

"Forget it. There's no point thinking about it, and we can't go back to Konoha to investigate. Let's check the agreed meeting place first."

With that, Dodai and his group continued on their way home.

At the same time, Xiaojin had carried the person to the border of the Land of Fire. It flew a little farther, opened its claws, and casually dropped the body before turning around and heading back.