Rock Lee

Staring intently at Ryosuke, Neji Hyuga was seeing this lucky fellow for the second time.

The first time had been when he accompanied his father to the Training Ground to ask the clan head for permission to train in the Eight Trigrams Palms.

This was the second time, but no matter which encounter it was, aside from his appearance, this guy had never given Neji even the slightest sense of threat or pressure.

There had been no news of his strength circulating through the village, or even within the clan.

The name Hyuga Ryosuke was not unfamiliar within the Hyūga Clan.

Many people, Neji included, knew that Ryosuke had been taken in by the clan head due to his decent talent and the fact that he was an orphan.

With the clan head having only two daughters, Ryosuke had gotten there first and landed the advantage. Through sheer luck, he had been chosen as a live-in son-in-law, avoiding the Caged Bird Seal and leaping from the Branch Family into the Main Family.

Yet even now, Hyuga Ryosuke had shown not the slightest sign of that so-called decent talent. He had earned no good reputation whatsoever and appeared utterly ordinary.

Honestly, Neji Hyuga was somewhat jealous of that.

If... if Father were not the clan head's younger brother, if our blood relation were a little more distant, perhaps the one standing beside Lady Hinata now should have been me.

Neji Hyuga had always believed that only a genius like himself was qualified to join the Main Family.

Ryosuke was merely a lucky member of the Branch Family, just like him.

"Brother Neji, could you introduce the other people worth paying attention to? As for the Uchiha matter, Hinata will work hard on that herself."

Though he sensed the faint hostility in Neji's eyes, Ryosuke did not care. Smiling, he changed the subject for Hinata.

It was far too obvious. With neither Hyuga Hiashi nor Hizashi Hyuga present this time, Neji's inner thoughts were written all over his face. His fixed stare was practically begging to have I'm jealous of you written across his forehead.

The children of this world matured early. Ryosuke had realized that long ago.

But maturing early did not mean being wise. This sort of precociousness was simply natural under the influence of this world's circumstances.

As an outsider carrying the ideas of his previous world, he found the children here precocious.

But those who belonged to this world would not find these children particularly remarkable, unless they could perform as Ryosuke did in Hyuga Hiashi's eyes. Then perhaps they would be worth noticing.

Neji Hyuga shook his head, then turned toward Hinata and explained, "There isn't anyone else worth noting. The clan children in my year are all mediocre."

Ryosuke asked again, "What about the civilians?"

Glancing at him, Neji still addressed Hinata as he replied, "There is one civilian I pay more attention to. Her name is Tenten."

"Though she was not born into a ninja clan, her family has been merchants for generations. They are a renowned merchant family in the Land of Fire and control eighty percent of Konoha's ninja tool business."

"If we can build a good relationship with her, our Hyūga Clan will have much easier access to ninja tools."

"I... I see. That makes some sense."

Ever since Neji had brought up the conflict between the Hyūga Clan and the Uchiha Clan, Hinata had been distracted. After giving him a perfunctory response, she took Ryosuke's hand. "Ryosuke, it is about time we went back."

Sensing the urgency in her heart, Ryosuke smiled and rubbed her hair. "You go back first. I have something to take care of."

As he spoke, he turned toward Souji and Seisai behind him. "You two go back with Hinata. Make sure to keep her safe."

"B-but..."

Hinata hesitated and did not agree.

Outsiders might not have known, and even Souji and Seisai themselves might not have known, but she had always understood that her father had assigned them to her in order to protect Ryosuke.

She was merely a cover, meant to conceal how highly he valued Ryosuke.

"Don't worry. I'll be back soon. Be good." Ryosuke smiled and waved to her, giving her no chance to stop him before turning and walking into the Training Ground.

Just now, he seemed to have spotted someone worth noticing, someone worth investing in early—Rock Lee.

After watching Ryosuke's departing back, Neji turned to the troubled-looking Hinata. "Lady Hinata, I should be heading back as well. I can go with you."

"No need."

A cold voice rang out.

Watching Ryosuke's figure merge into the crowd and vanish, Hinata's expression abruptly turned even colder, as if layer upon layer of barriers had risen around her and shut everyone out.

She turned and left directly. Neji's words had placed too much pressure on her and made her uncomfortable.

Right now, all she wanted was to return home and train properly. At the very least... she could not lose to the next generation of Uchiha!

Neji stared blankly as Hinata left, somewhat stunned.

He had never seen Hinata like that. In that instant, he felt the same inferiority he felt when facing Hyuga Hiashi.

It was as though he were being looked down upon and kept at a distance.

Frowning, Neji did not dislike the feeling. Instead, a sense of reverence rose within him.

This was the Main Family—the Main Family he protected and longed for.

Meanwhile, Ryosuke, who had entered from the edge of the Training Ground, arrived near its central area.

The Training Ground was enormous, considerably larger even than the Main Family's private Training Ground. It occupied nearly one-tenth of all Konoha.

As the village's only Ninja Academy, the school's resources were drawn from the entire village.

The whole Training Ground was divided into an outer area and a central area. The outer area was where Ryosuke and the others had been just now, allowing them to look down and observe everything within the Training Ground.

Normally, the academy's teachers would observe the students inside from the outer area.

The central area was divided into eleven separate grounds, including the First Training Ground, Second Training Ground, and Third Training Ground. There were forests, waterfalls, streams, and all sorts of different combat environments.

The place Ryosuke had come to was the Third Training Ground, an ordinary wilderness plain.

Since there were no obstacles to hide behind, the students practicing actual combat here wanted straightforward, head-on confrontations.

At present, the Rock Lee who had caught his attention was dueling a member of the Inuzuka Clan, with quite a crowd gathered around them.

As for how Ryosuke could tell that the other person was from the Inuzuka Clan, it was not because he knew him, but because he was fighting alongside a dog.

Though not every ninja with a dog belonged to the Inuzuka Clan, this clan's fighting style was still quite distinctive.

Using clones and the Substitution Technique to interfere with Rock Lee and wear down his stamina, the Inuzuka Clan member advised him, "Lee, your flaws are too obvious. You cannot master the Three Body Technique, and you cannot resist Genjutsu. There is no way for you to become a true ninja."

"Even if you spend the time to learn the Three Body Technique, your talent has already left you far behind everyone else. Becoming a ninja under these circumstances would be very dangerous when facing people from other villages."

There was no mockery or contempt in his voice.

His tone was sincere; he was advising Lee from the bottom of his heart.

Their duel was somewhat like a cat toying with a mouse. Rock Lee was like a headless fly, being run in circles by several clones.

When he finally found the real body, it would easily evade through the Substitution Technique.

"I will succeed."

Even so, Rock Lee's face remained full of determination. No matter how many clones there were, no matter how each attack missed because of the Substitution Technique, he still persisted in taking the initiative to attack.

As long as he worked hard, he would definitely be able to land a hit.

People could call him stubborn, but he only wanted to become a ninja.

At this sight, many of the onlookers sighed silently.

They admired his unyielding spirit, but as a ninja, being unsuited meant being unsuited. Forcing it was useless; otherwise, he might pay for it with his life.