The Branch House's Prestige

The morning mist had yet to disperse when seven or eight Branch House ninja had already gathered at the edge of the training ground.

The moment Hyuga Xiao reached the field, the quiet murmurs stopped.

Several gazes fell on him.

They were not the indifferent, distant glances from before, but looks carrying scrutiny, and perhaps... respect?

"Xiao."

Tokuma Hyuga stepped out from the crowd and patted him on the shoulder. The gesture seemed natural, but Xiao noticed several Branch House ninja nearby shift their gazes along with it.

"Your injuries healed?" Tokuma asked.

"More or less." Xiao smiled, his expression gently measured. "The Main House's medicine worked well."

He said it softly, but the air at the edge of the training ground seemed to freeze for an instant.

A Branch House Elite Ninja in his thirties walked over. A scar ran diagonally across his face, from his brow ridge to the corner of his mouth. Xiao remembered that his name was Tetsu Hyuga. He had spent seven years on border missions before being transferred back to the village last year.

"I heard about what happened last night." Tetsu's voice was low. "You saved the Main House's eldest daughter."

Xiao lowered his eyes. "It was my duty."

"Duty?" Tetsu tugged at the corner of his mouth, making the scar twitch. "The Branch House's duty is to die for the Main House, not to risk their lives saving them and come back alive."

The words were blunt, and the faces of several younger Branch House ninja changed.

Tokuma frowned. "Tetsu, don't talk nonsense."

"Was I wrong?" Tetsu stared at Xiao. "Over the decades, it wasn't as if Branch House members had never saved the Main House. But you're the first one to receive a 'reward' after saving them."

Xiao raised his head, a trace of confusion appearing in his eyes at just the right moment. "A reward?"

"You don't know?" Tetsu sneered. "The Mission Office issued a notice this morning. You've been assigned three months of double mission workload, with compensation calculated at Elite Ninja rates. They call it—focused training, developing your potential."

The edge of the training ground fell completely silent.

Several Branch House ninja exchanged glances, their expressions complicated.

Double the mission workload was a punishment in wartime, but in peacetime, it was a veiled form of recognition—it meant one was qualified to shoulder more responsibility, qualified to be "seen."

And compensation at Elite Ninja rates...

That money would be enough for a Branch House ninja to avoid dangerous missions for two years while still letting their family live decently.

"What good luck," someone muttered.

Xiao heard it, but merely lowered his head slightly, letting the loose strands over his forehead hide his eyes.

Luck?

He sneered inwardly.

He had traded his life for that. He had traded Hinata's 65% trust for that. He had traded the "Obsession" status on the system panel for that.

"The mission order has already been delivered to your residence." Tokuma lowered his voice. "The first mission departs this afternoon. Escort a merchant caravan to the Land of Fire border. I checked the roster. Besides you, there are two Branch House Chunin and three Genin."

Xiao nodded. "Understood."

"Be careful." Tokuma pressed his hand against Xiao's shoulder again, this time with more force. "The Mission Office... Elder Ko Hyuga is in charge of the review."

Ko Hyuga.

Xiao searched his memories for that name. One of the lower-ranking members of the Main House Council of Elders, responsible for internal mission assignments and resource allocation. He was in his fifties and known for being "meticulous"—or rather, for being harsh toward the Branch House.

"Thanks for the warning," Xiao said.

As he turned to leave the training ground, he could still feel those gazes sticking to his back.

There was envy, jealousy, scrutiny, and even a trace of... expectation?

Two in the afternoon, Konoha's eastern gate.

A caravan of five wagons was ready to depart. The drivers were all ordinary people, and the goods were tightly covered with tarps, but the deep tracks left by the wheels showed that the load was not light.

When Xiao arrived, the other five Branch House ninja were already waiting at the gate.

There were two Chunin, a man and a woman. The man was Aoki Hyuga, around twenty-five or twenty-six, leanly built with steady eyes. The woman was Hyuga Rei, in her early twenties, with short hair and two kunai tucked at her waist.

The three Genin were all teenagers. The oldest was no more than fifteen, while the youngest looked a year younger than Xiao. The Caged Bird Seal on his forehead was an eye-searing blue.

"Captain." Aoki spoke first, his tone calm.

Xiao froze for a moment before realizing that Aoki was addressing him.

According to Konoha's rules, if a mission squad had no explicitly appointed captain, the highest-ranked member would take command. He was a Chunin, and Aoki and Rei were Chunin as well, but he was the one the Main House had personally "appointed" to carry out this mission.

"No need to be so formal." Xiao waved a hand, smiling gently. "This mission is simple. Escort the caravan to the border outpost, complete the handover, then return. We just need to look out for each other on the way."

Rei glanced at him but said nothing.

The three Genin visibly relaxed—they had clearly been worried about getting a harsh captain.

The caravan leader was a plump middle-aged merchant named Mitsui. Seeing that all the ninja had arrived, he ambled over with a cheerful smile, greeting them as he stuffed a small cloth pouch into each of their hands.

Xiao weighed his pouch. It contained silver—not much, but enough to eat at a few inns along the road.

"A small token of appreciation, just a small token." Mitsui rubbed his hands together. "I'll be relying on all of you for this journey."

"It's our duty." Xiao accepted the pouch, then casually handed it to the youngest Genin beside him. "You hold onto it. We'll use it for any supplies we need along the way."

The boy froze, clutching the pouch in bewilderment.

Aoki and Rei exchanged a glance, something new appearing in their eyes.

The caravan left Konoha and traveled east along the main road.

The roads of the Land of Fire were smooth and well maintained, and the wagons traveled steadily. The first half of the day passed without incident. The three Genin gradually relaxed and began talking quietly among themselves.

Xiao sat on the shaft of the first wagon with his eyes closed, looking as though he had fallen asleep.

But he had not.

The Byakugan silently activated beneath his skin, and his vision spread outward from him—fifty meters, one hundred meters, two hundred meters...

After its purity rose to 6%, the Byakugan's detection range had nearly doubled, and it now revealed details he had never been able to perceive before. He could see insect eggs writhing within the grain of trees, tiny tunnels turned up by earthworms deep in the soil, and the tremble of a distant mountain sparrow's feathers as it beat its wings.

And he could see the chakra signatures of more than a dozen crouching figures behind the slope three hundred meters away.

Bandits.

Xiao opened his eyes, and the pale blue in his pupils flashed away.

"Aoki." His voice was not loud, but it carried clearly through the entire caravan.

"Here." Aoki jumped down from the second wagon and darted to his side in a few steps.

"Three hundred meters ahead, behind the slope on the left. Thirteen people." Xiao spoke steadily. "Their chakra levels are low, at most Genin level. But they have crossbows—three of them. The arrowheads are coated with something, probably poison."

Aoki's expression turned stern. "An ambush?"

"Almost certainly." Xiao jumped down from the wagon. "Rei, lead the three Genin in protecting the caravan. Set up a defensive formation on the spot. Aoki, come with me and circle through the woods on the right."

"Circle around?" Rei frowned. "Not break through head-on?"

"They have crossbows. Charging them head-on will cause casualties." Xiao had already begun unfastening the ninja tool pouch on his back. "We're outnumbered. We can't take risks."

He said it as though it were the most basic tactical judgment imaginable.

Aoki studied him for two seconds, then nodded. "We'll follow the captain's orders."

The two figures flashed away, disappearing into the woods on the right.

Behind the slope, thirteen bandits crouched behind thick brush.

At their head was a one-eyed brute gripping a crude crossbow. The arrow set in its groove had a dark green glint on its tip.

"Boss, the caravan's almost here," a skinny man whispered.

"Keep your eyes sharp." The one-eyed man licked his lips. "Once they're in range, shoot down the guards first, then rush in and take the goods. Remember, leave no survivors."

"Understood!"

The skinny man had barely answered when a sudden chill ran across his neck.

He looked down and saw the tip of a kunai protruding from his throat, blood running down the metal.

He wanted to scream, but no sound came out.

Then he heard an almost inaudible whisper behind him.

"The first."

As the skinny man fell, the one-eyed brute spun around sharply.

He saw two figures pounce from the shadows of the woods, moving with inhuman speed.

One of them was especially fast—a boy who looked no older than twelve or thirteen, with a forehead protector tied around his head. Faint blue Curse Mark patterns could be seen beneath it.

The boy's eyes were white and pupil-less, coldly fixed on him.

The one-eyed brute instinctively raised his crossbow.

But before he could pull the trigger, the boy was already in front of him.

It was not the Body Flicker Technique, only pure speed—so fast that the one-eyed brute had no time to react.

Then he saw the boy press a hand against his chest.

A very light press.

But in the next instant, the one-eyed brute heard his ribs break with sharp cracks, like branches snapping underfoot. Before the pain could reach him, he had already been sent flying, smashing through two small trees before crashing into the brush, never to rise again.

The battle ended within thirty seconds.

Of the thirteen bandits, seven were dead. The remaining six had their chakra points struck by Aoki's Gentle Fist and lay paralyzed on the ground.

Xiao stood among the corpses, his breathing even and his clothes not even rumpled.

He bent down and picked up the crossbow, examined the poison on the arrowhead, then casually snapped the arrow in half and tossed it aside.

"Captain." Aoki walked over, his expression complicated. "That move you used just now..."

"A variation of the Gentle Fist," Xiao said. "Something I worked out myself. The way I exert force is a little different."

He made it sound insignificant.

But Aoki knew that was not the case.

Xiao's attacks just now—their speed, power, and angles—had all been terrifyingly precise. Especially that final palm pressed against the one-eyed brute's chest—it was not ordinary Gentle Fist. It was a technique that compressed chakra to the extreme and unleashed it in an instant.

Without at least five years of training in the Gentle Fist, it would have been impossible to use.

Yet this boy was only twelve.

"Clean up the battlefield." Xiao turned and walked back. "Take the crossbows and poisoned arrows with us. They can count as extra merit when we report the mission back in the village. Bury the corpses, tie up the survivors, and hand them over to the border garrison."

"Yes." Aoki answered.

As he watched Xiao's back, he suddenly recalled what Tetsu had said at the training ground that morning.

"Over the decades, it wasn't as if Branch House members had never saved the Main House. But you're the first one to receive a 'reward' after saving them."

Now, he thought he understood a little.

Perhaps it was not a reward.

It was an investment.

By evening, the caravan safely reached the border outpost.

After handing over the goods, Xiao had the three Genin bring the six bound bandits to the garrison for registration while he sat on a stone post outside the outpost and wrote the mission report.

The report was concise: encountered a bandit ambush, detected it in advance, circled around and flanked them, annihilated them all, no casualties on their side.

He paused over the words "detected in advance," then continued writing.

When he finished, he signed it and stamped it.

The next day, the report would be sent back to Konoha by the outpost's messenger hawk, delivered to the Mission Office, and placed in Elder Ko Hyuga's hands.

Xiao put away his pen and looked west.

The sun was setting, dyeing the sky blood-red.

Aoki walked over and sat beside him. "Captain, I'll tell the Branch House brothers the truth about what happened today."

Xiao turned to look at him.

"The Branch House needs an example." Aoki spoke bluntly. "We need someone to prove that we're not only capable of dying for the Main House. We can earn merit too. We can be 'seen.'"

Xiao was silent for several seconds, then smiled. "Do as you wish."

He stood and brushed the dust from his clothes.

In the distance, the three Genin were running toward them, their faces bright with the excitement of completing their mission.

The youngest boy ran up to Xiao and said breathlessly, "Captain, the garrison said those six bandits are wanted criminals. There's a bounty of one hundred and fifty thousand ryo! They said we can claim it when we get back to the village!"

"Mm." Xiao nodded. "You split the money."

The boy froze. "We split it? Captain, you don't want any?"

"I don't lack money," Xiao said. "Take it. Buy something for your families."

After saying that, he walked away, leaving the boy standing there with the bounty certificate from the garrison in his hands, which trembled slightly.

Rei walked over to Aoki's side. Watching Xiao's receding back, she said softly, "He's different."

"He is." Aoki said, "That's why the Main House 'rewarded' him, and why Elder Ko is watching him."

"Do you think that's a good thing or a bad thing?"

Aoki did not answer.

He merely stared at the blood-red horizon for a long time.

Three days later, Konoha, Mission Office review room.

Ko Hyuga set down the mission report in his hand and narrowed his eyes.

The report was thin, only one page. But he had read its contents three times.

Thirteen bandits annihilated, no casualties on their side.

Ambush detected in advance.

Circled around and flanked them.

Every word was standard, so standard that no flaw could be found.

Yet Ko Hyuga still felt that something was wrong.

He picked up another document, a supplementary statement from the border outpost garrison confirming that the wanted criminals had been captured and that the mission had been completed perfectly.

There was also a letter of thanks from the caravan leader, Mitsui. It was overflowing with praise, describing how Captain Hyuga Xiao had remained calm and decisive, how he had protected the caravan, and so on.

Ko Hyuga spread the three documents across the desk, tapping a finger against the words "ambush detected in advance."

It was not strange for the Byakugan to detect an ambush.

What was strange was that a twelve-year-old Branch House Chunin, leading five Branch House ninja, had managed to wipe out thirteen bandits without suffering a single casualty—even if those bandits were only ordinary people.

It was unreasonable.

Unless this Hyuga Xiao's strength far exceeded Chunin level.

Unless he had been concealing it all along.

Ko Hyuga leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

He thought of the boy lying in the hospital bed a few days ago, and of that faint, almost imperceptible resistance he had sensed when he examined him with the Byakugan.

At the time, he had thought it was an illusion.

Now, he wasn't so sure.

"Someone," Ko Hyuga called.

A Branch House ninja pushed open the door and entered, bowing. "Elder."

"Bring me Hyuga Xiao's mission assignments for the next two months," Ko Hyuga said. "I'll arrange them personally."

"Yes."

After the Branch House ninja left, Ko Hyuga opened his eyes again, his gaze falling on the signature at the bottom of the report.

The handwriting was neat, even somewhat childish.

But as Ko Hyuga looked at those two characters, he suddenly felt—

This Branch House brat probably wouldn't remain so "obedient" forever.

He needed to keep a closer eye on him.

Closer.