Your Youth Was So Easily Abandoned, Guy?

Night in the Hidden Leaf Village.

Outside a barbecue restaurant.

After parting ways with Kurenai Yuhi and the others, Hyuga Setsuna walked alone through the streets of the Hidden Leaf Village.

At that moment, a sound suddenly came from a training ground in the distance.

That sounded like Might Guy?

Hyuga Setsuna frowned. It was already nighttime—was Guy still training?

He quietly headed toward the training ground.

In the open space of the training ground,

Might Guy, dressed in his signature Green Spandex and sporting a watermelon-rind haircut, was training nonstop with a flushed face and tears in his eyes.

"Waaah... I'm just too useless, waaah..."

Might Guy cried out in despair. After throwing one last vicious punch at a tree, he collapsed weakly to the ground.

With his head lowered and face flushed, he sobbed quietly.

Bang!

A stone suddenly flew out from a corner of the training ground and struck the defenseless Might Guy squarely on the head.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

After being hit by the stone, Might Guy listened to the approaching footsteps and raised his tear-streaked eyes.

Hyuga Setsuna walked calmly up to him. Looking at Might Guy kneeling on the ground, he spoke softly.

"A person who doesn't believe in himself will find all his efforts worthless."

"Was your youth so easily abandoned, Guy?"

Might Guy, kneeling on the ground, stared in shock and humiliation.

"S-Se-Setsuna!?"

Seeing Hyuga Setsuna looking at him so calmly, Might Guy felt utterly ashamed. He had actually appeared before Setsuna in such a pathetic state.

Looking at Might Guy's flushed face, Hyuga Setsuna suddenly smiled warmly.

"Guy, I don't know what happened to you today, but as long as you believe in the path you've chosen and keep striding forward, that's enough. There's no need to care about other people's criticism."

"After all, youth never ends, does it?"

After saying that, Hyuga Setsuna turned and left the training ground.

It was not that he did not want to keep comforting Might Guy. Rather, Guy did not need comfort at all. What he needed was simply recognition.

After all, he was Emperor Guy!

Might Guy, who had been hanging his head in shame, looked up after hearing Hyuga Setsuna's words and watched the figure leave the training ground.

Then, blazing fighting spirit and fire suddenly ignited in his eyes.

Might Guy quickly scrambled to his feet.

A terrifying will radiated from his entire body.

"Setsuna is right! Youth never ends! Youth does not permit me to slack off or give up! I shouldn't collapse over such a tiny setback!"

"Yosh! Then tonight, I'll do ten thousand push-ups and ten thousand punches! If I can't finish them, I'll run thirty laps around the Hidden Leaf Village!"

Behind a large tree, Might Duy's tears also began streaming down his face.

Hyuga Setsuna, who had already left the training ground, heard the shouts coming from within and could not help but smile.

Guy, you really weren't so easily defeated!

Hyuga Setsuna had actually guessed a little about why Might Guy was so dejected.

After all, the Ninja Academy should have held its Ninjutsu test that afternoon.

Might Guy, who had no talent for Ninjutsu, had undoubtedly failed. He had probably even been mocked and shunned by his peers.

The Hidden Leaf Village still had no idea how terrifying Taijutsu could become at its peak, which was why Might Guy was called a "weirdo" and even a "Ninjutsu idiot."

"Setsuna, why do you care so much about that human?"

Within the Sealing Space, Otsutsuki Kaguya asked with slight confusion. Although that boy had surpassed his limits once, he was still weak in her eyes.

"Grandmother, you aren't human, so you can't understand. Humans are complicated and contradictory creatures."

"Is that so? Though I am not human, Setsuna, you are no longer human either."

Perhaps annoyed by Hyuga Setsuna's cryptic words, or perhaps because she had noticed that he had called her inhuman, Otsutsuki Kaguya retorted unhappily.

"Huh? Grandmother, what are you talking about? How could I possibly not be human?"

"After my Chakra fused with yours, it completely changed your physique and genes into those of the Otsutsuki clan. You are now more like my..."

As she reached the end, Otsutsuki Kaguya seemed to suddenly realize something and immediately fell silent.

Even Hyuga Setsuna understood what Otsutsuki Kaguya had left unsaid.

In other words, after accepting the fusion of Otsutsuki Kaguya's Chakra, the human genes in his body had become exceedingly scarce, perhaps even nonexistent.

That meant he was now a pure-blooded child of the Otsutsuki clan, and Otsutsuki Kaguya was the one responsible for it.

Following that logic, didn't that mean he was now Otsutsuki Kaguya's "child?"

Hyuga Setsuna thought with a strange expression.

So Grandmother had become Mother?

This was really...

Late at night.

Hyuga Setsuna looked at the somewhat familiar figure standing before his house and asked in confusion.

"You're the one who delivered the secret technique before? Why have you come to my house so late?"

"The Great Elder wishes to see you."

After stating his purpose, the man turned and headed toward a distant courtyard, signaling for Hyuga Setsuna to follow.

Hyuga Setsuna followed closely behind.

The Great Elder wanted to see me?

Why would the Great Elder of the Hyuga Clan want to meet someone from the Branch Family like me?

Hyuga Setsuna continuously recalled everything he had done recently. In the end, he realized it was probably because he had defeated Gyo Uchiha earlier, drawing the Great Elder's attention.

But hadn't he already been rewarded with the Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists for that incident?

Then why did the Great Elder want to see him now?

Ten minutes later, the two arrived outside a courtyard.

The man led Hyuga Setsuna to the entrance and said,

"Go in. The Great Elder is already waiting for you inside."

Hyuga Setsuna nodded solemnly.

Although he did not know what would happen after meeting the Great Elder, he had a trump card capable of protecting himself. The only problem was that using it would attract the Sage of Six Paths' attention.

Hyuga Setsuna reached out, pushed open the doors before him, and entered.

Inside, an elderly man with frosty silver-white hair stared impassively at Hyuga Setsuna as he entered, then spoke softly.

"Hyuga Setsuna. Five years old. Both parents deceased. In the same year, you awakened the Byakugan and used the Gentle Fist: Sixty-Four Palms to defeat Gyo Uchiha, who had already awakened the Sharingan."

"From today onward, I will be your teacher, Hyuga Yusuke. From now on, I will personally teach you everything related to the Gentle Fist."

Teacher?!

Hyuga Yusuke's words filled Hyuga Setsuna, whose expression had been calm, with shock and astonishment.

What did this mean?

The Great Elder at the pinnacle of the Hyuga Clan was taking someone from the Branch Family as his disciple?

Hyuga Setsuna scrutinized the old man before him with suspicion in his eyes.

Though he was old and his hair was completely white, his gaze remained imposing and clear.

Yet such a man had suddenly declared that he would accept a Branch Family member as his disciple. There had to be something strange going on.

Don't tell him he was some protagonist whose mighty presence had summoned an old master to teach him. Where in the real world could such a good thing exist?

After all, every gift bestowed by fate had long since been marked with a price.

Hyuga Yusuke naturally knew what Hyuga Setsuna was thinking when he saw the suspicion on his face.

"Come with me. Once you enter this room, you'll understand."

Hyuga Yusuke rose with an impassive expression and entered the room behind him, his voice carrying out from within.

I'll understand once I enter that room?

"Do not worry. I just sensed that this human shares a blood relation with the previous you. He will not harm you."

Otsutsuki Kaguya's cool voice entered Hyuga Setsuna's ears.

A blood relation... so that was it.

Then he was taking me as his disciple because of that relationship.

Understanding flashed through Hyuga Setsuna's eyes, and he entered the room as well.

The room was ordinary and simple. It was hard to imagine that this was where the Great Elder of the Hyuga Clan lived. The only unusual thing was the several photographs—or rather, memorial portraits—displayed at the front of the room.

"Father? Mother?"

Hyuga Setsuna exclaimed as he looked at the two photographs on the table before him.

Though he had relaxed after learning that Hyuga Yusuke was related to him by blood, seeing photographs of the father and mother from this life still filled him with surprise and even sorrow.

At that moment, Hyuga Yusuke, standing at the front, stopped before one photograph. It showed a smiling middle-aged man standing beside a younger Hyuga Yusuke.

In the photo, Hyuga Yusuke looked stern, while the other middle-aged man wore a broad smile.

Hyuga Yusuke picked up the photograph and gently stroked it with both hands. His expression was no longer indifferent as he spoke with sorrow and reminiscence.

"This is your grandfather, and also my younger twin brother, Hyuga Masahiro."

"We were twins. He was born only one minute after me, yet he was destined to become part of the Branch Family, even to become my shadow. But after joining the Branch Family, Masahiro never resented me, his older brother. Instead, he kept comforting me as the younger brother. In the end, he even died protecting me!"

"In the end, I, the older brother, was protected by my younger brother. Sometimes, I can no longer tell which of us was truly the older brother and which was the younger."

Hyuga Setsuna stared blankly at the smiling Hyuga Masahiro in the photograph, remaining silent and unsure of what to say.

For a moment, the room fell silent.

After gradually calming down, Hyuga Yusuke spoke with a stern expression.

"Come with me. In a few days, you will join the Anbu. Over the next few days, I will train you harshly."

"Yes, Teacher!"

Second update complete!

I revised this chapter over and over while writing it, yet I'm still not satisfied. I originally wrote four thousand words, but in the end I cut it down to three thousand. It really gave me a headache.

As usual, please vote.

A Tenseigan gaze from Hyuga Setsuna: Dear readers, hand over all your monthly votes, recommendation votes, and bookmarks!