Waiting by the Spring, Guarding the Spot

Hyuga Hiashi hurried home and called out anxiously.

"Hinata, Hinata, are you up yet?"

Hinata poked her head out from the room, dressed in a black undershirt.

She was toweling off her still-damp hair.

"Father, did you need me?"

Hyuga Hiashi strode over to her in a single step.

"Hinata, what do you think Kanami is usually like?"

"Huh?" Hinata was a little confused.

Why was her father suddenly concerned about Kanami?

"He's... he's pretty great. He's handsome, and he's really considerate too."

"Stop." Hyuga Hiashi's face darkened. "Who asked about that? I mean, since you're usually with him on Team 8, how does he perform in terms of ability?"

Hinata suddenly understood and nodded.

"He's usually very hardworking. Oh, right, he's already mastered the C-Rank Ninjutsu Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu."

So what Kurenai Yuhi said was true.

Hyuga Hiashi nodded. "Does he have any other special qualities?"

"He's also very fast. Other than that, I don't know..."

"All right, I understand."

Hyuga Hiashi turned and left.

"We'll see during the Chunin Ninja Exams."

He silently repeated to himself.

He did not expect Kanami to surpass Neji. As long as he performed well enough, he would no longer stand in their way.

After all, she was his daughter. He could see that Hinata truly liked him, and that boy Kanami did not seem like a frivolous person either. Otherwise, Hinata would not have liked him for so long.

He knew full well that Hinata's talent could no longer support the burden of reviving the Hyuga Clan, so he could only spend time cultivating her younger sister, Hanabi Hyuga.

"But will the clan elders really watch Hinata be with an outsider?"

To prevent the Byakugan from being lost, the Hyuga Clan had always married within the clan.

Hyuga Hiashi shook his head and stopped dwelling on such distant matters.

If Kanami truly displayed his strength and the clan elders still feared the loss of the Byakugan bloodline, then even if he had to give up being clan head, he would let his daughter choose her own life.

Time flew by, and a week passed in the blink of an eye.

Kanami spent each day tediously carrying out the thief-catching and cat-and-dog-finding missions assigned by Kurenai Yuhi.

At the same time, he did not slack off in his training of genjutsu and chakra control.

Today was also the final day of the wager Kanami had made with Kurenai Yuhi.

"Have you really learned it already?"

Hinata followed behind Kanami as the two headed toward Kurenai Yuhi's home.

"Of course. Otherwise, wouldn't I just be humiliating myself by looking for her?"

Hinata raised her little fist to cover the smile at the corner of her lips.

Over the past week, the two had grown increasingly close while carrying out missions.

Ever since Hyuga Hiashi asked Hinata about Kanami that day, he had not interfered much with their interactions.

Before long, the two arrived at Kurenai Yuhi's residence side by side.

Kanami stepped forward and knocked on the door.

"Teacher Kurenai, I'm here to keep our appointment."

But no one answered for a long time.

"Byakugan."

Hinata activated her Byakugan and looked into the inner rooms, only to find no trace of chakra flow inside.

She shook her head. "Teacher Kurenai isn't home."

"Then where did she run off to?"

Kanami leaned against the wall, and the more he thought about it, the more something felt wrong.

He had mastered two genjutsu in a week, yet Kurenai Yuhi had happened to give them the last day off so they could rest properly.

Could Kurenai be trying to welch on the bet?

No. I'm waiting right here today. I refuse to believe you won't come home for lunch.

Meanwhile, Kurenai Yuhi was accepting Asuma Sarutobi's clumsy attentions in Mū's helpless manner.

She had never believed Kanami could master genjutsu in one week, so she had completely forgotten that today was the final day of her bet with him.

Kurenai Yuhi and Asuma Sarutobi sat in a small shop.

Asuma Sarutobi nervously carried several trays, laden with fruit salad and assorted snacks.

Kurenai Yuhi rested her cheeks in her hands and watched his awkward display in Mū's helpless manner.

"Can't you carry just one tray at a time?"

"R-right..."

After setting the trays on the table, Asuma Sarutobi awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

Then he carefully speared a piece of apple with a toothpick and offered it to Kurenai Yuhi.

After Kurenai Yuhi opened her mouth and swallowed it, she still rolled her eyes at him in Mū's helpless manner. "Aren't you usually pretty smart?"

"When I see Kurenai, I kind of can't think straight," Asuma Sarutobi replied sheepishly.

At his words, the corner of Kurenai Yuhi's lips curled up, though she quickly suppressed it.

If anyone else had said that, Kurenai Yuhi would certainly have thought it was slick talk. But she had known Asuma Sarutobi for a long time. With a blockhead like him, if he could say something like that, it could only mean he was answering honestly.

Sigh, I really don't know whether to call you foolish or foolish.

Kurenai Yuhi sighed inwardly.

Still, every now and then, when this blockhead had a rare moment of clarity, it always made her smile.

On the other side, Kanami and Hinata stubbornly continued waiting outside Kurenai Yuhi's door.

Since Kanami would not leave, Hinata naturally stayed with him.

The two even squatted outside her house and ate lunch there.

Kanami wolfed down his eel rice with a fierce glare. It was as though he was not swallowing eel rice, but his dissatisfaction with Kurenai Yuhi.

"Slow down. You'll choke."

Just then, Kanami suddenly stopped chewing and hurriedly straightened his back.

He had really choked.

Hinata could not be blamed for that. Eating while squatting made it easier to choke than eating while sitting.

Seeing this, Hinata hurriedly handed him some water.

At the same time, she gently patted his back.

Kanami drank several large gulps of water with his back straight before he finally recovered.

He turned to look at Hinata sincerely.

"Good thing you were here, or I would've died an unjust death."

Hinata shyly picked at the rice in her bowl and avoided meeting his eyes.

After nearly being betrayed to death by eel rice, he directed all his dissatisfaction and resentment toward Kurenai Yuhi.

"I refuse to believe you won't come back tonight either."

He had already made up his mind. If she still did not return tonight, he would set her house on fire.