Who Was the Fool Now?

"Hinata?"

Kurenai Yuhi noticed Hinata standing there blankly instead of moving.

Just as she wondered what was wrong, she noticed that Hinata seemed emotionally unsettled.

She hurried over. "What's wrong, Hinata? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

Did I push her too hard yesterday and make her body uncomfortable...?

"What a coincidence, isn't that Kanami?"

Kiba Inuzuka also spotted Kanami and pointed him out to everyone.

Then he noticed Kanami chatting and laughing with the two cute girls beside him.

"That kid sure has plenty of luck with women."

The moment Kiba said it, he realized he had misspoken and hurriedly turned to look at Hinata.

Seeing the lonely look on Hinata's face, Kiba immediately felt that things had gone badly.

He ran both hands around his head in agitation.

After Kiba's reminder, Kurenai Yuhi also noticed Kanami.

She instantly understood what had happened.

Hinata must have seen Kanami with those two girls as well.

No, if I don't tell her now, she might really misunderstand.

Kurenai Yuhi crouched down and looked at Hinata.

"Those two are Kanami's teammates."

Hinata nodded.

She had already guessed as much, but she still felt inexplicably upset.

"Would you like to go say hello to him?"

Just as Kurenai Yuhi asked, Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru had already charged over.

Fang Over Fang!

Man and dog transformed into two black whirlwinds and tore forward.

Hearing the commotion, Kanami glanced over.

"Kiba?"

"Fuck!"

Fortunately, Kanami reacted quickly and leaped onto a rooftop, dodging Kiba's attack.

A massive crater now lay where he had been standing.

Kiba Inuzuka shouted at Kanami, "Get down here!"

Akamaru: "Woof!"

Seeing him hiding atop the house, Kiba Inuzuka could not launch another attack. The steep price of real estate forced him to remain rational.

Kiba's here. Could Hinata be here too?

The instant Kanami saw Hinata, he smacked his forehead hard.

This is bad. Kiba attacked me so angrily; he probably misunderstood.

Kanami jumped down from the roof, ignored Kiba Inuzuka, and ran toward Hinata.

Yuzuki and Fūka had just heard Kiba Inuzuka call out Kanami's name.

"You know Kanami?"

Kiba Inuzuka bared his fangs and glanced sideways.

The moment he saw Fūka, he immediately softened.

Though Kanami's behavior disgusted him, Kiba acknowledged the guy's taste.

Akamaru: "Woof woof woof!"

Only after hearing Akamaru bark did Kiba Inuzuka remember that he had come to avenge Hinata. He hurriedly shook his head and retreated several meters.

That was close! I nearly fell for this woman's genjutsu.

Meanwhile, seeing Kanami rush toward her, Hinata quickly hid her lonely expression.

"Kanami..."

Before Hinata could finish, Kanami pulled her into his arms.

"Hinata, you know me."

Blushing, Hinata buried her face in his chest.

She softly said, "Mm, I know."

The knot in her heart instantly dissolved.

Kurenai Yuhi looked at the two of them enviously and thought to herself.

If only that blockhead Asuma could be this clever.

After embracing for a moment, they released each other when Kurenai Yuhi lightly coughed.

"Teacher Kurenai should have mentioned that they're my teammates, right?"

Hinata nodded.

"I'll call them over so everyone can get acquainted."

Standing beside Hinata, Kanami held her soft little hand and called out to Yuzuki and Fūka.

"Yuzuki, Fūka, come over here!"

The two heard him call.

Fūka leaned close to Yuzuki's ear, her expression somewhat dazed.

"Big Sis, should we go over?"

Clarity gradually returned to Yuzuki's eyes. "Let's go."

From Kanami's attitude toward that girl just now, she had already seen how much he cared about her.

A bitter feeling rose in her heart.

Just a few minutes ago, she and Fūka had been whispering about what kind of girl Kanami might like.

Now, she knew.

Before long, the group gathered together and introduced themselves.

Kanami held Hinata's little hand and never let go.

He casually made it clear that Yuzuki and Fūka were merely his teammates.

The group chatted as they walked.

Yuzuki kept glancing at Hinata from time to time.

Silently, she compared herself to Hinata.

After looking Hinata over from head to toe, she understood where she had lost.

Yuzuki lowered her head and saw her own feet, bitterness flooding her heart.

"I bet when Hinata Hyuga lowers her head, she can't see her own feet at all..."

As her younger sister, Fūka had long noticed Yuzuki's predicament along the way.

So she casually came up with an excuse and pulled Yuzuki away.

Soon after, Kurenai Yuhi, Kiba Inuzuka, and the others also knowingly found a clumsy excuse to leave, giving the pair some space.

Kanami and Hinata seemed to have been apart for a long time, but in truth, not even twenty-four hours had passed.

The two affectionately strolled through the entire shopping street.

Just as they entered a secluded alley.

Kanami heard faint movement around them, rapidly closing in on their direction.

In an instant, more than a dozen masked men appeared and surrounded Kanami and Hinata against the wall.

The leader sneered. "We finally found you!"

Kanami saw that they meant trouble.

Holding Hinata's hand, he shielded her behind him and calmly asked.

"What do you want with me?"

The leader gave a sinister laugh. "Heh heh heh, naturally, we're here to take your dog life!"

As he stepped back, several masked men around them threw Shuriken at Kanami.

"Kanami!"

Behind him, Hinata activated her Byakugan and was about to act when she noticed Kanami smile at her.

Then she sensed an enormous amount of chakra from Kanami.

Kanami did not even look at the incoming Shuriken.

He quickly turned around and completely shielded Hinata.

While they had been talking, he had already begun using the Lightning-nature chakra within his body for Cell Activation.

The leader smiled disdainfully. "Is this idiot brat going to die for that girl?"

Had I known this brat was this stupid, I would've come alone to kill him.

The reward wasn't much to begin with, and now I have to split it among so many people.

He had learned from his employer that the target's strength was comparable to a Chunin, which was why he had sent so many people. He had not expected this to be so easy.

"I need to find a way to squeeze more money out of them."

Yet when the Shuriken struck Kanami, they only tore his clothes.

Countless Shuriken barely managed to leave white marks on Kanami's body.

"What's going on?"

The leader was shocked.

Then his face darkened as he roared at the others, "Did you fuckers skip breakfast?"

The others looked at one another.

They had already used every ounce of strength they had.

Even those who had done this sort of thing many times had never seen anything like it.

Taking Shuriken head-on?

If they had not seen the fair skin beneath his torn clothes, they would have suspected that the kid was wearing steel plates underneath.

Kanami looked down at Hinata and smiled. "You weren't hurt, were you?"

Hinata shook her head. "No."

"That's good."

He rubbed Hinata's hair, picked up a Shuriken from the ground, and hurled it forcefully at one of them.

Then he rapidly formed hand seals.

Seeing the incoming Shuriken, the man disdainfully raised his Kunai.

"Fool, do you think I'm a practice target that won't move?"

Because Kanami had thrown only one Shuriken, he concluded that Kanami had no real combat experience.

Yet in the instant the Shuriken flew through the air.

"Genjutsu: Bringer-of-Darkness Technique."

The moment Kanami completed the hand seals, all vision within a five-meter radius was instantly stripped away.

The man who had been about to knock aside the Shuriken with his Kunai suddenly found everything before him pitch-black and lost sight of his target.

Confusion appeared in his eyes.

Splat—

The Shuriken pierced his head with precision.

With a thud.

The man dropped to his knees, his face still filled with confusion even in death.

"Now, who's the fool?"