In another small courtyard.
Hiashi was teaching Neji the Eight Trigrams: Sky Wall Palm, the air thick with solemn concentration.
Suddenly, a breeze carried over faint yet unmistakably clear snatches of conversation from the neighboring courtyard:
"...Let's team up, Sis!"
"...Ino is more proactive than you... Karin even lives at Naruto's house..."
"...If you want to win Naruto over, you have to make the first move!"
Hiashi froze halfway through his demonstration, his hand suspended in midair.
Neji held the opening stance of the Eight Trigrams: Sky Wall Palm, as though an invisible Pressure Point Technique had immobilized him.
Even the wind seemed to stop at that moment.
A few leaves drifted from the trees and settled silently on the paving stones between them.
Time stood still for three whole seconds.
Hiashi turned his head extremely slowly, inch by inch. The corner of his eye twitched uncontrollably on his normally impassive face.
He looked at Neji.
With the same stiff slowness, Neji turned his pale neck to look back at his uncle.
His usually calm, perceptive Byakugan now clearly reflected the same shock, disbelief, and a certain... profound, indescribably complicated emotion.
Hiashi's temples throbbed.
He could practically see the two precious flowers he had so carefully nurtured, both gazing longingly over someone else's garden fence.
And the smaller one was desperately urging the larger one to uproot herself and jump into that other garden!
Naruto Uzumaki... you deserve to die!
Neji closed his eyes and drew a deep breath.
He had thought that, after enduring despair, hatred, and reconciliation, his resolve was already as solid as a rock.
But now he genuinely wanted to kill Naruto Uzumaki.
Hiashi's broad hand settled heavily on Neji's shoulder. Its weight came not just from the hand itself, but from an unspoken expectation