Hatake Sakumo

A few months later, the Shinobi World War was declared over.

Yui trained under Nai Hyuga at the Training Ground every night.

Little by little, she mastered the basics of the Gentle Fist.

She could now hold her own against Nai Hyuga.

But she had no way to learn advanced Gentle Fist techniques like the Eight Trigrams Palm.

It was not because Nai Hyuga refused to teach her, but because Nai had not learned them herself.

According to her, she had been studying the Gentle Fist for less than a year.

It was only natural that she had not learned those advanced techniques. Even the most gifted ninja could not possibly master all of that in a single year.

"Yui, I'm starting at the Ninja Academy tomorrow. I might only be able to train with you at night."

As always, the two sat in the corridor after training, admiring the moonlight.

Yui was briefly surprised to hear that, but after thinking it over, she realized it made sense. At Nai's age, it was time to attend the Ninja Academy.

"Congratulations. And thank you..." Yui said with a smile.

Nai Hyuga smiled too.

"I'll make sure to teach you every ninjutsu I learn at school."

This was the first group of clan ninja the Hyuga Clan was sending to the Ninja Academy.

After all, the Ninja Academy needed clan ninja as well as civilians. Now that the school had been established, they had to send some of their clan's children there to study.

Still, members of the Hyuga Clan focused primarily on studying the Gentle Fist at home.

Yui wanted to attend the Ninja Academy too, but there was nothing she could do. Given her situation, she did not even know whether she was allowed to leave the compound, let alone attend school.

"Haah..." She sighed, her heart full of helplessness.

Nai Hyuga seemed to notice Yui's dejected expression, and fell silent for a moment.

She understood what Yui was thinking, but all she could do for now was comfort her.

Perhaps...

After chatting for a while, the two returned to their own quarters.

Back in her room, Yui did not rush to bed. Instead, she changed into a solid black kimono and sat cross-legged on the straw mat.

She ran a hand over the old book she held.

Over the past few months, she had thoroughly studied this "Hyuga Chakra Method." Since learning it, the amount of chakra she could extract had gradually increased.

Quietly putting the book away, she closed her eyes and tried again to accomplish what she had failed to do before.

She gathered chakra in her eyes, and chakra pathways slowly began to bulge around them. They looked almost frightening.

"Byakugan, activate."

She opened her eyes and looked around in amazement.

She had actually succeeded?

The world she saw was completely different from before.

Though her vision was washed in white, she could see everything in the darkness with perfect clarity.

She also seemed able to see very far now, adjusting her eyes' focus at will.

By her estimate, she could probably see over a kilometer away.

Most importantly of all, she could now see through things. By focusing her chakra, she could see the person sleeping in the next room.

"This Byakugan really is... absurd..."

She looked down at herself. Just as she had expected, she could see the pathways inside her body with perfect clarity.

The Byakugan was practically made for medicine.

How could the Hyuga Clan not know how to use it? All they thought about was using it to fight.

Once she had familiarized herself with the Byakugan's vision, she quietly left her room, climbed over the wall, and slipped out of the Hyuga Clan Compound.

Her routine now consisted of training at night and sleeping during the day. Her days and nights were completely reversed.

After observing the compound over the past few months, she had discovered that its security was lax, with barely any guards on patrol.

That was why she could sneak out so easily.

Otherwise, how would Hinata Hyuga end up being kidnapped by a Kumogakure ninja in the future?

The Hyuga Clan possessed the Byakugan, yet they could not even spare a few ninja to patrol.

They really were confident in their Byakugan, weren't they?

After leaving the compound, Yui made her way to a lake.

Over the past few months, she had come here to train her chakra control.

She had basically copied the methods from the Naruto anime.

The two staples: Water Walking and tree climbing.

They really did work, though. Lately, she had felt her chakra becoming much easier to control.

Just as Yui was about to begin training, she suddenly spotted another figure on the shore.

The figure had a build similar to hers and was probably around her age.

With short hair, he appeared to be a boy.

He held a short sword and was striking a tree stump over and over.

"Why is someone else here this late?"

He was a little far away, so she activated her Byakugan to observe him.

Through the Byakugan, the boy's chakra fluctuations looked strange. His pathways were blurry and seemed somewhat weak, unlike a normal person's clear, vigorous ones.

She slowly made her way toward him, stopping in a patch of bushes less than ten meters away.

"Who's there...?"

Before Yui could get a closer look, he noticed her.

A short sword flew straight toward her.

Yui dodged sideways, and the blade sliced straight through the bushes.

Luckily, her Byakugan was still active, allowing her to spot the incoming sword.

But dodging took her out from behind the bushes.

Her figure was exposed to him.

Though it was nighttime, the faint light was enough for him to make out Yui's appearance.

"White hair... white skin... Byakugan..."

"Are you from the Hyuga Clan?"

The figure spoke in a puzzled voice.

As she approached him, Yui finally got a clear look at his face.

He was about her age, and to her surprise, his hair was white too.

"Yes..." Yui nodded in acknowledgment.

After all, she really was a member of the Hyuga Clan.

"Why were you spying on me...?" the white-haired boy asked in confusion.

The corner of Yui's eye twitched.

What did he mean, spying? To clear her name, she had no choice but to explain.

"Who's spying on you? I came to the lake to train. I didn't expect anyone to be here already, so I got curious and came to take a look."

After she finished, he fell silent.

It was a while before he spoke again.

"Is that so?" the white-haired boy said. "Then I'm sorry. I misunderstood."

"You're here to train too? Looks like we really were meant to meet!" the white-haired boy said with a smile. "Ahaha, now that we've cleared up the misunderstanding, let's introduce ourselves!"

Even if that girl was from the Hyuga Clan, she should be easy enough to get along with, right?

"Oh... I'm Hatake Sakumo. What's your name?"

Hatake Sakumo???????