“Father, does she hate me?”
High up in the sky, the six-year-old Toneri Otsutsuki “looked” toward his father, his voice carrying a hint of anxiety.
“No, my child.”
“That was merely her way of protecting herself.”
Guanming Otsutsuki.
Toneri Otsutsuki’s father.
“Protecting herself?”
“When someone needs to protect themselves, isn’t it because they’ve encountered danger?”
“Did we make her feel like she was in danger, which is why she needed to protect herself?”
“If so, shouldn’t we apologize to her?”
Toneri Otsutsuki questioned his father with a mix of innocence and guilt.
However, faced with his son’s questions, Guanming Otsutsuki merely remained silent.
The father and son were descendants of Hamura Otsutsuki on the Moon from a thousand years ago, making them distant relatives of the Hyuga clan on Earth.
Like the Hyuga, Hamura’s descendants on the Moon were also divided into a Main House and a Branch House.
But unlike the master-servant relationship between the Hyuga’s Main and Branch Houses, the Main and Branch Houses on the Moon were in an all-out, hostile feud due to conflicting ideologies, to the point where the Branch House had completely slaughtered the Main House.
However, to annihilate the Main House, their Branch House had also paid a devastating price.
Now, the only remaining descendants of Hamura on the Moon were the father and son, Guanming Otsutsuki and Toneri Otsutsuki.
Guanming Otsutsuki reached out and gently pressed his hand against his chest.
He had been severely wounded during that great war years ago, and his days were now numbered.
“Father?”
Toneri Otsutsuki was born without eyes, leaving his sockets completely hollow, but even so, Guanming Otsutsuki felt as if he could see a look of confusion from within them.
“Toneri, what do you think of the humans on Earth?”
Guanming Otsutsuki spoke calmly, not answering his son’s question directly.
“Father, you always taught me that the people of Earth have perpetuated war, greed, selfishness, and hatred for a thousand years.”
“The Sage of Six Paths’ way was wrong.
The humans on Earth have already proven his failure.”
Toneri recited in a matter-of-fact tone.
This was the ideology he had been raised on since childhood.
“Since the humans on Earth have proven the Sage of Six Paths failed, then that girl named Hinata should likewise be the embodiment of greed, selfishness, and hatred.”
“Toneri, why do you find her cute?”
“Why were you happy when I said she would become your wife?”
Guanming Otsutsuki asked, looking gently at his son.
There were no winners in the war between the Main and Branch Houses on the Moon; everyone lost.
If no unexpected events occurred, then in two or three years, Toneri would be the only one left on the Moon.
Even if Toneri married Hinata Hyuga, he would still end up growing old and dying alone on the Moon.
Guanming Otsutsuki did not want his son to spend his life in such loneliness.
Confronted with his father’s question, Toneri didn’t know how to answer for a moment.
He just opened his mouth, and only after a long pause did he speak hesitantly:
“She’s…
different from the others.”
Guanming Otsutsuki smiled faintly and remained silent for a long time as he looked down at the land below that belonged to the Hyuga.
He was about to make a decision that went against their ancestral teachings.
Perhaps from this moment on, all the Branch House clansmen who had died in the war against the Main House would become a joke.
But at this moment, he was just a father.
An ordinary father who was on the verge of death, thinking only of paving the way for his son before he passed.
The Hyuga Compound
Hiashi Hyuga, who was about to rush to the Hokage Building with Hinata, suddenly froze in his tracks right at the front gate of his own estate.
He stared intently at the two figures blocking the entrance ahead.
Beneath his seemingly stern and majestic facade, an uncontrollable storm was raging in his heart!
He recognized them!
It was a top secret passed down by word of mouth through generations of Hyuga clan heads!
These were their clansmen from the Moon!
“Clansmen of the Hyuga, it is a pleasure to meet you for the first time.
My name is Guanming Otsutsuki.”
“We share a common ancestor.”
Cloaked in a retro white robe, the man—who should have been in his prime at around forty years old—was covered in wrinkles, and even his sideburns were dusted with frost.
Standing beside Hiashi Hyuga, Hinata looked at the two figures, one big and one small, completely dumbfounded.
Wait, what?
Can anyone tell me if I was supposed to have met Toneri Otsutsuki when we were kids in the original canon?
Wasn’t it just an unrequited crush on his end?
“Was that you just now?”
Though phrased as a question, his tone was certain.
At the same time, Hiashi Hyuga discreetly shielded Hinata behind his back.
“Yes.”
“There is no need to be on guard.
I harbor no ill intent.”
Sensing Hiashi Hyuga’s wariness, Guanming Otsutsuki spoke calmly.
Meanwhile, the anomaly on Hiashi Hyuga’s side also alerted Hizashi Hyuga, who was currently maintaining order.
Hizashi Hyuga was about to ask what new disturbance had occurred, but the words died in his throat.
His pair of white pupils locked dead onto Guanming Otsutsuki!
Hizashi Hyuga knew every single member of the Hyuga clan, yet he had never seen this man before.
“Please, come in.”
Hiashi Hyuga raised his hand to signal Hizashi to step down while stepping aside, clearing a path to invite Guanming Otsutsuki into the Hyuga compound.
“Thank you.”
Guanming Otsutsuki nodded slightly in thanks to Hiashi Hyuga.
“Brother, who is this?”
Hizashi Hyuga looked at Hiashi Hyuga in confusion.
“Do not speak a word of tonight’s events to anyone.”
“To the outside world, just say Hinata was playing with explosive tags and they went off.”
Hiashi Hyuga instructed Hizashi Hyuga.
On the other side, Hinata, who was wracking her brain trying to remember if this scene ever happened in the original canon, was completely derailed by her dear old dad’s words.
Instantly, she was fuming!
Dammit!
Am I the kind of person who just plays around with explosive tags?!
My dear father!
How can you tell a lie without even blinking?!
“Hinata, you are not allowed to come.
Stay with Hizashi.”
Sensing Hinata following behind him, Hiashi Hyuga extended his arm to block her path.
“…Understood.”
Hinata was about to speak, but seeing Hiashi’s brooks-no-argument gaze, she could only helplessly give up.
With these so-called distant relatives from the Moon being of unknown alignment, Hiashi Hyuga naturally would never allow Hinata to be in even the slightest danger under such circumstances.
On normal days, Hiashi tended to indulge and even dote on Hinata, but on matters like this, Hinata had zero room to bargain.
“Hizashi.”
Hiashi Hyuga looked toward Hizashi Hyuga.
“Yes, Brother.”
Receiving his brother’s command, Hizashi Hyuga placed his hand on Hinata’s shoulder and nodded to Hiashi.
Hinata could only stand in place, watching Hiashi Hyuga, Guanming Otsutsuki, and Toneri walk toward the distant conference room.
Just as they were about to disappear around the corner, Toneri Otsutsuki turned his head to look back at Hinata.
You’re literally blind, what exactly are you looking at me with?!
Looking at Toneri Otsutsuki, Hinata thought grumpily to herself.
Watching the three of them vanish, a slight gloom settled over Hinata’s heart.
She had already guessed the reason behind this scene.
Just because of a single explosive tag she set off, the father and son—who were supposed to leave after just catching a glimpse of her—had intentionally come to pay a visit for some reason…