Steam filled the room, the warm light overhead illuminating the hazy space…
Soaking in the spacious bathtub, Hinata allowed her body to relax completely.
Her palm swept idly through the surface of the bath, making soft splashing sounds.
Looking at her flushed, water-logged skin, she couldn’t help but ponder what was coming next.
The Uchiha Clan Downfall Incident.
Not that it had anything to do with her.
They brought that entirely on themselves.
After the massacre, she would have six whole years of uninterrupted peace to train and grow.
She had already fundamentally mastered the Gentle Fist and the Eight Trigrams Palms; as her body matured, all she needed was to keep honing her execution.
As for the clan’s secret techniques like the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm and Revolving Heaven, she would pick them up in no time.
She certainly wasn’t going to let those six years at the academy go to waste.
Just as she had planned before, she intended to obtain the Flying Raijin Jutsu from Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Of course, picking up the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags alongside it would be even better.
After all, the Hyuga Clan was an immensely wealthy lineage with vaults literally overflowing with paper bombs.
They had entire storehouses dedicated solely to stacking explosive tags.
So…
Hinata blinked, her eyes widening slightly.
She suddenly realized she might have completely misunderstood her own position.
She was the heiress of the Hyuga, the future clan head, and one of the core pillars of the Leaf Village.
Even if she was nothing in the grand scheme of the wider shinobi world right now, no one dared to treat the head of the Hyuga Clan lightly.
Why on earth should she put herself through all that trouble when she could just unleash her old man, Hiashi, to go nag Hiruzen Sarutobi for the Flying Raijin instead?!
SPLASH!
Hinata bolted straight up out of the water, her youthful, flat-chested frame glistening under the light, her skin flushed a soft pink from the hot bath.
She couldn’t wait a second longer!
She wanted it right now!
Patter, patter, patter!
Splashing out of the tub, Hinata quickly dried herself off, threw on her clothes, and sprinted straight toward Hiashi’s study on her short legs.
“E-Eh?!
Lady Hinata!”
Guarding the hallway outside, Natsu Hyuga felt only a sudden gust of wind brush past her.
By the time she reacted, the young mistress had already vanished around the corner.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
The heavy wooden door to the study rattled violently under a thunderous pounding.
Inside, Hiashi, who had been practicing his calligraphy, felt his brows twitch.
His brush slipped slightly, leaving an ugly, crooked stroke across an otherwise majestic character.
What is it this time?
Hiashi opened the door with a heavy sigh.
Just from the sheer violence of the knocking, he already knew who was standing on the other side.
In the entire compound, no one dared to be this brazen except Hinata.
“Dearest Father~~ I have something very important to discuss with you~~” Hinata blinked, looking up at him with a pair of bright, innocently wide eyes.
Looking at her damp, unbrushed hair, Hiashi’s immediate instinct was to turn her away.
Ever since she was tiny, Hinata had never spoken to him in such a sickeningly sweet tone.
“First…”
Hiashi let her into the room, reached into a drawer, pulled out a hair dryer, and began carefully drying her wet hair.
Under normal circumstances, a study would never contain a hairdryer, but thanks to Hinata’s endless string of chaotic antics, his workspace had gradually accumulated a bizarre assortment of random household items.
“Tell me, what do you want now?” Hiashi asked over the loud humming of the dryer, working his fingers through his daughter’s hair.
“My dearest dad!
You know, I’ve always deeply revered the Second Hokage!” Hinata sat obediently on the stool, speaking up over the buzz of the machine.
“…”
Since when did you start worshipping the Second Hokage?!
Hiashi’s hands froze for a fraction of a second, three invisible question marks practically floating above his head.
“And?”
“I want to learn the Flying Raijin Jutsu and the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags!”
Late at night.
Hiashi sat alone in his quiet study, a trace of deep worry etched between his brows.
He recalled the request Hinata had made earlier.
That was the very first time she had ever approached him as a daughter asking her father for help.
He truly didn’t want to disappoint her.
But…
The Flying Raijin Jutsu and the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags were both secret techniques created by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju—and both were classified as S-rank Forbidden Jutsu.
At the same time, Hiashi was acutely aware that the Gentle Fist no longer posed any real challenge to Hinata.
He truly did possess a terrifying genius for a daughter…
The tall man leaned back into his wooden chair, his gaze drifting aimlessly across his desk before settling on a framed photograph.
It was a family photo taken two years ago.
Beside Hiashi himself stood a four-year-old Hinata, her arms wrapped tightly around the neck of a gentle, beautiful woman, snuggling contentedly in her mother’s lap.
It was his late wife—Hinata’s mother.
“Nao…” Hiashi murmured softly, speaking his wife’s name into the quiet night.
After a long silence, Hiashi finally stood up, a helpless yet deeply doting smile spreading across his face.
If the child wanted it…
as her father, how could he possibly refuse to get it for her?
At least Hinata hadn’t asked for Tobirama’s Impure World Reincarnation.
He supposed he should count his blessings for small favors.
The following morning.
The Hokage Residence.
The moment Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped into the building wearing his formal Hokage robes, he was immediately stopped by an assistant.
“Lord Hokage, Lord Hiashi, head of the Hyuga Clan, has been waiting for you in the meeting room for quite some time.”
Hiruzen blinked in surprise.
Hiashi Hyuga?
What is he doing here this early in the morning?
After a moment’s thought, Hiruzen walked straight toward the meeting room without hesitation.
After all, it was the leader of the Hyuga Clan; as Hokage, he couldn’t very well turn the man away.
“Lord Hokage,” Hiashi greeted, stepping forward the moment Hiruzen entered the room.
“Hiashi, what brings you to see this old man so early today?” Hiruzen asked, his tone exceptionally warm and welcoming.
“Lord Hokage…” Hiashi offered a deeply helpless, bitter smile, immediately piquing Hiruzen’s curiosity.
“As you know, I have a daughter named Hinata.”
“Of course.
She is a remarkably bright child,” Hiruzen chuckled, waving a hand.
“Hiashi, don’t tell me you’re here because she beat up young Naruto again yesterday?”
“…”
Wait, Hinata beat up the Nine-Tails kid AGAIN yesterday?!
Hearing this, Hiashi almost failed to keep his composure.
“Er, no, it’s not that,” Hiashi suppressed the urge to twitch his eye, forcing himself to explain.
“It is simply that my daughter, Hinata, holds an immense, profound admiration for the Second Hokage, Lord Tobirama Senju.”
Hiruzen’s eyes lit up with a touch of fond nostalgia.
“Ah, I see.
Lord Tobirama was indeed a rare, extraordinary figure in the history of the shinobi world.
It is only natural for Hinata to admire him.
So?
Does Hinata want this old man to tell her a few stories about my late master?”
Hiashi remained silent for a brief second before opening his mouth:
“Lord Hokage…
my daughter wishes to learn the Second Hokage’s Flying Raijin Jutsu and the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags.”
The warm expression on Hiruzen Sarutobi’s face froze instantly.
What did you just say?
A six-year-old child in your family wants to learn the Flying Raijin and Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags?!
And you, the prestigious leader of the Hyuga Clan, actually came here in person to deliver such an absurd request to ME?!