Dead silence.
Inside Dojang No.
1, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
An early summer breeze drifted through the open sliding doors, brushing across the polished, hard wooden floor.
Out of respect for the dojang’s rules, everyone was barefoot.
Normally, this allowed one to feel the flow of chakra between their soles and the earth better.
But right now, those pairs of bare feet seemed nailed to the floorboards, stiff as stone.
Neji was sprawled on the cold floor in a spread-eagle shape.
His face—originally handsome, aloof, and exuding the pride of a Branch House genius—was now swollen into a uniform shade of purplish-red.
His left eye was squeezed down to a slit, and the right side of his face bulged high, looking for all the world like a oversized pig’s head fresh out of the steamer.
He hadn’t passed out, but his four-year-old brain had completely crashed.
He could only stare blankly at the ceiling, his chest heaving violently.
Straddling his body, Hinata’s chest was also heaving as her small, chubby fists remained in a downward-punching pose.
Haa…
haa…
Ah, that felt good!
Hinata let out a breath of pure spite in her mind.
Show off, will you?!
Use lethal force, will you?!
Strike my soft, delicate loli face, will you?!
In my past life, I was a King of Fighters legend with an eighty-game win streak in the arcade!
You think I can’t handle a little brat like you?!
However, that satisfaction following her bout of violence lasted for less than two seconds.
A wave of extremely hazardous coldness shot straight up through her barefoot soles and pierced her skull!
Holy crap!
Wait a minute!
Hinata’s big, pale-blue eyes blinked hard.
The twenty-four-year-old modern soul inside her head instantly snapped back to reality, and cold sweat drenched the back of her pure white training uniform.
What did I just do?!
I am the three-year-old Eldest Miss of the Hyūga Main House!
I’ve always maintained an image of being timid, weak, and shaking like a leaf at a clap of thunder!
And I just used a street-brawler beatdown posture to pin the Branch House’s top genius to the ground and turn him into a pig’s head?!
Is this something a three-year-old can do?!
Stiffly, Hinata turned her head, her peripheral vision darting toward Hyūga Hiashi, who sat in the main seat, and Hyūga Hizashi, who stood a short distance away.
Sure enough.
Those two top-tier powerhouses, who could make the entire Leaf Village tremble with a stomp of their feet, were currently staring at her with horror-filled eyes, as if looking at an alien monster!
Hiashi’s pale eyes bulged so wide they nearly popped out of their sockets, his jaw slightly slack.
The Main House leader’s dignity he had maintained for decades was shattered into pieces on the floor.
I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead!
I’m going to be exposed!
The old man definitely suspects I’ve been possessed by some vengeful ghost!
Hinata roared madly inside her head, her survival instincts reaching an absolute peak.
Act!
I have to act right now!
As long as I cry pitifully enough, as long as I look pathetic enough, this blame won’t fall on me!
No sooner said than done.
Hinata instantly retracted her fists—the very definition of violent aesthetics—and scrambled off Neji’s body.
Standing barefoot on the wooden floor, she forcefully tapped into her past life’s memories of watching tragic anime:
Think about that limited-edition figure I just bought that got crushed by the courier!
Think about my console breaking before I could beat the game!
Think about the harem I can never have in this life!
Sorrow welled up from deep within!
“WAHHH—!”
A piercing, delicate, and slightly cracking sob instantly shattered the dead silence of the dojang.
Two streams of crystal-clear tears tumbled from Hinata’s brilliant, pale-blue eyes like snapped pearl necklaces.
Instead of running to the cold-looking Hiashi, she took off on her little short legs, her bare feet pitter-pattering across the floor, and dived straight toward Hizashi!
“Uncle Hizashi!”
Hinata grabbed Hizashi’s thigh, looking up with a tiny, slightly reddened face (from Neji’s first palm strike).
Her eyes flooded with tears, and she wept uncontrollably.
“Uncle Hizashi…
he actually hit my face!
Waaah…”
Her voice sounded as aggrieved and pathetic as humanly possible.
It was as if the violent female dinosaur who had just been riding someone and beating them ruthlessly didn’t exist at all, and she was merely an innocent three-year-old girl who had been beaten by a bully for no reason while walking down the street.
Sitting in the main seat, Hiashi’s body swayed violently upon seeing this, nearly tumbling off his tatami mat.
He clutched his chest tightly, feeling his worldview being repeatedly trampled by a stampeding elephant named “Daughter.”
Holy crap!
Hiashi roared from the very depths of his soul, his mouth twitching wildly.
You have the nerve to cry?!
You actually have the nerve to cry?!
Look at that mass of flesh lying on the floor!
Look at what you did to Neji!
He’s a once-in-a-century genius of the Branch House!
His face is swollen so bad even his own father couldn’t recognize him!
Hiashi stared with wide, pale eyes, watching Hinata cling to Hizashi’s leg while crying like pear blossoms in the rain.
His heart grew utterly cold.
This girl…
is she this vengeful?!
Just because Neji brushed her face with an opening palm strike, she literally held him down and pummeled him with over a dozen punches!
And every single hit targeted his face!
Where is she weak or timid?
She’s petty, vengeful, and rotten to the core!
An extraordinarily terrifying thought suddenly sprouted in Hiashi’s mind like a venomous snake, making him shudder involuntarily.
It’s over!
It’s completely over!
This girl is only three years old and she’s already this ruthless, not to mention how adept she is at playing victim!
When I get old…
No!
When she grows up, if she thinks her old father was too strict with her back then, will she abuse me?!
Will she pull out my oxygen tube?!
Or will she straddle my old bones and give me a round of wild punches just like she did to Neji?!
For the first time in his life, Hyūga Hiashi—the current clan head of the Hyūga and one of the Konoha’s top battle forces—felt deep despair and dread regarding his retirement years.
However, what pushed Hiashi into even deeper despair was his younger twin brother’s reaction.
“Eldest Miss!”
Seeing the tears streaming down Hinata’s face and hearing that sweet, pitiful “Uncle Hizashi,” the string in Hizashi’s brain labeled “reason” snapped with a loud crack.
What Branch House genius?
What combat sparring?
What rules and propriety?
All of it was thrown beyond the nine heavens by Hizashi!
He only saw his most beloved, angel-like niece being bullied to tears!
Her face was even red!
Without a second thought, Hizashi dropped to one knee, his eyes overflowing with heartache.
He stretched out trembling hands to carefully wipe the tears from the corners of Hinata’s eyes.
“Don’t cry, Hinata!
Don’t be scared, Uncle Hizashi is here!”
Hizashi’s voice was filled with self-blame and fury.
He whipped his head around, glaring at Neji lying on the floor, and shouted fiercely:
“Neji!
You unfilial son!
Lord Clan Head had you spar with the Eldest Miss so you could feed her moves!
How dare you lay such a heavy hand and strike the Eldest Miss’s face!
Have you forgotten the Branch House’s duty to protect the Main House?!”
After shouting, Hizashi turned back around, his demeanor softening so much it seemed he might melt into water as he continued to comfort Hinata:
“You’ve been frightened, Hinata!
It’s all due to my lack of discipline.
Uncle Hizashi apologizes to you!
Quick, let me see, does your face still hurt?”
A short distance away on the floorboards.
But at this moment, Neji felt his heart was ten thousand times colder than the wooden floor.
He struggled to open the tiny slit of his left eye that hadn’t completely swollen shut, staring blankly at the absurd scene before him.
What was he looking at?
That “she-demon” who had just released a terrifying aura, accurately countered all his moves, and beaten him into agony with fists harder than rock was currently sobbing in his father’s arms.
And his own birth father—the man who had taught him since childhood to be strong and stoic—hadn’t even checked on him once.
Instead, he was pointing at the victim whose face had been beaten to a pulp and berating him violently?!
Frightened?
The word slowly surfaced in Neji’s four-year-old brain.
Who on earth is the one who got frightened here?!
The red mark on her face was from me missing my control on the very first palm attack!
But these lumps on my face were pounded out one by one by her fists!
I was the one pinned to the ground and beaten half to death!
Neji opened his mouth with difficulty, wanting to defend himself, but pulling at his swollen lip only produced a faint, sharp intake of cold air: “Sss…”
Two tears of humiliation, grievance, and a shattering worldview quietly slipped from the corners of Neji’s bruised eyes.
He stared up at the dojang ceiling, issuing a silent, blood-weeping cry from the bottom of his heart:
I’m the only one who isn’t human here, huh?!
So in this family, I’m the only one taking real beatings AND taking the blame for being the bully?!
What kind of hellish nightmare is this?!
“Enough!”
Just as the absurd atmosphere was about to spiral completely out of control, Hiashi finally took a deep breath, forcefully retrieving his authority as clan head.
He stood up, his broad white robes fluttering without wind, and looked at the still-sobbing Hinata with an immensely complex gaze.
Regardless of what’s going on with this girl, that level of chakra control and those terrifying reaction speeds just now were absolutely real!
As long as Hyūga blood flows within her, as long as she calls me father, she is the future hope of our Hyūga clan!
As for her being wicked and scheming…
Hmph, soft-hearted people don’t live long in the shinobi world.
Being a bit ruthless is actually a good thing!
Hiashi forcefully achieved logical consistency in his mind, applying a thick fatherly filter to beautify Hinata’s recent brute force into “decisiveness and ruthless efficiency.”
“Hizashi.”
Hiashi held his hands behind his back, his voice returning to its ancient, rock-cold tone.
“The sparring match is over.
In real combat, injuries are inevitable.”
“But Brother, Hinata she…” Hizashi raised his head in heartache.
“I said it’s over!”
Hiashi raised his tone, a strict flicker of warning flashing in his pale eyes.
“Take Neji down.
Have a medical ninja treat him properly.
And…”
Hiashi paused, his gaze locking tightly onto Hizashi as he spoke word by word:
“Everything that happened in this dojang today—especially Hinata’s skills—will rot in your stomach!
Anyone who dares to leak a single word to the outside will be executed for treason against the clan!”
Hearing this, Hizashi felt a chill in his heart and immediately understood his brother’s intent.
The Leaf Village was full of treacherous currents.
Eldest Miss Hinata had displayed such terrifying combat talent at just three years old (even if her fighting style was a bit unrefined).
If news leaked out, it would undoubtedly attract countless dark forces.
This was his brother protecting Hinata!
“Yes!
I understand!”
Hizashi bowed respectfully, then stood up.
He reluctantly released Hinata, walked over to Neji, and slung the limp boy over his shoulder.
“Neji, you must remember today’s lesson as well.
The Eldest Miss’s talent is not something you can fathom,” Hizashi said softly to his son on his shoulder.
Neji hung over his father’s shoulder like a salted fish that had lost all its dreams, his swollen face facing Hinata’s direction.
Just as the sliding door was about to close, Neji squeezed through the swollen slit of his eye and saw a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
The very same Eldest Miss Hinata, who had been sobbing pathetically just a second ago, now had her back turned to Hiashi.
She casually wiped her tears with a chubby little hand, then raised her head toward Neji’s direction.
In those pale-blue eyes, where was there any trace of grievance?
All that remained was a playful smirk of having seen through the mortal world, along with a tremendously arrogant, victor-only eyebrow raise.
Click—
The sliding door closed completely.
Neji closed his eyes.
From this day onward, four-year-old Hyūga Neji’s understanding of “destiny” and the “Main House” was completely smashed to pieces by that random series of punches.