"By the way, have you guys heard? Sakura has beco Tsunade-sama's disciple."
Tenten casually started the topic while picking up so at for Natsuki.
"Eh? No way! That wide forehead…?"
Ino was surprised. "Didn't expect she finally made up her mind. I thought she'd keep dragging it out for a while."
As Sakura's best friend, Ino naturally knew her situation better than most. Even though Sakura rarely said much about it, Ino could see through her. She wanted to help, but there was nothing she could do.
Sasuke carried the burden of his clan's massacre, leaving no room in his heart for love. Sakura would probably only co to realize this slowly.
Ino just hoped that, one day, Sasuke wouldn't hurt Sakura too deeply—or, ideally, would let her fulfill her dream. But… she couldn't interfere.
Shikamaru calmly analyzed, "Sakura's always been the good-student type. Back in the Academy, she only stood out because of her grades. But being a real shinobi isn't the sa as school life—her thinking never fully transitioned, so she fell behind a lot. Good thing she's figured it out. Becoming Tsunade-sama's apprentice is the only path for her now."
Sakura's talent for dical ninjutsu was indeed promising, and she also had the tendency to use brute force—a path perfectly suited to following Tsunade.
This wasn't just Shikamaru's observation—everyone could see it.
It's just that so matters are either too sensitive to ddle in or simply irrelevant to oneself, so no one went out of their way to offer Sakura advice.
Sasuke stayed silent—he had already said what needed saying earlier in the Hokage's office.
The conversation shifted to other topics, like missions.
While Natsuki and Sasuke had been away for over a month, the other teams had taken on quite a few assignnts, mostly C-rank and B-rank—well-suited for chūnin.
Luckily, Aoba's team had gained Yakumo as a mber, so even without Natsuki, their missions and training didn't stall.
As for Kakashi's team, it seed Kakashi had been sent on so matter with Sai and hadn't had any free ti. Sakura, anwhile, was actively helping at the hospital.
"What about Guy's team? Tenten, you guys didn't have missions either?"
Natsuki noticed Tenten seed pretty free. During his missions, he occasionally sent notes to Tsunade, and her replies always ca quickly—clearly via Tenten's hands.
aning… Tenten probably hadn't been out on missions much.
Tenten put a piece of freshly grilled at in Natsuki's bowl. "Mm, not really. Tsunade-sama told to temporarily handle office communications. Lee's been training intensively with Guy-sensei. The main reason, though, is that Neji requested a solo mission—said he wanted to challenge himself."
A solo mission? Neji?
Natsuki's eyes flickered. He didn't think Neji was simply testing himself—more likely, he'd found sothing.
He had probably co across sothing in the Senju archives, perhaps about the Hyūga clan's ancient history, and had taken the mission as a cover for his own investigation.
If Neji discovered a way for the Byakugan to evolve, and Konoha gained a pair of Tenseigan… now that would be interesting.
Tenseigan versus Rinnegan—both eyes of the Sage. Who would win? Hard to say.
Natsuki found himself looking forward to it.
The al was enjoyable, and afterward, they all went their separate ways.
However, Shino caught up to Natsuki and Tenten.
"Natsuki, Tenten—mind if I drop by your place? It's been a while since we've had a proper talk."
Tenten smiled. "True, ever since becoming full-fledged shinobi, we've been so busy. How about you stay for dinner? Natsuki can make your favorite—winter lon pork rib soup."
Natsuki gave a thumbs-up. "Leave it to —it'll taste just like before!"
"Ack! That thumbs-up—you picked that up from Guy-sensei and Lee, didn't you? You better quit before you turn into a kappa, because if you do, I'm not marrying you!"
Laughing and chatting, the three headed to Natsuki's ho.
anwhile, in a desolate, ruined place, Neji walked forward step by step.
His Byakugan silently swept over the collapsed buildings. No trace of human activity remained—no one had been here in ages.
Konoha had stood for over sixty years, and the Hyūga had left their ancestral lands just as long ago.
For a clan that valued tradition and etiquette so highly, the fact that no one guarded their ancestral grounds was puzzling to Neji.
After a mont's thought, he began to suspect the reason.
Perhaps the main house didn't think it appropriate for the branch family to guard the ancestral land, and wouldn't allow them to perform the ancestral rites either. Yet the main house feared their pure Byakugan would be targeted if they ca themselves—so they avoided returning entirely, let alone stationing guards there.
Then ca the repeated shinobi wars, throwing the world into chaos.
The main house beca even more reluctant to leave the village, and wouldn't let the branch family return either.
Over ti, the ancestral land simply fell into neglect.
Whether the Hyūga had taken everything of value with them when they joined Konoha, Neji couldn't be sure.
But he intended to search regardless.
After all, it had taken him great effort to find records in the Senju archives ntioning the Hyūga's ancestral land—and Hyūga Tennin.
According to the Senju records, Tennin was the only known Hyūga to have possibly evolved the Byakugan. But after Tennin's death, no such figure ever appeared again, and the record-keepers had no idea why.
Neji wanted to find out for himself.
If the speculation was correct, he wanted to see exactly how Tennin had achieved the Byakugan's evolution.
"Byakugan!"
Neji activated his dōjutsu, scanning the area without haste. He had already completed his mission, still had ti before returning, and no one knew he was here—plenty of ti to investigate.
Bit by bit, his gaze swept the land until he found the location of the ancestral shrine.
All ancient clans had a shrine—the Uchiha did, and so did the Hyūga.
Neji eyed the ruined building, searching more carefully. He sensed so force blocking his sight—coming from… underground?
"Sothing hidden below?"
His pulse quickened, but he forced himself to remain calm as he searched.
At last, he found an intact platform bearing a bagua diagram. Standing at its center gave him a distinct feeling; the surrounding walls even displayed the hand forms of the Gentle Fist.
Inspiration struck him.
"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
The sound of his strikes echoed. Follow current novels on novel-fire.ɴet
"Eight Trigrams Palms: Rotation!"
As Neji's feet moved along the bagua pattern, sothing below seed to respond. When he finished with Rotation, the faint sound of a chanism echoed—
Clack!
A hidden entrance in the floor appeared.
Neji's face lit up.
"So it's true! The Gentle Fist illustrations on the walls were hints to use the Eight Trigrams Palms. The taiji diagram underfoot marked the chanism's location. Even if soone knew, without the Eight Trigrams Palms—and especially Rotation—they couldn't open it. Not even the branch family could, since our version of the Eight Trigrams Palms is incomplete, and we're never taught Rotation!"
(End of Chapter)
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