"Your parents were from the branch family but failed to protect the main family. Beat her!"
The loud, jeering voices carried from the woods into Akira Sato's ears, making him slow his steps.
"Let me do it!"
"She didn't even kneel when she ran into Young Master Ryosuke — hit her!"
"Hmph, only cutting off one of her legs was the clan head's mercy! Her parents caused Elder Cangsi to get injured. If it were up to me, I'd have cut off both legs!"
…
The nonstop shouting helped Akira piece together what was happening in the woods.
So, it turned out the Hyuga main family's young master had brought a bunch of branch family members to bully a branch family girl.
This girl's parents had been blamed for failing to protect a main family elder and had paid the price — her leg had been cut off as punishment.
As for her parents?
Of course, they had died in battle.
You really couldn't deny how dark the Hyuga clan was.
The caged bird seal!
In the anime, only hints of the cruelty were shown.
But in the real Hyuga clan, only the main family were treated as people — the branch family were nothing but slaves and tools.
It was no wonder that despite being legendary during the Warring States period, the Hyuga clan hadn't produced any Kage-level powerhouse since.
No matter how strong the branch family got, they could only ever serve the main family like dogs — what was the point of working hard? You might as well just give up.
Without the emergence of a future princess consort, the Hyuga's fate wouldn't have been any better than the Uchiha's.
And inside the village, the caged bird seal was completely taboo — no one dared interfere.
Before long, the dozen or so Hyuga boys left.
"Hyuga, huh…"
Akira murmured to himself, then stepped into the woods.
He was very interested in this clan.
After all, they carried the bloodline of the mighty Otsutsuki — rare and precious material.
In the past, he had no way to collect it. But now that he'd stumbled upon it, he wasn't about to pass up the chance.
As he entered the grove, he immediately spotted the slender figure with only one leg remaining, the shattered crutch beside her, and the ground stained with blood.
Miserable!
Truly miserable!
But Akira wasn't some saint — he simply stood quietly behind a tree, planning to wait until she left so he could collect the blood.
It wasn't that he was cold-hearted; he just understood one thing very well.
Act within your means!
This was Hyuga clan business — even the village wouldn't get involved, so he had no right or strength to interfere.
Bang, bang!
The girl was so injured she couldn't even stand up, let alone leave.
"…Sigh."
Akira watched for a while, seeing her movements slow to a crawl, then eventually stop altogether. Only then did he step out from behind the tree.
His heart still wasn't hard enough.
The most logical choice would've been to just let her die here.
But he had only transmigrated two and a half years ago; his worldview still couldn't match the cold indifference of this ninja world, where people weren't treated as people.
If it were an enemy or a bad person, he could watch them die just fine.
But watching a girl around his own age die right in front of him — that was hard to stomach.
He walked over to the unconscious girl.
So beautiful!
That was Akira's first reaction upon seeing her face.
Even though it was covered in bruises and swollen, he could still vaguely see the delicate features and smooth skin underneath.
And compared to his own fiancée, this girl's figure was overwhelmingly superior.
"Could this be some hidden Hyuga trait?"
Thinking of the future princess consort's figure, Akira's expression grew odd.
He quickly pulled out a diluted healing potion and poured it into her mouth.
Her injuries were too severe — if she didn't receive immediate treatment, she was a goner, no question.
Luckily, these kinds of external wounds were exactly what healing potions were designed for.
Consider it payment for the materials she was about to provide — Akira thought to himself.
Then he began quickly collecting the blood on the ground.
Mm…
The Hyuga girl, lying on the ground, slowly regained consciousness.
Meanwhile, Akira turned to leave.
"Wait!"
The girl forced her eyes open, but all she saw was Akira's retreating figure.
On the other side, Akira naturally heard her calling out but had no intention of turning back.
So what if she knew he had saved her?
He was already "spoken for" — getting too entangled with her wouldn't be a good idea.
A boy traveling the world had to protect himself properly.
Just like Root — weren't they always coveting his body?
In the following half month, Team Three followed a steady routine.
Every morning, they took on D-rank missions, and every afternoon, they trained under their teacher's guidance.
Walking on water, climbing trees, chakra control…
Under the guidance of Minato Namikaze, a jōnin, their progress was astonishingly fast.
But soon, their peaceful days would come to an end.
After all, Team Three couldn't just stay in the village doing D-rank chores forever.
Soon, it would be time for the real deal.
Starting tomorrow, they would begin carrying out C-rank and above missions.
The key point… was drawing blood.
Being a ninja was fundamentally a profession of killing — you couldn't avoid bloodshed.
So once the basics were mastered, it was time to face real combat.
And Minato had accepted a B-rank mission for them: clearing out a bandit group.
If it were just bandits, it would be a C-rank mission.
But with the possibility of encountering enemy ninja, the difficulty naturally rose by one rank.
If an ordinary chunin were leading the team, they wouldn't be allowed to take on a B-rank mission so soon.
But with Minato Namikaze in charge, there was no problem.
With his strength, he could guarantee their safety.
The only question was — had he already mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique at this point?
If he had, then he was Kage-level.
If not, he was still an elite jōnin or quasi-Kage.
Sometimes, a single jutsu could truly transform someone's power.
And these kinds of jutsu were usually S-rank forbidden techniques.
As Akira thought about all this, he continued training on the practice field, only leaving when night fell.
What he didn't know was that, after he left, a pair of pale white eyes appeared in the area.
"Uchiha Akira Sato…"
Hyuga Aotsuki walked into the training field, murmuring as she watched Akira's departing figure.
In fact, she had tracked him down the very next day.
After all, she knew his approximate age, and since he was clearly a ninja (having seen his ninja tool pouch), it wasn't hard to figure out which training grounds were in use and by whom.
So for the past half month, she had been secretly observing him.
Thanks to the Byakugan's unique abilities, not even Minato Namikaze noticed.
And Akira himself had no idea that the girl he had saved had been quietly watching him every day.
You really had to admit — the Byakugan might be weak in combat, but for surveillance, it was god-tier.
No wonder so many people coveted it.
The next day!
At the gates of Konoha Village.
The giant wooden gates painted with the leaf symbol slowly swung open.
Team Three was fully assembled.
Villagers and merchant caravans came and went.
With a population of several hundred thousand, Konoha Village only had this one main entrance — you could imagine how busy it was.
At the side stood a registration desk, where two ninjas handled departure and entry paperwork.
Note: they only handled ninja-related affairs.
The village also had a barrier, so there was no need to worry about enemy ninjas slipping in silently.
Future infiltrators like Orochimaru and Itachi Uchiha weren't successful because the barrier was useless, but because they had once been high-ranking insiders and knew all the loopholes.
"All right, let's head out!"
Minato finished the registration and called the three young ninjas carrying their packs to follow him.
Sleeping bags, fire-starting gear — all the outdoor essentials — had been bought the previous day after they accepted the mission.
As Akira stepped outside the village for the first time, it was as if he could already smell the blood that awaited.
According to protagonist logic, if nothing went wrong, something would definitely go wrong.
With people like Minato and Kakashi around, who were practically magnetized by fate, how could nothing happen?
(To be continued)