Hinata Hyuga lowered her stance, glancing briefly at Sakura—who was cradled in Iruka's arms, clutching her wrist and unable to stand. After a short hesitation, she spoke softly:
"...Sorry. I didn't control my strength properly."
Without waiting for a reply, Hinata turned and walked toward Naruto and the others. She didn't bother performing the Seal of Reconciliation, nor did Iruka remind her—his attention was wholly on Sakura's pained expression.
"That kind of force… don't tell me it's fractured?" he muttered, brow furrowing.
He felt a pang of guilt. He hadn't expected the Hyuga girl to be this strong. A gentle-looking child, yet her blows carried such weight… If he'd known, he never would have matched Sakura—a girl with almost no formal training—against her.
"Ah! It hurts!"
Sakura cried out the instant Iruka's fingers brushed her wrist. He froze mid-motion but, after a moment's careful palpation, exhaled in relief.
"No fracture. You're fine."
Even without medical-nin skills, Iruka's battlefield experience made him adept at judging such injuries. As a seasoned chunin, he was rarely wrong about this kind of thing.
"It's just bruised, Sakura. Remember—you want to be a ninja someday, right? Be strong."
Once he confirmed it wasn't serious, his tone softened but remained firm. This level of pain was nothing in a ninja's world; a few days and she'd be fine.
He set Sakura back on her feet gently. The Ninja Academy wasn't a daycare—it was a place to forge shinobi. Tears and complaints wouldn't change anything here.
And indeed, no reprimand came for Hinata's heavy hand. The experience left Sakura quietly shaken—she realized, perhaps for the first time, how different this place was from home.
Fighting the ache, she stood, holding her wrist close, and cast a timid glance at Hinata before returning silently to Ino's side.
Her family's flower shop was near the Yamanaka's, and Ino often played there when she was little. The two girls had grown up together—true childhood friends.
"Sakura, are you okay?" Ino asked, face full of concern. Seeing her friend knocked flying had nearly stopped her heart.
Sakura managed a faint, strained smile. "Iruka-sensei said it's not broken. I'll be fine… it just hurts a little."
She rubbed her wrist again; the pain was still there, but bearable. Maybe it was Ino's warmth that made it hurt less.
While the two whispered, Iruka continued using the remaining class time to assess the other students. He called up several more pairs for short sparring bouts, and before long, the bell rang—marking the end of their very first lesson.
Back in the classroom, Iruka didn't leave. At the academy, most classes were taught by the same instructor, and in Class 1, that meant him.
Subjects like Basic Literacy, History of Konoha, Advanced Chakra Theory, and Shuriken Practice all fell under his responsibility.
During the short break, Iruka reviewed the notes he'd made during sparring—an informal assessment of each student's ability. Meanwhile, the children, still buzzing with excitement, began forming small groups.
In just one class, over thirty children had already split into clusters—some small, some growing as conversation flowed.
Even Naruto, lively as he was, couldn't possibly befriend everyone.
Iruka watched quietly, taking mental notes. As expected, boys gathered with boys, girls with girls, and childhood friends with their own circles.
Ino and Sakura were inseparable; Naruto, Choji, Shikamaru, and Hinata formed another lively group.
Kiba, being naturally loud and outgoing, quickly gathered a circle of playmates.
The most solitary of all, however, was Uchiha Sasuke.
Quiet, handsome, and withdrawn, he kept to himself the entire break. Whether it was shyness or sheer disinterest, Iruka couldn't tell. Even when girls tried to talk to him, Sasuke's curt replies and cold expression drove them off in embarrassment.
A similar case was Aburame Shino, though for entirely different reasons. With his ever-present dark glasses and calm silence, the poor boy's existence seemed to slip beneath everyone's notice.
Iruka quietly jotted mental notes about each of them. As homeroom teacher, understanding his students was his duty.
The Third Hokage's choice to assign him to Class 1 had been made without bias. Hiruzen truly believed Iruka's kindness and sense of responsibility could guide the next generation down the right path.
And perhaps, in doing so, Iruka would also spread the "Will of Fire" that he himself so revered.
To the children, time at school crawled by painfully slowly.
To Hyuga Satoru, on the other hand, time flew like an arrow.
Ever since attending his sister's entrance ceremony, he had returned to his rigorous daily schedule.
That morning, after training hard with his personal guards in the dojo, Satoru took a brief lunch break before returning in the afternoon—this time with his young cousin, Hyuga Neji.
Unlike Hinata, Neji had not enrolled in the academy. His parents taught him literacy and chakra basics at home, while his physical training was overseen by Hizashi and Satoru together.
From a young age, Neji's prodigious talent had been evident. Hizashi didn't believe the academy could offer much to a child like that. Under Satoru's tutelage, Neji would grow faster—and the boy himself adored his elder cousin, eager to learn at his side.
For Satoru, mentoring Neji was both a pleasure and a form of relaxation in his otherwise monotonous life. He also had high hopes for the boy, even passing down a few of the clan's secret main-family techniques.
He wanted Neji to have the strength to protect himself—and to become one of the Hyuga clan's future pillars.
Unlike others, Satoru had never seen the branch family as a threat. To him, their strength was the clan's strength. The stronger the Hyuga, the safer he would be in the stormy world to come.
As the years passed, Satoru began noticing strange changes within himself.
His eyes were no longer the pure milky white of the Byakugan. The faint blue tint that once blended almost imperceptibly into the white was deepening with each passing year. Around the pupils, soft white streaks began to radiate outward, forming something like a halo around a blue sun.
He could feel it clearly—his eyes were evolving.
And the power emanating from them was subtly transforming his chakra as well.
His reserves grew at an astonishing rate. By now, even he couldn't gauge the full extent of his chakra.
He no longer felt fatigue, no matter how intense the battle. Chakra control had become effortless—every technique flowed like second nature.
He didn't know why this was happening, but he had a theory.
He was undergoing atavism—a reversion to ancestral traits long dormant.
The Hyuga Clan's ancient records mentioned such a phenomenon. In the Warring States era, a legendary figure named Hyuga Tennin had exhibited similar mutations.
But even from the fragments Satoru found, Tennin's chakra hadn't been anywhere near this overwhelming.
Understanding the history of the shinobi world, Satoru could guess at the truth: his "ancestor" wasn't Tennin—it was someone far older.
Otsutsuki Kaguya, or perhaps Otsutsuki Hamura.
The thought unsettled him. He didn't know where this evolution would lead. If it merely enhanced his chakra and physical potential, it was a gift. But if its endpoint was something inhuman…
A Hyuga turning into an Otsutsuki?
Even for him, that was terrifying to imagine.
Still, Satoru's mind was disciplined. Rather than dwell on fear, he chose focus. Whatever lay ahead, he would face it stronger.
Even if harnessing this power risked accelerating his mutation, he could not afford to suppress it. In the ninja world, power meant survival.
Over time, he sensed new chakra natures emerging within him—two fundamental essences, light and darkness.
Yin and Yang.
Through experimentation, he confirmed it: he had awakened Yin–Yang Release.
He began weaving this energy into his existing techniques. The Miniature Tailed Beast Bomb he had once crafted now needed no such name—merely a flicker of intent, and he could create a true Bijudama by balancing two parts Yin to eight parts Yang.
Two years ago, using the Flying Thunder God Technique, Satoru had secretly traveled to the Fire Country's coastal border and tested a Yin–Yang-infused Bijudama. Its destructive power exceeded even his expectations.
Still, he knew he had yet to master its potential.
More recently, he had begun experimenting with forming Truth-Seeking Orbs—the highest application of Yin–Yang Release—but progress was slow.
Even so, the new uses he discovered had significantly boosted his strength.
Unfortunately, as the Hyuga heir, he had few chances to display it on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, the war between Konoha and Kirigakure was nearing its end.
Recently, their allies within the Kaguya Clan of the Mist had launched a coup. Ambitious and proud, they attempted to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura.
But the plot was leaked. Yagura's loyalists prepared an ambush—and the Kaguya marched straight into their own demise.
The result: the Kaguya were annihilated. The Mist paid heavily too, but the war was effectively over.
Orochimaru tried to sustain hostilities to feed his "research needs," but once the Mist resolved to withdraw, even he couldn't openly defy the Hokage's command.
After years of bloodshed, the two sides finally returned to the negotiation table.
Knowing his time at the front was ending, Orochimaru accelerated his experiments, using the Kaguya rebellion as an opportunity to acquire new "materials."
In the process, he pushed the limits of Hashirama's cells—realizing that perhaps Sharingan power could counterbalance their rampant growth.
He sent his findings to Danzo, suggesting a collaboration. Danzo, uncharacteristically, didn't reply right away. The project was quietly shelved—for now.
Instead, Orochimaru turned his attention to fusing Hashirama's genes with those of the White Snake. Through countless failed trials, he finally produced a strain stable enough for human hosts—and implanted it into himself.
Thus, the Cursed Snake Techniques of Orochimaru began to take form.
But this was only one path among many. His true obsession remained Edo Tensei, the Reanimation Jutsu—the culmination of his studies on life and death.
It was functional, but imperfect. Still, with war providing endless corpses, Orochimaru's work advanced rapidly.
Danzo, though momentarily subdued, continued scheming in secret.
And the Fourth Hokage—Namikaze Minato—had plans of his own.
Even burdened with his duties as Hokage, Minato refused to stagnate. He was still refining his Rasengan, attempting to integrate nature transformation—a vision he'd long dreamed of achieving.
At the same time, he continued his training in Senjutsu, the art of the sages.
Both he and Kushina were barely past thirty—their prime.
Yet Minato's greatest concern remained his wife. He trusted no Anbu escort to protect her; as a jinchuriki, she needed to master her own power.
He had once fought Killer B of Kumogakure—a perfect jinchuriki whose control over the Eight-Tails left a deep impression.
If Kushina could achieve the same… she would become, like Uzumaki Mito before her, Konoha's ultimate defense.
Thus, whenever possible, Minato helped Kushina train. But his duties left her with little consistent time, and her progress had stalled for years.
Determined to change that, Minato called back his mentor—Jiraiya.
For Jiraiya, Minato and Kushina were like family. Though he preferred freedom, he couldn't refuse his student's plea.
To further support Kushina's training, Minato also borrowed from Hiruzen's Anbu—the Wood Release user Yamato—and recalled the famed "Body Flicker" prodigy, Uchiha Shisui, from the Mist front.
Both possessed powers—Wood Release and Sharingan—that could suppress the Nine-Tails.
With Jiraiya, Shisui, and Yamato together, Minato had built the ideal safety net.
Still, ever cautious, he decided one more safeguard was necessary.
That evening, a formal letter—penned personally by the Fourth Hokage—arrived at the Hyuga estate.
It was addressed not to Clan Head Hiashi… but to his reclusive son, Hyuga Satoru.
"The Fourth Hokage's letter?" Satoru murmured, puzzled. "Why send it to me?"
Normally, such correspondence should go through Hiashi.
But when he broke the seal and read, understanding dawned.
This was no personal request—it was an official one.
Minato sought Satoru's cooperation in assisting Kushina's tailed-beast control training.
Unlike Shisui or Yamato, Satoru's participation required delicate handling. As a main-family member, any mission involving high risk had to be approved by the Hyuga elders—who would surely refuse.
Thus, Minato had written privately, circumventing them entirely.
A Konoha courier waited outside the compound for Satoru's reply.
After brief thought, Satoru agreed. Helping Kushina was not only a duty to the village but a strategic opportunity for the Hyuga—and for himself.
And besides, he trusted Jiraiya.
Perhaps, he thought with a faint smile, this might even be his chance to learn Senjutsu from the Toad Sage himself.
There were few techniques left in the world that could still stir Hyuga Satoru's interest—
and Sage Mode was one of them.
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