Neji pondered for a few seconds before understanding the situation.
Indeed, the Clan Head's perspective was more comprehensive.
Since it was an apology, there was no reason to delay it overnight: "I understand."
"Remember, after you get Takasaki's forgiveness, be sure to remind Takasaki that I don't mind Hinata having more contact with him, but he must not do anything to harm Hinata.
Also, you should try to maintain a good relationship with Takasaki; after all, if he can motivate Hinata to grow, he can naturally motivate you to grow, too, since you are also a member of my Hyuga Clan."
With that, Hyuga Hiashi turned and left.
Neji stood up slowly in the training room, alone and silent, activating his Chakra to try and heal the injuries to his brain nerves.
He was born into the Hyuga family; his advantage was that his status was more noble than Konoha's commoners, and even the Ninja Academy teachers treated him favorably.
His disadvantage was that he was born into a branch family of the Hyuga family, marked with the Caged Bird Seal.
The Caged Bird Seal was like putting an unbreakable shackle on an eagle soaring in the sky.
Originally, Neji had resigned himself to his fate.
Strangely, after this encounter with Takasaki, Neji's view on destiny wavered slightly.
"Can the Caged Bird Seal really be broken?" Neji murmured.
As for what the Clan Head said to him at the end, it was actually the same as what he was thinking.
Because of his father's death, he did harbor resentment towards Hinata.
The problem was, Hinata was his cousin after all, and deep down, he still wished for Hinata to live well.
Therefore.
After realizing that Takasaki could motivate Hinata to improve her strength, he naturally wouldn't object to Hinata getting close to Takasaki.
In fact, he himself wanted to get close to Takasaki.
Because he wanted to break the Caged Bird Seal.
He didn't know why, but he always felt that Takasaki seemed to know how to break the Caged Bird Seal.
This classmate, who was originally a dead last in his eyes, seemed to hide many secrets he didn't know.
…
Hyuga Residence.
Hinata's boudoir.
The door was still locked from the inside, and the curtains were drawn.
Hinata was curled up alone at the head of her bed, covered by a quilt, secretly reading Takasaki's diary like a thief.
She read it very slowly, word by word.
It took her 10 minutes to finish reading the short 500-word diary.
It wasn't that her reading speed was slow; it was simply because Takasaki's diary entry was almost entirely about her.
The words, phrasing, and the meaning and implications expressed within made her feel incredibly shy.
The first sentence was [I'm really liking Hinata more and more…].
The last sentence was [Hinata's body is still developing.
Once those big bears mature, not a single instance of them being ravaged by me can be missed].
After finishing reading, Hinata's cheeks were as red as if she'd been drinking, and she bit her nails, her head buzzing.
It wasn't just her cheeks that were red.
Her entire body was flushed with embarrassment.
That's why she was lying in bed, curled up under the covers, secretly reading the diary, as if afraid someone would see her embarrassed state.
"Why is Takasaki calling me his wife in his diary again?
He didn't even ask for my permission, and I haven't even said I like him."
As soon as the word 'like' came up, Hinata remembered what Hyuga Hiashi had said to her in the training room not long ago.
Her father actually suspected she was in a romantic relationship with Takasaki.
How could that be!
Hinata understood why Hyuga Hiashi would misunderstand; after all, she was the one who had brought Takasaki to the Hyuga Residence's VIP room, arranged for someone to buy Takasaki's favorite barbecue, and even personally taught Takasaki the Three Body Technique.
So much so that it looked as if the two of them were on a date.
The reason Hinata did this was, of course, because of the diary.
To receive the diary's rewards, she needed to actively seek opportunities to interact with Takasaki.
What was strange was, why would Takasaki, who clearly knew the Three Body Technique, still allow her to teach him?
Hinata had thought about this question before, and pondering it again now led to the same conclusion.
Could it be that Takasaki really liked her?
After all, Takasaki had written about liking her many times in the diary.
At the same time, Hinata subconsciously felt that Takasaki's affection for her in the diary seemed very exaggerated.
It felt like Takasaki liked her body more than he liked her as a person.
"What exactly is 'liking'?" Hinata, still a young girl and not yet an adult, couldn't help but ponder this question that plagues countless adolescent girls.
In any case, what was certain was that she definitely didn't like Takasaki.
Because Takasaki was a pervert!
How could she possibly like a pervert?
Especially that last sentence, saying he would ravage her big bears once they grew up.
Hinata lowered her head, hooked a finger into her collar, and glanced at her current small bears, which were already nearing a B-cup: "Can they really grow very large later?"
Hinata shook her head, casting away the distracting thoughts.
She couldn't let her mind wander anymore; just reading the pervert Takasaki's diary, she felt her own thoughts were being led astray by Takasaki.
Takasaki hadn't even seen her body, so how could he know if they would grow larger later?
This was just a pervert's pure imagination.
Hinata took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her emotions, and the blush on her skin faded.
She still stared at the diary with anticipation.
Sure enough.
One minute later.
New content appeared in the diary:
[Takasaki mentioned you more than 5 times in this diary entry, reward obtained: Chakra volume increased by 10%]
[Takasaki mentioned you the most times in this diary entry, additional reward obtained: Stamina increased by 10%]
The next second, Hinata felt a warm current wash over her body.
The fatigue from her earlier sparring session with Neji instantly recovered.
Hinata clearly felt that her Chakra volume had increased again.
She put the diary back into her consciousness space, crawled out from under the covers, got out of bed, and casually swung a few open-palm strikes.
Strong gusts of wind echoed in her boudoir.
Her stamina was better than before, and the power of her palm techniques also increased.
This gain truly surprised Hinata: "Next time I spar with Neji, I might be able to last longer than 3 minutes, perhaps even 4 minutes."
In fact, when her name appeared throughout the diary entry, Hinata was already somewhat prepared for the rewards she would receive.
What made her even happier was that she seemed to have grasped the method for obtaining rewards.
Practice proved that her actively approaching Takasaki, causing Takasaki to mention her name more often in his diary, and thereby receiving rewards, was a truly effective method!
Since that was the case, she needed to create more opportunities to get close to Takasaki.
Tonight was definitely too late.
So, perhaps next Monday when they go to the Academy.
In the past, when going to the Academy, she, as the young lady of the Hyuga Clan, would always go to school alone with her backpack.
This time, she had other thoughts: "Should I go find Takasaki next Monday and walk to school with him?"
But doing so, would it seem too deliberate, and instead cause Takasaki's dislike, leading him to write some unfavorable words about her in his diary?