"Your parents were from the Branch House, yet they failed to protect the Main House—beat her!"
The angry shouts drifting through the forest made Shien slow his steps.
"Let me handle it!"
"She dares not kneel even before Young Master Ryōsuke? Hit her!"
"Hmph! Cutting off one leg was already merciful of the Clan Head. Her parents caused Elder Cōji to be injured. If it were up to me, I'd have taken both legs!"
The voices grew clearer as Shien approached, and soon he pieced together the scene in the woods.
It was the Hyuga clan.
A Main House boy, accompanied by a group of Branch House youths, was bullying a Branch House girl.
Her parents, who had died protecting a Main House elder, were posthumously blamed for his injuries—and as punishment, their daughter had been crippled.
That was the fate of the Branch House.
The Hyuga truly lived up to their dark reputation.
The Caged Bird seal…
In the anime, only a glimpse of its cruelty was shown. But in reality, within this world, the Hyuga clan's hierarchy was absolute— Only the Main House were considered human. The Branch House existed as slaves and tools.
No wonder the once-glorious Hyuga of the Warring States era produced no Kage-level powerhouses afterward.
Why would any genius from the Branch House bother striving when their destiny was servitude? Better to simply lie flat and stop caring.
If not for the "Crown Princess" that would appear in the future, their fate might've been even worse than the Uchiha's.
In the village, the Hyuga's Caged Bird was an unspoken taboo.
After a while, the group of Hyuga boys finally left the forest.
"Hyuga… huh?"
Shien murmured to himself, stepping forward with quiet curiosity.
He had always been interested in this clan—after all, their Byakugan bloodline originated from the Otsutsuki, one of the most extraordinary lineages in existence.
A perfect research material.
Before, he hadn't had the chance to collect any samples. But now? There was no way he'd let this opportunity slip.
Entering the grove, he immediately saw the girl—slender, barely conscious, one leg missing. A broken crutch lay beside her, splattered in blood.
Miserable.
Too miserable.
Still, Shien wasn't a saint. He silently hid behind a tree, planning to wait until she left before collecting the blood on the ground.
Not out of cruelty, but prudence.
He understood one truth clearly: know your limits.
This was an internal Hyuga affair. Even the village wouldn't interfere—what right or power did he have to?
Thud… thud…
But the girl's injuries were too severe. She couldn't stand, much less walk away.
"Sigh…"
After watching for a while, and seeing her movements slow to a stop, Shien finally stepped out.
He wasn't as hard-hearted as he wished.
The "correct" thing to do would be to let her die here.
But he hadn't been in this world long enough—only two and a half years—and he couldn't yet reach the cold indifference of true shinobi, who saw lives as disposable.
If she were an enemy, he wouldn't have hesitated.
But watching a girl his own age die before him… that was different.
He knelt beside her.
Beautiful.
That was his first thought.
Even with her face swollen and bruised, her delicate features and smooth skin still hinted at striking beauty.
And compared to his own fiancée, this girl's figure was on a whole different level.
Could this be the Hyuga's secret advantage?
He couldn't help but think of the future Crown Princess's figure, and his expression turned strange.
Shaking his head, he pulled out a diluted vial of healing serum and gently poured it into her mouth.
Her wounds were too severe—without immediate treatment, she wouldn't last much longer.
And, well… he considered it payment for the "sample" she'd provided.
He swiftly began collecting the blood from the ground.
"Mm…"
The Hyuga girl stirred, letting out a weak whimper as consciousness slowly returned.
Shien was already leaving.
"Wait…"
Her faint voice reached him, but by the time she forced her eyes open, she saw only his retreating back.
He heard her, of course, but didn't look back.
Even if she knew he'd saved her—so what?
He already had a fiancée; getting involved with another girl from the Hyuga was asking for trouble.
A man had to know how to protect himself outside the safety of home.
After all, Root was already eyeing his body—literally.
Over the next half month, Team Three fell into a steady routine.
Every morning, they completed D-rank missions. Every afternoon, they trained under Namikaze Minato's guidance—water walking, tree climbing, chakra control, and other fundamentals.
Under a jonin like Minato, their progress skyrocketed.
But peaceful days never lasted long.
No genin team stayed within the village forever doing chores.
Soon, they would graduate to real missions—ones that drew blood.
Because in the end, ninja were killers by trade.
Once you had the basics down, your next lesson was death.
And so, Minato accepted a new assignment for them—an extermination mission against a group of bandits.
Officially ranked B-level.
Bandits alone would've been C-rank, but with the possibility of encountering enemy shinobi, the difficulty rose.
Ordinary chunin-led teams would never be given such a task so soon—but with Minato, it wasn't an issue.
His strength could ensure their safety.
Shien couldn't help wondering: did Minato already know the Flying Thunder God Technique?
If he did, that made him Kage-level. If not, he was still at least an elite jonin or quasi-Kage.
Sometimes, a single technique truly could redefine a person's strength.
And most such techniques… were S-rank forbidden jutsu.
Thinking about that, Shien continued training late into the evening before finally heading home.
What he didn't realize was that a pair of pale white eyes watched from afar after he left.
"Uchiha Shien…"
The Hyuga girl—Hyuga Aotsuki—stepped out of the shadows, whispering his name.
She'd found him the very next day.
After all, she knew roughly his age and that he was a ninja—she'd seen the weapon pouch on his thigh. Checking which nearby training grounds were in use made it easy to locate him.
And since then, she had watched him secretly every day.
With the Byakugan's unmatched surveillance ability, even Namikaze Minato hadn't noticed.
Shien had no idea that the girl he saved had been silently observing him all this time.
The Byakugan might be unimpressive in battle, but for reconnaissance? It was god-tier. No wonder so many coveted it.
The next day, at Konoha's village gates.
The two massive wooden doors engraved with the Leaf insignia slowly opened. Team Three stood ready, packs slung over their shoulders.
Villagers and merchant caravans came and went in a steady stream.
With a population in the hundreds of thousands and only one main entrance, the gate was always bustling.
At a nearby desk, two shinobi handled entry and exit records—specifically for ninja business.
The village's security was tight; a detection barrier ensured no enemy could slip in unnoticed.
In the future, Orochimaru and Itachi would infiltrate only because they were once insiders, knowing every weakness in the system.
"All right—let's move out!"
After completing the registration, Namikaze Minato signaled his three students to follow.
Sleeping bags, fire starters, rations—all essential field gear—had been purchased the day before.
As Shien stepped beyond Konoha's walls for the first time, he felt as though the very air carried a faint scent of blood.
And according to the sacred laws of "main character logic," one thing was certain:
If it could go wrong… it would.
After all, with both Namikaze Minato and Hatake Kakashi on the team—two walking plot magnets—peace was never an option.
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