When Kawaki Aoba had left the village previously, he'd deliberately memorized the layout of his room using his advanced Observation Haki. Now, back in the same room, he scanned it again. Something felt off.
He already had his suspicions about being watched. Using Observation Haki, he detected the subtle presence of someone monitoring him.
The veins at the corners of the watcher's eyes were bulging—a telltale sign of the Byakugan being activated.
Aoba calmly stored his ninja tools away and lay down on the bed as if nothing was amiss, feigning indifference.
The observer could follow his actions through the Byakugan, but what they couldn't sense was his Observation Haki—a power from beyond the shinobi world, undetectable to traditional chakra-based senses.
Quietly, Aoba swept the room again. Sure enough, his Observation Haki picked up subtle anomalies. Beneath the bed, a previously nonexistent compartment had appeared.
He focused his Haki downward—it was a book.
That puzzled him. Why would anyone go through the trouble of hiding a book? If they meant him harm, hiding explosive tags would've made more sense. A deadly trap was easier to understand. But this? It was unnerving.
His Haki didn't detect any malicious intent from the object. No chakra traces. No poison. No seals. Just... a book.
And yet, the unknown often masked the greatest threats. If someone had simply tried to blow him up, that would've been easier to counter. But this kind of subtle ploy made him uneasy.
Outside the room, the Hyūga clan remained motionless. Their job was simple—observe.
Fine. Let them watch.
Aoba didn't believe the Hyūga watching him could keep their Byakugan activated forever. He had used the Byakugan himself—briefly, before destroying his own eyes—and knew firsthand how much chakra it consumed over time.
As expected, the Byakugan deactivated.
But wait. Wasn't that too soon?
He stayed still, cautious. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the Byakugan activated again.
"Tch."
He inwardly cursed. This wasn't going to be easy.
Still, it wasn't him draining chakra. He was fine with waiting.
Just as he anticipated, prolonged and repeated use began to wear the watcher down. The observer's eyes began to swell slightly from the strain—one of the known drawbacks of extended Byakugan use.
"Can't hold on anymore, huh? Take a break already." Aoba smirked internally, preparing to check the compartment the moment his surveillance gave out.
But just as the first watcher gave up, a second one took over. The handoff was seamless.
"They switched shifts? Seriously?"
To Aoba's annoyance, the new observer activated the Byakugan without hesitation. These branch family members were relentless. Didn't they know how to slack off a little?
Was serving the Hyūga Main House really something to take pride in?
Annoyed and running out of patience, Aoba decided to change tactics.
Waiting for a brief window when the Byakugan was inactive, he silently slipped out of bed and formed a Shadow Clone to take his place.
His real body then used the Transformation Jutsu—not the ordinary kind taught in the Academy, but something... otherworldly. A power not born of chakra, but of something more alien. A skill learned from another world entirely—the Dragon Ball universe.
Unlike chakra-based transformations, this technique defied detection even by the Byakugan. In an instant, Kawaki Aoba transformed into a simple shuriken and concealed himself inside the ninja tool pouch.
When the Hyūga observer activated their Byakugan again, they noticed nothing out of place. Everything seemed normal.
The Shadow Clone on the bed sat up casually, then made its way toward the door as if intent on taking a stroll.
From his hiding place, Aoba could hear the observer's disdainful grumble:
"A blind guy wandering around again... just more trouble."
Their words carried the arrogance of someone with a superior dojutsu and no fear of a shinobi who had discarded his own eyes.
Once the clone and the observer were far enough from the house, Aoba released the transformation.
Without hesitation, he approached the bed, crouched down, and opened the hidden compartment.
No traps. No seals. No poison.
Just a thin booklet.
He picked it up, flipping through the pages. His max-level Observation Haki scanned every word, line by line. Yes—this ability could even read text.
Aoba frowned. The contents of the booklet weren't dangerous. But that only made it more confusing.
Why go through so much trouble to hide something so mundane?
He wasn't sure yet.
But he knew one thing: the Hyūga clan was up to something—and he was going to find out what.
The Hyuga Clan's Conspiracy?
As Kawaki Aoba flipped through the pages, his expression grew increasingly strange.
The contents of the book were none other than the Hyuga clan's closely guarded Gentle Fist techniques.
Finding a Gentle Fist technique manual hidden under his bed—what was that supposed to mean?
Kawaki Aoba couldn't make sense of it. Was the Hyuga clan trying to frame him? But framing a person who had lost his Byakugan for secretly learning the Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Palm—a technique that could only be practiced with an active Byakugan—was laughable.
It didn't add up. Kawaki Aoba suspected there was more to this than met the eye. Behind this technique manual, there had to be a deeper conspiracy.
Still, since the Hyuga clan had so "generously" delivered this gift to him, he figured he might as well accept it.
Although he had lost his Byakugan—which severely weakened the effectiveness of the Eight Trigrams Palm—he could still make use of it in other ways.
Kawaki Aoba began memorizing the training methods recorded in the scroll. Meanwhile, his shadow clone encountered a bit of trouble.
---
"Give it back! Return it, now!"
"You guys are too much!"
"Haha! You want it back? Then come get it yourself."
"What a loser. You can't even protect your own stuff. How are you ever going to be a real ninja?"
In a quiet corner of Konoha, Kawaki Aoba's shadow clone found himself in a clichéd scene.
A young girl, no older than ten, was being bullied by a group of boys her age.
From their words, the situation was clear—the boys had taken something from her and refused to return it.
At their age, such things weren't uncommon.
But something didn't sit right with Aoba. Why was the girl radiating such intense excitement upon seeing him?
And more importantly—why were there so many Hyuga clan members observing from the shadows?
Using his sharpened sensory abilities—his version of Observation Haki—Aoba noticed something odd. The number of Byakugan-users watching him had increased from one to three. Even more telling, the two new arrivals were clearly not on the same team as the original observer.
No, to be more precise, their missions were different.
The first was simply tracking him. But the two newcomers? Their intent seemed more manipulative.
Aoba scanned the children's emotional fluctuations. Aside from the bullied girl, the emotions of the others were genuine. That meant the scene wasn't entirely staged—but perhaps subtly guided.
Like the manual under his bed, this situation reeked of Hyuga involvement. But for what purpose?
As Kawaki Aoba paused to think, the group of children, subtly encouraged by the girl, began moving toward him.
Her emotions had shifted—from pure excitement to a mix of nervousness and anticipation.
He recognized that feeling. It was the same blend of adrenaline and anxiety he had felt during his first real mission.
But without hesitation, Kawaki Aoba turned around and walked away.
To charge in when you know there are hidden agendas and potential traps isn't bravery—it's recklessness.
And that was something a true ninja avoided at all costs.
So, Aoba chose the simplest answer: avoidance.
"I see your countless calculations and carefully laid traps," he thought. "But I'm not playing your game. Let's see what you'll do now."
The girl froze. She wanted to chase after him, to ask why he didn't rush in to save her like some heroic shinobi. But the other boys blocked her path at that critical moment.
The Hyuga observers hidden in the shadows were equally stunned. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Weren't genin at that age supposed to leap into action?
But Aoba had already made up his mind. And unless they wanted to risk exposing themselves, they couldn't stop him. After all, hadn't they already lost face enough in their last blunder?
Kawaki Aoba's shadow clone continued wandering around Konoha, casually dragging along the original Hyuga agent assigned to monitor him.
As for the two latecomers, they eventually gave up and returned to the Hyuga compound.
After wandering for a while—until he judged the time was right—the shadow clone returned home.
There, the real Kawaki Aoba had already reverted into an inconspicuous shuriken.
The Hyuga tracker, now exhausted after being led in circles, almost swore aloud.
If he hadn't been confident that a blind man couldn't possibly detect him, he might've believed he was being toyed with.
Later that night, Kawaki Aoba again took advantage of the moment the Hyuga agent deactivated his Byakugan and quietly returned to his body.
With the shadow clone's memories now integrated, Aoba began to see the outline of the Hyuga clan's confusing scheme.
If he wasn't mistaken, they were attempting to use a "taste of your own medicine" strategy.
After Aoba had worked with Hiruzen Sarutobi and others to falsely implicate the Hyuga clan's second elder, perhaps this was their retaliation—mirroring his own tactics.
Only this time, they were aiming to deliver a decisive blow.
A killing one.
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