Chapter 45: The Hyuga Clan’s Scheme?

As Kawaki Aoba turned the pages one by one, the expression on his face gradually turned bizarre.

The contents recorded in this book were none other than the signature technique of the Hyuga clan—the Gentle Fist manual.

Why on earth would a Gentle Fist manual be hidden beneath his bed?

Kawaki Aoba genuinely found this baffling. Was the Hyuga clan trying to frame him? But framing someone who had lost his eyes for secretly learning the Gentle Fist Eight Trigrams Palms—a technique that could only be practiced after activating the Byakugan—were they trying to make people laugh to death?

Kawaki Aoba felt that the matter was not as simple as he imagined. Behind this martial arts manual, there must be a greater conspiracy waiting for him.

However, no matter what, since the Hyuga family had delivered such a generous gift to his doorstep, he might as well just accept it.

Although he had lost his Byakugan, which greatly diminished the power of the Gentle Fist Eight Trigrams Palms in his hands, couldn't it still be used for sacrifice?

Kawaki Aoba began to concentrate on memorizing the cultivation method of the Gentle Fist technique, while his shadow clone outside was encountering a slight trouble.

"Give it to me, quickly give it back!"

"You guys are going way too far."

"Haha, you want it, right? If you want it, come and get it yourself."

"What an absolute loser, you can't even protect your own things. How could a guy like you ever become a ninja?"

On a somewhat remote street, Kawaki Aoba's shadow clone ran into a rather cliché scene.

A girl, probably around ten years old, was surrounded by several boys of about the same age.

Analyzing from what they were saying, the ins and outs of the matter were already quite clear: that group of boys had taken something belonging to the girl and refused to return it.

At their age, such things happening was quite normal.

However... could someone explain to Kawaki Aoba why, the moment that girl laid eyes on him, such an intense wave of excitement welled up within her?

Also, were there simply too many Hyuga clan ninjas keeping watch on him?

Within the perception range of Kawaki Aoba's Kenbunshoku Haki, the number of Byakugan ninjas monitoring him had increased from one to three, and the latter two were clearly not from the same faction as the original watcher.

No, to be precise, the missions they had received were different.

The first one was purely for tracking and surveillance, but as for the latter two...

Kawaki Aoba used his Kenbunshoku Haki to carefully perceive the emotions of those little fellows ahead. Apart from the bullied girl, everyone else's emotions were genuine.

Just like the book under his bed, was this also an arrangement by the Hyuga family? But what was the meaning of this?

Just as Kawaki Aoba paused in his tracks, the group of peers on the opposite side, guided intentionally or unintentionally by the girl, began heading in his direction.

At the same time, the emotions emanating from the girl shifted from pure excitement to a mixture of nervousness, anxiety, and excitement.

Kawaki Aoba was not unfamiliar with such emotions; he had felt the exact same way when he first executed a mission to wipe out bandits.

Without the slightest hesitation, Kawaki Aoba turned around and left.

Charging ahead blindly knowing there were unknown troubles and enemy schemes waiting was not bravery at all, nor was it very ninja-like.

Therefore, Kawaki Aoba straightforwardly chose to change his route.

No matter how many schemes or plans you have lined up, I am simply not going to play along with you, let's see what you can do about it.

Seeing Kawaki Aoba leave, the girl was utterly dumbfounded. She had intended to chase after him and demand why he hadn't staged a classic "hero saving the damsel in distress" routine in front of her. But the boys surrounding her were simply too annoying and blocked her path at the crucial moment.

The Hyuga family ninjas hiding in the shadows were also stunned. Why did this turn out differently from the plan? Shouldn't a Genin of their age step forward heroically at a time like this?

Yet, since Kawaki Aoba had already made up his mind not to take the bait, what could they possibly do? Did they really expect to jump out and intercept him? Just thinking about it was impossible—wasn't the humiliation they suffered recently big enough?

Consequently, Kawaki Aoba's shadow clone began strolling casually all over Konoha, accompanied by the initial Hyuga ninja who was still tailing him.

As for the other two who had followed later, they had already turned back and returned to the Hyuga clan compound.

After wandering around for quite a while, until he felt the time was right, Kawaki Aoba's shadow clone finally headed back.

Meanwhile, his main body at home had long since transformed back into an ordinary, unremarkable shuriken ahead of time.

Having taken a stroll following Kawaki Aoba's shadow clone only to return to his original post, the Hyuga ninja nearly cursed aloud.

If he hadn't been fully confident that his concealment could never be detected by a blind person, he would have thought he was being played for a fool by that ungrateful brat.

Shortly after, taking advantage of the moment the other party closed his Byakugan, Kawaki Aoba swapped his main body back once again.

With the memories of the shadow clone returning to him, Kawaki Aoba finally formed some guesses regarding the Hyuga family's incomprehensible scheming.

If his judgment was correct, the Hyuga clan was attempting to use his own tactics against him—a taste of his own medicine.

Since he had teamed up with Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others to play tricks on the Hyuga clan's Second Elder and successfully framed him, the Hyuga family intended to strike back using the exact same method.

Moreover, they were likely aiming to crush him with a single fatal blow.

To the major ninja clans of Konoha, what mattered most? Was it the powerful ninjas emerging every generation, or the clan's peak prosperity?

Neither. The most crucial thing was their foundation—their Bloodline Limit or secret family techniques.

This was also what the village valued most. Taking Kawaki Aoba himself as an example, after his seal-less ninjutsu, White Lightning, was "developed," he was the one who voluntarily proposed handing it over to the village.

Otherwise, according to the village's rules, as long as he remained alive, the ninjutsu he developed would serve as his signature, and anyone secretly learning it without permission would be committing a major tabu.

A minor consequence would be paying a heavy price to beg for his forgiveness, while a severe one could even result in heavy criminal punishment.

Even a minor Genin like him was bound by this, let alone the core secret techniques of the major clans.

And the Gentle Fist, which complemented the Byakugan, was undoubtedly the core of the Hyuga clan.

Since they were already enemies, Kawaki Aoba did not mind anticipating the worst from his adversaries.

His Kenbunshoku Haki perception expanded gradually until it completely enveloped the entire compound of the Hyuga clan before stopping.

Inside the Hyuga clan compound.

The two Hyuga ninjas who had previously received the mission to orchestrate the hero-saving-damsel scenario for Kawaki Aoba had already returned.

At this moment, these two ninjas were respectfully kneeling on one knee inside a spacious hall. Seated in the seats of honor ahead of them were four individuals—three elders and one younger man.

These four were the supreme authorities of the Hyuga clan: Hyuga Hoshi, Hyuga Hizashi, Hyuga Anmura, and the elder representing the weakest faction of the Hyuga family at present, the Hyuga Second Elder.