For the next few days, a little shadow trailed behind Hyuga Gakuya wherever he went. Hanabi stuck to him like glue, constantly pestering him with questions whenever she had a moment to spare.
This continued until the night before the Konoha delegation was scheduled to leave. That evening, Gakuya agreed to give Hanabi a one-on-one training session.
He guided her almost hand-in-hand, patiently teaching her ninjutsu and taijutsu techniques.
Watching Hanabi train like a madwoman, Gakuya—standing some distance away—couldn't help but click his tongue.
"Wow... she's really working hard to kill me. Too bad it'll be a wasted effort."
Unless it was one of those Otsutsuki from outer space, he honestly couldn't think of what could kill him now.
His mind wandered off with that thought, but after a while, he snapped back to reality—he still had things to take care of.
"Hanabi, let's call it a day," Gakuya called out. "You've got a long journey ahead of you tomorrow."
"I'm fine. I want to train a bit more," Hanabi replied politely but firmly.
Gakuya shook his head. "Pushing too hard can backfire. It could cause lasting damage to your body."
"…Okay then," Hanabi finally relented. She stopped and jogged over to him. "Brother-in-law, have I improved a lot?"
"You've made great progress," Gakuya replied, even if he was stretching the truth. He handed her a water bottle. "Here, hydrate. I added some salt to it."
By age eight, Gakuya had already joined the Konoha ANBU. Kakashi made Chunin at six.
Hanabi was only seven. She'd just barely reached Genin level.
"Thanks, brother-in-law!" Hanabi beamed and took a big gulp from the bottle.
Once she finished drinking, Gakuya crouched down and pulled out a necklace identical to the one he gave Hinata. He handed it to Hanabi.
"This is the necklace I promised. For our adorable little Hanabi."
"Thank you!" Hanabi took it with both hands, her smile blooming like a flower.
She admired it for a moment, clearly loving it, then turned around and held it back out to him.
Gakuya raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong? Don't like it?"
"No, I really like it," Hanabi said, turning her back to him. "I want you to put it on me."
"…Fine, have it your way." Gakuya chuckled and fastened the necklace around her neck.
Hanabi spun around and struck a few playful poses. "How do I look? Cute, right?"
"You look great—cuter than ever," Gakuya praised.
"Thanks, brother-in-law!" Hanabi suddenly leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.
"That's your reward! Thanks for teaching me… also, that was my first kiss!" And with that, she turned and ran off the training ground without a backward glance.
Watching her retreating figure, Gakuya smiled.
"Well, this just got interesting. Winning Hinata over came with an unexpected bonus."
He stretched and yawned lazily just as Kabuto approached and handed him a stack of documents.
"Sir, here's the finalized operation plan. If anything seems off, we can still renegotiate with Konoha."
Gakuya flipped through the papers. The plan was simple: take control of the lands formerly belonging to the now-defunct Grass Country—specifically the areas bordering the Land of Fire—and then begin border negotiations with the Land of Earth.
Best-case scenario? Convince the former daimyo of Grass, currently in hiding in the Land of Fire, to return and rebuild the country under Sound's protection. Konoha wanted Grass as a puppet state.
Gakuya would lead the Sound shinobi for this operation, and his asking price alone was a staggering 100 million ryo. Any active involvement? Extra charges applied.
It was basically money falling from the sky.
Gakuya handed the plan back to Kabuto.
"Looks good. Go ahead with it. Once we've sent off the Konoha delegation tomorrow, we'll head for the border with the Sound shinobi."
Kabuto nodded, gave a full report on other matters, then returned to his lab to continue his experiments.
Gakuya, meanwhile, went back to his room to test the connection with the two dojutsu gemstones.
He sat cross-legged on the bed, activated his Tenseigan, and tried syncing with the two gems—one worn by Hinata, the other by Hanabi.
He started by locking onto Hinata's location using a chakra seal, then linked with the gemstone around her neck.
His vision instantly shifted to what Hinata's gem was seeing. He'd expected to maybe have to use his dojutsu to see through clothing—but that wasn't necessary at all.
What he saw was Hinata and Hanabi bathing together, laughing and playing.
Since he used Hinata's gem, the perspective was aimed directly at Hanabi. Everything he should—and shouldn't—see was right there.
Gakuya cleared his throat awkwardly. Totally by accident. Totally not on purpose. This was for proper purposes only. Really.
Just to be safe, he switched over to Hanabi's gem, changing the perspective—only to get a full view of Hinata instead.
Hinata, as it turned out, had quite the figure. Definitely some major potential there.
Gakuya nodded thoughtfully to himself, then cut the connection with the Tenseigan. Yeah, he needed to cool off.
...
The next day, at the gates of Otogakure, Gakuya and the higher-ups gathered to see off the Konoha delegation.
There were handshakes, farewells, and lingering goodbyes. Gakuya shook hands with Jiraiya again, and the two of them exchanged some quiet banter that only they could hear.
Reporters swarmed the scene, camera flashes going off nonstop, eager to capture this "historic" moment.
Everyone thought the two great shinobi were discussing matters of war and peace—but in reality, they were chatting about the local food Jiraiya had tried over the past few days.
A little ways back, Kurenai Yuhi's eyes landed on the necklaces around Hinata and Hanabi's necks.
"Those… did Chiba Mokushū give those to you?" she asked in surprise.
The blue gemstones sparkled beautifully—these weren't cheap trinkets. And Mokushū had casually handed out two of them?
"Yep! Aren't they pretty?" Hanabi said proudly. "Brother-in-law gave them to us!"
Kurenai rapped her lightly on the head. "I can understand giving one to Hinata, but why you too?"
At that, Hanabi's face immediately turned bright red. Her mind flashed back to that very awkward night. She couldn't meet Kurenai's eyes.
"Don't ask. He just… gave it to me, okay?"
Kurenai's expression darkened. She'd seen Hanabi trailing after Chiba Mokushū for days now—and now this?
Her imagination immediately went to the worst possible place.
"This bastard… Hanabi's just a kid!" she growled. "I'm going to have a talk with him."
She pulled out a kunai and started marching off, ready to confront him. After all, ever since the Hyuga clan's downfall, she'd taken care of Hinata and Hanabi like they were her own daughters.
Thankfully, Hinata quickly grabbed her arm and explained the full story.
Even so, Kurenai was still furious—but now at least she couldn't justify hunting Mokushū down over it.
She crouched beside Hanabi and, in a voice only the two of them could hear, began a heartfelt lecture.
"You need to protect your body, okay? Don't ever let anyone see you like that again, understand?"
Hanabi's face turned scarlet again. "It was an accident! But… if someone's already seen it, does that mean it's okay if he sees it again?"
She meant Mokushū.
"No. Absolutely not," Kurenai snapped.
"Okay…" Hanabi mumbled, nodding.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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