Outside the Hyuga Clan compound.
Three children, around eleven or twelve years old, had cornered Hyuga Hinata, who was out alone, and were mockingly laughing at her.
"You're a Hyuga, so show us your Byakugan!"
"If you don't want to, then don't look at us."
"Those eyes are so creepy."
"You're totally a monster."
"You're a Byakugan Monster."
Hinata had only come out for a walk as her father told her, but she didn't expect to encounter something like this immediately.
At three years old, she had never seen outsiders before, and she was at a loss for what to do in the face of such sudden malice.
Frightened and wronged, she covered her face with her hands and squatted down.
At this moment, a fierce voice rang out: "What are you doing to Lord Hinata!?"
Neji, breath steaming, quickly came to Hinata's side and stood in front of her.
The three children froze for a moment, not expecting another person with Byakugan to appear.
They were just ordinary people and didn't understand what the Byakugan represented.
They had only taken some benefits to come here and cause trouble.
Seeing Neji appear, they also burst into laughter: "Look, another Byakugan Monster has come, hahahahaha..."
Hinata heard Neji's voice, looked up, her eyes red-rimmed and teary, gazing at him.
"Brother Neji..."
Seeing Hinata like this and hearing the mocking laughter, Neji felt his anger flare.
He let out a roar, twisted his wrist, and delivered a Gentle Fist strike directly to the throat of the fat boy who was laughing with his head down.
Neji aimed for the Renying acupoint, located 1.5 inches lateral to the Adam's apple; this strike instantly compressed the trachea and carotid artery.
The fat boy couldn't even scream; the brief suffocation had already left his mind blank, and he clutched his neck, falling stiffly onto the snow.
Once Neji started, he didn't stop. His second strike hit the tall, thin boy's Juque acupoint.
This is an acupoint below the xiphoid process of the sternum. Struck there, the tall, thin boy knelt on the ground, clutching his stomach and continuously vomiting.
Neji's third strike landed on the last child's Qimen acupoint, directly above the liver.
The child screamed, rolling on the ground and constantly groaning in pain.
Neji's actions were instantaneous. After knocking all three down, he pulled Hinata back.
He patted the snow off Hinata's clothes while comforting her: "Lord Hinata, don't be afraid, it's alright now."
"Why did you come here alone?"
Comforted by Neji, Hinata finally relaxed a little.
Then she raised her small head, her eyes red-rimmed, and asked:
"Brother Neji, is my Byakugan really ugly?"
The voices from earlier had reached Neji's ears more or less, and he saw Hinata's wronged expression.
He immediately felt that his previous actions were too light.
He quickly comforted her: "Lord Hinata's Byakugan is the most beautiful."
Little Hinata was comforted and praised, and her wronged expression immediately vanished.
She broke into a smile through her tears: "Brother Neji's Byakugan is also very beautiful."
Neji looked back at the trio groaning on the ground: "Let's go, Lord Hinata, I'll take you home."
Hinata stretched her neck to look at the people on the ground. Before she could speak, Neji quickly said:
"People like this deserve a lesson. Lord Hinata, let's go."
"Mm."
Hinata readily agreed and left with Neji holding her hand.
As she left, a blonde-haired boy was sitting on a nearby swing.
He stared blankly at Hinata's retreating figure.
[Ah, it feels so good to have someone protect you.]
Naruto looked enviously at Hinata, who was being protected by Neji.
He had just discovered a swing that had appeared on this road at some point and was playing there, but he didn't expect to witness someone being bullied.
However, before Naruto could help, Neji had already beaten him to it.
[If only I had someone to protect me when I was bullied.]
Naruto suddenly found the swing no longer fun. He jumped off and walked towards his home.
Meanwhile, the Anbu nearby were fuming.
[What is the Hyuga Clan doing? Why does someone always intervene whenever Hinata and Naruto meet?]
[Nevermind, I'll go report to Hokage-sama first.]
...On the other side, Aoran, who had transformed into Owl, and Hayato did not return directly from Konoha Village.
Instead, they took a detour through the Uchiha territory. Shortly after they entered the patrol range,
a team of people approached.
Leading them was the Uchiha's rising star, Uchiha Shisui, known as Shisui of the Body Flicker.
"So it's Hyuga Hayato and Owl," Shisui greeted them familiarly.
Hayato and Owl also nodded back at Shisui in a friendly manner.
"Hello, Uchiha Shisui. We've just returned from an outing and need to pass through here," Hayato said.
Recently, matters concerning the Hyuga Clan had been a hot topic, even causing many positions in Konoha to become stagnant.
But what were Hayato and this Owl doing outside Konoha?
Shisui's mind raced through these thoughts, but he noticed the menacing-looking giant bow (wind splitter) on Owl's back, and the several dark arrows were particularly striking.
Owl saw Shisui's gaze and felt satisfied.
He hadn't put away the bow precisely so Shisui would see it.
"Yoichi is very concerned about you and wants you to find time to do missions with him."
Shisui's words weren't just polite; he was genuinely relaying a message.
Yoichi's personality was never ostentatious, fundamentally different from other fanatical Uchiha, and he disliked fighting, so it was natural for him to be friends with Shisui, who loved peace.
Owl glanced at Shisui, his eyes flickering slightly:
"In that case, Shisui, please tell him that I will visit him the day after tomorrow afternoon. Tell him to wait for me at home."
Although Shisui was very strong, he had an exceptionally good temper.
Even with Owl's somewhat commanding tone asking for a favor, Shisui smiled and agreed:
"No problem, Owl. I will deliver the message."
Hayato and Owl greeted Shisui before taking the detour through Uchiha territory back to Konoha.
Both were somewhat tired and returned to their respective homes.
Seeing no one around, Owl also canceled his Transformation Jutsu, reverting to Aoran's appearance.
As he walked home, he opened his template.
Mission: Filthy Kumogakure! (Completable)
Mission Description: Kill these filthy guys!
Reward: Determined by completion rate.
Aoran, who was about to click 'Claim,' paused.
''Completable'' clearly meant the mission could still be continued.
It just required killing more Kumogakure ninja.
Now that the Kumogakure envoy group had been wiped out, they certainly wouldn't let it go.
He'd wait and see Kumogakure's reaction first.
Aoran felt his body's fatigue and swapped out the Peerless Strength User badge.
He equipped the Uzumaki Bloodline 1.
Aoran immediately felt his body return to its original state.
However, his Chakra and physical fatigue were rapidly recovering...