"For this month, work hard on training. One month later, I will personally check your progress," Hyuga Hiashi said with a stern face.
Because Hyuga ninja had reported Hinata's whereabouts to him before, he knew that the people Hinata played with all had rather extraordinary identities.
So Hiashi had never interfered, because he felt that Hinata getting along well with children of great clans and the Hokage's son was also a good thing.
But now that Hinata's training progress had fallen behind, Hiashi could not allow her to continue like this. If one wanted to stand firm in the Ninja World, one still had to rely on strength.
Even if relationships were very good, if there was a conflict of interests, then in the face of absolute interests, the good relationship from before would vanish completely.
"I understand. Father, I will work hard on training," Hinata said softly, biting her lower lip slightly.
She could not resist her father, and did not even dare to think about such a thing.
Looking at Hinata lowering her head and trembling, Hiashi frowned again. Even if she was being reprimanded by him, as the main family of the dignified Hyuga Clan, how could she show such a timid posture? How could she become a good family head in the future and revitalize the Hyuga?
But after all, he had just reprimanded her, and this was the public training field. He still had to leave Hinata, as the heir, a little face, so Hiashi did not reprimand her again. Instead, after reminding Hinata to train seriously, he left.
'Should I have another one while I am still not too old? This child's personality is not suitable for becoming the family head...' Hiashi thought inwardly.
Without a doubt, the timid and introverted Hinata was not the ideal heir in Hiashi's mind.
The ideal heir in his mind should at least be handsome, talented, and understand how to conduct themselves.
At this time, Hinata did not know that the father she respected had the thought of retraining a new alt account. In order to meet Hiashi's requirements one month later, after Hiashi left, she quickly began training.
Hinata wanted to go out and play. She wanted to play with Naruto and the others. When she played with them, she did not need to consider so much and felt very relaxed.
Hinata worked especially hard today. At noon and in the afternoon, she trained until it was time to eat before stopping to go eat.
Because for Hinata, mealtime was a rare enjoyment. She could think about nothing and only enjoy delicious food to her heart's content.
At night, Hinata was still very hardworking. Even when there were only her and Neji left on the field, she still did not leave.
The training field at night was extremely quiet. There was only the sound of Neji and Hinata practicing Gentle Fist again and again, striking the air.
Looking at Hinata, who was panting yet still training without stopping, Neji suddenly said, "You should go back and rest. Training cannot be accomplished overnight. If this continues, it will affect your condition tomorrow."
Hinata's movements paused, then not long after, she began practicing Gentle Fist again.
"But Brother Neji, aren't you still training too?" Hinata said softly while panting.
Hinata's voice was very small. It was unknown whether she had no strength left or her voice was already small to begin with, but Neji still heard it. After all, there were only the two of them here now.
"I often train until this time, but you are different. This is your first time," Neji said.
Although he did not know why Hinata suddenly worked so hard, Neji was still not stingy with one or two well-intentioned reminders.
But if Hinata did not listen, that was another matter.
Neji's words had an effect. Hinata stopped and gasped heavily where she stood.
She believed Neji's words, because Neji's Gentle Fist was better than hers. If it would affect tomorrow's training, then in the end, the effect might even be worse than normal training.
After saying that, Neji no longer paid attention to Hinata and instead began practicing Gentle Fist by himself again. The time was already eight-thirty at night.
Neji planned to train until nine before going back to rest.
Hinata stood for a while, then sat down to rest, watching Neji practice Gentle Fist.
It had to be said that when watching Neji train Gentle Fist, she could indeed feel the gap between them. Neji's attacks were sharp and decisive, and his Gentle Fist flowed very smoothly. Forget among peers, even among those several years older, it would be hard to find someone who used Gentle Fist better than Neji.
She actually wanted to ask Neji why he was so distant and cold toward her now. Had she done something that Neji disliked at some point?
If it were the Hinata from before, perhaps she would have silently kept it in her heart and let everything remain this way.
But although the current Hinata was still introverted, after playing with Naruto and the small group for a long time, she had more or less been influenced by them a little.
Hinata mustered her courage, lowered her head, and said, "Brother Neji, I'm sorry. Did I do something that made you hate me?"
She did not dare look at Neji. Saying these words had already exhausted all the courage in her heart.
Hearing Hinata's words, Neji stopped his movements and looked at Hinata somewhat astonished. He had not expected Hinata to still be there, nor had he expected her to say such words.
For a time, the air fell into extreme silence. There was not even the sound of practicing Gentle Fist, only some faint sounds from unknown insects in the night.
Hinata twisted her hands together, feeling very uneasy and somewhat regretting that she had suddenly said such words.
For a moment, Neji did not know what to say.
Was being born as the main family Hinata's fault? It definitely was not.
But did Neji really dare say that he had not the slightest envy, jealousy, or hatred toward Hinata?
Looking at Hinata's incomparably smooth forehead, without any mark, Neji did not dare guarantee that.
When he was three years old, his forehead had been branded with the ugly Caged Bird. From then on, his Byakugan's field of vision had an invisible blind spot, and he had also lost control over his own life.
Neji hated the Caged Bird very much. He always used cloth to cover his forehead, covering that ugly Caged Bird Cursed Seal.
And Hinata was now also three years old. Because she was of the main family, she was still the same as before.
"No," Neji said after being silent for a while.
At this moment, Neji's father had not been forced to death by Kumogakure and was still alive and well, so he was not that extreme and had not reached the point of hating Hinata to that degree.
Hearing Neji's words, Hinata breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. She spoke softly again, "Then why does Brother Neji seem to be deliberately distancing himself from me..."
Neji fell into deep thought. So he had acted that obviously? Even Hinata had noticed. Perhaps the dissatisfaction in his heart was greater than he imagined.
This was where Neji thought wrong. Because the only person Hinata could really talk to was Neji, this cousin of hers. Having even this only one disappear, how could Hinata possibly not notice?
"I was just training seriously," Neji said, making an excuse.
The atmosphere fell into silence again. Hinata did not know how to reply, and Neji also did not know how to face Hinata.
'If Naruto-kun were here, what would he do?' Hinata tried to think from Naruto's perspective.
She imagined it. If it were Naruto, he would probably...
"Neji, please teach me Gentle Fist." Naruto looked at Neji with a serious face.
"Your Gentle Fist is so amazing. With your help, I can definitely meet the requirements one month later."
Thinking of this, Hinata suddenly smiled. She felt that if it were Naruto, he would probably do this, even if Neji had already shown distance a year ago.
Naruto was the kind of person who would not care about the atmosphere. Or rather, he was someone who would change the atmosphere.
"Brother Neji, can I ask you for guidance on Gentle Fist in the future?" Hinata mustered her courage and asked.
She really wanted to meet her father's requirements. That way, she would not be locked at home.
"When I have time, yes," Neji said with a calm face.
"Thank you." Hinata clenched her small fists, feeling victory, and was very grateful to Naruto in her heart.
Neji did not respond to Hinata and instead continued training.
...
Obito went to the village at the address Hayakawa Satoru had given him and found the old man who had provided the information.
"Hello, sir. I want to ask, was there a child named Kinoshita Tsukasa who went missing here a very long time ago?" Obito, disguised as an ordinary person, asked the old man.
"What Kinoshita?" The old man looked at Obito with a confused face.
Obito narrowed his eyes slightly, confirmed again that he had not found the wrong person, then continued asking, "That child named Kinoshita Tsukasa."
"What Tsukasa?" The old man instantly forgot the surname he had just said.
Obito: ...
At this moment, Obito suddenly thought of something. He took out a stack of gray-green paper money from his ninja tool pouch and handed it to the old man.
"I am asking whether there was a child named Kinoshita Tsukasa who went missing here before," Obito asked again.
The old man accepted the paper money, as though his Ren and Du meridians had been opened at once, and instantly heard clearly what Obito had said.
"Oh, that child Kinoshita Tsukasa. That was all more than thirty years ago. Before he went missing, that child even stole melons from me. I didn't expect that in the blink of an eye, he would disappear." The old man shook his head and sighed.
After that, Obito asked again about his family, or whether any suspected Kinoshita Tsukasa had returned or anything like that.
However, Obito did not get the answer he wanted.
Although he had already prepared himself, Obito still felt somewhat disappointed.
Perhaps because Obito had given too much, the old man not only told Obito what he had asked, but also chatted about other things.
"These days are gradually getting better. Twenty or thirty years ago, the Land of Rivers was truly chaotic. Children going missing and such was too common. Life was difficult. Forget children going missing, there were even people selling children."
"Were there many people going missing more than thirty years ago?" Obito asked probing.
"A lot. Forget more than thirty years ago, it was still like that more than twenty years ago. Even now, it is not as though there are none," the old man answered.
Obito fell into deep thought. He thought of a possibility.
Perhaps Tsukasa and the organization that Sunagakure attacker belonged to might have used a method of kidnapping children and training them into death warriors.
If that was the case, then it definitely was not simple human trafficking, but only taking in and not letting out.
Obito felt that he could investigate in this direction.
Although he did not obtain the clues he wanted, he more or less gained some thoughts. Obito soon bid farewell to the old man, then quickly rushed to the Gold Organization.
"I wonder if that kid Tsukasa provoked someone outside. So many people actually came to ask about him." The old man looked at Obito's back and felt it was somewhat strange.
Usually, very few outsiders came to their small mountain village. Now, because of a child who had gone missing more than thirty years ago, so many people had actually come.
"But fortunately, his whole family is gone too. Otherwise, who knows what trouble there would be." The old man shook his head.
After returning to the Gold Organization, Obito had Hayakawa begin investigating hidden ninja organizations within the Land of Rivers, the kind that had kidnapped children.
As expected of a local snake, the Gold Organization did not make Obito wait long. Hayakawa soon brought over the intelligence.
"As for cultivating children into death warriors for ninja organizations, actually many ninja organizations are doing it," Hayakawa said after handing the documents to Obito.
This was indeed the case, because the Hope Organization had also done this before, but they did not kidnap. Instead, they took in war orphans, and what they cultivated were not death warriors who only knew killing.
Obito nodded and accepted the documents. There were more than ten ninja organizations on the documents, which was also related to the situation of the Land of Rivers itself. Ninja organizations were rampant.
However, Obito keenly noticed one thing. One of the organizations had no name, and the words "doubtful" were marked beside it.
Obito told Hayakawa about his doubts.
"Oh, this nameless organization." Hayakawa thought for a moment and said.
"We actually are not sure whether this organization still truly exists, because it is extremely low-profile. There are basically no visible actions, nor any commissions it has done. It has no reputation at all in the ninja world of the Land of Rivers, so we suspect it may have been destroyed."
In Hayakawa's view, this nameless organization was undoubtedly very strange.
First of all, what was the purpose of creating a ninja organization? Some people did it to earn large amounts of money, and some people did it for status. It was basically these two.
But the prerequisite to obtaining these two was that the organization needed to have a certain level of fame. At least it needed to have fame in the circle. If you had no fame, who would seek you out to do things? If no one sought you out to do things, where would the money come from?
Even a ninja organization like the Hope Organization, which sold ninja tools, still had to use quality to make its name known, so that when others saw something produced by the Hope Organization, they would know it was a good ninja tool.
If Akatsuki wanted to monopolize war commissions from small countries, it also needed a certain level of fame.
But this nameless organization actually did not even have a name. Even some ninja organizations with only a few people still had their own names.
It did not do commissions and had no name. What was it aiming for?
Hayakawa told Obito what he knew.
After listening, Obito fell into deep thought. His direction of thinking was different from Hayakawa's.
Hayakawa would think in terms of money and status, but Obito knew that in this world, there was a kind of person who did not care about money, fame, or profit, and only wanted to complete their dream, sparing no cost to do so.
Because he himself was that kind of person.
"Help me pay close attention to this nameless organization," Obito said.
Because the Gold Organization also had no information on this organization's base or personnel, and only had some doubtful intelligence marked down, Obito could not investigate it now. He could only start investigating from the other organizations in the documents first.
Hayakawa nodded, indicating that there was no problem.