"Ugh…"
When the clones dispelled, two streams of chakra surged back into Konome. For a heartbeat her body felt heavier, and her mind froze under the crash of memories and fatigue.
A second or two passed.
Her stalled thoughts spun back to life.
Two new form changes bloomed in her head.
Fish, and turtle.
Those were the assignments she had given Water-Style Konome today.
Since she had devoured Isobu's chakra, she figured these two forms would fit Water Style like a glove, so she prioritized them.
Nothing wrong there.
Konome sifted the memories. The water clone's form practice had gone smoothly. With the Byakugan guiding her and real animals to observe, almost nothing had blocked the way. Her progress easily outpaced the original's.
Only the turtle turned out oddly ill suited to Water Style. Otherwise everything checked out.
Even the python form had been refined with extra detail.
Water's pressure nature had fully merged with the python form. The conjured water serpent could squeeze a tree so wide it took seven or eight adults to encircle, crushing it to splinters.
At the same time, the flow aspect of Water had been woven into the python's body.
The water python ignored ordinary taijutsu strikes, and once it coiled around you, even Konome struggled to break free.
No question. Another taijutsu killer of a jutsu.
Konome could not help the spark of joy in her chest.
Shadow Clone was stronger than she had imagined.
In just a few days, Wind and Water had both advanced. If she had more chakra to spend, she could push the pace even harder.
As her chakra seed matured, her training speed would only climb. Split into dozens of clones, and she might take a nature change from draft to peak in less than a day, even spin off new jutsu.
She set the daydream aside and dug deeper into the memories.
If Water-Style Konome was fine, then the trouble had to be on Academy Konome's side.
Konome's brow knit.
That clone mattered a hundred times more than the water one.
The Yin and Yang Release know-how she needed for Reverse Eight Gates, all of it depended on the academy's second-generation heirs.
This was not the place to be careless.
She rushed through the other memory stream. In moments she understood why both clones had come back in low spirits.
Hyuga Hinata had discovered Konome's secret.
Academy Konome had planned to quietly study a little Gentle Fist from Hinata. Instead, every time she approached, Hinata shrank away in sheer terror.
At first the clone chalked it up to shyness, nerves, Hinata's timid nature.
So she let it go.
Then she noticed that whenever she drew near, Hinata's heart rate spiked hard. There was even the telltale tightening and release of the pelvic floor, the startle reflex that precedes involuntary urination, and Academy Konome realized something was very wrong.
A few passes of testing and observation, and she made her call.
Sometime, somehow, Hinata must have used the Byakugan to peek at Konome. She had seen that Konome's body was built unlike anyone else's, and the Byakugan itself might already be exposed.
Konome had considered this risk before.
Her decoys could fool ordinary people. Put her in front of the same bloodline, and nobody could fool anyone.
Which was why she had been so clean about those two branch house guards.
If the Hyuga set their eyes on her, nothing about her could remain hidden. No one knew the Byakugan's reach better than Konome herself.
The Hyuga needed talent just to awaken their eyes.
In the original story Hinata progressed slowly and had been scolded by Hyuga Hiashi. Awakening in first year was unlikely, and she had not activated the Byakugan even when Sasuke beat her during combat class.
So Konome had not worried about Hinata.
She had not expected the timid girl to have already awakened, and to have used it in secret to look inside her.
Was that why she had refused to activate the Byakugan in class, to keep Konome off guard?
Had she told Hyuga Hiashi?
Konome thought it through.
It seemed unlikely Hinata had reported her.
If she had, the Hyuga would never ignore it, not with the value they placed on the Byakugan. Someone would have come knocking already.
Then why had she stayed quiet?
Konome remembered the way Hinata had shaken, close to wetting herself from fear.
She brushed a hand over her own cheek.
Looks are leverage. Being pretty has its perks, but being frightening does too.
Hinata was timid to the bone. She liked Naruto yet could not even talk to him. Despite Hyuga training she still got bullied by children.
With a nature that soft, being scared witless by the monster living under Konome's skin was only natural.
Having read Hinata's state, Konome allowed herself a breath.
Since opening Eight Gates, she did not exactly fear the Hyuga anymore. But there was no profit in going head to head with a great clan.
In the manga the Hyuga looked mediocre. This was the real world.
Who knew what buried, broken secret arts they might spring. Let an ancient fossil crawl out and throw a divine Vacuum Palm, and she could find herself very dead.
Konome had only one life and no taste for fighting up tiers.
What she liked was smashing an enemy with overwhelming force, ideally so thoroughly that their best strike could not even dent her guard.
If not, then an assassination would do.
That was the kind of fight that let her relax.
Hinata's existence did not let her relax.
She had to deal with Hinata, or her fragile peace would not last.
Kill Hinata?
The thought flickered, and a chill of intent ran through her.
But the main house was not the branch house. Hyuga Hinata was the clan's nominal heir. Killing her would be a hundred times worse than killing two branch guards.
The Hyuga would come in force. Under the Byakugan's sweep, Konome's abnormalities would be revealed in short order.
As a main house princess, Hinata would be ringed with Hyuga protectors.
If there were to be a kill, the academy was the only possible place, and the exposure risk was sky high.
What about using someone else's blade?
Konome paged through Konoha's rogues gallery for anyone who might target Hinata.
If she dangled the Byakugan in front of Mizuki, Orochimaru's plant inside the village, could she push him to act for her?
She thought for a long time. Might Guy finished dinner and they ate, and still she had found no way to kill Hinata without exposing herself.
It could not be helped.
If Hinata died, no matter who moved, the Hyuga would flood the streets.
The Byakugan's x-ray vision was too much of a cheat.
She knew of no way to hide from those eyes.
Even if she learned seals and wrapped her body in protective fūinjutsu, that would be just as conspicuous, practically a signboard that something was wrong.
Weighing the gains and losses, Konome let the killing urge gutter out.
A warning would have to do.
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