"You... you're definitely a complete idiot, aren't you?!"
The atmosphere froze for about a second. Then Hanabi, unable to decide whether she was angrier or more exasperated, snapped at him. As a girl who had always been fiercely independent and competitive, being mistaken for someone else right to her face felt absolutely terrible.
"Look properly! I'm Hanabi! Hyuga Hanabi! The Second Young Lady of the Hyuga Clan! My Onee-sama is Hyuga Hinata, and she and I are two different people, all right?!"
Hanabi rarely raised her voice to announce her own name, and she could not help getting worked up. "Besides, you're one of the people working under Onee-sama, aren't you? Don't tell me you can't even remember what she looks like!"
"Huh? Really? But... look. Same Byakugan, same hairstyle, same face shape... how is anyone supposed to tell you apart?!"
Naruto puffed up his cheeks and argued back, equally annoyed. Several veins immediately bulged on Hanabi's smooth little forehead. Clenching her small fists, she ground her teeth. "What are your eyes even made of?! Did you somehow miss the most obvious difference between us—our builds?!"
"Huh? Bu... builds?"
Only then did Naruto's brain finally catch up. His gaze reflexively slid down from Hanabi's face to the area below her collarbones. After studying it carefully for two seconds, he suddenly understood. "Oh! So that's another way to tell you apart. A chest like a sheer Konoha cliff face really is nowhere close to Hinata's..."
"DIE!!!"
Before Naruto could finish, Hanabi's rage meter hit its limit. A sharp side kick smashed straight into the blond boy's face. Naruto, who had no idea what he had said wrong, cried out and was sent flying sideways.
"What was that for?!"
Naruto adjusted his posture in midair and at least managed to protect the Takoyaki hidden against his chest. The two Hyuga guards at the gate angrily closed in as well. "You insolent brat! We're throwing you out right now!"
"Stop! I'll deal with him myself!"
Hanabi waved a hand, her anger undiminished. Though still young, she already carried some of the authority deliberately cultivated in a future Clan Head. Startled, the two Hyuga guards immediately stood straight. "Yes! Then we'll leave him to you."
"Uh... that way of speaking. Yep. Definitely Hinata's little sister."
Naruto shuddered instinctively and rubbed his cheek as he muttered. Without question, he had just discovered another trait this "miniature Hinata" shared with her sister.
"You say you want to see my Onee-sama, but the Hyuga Clan is not some fallen clan like the Uchiha. If you want to go in, you first need the permission of me, the Next Clan Head."
Hanabi looked at Naruto with a hint of arrogance. She clearly had a little scheme of her own, and the blond boy showing up on her doorstep was the perfect opportunity.
"Huh? The next Hyuga Clan Head? But isn't Hinata the eldest daughter?"
Naruto stared at Hanabi in confusion. Hanabi proudly puffed out her chest. "That's because only the strongest heir is qualified to become Clan Head in the Hyuga Clan. So I'm the Next Clan Head."
"Pfft... pffhahahahaha!"
Naruto froze for about a second, then burst into completely unrestrained laughter. Hanabi's proud expression immediately stiffened. A faint blush rose on the Byakugan girl's face as she snapped, "How rude! Is that the proper way to respond when someone introduces herself?!"
"Pffhahaha... no... sorry... but that joke is way too funny! You really do look like Hinata, but there's no way you're stronger than her. She can punch a crater about five meters across into the ground with one hit! With those little arms and legs, how could you possibly be stronger than Hinata?"
Naruto wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes and felt an oddly comical sense of kinship. He himself was the sort of person who constantly shouted grand ambitions about becoming Hokage. Suddenly meeting a little girl with the same kind of "aspiration" to become Clan Head did feel strangely familiar.
"You... hah... so you think that too..."
Surprisingly, Hanabi did not get angry. She glanced around, then turned away. "Come with me. I have something to say to you."
"Huh? What?"
Not understanding, Naruto followed Hanabi while casually looking around. The Hyuga Compound resembled the Uchiha Compound, but its layout was far stricter and more orderly, like a wooden box deliberately divided into compartments. Hyuga clansmen of different status and position were allocated to those spaces with rigid precision. Naruto had to admit he did not like what that revealed.
"I know about you. You were one of Onee-sama's classmates, and... she values you quite a lot, right?"
Hanabi led Naruto into a training arena, then turned to the boy standing there with his hands behind his head and an unconcerned expression. "So let's have a match."
"Huh? Why? Fighting a little kid like you doesn't sound fun. And... about that part where she values me..."
Naruto instinctively remembered his role as the dedicated "heroine" of the Fox's Tale Film Crew, and his face went slightly green. "Honestly... I don't even know what to say about the way she values me..."
"Enough. I'm not an idiot. The clan elders say Onee-sama gave up the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist, so she no longer has the right to compete for the position of Clan Head. But to me, strong is strong and weak is weak. Whatever path Onee-sama chose, she's stronger than me now. That much is obvious. I secretly watched her train. She's reached a level I can't match..."
As she spoke, Hanabi's hand tightened slightly. After Hinata rejected her last time, the stubborn younger sister had naturally conducted her own private investigation. The Byakugan was an excellent Kekkei Genkai for observing things from the shadows, and as a result, Hanabi had been fortunate enough to witness Hinata's Flame Killing Fist, which could melt rock in an instant.
Although Hanabi was the Hyuga Clan's designated heir and genuinely talented in Gentle Fist, that did not mean she was equally stubborn about treating Gentle Fist as the only path. As a child gifted in combat, she could judge strength and weakness with unusual clarity. Her conclusion was simple: Hinata might have abandoned Gentle Fist, but her personal strength had already reached a level Hanabi could barely hope to touch.
"Let's make a bet. We fight one match. If I lose, I'll take you to see Onee-sama. If you lose..."
Hanabi raised her head and finally revealed her true goal. Desire shone in the Byakugan girl's eyes. "You give me those Holy Fist Gauntlets. You know what that means, don't you?"
Naruto's eyes narrowed instinctively. Hanabi was clearly asking for far more than a pair of gauntlets.
Those gauntlets had been given to Naruto by Hinata as the symbolic weapon of Nanto Wind Martyr Fist. If someone else took them, it would mean Naruto had been completely disqualified from the Wind Martyr Fist inheritance. In other words, what Hanabi wanted was...
"You and Hinata really are sisters. I can't underestimate that ambition."
Looking at Hanabi, Naruto finally became interested as well. Fighting a child was not appealing, but the ambition and fighting spirit she had conveyed deserved respect.
"Exactly! Onee-sama's Fist Manuals should have been inherited by me, her younger sister, in the first place. So I'm going to defeat you and bring the Wind Martyr Fist Manual back to the Hyuga Clan. After that, I'll challenge Uchiha Sasuke and reclaim the Lightning Burial Fist Manual too. You just happened to be the first one to deliver yourself to me."
Hanabi assumed the opening stance of Gentle Fist (Jūken), and her Byakugan activated at the same time. She was recognized throughout the Hyuga Clan as a Gentle Fist prodigy. Though still young, her strength was far beyond that of Academy students her own age.
"Hmph. If you can do it, then come at me. But if I beat you, don't cry. You have to keep your promise and take me to see Hinata."
Naruto casually clenched his fists, clearly brimming with confidence. That confidence did not come from himself alone, but also from the companions who had been helping him train all this time.
"Come on! Let's do this! Make it quick, or the Takoyaki will get cold!"
Naruto's confidence made Hanabi bite her lip. Her competitive nature caused the Byakugan girl to ignore the gap between them. With a sharp cry, she rushed fiercely toward Naruto. For a child, her speed and movements were crisp and efficient. To put it another way, she could probably beat ten Sarutobi Konohamaru at once without much trouble.
But...
"Take this—Divine Sandstorm!"
Naruto shouted in a low voice and drew both arms back to his waist. Then both fists, palms facing upward, spun forward at the same time. Powerful chakra erupted violently in one burst, driven by the rotational inertia of his punches and the pathways through his chakra network. The twin streams resembled two small tornadoes grinding against each other, easily ripping chunks out of the solid training-ground floor.
Hanabi, charging straight at him, had never expected to be met by such a simple and brutally effective area attack. She had no time to react. With a scream, she was caught by the columns of wind from Divine Sandstorm and flung away like a kite with its string cut, smashing into the wall on the opposite side of the training ground with a heavy bang.
"Tch! I already held back, but this move really is hard to control. Hey, are you all right?"
Seeing Hanabi sent flying startled Naruto as well, and he hurried over. Recently, he had been practicing Divine Sandstorm against Choji's Human Bullet Tank. If Naruto failed to use enough force to knock Choji away, Human Bullet Tank would run him over instead. After being pressed into the ground dozens of times in a row, Naruto had finally overcome the technique's main weakness and could now control Divine Sandstorm's power with reasonable precision.
Naruto reached the fallen Hanabi and was just about to help the Byakugan girl up when her hand suddenly shot upward. A gleaming Kunai pressed against his neck.
"Hmph. So you really do make this kind of careless beginner's mistake when facing an enemy."
There was some dust on Hanabi's face, but her eyes were clearly triumphant. After witnessing Hinata's Flame Killing Fist, she naturally knew the other two fist styles could not be weak either. That was why she had chosen a trap like this.
"Which means... I win!"