The first thing I saw when I woke up is an entirely white room.
I tried to get up, only for me to grunt in pain and fall back down onto something soft. If I am feeling pain, does that mean I somehow survived?
"-ku! Haku!"
A small blur tackled into me and I give another grunt of pain. Whatever sleepiness I had is now gone from the sudden pain I am experiencing.
"Hanabi." I groaned out in a hoarse voice, and even I am taken aback at how raspy my voice sounded. How long was I out? "Water."
Hanabi quickly fumbled to pour me a glass of water and helped me to sit upright. I hissed in pain as I tried to do so. I tried to lift my arms, but they are covered in bandages and I don't have much control over them. It's just too painful to even move them.
"Here." Hanabi said as she assisted me to drink from the glass and I drank the water greedily. I also took the chance to look around. We are undoubtedly in a hospital room and I am hooked up to all sorts of machines.
"Where… are we? How long has it been?"
Hanabi visibly brightened up as she put the glass down on the table beside my bed.
"We are in Konoha! I was screaming for help as I ran, and I bumped into a group of Konoha shinobi! They went to save you!"
At least everything worked out well in the end.
Hanabi suddenly gave me another hug and I can feel her tears staining my hospital gown wet.
"I… I almost thought you died. You were asleep for a week. There's… There's so much blood on you. I thought, I thought…"
"If I didn't die from the stab wounds or the lightning jutsu, I think I might die if you continue to squeeze me in this manner."
Hanabi quickly let go of me and I let out a sigh of relief. While I appreciate the thought and gesture, she wasn't conscious of how much strength she was using in that hug. I am hurting all over.
The door to the room suddenly slid open and someone in a doctor's coat entered. My jaw nearly dropped when she walked to the front of my bed.
Straight brown hair that stop before it reaches her shoulders, beneath the coat she wore an attire that is mostly dark purple in colour. What is most unmistakable is the rectangular purple markings on the side of her cheeks. No way, she couldn't be her.
"Hello there, my name is Nohara Rin and I am a medic nin of Konoha, what is your name?"
Fuck. My. Life.
The entrance of another individual brought our attention to the door. A man with eyes like Hanabi strode into the room and Hanabi immediately ran to him and gave him a hug.
"Otou-sama!"
This must be Hyuga Hiashi.
Hiashi just patted Hanabi on the head dotingly. I'm not sure if he is usually such an expressive man due to my impression of him in the manga series, or if the kidnapping of his daughter softened him enough to indulge in such acts of endearment with his child. I wouldn't be surprised if Hanabi's kidnapping changed him. No matter how cold he is as a shinobi, Hanabi is his daughter. The thought of losing her for about a month to Kumo with the knowledge of what they are planning to do to her must have drove him crazy.
As if my worldview had not been shaken enough, more people entered the room. People who are supposed to be… dead, presumed dead, or… just not supposed to be here. Assuming I identified them correctly.
"Rin! Is the kid awake?"
"Can't you see for yourself, you dobe? He's sitting upright."
"Shut up, bakashi. Nobody asked you."
"Language, Obito!" A woman with long fiery red hair, the reddest I had ever seen in both of my lives, scolded as she pulled on his ear. "There are children here!"
"Kushina, calm down. You are scaring the poor kid."
"Eh, oops." The woman, who is now confirmed to be Kushina (isn't she supposed to be dead?), rubbed the back of her head sheepishly with one hand upon the words of a man with bright yellow hair and azure blue eyes. He is definitely Minato, the Yellow Flash, and the Fourth Hokage of Konoha even if I don't see his Hokage robes on him.
Another man entered into the room. He had blue eyes and dull, pink hair which is styled in five different spikes in different directions. The way it is styled looks almost like a flower. He looks kind of familiar too. However, what was shocking is what I saw he was wearing when he finally pushed past the sea of people who had crammed themselves into my small room to greet me in a loud booming voice.
This guy is the one wearing the Hokage robes. Minato is not the Hokage?!
"Hey kid, name's Haruno Kizashi, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha! How are you feeling? Are there anymore pains? Or are there-"
"Yondaime-sama, you are overwhelming the kid." Rin politely interjected.
I took deep breaths to calm my nerves.
Kami-sama above, just what kind of world did I land myself in?!
After I got over my shock and mentally accepted the fact that my understanding of this world has been shattered once again, Rin did a round of questioning and tests to see my rate of recovery. Thankfully, none of the injuries I suffered were permanent although I might retain some scars from the numerous stab wounds the Kumo shinobi had inflicted on my arm. The other shinobis in the room were curious about me as well since I am not from the Land of Fire. To them, what I did was hard to understand. A kid from the mysterious Land of Water had volunteered to help a shinobi child he barely knew about from the Land of Fire return to her homeland despite all odds. The fact that we actually reached the Land of Fire is a miracle in itself. When you put it this way, even I can't believe I did what I did.
From what I learnt, Haruno Kizashi (I'm pretty sure he is Sakura's father by now) is the current Hokage and succeeded Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was the third Hokage. I don't know how strong Kizashi is, but he has to be at least on Minato's level to even be nominated as Hokage. Team Minato are also veterans of the Third Shinobi War, although I have no idea why and how they all survived. From what I can see through the window beside my bed that shows me a nice view of the village, a sizable section of Konoha looks relatively new compared to the other parts. The difference is too obvious to not notice. When I asked about it, they told me that the village was under attack by the Kyuubi a few years ago, destroying a large part of the village in the process and that they only just managed to completely rebuild the destroyed section, so at least I now know that the Kyuubi attack still happened in this world even if I don't know why Minato and Kushina are still alive. Obito was especially talkative and it is weird seeing him without scars on his face or he being a villain. From what he told me, he was the one that stopped the kunai from killing me. He was leading a squad of chunins to search for any remaining Kumo stragglers and to take them down, but they found Hanabi who was screaming for help while running. He probably used Kamui to reach me, since I remembered the air swirled in a weird fashion just right before I passed out. I am curious as to how he awakened the mangekyou sharingan since Rin is still alive, but I know better than to ask. This is not knowledge that I should know. Kakashi looks like the aloof type of guy with an attitude problem like what his canon counterpart displayed himself as before canon Obito's 'death'. Rin is just a nice person to be around with. Kushina is excited about knowing more about the Land of Water but I don't have anything nice about it to share with her, so I just shut up. She got the hint that I don't like to share about my homeland or my past, so she didn't press any further. Minato simply leaned against a wall and observed the entire proceedings together with Hiashi while Hanabi sat beside me on the bed.
Kizashi gave a clap to get everyone's attention on him.
"Alright, now that Haku is awake and well, we need to discuss the serious stuffs."
Why is there such a sense of foreboding?
"Haku." Kizashi's eyes turned sharp as he looked at me and I don't like how he is eyeing me. "I will be blunt. Would you like to join Konoha?"
I know the facial expression of my face is probably not very nice from how Hanabi winced beside me, but I cannot help it. I don't have a favourable expression towards shinobi. It's one thing to read about these people who lived in a fictional world, it's another thing to live a life in the same fictional world where things are usually solved with violence and bloodshed.
"Give me reasons to stay."
"Your bloodline is now an open secret." Kizashi went straight to the point. "We are still in the process of finding any remnants of the Kumo shinobis hiding in our country, but I am sure there are more than just the three of them you and Hanabi encountered. Someone had probably reported about you and your abilities back to Kumo by now. You might not know this, but this is now an international diplomatic incident due to how one of our clan heiresses was kidnapped right under our very noses in our own village. Whether you like it or not, you are involved in this mess. Sure, I can allow you to leave after you recover, but I have no doubt there will be other shinobis waiting to kidnap you for their own gains the moment you leave the village's walls. News like these travels fast in the shinobi world. You of all people should know how valuable and dangerous kekkei genkais are."
Ouch. He's not holding anything back. The frustrating thing is that he is most probably right. Excluding the one I killed back in the Land of Water, I don't think the three Kumo shinobis I met is all Kumo sent here. I remembered that a delegation of Kumo shinobis came here under the guise of signing a peace treaty before they kidnap canon Hinata, or Hanabi in this case. There should be more than the few I met. My kekkei genkai should be rather rare too, although I need more facts to check about the state of my dispersed clan. I'm not sure how many are left. For all I know I may be the only surviving member of my clan.
"Another thing we need to confirm is whether you are a sleeper agent or spy, but after going through Hanabi's memories with the help of a Yamanaka and seeing how you interacted with her, you are in the clear, so you don't have anything to worry about. I have an idea of the state of things back at where you came from. I'd like to think that living here is a lot better than going back there. At least in Konoha, we protect our own. Hanabi had told us a few times that you don't like the idea of being a shinobi. However, you will need to be a shinobi if you decide to stay here. Your abilities and power are invaluable to any villages, Haku. Not many can boast about killing three jonins at your age, even if was because they were very careless."
Funny he should say that Konoha protect her own. Hanabi was kidnapped here, wasn't she? And don't get me started on Danzo and the future Uchiha massacre.
I held back my snarky thoughts and ponder about the options I have. It didn't take me long. I don't have a choice in the matter if I want to survive. I can feel Hanabi's gaze on me and her anxiety. I don't know why she is so fixated on me staying here even if I can understand a little.
"… Fine. I will stay. I don't really have a choice in this matter, do I?"
"No, you don't." Kizashi affirmed my thoughts. "You will be dead the moment you leave our village's walls. I have no doubt the Raikage is furious about having his jonins bested by a kid. He will try to get his hands on you and your bloodline given how you use it to kill his men. Even Obito had some trouble trying to get you out of your ice, and that is saying something since he is one of the best when it comes to Fire jutsu."
I gave a frustrated shout that made the people around me jumped a little from my sudden reaction. This isn't what I had planned in mind. Now I will be stuck here for the rest of my life as a shinobi, the one thing I don't want to be, and I don't have a choice.
"Anything else I should know?"
Hiashi stepped up and I turned to face him.
"From what Hanabi told me, I understand that you are an orphan. The Hyuga clan would like to offer to adopt you as a ward of the clan, you will be taken care of as one of us. This is the least we can do after you returned Hanabi safely to us. A fate worse than death would have befell her if she didn't meet you."
I felt a tug on my hospital gown from my side and I saw Hanabi giving me those eyes again.
"Hanabi, stop it."
The waterworks threatened to make themselves known and I quickly weighed Hiashi's offer. In all honesty, it isn't that bad. At least I don't have to worry about food and shelter for the foreseeable future while I'm in Konoha. I have no idea how Konoha treated their orphans, but if canon Naruto's experience is any indication, it probably isn't that good.
Hanabi is sniffing by now and I groaned. Stupid puppy eyes. I need to start building resistance to them asap.
"Stop crying." I said as I flicked her forehead with a finger like how I usually do to her during our journey together to Konoha to get her attention. "I accept your father's offer, happy now?"
Hanabi gave a shout of joy and glomped me. I am trying very hard to not whine in pain from how she is aggravating my injuries. The lightning jutsu fried more than just my hair. My skin is very sensitive to touch and pain now until they are fully healed. Rin had said that she could hasten the process with medical ninjutsu, but it will be better for my body in the long run to let it heal naturally. Medical ninjutsu cannot fix everything.
"Man, this kid is whipped. Doesn't it remind you of sensei and-"
"You say something, Obito?" Kushina threatened with a deceptively sweet smile and Obito paled quickly.
"N-Nothing, ma'am."
He's the one who is whipped.
Kushina sat down beside me and slung an arm around my shoulder, acting like we are the best of pals even if we only barely knew each other for less than an hour.
"If you cannot stand the stuffy Hyugas you are always welcomed to stay with me and Minato. Naruto will love to have you around too."
And get myself involved with the troublesome 'Child of Prophecy'? No thank you. He's the first person that I will be avoiding at all costs in this village. The next in line is Sasuke. Danzo too, if he is around in the village, assuming that some things remain the same as canon.
Obito kept gesturing to me exaggeratedly out of Kushina's sight by crossing his arms in an 'X' and silently mouthing the word 'ramen', if I read his lips right, and did a puking action. I think I understand what he is trying to tell me. Kushina probably only know how to cook ramen, Naruto had to get his undying love for ramen somewhere. I will die from diabetes from all the salt in that bowl of dish if I eat it constantly.
"No! Haku! You are staying with me!" Hanabi grabbed onto my bandaged arm and I yelped in pain from the unexpected sudden contact. Rin is immediately by my side and Hanabi look shocked at the realisation of what she had done.
"It's fine. Nothing I cannot handle." I mumbled out as I endured the pain. The green shine from Rin's hands eased the pain somewhat.
"You are allowed to cry if it is too painful. You are just a kid." Rin admonished as she let my arm down gently. "I have no idea how you endured your stab wounds. You are lucky that we managed to fix your arms, I lost count how many times you were stabbed when I was fixing it."
I mumbled my thanks to her for healing me. It wasn't just her, I lost count on how many times I was stabbed too.
I gave a mental sigh. Now that I'm destined to be a shinobi, I really hope that I can live past twenty.
"Come on, Haku! Let's go play!"
Hiashi watched in amusement as the younger of his two daughters (even if it was only by a few hours) tried to drag Haku along from where he is lying on the ground trying to take a nap under the shade of the huge tree in the garden. The older of the fraternal twins, Hinata, looked torn between wanting to stop Hanabi from physically pulling Haku and her want to play with him as well. Neji just looked on impassively from the side of the garden. Hizashi sat by his side as they watched the children's interaction from where they are resting in their own corner.
Hiashi is glad that the entire affair with Kumo ended in their favour. Kumo had the audacity to ask for a set of their clan's byakugan even after what they did, but the fact that the entire Kumo delegation died outside their village's walls and that Hanabi was returned safely back to him gave Kumo little room to push for their demands. Konoha had erased any evidences that the deaths of the Kumo delegation were linked to them. If Kumo wants to play the part of the unreasonable thug, Konoha can do the same as well. The Hokage was also firm in his stand to protect the Hyuga clan and the safety of Konoha, and Hiashi is grateful to the Hokage for not giving in to Kumo's demands.
Despite losing a large part of their shinobi's forces during the unexpected Kyuubi attack, Konoha still have strong shinobis in her ranks that allow them to stand at the top of the other shinobi villages. Minato alone is a threat to Ay, the current and Fourth Raikage. Kushina's mastery in Fuinjutsu is more than enough to handle Killer B and Yugito in a one-on-one fight. There are also other notable shinobis in Konoha like Uchiha Fugaku, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Tsunade of the Sannin who are also famed for their strength in battle. Konoha won't lose in a war with Kumo, and Kumo knew it, so they did nothing but make empty threats over the entire affair.
Haku is a very reserved boy that is too mature for his age. All he does is read during his spare time and devouring every knowledge about chakra and shinobi history. He has a huge interest in those subjects and he has an entire bookshelf crammed with such books in his room. Haku is only a year older than Hinata and Hanabi and the same age as Neji, but he will be attending the academy together with the twins instead. Haku could have enrolled together with Neji a year ago when he was first brought back to Konoha, but Haku simply had too much to catch up on if he were to enrol into the academy together with Neji at that point in time. Even if Haku is fluent in his speech, he only knows how to read and write a few words when he first arrived in Konoha and his physical abilities are subpar at best. So Hiashi decided to delay Haku's enrolment in the academy for a year so that Haku can first learn the basics that is required of him before entering the academy.
Haku is bright, and that showed in his lessons and physical training. He caught up to the lessons taught by the tutors quickly and his taijutsu is actually good enough to even match Hanabi and Hinata when he finally decides to put in the required effort. Neji is still a little too advanced for Haku to catch up to but Neji is a prodigy, so Hiashi wasn't surprised at the gap between the two of them. Still, he has faith that Haku will catch up to Neji soon enough. Haku is also a prodigy in his own right, and Hiashi have no doubt that Haku will grow into a powerful shinobi.
Haku wanted to try learning the Gentle Fist, their clan's taijutsu style that involves the use of their dojutsu. Hiashi and Hizashi had tried to explain to him why that is impossible but Haku had argued that if the Gentle Fist revolves around shutting the opponent's tenketsu points by injecting your own chakra into them, then it should be possible for anyone to learn it by memorising the location of the tenketsu points since the location of these points is the same for every human being. Hiashi have to admit that he hadn't thought about this even if he had been a practitioner of the Gentle Fist for decades, but there are still reasons why only the Hyuga are the only ones capable of using it to great effect.
The byakugan not only allows the user to see tenketsu points, something that even the sharingan cannot pick out, but it also allows the user to see the chakra flow within them. While the concept of the Gentle Fist, at the very basic level, is to shut off the opponent's chakra flow like what Haku said, the user needs to know how much chakra is needed exactly to achieve that effect, and that is usually not possible unless you can see the chakra flowing through the tenketsu points with the byakugan. If you inject too little chakra, there won't be any effect. Inject too much, and you might permanently cripple your ally in a friendly spar even if you wouldn't care if the same happens to your enemies. To achieve the optimal effect, the user of the Gentle Fist needs to know the exact amount of chakra to stop the chakra flow in the opponent's tenketsu. Overloading your opponent's tenketsu points with a huge dose of chakra, even if they are an enemy, is also a huge waste of chakra and hence not practical in a real fight without the byakugan, especially if you are facing a huge number of enemies at once. The way the taijutsu katas of the Gentle Fist is structured also takes into account the near 360-degree visual range of the byakugan, making it a style that is only uniquely suited for members of their clan.
Haku wasn't deterred, and he actually went on to compare the Gentle Fist with other taijutsu styles that the Hyuga clan are known to use. Not every member of the Hyuga clan are capable of using their dojutsu even if they are all born with it. There are members of the clan who are civilians as well. There are also a scant few who became shinobis even if they never managed to utilise their birth right for reasons unknown, so there are other taijutsu styles catered to members who cannot use the byakugan that anyone else are able to use, Hyuga or not.
What Hiashi wasn't expecting is for Haku to create his own Gentle Fist style.
If Hiashi wants to get technical and nit-pick at Haku's creation, his taijutsu style is a heavily bastardised version of the Gentle Fist, to the extent that the elders of the clan would have a fit if they ever saw it and even Hiashi is hard-pressed to call it the Gentle Fist. But Hiashi cannot deny that it is effective. Haku basically memorised the major tenketsu points in the human body, such as the one near the heart, the kidney, the ones that most shinobis use to channel chakra through their limbs, things like that. However, instead of injecting chakra into the opponent's tenketsu points through his fingers, he uses senbon to stab the tenketsu points instead. The effects of such an action does not aim to completely stop the chakra flow in his opponents, but it is good enough to completely disrupt the chakra flow in the immediate area and cause a lot of pain if Haku decides to pump it with his chakra. Even if Haku ran out of senbons to use, he can always create many more with his kekkei genkai. Any experienced shinobi can tell that Haku is not suited for a taijutsu style that focuses on power, even if he will be able to crush rocks with his hands and feet the moment he grew his chakra reserves enough to constantly supply them with chakra during a fight when he gets older. Haku's body is too lithe and slender for a destructive taijutsu style utilised by shinobis like Might Guy or Akimichi Choza. His body is more inclined towards a hit-and-run style suited for assassins, like the style used by Hatake Kakashi or Namikaze Minato, to take out an opponent by aiming their weak spots and take them out as fast as possible with a critical hit. The Gentle Fist would have worked too, since their clan were specialised in espionage and assassination even before they joined Konoha thanks to their dojutsu, but Haku wasn't born with the byakugan. Haku's taijutsu style is mainly for self-defence than anything else since it is obvious that he will never amount to much based on taijutsu alone. His body is not built for power and for taking hits. Haku's talent lies in his use of his kekkai genkai and Water jutsus, and he will most likely grow into a ninjutsu specialist like Uchiha Obito. Already there are talks among the Hyuga clan that Haku will grow into a shinobi comparable to the Nidame Hokage, Senju Tobirama, in his use of Water techniques despite his young age.
"Hakuuuuuu!"
"Leave me alone, Hanabi." Haku groaned. "I just finished my taijutsu lesson and I want to take a break."
"You are not even winded! Nee-san, Neji nii-san! Help me out here!"
"Just go along with it, Haku. Hanabi-sama won't stop otherwise."
"Neji, you are supposed to be on my side here." Haku complained.
Neji just shrugged in response.
"I'm giving you the count of three." Hanabi's eyes suddenly have a mischievous look as she activated her byakugan. "Before I use you as target practice. Otou-sama said that I need more practice with my Gentle Fist."
Haku scowled as he got up from the ground.
"Fine. What will we be doing anyway?"
"Um… Hanabi wanted to play hide-and-seek…" Hinata replied meekly. Hiashi's eyebrows furrowed a little. Hinata is a kind child, but that meekness needs to go if she wants to be an exemplary shinobi. Shinobi cannot afford to be kind to their enemies and her meek demeanour may be exploited.
"I'm hiding." Haku stated immediately as he walked off to find a hiding spot. "You guys decide who you want to be the seeker. See you later."
"Haku! Get back here! You are the seeker!"
Haku simply disappeared around the corner and Hanabi gave chase with Hinata following behind. Neji just gave a sigh as he respectfully excused himself from the garden where Hiashi and Hizashi are also lounging about, and the twin brothers watched as their children and adopted ward went off to play.
"Not the most sociable person, is he?" Hizashi states as he poured himself another cup of tea from where they are sitting next to the wooden table that is positioned between them.
"He was from the Land of Water, that place is a mess. The bloodline purges never truly stopped." Hiashi replied as he accepted Hizashi's offer to refill his cup for him. "Haku never talked about his parents or his past, but I think we can all guess what happened to them. I'm not surprised at his behaviour if he was a victim of the bloodline purges. It pains me to see him so jaded and distrustful of people at such a young age, I don't think he have truly opened up to anyone except for Hanabi. No kid should act like that at his age."
"True." Hizashi conceded. "What about your thoughts about him and Hanabi? She's very close to him. A little too close."
"It will be fine." Hiashi reassured Hizashi. "Haku is a very jaded child, but he is also kind despite how much he acts as if he doesn't care about anyone or anything. He was kind enough to escort Hanabi back here even when he was barely able to fend for himself. At least I know that he will take care of Hanabi, and Haku will definitely grow into a deadly shinobi in the future. Hokage-sama was right in persuading him to join Konoha, Haku is growing to be a very valuable asset to the village. I'm planning to let Haku be Hanabi's guardian like how your son is to Hinata. I might need to go see the Hokage to see if it can be arranged so that the two of them can be on the same team when they finally made it to genin."
"You sound as if you want to marry your daughter off to him." Hizashi joked as he took another sip from his cup.
"I won't mind." Hiashi answered and he watched in hidden satisfaction as his younger twin brother nearly choked on his tea, breaking him out of the stoic Hyuga façade that they all mastered since young. "Hanabi adores him and Haku cares for her, and Haku will be able to protect Hanabi with how strong his kekkei genkai will grow to be. He is only a ward of our clan now, but his permanent addition to the clan through marriage will only boost our strength. If we want to do it, we might as well start when they are all still young. Right now, I am just observing Haku's behaviour and potential, but I am liking what I see thus far. He cares for Hanabi even if he cannot stand her chattering. I don't mind having him as a son-in-law."
Hizashi had recovered by now as he stared at his older brother.
"Really? Planning on marrying off your daughter already? She's only five! We are not in the warring states era!"
"You can't deny how close they are." Hiashi replied calmly. "And if Hanabi is happy with him, who am I to deny her happiness as her father? Like you, all I wish for my children is for them to be happy. I won't push for their union if things don't work out, so don't worry about that. Enough about my children, we need to talk about Neji."
"Oh? What did he do to earn your ire?" Hizashi looked unbothered at the change of topic as he continued to drink.
"Nothing." Hiashi said as he refilled the empty teapot with boiling hot water. "I am planning for Neji to take over the position of clan leader after me. I promised you that I will find a way to abolish the branch house system within the clan when we were young, it's time for us to make a move. Neji is a born leader, he is suited to lead the clan, he is a genius that we are blessed with. A prodigy that comes once in a lifetime. He can unite both the main and branch house. I know he can do it."
"Hiashi. You don't need to do this for us. Yes, I have hated you before, but we have put our differences behind us. You have Hinata and Hanabi, and they are also both equally suited to lead the clan."
"Neji is simply a better candidate. If the elders are too blind to see it, then that's their problem. I will deal with them, most of them are old enough to croak at any moment anyway. However, we need to find a better substitute than the current Caged Bird Seal to protect our kekkei genkai, we need a seal that isn't as barbaric in its function. Kushina and Minato are helping, but even they are not making much progress in this matter given how delicate and specific the seal needs to be. What we can do now is to start planning how we are going to make Neji's succession a smooth one."
"Hiashi, I…"
"We are brothers, Hizashi. Like how you would have willingly died for me, I will do anything in my power for you as well if it is possible. Dad wanted to drive a wedge between us, but I'm glad that he didn't succeed. At least he is not around anymore to give us more problems."
Hizashi remained silent.
"There's no rush, Hizashi. Take your time to think about it. We still have time."
"Thank you, Hiashi."