While the court was still in session, the day was approaching its end. The only remnants of the battle, or rather, the massacre that took place on the godforsaken forest road, were the utterly shattered carts and the occasional pools of thickened blood, most of which had already soaked into the road dust. I have to give credit to the young shinobi—by the time Hizashi and I made our dramatic entrance, order had already been restored. After receiving the report from the still-shaken Anko, the commander gave a nod of approval. And then, my hopes of getting some sleep after a hellishly turbulent day were shattered by the harsh reality.
After quickly introducing me to his team, Hizashi grimly examined me. Not satisfied with what he saw, the shinobi reached into one of the many pockets of his jacket, rummaged around, and pulled out three pills. The size of the pills was intimidating. They were even larger than the huge deworming pills they used to give me as a child after one 'successful' trip to my grandparents' village, back in that past life. At my questioning glance, the shinobi briefly commented—they were a food pill, a calming pill, and finally, a strengthening one. Damn, how am I supposed to swallow these? The flask of water that Anko handed me solved the problem. I'm more and more inclined to think that Anko is the perfect ideal—not only beautiful but also caring.
As I understood it, Hizashi was eager to get to Konoha as quickly as possible, and this desire was shared by the whole team, even by Tohori, who was doing his best to demonstrate laziness. Interestingly, of the four shinobi I met, only Mitarashi Anko was familiar from the anime, and in real life, she definitely outshone her animated counterpart. And, to some extent, Hizashi Hyūga. There were at least mentions of him. But Kade Uchiha and Tohori Yamanaka… They were nowhere to be found. On the other hand, Konoha was only called a village; in reality, it was a settlement capable of fielding twenty thousand shinobi fighters alone. Besides the fighters, there were housewives, children, the elderly, and service staff… All of that made it more of a city of district significance. It's clear that the vast majority of the city's residents had never been mentioned in the anime.
So, we were about to embark on a night of tree-hopping. Thank all gods, demons, and entities, no one planned on carrying me. Instead, Hizashi sat down on the ground and told me to approach his back. Then he started binding me to his back with bandages. These bandages turned out to be quite an interesting thing—wide, thin, made of dense, slightly grayish fabric with a texture that seemed to cling to the shinobi's clothes. As for my rough outfit, the bandages absolutely refused to stick to it. Special fabric? Maybe. A question for the future, as they say.
First, Hizashi passed the bandage under my armpits. A couple of turns, and the next layers went under my butt. Finally, he crossed the bandages over my back. Well, it turned out to be surprisingly comfortable. The bandages didn't twist into ropes that would cut into my body, and they were unexpectedly soft and elastic. Well, perhaps the journey to Konoha won't be a form of torture after all. In general, it seemed that the technique of such transportation had been perfected. I wonder, do shinobi use this method to transport their children, or is it a technique for carrying the wounded?
The pills took effect surprisingly quickly. It was less than half an hour before I felt a pleasant sense of fullness, and overall, I felt warm and cozy. Jumping? Whatever. I was quietly enjoying myself. The sensations were similar to those you experience lying on a comfy couch under a warm blanket, listening to the rain outside the window. Wow, their pharmaceuticals are something else. In my world, people would pay... I don't even know the numbers, honestly. But for a world obsessed with stress, such medications would be worth not gold, but diamonds. Anko, who had secretly glanced at my face twisted by feelings and sensations, couldn't stop herself from laughing. And I honestly didn't care. Very quickly, my overwhelmed mind, exhausted by the events of this insane day, decided to check out and sent me into a blackout. I fell into a healing sleep for my tortured psyche.
As pleasant as the sleep had been, waking up was that unpleasant. As I was later told, I was categorically refusing to wake up. The team, however, was only three steps away from Konoha. So, extreme measures were called for. Anko, using her water techniques, scooped up and cooled about five liters of water. Then, she carefully poured it all over my head. Bastards, how can they torture a poor 'owl' like that? Trying to pull myself together, I lost my vision, the feeling of tightness in my eyes still not completely gone, under the cheerful and hearty laughter of the students. They thought it was funny, huh…
"How are you feeling, Akiro-tan?" Anko asked in a sickeningly sweet voice. What a brat, huh? And I had thought of her as the ideal.
"Like a victim of 'Edo Tensei,'" I mumbled grimly. The confused faces of the students and Hizashi's eyes narrowing sharply. It seemed I had said this at the wrong time. I probably shouldn't try joking based on anime material.
"Alright, pack up camp, breakfast is over. I'll take the kid to wash up." Oh, I didn't like his calm, cold voice. Ignoring my questions about having breakfast, Hizashi put his hand on my shoulder and led me toward the stream. Indeed, we barely moved behind the bushes when I felt a sharp tug on my ear.
"What are you talking about, you little pest?" Hizashi whispered quietly, twisting my ear painfully. "You know, keep quiet. Do you even understand that such techniques are classified? The names of them are even classified! And if tomorrow the same Yamanaka in Konoha casually mentions that the adopted Hyūga child is discussing things he shouldn't know about? You want to die, fine, go climb up the Kage mountain and jump off. But why put the clan at risk, idiot?"
I silently hung my head. What could I say? I was at fault. And it really was my damn mouth that was putting both the clan and Hizashi personally at risk. The first thing the local security personnel would think is: Who did this chatterbox communicate with? The training team and its sensei. They'd round everyone up, interrogate them. If not immediately thrown into the camp dust or made fertilizer. The thought of what the local Asian-style concentration camp for regime enemies might be like made me feel sick. Asians are truly inventive in this regard; just think of Pol Pot's special prison, 'Tuol Sleng.' Damn, Mark, this isn't a game. Get it together, with a tongue like yours, they'll multiply you by zero in no time.
"I see you've understood," Hizashi softened a bit. "Alright, I'll cover for you if needed. But for the next couple of years, you won't be showing your face outside the clan territory. That is, if the elders decide to accept you."
"Can they decide not to accept me?" I raised my eyes dejectedly.
"They can," Hizashi nodded in agreement. "Especially considering your little stunt this morning. Well, let's assume you've learned your lesson. And to make sure you remember..." Hizashi lightly stroked the area under my collarbone. The world shattered into fragments, exploding with pain. A couple of seconds later, after gaining the ability to breathe again, I gasped for air, which felt almost unbreathable. Yeah, compared to that, a hornet's sting feels like a caress.
"Was that the 'soft hand'?" I managed to ask after regaining my breath.
"That's it," the man nodded. "By the way, don't you have anything to say to me?"
"Thanks for the lesson," I sighed after thinking for a moment. Well, I agreed, stupidity has its price, and it's good that the cost turned out to be so small.
"Alright, I see you're not hopeless." Hizashi nodded approvingly, extending his hand to me. The sharp pain was replaced by a light tingling. "By the way, you should get ready," he said with an unreadable face. "Such a tenketsu training is the best way to develop chakra pathways. The thing is, besides the Hyūga, no one else knows how to use it. But that's their problem, right?" He smirked. I hope he was joking about the training. And fortunately, it seems his smile is no longer malicious. Alright, I need to take care of hygiene; showing up in such a state in decent company would be embarrassing—I'd look like a bum. And look at that, they even gave me a towel—a soft bundle tossed to me by Hizashi, who was heading backt o the camp.