After the busyness of the last few days - months, indeed! - the sudden lull was a little unusual. I could go about my business unhurriedly, and no one tugged at me to do this or that, more than usual, I mean, because life went on and my relatives demanded attention.
Of course, it was the calm before the storm, and Shenesu was nervous, though he tried not to show it, but I couldn't help feeling a little anxious about Hyuga's imminent revolution-what I'd learned during my years at the hospital was old man Hishi's consistency and cunning.
If he's going to do something, he's going to do it right. With his "death" he showed that everything possible except the key element - blocking the Hyuga Soke no Juinjutsu (the cursed seal technique of the Hyuga clan's main branch) - had been done, and if Hizashi couldn't handle even that preparation, the coup was doomed to failure from the start, and there was nothing you could do about it, no matter how many times you were Nara.
Keiko's journey to the clan quarter was quite ordinary and simple, except that the genin at the gate smirked a little, but not for too long, because it was tense and distracting from the shogi game.
She had only two scrolls worth of stuff, which wasn't much for a kunoichi who had her own home.
I chose a clan house in the back of the neighborhood, but not far from my own, so that I could quickly get there with a single shunshin, but could not be seen with a direct glance - even though Linley originally knew about my mistresses and was very much in favor of it, especially now that I began to focus on her alone, but to bring them together I still considered it a very bad idea.
Yes, and Ma treated her frankly cold, only a little softened with the news of the pregnancy. But I felt much better when Keiko was in a protected area, where no outsiders were allowed in, and the barrier was capable of detecting illegal entry of any intruder.
The defense was installed by my father, and I've modified and improved it many times since, so when fully activated, it can withstand even a few biju bombs without any problems.
The vacant house next door was reserved for the Mitarashi family, but I was still waiting for the right time to present the student to the elders and the clan head, scheduled for next week, when Anko would learn Henge, which was better than the other two in the initial trio, and a great result for her age.
Not the petty Kakashi that Sakumo can't praise, but also very indicative of talent. The latter, by the way, as soon as he found out that he had some free time, ordered a full examination of his son and the most suitable set of exercises to develop his body's natural abilities while growing up to the maximum.
It cost him a very large sum of ryo, even with the discount to a friend, but I did not do hackwork, approaching the task with all due diligence - experience had already been gained on two girls, so it did not take as long as before.
Now I was sure that if anything happened to the older Hatake, the little one would grow into a monster, not a skinny one-eyed wretch who only read porn novels.
The head Hatake even called me to a joint training session, and as you might expect, I got the best of him, even managing to beat Goliath with my sword, though he also got a lot of damage. I was not inferior to my opponent physically, and I was even superior in stamina, thanks to my father's legacy, but that was the end of my advantages.
Almost every technique I used, every move, the older shinobi had a corresponding response, and the advantage in the amount of chakra didn't help - Sakumo simply spent much less of it than I did, not even trying to use force and acting only technically and sparingly.
Even less could be said for the sword fight, as I was only favored by the indestructibility of the blade, which was immune to white chakra.
Of course, the numerous surprises that I decided to reveal or had already known before allowed for counterattacks, but none of them were enough to win the fight. Hatake fought well at all distances and only Mito-chan pressed me harder when she got really serious.
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