Hyūga Hiashi's voice thundered through the room.
The sheer volume of it sent the wind chimes hanging by the window into a frantic jingle.
Snapping out of his stunned daze, Lint quickly realized Hiashi had flown into a towering rage. With a helpless glance at Hinata, he used their mental link to speak.
"I told you—bringing me over to sleep together was risky. Look at Hiashi, he's staring at me like a lion about to pounce. If he could eat me alive, he would."
Hinata caught his voice in her mind and replied with a calm, breezy tone.
"Relax. He probably just thinks you came looking for me early this morning, and one thing led to another until you climbed into bed with me."
"He hasn't realized we came back together last night and actually slept in the same bed."
"If he had realized that, believe me, he wouldn't just be angry—he'd have passed out cold by now."
Lint's mental voice was dry. "So you're saying we should be grateful he hasn't figured out the truth yet?"
"Even if he did," Hinata replied with a mental shrug, "it's not a big deal. We didn't actually do anything, did we?"
Lint fell silent.
"Anyway," she added lightly, "just leave this to me."
...
At the bedroom door, Hyūga Hiashi saw Lint not only still on the bed, but exchanging coy glances with his daughter. His fury surged. Striding forward, he reached out to grab Lint off the mattress.
"Stop, Father!" Hinata stepped in quickly, blocking his hand and speaking firmly. "It's not Lint's fault. If you want to blame someone, blame me. I asked him to help me get dressed."
Hiashi scoffed. "Just help you get dressed? Then why is half of him under the covers?"
"I didn't want to get up," Hinata answered calmly, "so I asked him to come up and tell me jokes in bed."
Veins bulged visibly on Hiashi's forehead. "Just to tell jokes?"
"Yes," she nodded with unshakable seriousness. "Anyway, people our age wouldn't even know how to do adult things, let alone actually do them."
Hiashi was speechless.
He hadn't expected his daughter to be this precocious—already aware of matters she shouldn't be. But then again, if she wasn't, she wouldn't have brought home and kept a young pretty-boy like Lint as her personal companion.
His gaze darkened further as he shot Lint another venomous glare.
Lint met his stare with cool indifference. Ever since stepping into the Hyūga compound yesterday, Hiashi had glared at him no less than a dozen times. He was already used to it.
Unfortunately, his calm demeanor only enraged Hiashi further.
Hinata stepped in again, shielding Lint behind her.
"Please, Father. Don't look at Lint like that. He's very important to me. I want you to treat him better."
Hiashi gave a cold snort. "Tch."
His voice was stiff as he turned away. "Today, you'll be heading to the main house's secret chamber to learn more advanced techniques. Don't forget."
And with that, he vanished from the room.
As his silhouette disappeared, Lint looked at Hinata with genuine admiration.
"Not bad," he said. "You really managed to shut that old man down—even if he was fuming the whole time."
"Of course." Hinata lifted her chin proudly. "I'm a genius of the Hyūga clan, after all. The fact that the clan's secret chamber is open to me proves it."
She paused, glancing at Lint thoughtfully. Recalling the immense purity of the Byakugan chakra in his body and his spontaneous awakening of the Divine Void Strike, she shook her head with a soft smile.
"Actually, I'm not the biggest genius anymore—you are. If my father ever finds out about the purity of your Byakugan, or that you awakened the Divine Void Strike on your own, his attitude would change completely."
She folded her arms. "He'd probably insist we be together, just to preserve your bloodline potential. He might even officially adopt you into the clan as my husband—Hyūga's live-in son-in-law."
Lint gave a dry laugh. "If I reveal everything to Hiashi or the Hyūga clan now, the result won't be anything like what you imagine. It wouldn't be a positive transformation—it would be a disaster."
His voice grew more serious. "The first thing that old man would do is brand me with the Caged Bird Seal, just to keep me under control. And the moment Danzo or Orochimaru hears about it, they'll be on me like hounds—trying to dissect me."
"They'd want to know how an outsider like me managed to 'steal' a Kekkei Genkai like the Byakugan—and then try to replicate it through human experimentation."
Hinata frowned and reached up to gently squeeze her still-developing cheeks, deep in thought.
"Isn't that a bit… too much of a conspiracy theory?"
"Not really," Lint replied. "You know as well as I do—Danzo and Orochimaru are exactly like that. And the Hyūga clan isn't a monolith either. There are definitely Root or ANBU sympathizers within the ranks."
His voice turned resolute. "That's why I won't expose any of my true strength until I've surpassed even the Hokage."
"With the two of us—and the soul resonance from the other reincarnators in the Chaos Hall—I don't think that day is far off."
He added, "For now, I'll keep pouring my chakra into you while hiding my secrets. Until I'm strong enough to stop anyone who tries to exploit me."
Hinata nodded. "Alright."
Then she bounced lightly out of bed and turned to him with a smile.
"Let's go. I'll head into the secret chamber to learn more Hyūga techniques."
Lint hesitated. "Pretty sure I'm not allowed in there."
"No problem. Just wait outside the door for me," she said sweetly, extending her hand. "That way, if anything happens, I can protect you—and once I'm done, I'll pass everything I learn to you!"
"Deal."
He reached out and took her hand.
...
By mid-afternoon, Hinata returned from the secret chamber and found Lint. Through eye contact, soul resonance, and their mental link, she transferred everything she'd learned directly into him:
Gentle Fist – Chakra Point Strikes
Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm
Eight Trigrams: Air Wall Palm
Eight Trigrams: Mountain-Shattering Strike
Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists
Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu
Water Style: Giant Waterfall Jutsu
Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu
Lint rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Looks like the old fogeys in the Hyūga main house really emptied their vaults for you. At this point, you've basically inherited every technique we ever saw a Hyūga use in the original Naruto series."
"Even those joint moves like Air Wall Palm—strong enough to deflect a Ten-Tails strike—or Mountain-Shattering Strike that can level small hills."
Hinata's voice came through clearly.
"Honestly, I think those were just derivatives of the Divine Void Strike. Given your natural awakening of it, yours is probably even more powerful than either of them."
"We can test it in the Forest of Death later," Lint suggested.
Hinata grinned.
"Also, I think the real jackpot today wasn't the Hyūga taijutsu—but those water-style jutsu. With our water-nature chakra already enhanced through resonance with Furina, the Fontainian Water God, we should be able to push techniques like Water Dragon Bullet and Giant Waterfall to S-rank power levels!"
"With that kind of boost, if we combine our chakra, we might already be at the lower tier of Kage-level strength."
"Should we go test all this out in the Forest of Death?"
Lint responded without hesitation. "Let's."
With his agreement, Hinata ended their mental conversation, and the two of them, hand in hand, left the Hyūga compound, heading for the Forest of Death.
...
Meanwhile, at a nearby Konoha inn, the delegation from the Hidden Cloud Village—preparing to sign a peace treaty—had just checked in and begun gathering intel.
They quickly came across a startling rumor:
The Hyūga heiress has been seduced and spirited away by a civilian named Lint?!She even vanished from the Hyūga clan compound?!