Seeing now as a good a time as any, he decided to call a break, at least until his hands stopped feeling like he had grasped a piece of hot metal.
He closed his eyes and relished the feeling of the wind racing across his face. He sure was growing more and more busy lately. He barely had any time to appreciate the tiny moments like this. There was just so much he had to do. He had to keep up his pace with his fuinjutsu studies. By now, he was about half way through the medium class books. He also had to keep on top of the lessons that Kitsune and Nee-chan had taught him. Then, he had his own secret projects, which took up most of his time and were extremely difficult.
He had one project set aside to help Nee-chan with her own special problem, and another working out the secret of his mystery kunai that he had found in the woods.
He absentmindedly took said kunai out of his pocket and gazed at the handle for what seemed like the millionth time. He had made a lot of progress deciphering it. Well, a lot of progress for a beginner anyways. He had known the thing was complicated when he had first found it, but now that he was halfway through the middle class, he was starting to truly grasp the complexity of the seal formula.
When he had first started, it was all just a complicated mess that made his head spin. So, he did what Kitsune had taught him to do when faced with a problem: break it down and solve it by parts.
After using a copy seal and expanding the formula onto a larger sheet, he was dumbfounded by the complexity of it. He had barely made his way through one fourth of the seal and it still barely made any sense. All he had been able to decipher so far was that it had something to do with an equal exchange of matter and energy.
He would have mistaken it for a storage seal if it weren't for the lack of the clear indicators found in all storage seals no matter what their size. That plus how dense and complicated the formula was lead him to believe that it had to be something more.
However, his grades had started to take a serious dip due to his free time being spent on his own progress. His bunshin was still a mess and no matter what he did, he just couldn't get it. However, this only made him more determined to show off all that he could do with his fuinjutsu during the exam so that they would overlook his poor bunshin.
Not getting anywhere unraveling the mystery of the weird kunai, he sighed and tucked it back in his bag before opening his latest book and waiting for his hands to heal.
Near the back west corner of the Hyuuga clan's compound was the clan's library. It was a building that towered over the rest of the complex, with multiple levels above and below ground. The first level contained a brightly lit reading area with basic information and resources for anyone in the clan to access. The floor below it was designated specifically for the branch members. While branch members and main family could both access this level, the one directly below it was strictly reserved for the main-house families. Below that level was an even smaller level reserved only for main-family members who were directly related to the head of the clan.
In the back corner of the first floor sat a young, lavender-eyed girl. She was snuggled into a cushion of pillows, pouring over yet another story regaling the triumph of the main-house over another clan during the times before the hidden villages.
Hinata loved reading. When she was younger, her mother would read to her for hours on end. Her soothing voice would always put her at ease and lull her to sleep. She loved this spot due to its quiet atmosphere and distance away from most of the compound. Whenever she got upset or disappointed in herself, she would retreat within the walls of the library and speed through book after book to ignore the pain.
While most of the library's contents involved jyuuken techniques and clan history, there were also poems and stories crafted by members of the clan. She loved the poetry from the branch-house section especially. They were filled with such passion and emotion that was rare to see up front within the clan's walls. They also made her sad as they were yet another reminder of the harsh divide the cage bird seal was causing the family.
Closing another embellished story of a Hyuuga victory, the ten-year-old girl made her way back down to the second level to return it to its spot.
Today the library was mostly empty. It was growing later into the evening, and people had mostly trickled out. She enjoyed staying for as long as the librarian would allow her, before she would be forced to return to the house. She ran her hand along the wooden bookshelves as she walked down the aisle where she had picked up her book. Finding its spot, she happily sat it back in place and turned to leave.
As she started heading towards the stairs, she felt a cold chill flow down her spine. She whipped around scanning the room for anyone else. She started to tremble as no one was in sight. She could have sworn she had heard a whisper, and it had been uncomfortably close to her.
Hands shaking, she forced herself to make a seal and activate her byakugan. The world melted away into black and white as she peered through the bookshelves. Sure enough, the entire floor was empty. The only person lingering in the building was still the librarian sitting at her desk, stamping at paperwork.
Read 10,20 advanced chapters earlier from webnovel.
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