"Morning, Kiyomi-sama!"
Seeing Hyuga Kiyomi emerge from the Fourth Elder of the Main Family's residence, Hyuga Mirai stepped forward to greet her.
Members of the Branch Family of the same generation must address Main Family members as 'sama' (adult). As for Branch Family elders meeting Main Family juniors, they can address them as 'young master' or 'young lady.' Therefore, strictly speaking, Hyuga Mirai's way of addressing Hyuga Kiyomi in the Nin school was incorrect.
Before becoming Hyuga Kiyomi's guard, Hyuga Sosuke had already taught Hyuga Mirai many rules and etiquette of the clan; these could not be overstepped in the slightest.
"You're here... Cough, have you been waiting long?"
Hyuga Kiyomi pursed her lips slightly, trying her best to put on an expressionless adult face, and spoke to Hyuga Mirai.
"Not at all, I just arrived a moment ago." Hyuga Mirai shook his head and said, then followed behind Hyuga Kiyomi.
"Alright then, let's go to school."
Afterward, the two walked towards the Ninja School. The Main Family had more than one guard, but it was difficult to select guards of the same age. Hyuga Sosuke was probably in the process of selecting a few others, most likely Branch Family members older than Hyuga Kiyomi.
'My training time has been significantly reduced, and I still have to specifically set aside time to put on a show for the young masters and ladies of the Main Family.'
As he followed behind Hyuga Kiyomi, Hyuga Mirai constantly pondered in his mind. Since being a guard for the Main Family was a task he couldn't shirk, Hyuga Mirai had to carefully adjust his own training plan.
As for concealing his abilities from other members of the Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Mirai had to be even more cautious.
Hyuga Sosuke's previous inquiry might have been a slight suspicion, but Hyuga Mirai, who was prepared, managed to fool him.
His private training would need much more caution from now on. The same-aged Hyuga Kiyomi was easy to fool, but when training together in the clan, he had to be extremely vigilant when facing the Main Family elders.
Regarding physical training, over the past few months, he had gradually adapted to high-intensity physical exercise. Now, to make further progress, one option was to increase his training time, but Hyuga Mirai's time was already very tight due to his role as a Main Family guard, so it was impossible to carve out extra time for physical training.
Another option was to wear weights to increase the intensity of his physical training.
After pondering for a while, Hyuga Mirai decided to order some weights that evening.
He was only five or six years old, so the weights didn't need to be very heavy. Making them into wrist and ankle weights, about five pounds for each hand would be enough; this way, they could be concealed by wristbands and the like.
However, this would cost another sum of money, which made Hyuga Mirai's heart ache.
Hyuga Mirai's physique could recover stamina by eating large amounts of food, but meat was expensive, and the recovery effect of rice and noodles was slower than meat. This meant another significant necessary expense for Hyuga Mirai.
Even with the additional five thousand Ryo per month from being a Main Family guard, which sounded like a lot, it was only half a month's worth of late-night snacks for Hyuga Mirai if converted to chashu ramen.
Just as Hyuga Mirai's mind was wandering, Hyuga Kiyomi suddenly stopped in front of him. Fortunately, Hyuga Mirai had part of his attention on his surroundings, otherwise he would have run right into her.
After Hyuga Kiyomi stopped, she turned around, her pure white pupils staring directly at him.
"What's wrong? Kiyomi-sama."
Hyuga Mirai asked with a feigned confused expression, while secretly recalling in his mind if he had offended this little girl just now.
"Footsteps."
"What?" Hyuga Mirai didn't understand and asked again.
"Why do you walk without footsteps?"
This time, Hyuga Kiyomi asked very clearly. She had been curious since just now why Hyuga Mirai, behind her, made no sound when he walked. If she hadn't seen Hyuga Mirai's figure in a mirror at the intersection, Hyuga Kiyomi would have thought her guard had gotten lost.
So that's what it was. Hyuga Mirai breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, then explained to Hyuga Kiyomi: "Kiyomi-sama, I learned it from a textbook at school. I subconsciously train when I walk normally."
"Textbook?" Hyuga Kiyomi's small face showed a hint of confusion after hearing that. Did textbooks teach this? Why didn't she know?
"Yes, the textbooks issued by the school." Hyuga Mirai nodded and said, "'Ninja's Wilderness Precautions,' Section 3: If a ninja wants to suppress their movement sounds, they can lift their feet lightly and set them down slowly, not moving their shoes after landing, and covering the soles of their feet with Chakra can effectively reduce the sound they make."
There was indeed such a knowledge point, but Ninja School students couldn't possibly do it. Hyuga Mirai also deliberately trained every day, constantly integrating this technique into his body's instincts through daily actions, only then could he walk without making a sound.
"So there really is such knowledge. It seems I also need to pay more attention to the theoretical courses taught at the Ninja School." Hyuga Kiyomi heard Hyuga Mirai even mention the book title and section, so she believed there was no possibility of him lying to her, and that he had truly learned it from a textbook.
"If it's Kiyomi-sama, you'll definitely learn faster than me."
Hyuga Mirai was not stingy with his praise for the little girl, only hoping she wouldn't speak ill of him in front of the Main Family adults in the future.
And Hyuga Mirai's praise was very effective. Hyuga Kiyomi's lips wanted to curve upwards upon hearing it, but years of etiquette training prevented her from smiling freely in public, so she tried hard to purse her lips, holding back her smile.
"Let's go, we can't be late for school."
With that, Hyuga Kiyomi turned and walked towards the Ninja School, and Hyuga Mirai said nothing more, continuing to follow behind Hyuga Kiyomi. After entering the school gate, the two separated and went to their respective classes.
Upon arriving in his class, Hyuga Mirai focused on studying. Having lost a period of solo training time, he had to make up for the lost time in school.
He planned to learn all the theoretical knowledge taught at the Ninja School within a year, and then begin studying medical knowledge.
Thanks to his adult comprehension ability, coupled with Hyuga Mirai's significantly enhanced memory, which was almost photographic, learning four or five years' worth of theoretical knowledge within a year was not difficult for him.
Many in Class B originally wanted to go up and greet Hyuga Mirai, but seeing him diligently flipping through books and studying as soon as he entered the classroom, they didn't want to disturb him. They could only discuss their admiration in low voices; coming from a prominent family and being so diligent, plus being among the top few in Class B in terms of strength, he had already earned the respect of many classmates.
Except for a few who were not convinced by Hyuga Mirai, he now almost enjoyed the same treatment as Kakashi in Class A.
After Ishii Ichiro pushed open the door and entered the classroom, he first saw Hyuga Mirai studying, and praised him with satisfaction in his heart. Then he clapped the teaching desk and said,
"Class begins!"