Chapter 46: The Willing Bait
Saku Hyuga meticulously adjusted the collar of his freshly pressed tunic in the mirror, a sickeningly arrogant, excited grin plastered across his face.
The source of his absolute euphoria was a folded piece of parchment resting on his dresser. It was a handwritten letter from Haru Hyuga. The elite kunoichi, who had spent years coldly ignoring his advances and treating him with glacial indifference, had just formally invited him to a private rendezvous at a secluded fishing spot by the river.
"She has finally come to her senses," Saku muttered to his reflection, practically vibrating with excitement. "She was simply too intimidated by my status to confess her feelings before. Now that Taihiro-sama has elevated me, she sees my true value!"
Grabbing his premium fishing gear, Saku strutted out of his quarters and navigated the winding paths of the Branch House compound.
As he walked, he cast sneering, disdainful glares at the subjugated Branch members he passed. Upon making eye contact with him, the men and women instinctively lowered their heads, averting their gaze and stepping off the path to let him pass. They were terrified of him.
Saku found their fear intoxicating. He absolutely reveled in the cowering submission of his own bloodline, because in those fleeting moments of enforcing the elders' cruelty, Saku could delude himself into believing he was a member of the Main House.
Normally, he would have stopped to arbitrarily harass a passing Genin just to flex his authority. But with the prospect of his impending date with Haru, he couldn't be bothered. He quickened his pace, practically jogging as he exited the compound gates.
What Saku failed to realize was that from the moment he stepped out his front door, his erratic, excited chakra signature was being flawlessly tracked by a massive, omnidirectional sensory web.
Kei Hyuga tracked the servant's movements from a distance, silently following him through the village outskirts until Saku arrived at a deserted, heavily forested bend in the river.
Kei did not approach immediately. He stood in the shadow of the treeline, leaning on his cane, clinically observing his test subject.
Saku truly was a dedicated fisher. He set up his gear with practiced efficiency, baiting his hook and casting his line with a sharp, practiced flick of his wrist. The bait landed ten meters out, resting gently on the tranquil surface of the water.
A few minutes passed before the bobber twitched. Saku didn't rush. He waited for two subsequent tugs before expertly pulling the line back, reeling a small, thrashing silver fish out of the river.
Having gathered enough preliminary behavioral data, Kei stepped out of the treeline. Carrying a large, heavy wooden tackle box in one hand and his cane in the other, he walked openly toward the riverbank, making no effort to conceal the crunch of gravel beneath his boots.
Saku snapped his head around. The moment he registered the blind doctor's presence, the excited flush vanished from his face, replaced by an ugly, territorial scowl.
"What in the hell are you doing here?" Saku demanded, gripping his fishing rod like a weapon. "Where is Haru?"
Kei offered his customary, warm smile as he set the heavy wooden box down on the riverbank. "She was detained by a minor logistical errand. She asked me to come ahead and keep you company until she arrives."
"Damn it, you crippled brat, did you orchestrate this?!" Saku's blood instantly boiled. "I am warning you! Do not think that just because Lord Taihiro currently finds you amusing, you can overstep your bounds! Haru invited me here! She likes me, even if she was forced to be your clinical assistant!"
Kei remained perfectly placid, entirely unbothered by the pathetic outburst. "Your romantic delusions are none of my concern, Saku. I am simply here to fish."
Saku eyed the doctor with deep, paranoid suspicion, his gaze dropping to the wooden box. He let out a harsh, mocking scoff. "A blind man fishing? What, did you come out here specifically to make a fool of yourself?"
"A hook requires no eyes," Kei murmured cryptically. "Those who are willing will naturally take the bait."
Kei reached into his box and extracted a simple, unadorned fishing rod. Without attaching a single piece of bait to the hook, he effortlessly flicked his wrist, sending the empty iron barb sailing into the river.
"You truly are a lunatic," Saku sneered, deciding the doctor was suffering from a profound mental defect.
Kei maintained his serene smile. Ignoring his empty line, he turned his head slightly toward the servant. "Since we are both waiting, Saku, why don't we have a chat? We are both operating under the Great Elder's umbrella; there is absolutely no need for this localized hostility between us."
"Besides," Kei added smoothly, "if you are truly infatuated with Haru, I could provide you with some highly classified psychological insights regarding her preferences. It might significantly aid your courtship."
Saku's initial instinct was to tell the doctor to go to hell. But the promise of insider intelligence regarding Haru bypassed his hostility. He frowned, lowering his rod slightly. "What exactly do you want to talk about?"
"I am simply conducting a psychological inquiry," Kei began, his voice shifting into a smooth, clinical cadence. "I struggle to comprehend the behavioral mechanics behind your actions. You utilize your proximity to Taihiro to brutally humiliate and oppress the rest of the compound."
Kei turned his head, his dead, milky eyes 'staring' directly at Saku's face. "We are all members of the Branch House. We all bear the same curse. Why do you derive such pleasure from torturing your own blood?"
Being suddenly locked under the sightless, piercing gaze of the doctor, coupled with that unwavering smile, triggered a sudden, primal spike of unease in Saku's chest. But he quickly reminded himself that the man was a blind Chunin. He violently suppressed the instinctual fear.
"My own blood?" Saku spat, his face twisting into a mask of absolute, elitist disgust. "Do not dare to lump me in with you pathetic lowlifes! I am Lord Taihiro's personal proxy! When I speak, I represent the absolute will of the Main House!"
"How could a crippled civilian like you ever comprehend the monumental gap in our status?" Saku boasted, puffing out his chest. "You may have tricked the Great Elder into favoring you temporarily, but we will never be 'our own people.' And I certainly share no kinship with the rest of the groveling fools in that compound."
"Only Haru," Saku added, a sickeningly possessive gleam in his eye. "She is an elite. She is like me. We are the only true elites in the Branch."
Kei gently stroked the handle of his fishing rod. "But regardless of your profound psychological delusions, Saku... you are still biologically, legally, and permanently a member of the Branch House. That is an immutable reality."
"And that is exactly why I must violently distance myself from the rest of you!" Saku retorted vehemently. "If I possessed the choice, I would gladly strip away my Hyuga name to serve Taihiro as a nameless hound, rather than be associated with the Branch House."
"I see," Kei murmured softly. "So, you genuinely believe that sharing the blood of the Branch House is a humiliating stain upon your existence."
"It is not a belief," Saku stated with absolute, fanatical certainty. "It is an certain fact."
Kei's warm smile completely vanished. His face settled into a mask of cold, unyielding iron.
He had conducted his final diagnostic test, and the results were absolute. Saku was completely, irrevocably malignant. He was a man who would gladly sell his own family to the slaughterhouse if it meant his masters would pat him on the head.
Seeing the doctor's smile drop, Saku let out a victorious sneer. He knew the other Branch members despised him, but their hatred meant nothing. They still bowed to him. They still swallowed their pride and took his abuse.
Kei began to slowly reel in his empty line, his chakra masking his presence so flawlessly he practically blended into the background radiation of the forest.
Saku watched the doctor reel in the bare hook and laughed mockingly. "What happened to your philosophical nonsense about the willing taking the bait? You have been standing there like an idiot and haven't caught a single thing."
"You are mistaken," Kei replied, his voice a chilling, hollow whisper. "The fish I was hunting has already swallowed the hook whole. It simply lacks the cognitive capacity to realize it is about to be gutted."
"You need to be committed to the psychiatric ward," Saku scoffed, turning back to his own rod.
"Tell me, Saku," Kei asked casually. "How many years have you been fishing?"
"Two and a half years. Why?"
"Then I am genuinely curious why, after all that time, your situational awareness remains so appallingly low."
Before Saku could even process the insult, a movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention. He turned his head.
Haru Hyuga was walking briskly out of the treeline directly toward him.
Instantly forgetting the blind doctor's cryptic insults, Saku's face lit up with a brilliant, infatuated smile. He dropped his fishing rod and eagerly stepped forward to greet the woman of his dreams.
However, instead of a warm, romantic embrace, Saku was greeted by a massive, solid clay brick.
Saku's brain did not even have the time to register that Haru was holding a weapon. He had absolutely zero defensive chakra flared.
CRACK.
Haru swung the heavy brick with flawless, brutal shinobi efficiency, smashing it directly into the side of Saku's skull.
The servant's eyes rolled back into his head. His knees instantly buckled, and he collapsed into the dirt like a puppet with its strings cut.
Without missing a beat, Haru casually tossed the blood-stained brick into the rushing river, dusted her hands off, and stepped up to stand respectfully beside Kei.
"W-why...?" Saku groaned weakly, his face pressed into the gravel. He reached a trembling, pathetic hand toward Haru's boots, completely unable to comprehend the betrayal. A second later, his nervous system shut down, and he lost consciousness entirely.
Kei 'looked' down at the unconscious traitor bleeding into the dirt. A look of mild, clinical pity crossed his face.
"My deepest apologies, Haru," Kei murmured, leaning on his cane. "I genuinely detest making you perform the manual labor for these dirty operations."
Haru simply shook her head, her pale eyes completely devoid of emotion as she stared down at the man she had just concussed. She remained standing in absolute, dutiful silence at the doctor's side, ready for the next phase of the experiment.