Shikigami Summoning in Konoha

Chapter 21: Four-Star Three-Tailed Fox!

"Brother Neji!"

Hinata, noticing Neji's disheveled appearance and the blood on his fists, couldn't help but call out in a low, worried voice.

"Who's there?"

However, her call exposed their location. Seeing Neji readying himself for an attack and moving towards them, Katsuragi no longer hid and stepped forward, saying, "Neji, it's us!"

"It's you!"

Seeing Katsuragi emerge from behind the tree, Neji showed a hint of surprise, then frowned and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Brother Neji!"

At this moment, Hinata also stepped out, standing beside Katsuragi and looking worriedly at Neji.

"Hinata!?"

If seeing Katsuragi was a surprise, seeing Hinata shocked Neji even more, his eyes also showing a trace of resentment as he coldly said, "Why would the young lady of the Hyuga be out here so late?"

"Brother Neji!"

Hinata's face turned tearful; she couldn't understand why Neji's demeanor changed so drastically just upon seeing her, even though he had been fine upon spotting Katsuragi.

Seeing Hinata's distress, Katsuragi quickly comforted her and then looked at Neji disapprovingly, "Hey! It's our right to go wherever we want!"

"Hmph!"

Neji snorted coldly, gave them a stern look, and silently started packing up his things, apparently ready to leave.

"Wait!"

Seeing Neji's actions, Katsuragi quickly intervened. Although he wasn't sure how to change Neji's attitude, since he had promised Hinata, he felt obligated to make an effort.

"What now?"

Hearing Katsuragi, Neji turned back with a cold expression. If it weren't for his defeat that afternoon, Katsuragi guessed Neji wouldn't even bother speaking to him.

"Do you always train like this?" Katsuragi approached Neji, examining the tree closely and noticing fresh blood stains, seemingly from today.

"What's it to you!"

"Or is it because you increased your training intensity after losing to me today?"

Mentioning the afternoon's events made Neji clench his teeth in anger, embarrassed to have lost to someone a full year younger, someone without his privileged background. This led him to train recklessly, ignoring his body's limits.

Neji took a deep breath, calming the emotions stirred by Katsuragi, and after gathering his things, he said emotionlessly, blocking Katsuragi's path, "Step aside!"

Katsuragi was frustrated. He preferred an outright argument to silent brooding. Without the gift of gab like Naruto, he found it challenging to continue the conversation.

"Brother Neji!"

At this moment, Hinata ran up to Katsuragi's side, noticing Neji's bleeding, bandaged fists and said worriedly, "Your hands…"

Neji hid his hands behind him and cut her off with a cold glance, "The young lady need not worry about me!"

Katsuragi frowned again. Although he understood Neji's current feelings, he couldn't empathize. However, he was clear on one thing—Neji had no reason to blame Hinata.

"Neji! I don't know what happened to you!"

Katsuragi stepped forward, shielding Hinata, and met Neji's cold gaze with his own, "But Hinata hasn't done anything to you. She just wanted to care for you, to see the Neji who used to take care of her and could smile."

Hearing Katsuragi's words, Neji's eyes flickered with complexity. He vaguely remembered telling his father once that he would protect Hinata, but now things had turned out so differently.

But thinking of his father, Neji remembered the incident again. Just because Hinata's father was from the main family, his own father had to sacrifice his life unconditionally. And he himself was branded with the shameful seal, his life completely controlled by others.

Every time he thought about this, a burning rage and resentment towards the world, the main family, filled him. He recalled an elder's words and coldly said to the two still standing there:

"People are born with different fates, and one's fate cannot change!"

"We were never meant to be friends. It's fate!"

With those words, Neji, no longer paying any attention to the stunned Katsuragi and Hinata, picked up his things and quickly disappeared into the woods.

"Fate…"

Watching Neji walk away, Katsuragi was speechless. If fate really couldn't be changed, he shouldn't have ended up in this world—transcending fate was something even the most unlucky couldn't achieve.

"Katsuragi! What did Brother Neji mean?"

While Katsuragi was lost in thought, Hinata asked confusedly, "Why did Brother Neji say we can't be friends?"

"Don't listen to his nonsense!"

Katsuragi scoffed, then reassured Hinata seriously, "Fate is something even gods mess with, and I believe it will eventually change Neji. So don't worry! There must be a way!"

"Okay!" Hinata, completely trusting Katsuragi, nodded vigorously, her face full of conviction.

As days passed, Katsuragi, having promised Hinata, tried to befriend Neji and prove that fate could be changed. However, he soon realized he might have overestimated his patience.

Whenever he approached with a smile only to be met with a cold stare, his frustration grew, leading to frequent clashes between them, ending with Neji battered.

This resilience to keep trying to make a friend out of Neji, despite the annoyances, was why Katsuragi kept at it. If things didn't improve, he'd just have to beat some sense into Neji again.

This continued for nearly two months until spring arrived quietly, and Katsuragi finally managed to gather enough gold coins to upgrade the Three-Tailed Fox to four stars, thanks to the increase in forest animals.

"Finally, I can upgrade Fox Sister to four stars!"

In the courtyard, looking at a total of 90,000 gold coins, Katsuragi felt a deep sense of satisfaction; these were all hard-earned.

"Fox Sister! Are you ready?" Katsuragi asked, looking at the Three-Tailed Fox and Yuki-onna.

"Yes! Let's do this, Katsuragi! I'm ready!" The Three-Tailed Fox closed her eyes, assuming a heroic pose, which made Katsuragi roll his eyes. This was just a power upgrade, not some ominous ritual.

Ignoring the Three-Tailed Fox, who was sneakily peeking at him, Katsuragi eagerly selected the upgrade option for the Three-Tailed Fox in the spirit summoning book. As the gold coins disappeared and the Three-Tailed Fox successfully reached four stars, several notifications also popped up.

End of Chapter 21