Back during the first practical sparring session, Hanyu Bai had thought about helping Hinata build her confidence, but he quickly realized it wouldn’t work.
The problem between Hinata and Hiashi Hyuga was that Hiashi was a classic “99% is still a failure” father, while Hinata was shy and introverted.
Neither father nor daughter knew how to express themselves.
At the Academy, Hinata didn’t compete or push, even willingly yielding the top student spot to Bai—in reality, Hiashi might have secretly felt proud of her in his heart, but since he never spoke it, Hinata never knew…
Hiashi’s expectations for Hinata had no visible ceiling; Bai even suspected Hiashi held Hinata to the standard of Itachi Uchiha.
After all, as fellow Konoha elite clans, Hiashi certainly didn’t want his child falling behind Fugaku Uchiha’s.
But because of this, unless Hinata was born with a cheat like Bai, it was practically impossible to satisfy Hiashi completely!
No matter how much Bai encouraged Hinata or gave her confidence, once she returned to Hiashi, it would eventually be crushed to nothing again!
Treating the symptoms without fixing the root cause might only make Hinata sink deeper into self-doubt in the end.
Bai had no tricks left either; Hinata’s personality was what it was and couldn’t be changed so easily.
It wasn’t like he could just go talk to Hiashi Hyuga, right?
A six-year-old kid telling Hiashi Hyuga how to raise his daughter?
After turning it over in his mind, Bai came up with a makeshift solution—since he couldn’t make the relationship between Hiashi and Hinata better, he could at least prevent their father-daughter dynamic from getting worse.
In the original series, Hinata’s strength was never bad; it was only her shyness and lack of ambition that kept her prowess hidden in Academy combat practice, while on written exams, Sakura held the top academic spot over her.
Within the Hyuga clan, she was suppressed by Neji Hyuga, a genius hostile toward the Main Family, and later lost a sparring match against her younger sister, Hanabi Hyuga.
Whether Hinata held back on purpose or not, Hiashi’s disappointment accumulated bit by bit like this, ultimately giving rise to his thought of having Hanabi inherit the Main Family headship!
Personality-wise, Bai was powerless; academically, Bai had his hands full.
Bai didn’t understand Gentle Fist.
In his past life, he hadn’t even learned Tai Chi properly, so apart from throwing around clichés like “using softness to overcome hardness” and “all-inclusive adaptability,” Bai could only do his best to spar with Hinata as a practice partner.
Then Bai realized: perhaps he could start from the most fundamental aspect—chakra?
Bai remembered that Hinata had a massive appetite; she was the big-eater champion at Ichiraku Ramen, where not even Choji was her match.
Since chakra was the combination of spiritual energy and physical energy, if she didn’t eat her fill, where would the physical energy come from?
If he could let Hinata eat as much as possible, she might gain a far larger chakra reserve?
With more chakra, her combat strength would naturally increase.
As long as she didn’t lose so embarrassingly in a fight against Neji, or even managed a draw or a win, Hiashi couldn’t possibly harbor thoughts of abandoning Hinata to raise Hanabi instead.
Even if it failed, at worst he’d lose a bit of food money.
Since the Hyuga princess would belong to him in the future anyway, Bai didn’t care about this small investment at all!
Because of this, today’s group dinner came to be.
But looking at Hinata sitting beside Sakura, putting down her chopsticks after taking only a few bites, Bai cursed himself for being a complete idiot.
If Hinata could stuff her face openly in front of others, could the Hyuga clan, as one of Konoha’s grandest families, actually let their Main Family heiress starve?
Thinking of this, Bai pushed aside the fooling-around Naruto (Naruko?), stepping over to Hinata’s side.
“Bai-kun?” Hinata looked at Bai with slight bashfulness.
Without taking no for an answer, Bai took Hinata’s small hand and said to the group, “You guys eat first, Hinata and I are stepping out for a bit!”
With that, Bai led the steaming, blushing Hinata right out of the BBQ restaurant.
Watching the departing backs of Bai and Hinata, Choji stuffed a piece of grilled meat into his mouth and asked Shikamaru blankly, “Shikamaru, since they’re not eating anymore, can I eat Bai’s portion?”
“You won’t miss out on yours!” Hearing this, Shikamaru’s eyelids twitched.
Glancing toward Ino and Sakura, he cleared his throat and ordered another portion of meat.
After Bai and Hinata walked out, Ino and Sakura exchanged a look, instantly understanding each other’s thoughts.
Popping up from their seats, they slipped outside after them without saying a word.
Bai naturally noticed the two little tails behind them, but paid no mind.
Bai had a clean conscience.
It wasn’t like he was taking Hinata out to do anything naughty or dirty, so he felt completely justified!
Bai took Hinata straight to Ichiraku Ramen.
Only then did he stare intently at Hinata, asking word for word, “Hinata, did you get full?”
“Bai-kun…” Hinata had mostly recovered by now.
Although her face remained bright red, at least steam was no longer rising from her head.
“You have to tell the truth!” Bai pressed on.
Grumble—
The moment Bai finished speaking, the mouthwatering aroma of Ichiraku Ramen drifted over, and Hinata’s stomach provided the answer.
Hinata was so embarrassed she nearly passed out.
Fortunately, Bai gathered a cool current of chakra in his palm in time to cool her down, saving her from an overheating system shutdown.
“It’s alright.
I know you’re shy, Hinata.
Now it’s just the two of us, so you can eat as much as you want.
I’m actually hoping you’ll spar with me in taijutsu after you fill up!” Bai smiled gently, his gaze making Hinata feel like sinking right into it…
“But…” Hinata murmured, trying to say more.
“Am I an outsider to you too, Hinata?” Before Hinata could finish a full sentence, Bai knit his brows, a perfectly timed expression of disappointment and helplessness washing over his face, portraying the embarrassment of unrequited affection to perfection!
Hit by this tactical combo, Hinata completely lost her bearings.
By the time she snapped back to her senses, fifteen bowls of tonkotsu ramen were already in her stomach.
Seeing no strange judgment in Bai’s eyes beside her, her heart melted with sweetness, though her face grew even redder as she squeaked like a tiny mosquito, “Bai-kun…”
“Are you full?” Bai asked.
“Mhm…” Hinata gave a barely perceptible nod.
Bai chuckled, “Being able to eat is a blessing!
From now on, if you feel embarrassed eating in front of others, I’ll bring you here to Ichiraku Ramen!
Uncle Teuchi will definitely keep it a secret, right, Uncle Teuchi?”
Hearing this, Uncle Teuchi smiled warm-heartedly and gave a firm nod.
In truth, Uncle Teuchi mentally noted that this was a small scene—back in the day, the Princess of the Senju clan had been far more of a big eater than this Byakugan girl!
“I’ll gain weight…” Hinata mumbled sheepishly.
“How could you gain weight practicing the Hyuga Gentle Fist!” Bai burst out laughing, “On the contrary, Hinata, how can you train without eating your fill!”
Obesity was a luxury for a shinobi.
Unless born with a specific body type, or training in secret clan techniques like the Akimichi clan that required storing fat, the physical energy consumed daily to extract chakra alone was more than enough to burn away excess fat.
As for Anko Mitarashi twenty years later, that was purely gaining weight after retirement!