Tap, tap, tap.
Crisp footsteps echoed from the classroom doorway, prompting almost everyone in the room to turn their heads.
“Yo, good morning, everyone.”
A soft-featured girl with dark hair and striking white eyes stood at the entrance, a faint smile gracing her lips as she greeted the crowd.
“…”
Kiba Inuzuka looked at the girl in the doorway and instinctively pulled his neck back.
Meeting Hinata’s eyes again, the residual swelling on his cheeks seemed to throb all over again.
He wasn’t the only one.
Naruto, who had been beaten up by Hinata twice before, didn’t look much better.
After the spectacle outside the school gates yesterday afternoon, practically everyone knew that this girl—who looked soft, delicate, and easy to pick on on the surface—was actually a pure, combat-obsessed female Tyrannosaurus Rex.
“Good morning, Hinata!”
Not far away, Ino and Sakura waved enthusiastically at her.
Seeing them, Hinata walked over with her usual easygoing smile.
Compared to Ino, Hinata actually paid a bit more attention to Sakura.
Reaching Kage-level strength by age sixteen, Sakura seemed to be the only person in the entire Leaf Village who maintained top-tier combat power in the future when Naruto and Sasuke got heavily nerfed.
Mostly, though, it was because housewife Sakura was genuinely fantastic.
Hinata simply enjoyed finding interesting things in an otherwise boring life.
Is this person really a girl…?
The boys watched Hinata move effortlessly between Ino and Sakura, complaining inwardly.
In the blink of an eye, the day’s lessons at the Ninja Academy drew to a close.
Hinata planned to pack her things and head home as fast as possible; she couldn’t wait a second longer.
After all, her father had gone out early this morning to meet Hiruzen Sarutobi to fetch the Flying Raijin and the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags for her.
“Hinata Hyuga.”
Before Hinata could finish slinging her bag over her shoulder, a figure stepped directly into her path.
This was…
Sasuke Uchiha?
Looking at Sasuke standing in front of her, Hinata found it a bit strange.
What does he want from me?
In the current Leaf Village, Sasuke Uchiha was one of the top three people Hinata least wanted to deal with.
The other two were naturally Lord Danzo Shimura, the reigning Pot Master of the Leaf, and Itachi Uchiha, the most filial son and ultimate brother-con in the entire shinobi world.
And Sasuke, as the younger brother of that extreme bro-con…
Itachi was naturally the main reason Hinata wanted zero contact with Sasuke at this stage.
“What is it?”
“Sasuke-kun?”
Hinata only felt annoyance brewing, but she tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowing into crescent moons as she let out a gentle smile.
I’m greeting you with a smile, so please be sensible and move out of the way; I’m in a hurry to get home and see my dad.
“T-That…”
In Sasuke’s eyes, Hinata was bathed in the golden glow of the setting sun pouring through the window, as if wrapped in a shimmering aura.
Sasuke, who had fully prepared himself to get beaten up, saw this scene and instantly forgot every line he had rehearsed.
His cheeks flushed bright red, and he stood frozen in place, utterly speechless.
“Bye-bye then~~”
The crisp voice of the girl drifted into his ears, and Sasuke finally snapped back to reality.
Just as he opened his mouth to issue his duel challenge, he found her figure had already vanished through the classroom doorway.
She…
she looks even cuter than Big Brother…
“Sasuke!”
“Don’t be fooled by Hinata Hyuga’s appearance, you idiot!”
“She’s a female Tyrannosaurus Rex!”
Sasuke’s reaction had been witnessed by Naruto and the few others who hadn’t left the classroom yet.
In this precocious world, Sasuke’s behavior looked exactly like a male lead in a drama being completely hoodwinked by an evil green-tea girl!
Especially Naruto—having grown up without parental supervision, he naturally flipped through adult-only magazines whenever he got the chance.
So, compared to his peers, Naruto might have been “well-read” in other niche areas, making him practically an expert on this kind of subtle trap.
Seeing someone in his class blinded by the beauty of a violent monster girl like Hinata Hyuga, Naruto naturally felt a surge of anxious duty.
As Hinata’s primary victim, Naruto felt obligated to make Sasuke see Hinata’s ugly, violent nature!
“N-None of your business!”
Faced with the blonde kid’s noisy intrusion, Sasuke suppressed the strange flutter in his chest and shouted back with a stoic face.
“I’m doing this for your own good, you bastard!”
“Don’t be so ungrateful!”
Naruto grabbed Sasuke’s hand, offering advice with an intensely serious expression.
“Let go.”
Looking at his held wrist, Sasuke spoke coldly.
“I’m really doing this for your own good!”
Naruto only felt a deep sense of injustice.
Back then, he had wanted to help Hinata get away from those three idiots, A-Da, A-Er, and A-San, only to get thrashed indiscriminately by that violent monster girl.
Now that he was trying to save Sasuke from her clutches, he was getting treated like this instead.
It was completely unreasonable!
Heh, fine then…
I originally wanted to fight Hinata, but now she’s gone.
I’ll just use you to blow off some steam today!
Hmph!
A little brat whose hair hasn’t even grown in properly wants to fight me?
Still way too green!
Hinata hurried home, her heart filled with casual disdain and a slight sense of accomplishment.
The battle aura radiating off Sasuke Uchiha when he walked up to her was something Hinata could smell from eight hundred meters away.
She had guessed his intentions almost immediately.
It was nothing more than wanting a sparring match with her.
If she hadn’t been worried about that extreme bro-con Itachi Uchiha keeping tabs on her, Hinata might have actually agreed.
After all, she had even beaten up Naruto; who else couldn’t she beat?
Just a simple Sasuke Uchiha.
But compared to picking on a newbie, Hinata was now brimming with anticipation, eager to know if her father Hiashi had managed to get the Flying Raijin Jutsu and the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags from Hiruzen Sarutobi.
With this mood driving her, Hinata ran back to the Hyuga Compound like a gust of wind, heading straight for Hiashi’s study.
“Dad!”
The study door was banged open violently, and as expected, Hiashi opened it with a helpless look.
“How did it go?!” Hinata stared at her father with wide, expectant eyes.
“Here, what you wanted.”
“Both the Flying Raijin Jutsu and the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags are stored inside.”
Hiashi pulled a storage scroll from his robe and handed it over to Hinata.
“!”
“My dearest dad really is the absolute best!”
Hinata’s eyes sparkled brightly as she stared at the scroll Hiashi held out.
“…Remember to go to the Hokage Residence tomorrow,” Hiashi added, unable to stop himself from giving a few quick reminders.
“Lord Hokage wants to see you.”
“Remember to be polite.”
“Lord Hokage wants to see me?” Hinata paused for a second, but quickly pieced it together.
After all, she was the one who had asked Hiashi for these S-rank forbidden techniques.
If the Third Hokage didn’t even meet the person requesting them, it would make him look a little too pushy and incompetent.
“Mm, I got it!”
“You can count on me!”
Hinata nodded heavily, then clutched the storage scroll and sprinted back to her room like the wind.
The Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags were just a nice bonus; the Flying Raijin Jutsu was her ultimate goal.