The fading golden light of the setting sun stretched their four small shadows across the grass.
The rich, lingering aroma of grilled meat still drifted lazily through the air of the neighborhood park.
“Alright, that’s all for today!”
Hinata clapped her hands, looking at the three stuffed kids with the cocky smile of a neighborhood boss.
“See you all right back here in a week!”
The moment Naruto heard that, his excited expression collapsed completely.
He looked like a puppy that had just been robbed of a bone.
“Huh?!
A whole week?!
Hinata, can’t we hang out tomorrow?”
“You think I have all day to wander around the village like you?” Hinata rolled her eyes, placing her hands firmly on her hips.
“That old man put me on a demonic training schedule of sixteen hours a day!
Taking a single day off to treat you guys to barbecue was already risking my legs getting broken!”
Upon hearing that, Sakura and Ino both gasped in unison.
“S-Sixteen hours a day?!” Sakura’s emerald eyes widened in disbelief.
“Doesn’t that mean you barely even have time to sleep?”
Ino dropped her usual tsundere act, staring at Hinata with a blend of awe and deep respect.
“Is this really how the leader of a prestigious clan like the Hyuga trains…
No wonder you’re so smart and so strong, Hinata.”
‘Prestigious clan my ass!
It’s a living hell that treats people like tools!’
Hinata cursed violently in her head, but outwardly, she just lifted her chin, putting on the cool facade of an unbothered prodigy.
“If you want to get strong, a little suffering is nothing.”
At the word “strong,” Naruto’s bright blue pupils shrank slightly.
He looked down at his own thin, weak arms, then back at Hinata’s relaxed composure, slowly tightening his small hands into fists.
‘Hinata is already so strong and she’s still pushing herself this hard…
I can’t fall behind!
I have to get stronger too—strong enough to protect her!’
In the blink of an eye, a week slipped by under the brutal, merciless grind set by old man Hiashi.
Once again, at the park in Konoha’s 3rd District—
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Before Hinata even reached their usual spot under the large tree, a heavy, stubborn rhythmic pounding echoed from a distance.
She paused, her brows instantly knitting together.
Up ahead, Naruto was gritting his teeth, swinging his small fists into the rough bark of the tree like an untiring machine.
His worn orange jacket was completely drenched in sweat, his messy golden hair stuck to his forehead.
Most alarming of all were his hands.
The skin across his knuckles was split wide open, blood smearing the tree bark red with every strike.
Yet, as if completely numb to the pain, he just kept recklessly throwing punches.
‘What is this yellow-head doing now…
did he lose his damn mind?’
Hinata’s heart gave a sudden, uncomfortable tug.
Just then, Sakura and Ino approached from the opposite side.
Seeing the bloody scene, both girls froze in shock.
“Naruto!
Are you crazy?!” Sakura rushed forward, shouting frantically.
“Stop it right now!
Your hands are bleeding!”
Naruto remained completely deaf to her, his eyes locked onto the tree bark as he let out a harsh yell: “I can keep going!
I won’t lose!
I have to get stronger!”
Hinata couldn’t take it anymore.
Stepping forward on her stubby legs, she closed the distance in a few strides and slapped him right over the back of his head.
Smack!
“OW!”
Naruto yelled, spinning around while clutching his head.
His eyes were red as he looked at her defensively.
“Hinata…
why did you hit me?!”
“Because I’m slapping some sense into a brainless idiot!” Hinata yelled back, her hands on her hips.
That’s called self-mutilation!
Real shinobi rely on intellect and chakra, not on throwing a temper tantrum against a tree!”
“Ch…
Chakra?” Naruto blinked, instantly forgetting the pain in his hands.
He stared at her blankly.
“What’s that?
Does it taste good?”
Sakura looked equally puzzled.
“Hinata, what is chakra?”
At that question, Ino—who had been standing quietly by the side—puffed out her little chest proudly.
“I know this one!
My dad taught me!
Chakra is the energy shinobi use to cast ninjutsu!
You can only be considered a real ninja once you learn to knead chakra!”
“Oh?
Ino-pig, you actually know about that?” Sakura pouted in annoyance, though a spark of intense curiosity for this unknown power flickered in her eyes.
“Hmph, I am the heiress of the Yamanaka clan, after all!
This is a secret family technique—OW!”
Before Ino could finish boasting, Hinata mercilessly cut her off.
“Alright, alright, ‘secret family technique’ my foot.
That’s basic beginner stuff taught at the Academy.” Hinata rolled her eyes.
But looking at the bloody mess on Naruto’s hands, she let out a soft sigh.
‘He might be a goofball, but this brat’s stubbornness is definitely the real deal,’ Hinata thought.
‘Well, since I’m already here, I might as well give these kids a shortcut and teach them something useful!’
“Listen up, yellow-head.
You too, wide-forehead.” Hinata cleared her throat, her face turning dead serious.
“Since you guys are so eager to learn, I’ll make an exception today and teach you the basics of Chakra Kneading!”
Instantly, Naruto and Sakura’s eyes lit up like high-wattage lightbulbs.
“Really?!
Hinata, you’re the best!” Naruto squealed in excitement, nearly lunging forward to hug her leg, only to get kicked away.
“Hinata…
can a civilian like me really learn it too?” Sakura asked nervously, tugging at her shirt.
“Of course.
Chakra is energy that exists inside every living person.” Hinata walked to the center of the grass and sat down cross-legged.
“Ino already knows how, so she can go practice on her own.
You two, sit down right here.”
Naruto and Sakura immediately scrambled to sit before her, straightening their backs like model kindergarten students.
Satisfied, Hinata nodded.
Drawing from her memories of watching anime in her past life combined with her real-world practice over the past few years, she began explaining in the simplest terms possible:
“Chakra, simply put, is created by drawing out physical energy from the 130 trillion cells in your body, and combining it with the mental energy you gain through training and experience.
You fuse those two energies into a perfect balance.”
Hinata held up two chubby fingers to demonstrate.
“What you need to do right now is close your eyes and feel the warmth inside your body.
Don’t think about what you ate for lunch, and don’t think about how hard that tree bark was.
Quiet your mind, locate that small point of warmth right below your navel, and use your mind to guide it out.”
Naruto and Sakura listened intently.
Closing their eyes, they immediately began holding their breath, trying desperately to focus.
With her explanation done, Hinata leaned back comfortably, plopping down onto the soft grass.
The warm early spring sunlight bathed her skin, and a gentle breeze brushed past, carrying the fresh scent of wild grass.
‘Ah…
so nice.’
Resting her head on her arms, Hinata stared up at the clear blue sky and the drifting white clouds, feeling the fatigue of the past few days wash away.
‘No old man screaming at me, no sharp kunai flying at my face…
this is the life.
Total, unbroken peace.’
Time trickled by.
For a long while, the only sounds in the park were the gentle rustle of the breeze and the steady breathing of the four children.
“Hinata!
Hinata!
I felt it!”
Suddenly, a crisp, ecstatic voice broke the silence.
Sakura was staring wide-eyed at her own hand in pure amazement.
Floating at her fingertips was a faint, yet unmistakably real glow of pale blue chakra!
“Oh?” Hinata was genuinely surprised.
Sitting up straight, her Six Eyes activated in an instant, analyzing the flow of chakra within Sakura’s body.
‘Holy crap!
She really is the insanely talented chakra-control monster from the original series!’ Hinata marveled internally.
‘A total civilian with zero foundation, and she successfully kneads stable chakra in half a morning just from listening to a quick theory lesson?!
If she were born a Hyuga, the old man would probably pass out from pure joy!’
“Great job, Sakura!” Hinata gave her a firm thumbs-up.
“You’re a genuine prodigy!”
Flushed with pride from the compliment, Sakura held her head high, casting a triumphant glance over at Naruto, who was still struggling beside her.
Meanwhile, Naruto’s situation could only be described as a complete disaster.
His eyes were squeezed shut, his face turned bright red, and the veins on his forehead bulged as his entire body trembled.
He looked like he was suffering through a excruciating bout of constipation.
“Hrngh—RAAAGH!
Come out already!
Chakra!”
A strained roar escaped Naruto’s throat, but no matter how hard he tried, not a single spark of chakra appeared.
“Dummy Naruto, do you even know how to feel energy?” Ino teased from the side.
“Shut up!
I’m almost there!” Naruto yelled back.
But as soon as he lost focus, he collapsed flat on his back into the grass, gasping heavily for air with a look of pure defeat.
Watching him deflate, Hinata narrowed her eyes.
‘Something’s off.
As the reincarnation of Asura, his physical energy should be off the charts.
Even if his mental energy is lacking, there’s no way he can’t produce a single thread of chakra after an entire morning.’
Activating her Six Eyes once more, Hinata focused her gaze directly on Naruto’s abdomen.
Under the ultimate piercing vision of the Six Eyes, she saw it clearly: a massive amount of blue chakra had actually generated inside Naruto’s body.
However, every time that blue chakra tried to gather, a faint, sinister trace of violent red chakra leaked out from the intricate Eight Trigrams Seal on his stomach!
That red chakra acted like a total disruptor, ruthlessly scattering the blue chakra Naruto had painstakingly kneaded, forcing it back into his cells.
‘I knew it…
It’s the Nine-Tails messin’ around!’ Hinata cursed under her breath.
‘That damn fox.
Even locked up, it keeps messing with his chakra flow.
No wonder Naruto couldn’t even cast a proper Clone Jutsu early on!’
Looking at Naruto’s teary, frustrated expression, Hinata couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy.
‘Since I’ve taken him in as my sidekick, I can’t just stand by and watch him get sabotaged by a fox, can I?’
Rubbing her chin, Hinata’s mind raced through options.
‘What should I do?
Manually align his chakra pathways?
No way, Nine-Tails’ chakra is way too volatile.
My physical body right now can’t handle that kind of corrosive energy.’
‘Wait…
Do I have to go into his seal space and talk to that big fox myself?’
The bold idea shocked even Hinata herself.
Go face the Nine-Tails?
That was the strongest Tailed Beast in the entire shinobi world!
‘But…
how do I even get in?
In the original story, Naruto fell in on his own, and Jiraiya used some special scroll seal…’
Hinata looked down at her own small, chubby hands.
‘Can I use my mental energy to breach the nodes of the Eight Trigrams Seal?’
‘My mental strength right now should be absurdly high, right?’ Hinata calculated carefully.
‘I crossed over with the soul of a twenty-four-year-old adult, giving me the mental weight of two lives.
On top of that, the Six Eyes constantly processes and protects my brain.
My spiritual energy easily eclipses a typical Jonin’s!’
If she condensed that massive reserve of mental power into a sharp needle and plunged it right into the seal’s structural nodes…
A dangerous, intensely excited spark flashed across Hinata’s pale blue eyes.
‘Screw it!
Fortune favors the bold!’
‘Lord Nine-Tails, huh?
Let’s see what a fox locked behind bars is really made of!’