" S-sorry..." Hyuga Hinata lowered her head. She knew she had done terribly in training just now, even worse than she had at home.
"You don't need to apologize." Uchiha Jie came over to Hinata and crouched beside her. "You've read Yue's scroll, so you know her Gentle Fist is different from your father's."
"Your father's Gentle Fist is very powerful, but he probably isn't a very good teacher." Uchiha Jie shook his head gently, dismissing the results of Hyuga Hiashi's teaching.
"I-I'm just too stupid." Hinata shook her head vigorously. She didn't dare criticize her father.
"You don't need to apologize." Uchiha Jie patted Hinata's shoulder. "Lift your head and try striking me. From now on, you'll be training with me."
Looking at Hinata, who was still timid and hesitant, Uchiha Jie couldn't help sighing inwardly. Perhaps he should write to Yue and ask how Hyuga Hiashi usually treated Hinata.
This girl was supposed to be a young miss, yet she wasn't even as self-assured as a young miss's little maid.
Hyuga Hinata shakily raised her hand and once again assumed the Gentle Fist stance.
"Come on." Uchiha Jie stayed crouched and beckoned Hinata to attack with all her strength.
Hinata didn't hesitate. She had sparred like this many times at home. She always made the first move, and this time, just as before, she struck straight at him with her palm.
Usually, her father or another clan member sparring with her would lightly slap her palm aside, letting her continue with the next moves and strike a second time, then a third.
But Uchiha Jie also pushed out a palm with barely any force.
Smack!
A large palm and a small one met, palm to palm.
Little Hinata sent her meager chakra bursting through her tenketsu. Uchiha Jie felt as if someone were tickling his palm. He closed his hand around hers and caught it.
"S-sorry!" The moment her hand was caught, Hyuga Hinata stopped and started apologizing again.
"We're not finished yet. Why did you stop?" Uchiha Jie held her hand and gave it a gentle shake. "You still have your other hand."
"Um, p-please let go." Hyuga Hinata blushed and spoke softly.
"Hinata, if an enemy catches your hand, they won't listen to what you have to say. They'll just break it." Uchiha Jie shook his head. "Now, use your other hand."
Hinata gave a quiet little nod, and her other hand finally moved.
But neither hand could escape Uchiha Jie's grasp. He caught her left hand too.
"And your feet!" Uchiha Jie urged.
Hyuga Hinata kicked at him, but the Gentle Fist wasn't meant to be used with the feet. Uchiha Jie didn't even need to reach out and catch it; her little foot couldn't hurt him at all.
Only after Hinata had kicked until she was somewhat out of breath did Uchiha Jie finally let go.
"That's a little better." Uchiha Jie stood up and looked down at Hinata. "For someone your age, you're doing quite well. You're just limited by your age and the inherent drawbacks of the Gentle Fist."
"Even though your eyes have opened, you don't have enough chakra to see my meridians clearly. And although you can use the Gentle Fist, you can't win against someone who's taller, has a longer reach, and is better at Taijutsu than you."
"The Ninja sword your Sister Yue carries isn't just for show, and what she wrote in her scroll isn't some heretical nonsense. It's a practical way to deal with situations like this."
Uchiha Jie took Hinata's hand again and led her inside, over to her little desk. He opened the scroll to its first page.
He pointed at the words on the scroll and said to Hinata, "Come on, read it aloud."
"When striking with the Eight Trigrams Palm, channel chakra into your fingernails. Turn your palm into a claw, and your palm strike into a stab. Catch your opponent off guard," Hinata read softly.
"If you'd known this variation when you struck palms with me just now, you could have forced me back." Uchiha Jie nodded, then continued, "Come on, give it a try."
Hyuga Hinata stretched out her right hand and tried to guide chakra from her palm to her fingertips. Only when a fine sheen of sweat appeared on her forehead did the chakra finally reach the tip of her right index finger.
It was like she had lit a white flame on her fingertip.
Uchiha Jie took out a plank and gestured for Hinata to poke it. With a soft pop, her finger pierced right through the wood.
"Ah!" Hinata looked at her finger, then at the plank, and cried out in surprise.
She was familiar with this kind of plank; her father often used it to train her, demanding that she break it in two with a single palm strike. She could do it, but never this easily.
"But my chakra..." After her brief excitement, Hinata grew dejected again. That one strike had already used nearly all her chakra. Even without the training she'd done earlier, she could manage at most two pokes.
"For someone your age, that's already very good."
Uchiha Jie smiled, but carefully scratched his own palm with his left hand. He'd been struck by a fingertip like that once before: Hyuga Yue had poked the center of his palm, leaving a tiny hole that bled. Even though it had happened many years ago, the memory still gave him the creeps.
Seeing Hyuga Hinata wanting to gather more chakra and continue training, he patted her shoulder and stopped her. "Go wash up and change your clothes. You haven't eaten breakfast yet."
There wasn't much privacy around the hot spring in the courtyard, but there was a separate bathroom beside it. Hinata washed off her sweat, changed into the light purple dress that had been prepared for her, and knelt on the tatami.
A whole table was covered with all kinds of delicious food. For a moment, she didn't know what to eat first.
While she was hesitating, Uchiha Jie had already started eating. He held a steaming hot bun and tilted his head.
"Go ahead and eat. Is it not to your taste?"
"C-can I eat all of this?" Hinata lowered her head and asked softly.
At home, she had never seen such a lavish breakfast. In fact, whenever her morning training went poorly, her father would sometimes send her to school on an empty stomach.
"I bought it for you." Uchiha Jie blinked and pushed the plates toward Hinata. "A little ninja like you is at a crucial stage of chakra cultivation, so you should eat as much as you can."
"The Hyuga Clan doesn't have much chakra to begin with, and your eyes are still developing. If you don't eat properly at this stage, it'll affect your growth in strength."
"I prepared this based on how much your Sister Yue ate when she was little. You're Main Family, so you should eat even more than she did."
"If you eat more, your eyes will open more comfortably."