"Not bad." Uchiha Jie smiled as he applied ointment to Hinata.
Little Hinata's performance had surprised him. Everything in the fight had seemed to go smoothly, and she'd done exceptionally well, but it still felt somehow unreal.
And it was a little different from how he'd taught her at first.
His fingers gently traced her wounds, leaving a pale green smear of ointment behind. Looking at Hinata's pitiful expression, Uchiha Jie muttered softly, "Could you really be a genius?"
"Master, what did you say?" Hinata tried to turn her head, but the wound on her neck wouldn't let her.
"Nothing." Uchiha Jie smiled and changed the subject. "Do you know what you did wrong?"
"I... I probably did a lot wrong," Hinata asked cautiously.
"Just one thing." Uchiha Jie finished applying the ointment, took out a bandage, and began wrapping it gently around Hinata's right arm.
"You should've used an Explosive Tag from the start. An ordinary person without rigorous training couldn't escape an explosion that wide."
"You could've taken out nearly all the enemies in an instant. The ones who survived would've been badly hurt. Then you could've worn them down from a distance with your ninja tools. There was no need to charge in and fight them head-on."
"But..." Hinata knew what Uchiha Jie meant. She'd known it even before the fight.
"But Explosive Tags are expensive."
"Heh, already watching your spending, are you?"
Uchiha Jie chuckled. He patted Hinata on the head and said with a smile, "I don't need you to save me money. A proper ninja makes the most of every advantage to complete a mission."
"What are your advantages? Your Byakugan—you made good use of that."
"And what else? You have Explosive Tags. Compared to Ninjutsu that requires Hand Seals, they're much more convenient. Just tie one to a shuriken and throw it. Even an ordinary Chunin has to dodge. If you use enough of them, even a Jonin will have to think twice."
"Your master has plenty of money. I've got a little nest egg in Konoha, and I own businesses outside the village, too. I can afford a few Explosive Tags."
"Today, you tried to save one Explosive Tag and used up all your chakra, then ended up clashing blades with someone like this. I don't even want to imagine what you'll do tomorrow."
Hinata lowered her head and listened to Uchiha Jie lecture her. She didn't feel disappointed at all. In fact, she was especially happy.
At first, she'd wanted to throw an Explosive Tag. It was simple and convenient.
But when she thought about how one day she would have to do what even the Hokage couldn't, she knew she had to start training herself now—training her fighting skills and her Byakugan, using up all her chakra and gradually pushing her potential to its limits.
"All right, you're all bandaged up." Uchiha Jie tied a little bow in the bandage and helped Hinata to her feet.
"Time to eat!" he called.
"What's Hanabi-chan having for lunch today?"
While Hinata was eating, the little ninjas at the Ninja Academy were having lunch, too. The academy had no cafeteria, so everyone brought a lunchbox from home.
The students sat together in groups. Lunchtime was a great chance to socialize, and the kids couldn't help comparing their meals.
Naruto Uzumaki had the worst lunch. Sometimes he didn't even have one, but with Iruka-sensei looking out for him, he usually had enough to eat.
Uchiha Sasuke used to have the most lavish lunch. After he was hospitalized, Ino took his place. But now, even though she'd only just started school, Hyuga Hanabi's lunch put everyone else's to shame.
When Hanabi opened her lunchbox, the food inside seemed to glow with a golden light.
"Hanabi gets treated so much better than Hinata," Sakura muttered softly as she held her rice ball and took small bites.
Hinata's lunchbox used to have nothing but a measly rice ball, just like hers. The two of them would sit in a corner and quietly watch the others share delicious food.
Now that something had happened to Hinata, Sakura had made up with Ino and rejoined the girls' group. They crowded around the little princess of the Hyuga Clan as she took out box after box of delicious dishes.
The difference in how they were treated was like night and day compared to how Hinata used to be treated.
"Hinata's food used to be prepared by the housekeepers. Father asked them to keep it simple." Hanabi turned to look at Sakura. She'd heard her complaint and explained.
"Now my meals are entirely up to my teacher. She's the one who prepared all this." A hint of sadness crept into her smile. She wished her big sister could taste the food Sister Yue made herself.
Unfortunately, she couldn't eat it all the time either. It seemed Sister Yue had started helping out at the Security Force after dropping her off at the Ninja Academy.
Konoha's security had been getting worse and worse lately. It was even worse than it had been back when the Uchiha Clan was still around.
"Sakura, have you heard? Sasuke seems to have woken up. He'll be discharged soon." Ino finished her meal, tore open a bag of potato chips, and sat down next to Sakura, waggling her eyebrows at her childhood friend.
"Ino, what are you up to?" Sakura eyed her childhood friend suspiciously.
Even though they'd made up over what happened to Hinata, neither of them was willing to back down when it came to Sasuke-kun.
Why was Ino bringing her into this now? It had to be a trap!
"It's not what I'm up to. Hanabi's planning to organize the class to visit Sasuke-kun before he's discharged." Ino shrugged as she explained.
"I just want you to come with me to buy a gift. You've had all your allowance taken away, haven't you..."
Hyuga Hiashi hadn't blamed Ino and Sakura for what happened when Hinata was abducted, but they'd still been affected to some extent.
The Ino-Shika-Cho families weren't large individually, but together, they were powerful enough that even the Hyuga Clan couldn't underestimate them.
Ino was the young miss of her family, and the elders wouldn't give her much trouble. Sakura, on the other hand, was different.
She was the child of a civilian ninja—and that civilian ninja was only a Chunin. If Hyuga Hiashi hadn't repeatedly promised not to take his anger out on her, her life would've been even worse.
For now, they'd only cut off her allowance. If her father hadn't still been going on missions, she might've been grounded at home.
"It's fine. The Security Force patrols pretty frequently now. Nothing's going to happen." Ino saw Sakura hesitate, leaned in until her face was right in front of Sakura's, and tried to reassure her.
"It wasn't your fault back then. It was that bad guy who abducted Hinata." She slapped her hands together, her voice tinged with anger. "Once we become ninjas, let's go find him and settle the score! We'll bring Hinata back!"
"Ino, do you know who took my sister?" Hyuga Hanabi had finished her lunch, too. She'd somehow sat down beside Ino and tilted her head, asking curiously.
"Um, Hanabi, I was just saying that." Ino laughed awkwardly. "I didn't even see his shadow back then."