The Third Hokage

"Bastard! Who was it that kicked this young master into the river just now? Come out and get a beating!"

Naruto, fuming with rage, brandished a wooden club as he ran back to the spot from downstream. He glared at Fuyuki and Hinata, baring his fangs and brandishing his claws while shouting, ready to exact his revenge.

However, the previous attack had been too sudden. He only remembered that the one who kicked him into the river had black hair and white eyes. Now that there were two people standing there with identical black hair and white eyes, Naruto was a bit confused about who he should be retaliating against.

Approaching the pair, Naruto began to look suspicious, wondering which one he should strike.

The moment he let his guard down to think, Fuyuki performed a shoulder throw, tossing Naruto back into the river and watching once again as the rushing current swept him away.

"Ahhhhh! You jerk, it was you! You expressionless, white-eyed, black-haired freak, I'll definitely be back!"

Having suffered a massive loss, Naruto finally figured out how to distinguish between Fuyuki and Hinata.

Although the two looked exactly the same, their personalities were completely different. Fuyuki would never act shy or poke his fingers together like Hinata; he was more direct in his actions and preferred to use a club to reason with people.

"One milk tea, extra sugar, less ice, please."

Fuyuki acted as if nothing had happened, instructing the maid to take the milk tea out of the lunch box for him.

Milk tea was just black tea mixed with milk and a large amount of sugar, and the pearls could be made using the same ingredients as Three-color Dango. Thus, even in the world of Naruto, Fuyuki could still enjoy one of the favorite cold drinks of his past life.

"Hinata, here you go!"

Natsumi and Fei had already set up the area, and Fuyuki picked up a skewer of Three-color Dango and handed it to Hinata.

"Isn't this too much, Fuyuki?" Looking at the mountain of Three-color Dango, Hinata couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, two blushes rising on her face.

"It's fine, I understand. I won't tell anyone." Fuyuki had long known about Hinata's big-eater attribute, so when he ordered the chef to prepare the ingredients, he had them prepared at the level of an Akimichi Clan Jonin.

If Hinata didn't eat enough on a daily basis, how would she have the strength to practice the Gentle Fist Technique?

It wasn't that Hiashi was being stingy with Hinata; it was just that no one could have imagined that the delicate and frail-looking Hinata had an appetite even more terrifying than that of the Akimichi clan. If not for his memories from his past life, he would have cried and made a scene if he didn't have food, and he probably would have starved to death in his swaddling clothes.

For the sake of being a lady, Hinata had endured quite a bit of hunger.

The dango were all prepared for Hinata. Fuyuki's appetite wasn't as exaggerated as hers; he just sipped his milk tea while waiting for that EZ to return.

Sure enough, within a few minutes, Naruto came running back, fuming with rage. This time he didn't mistake the person; he raised his wooden club and lunged at Fuyuki: "You white-eyed, black-haired bastard, die!"

"Alright, alright, Naruto, stop making a scene."

The charging blond was grabbed by the Third Hokage, who had appeared out of nowhere. The Third looked helpless: "You can't beat Fuyuki right now, otherwise, you'll just get washed away by the river again in a moment."

Based on his experience, Fuyuki was sitting not far from the riverbank. It was easy to guess that he intended to wait for the moment Naruto lunged at him to simply lie down or dodge to the side, causing the blockheaded Naruto to be swept downstream by the river yet again.

"Old man, let me go! If I don't beat that white-eyed, black-haired bastard until his nose is bruised and his face is swollen today, how am I supposed to hang out in Konoha!"

Naruto, being held by the collar, was still restless, his face twisted in a cat-like fury as he tried to fight Fuyuki.

"Sigh."

The Third, dressed in casual clothes, let go. The next moment, just as he had expected, Fuyuki simply dodged to the side in the face of Naruto's flying lunge. Naruto, having charged too recklessly, fell into the riverbed and was swept away by the current once more.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

The screams faded into the distance. Fuyuki and Hinata stood up from the picnic mat and said respectfully: "Lord Third Hokage."

"Hehe," the Third chuckled: "No need to be so distant. If you don't mind, just call me Grandpa Third."

The Third Hokage was a kind old man who treated everyone in Konoha like his own children.

In the original story, Naruto seemed exceptionally lonely, but the reason he didn't turn into the Menma Namikaze from the movie was largely thanks to the Third Hokage.

Two years after the Nine-Tails Incident, in order to maintain the village's reputation and rebuild the half-destroyed Konoha, the Third had indeed neglected his care for Naruto, allowing the Pot King to spread the news about the Jinchuriki host throughout the village.

However, the Third hadn't done nothing. He had decisively issued a gag order and, despite his busy schedule, often took the time to hide his identity and accompany Naruto. Even when he was swamped with work, he would send a Shadow Clone over.

The Third's biggest stain was allowing the corrupted Danzo to do as he pleased instead of making him retire to farm the fields!

The Third didn't rush to teach Fuyuki and Hinata ninja techniques; instead, he sat on the picnic mat and began to chat with them, while Natsumi and Fei stood not far away, guarding against everything in the surroundings.

"Fuyuki, may I ask you a question?"

"Hmm, as long as it doesn't involve feelings or borrowing money, sure," Fuyuki said casually.

The Third choked for a moment, put down his milk tea cup and the Three-color Dango, and asked curiously: "Why don't you learn the Gentle Fist Technique?"

The Gentle Fist Technique was an integrated style of offense and defense, possessing both long-range skills and control abilities. It was a near-perfect taijutsu style; one could even say that the Gentle Fist was a secret taijutsu art tailored by generations of the Hyuga for the Byakugan Kekkei Genkai.

The Third couldn't quite understand why Fuyuki was so obsessed with ninjutsu that he would abandon his family's Gentle Fist.

Fuyuki, the eldest young master of the Hyuga clan, was a rebel who loved ninjutsu and hated the Gentle Fist.

As the heir to a prestigious family in the Ninja World, Fuyuki's reputation had long since spread. The Third certainly knew of him, but because of the rift with the Hyuga clan, he had never had the face to visit them.

This morning was the first time the Third had seen Fuyuki.

"Abandon the Gentle Fist?" Fuyuki was stunned, then said: "I haven't abandoned the Gentle Fist Technique! Who is spreading such rumors about me!"

Afraid the Third wouldn't believe him, he reached out and condensed pure Gentle Fist Chakra right in front of him.

"I just have a greater interest in ninjutsu and the Summoning Technique than in the Gentle Fist. I still have the foundations of the Gentle Fist."

In Fuyuki's heart, the Gentle Fist Technique actually only occupied a small part of his focus.

This kind of fist technique was fine for fighting humans, but it was completely useless against those "gods" who didn't act like humans.

The scene that left the deepest impression on Fuyuki was during the Fourth Great Ninja War, when Hinata finished a set of Gentle Fist moves, only for the soldiers split from the Ten-Tails to remain full of vigor, nearly sending Hinata to the trending list of a manga website.

What Fuyuki wanted to learn was the original version of the Gentle Fist—the kind where Kaguya throws a single punch and shakes the earth, obliterating everything in its path!

Learning the Gentle Fist was merely a means to replicate the invincible Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack and Rabbit Hair Needle of his ancestor.

Therefore, Fuyuki's plan for himself was to diligently cultivate the Xuanmo Summoning Technique and master all the moves of the Hyuga Clan in the early stages, raise various types of summoned beasts in the middle stage, and finally, in the late stage, use a combination of summoned beasts and low-spec Kaguya skills to crush the Akatsuki.

The techniques of the Hyuga Clan were riddled with traces of Kaguya; moves like the Gentle Fist Air Palm were likely just simplified versions that descendants, being too lazy or incapable, had watered down to a level that mere mortals could use.

"What a greedy little devil," the Third Hokage said, the corners of his mouth curling upward. "Even the adults know that trying to have it all will surely break your body. You want to learn ninjutsu, master the Gentle Fist, and become proficient in summoning techniques—do you even have the energy for that?"

"Children and the weak make choices; a real man naturally chooses to have it all!" Fuyuki sneered.

Beside them, Hinata looked completely bewildered, unable to grasp that the two old veterans had already started driving down a lane she couldn't follow.