The Gentle Fist relied on making contact with an opponent's skin before releasing its force. The instant their palms touched, Hinata could feel the chakra gathering beneath her sister's palm. Her own chakra had already gathered in her hand, but just as they were about to collide, she instinctively held back again. She was afraid of hurting Hanabi.
Hanabi didn't know what her sister was thinking. Chakra surged from her palm, forcing open a tiny gap between their hands. Then she slipped through it, driving her small shoulder into her sister's chest and lightly tripping her.
Thud.
Hinata's back struck a veranda pillar, the muffled impact echoing across the empty Training Ground.
Hanabi started forward to help her up, but a stern voice stopped her in her tracks.
"Don't help her."
Hyuga Hiashi walked out from beneath the veranda, his brows knitted tightly and anger barely contained on his face. "You're ten years old, and you still can't use the Byakugan or the Main Family's Gentle Fist properly. The Main Family has no need for a failure like you."
The Hyuga Clan's rules had always been strict. A branch family member, Hyuga Neji, had learned to guide his chakra and activate the Byakugan by himself at the age of three. Over the past two years, he had even mastered the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms—which only the Main Family was allowed to learn—simply by watching Hinata train. Yet Hinata, heir to the Main Family, couldn't even beat a little sister five years younger than her.
Hinata was still leaning against the pillar. She had long since grown used to the pain in her back, but when she looked up and saw the disappointment in her father's eyes, she suddenly felt suffocated.
She had known since childhood that she was the one everyone placed their hopes in. While other children played, she trained; while they slept, she kept training. Day after day, year after year, all she got in return was scolding, time and time again. There was no one she could confide in, and now, at last, her father's words crushed the emotions she had buried deep inside for all those years.
Tears spilled from her eyes.
Hinata didn't say a word. She turned and ran, crossing the corridor and the courtyard before her small figure quickly disappeared from sight.
"Big sister." Worry showed in Hanabi's eyes, and she instinctively wanted to chase after her.
She took half a step, then stopped when she noticed her father looking at her. He said nothing, but his gaze carried more weight than any words. Hyuga Hiashi was usually stern and unsmiling, and although Hanabi respected him, she had always felt a little afraid of him.
Hyuga Tenin had stood where he was the entire time, without moving a single step. Only after Hinata's figure had disappeared did he finally speak, his voice so calm it was almost cold. "I think Hinata has decent talent, but she's too weak-willed. If she becomes clan head someday, she'll probably have a hard time managing the Hyuga Clan."
Hyuga Hiashi remained silent, making no reply.
"Perhaps we should focus on training Hanabi from now on," Hyuga Tenin continued, his gaze settling on his little granddaughter as if he were sizing up an object. "She may not be as talented as Neji, but she's much stronger-willed than Hinata."
Hyuga Hiashi stood there in silence for a moment. He looked at his younger daughter, then toward the place where Hinata had disappeared, and finally gave a slight nod.
Hyuga Hinata ran out through the estate gates with her head lowered. She kept running, with no idea how long she had been at it.
Before long, all she could hear was her own ragged breathing and pounding heartbeat. Her father's scolding, Hanabi's worried gaze, her grandfather's calm expression—all of it had been left far behind.
After twenty-odd minutes, she finally stopped and braced her hands on her knees, gasping for breath.
Hinata lifted her head. The scenery around her was unfamiliar. She had already gone far from the Main District, and confusion filled her eyes.
She had grown up on the clan grounds. Apart from going to the Ninja Academy, she rarely went anywhere alone, so she had no idea where she was.
A few boys around her age were running and playing on a lawn not far away. They were heading in her direction.
Hinata's heart suddenly clenched.
She remembered getting lost when she was little: the unfamiliar faces, the curious stares, the panic of having nowhere to hide. She instinctively lowered her head, hiding her face behind her hanging bangs, and clutched the front of her shirt.
Luckily, the boys were too caught up in their game. Shoving one another, they ran past her without noticing the girl with her head bowed by the roadside.
Their footsteps gradually faded away.
Hinata looked up and watched them disappear around the street corner. She quietly let out a sigh of relief and loosened her grip on her crumpled shirt. She didn't want to go home yet, and she didn't know where else to go, so she crossed the little bridge in front of her and kept walking.
Just then, she caught sight of a familiar figure.
Hinata froze, then instinctively hid behind a large tree by the roadside. Pressing herself against the trunk, she peeked out with half her head and rubbed her eyes.
"Why are there four Narutos? And two Qiushui-senseis?"
A voice suddenly came from behind Hinata.
After leaving home, Qiushui had stopped at a shop to buy several bottles of electrolyte water in different flavors, then headed to the Training Ground.
After crossing the bridge, he suddenly spotted a girl in a black mesh training outfit beneath a large tree in the distance. She was on tiptoe, her neck stretched slightly, as if she were watching something.
Qiushui quieted his footsteps. The girl's familiar hairstyle and instinctive air of sneakiness quickly told him she was Hyuga Hinata.
He remembered how, in the original story, Hinata was always hiding behind trees, around corners, or in the bushes at the edge of the Training Ground to watch Naruto train. He hadn't expected to run into her today.
Qiushui walked quietly over to her. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, but he didn't speak right away.
Hyuga Hinata was watching so intently that she didn't notice anyone had come up behind her.
"Hinata," Qiushui suddenly said. "What are you doing here?"
Hinata's shoulders jerked. She spun around like a startled little rabbit and found Qiushui-sensei standing right in front of her, carrying something and looking at her calmly.
"N-nothing." Hinata's voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
Qiushui didn't call her out on the lie. Given Hinata's personality, she'd probably faint on the spot.
Grrr.
Hinata's face turned bright red in an instant.
The color spread from her forehead to the tips of her ears, then down to her neck. Her face was like a ripe tomato. She kept her head bowed, staring fixedly at her toes and wishing there were a crack in the ground she could crawl into. She had barely eaten anything that morning, then had spent all that time sparring with Hanabi at the Training Ground. Now she had run such a long way, and at such a fast pace, that she was starving. Her stomach could have growled at any time, but it had to do it now.
Even with Hinata's head lowered, Qiushui could sense how embarrassed she was. He said gently, "I made lunch. If you don't mind, why don't you join me?"
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