He had only bound Hinata to the system yesterday, and today it had already assigned him a main mission. It was as if it was afraid he'd have nothing to do.
Still, getting Hinata into the top ten should be much easier than getting Naruto into the top fifteen, given how much she had going for her.
Qiushui snapped out of his thoughts and raised a hand. He took two sturdy wooden desks, along with a thick stack of exam papers and textbooks, from his storage scroll.
With a soft thud, the desk legs touched the ground.
Hinata stared blankly at the desks and exam papers that had suddenly appeared. She blinked, her face full of confusion.
She had arrived around noon yesterday, so she hadn't known about the academic lessons in the morning. She had thought they would continue yesterday's Tree Climbing or start a new ninjutsu training session today. Why were there exam papers?
Naruto's face fell on the spot. He scratched his head until his hair was a mess, his face written all over with misery.
Qiushui took in both their reactions and smiled as he explained to Hinata, "Your training task this morning is simple. First, finish this set of papers, then do some reading comprehension exercises."
Though Hinata was a little confused, she was an honest, obedient child.
If Teacher Qiushui said so, there had to be a reason.
She obediently sat down at the desk, picked up her pen, and began carefully reading the questions and writing her answers.
Naruto's eyes shifted. With a mischievous grin, he formed Hand Seals. With a poof, three Shadow Clones appeared beside him.
How could he forget his brothers when there was something good to share?
Doing questions was obviously something everyone should share together.
The clones all wore the same look of anguish.
But doing questions wasn't something where more people meant more success. After working for a little over ten minutes, Naruto's attention began to wander. As he worked, he couldn't help sneaking glances at Hinata beside him.
Hinata was completely focused, her gaze intent and her pen barely pausing.
Watching her work so smoothly, Naruto's eyes filled with envy.
Man, I wish I could be like her! He sighed and looked down at his exam paper. He had just written "the founder of Konoha" and "the proponent of the Will of Fire," then gotten stuck.
Hinata seemed to sense the gaze from beside her and furtively glanced at him from the corner of her eye. When she realized Naruto was staring at her absentmindedly, her cheeks instantly flushed. Her heart thumped a few times, and she hurriedly lowered her head, pretending to focus even harder on her work.
Qiushui walked over to Naruto's desk and rapped his knuckles lightly against it. "Hinata can work like that because of all the effort she puts into learning during class. If you're envious, then work hard on your questions. That's how you'll have a chance of becoming like her someday."
"Yeees," Naruto drawled, his face scrunched up in misery as he threw himself back into battle with the exam paper.
Hearing Qiushui's words, Hinata lowered her head even further, but the corners of her mouth lifted slightly despite herself. A hint of sweetness welled up inside her.
Time flowed by slowly to the sound of pens scratching against paper.
An hour later, Hinata gently set down her pen and said softly, "Teacher Qiushui, I'm finished."
Qiushui walked over and picked up her exam paper, scanning the questions one by one.
As the young lady of the Hyuga Clan, Hinata did have a fairly solid foundation. She had filled in every answer, and her handwriting was neat and delicate. But on closer inspection, her accuracy was only passable.
She had the right idea for many questions, but overlooked details. She hadn't fully mastered some concepts and could only pile on memorized information. Overall, she had barely managed to pass.
Qiushui recalled how Hinata had performed at the Academy in the original story.
"Not bad. You passed everything." Qiushui nodded. He didn't criticize her; instead, he praised her. He knew encouragement worked better than criticism for a shy, sensitive child like Hinata. "Take a ten-minute break, then start reading."
Hinata obediently answered and picked up a book, immersing herself in a sea of knowledge.
Naruto was scratching his head. His three Shadow Clones and his original self had formed a circle, arguing over the same question.
"You're supposed to use the formula like this. That's what the book I read yesterday said," one clone insisted, pointing at the paper.
"No, no. Teacher Qiushui definitely explained a different method yesterday. You have to find the conditions first, then substitute them," another clone argued, slapping the desk.
"Stop fighting. I think we should just do all the questions we know first," the third clone suggested timidly.
"You make a good point. We'll do what you say."
Hinata heard the commotion and covered her mouth, doing her best not to laugh aloud.
Another half hour passed before Naruto finally finished the exam. He let out a long breath of relief and slumped over his desk.
He felt as exhausted as if he'd spent four hours on physical training the previous afternoon—and that had only been yesterday.
Qiushui took Naruto's paper and scanned it from top to bottom. Most of the answers were wrong, but compared with yesterday, when the page had been completely blank and he couldn't even understand the questions, this was a huge improvement. At least he was trying to write something. He had the right idea for some questions; he had just made a calculation error or gotten something mixed up.
Qiushui looked up at Naruto, who was watching him tensely, and said earnestly, "Naruto, you've made a lot of progress since yesterday."
Naruto froze for a moment, then his eyes lit up. The weariness vanished from his face, and he broke into a huge grin.
For the rest of the morning, Qiushui had them read their textbooks. He didn't leave them to study on their own; every so often, he asked questions and called on them to answer.
"Naruto, what are the five basic nature transformations of chakra? We just covered them on that page."
"Uh... Fire, Water... Wind, Lightning... and Earth." Naruto scratched his head and answered haltingly.
Qiushui continued, "Then tell me, what's the characteristic of Wind Release?"
"Sharp. It can cut through things like a blade," Naruto said confidently.
"Good. Remember that." Qiushui turned to Hinata. "You answer this one. Which nature transformation is Wind Release usually suited to working with?"
"F-Fire Release," Hinata answered softly. "Wind can fan the flames and increase the power of Fire Release."
Qiushui nodded in satisfaction. "Correct."
A smile appeared on Hinata's face. In the past two days, Qiushui had praised her almost as many times as she'd been praised in all the years before.
This kind of interaction continued until noon. Through the back-and-forth of questions and answers, even those dull concepts seemed to come alive and became easier to remember.
A message appeared in front of Qiushui.
[Daily Mission: Make sure the high-quality talent, Hyuga Hinata, gets a filling meal] [Mission rewards will be issued after a comprehensive evaluation based on the degree of completion]
Qiushui looked at the mission description, then glanced over at Hinata's small figure. Confusion showed on his face.
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