The Uzumaki Clan's Cells

"I've been discovered by Naruto-kun, how embarrassing."

Her small face flushed instantly, though Naruto had been greeting little Hinata every time he saw her lately, specifically to break her habit of fainting at the mere sight of him.

The effect was noticeable; a blushing Hinata did not faint.

"Na... Naruto... kun."

Her speech became stuttered, and her small hands began to fidget, twirling around each other.

Seeing such an adorable expression, Naruto was almost melted by the cuteness.

"Yeah, just call me Naruto. I saw little Hinata here, so I came over to say hi." Naruto scratched his head.

Of course, that was just an excuse. He had long known Hinata was observing him, but the main reason was that the Anbu watching him had recently relaxed, and Root had also loosened their surveillance.

Mostly, there was nothing to monitor regarding physical training; they mainly kept track of where Naruto was, not caring what he actually did.

"Naruto." She whispered the name; honestly, if Naruto's ears hadn't been quite sharp, he would have missed it entirely.

"Sit down and let's chat." Naruto knew she was nervous, so he didn't stare at her face, even though little Hinata was very cute right now.

Naruto sat down and looked at the river. No longer being stared at, Hinata let out a silent sigh of relief and sat on the grass as well.

"Training is for oneself, to protect the people one cherishes, not to put on a show for others. I don't care what they think of me; if I truly cared, I wouldn't be alive right now."

Naruto spoke toward the river, also trying to guide Hinata. Having read the original story, Naruto naturally knew her situation. Truth be told, her aptitude wasn't bad, but her personality hindered the display of her true strength.

"Hm?" Hinata didn't understand. But she was aware of the gossip others spread about Naruto, so she understood the latter half.

Naruto smiled. If he hadn't lived another life, he wouldn't have been able to let it go either. He also felt a bit troubled; he was truly bad at "Talk no Jutsu," and explaining deep philosophy to a little girl was beyond her grasp.

"So don't think too much. I train because I want to protect my friends and those who care about me—like you, little Hinata." Scratching his head, Naruto felt this explanation might be better.

Hinata skipped over the first part, but the mention of protecting her made her very happy, and for the first time, she felt a real drive to train.

"Mm-hmm, I understand. I will train hard too, to protect Father, to protect my sister, and... Naruto." Her voice was almost inaudible by the end.

"Yeah, keep it up, Hinata. Remember, power is your own, and it's meant to protect your family and companions." Seeing the light in little Hinata's eyes, Naruto was quite pleased.

Hearing Naruto's encouragement made Hinata even happier.

"If you have time in the future, you can come find me to train. Since we have some time today, let's spar. I have the Uzumaki Clan constitution, so I won't get hurt. Don't hold back."

Seeing little Hinata gain confidence, and fearing she might be discouraged after returning home, Naruto decided to test her current level. To ensure she wouldn't hold back, he explained himself and then used his fingernail to slice a long gash into his arm, which healed almost instantly.

Naruto wasn't lying to her; with Nine-Tails chakra, his own Uzumaki constitution, and the Six Thief Immortals, his current state was definitely not much inferior to the Sage Body of Hashirama.

Hinata hesitated; looking at Naruto's face, she really found it hard to strike.

"Just treat it as practice."

As he spoke, Naruto formed a seal, the sign for a friendly spar.

Seeing this, Hinata made up her mind; she also wanted to show Naruto her strength.

The two stood ready.

Hinata attacked first. Because it was her first time, she didn't dare use heavy strikes, nor did she dare use her pressure point strikes.

Naruto raised his hand to block the attack.

"Hinata, are you looking down on me?" Naruto frowned. Although he knew her personality, being this kind during a fight wasn't good.

Seeing Naruto frown, Hinata panicked and steeled her resolve.

She activated her Byakugan.

She unleashed her pressure point strikes.

Naruto continued to block with his hands. As her fingers struck his arm, Hinata felt a shock in her heart. Just as she was about to say something, what she saw through her Byakugan shattered her worldview.

Because Naruto, feeling almost nothing, instinctively repelled the strike through his meridians while slightly mobilizing his own chakra.

The sheer, terrifying volume of that chakra almost frightened Hinata.

Hinata had never seen the Third Hokage's chakra, but she had observed the Jonin of her clan. The chakra she had just felt inside Naruto was more than all the Jonin she had ever seen combined—and that was just the chakra in a single arm.

Naruto naturally didn't know this; he had never paid attention to his own chakra levels—the Nine-Tails' chakra, his own internal reserves, and the natural energy absorbed by the Six Thief Immortals.

Taking a deep breath, even though she knew Naruto was strong, Hinata hadn't expected him to be this strong. Pressure point strikes were likely useless against him.

Hinata began to get serious with the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms, which was little Hinata's current limit. To avoid crushing her confidence, Naruto could only offer praise. However, having read the original work, Naruto was naturally dissatisfied with her current strength. If nothing else, without a chakra mode, it was truly unsuitable to play at close-quarters combat in the ninja world.

Ninjas had high offense but low defense; taijutsu wasn't suited for the ninja world unless it was Nintaijutsu, like that of the Third or Fourth Raikage.

As a direct descendant of Kaguya Otsutsuki, to be honest, the current Hyuga Clan didn't have much strength to speak of.

It wasn't that their taijutsu wasn't strong, but the current situation in the ninja world was all about ninjutsu. Mages fighting warriors—this operation...

Just as Naruto was still thinking about how to improve Hinata's strength, over in Konoha.

The Root organization, as the dark side of Konoha, had very few people who truly knew where its base was located.

In a base many meters beneath Konoha, Danzo was working at his desk.

At that moment, a researcher holding a report walked in. As someone who desperately wanted to become Hokage, Danzo knew well what was most important in this era: strength. Danzo, who was of the same generation as the Third, looked at least a generation younger—this was the result of Root's work.

Anything that could help with strength, Root was researching, so sometimes even Danzo didn't know what they were studying.

Listening to the researcher drone on with a mountain of professional jargon, Danzo felt a headache coming on. Danzo was different from Orochimaru; all his skills were invested in schemes and plots, so how could he understand these things?

"Give me the conclusion." Danzo frowned, his eyes displeased.

The researcher wasn't stupid; he naturally knew his boss didn't understand these things. But they were researchers—if they didn't talk about professional matters, how could they demonstrate their expertise? If the boss understood everything, he would just think, "I understand it all, what do I need you for?"

"Sir, we need the cells of the Uzumaki Clan for our research. This could potentially increase your chakra reserves, which would be of great help in suppressing the Hashirama cells."