Simple Assistance, Hinata's Attention

Ling Xuan stood some distance away, his gaze calmly sweeping over the scene.

[Target: Hinata Hyuga. Status: extremely nervous, chakra unstable, Byakugan not actively activated...]

[Physical coordination: C-, Gentle Fist fundamentals: D, mental fortitude: E... Overall assessment: enormous potential, but severely constrained by her own personality.]

[Target: Takagi (random extra). Status: slightly excited, muscular strength: C, Taijutsu skill: D-... Overall assessment: standard cannon fodder.]

"Begin!" Iruka called.

Takagi, the boy's name, gave a vicious grin and lunged at Hinata like a hungry tiger, his fist flying toward her face without the slightest technique.

Hinata cried out and instinctively shut her eyes, raising her hands in a flustered attempt to block.

At that critical moment, Ling Xuan, who was watching from somewhere between Takagi and Hinata, seemed to be distracted by Naruto running past him.

He shifted his foot slightly, as if to move out of the way, and the tip of his shoe accidentally nudged a fingernail-sized pebble.

The pebble shot out silently at a clever angle, striking the inside of Takagi's ankle just as he charged forward.

"Ow!" Takagi felt a sudden numbness in his ankle, and his forward momentum faltered. His body swayed uncontrollably.

As a result, his powerful punch went wide, grazing past a strand of Hinata's hair.

Though Hinata had her eyes closed, she still felt the rush of air from the punch. In her panic, she shoved both hands forward, pushing right against Takagi's off-balance chest.

Thud!

Takagi lost his balance. Hinata's feeble shove sent him stumbling backward several steps before he landed on his backside, his face full of disbelief.

The entire training ground fell silent.

Iruka was stunned too. He had clearly seen Hinata about to get hit.

"Hinata... You—you seized your chance!" Iruka said excitedly. "Well done! Takagi, you were far too careless!"

Hinata slowly opened her eyes. She looked at Takagi sitting on the ground, then at her own hands, her little face full of disbelief.

Had she... won?

Takagi clambered awkwardly to his feet and scratched his head, unable to understand why he had suddenly stumbled.

The other students began whispering among themselves, all of them thinking that Takagi had underestimated Hinata and she had just gotten lucky.

Only Ling Xuan, having kicked the pebble, had casually looked away, as if none of it had anything to do with him.

The tiny pebble had already been pressed back into the dirt beneath his foot, leaving not the slightest trace.

He had no desire to be a hero. He simply felt that some beautiful things shouldn't be treated so roughly.

Besides, the sensation of subtly changing the course of events gave him a new insight into controlling his own power.

Hinata was panting, but her heart was anything but calm.

Though she had closed her eyes, at the instant Takagi stumbled, the corner of her eye seemed to catch a tiny dark blur moving incredibly fast, and...

Ling Xuan's foot shifting as if by chance.

Had she imagined it? Or...

She quietly lifted her head and looked toward Ling Xuan, who stood some distance away.

The boy still wore his usual impassive expression, quietly watching the others spar as though nothing that had just happened had anything to do with him.

Yet Hinata's heart inexplicably began to beat a little faster.

For the first time, her usually downcast pale eyes held an inexplicable curiosity—and gratitude—toward a boy her own age.

Ling Xuan naturally sensed the furtive gaze falling on him, but he paid it no mind.

To him, it was merely a small interlude on the long road of analysis.

What interested him more was the advanced theory of chakra shape transformation that Toma-sensei had mentioned the previous day: the possibility of initially combining chakra of different natures.

"Fire feeds on the wind, and the wind fans the flames... If I could combine the properties of Phoenix Sage Fire and Wind Cutter, I might create a homing fireball with a cutting edge."

"Or a fiery whirlwind that accelerates on its own and explodes over a wider area..."

Ling Xuan's thoughts had already drifted toward the deeper mysteries of ninjutsu.

After school, Iruka was tidying up his lesson plans as usual when a Konoha messenger ninja walked in.

"Iruka-sensei, the Hokage has summoned you. It concerns a student in your class."

Iruka's heart stirred. He immediately thought of Toma's report and Ling Xuan's extraordinary talent.

"Finally... They've noticed him?" he murmured, his expression turning complicated.

Konoha, the Hokage's office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third known as the Shinobi Hero and the Professor, sat quietly behind a mountain of files.

In his hand was a report that had arrived only a short while ago, co-signed by Toma and Iruka.

Iruka stood respectfully before him.

"Iruka." Hiruzen set down the report, removed the pipe from his mouth, and tapped it lightly. His voice was gentle.

"Toma's report about this child in your class, Ling Xuan, is quite... noteworthy. Do you agree with his assessment?"

Iruka drew a deep breath and answered solemnly.

"Yes, Third. Ever since Ling Xuan enrolled, he's shown far greater talent than his peers, both in his grasp of theoretical knowledge and in his study of basic ninjutsu."

"His learning speed and ability to understand, in particular, sometimes astonish even me. Chunin Toma's instruction in practical techniques seems to have further drawn out this aspect of his potential."

Hiruzen nodded slightly, his gaze profound.

He thought of the prodigies in Konoha's history: Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Itachi...

They, too, had displayed exceptional talent at a young age.

But the Ling Xuan described in this report seemed to possess a talent more rooted in an extraordinary ability to learn and analyze than in pure battle instincts or bloodline powers.

"An orphan with no family background whatsoever, whose performance before enrollment was unremarkable..." Hiruzen mused. "Yet after enrolling, especially once he was exposed to systematic ninja training, he began to shine. Interesting."

He drew on his pipe. Through the curling smoke, his gaze sharpened.

"With a gem like this, the village must give him proper attention, but it mustn't put pressure on him too soon and risk stifling his potential."

"Iruka, you and Chunin Toma should continue teaching him according to the original plan. There's no need to deliberately change anything. I'll have someone observe him further without disrupting his normal life."

Hiruzen made his initial decision. "We need more information to determine the nature of his talent and how it might develop. Until then, only a few of us should know about this. Don't let it spread."

"Yes, Third!" Iruka replied respectfully, relieved to have a weight lifted from his heart.

The Hokage's approach was undoubtedly the safest.

As Iruka left the Hokage's office, a shadow almost impossible to detect flashed across the rafters. It quietly followed him, then finally disappeared in the direction of the Ninja Academy.