A Little Progress

The next day, Hui arrived early at the entrance to the dango shop. Naruto and Rock Lee had gone for their morning run, and she hadn't asked Naruto to come along. The shop wasn't open yet, so she crouched outside and waited.

To her surprise, Itachi arrived not long afterward.

"Big Brother Itachi!" Hui ran over excitedly, as if she'd seen her savior.

Itachi gave a faint nod. "What did you want to ask me?" He got straight to the point.

Hui didn't waste time either. "Big Brother Itachi, I wanted to ask if I can practice the Three Body Technique now."

"I've memorized the order of the Hand Seals, but I can't gather chakra."

"In theory, you can," Itachi replied. "But it depends on the individual. It's not that you can't gather chakra; you've simply accumulated too little of it so far."

He glanced at Hui's frail frame and continued, "First, focus on nourishing your body. Don't rush. After you form the Hand Seals, carefully sense the cells throughout your body and draw them together. Then just keep practicing."

Hui didn't understand everything he said, but she committed it to memory anyway.

Itachi demonstrated once more. Hui watched in amazement as she saw the pale blue chakra all around them. Perhaps Itachi had let his chakra show so she could sense it.

Seeing that Hui had understood quite a bit, Itachi said, "You can practice on your own for now. I'll help you again next week." He didn't have much time.

Hui nodded and smiled happily. "Mm, I understand. Thank you, Big Brother Itachi."

"Mm." Itachi left as soon as he'd spoken, hurrying off.

Their conversation hadn't lasted more than ten minutes. Hui watched Itachi's retreating figure and smiled helplessly.

He was clearly so busy, yet he'd still come to help her. He really was so kind...

After practicing for so long, with Itachi's help and explanations, Hui finally found that she could sense the flow of chakra.

Later, to make things easier, Itachi would arrange a time to meet her in advance. He even took her to the Uchiha Clan grounds for the first time.

The first person she saw was Uchiha Mikoto, smiling warmly. She was truly beautiful, gentle, and kind.

Hui stared at her, recalling how Mikoto had saved her last time. Her gratitude and affection grew even stronger, and she felt very close to Mikoto.

And when she ate the breakfast Mikoto had prepared for her, she was so blissfully happy that she forgot all about going back to Naruto.

By the time she met Sasuke, she had somehow started praising Mikoto all the time.

"Aunt Mikoto, you're so beautiful and gentle. You must be incredibly happy to have you as your mother!"

"Aunt Mikoto, you're an angel—the most beautiful angel there is!"

Mikoto gave a shy smile, while Sasuke stood nearby with a look of disdain. But his gaze toward his mother was full of warmth.

"Aunt Mikoto, your cooking is amazing! Could you teach me?"

Sasuke would regularly complain, "Stop making excuses to freeload at my house!"

"Aunt Mikoto, I bought this hair clip for you. It's for the most beautiful person in the world."

Hui was very poor, but for some reason, she really liked Aunt Mikoto. And Mikoto was always so kind to her.

But every time she went back and saw the resentful look in Naruto's eyes, Hui could only grin sheepishly at him and try to comfort him. Then she'd pay out of her own pocket to treat Naruto to ramen while she watched from the side.

Today, Naruto gave her another resentful stare all the way to the ramen shop. He was happily eating on his own, and Hui couldn't be bothered to argue with him. She thought over Naruto's current situation for a moment.

Then she asked, "Naruto, who has more stamina, you or Rock Lee? If you fought, who would win more often? And have you been practicing Taijutsu? I mean that scroll I gave you last time."

At the sound of her voice, Naruto obediently stopped eating. "Well... it's... Oh, I mean, I'm really strong. I'm going to get even stronger soon!"

He started off hesitantly, but by the end, he was shouting as if saying it aloud would make it come true. He even startled Hui.

At that blatant attempt to jinx himself, Hui chopped him on the head with the edge of her hand and sighed helplessly. Naruto rubbed his head and looked at her innocently. Hui pursed her lips and pretended not to notice.

Naruto turned his attention back to the ramen. He glanced at Hui, saw that she was still ignoring him, then sneaked up his chopsticks and continued eating. He was being so careful that he seemed like a completely different person.

Hui thought for a moment. She only got to see Itachi a few times a week and learn whatever she could from him. Naruto and Rock Lee still trained their stamina every day, so she figured she should go check on them. "I'll go with you tomorrow."

Naruto's whole body jolted. For the past few weeks, Hui had trained alone. They'd agreed to compete a month later, so they hadn't trained together, but they'd secretly been trying to outdo each other.

The two boys had been doing their best to build up their stamina and learn the simple Taijutsu in the scroll, but they felt like they couldn't quite get the hang of it.

Hearing Hui's words, which sounded almost like an admission of defeat, Naruto felt incredibly proud. He beamed at her, only for Hui to smack him on the head again.

"I'm going to see how your training is coming along," Hui said, then turned and left the ramen shop.

Naruto wolfed down the rest of his food and happily ran after Hui. "I really am strong!" he said.

Hui glanced at him and chuckled. "All right. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress."

Hui rejoined Naruto and Rock Lee in their training. Both boys still had incredible stamina, something she could only envy. Watching them so lively and full of passion, she suddenly thought that being a dummy wasn't so bad after all.

Their sparring was getting more and more exciting. Hui felt she'd fallen far behind, but Itachi kept telling her not to rush. The only thing she had even a slight advantage in now was shuriken, though they were so expensive that she'd only bought three to practice with.

Rock Lee and Naruto had both wanted to try, and Hui had tried to teach them, but something was always missing. She couldn't pass on what Itachi had taught her, so they decided to focus on Taijutsu first.

Thud! Hui watched Naruto fly through the air after Rock Lee kicked him, slamming hard into a tree.

Hui was too astonished to speak. Rock Lee hurried over to help Naruto up. "Are you okay?"

Naruto clutched his stomach, eyes still squeezed shut in pain. It looked like Rock Lee had hit him pretty hard.

Hui didn't rush over. Instead, she glanced at Rock Lee and smiled faintly. It looked like Rock Lee had managed it first. As expected of a Taijutsu prodigy.

Naruto cracked his eyes open and saw the concern on Rock Lee's face. His resentment over being hit eased a little.

But then he saw Hui standing behind Rock Lee, with a trace of satisfaction on her face. His mood suddenly soured. Clutching his stomach tightly, he shouted, "It hurts so much! I think I'm going to die!"

"Lee, it looks like you did it!" Hui said, ignoring Naruto and turning to Rock Lee.

"Did what?" Lee asked, confused.

"Taijutsu—the kind that truly uses chakra!"

Lee and Naruto both froze for a moment. Then they finally understood what Hui meant and started shouting excitedly. Hui watched them quietly from the side, feeling inexplicably happy.

After that, the three of them sparred with one another. With Lee sharing what he'd learned, they all made some progress, though what they needed most now was time.

Hui was a little frustrated, though, because she hadn't made any progress at all. After a while, she stopped wasting time alongside the two boys and went back to practicing the Three Body Technique on her own. But the day she finally succeeded, she happened to see Sasuke.