Miss Hinata's Private Lesson

An hour later.

The Hyuga family's guest reception room, usually clean, refreshing, and filled with a delicate fragrance, was now permeated with the scent of grilled skewers.

The original desk in the reception room had been replaced with a dining table at Hinata's arrangement.

It was covered in a variety of skewers.

Crispy grilled meat, salmon, pan-fried river fish, three-colored dango...

Takasaki sat on the solid wood sofa, rubbing his belly as he held a jade teapot of freshly brewed tea and took a large gulp. "I'm so full. Hinata, thank you for your hospitality. If you hadn't reminded me, I would have forgotten that I came here to ask you about the chakra execution methods for the Three Body Technique."

After speaking, Takasaki let out a loud, satisfied burp.

Hinata sat obediently on a cushion to the side, holding her class notes. She was studying the content of the Three Body Technique intently, pondering how to explain its chakra execution principles simply.

After all, Takasaki's bottom-of-the-class grades at Konoha Academy were plain for all to see.

If she didn't explain it simply enough, Takasaki certainly wouldn't understand.

While she pondered, Hinata's gaze drifted from time to time toward the dozen or so skewers remaining on the table, and she swallowed hard, feeling hungry.

People said that the more a girl ate, the worse her image would be.

Throughout the meal, she had only eaten one skewer of meat, and then she had struggled to control herself from eating more.

Otherwise, if her massive appetite were exposed in front of Takasaki, it might very well scare him.

But how could such a gluttonous expression escape Takasaki's eyes? "Say, Hinata, did you really get full from just one skewer of meat? Are you sure you don't need to eat a bit more?"

"My appetite is very small; one skewer of meat was enough to fill my stomach," Hinata said with a blushing face and a gentle smile.

A girl's mouth is a deceptive ghost.

Knowing the plot, Takasaki naturally knew just how large Hinata's appetite really was.

Perhaps she was afraid of losing her composure in front of him; since Hinata didn't want to eat, Takasaki certainly wouldn't say anything more. Besides, he hadn't spent a single coin on this meal.

Getting a free meal was an entirely unexpected bonus.

What he cared about more was the execution principle of the Three Body Technique's chakra.

"The Three Body Technique is divided into the Substitution Technique, Transformation Technique, and Clone Technique. The hand seals and the chakra circulation points are all different, and even the differences in chakra flow speed can affect the efficiency of the technique..."

Hinata explained with great dedication, her long eyelashes fluttering as she focused.

When he heard that he could improve the efficiency of the technique, Takasaki listened with extra care.

He silently attempted to mobilize the chakra in his body according to Hinata's explanation.

During the explanation, Hinata seemed so afraid that Takasaki wouldn't understand that she would look up from time to time to ask, "Can you understand if I explain it this way?"

Yet, every time she met Takasaki's earnest gaze, Hinata couldn't help but blush, quickly lowering her head, pausing for a second, and then continuing her explanation.

Seeing Hinata's shy appearance, Takasaki's first reaction was that this trip was truly worth it.

A young lady from a local noble family, pure and cute, was not only teaching him personally but also providing a luxurious venue and even paying out of her own pocket to treat him to a feast.

Was this not the perfect experience of a private tutor?

The key was that the other party was also an easily embarrassed teenage girl.

Even if Takasaki hadn't learned a single thing from this lesson, just having this experience would have been worth it.

But had he really learned nothing?

If he hadn't awakened the system and hadn't received the reward from the Diary, given Takasaki's previous comprehension, he might have just been here for the experience.

After all, his talent was what it was.

Even the teachers at Konoha Academy, after six years of patient instruction, couldn't get Takasaki to have a breakthrough, so it was even less likely for Hinata.

But the current Takasaki had already mastered the Three Body Technique; he just wanted to reduce the chakra consumption when performing it so he could grind the ninjutsu levels faster.

Therefore, he understood Hinata's teaching content instantly.

Sure enough.

Just as Hinata finished explaining the direction and rate of chakra flow through the various acupoints in the body for the Clone Technique, Takasaki felt a sense of clarity.

He tried to mobilize the chakra in his body according to the method Hinata had described.

It worked!

Even without directly performing the Clone Technique, Takasaki knew it had an effect!

The chakra usage efficiency had indeed improved!

Because he summoned the control panel that only he could see through his mind and checked the attributes of the Clone Technique, he was delighted to find a change!

It was originally [Clone Technique (3 points of chakra)].

Now it was [Clone Technique (2 points of chakra)].

In other words, the chakra consumption of the Clone Technique had been reduced by one-third!

The time he would spend grinding the level of the Clone Technique in the future would surely be reduced significantly.

The shy, underage tutor before him was truly his treasure.

At this moment, as Takasaki inspected his control panel, his unfocused gaze and the slight curve of his lips caught Hinata's attention, causing her to stop her explanation and sigh with a touch of helplessness.

As the young lady of the Hyuga Clan, influenced from childhood by the words and deeds of her elders, she subconsciously wanted to do everything well and treated every task with earnest responsibility.

Even though she taught Takasaki with the selfish desire to have him write her name in his Diary a few more times, she still sincerely hoped that her instruction would be effective and help him graduate from Konoha Academy.

Having attended Konoha Academy for six years, she naturally understood the state Takasaki was in right now.

He wasn't listening to her explanation; he was daydreaming.

This was how the underachievers in class always acted during lessons.

Especially Takasaki and Naruto; she had lost count of how many times they had been pelted in the head with chalk by their teachers for zoning out during class.

Things couldn't go on like this; the final exam was this coming Monday.

"Takasaki, were you zoning out again?" Hinata reminded him.

Takasaki snapped back to reality, closed his control panel, and smiled. "I drifted off for a moment, but it's fine. Please, continue."

He's really thick-skinned to just admit it like that... Hinata silently grumbled to herself.

It had to be said, the way Takasaki smiled, with the corners of his mouth curved just right, was incredibly handsome.

The problem was that to successfully graduate from the Ninja Academy and become a ninja, a handsome smile wasn't enough; one needed the real skills taught at school.

Since Takasaki had come to her, she couldn't bear to just brush him off, so she earnestly reminded him, "Takasaki-kun, please don't lose focus again. The graduation exam on Monday determines whether you can receive your Konoha Headband and become a proud ninja."

In other words: Takasaki-kun, you wouldn't want to fail your graduation exam, would you?

Takasaki could, of course, tell Hinata the truth—that he had already mastered the Three Body Technique.

But would he say it?

Certainly not.

Once he revealed that, it would mean the end of Hinata's private tutoring sessions.

He could marry Hinata in the future and have her give him private lessons every day, but the future was not the present.

The feeling of Hinata giving him private lessons as a wife would be completely different from her giving them now as an underage student.

After all, Hinata was still just a young girl right now, and he was thoroughly enjoying it. "Sorry, I promise I won't zone out again."

He added, "Even if it's just for your sake, I will work hard to master the Three Body Technique so that I can graduate from the Ninja Academy with you and become a qualified ninja at the same time."

As expected.

Takasaki's deliberately teasing words, falling into the ears of this innocent young lady who knew nothing of the world, achieved the exact result he wanted to see.

Hinata was shy again.

Her eyelashes fluttered slightly.

Takasaki was going to work hard for her sake.

Hearing something like that felt truly special.

Like a green apple instantly ripening into a red one, Hinata's cheeks flushed a deep, uncontrollable crimson.