Takasaki, Don't Get Distracted

After realizing she had lost her composure, Hinata quickly lowered her head.

She couldn't bring herself to dwell on Takasaki getting distracted just moments ago. Keeping her eyes fixed on her class notes, she continued explaining.

Only after she finished explaining the chakra points involved in the flow of chakra during the Substitution Technique, as well as its direction and speed, did Hinata feel her cheeks cool down.

Had the redness on her face faded by now?

Only then did Hinata lift her head to see whether Takasaki had gotten distracted.

But the scene before her made her freeze in surprise. "Huh?"

Just like before, Takasaki was staring blankly into space.

Distracted again!

This man, who was a flirt to the core, had clearly promised her he would listen carefully. It had only been a few minutes!

What's more, as Takasaki sat there distracted, she had no idea what he was thinking about, but the corners of his mouth were curled into a smile.

Remembering what she had seen in Takasaki's Diary, Hinata couldn't help wondering if he was imagining marrying her and the other girls and bringing them all home as his wives.

It was infuriating, and frustrating too. Couldn't Takasaki just pay attention?

As Hinata sighed helplessly, an idea suddenly popped into her mind.

What if she hurried through the rest of the explanation and simply half-assed it? That would make things easier for her, and Takasaki would probably write her into his Diary too.

With Takasaki's grades and how often he got distracted, he wouldn't even notice if she skimped on the explanation.

Like a teacher who had no choice but to give up on a student who had thrown in the towel, Hinata found herself entertaining a similar thought.

In short, she wanted to give up.

If she were Sakura Haruno, from a civilian family, she might have just swallowed her anger and given up. If she couldn't hold it in, she'd beat Takasaki up first and worry about the rest later.

But the moment that thought crossed Hinata's mind, she forced it back down.

Then a powerful sense of responsibility welled up inside her.

It was the sense of responsibility she had gradually absorbed from the words and actions of her elders as the eldest daughter of the Hyuga Clan.

If she was going to do something, she should do it properly.

If she was going to help Takasaki, she had to do her best to see it through.

If she couldn't even handle this, how would she deal with the other responsibilities of the clan when she grew up?

Hinata straightened up, shifted her knees a few times, and moved in front of Takasaki. She reached out and lightly poked the back of his hand. "Takasaki, pay attention."

At that moment, Takasaki was looking at the Control Panel in front of him, watching the familiar entry for the Clone Technique change.

It had originally read: [Level 1 Substitution Technique (6 chakra)]

Now it read: [Level 1 Substitution Technique (4 chakra)]

Sure enough, after Hinata's explanation and his subsequent understanding, the result had immediately appeared in the technique's entry.

The chakra cost had also dropped by a third!

This meant that in the future, he could use his own understanding to reduce the chakra cost of the ninjutsu rewarded by the system, too.

How could such a delightful discovery not bring a smile to Takasaki's lips?

So engrossed had he been in the Control Panel that by the time he came to his senses, Hinata was already kneeling in front of him, staring at him with a flushed face. Without saying a word, she kept poking the back of his hand with her finger.

Her pale eyes held both annoyance and hurt.

"Hinata-sensei, why are you poking me?" Takasaki asked curiously.

Hinata's finger didn't hurt his hand at all.

She was barely using any force, and the soft, fleshy tip of her finger actually felt quite pleasant against his skin.

"I..."

It was the first time anyone had called Hinata a teacher, and she instinctively felt a little shy.

For now, she couldn't be bothered to correct Takasaki's form of address. She reached out and poked the back of his hand again, doing her best to keep a straight face as she huffed, "I'm hitting you! You're a bad student who gets distracted in class and doesn't listen! You promised me you wouldn't get distracted."

Oh?

Hinata was usually gentle and had never gotten angry before. Seeing her deliberately act angry struck Takasaki as rather cute.

Takasaki understood.

So he was being hit.

He must have looked distracted to Hinata while he was checking the Control Panel, which was why she was hitting him to teach him a lesson.

To Takasaki, though, being hit this lightly felt more like a reward.

It was like a naive little kitten poking the back of his hand again and again with the soft pads of its paws. Who wouldn't enjoy that?

It would probably feel even better if she poked his face.

"Takasaki, I'm going to explain the Substitution Technique now. If you get distracted again, I won't go easy on you!"

Hinata was still deliberately putting on a fierce expression as she warned him, "Remember, the final exam is on Monday. If you get distracted again, I'll poke you in the face! It'd be so embarrassing if someone saw!"

Poke his face?

That was an option too?

Great! Great!

"I promise I won't get distracted again," Takasaki assured her.

He'd do it again next time!

Only after getting Takasaki's promise did Hinata feel reassured. Then, as if she had suddenly remembered something, she looked back at the clock on the wall.

It was time for her to spar with Neji today.

Neji was already unhappy with her most of the time. If she didn't show up on time, he would surely blame her.

The problem was, she hadn't finished explaining the Three Body Technique to Takasaki.

Forget it!

Hinata decided she would put off sparring with Neji for a while.

After all, if Takasaki learned the Three Body Technique from her, graduated from the Ninja Academy, and wrote about it in his Diary, she would surely receive a substantial reward and grow stronger.

From the perspective of the clan, her becoming stronger would benefit the entire Hyuga Clan.

Neji would understand, wouldn't he?

Meanwhile.

In the Hyuga Clan's Training Room, Neji stood in long sleeves and trousers, a bandage tied around his forehead to hide the Caged Bird Curse Seal. He glanced up at the clock on the wall, his expression displeased. "She's fifteen minutes late. What on earth is Hinata doing?"

Thinking of how his father, Hizashi Hyuga, had died saving Hinata, and how he himself—despite being more talented than her—could only serve as her sparring partner, Neji felt the resentment in his heart grow even stronger.

But there was nothing he could do.

From the moment he was born into the branch family and branded with the Caged Bird Curse Seal, his fate had already been decided.

His experiences growing up had taught him that if he ever resisted, the seal on his forehead would make him suffer unbearable pain.

Whenever he sparred with Hinata and saw that, despite becoming weaker than him, she would still inherit the Hyuga Clan one day, Neji couldn't help but rage inside at the unfairness of fate.

But the Caged Bird Curse Seal couldn't be removed, and so fate couldn't be resisted.

No matter how much resentment Neji harbored, he could only accept it bitterly.

Still, Hinata's tardiness today surprised him. She had always been punctual before.

"Could something have happened to Hinata?"