Passing the Assessment

"The girl's body in the mirror is exquisite and well-proportioned, with skin like snow. Although her buttocks aren't particularly perky, her chest is quite spectacular, which makes up for the lack," Hyuga Natsu thought, mesmerized by her own reflection, and smiled with renewed confidence.

"Hmmph, don't be angry. It's just being assigned to the same squad; Dongyi-gege must be mine," Hyuga Natsu said to her reflection, clenching her fists.

Yesterday, when she saw Hyuga Gen and his two companions eating together, Hyuga Natsu didn't disturb them; she had already guessed that the other two were likely his teammates.

After all, many people went out to eat together after the team assignments yesterday. She had been dining with Yu Zhihui and her friends, and she had spotted Hyuga Gen when they were leaving.

It was only because Hyuga Natsu had sharp eyes that she noticed them; even Zhihui hadn't seen Hyuga Gen's group eating hot pot in the main hall, as it had been quite crowded at the time.

Seeing Hyuga Gen's trio conducting their running assessment on the training ground today, Hyuga Natsu was now certain they were teammates.

Seeing Uchiha Izumi in the same squad as her Dongyi-gege made Hyuga Natsu feel uncomfortable. She didn't know why she harbored such hostility toward Uchiha Izumi—could it be a woman's intuition?

"Forget it, time to sleep. I'll go see Dongyi-gege tomorrow," Hyuga Natsu decided in her heart.

Although she had confidence in Hyuga Gen and felt the assessment would be a piece of cake for him, she was, after all, the person who understood his strength best.

On the other side, Hyuga Gen had finished his bath and was lying in bed. Thinking back on today's assessment, everything had gone much as he expected, and the three of them had passed in the end.

Before twelve o'clock, he and Uchiha Izumi had completed the task as scheduled, which naturally earned them two lunches. They then each gave half of their food to Tōyama.

In the afternoon, Hyuga Gen had followed Tōyama the entire time, constantly cheering him on. He had expected Might Guy to announce that they had passed once he shared his food with Tōyama, but Guy said nothing and just told them to keep running.

Without further instructions from Might Guy, the three of them just kept running. Eventually, Tōyama couldn't run anymore, so Hyuga Gen had to drag him along.

Watching this, Might Guy felt his previous assessment of Hyuga Gen had been slightly inaccurate. What was this, if not youth—this display of effort and dedication while carrying a teammate?

In the end, they didn't finish the eighty thousand meters; Might Guy called a halt when he saw it had grown dark. In truth, he had already accepted them when they shared their food with Tōyama, but he wanted to test their perseverance.

The result exceeded his expectations; he hadn't thought they could persist together for so long, and he couldn't help but look at the three of them with new eyes. Especially the stamina of Hyuga Gen and Uchiha Izumi, which far exceeded that of average genin.

"Tired. It's good that we can rest for a day tomorrow." Having run almost all day, and even dragging Tōyama at the end, Hyuga Gen was nearing his limit, despite his good stamina.

It was fortunate they had a day off; if they had to start missions tomorrow, Hyuga Gen felt he might not be able to stop himself from cursing Might Guy's ancestors.

As for the missions starting the day after tomorrow, he assumed they would just be D-rank tasks like finding cats or dogs, or drawing water and weeding, mainly to familiarize them with the mission process.

Hyuga Gen was a bit curious. From Shippuden, it was clear that the first mission was basically finding a cat or a dog. He wondered why Konoha had so many such requests.

"Forget it, that's not important. I've become a genin, and Xia is going to the Main House to look after Hanabi, so there isn't much danger. I wonder how Yu Zhihui is doing? I'll ask Xia tomorrow," Hyuga Gen thought.

He didn't know what to say about Yu Zhihui. He felt it wasn't good for a girl to be a ninja, fighting and killing; helping her mother with the business would be fine.

However, she seemed determined to become a ninja, hoping to become stronger and become a powerful shinobi because she wanted to protect her mother.

From the first time he met her, when she used her small body to shield her mother, Hyuga Gen had admired her.

He imagined she must feel guilty about her helplessness back then, which was why she was so fixated on becoming stronger; perhaps that was when she decided to become a powerful ninja.

But as a ninja, Hyuga Gen didn't see many advantages in her; she was just one of the ordinary masses. He felt she wasn't well-suited for the life.

Although her genjutsu was decent, it was very difficult to achieve high levels of success in that field. Take Yuhi Kurenai, for example—she only became a jonin at twenty-six, and she had the backing of a clan legacy.

Yuhi Kurenai's father, Yuhi Shinku, had extremely powerful genjutsu that almost no one could break. The Yuhi clan possessed red eyes; while it wasn't explicitly stated to be a Kekkei Genkai, it could be inferred that they were a massive boon to casting genjutsu.

Yu Zhihui, however, was just an ordinary person; it was too hard for her to achieve anything. Those who succeeded in genjutsu undoubtedly relied on their bloodline, like the Uchiha clan's Sharingan.

There was also the Kurama clan, known for having the strongest genjutsu in Konoha, who also possessed a unique Kekkei Genkai. However, they seemed to have declined due to a bloodline disease, much like Kimimaro.

Hyuga Gen had never believed in the saying that "hard work leads to success." Without talent, ninety-nine percent of the sweat was useless, and one would remain mediocre in the end.

Even Might Guy had inherited the Eight Inner Gates from his father. He had talent in taijutsu, and in Konoha, he was one of a kind.

Therefore, in Hyuga Gen's view, she would end up as just an ordinary ninja. She would eventually be left far behind by Hyuga Natsu—no, she was already being left behind.

Although Hyuga Natsu's talent wasn't top-tier, she at least had the Byakugan, and with Hyuga Gen's careful guidance, it wouldn't be hard for her to become a jonin.

Hyuga Gen couldn't help Yu Zhihui much; after all, she wasn't of the Hyuga clan, and he couldn't teach her most of the things he could teach Xia.

Come to think of it, Hyuga Gen had taught Yu Zhihui some things before, specifically exercises for chakra control, but he didn't know how that was going.

Good chakra control allowed one to exert the greatest effect with the minimum amount of chakra. If one lacked sufficient chakra and couldn't control it, it was easy to die from running out of energy.

Of course, Hyuga Gen couldn't say much. After all, her wanting to become a powerful ninja was her own business. He couldn't force her not to be one; that clearly wasn't realistic.

He was still worried about her. Because her strength wasn't great, he feared she might die on a mission. He didn't want to see this quiet, strong, and beautiful girl meet an untimely end.

If that happened, Xia would be sad, and her mother... that was even harder to say.

After all, Hyuga Gen was currently relying entirely on Yu Zhihui's mother, Shuishu Ling, to make money. If Yu Zhihui died, the impact on her and himself could be imagined.

"Forget it, don't think about it. Thinking so much is useless. I'll go find Xia tomorrow and ask. Time to sleep." With that, Hyuga Gen slowly drifted into dreamland.