Hinata, Stop Pretending

So after hesitating for a moment, she finally spoke weakly. "Please don't misunderstand. It's actually because I don't have any spare time at home to prepare a bento, and I eat a little more than usual, so..."

Hinata silently praised herself. Nothing wrong with that sentence. Just a little more—but exactly how much was "a little more" would have to be recalculated.

Ino Yamanaka raised her head. "What?! You had me looking forward to it for so long!" The rest of the rookies immediately returned to their usual selves as well.

Shikamaru quietly pondered, Looks like I need to be more careful when considering things sometimes. I can't keep placing boundaries on everyone that don't belong to their age.

Watching the rookies leave one by one, Hinata blinked innocently. So that was enough? She had thought she would have to put on another tragic performance.

But what was with you, Ino Yamanaka? What exactly had you been expecting? Had you even prepared popcorn?

The silent noon slipped away quietly. Just before class began, Sasuke entered the classroom, still wearing that cold, aloof expression and looking straight ahead. Sakura and Ino immediately revealed the true nature of fangirls.

The moment they opened their mouths, they began fussing over Sasuke. Sasuke remained proud and arrogant, and the corner of his lips seemed to curve slightly—though perhaps it did not.

Seeing this, Hinata thought, In my previous life, people online joked that the strongest ninjutsu in the Naruto world was Naruto's Talk no Jutsu, while the second strongest was Sasuke's Pretense no Jutsu.

And now, it seemed Naruto's Talk no Jutsu had not yet been mastered, while Sasuke's Pretense no Jutsu had already achieved considerable success.

Of course, that was not all Hinata noticed. Perhaps because she possessed the Byakugan, even though it was not activated at the moment, she still discovered things others had missed.

Sasuke's breathing was somewhat uneven. There were still traces of sweat on his body that had not dried, and his hair was slightly disheveled. That showed Sasuke had definitely not wasted his noon idling around.

The afternoon arrived quickly. Not long after class began, Mizuki entered the classroom, with white hair, a gentle smile, and the look of a warm, considerate man.

If Hinata had not watched the Naruto anime in her previous life, she naturally would not have felt any disgust upon seeing Mizuki.

But how should she put it? Hinata's impression of this character was fairly ordinary. Some might say Mizuki was this or that—smiling while hiding a blade, or Orochimaru's lackey.

But if one thought about it carefully, someone like Mizuki could actually be considered one of this world's tragedies.

As a civilian ninja, he possessed an ambitious heart. Though he surely had experience killing comrades during missions, that stemmed from Konoha's own distorted teachings.

Should one abandon a mission for the sake of one's comrades, or abandon one's comrades for the sake of a mission? In such circumstances, if one did not impose the detached perspective of an observer or the mindset of modern society onto this world, one would discover that the boundary between right and wrong had long since disappeared.

Hinata's judgment might not necessarily be accurate. Perhaps Mizuki really was the kind of person guilty of every evil.

Therefore, Hinata's attitude toward Mizuki was that of a smiling passerby. His life had nothing to do with her, his death had nothing to do with her, his goodness had nothing to do with her, and neither did his evil.

After Mizuki entered the classroom, some of the girls revealed infatuated looks and shouted, "Mizuki-sensei!"

Setting aside her earlier thoughts, Hinata evaluated him internally as though she were watching a new movie: Warm, considerate men really do seem popular.

Mizuki said with a refined smile, "All right, students. This afternoon's training course will be practiced together under my supervision!"

"Now, everyone check your ninja tool pouches. If there are no problems, gather at the school training grounds."

All the students immediately replied together, "Understood, Mizuki-sensei!"

Mizuki then left the classroom first. Over the next few minutes, all the students gradually filed out after him.

It was called the school training grounds, but honestly, although Hinata had known about it, seeing it with her own eyes was still rather disappointing.

Other than a few extra targets, presumably for practicing the throwing of bladed tools, the entire training ground only had several tracks. It looked somewhat shabby.

The group of students gathered once more at the training grounds and listened to Mizuki's instruction. Other than a few familiar precautions, there seemed to be little else.

Then they warmed up by running, followed by practicing bladed-tool throwing. The final activity was practical combat training, with students paired off to fight, and in order to prevent accidents.