The little boys seemed intimidated by Hinata's presence.
But remembering that they were boys and couldn't lose face by showing fear in front of a girl, they immediately began cracking their knuckles.
The result was that Hinata activated her Byakugan and sent their leader flying with a single palm strike.
That display of strength.
Sent all the little brats running.
Wait, she's so cute! Why is she so strong?
"Nice work, Hinata. Your Eight Trigrams Palm has improved." Yemu Hyuga gave her a thumbs-up and praised her.
That frank praise.
Made Hinata Hyuga rub her head, her cheeks flushed and white steam rising from her head as she grew embarrassed.
After all, she had never received even a word of praise from her father.
Under Yemu's casual praise, Hinata's personality was quietly changing.
Without a doubt, her fate had already changed.
She could no longer be the shy, insecure little girl from the original story.
The sight left Qingxue Uchiha a little dumbstruck.
Especially when she saw the white steam rising from Hinata Hyuga's head. She couldn't help thinking that Hinata might really become her rival in the future.
Time flew.
Soon, it was time to start their second year.
At the beginning of the second year, there would be an assessment for the entire grade.
Its purpose was to select talented students for the village to focus its training resources on.
Yemu had always been lucky.
He was in the same year as Konoha's ten young standouts.
Anyone else might have already given up and coasted along.
But Yemu Hyuga was different. He wasn't worried at all, and was even confident he could take on ten of them at once.
Ten might not even be enough. Twenty, at the very least.
"Yemu, it's time to get up. Otherwise, I'll smack you in the face with the frying pan I just used to fry eggs." Qingxue Uchiha's gentle voice echoed beside Yemu Hyuga's ear.
The content of those words, however, made Yemu Hyuga shudder.
"Are you a demon?"
Yemu Hyuga opened his eyes and felt silky strands of hair brushing across his face. In his field of vision, Qingxue Uchiha was straddling him over the covers.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Yemu Hyuga pushed her away without mercy.
Doesn't she know that casually sitting on someone like that gives them nightmares?
"Yemu, we need to hurry up and eat. We have to check in today, and there's the grade assessment too," Hinata Hyuga reminded him softly from the living room.
She felt nervous.
Today would determine whether her year of training had actually paid off.
"Hinata, your strength definitely isn't a problem. Just don't hold back when the time comes." Qingxue Uchiha ate the bread Hinata had pan-fried in butter, her eyes narrowed in satisfaction.
If it weren't for Hinata.
She and Yemu could forget about eating such finely seasoned food.
Yemu Hyuga took it all in and realized that Qingxue seemed to be a closet foodie too.
After eating their fill, Yemu arrived at the Ninja Academy classroom with the two girls flanking him.
Without a doubt.
The moment Yemu Hyuga entered the classroom, he drew hostile looks from plenty of boys.
"Tch."
Sasuke Uchiha sat by the window and pursed his lips as usual. He wasn't particularly envious of Yemu.
At least he still had both his parents.
Yemu Hyuga, on the other hand, had apparently been an orphan when school started.
Serves him right for being so handsome.
"Hello, everyone. A new term has begun. I believe quite a few of you already know what our upcoming lessons will involve?"
"Besides academic classes, starting today, we'll regularly hold no-rules matches and rank you by points based on your performance."
"These rankings will affect your eventual ninja graduation results."
Iruka gave them a brief introduction.
Then he led everyone to the training grounds behind the academy.
"Sensei, I request a match against Yemu Hyuga."
Seeing that he had drawn some nobody he didn't recognize, Sasuke Uchiha raised his hand and asked to switch opponents.
He just wanted to knock Yemu down a peg.
That bastard had actually turned a girl from their Uchiha Clan into his adoring puppy.
As the clan head's son, Sasuke Uchiha simply couldn't accept that.
In fact, half a year earlier.
He had sought out Qingxue Uchiha and demanded to know why, as a member of the proud Uchiha Clan, she would lower herself before someone from the Hyuga Clan.
Wasn't that grinding the Uchiha Clan's pride into the dirt?
Wasn't that indirectly saying the Uchiha Clan was inferior to the Hyuga Clan?
However.
Qingxue Uchiha's answer had consisted of just two words: "Get lost."
That had been particularly hard for a poser like Sasuke Uchiha to stomach.
Fortunately, his parents were still alive, so his personality hadn't become completely extreme yet.
Otherwise, if this had happened after the Clan Annihilation Night.
Sasuke probably would have attacked without another word.
At that point, Sasuke probably would have bitten a passing dog if he didn't like the look of it.
"Yemu Hyuga?"
Iruka looked at the young master of the Uchiha Clan in confusion, not quite understanding what he was thinking.
"Yemu Hyuga, do you have any objections?" Iruka turned to ask Yemu Hyuga, who stood between Hinata and Qingxue.
Anyone with eyes could tell that the relationship between those three wasn't simple.
"Yemu, let me go. I'm the eldest daughter of the Hyuga Clan. I should be the one to fight this battle," Hinata Hyuga asked Yemu beside her.
Without a doubt.
If she really fought Sasuke.
Both of them would carry their respective clans' honor on their shoulders.
Qingxue Uchiha chuckled without saying anything.
Hinata is still too naive.
At a time like this, what boy would let a girl fight for him?
"I think that's fine."
Yet Yemu Hyuga's calm reply left Qingxue dumbfounded on the spot.
Her little mouth fell open, as though she hadn't processed it yet. "Yemu, you... what's going on with you?"
Why isn't Yemu following the script?
Seeing that Qingxue Uchiha didn't seem to understand, Yemu Hyuga spread his hands. "Simple. I can't be bothered to fight."
Besides.
Having Hinata fight Sasuke would make it easier to identify shortcomings in her combat experience.
"You bastard, stop right there!"
When Sasuke Uchiha heard Yemu ducking the fight, he jumped up in agitation.
Fighting a girl wouldn't give him any sense of accomplishment.
Nor would it give him something to brag about to his brother, Uchiha Itachi, afterward.
"Hey, hey, don't get ahead of yourselves. I haven't agreed to let you fight."
"I only wanted to hear your opinions. As for choosing your own opponents, that's out of the question."
Only then did Iruka announce his decision.
???
Sasuke Uchiha looked utterly bewildered.
For some reason, he felt as though he'd been played for a fool, like a clown.
"Why, Iruka-sensei?"
Sasuke Uchiha's eyes widened as he demanded an answer from the depths of his soul.
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