Genin Hinata

At five in the afternoon, Tianyun Hyuga arrived at Konoha's barbecue restaurant just in time for dinner. As soon as he entered, he spotted Daishi Akimichi's older brother, Oohiko Akimichi, eating inside and dashed over in a few quick strides to sit beside him.

Oohiko Akimichi had shared several meals with Daishi Akimichi before, and Tianyun Hyuga had gotten to know him by tagging along to mooch off Daishi. Now that he had run into Oohiko again, naturally, he had to go over and cadge another meal.

Oohiko Akimichi was already a Genin. He had just finished a mission and brought his teammates over for dinner. Tianyun Hyuga's sudden appearance left him rather speechless; they really were not all that close.

Still, Tianyun Hyuga was famous, so of course Oohiko Akimichi knew who he was. Besides, Tianyun was his younger brother's classmate. If he drove Tianyun away, who knew how Tianyun might torment Daishi Akimichi at school? All he could do was grudgingly let Tianyun sit down and eat.

Daishi Akimichi's two teammates were, naturally, from the Yamanaka Clan and the Nara Clan. They both knew Tianyun Hyuga too, though neither was as familiar with him as Oohiko Akimichi was.

When they saw Tianyun Hyuga sidle over, they recalled the stories of his stinginess and immediately knew he had come to mooch a meal. They pursed their lips in speechless resignation and simply ignored him.

Tianyun Hyuga did not have much of an appetite anyway, so he could hardly eat that much. Oohiko Akimichi alone could eat as much as twenty Tianyuns. Besides, their clan elders had warned them not to provoke Tianyun, so they did not mind the little money his meal would cost.

Tianyun Hyuga paid no attention to the looks the three gave him. After wolfing down twenty pieces of grilled meat and drinking a large glass of juice, he patted his belly contentedly and said to Oohiko Akimichi beside him, "Thanks for the meal! I've already graduated, and I'll be a Genin in a couple of days. If you come here tomorrow, I'll treat you!"

Of course, Oohiko Akimichi knew that Tianyun Hyuga never paid when he offered to treat someone. At the offer, he hurriedly said, "No, no, no. We have another mission tomorrow, so we won't be coming back to the village..."

Tianyun Hyuga raised an eyebrow. "What a shame! I hardly ever treat anyone, and you're going to miss out..."

Oohiko Akimichi inwardly cursed Tianyun Hyuga for his shamelessness, but aloud he said, "There's nothing we can do. We can't delay our mission... I..."

Before Oohiko Akimichi could finish, Akio Nara, who sat across from him, suddenly asked, "Little Tianyun, did you just say you're about to graduate and become a Genin? Didn't you only just turn six?"

Tianyun Hyuga curled his lip. "It's all because the Third Old Man forced me to graduate. I wanted to stay in school for a few more years..."

"Uh..." Taken aback by Tianyun Hyuga's somewhat disrespectful attitude toward the Third Hokage, Akio Nara paused, then put it aside and returned to the point. "Congratulations on becoming a Genin, Tianyun. I wonder if we'll get a chance to work together someday. I'm actually rather looking forward to it..."

"You want to work with me?" Tianyun Hyuga gave Akio Nara a surprised look, then shook his head. "No. I don't work with poor people. Come back when you've got a hundred million in savings!"

Akio Nara was utterly speechless. He realized that talking to Tianyun Hyuga had been a mistake. Though he was still impressed that Tianyun could graduate at six, he shut his mouth and said no more.

With no one speaking and Oohiko Akimichi and the others returning to their grilled meat, Tianyun Hyuga grew bored, stood up, and headed out of the restaurant.

Tianyun Hyuga still had to go back and train that deadweight, Hinata Hyuga, at six. He planned to lie down for a while before teaching her.

Speaking of Hinata Hyuga, Tianyun Hyuga had made quite a bit of money off her too. Every time she brought pocket money, he took it all. That was also why he had kept teaching her.

Of course, although he called it making money off Hinata Hyuga, he was really making money off Hyuga Hiashi. Otherwise, Hinata could not possibly have carried fifty thousand with her every day. It was clearly the teaching fee Hiashi was paying him.

Since he had accepted the money, Tianyun Hyuga could hardly let Hinata Hyuga keep stumbling along without improving. He secretly used the money he had gotten from her to strengthen her body once, while also enhancing some of her Hyuga Clan Ninjutsu.

As Hinata Hyuga grew stronger, Hyuga Hiashi was naturally even happier to have Tianyun Hyuga teach her. He even sent Tianyun extra money from time to time as a token of his heartfelt gratitude.

It was five forty when he returned to the Mansion. Hinata Hyuga always arrived promptly at six, so he simply rested beneath a large tree in the open grounds, waiting for her to come and train.

Twenty minutes later, Hinata Hyuga entered Tianyun Hyuga's Mansion. From far away, she spotted him lying asleep on a wooden chair.

To be honest, Hinata Hyuga both admired and disliked Tianyun Hyuga.

She admired him because she knew he was younger than her, yet incredibly strong. She even thought the guard who escorted her there every day might not be able to beat him, which made her admire him greatly.

Her reasons for disliking him were rather more numerous. First, Tianyun Hyuga was always asking her for money. If she refused, he would act listless and would not teach her at all, claiming he had a headache and telling her to train on her own. But from his expression and attitude, even a fool could tell he was pretending.

Second, Tianyun Hyuga did not put much effort into teaching her. He generally made her train on her own while sitting to one side, offering a couple of pointers on what she should do. Sometimes he even sat motionless in his chair, as though he had fallen asleep.

Third, Hinata Hyuga felt that Tianyun Hyuga was nothing like a child. He lacked a child's liveliness and charm, and she did not get along with him at all. He was also always lecturing her in an adult's tone, which left her feeling deeply wronged.

Those were Hinata Hyuga's three reasons for disliking Tianyun Hyuga, but none could outweigh the fact that she really was getting stronger. She felt she already had the strength of a Genin. So, although she disliked him, she had no choice but to obey her father and continue training with him.

Deep down, however, Hinata Hyuga was thoroughly puzzled. She felt as though Tianyun Hyuga had never really taught her anything, yet her strength would improve every so often. It left her baffled, with no idea what was going on.