After twenty minutes of soul-crushing mortification, Ren calmed down enough to be capable of looking at Hinata again without feeling an overpowering need to divert his gaze.

Still with pink dusting covering his cheeks, but fully committed to ignoring that fact, Ren motioned Hinata over. He didn’t feel very enthusiastic about the upcoming discussion, but it was better to get it over with rather than put it off. Ino wouldn’t be slowing down in her training anytime soon, and if Hinata wanted to keep her lead or even just keep up with the blonde, there were certain revelations she needed to know and decisions she had to make.

Hinata approached Ren until she stood opposite him. They awkwardly looked at each other in silence for a few seconds… but then Ren suddenly regained his wits and wryly smiled.

“Wanna… talk about it?” He asked, deciding he should at least try to clean the air before they start talking about the serious stuff.

Hinata shuffled a bit in her place while subconsciously brushing a few strands of her hair behind her ear while her eyes roamed around as if she were not sure what would be the safe place to look at.

“I’d rather not discuss your erection, sensei.” She timidly said.

Hearing her, Ren’s expression twitched, “That’s not what I meant.” He exasperatedly retorted in an almost whiny tone.

“Oh.” Hinata’s eyes widened, causing her to look like a deer in headlights. “Uh. Er…” She had no idea what to say. She had clearly misunderstood… so, due to her embarrassment, her mouth said the very first thing that came to her mind when she thought about salvaging the situation, “You have a nice penis?”

And she instantly regretted it the second these words left her lips. For the first time in months, Hinata felt so embarrassed that she was on the verge of fainting.

“Why, thank you. I try.” Ren flatly responded before sighing, “Just… let’s put this incident behind us, alright?”

Hinata meekly nodded, ducking her head but a small smile appeared on her face and despite blushing enough that Ren was surprised there was no steam coming out of her head, Hinata quietly but cheekily replied, “No promises.” while her eyes flickered toward Ren’s crotch just for the briefest of moments.

Realizing the girl was awkwardly trying to tease him, Ren chuckled and the tension between them melted away as they both finally relaxed.

“Let’s get to talking about your training, shall we?” Ren sat down on the grass and beckoned Hinata to follow him. She nodded in agreement and when they were both seated, Ren decided to rip the band-aid right off. Looking Hinata straight in the eyes, he tried to convey how serious he was, “I don’t think you are suited for ninjutsu.”

He expected an angry reaction from the girl but he should have known better. Hinata was always a calm person. She only tilted her head and the only indication of her displeasure was her eyebrows almost knitted together as she frowned.

“Didn’t you always tell me that the Hyuga clan is stupid for not focusing on ninjutsu, though? At least three times a week? Something, something about our eyes making us a natural cheat at learning and perfecting it?” She asked in a deceptively calm voice but Ren realized he misjudged her.

She wasn’t showing it but she was definitely not very happy hearing that.

Inwardly wincing, Ren outwardly just casually shrugged, “And I stand by it. But the question is if you want to keep up with Ino or your aim is to be a regular jo-.”

Before Ren was even done speaking, Hinata exclaimed in an affronted voice, “Of course! I can’t let the bimbo win!” Her expression screaming, ‘Duh, isn’t it obvious!?’

Ren chuffed but it soon enough turned into a sigh. He knew what he had to say next would not be received well. Hell, he had a hard time believing he was going to say it. And yet, here they were.

“I feel like an idiot saying this but… taijutsu is going to be your thing.”

“Taijutsu?” Hinata flatly asked, the barest touch of disbelief coloring her tone. Her face became completely unreadably blank and Ren was just glad that if nothing else, her clan training instilled a great emotional control in the girl because when she started emulating her father, it was obvious the shit hit the fan.

He was just glad there was no rock near her because she would have most likely hurled it at him by now. And it would have been deserved too. For months he told her that focusing solely on taijutsu was stupid. And the girl was taking it to heart.

He always told her that Hyugas were supremely retarded. That focusing on taijutsu held her clan back from becoming truly special. Yet, now he was recommending her to do exactly that.

Knowing he needed to do damage control fast, Ren spoke, “Look, Hinata.” He pointed toward where Ino was practicing and Hinata, with great reluctance, turned her head there.

Ino stood on the other side of the clearing, holding a thin tree branch of all things. She was swinging it at a tree trunk, creating large gashes into it because of the wind-chakra coating on the branch.

Ren loudly whistled and Ino’s focus on her wind chakra abruptly broke mid-swing, causing the tree branch to be cut into several pieces. Ino was unbalanced and stumbled forward, her arms flailing around as she almost fell onto the ground.

When she stabilized herself, she threw Ren a heated glare before huffing and picking up another thin tree branch from a pile she had near her feet, intent on continuing her training with an admirable single-minded determination.

Seeing the blonde fumble, Hinata let out a small involuntary giggle before she could stop herself.

Ren smiled. “Ino is simply too good at learning Ninjutsu thanks to her mind trick.” He told Hinata. “But she is stubbornly pursuing perfection. It will take her months, if not years to get where she wants to be with wind chakra alone.”

And to be perfectly honest, Ren approved of her approach. Was it stupid? Undoubtedly. If she went the Hiruzen route and ‘mastered’ all chakra natures, she could be at least an elite Jonin-level kunoichi by the time she left the academy with good prospects at breaching that low-end S-rank soon.

But she wanted to get her wind chakra far beyond what was considered mastery by ninjas. And if she managed it? It was the kind of trick that had the potential to create one of the strongest S-rank ninjas.

The keywords, however, are ‘if she managed it’. What she was trying to do was considered impossible. But well… she was a blonde. So, Ren had faith in her ability to bullshit the world.

“You are never going to keep up with her if you try matching her in her specialty.” Ren said to Hinata with a wry smile.

It wasn’t just Hinata who had to accept this fact. He was a ninja too and had the realization that once Ino got a few more months of ninjutsu training under her belt, he would not be able to keep up with her in that discipline. It was discouraging but he decided to buckle up and redouble his focus on fuinjutsu.

Because that was his specialty and he would be damned if he let some Yamanaka brat overtake him in strength. Oh, she would have been just insufferable if that happened.

“The best advice I can give you, Hinata, is that you need to focus on your own advantages.” He said, and decided to elaborate when he saw her unsure expression, “You finished that modified Kaiten of yours, right? How long did it take for you to develop? I mean, how many hours of continuous effort.”

“Um, around ten? I guess?” She seemed uncertain but Ren knew she only gave that technique in between nothing at all to at most two hours every Saturday so counting how many hours that added up to over the months was probably not easy.

“And I named it Heavenly Wall.” The girl whispered with a beautiful smile, her voice containing a slight undertone of pride at her achievement.

Ren reached out and took her hand, squeezing it in acknowledgment with a smile.

Her ‘Heavenly Wall’ was just Kaiten without the need to spin. It sounded simple, but it was anything but because the spin was an integral part of the technique. Discarding the need to spin made the technique disgustingly chakra-efficient, effective in literally any situation, and capable of being used in a split second at any time the user needed.

Hinata could call forth a wall of spinning chakra out of the tenketsu in her body to block or reflect jutsu on demand. She could also use it offensively, just like the regular Kaiten. And since she didn’t need to spin she didn’t need to stop in a place to use it.

It had a massive offensive potential. But Ren knew that Hinata did not realize that just yet.

On top of that, with no spinning required, she didn’t need to keep the technique up for a long period, making her expend way less chakra in the process than what the regular Kaiten needed.

The only downside was that it was one of those disgustingly skill-reliant techniques.

The first step in learning it was to master Rasengan so… yeah. Good luck with that, Ren guessed. There go a few months, if not years, of your life and that’s just the first step.

No regular ninja was ever going to put that much time investment into it because it is more effective for them to learn several lower-level techniques that they can use in the field to save their lives in a pinch. No matter how overpowered the technique is.

Hell, Ren was not going to learn it. And he already knew Rasengan. It just wasn’t a cost-effective use of his time.

The sweet girl did not realize it because it came sickeningly easy to her. She didn’t even think it was that hard. Ren wanted to bash his head on a tree whenever he thought about it.

And she created it from the regular Kaiten technique in ten hours of effort.

… It was fucking bullshit.

Her mind simply worked in mysterious ways that Ren had a hard time comprehending but she was a female so that was pretty much given.

Honestly, if he didn’t think that Hinata had an actual chance to compete with Ino, he would have simply told her that. But the most ridiculous thing about the whole situation was that in his opinion as their teacher, Hinata could do it.

She was talented enough. He just needed her to believe in herself and get the correct mindset.

“No matter what your clan says, you have an amazing talent for taijutsu. You already created your own move in such a short time and you are not even out of the academy yet. Plus, you are getting very good at medical ninjutsu on your own. You should lean into these specialties more.” Ren said.

Not to mention Byakugan was truly a cheat when it came to the medical ninjutsu. It was practically the difference between a blind person learning the stuff by touch and a person who could actually see what they were doing learning it. It doesn’t take a genius to realize which one would learn things faster.

Despite Ren’s words, Hinata still seemed to lack confidence. She saw the difference between Ino and herself when it came to ninjutsu and Ren knew it felt like a shit to have that realization.

But her ‘woe is me’ attitude was frankly starting to piss him off a bit.

“But will that be enough?” Hinata timidly asked and Ren had to take a deep breath.

“Why don’t you use your Byakugan to observe the Akimichi clan and try to learn how they use the Yang chakra.” He exasperatedly asked, saying aloud the first thing that came to his mind and gave the girl a big eye-roll.

He could only generate yang chakra. He couldn’t do anything else with it just yet. He couldn’t teach the girl how to properly utilize it in combat and he was already helping her aplenty by providing chakra for shadow clones.

He refused to baby her so much as to spend weeks of his time developing proper yang chakra techniques just so Hinata could use them in combat. No. The girl would have to make these techniques herself. Ren was too busy making new seals in his spare time.

He loved his students and put in an enormous effort to help them in their development, but he had his own development to think about too.

“You want me to steal their clan techniques!?” Hinata’s whole demeanor abruptly shifted as she asked with eyes wide in horror. As if Ren was casually suggesting treason.

“Not really.” He shrugged, “You want a quick way to get stronger? Learn the principles behind how they use the yang chakra and then use them alongside your medical expertise to create your own technique to, I don’t know, strengthen your body perhaps? Preferably without turning yourself into a giantess or using your fat stores because that would have been just too obvious.” Ren rubbed the bridge of his nose, inwardly regretting that he started this topic.

But he was a bit frustrated. Ino was confident, bordering on arrogance. And that attitude had its flaws. But she always believed in herself. She didn’t expect him to hold her hand through her training and she actively tried new things.

Hinata, however, was a more timid person so she needed that push to get her confidence and so far, she wasn’t very proactive. Even the learning of Kaiten was something Ren suggested to her ages ago. And yes, she did modify it on her own but it wasn’t enough. Hinata was going to fall behind Ino if she didn’t get out of her comfort zone. The girl needed to start experimenting.

Not to mention, seeing Ino’s talent had shaken Hinata’s belief in her own progress, which made her less inclined to be creative with her training. It was honestly quite a bothersome situation for Ren.

Alas, since he had started the topic already, he decided to just unload his thoughts on the girl while hoping for the best, “Seriously, you Hyuga have the best tool for spying and observation and you live in a village full of talented ninjas. How your clan has not raised an S-rank ninja so far is a complete mystery. You could learn so many secret techniques and observe how they work with none the wiser and you don’t even need to leave your house for it. It’s not as if somebody could tell where you are looking if you just sit in your room with your eyes closed and your Byakugan activated.”

“Do you want to keep up with Ino? I can’t give you every answer. I can’t lead you there by your hand, Hinata. I can and will help you but certain things you will have to accomplish by yourself.” Ren told Hinata, giving her the hard truth.

For a few seconds, they just sat on the grass, silently looking at each other. Hinata was deep in thought while Ren observed her, wondering what she would decide. Eventually, Hinata slowly nodded her head.

“I understand.” And that was that. He was not going to give her more advice on this topic and he knew she was smart enough to not get caught. The rest was on her. She was a kunoichi in training, duh.

Ren reciprocated the nod. He was not sure she truly understood but… only the future would tell. “Now. I think you should only focus on the lightning element when it comes to ninjutsu. It will be a great addition to boost your taijutsu or even your medical ninjutsu if used creatively enough.”

He didn’t even want to start thinking what a skilled Lightning nature user could do with nerves once he or she became a top-tier medic.

Ren firmly believed that Cruciatus should stay in Potterverse but… for his adorable student? He was willing to make an exception and eventually lead her to certain conclusions.

But for now, Hinata knew only one thing to do with her lightning element, “Show me your Lightning coated exploding senbon.” Ren calmly commanded.

Hinata nodded and stood up. She took out a senbon out of the seal on her wrist with a puff of smoke, imbued lightning chakra into it within three seconds, and then applied the exploding seal in the next two seconds before throwing the needle at a nearby tree trunk at barely traceable speeds thanks to the lightning chakra coating the senbon.

The senbon sank into the tree before it exploded with a loud bang, and the tree trunk, sporting a massive hole around the place where the senbon impacted it, toppled over while heavily creaking.

Hinata expectantly looked at Ren but sadly, she was not going to get the desired praise. Not for this.

“It… needs work.” Ren said with a grimace.

Five seconds to imbue lightning chakra and inscribe the exploding seal on the senbon was too long. The entire thing should last less than one second. She should be able to throw one exploding lightning senbon every second. Only then was it going to be combat-ready.

Well, all in due time, Ren guessed.

Hinata’s face fell as she dejectedly mumbled, “I’ll just… go practice.”

But Ren stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder when she was about to leave, “You can do it, Hinata. You are one of the most talented kunoichi in this village. Just believe in yourself. I believe in you.” He said and something in his expression probably conveyed his sincerity because Hinata teared up and sniffed.

She nodded with determination written in her eyes before she turned around and was about to walk away only to stop in her tracks. She turned her upper body around and took a long unsure glance at Ren, causing him to raise his eyebrow at her.

“Yes?” He asked but the Hyuga girl only chewed on her lower lip in an apparent indecision.

Then, out of nowhere, she seemed to make a decision and walked back toward Ren who curiously looked at her, wondering what she was doing, only to be surprised when she quickly closed the distance between them, raised herself to her toes, and delivered a short peck on his lips.

Ren stared at her, completely bewildered, his lips slightly parted, while she looked like a frightened rabbit, her face red from embarrassment.

“Thank you.” She whispered with a blush.

Before Ren could regather his wits, Hinata abruptly turned on her heel and jerkily walked away with her head ducked low, steam almost rising from her head.

Ren could only watch her before his mind rebooted.

‘That happened, huh?’ He wryly thought, a small embarrassed smile appearing on his face as he touched his lips.

—

Author Note:

I am sorry for everybody who dislikes the Mc x Hinata pairing. But this was a long time coming.

Also, don’t worry, I did not forget about our boi Naruto. He will not be left alone. I do have dastardly plans aimed at his virginity, kukuku.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep