"Izayoi-kun, this is great, we did it!"
Leaving the clan grounds with Izayoi, Hinata could no longer suppress the excitement in her heart. Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke.
"Calm down. Be careful—what if your father sent guards to secretly follow us and heard what you just said?" Izayoi reminded her with a smile.
Hearing that, Hinata quickly covered her mouth and secretly looked around. She looked extremely cute.
"Let's go. I'll take you to a place."
Izayoi wasn't sure if there were any guards secretly following them, so he didn't cancel his Transformation Jutsu. Instead, he took Hinata away from the central street, heading toward a training field in the wilderness.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
After entering the forest, Izayoi created a shadow clone. The clone immediately disappeared using Body Flicker.
Before long, Izayoi canceled his Transformation Jutsu.
Seeing this, Hinata looked happy and asked, "Izayoi-kun, does that mean no one is following us?"
"Yeah, I've confirmed it. No one's following us."
Izayoi nodded and grinned. "In a moment, I'll teach you a technique. Practice it at home. If your father sees it, he probably won't stop you from going out anymore."
Upon hearing that, the joy on Hinata's face deepened.
Turning into Yamanaka Ino to invite Hinata out—
That was Izayoi's plan.
Otherwise, if he invited her himself, Hinata would never have been able to leave.
At best, it would be a wasted trip. At worst, he might be warned by Hyūga Neji, who received orders, or even get moved to another seat or another class in school.
Children might not understand what's going on.
But Izayoi understood clearly—this was an adult's method.
In this world where daimyo and nobility exist, the class divide was even more obvious than in his previous life.
Hinata was the daughter of a noble ninja clan, while Izayoi was just an orphan from the commoner class, without even a surname.
There was a huge gap between the two.
If Izayoi were a girl, then maybe he'd still have a chance to become friends with Hinata.
But he was a boy. To avoid Hinata developing feelings for him, and to avoid any risk of passing on a bloodline limit, both Hiashi and the elders of the main family would never allow Izayoi to get close to Hinata.
Unless… Izayoi had extremely high value.
If he was a genius from the commoner class worth recruiting, then maybe he'd qualify to marry into the clan.
If he were like Uzumaki Naruto, a hero of Konoha and a savior of the ninja world, then he could marry the main family's daughter.
Before proving his own value, Izayoi could only rely on little tricks.
Yamanaka Ino was the daughter of the Yamanaka clan. As one of the new generation's Ino-Shika-Chō trio, even if her strength was lacking, she would still become an important figure in the Intelligence Department thanks to her clan's secret techniques—someone who holds real power.
And Ino-Shika-Chō were close allies. Among the Rookie Nine, if anyone qualified to be friends with Hinata, it was definitely Yamanaka Ino.
Only by transforming into Yamanaka Ino could he invite Hinata out and have a high chance of avoiding any guard follow-up.
If he weren't worried that his increasing strength would make the gap with Hinata even wider, making it harder to trigger a red trait line, Izayoi honestly wouldn't want to take this kind of risk.
When the first big exam comes, if he takes the top student title, then he'll have a bit more confidence.
But compared to Naruto and Sasuke's red trait lines, Izayoi wanted to trigger Hinata's red line even more.
As long as he awakened the Tenseigan, he would have nothing to worry about.
So, he couldn't waste this vacation.
—
Arriving at an abandoned training ground, Izayoi looked at Hinata and asked, "Hinata, have you learned the Three Basic Jutsu?"
"Not yet," Hinata shook her head. "Father told me to focus on practicing Gentle Fist. Only when the school teaches other ninjutsu will I be allowed to practice those in my spare time."
"In that case, I won't teach you the Three Basic Jutsu either."
Izayoi smiled. "I'll teach you a technique that can improve your chakra control. Whether it's your clan's Gentle Fist or learning Shadow Clone Jutsu, it'll all be twice as effective with half the effort."
Hinata widened her pretty eyes, looking surprised. "Izayoi-kun, you… you want to teach me the Shadow Clone Jutsu?"
"That's right."
Izayoi nodded. "In the future, my real body won't go to school much. You can come here to find me anytime, or practice the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Like me, you can secretly have a shadow clone attend class while your real body comes here to train with me."
Upon hearing this, Hinata was deeply moved.
After learning that it was a shadow clone of Izayoi attending class, she had already wanted to learn Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Not for anything else—just to not get left too far behind by Izayoi.
But just like she said, Hiashi only allowed her to focus on learning Gentle Fist. He didn't teach her anything else and didn't let her learn other techniques.
Not to mention Shadow Clone Jutsu—even the Three Basic Jutsu, Hinata hadn't learned.
Now that she heard Izayoi wanted to teach her Shadow Clone Jutsu, and she could secretly come here every day to train with him—not only could she have friendship, but also enjoy the free time she longed for—
Hinata was naturally extremely moved.
Seeing her expression, Izayoi already knew what she was thinking.
"Come with me, I'll teach you how to improve your chakra control."
Izayoi smiled at Hinata, then walked to a large tree that would take several people to hug around.
He formed a simple hand sign and said to Hinata, "Form the hand seal, gather chakra under your feet, then overcome the fear in your heart. Like this…"
Under Hinata's widened eyes and surprised gaze, Izayoi lifted his right foot and stepped onto the tree trunk.
As soon as his right foot touched the trunk, he lifted his left foot and stepped up.
With both feet off the ground, his body floated horizontally in front of Hinata.
Then, step by step, just like walking on flat ground, Izayoi walked from the base of the tree to the very top.
Facing the Hinata below, Izayoi's body formed a right angle on the tree as he smiled and said, "Climbing a tree with your feet—that's the technique I'll teach you."
"Ama… amazing!"
Looking at Izayoi, who had freed himself from gravity, Hinata was completely stunned.
Coming down from the tree, Izayoi said with a smile, "Climbing with your feet is just the first stage. The next level is walking on water."
"As long as you master these two techniques, whether it's the Three Basic Jutsu, Shadow Clone Jutsu, or even Body Flicker Jutsu, none of them will be hard for you."
"Can… can I really learn it?" Hinata looked uncertain.
"Don't underestimate yourself. You're the daughter of the Hyūga clan."
Izayoi patted Hinata on the shoulder and encouraged her. "Go try. Don't be afraid of falling—I'll catch you."
"If you fall too far behind me, I won't wait for you."
The last sentence was said with a joking tone, like he was teasing her.
But just this one sentence made Hinata firm her resolve. She nodded hard. "Mm!"
She had already disappointed her father—she absolutely didn't want to disappoint Izayoi too.
She didn't want to lose her only friend.
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