'What is Kage-kun trying to do?'
'He actually to-took my hand on his own…'
Hinata was already starting to have trouble standing steadily.
If it weren't for the black cloth covering her face so she couldn't see Uchiha Kage, she thought she might've fainted the moment they held hands.
"Sorry, seems like I grabbed your hand without your permission."
'Such a big reaction.'
Uchiha Kage noticed that just from holding her hand, the girl's body immediately started trembling.
'Hate or like?'
'No, it can't be hate. I'm not some dense light novel protagonist, not to that degree at least.'
Uchiha Kage mocked himself a bit, then firmly held Hinata's palm.
"No… it's me, I still have blisters on my hands…"
'From now on I must learn the Mystical Palm Technique, otherwise, with my hands this rough, Kage-kun will definitely hate it.'
Hinata was a little worried whether Uchiha Kage would find her hand unpleasant.
"With your talent, just moderate training each day is fine. Overdoing it actually backfires…"
Hinata just lacked the will to compete with others, and the ruthlessness of a ninja.
That's why she appeared weak.
As for talent, Uchiha Kage always thought she wasn't inferior to anyone else. As for bloodline… she's the officially recognized Byakugan Princess, after all.
"But no matter what I do, I just can't compare to Kage-kun. Even Shino-classmate is better than me…"
'Hoo…'
Small talk had eased much of the shyness on Hinata's face.
"That's not your problem."
While Hinata hadn't noticed at all, Uchiha Kage had already quietly brought her into his dream space.
Then, they arrived on the streets of Konoha within the dream space.
Still, Hinata really was well-behaved. From beginning to end, she never even thought to peek with her Byakugan, and even kept her eyes closed the whole time.
If it weren't for worrying she might faint, Uchiha Kage really wanted to hold this obedient Byakugan girl in his arms and comfort her properly.
'As expected…', Spending a little Action Points, Uchiha Kage pushed open the Hyuga clan's residence gates in the dream space.
Then, surprisingly, he didn't see the mature NPC Hinata here, and not only that, he was actually able to bring the real-world Hinata into this residence as well.
Uchiha Kage then took Hinata to see the Hokage building within the dream space.
'There's no way to bring Hinata inside here, but the NPC Tsunade hasn't disappeared like the previous Hinata did…'
'So the conflict is only with the same person.'
This dream space really was related to his Mangekyō Sharingan ability.
Most of the NPCs appearing in the space were likely copies of kunoichi created by his Mangekyō pupil power.
But due to some special reason, after his pupil space formed this strange dream world, these copies without souls or minds became much more lifelike than before.
So they began to speak and act like NPCs and puppets.
That was something his Mangekyō Sharingan definitely couldn't do in the past.
After bringing Hinata back to real-world Konoha, Uchiha Kage returned to the dream space to check again, and saw that the NPC Hinata had reappeared in her original spot as usual.
"The game's done. You can open your eyes now."
'The experiment is over.'
Preliminary conclusion: most likely due to some unknown reason, the same person cannot appear twice in the dream space, hence there were no NPC Karin or NPC Samui.
'Better keep an eye on that in the future.'
'But in this ninja world, it seemed like there weren't many female ninjas left worth paying attention to.' [T/N: Konan. 10/10 Baddie]
"Mm…", Hinata opened her eyes with slight disappointment, and as she looked at the now-lukewarm hand that had held hers, she couldn't help feeling a little empty inside.
Although she didn't know what kind of game Uchiha Kage had just done, one thing was clear: he didn't plan to do anything to her.
'As expected, "dreams" can't come true…'
If she wanted real-world Uchiha Kage to like her, it could only happen in a dream.
"As a reward for helping me with the game, I'll treat you to some ramen," Just as Hinata was about to leave, dejected with her head lowered, Uchiha Kage called out to her again.
"Eh? But I don't think I did anything, and…"
'Is this really okay? Being treated to ramen, just the two of us…'
'Won't the teacher get jealous if she finds out?'
Hinata blinked her clear, crystalline Byakugan eyes, wanting to accept but also wanting to refuse.
"Last time your sister said you eat a lot. I want to see it for myself," Uchiha Kage wanted to confirm how much Hinata really ate.
'That way in the future… I can better take care of her meals.'
'After all, you can't just let a girl go hungry.'
And with Hinata's shy personality, she might really starve herself every day just out of embarrassment.
"This…", No helping it, Hinata couldn't resist this Uchiha boy who always stared at her in class.
Especially when she saw the look of expectation in his eyes.
"Kage-kun really doesn't mind? A woman with a big appetite…", On the way to Ichiraku Ramen, Hinata asked a little nervously.
'And money too…'
'If I eat too much, it'll cost a lot of money.'
'If Kage-kun doesn't bring enough cash and gets embarrassed because of it…' [T/N: He is a Uchiha, girl]
Thinking of that, Hinata hurriedly looked for her wallet.
Thankfully, her wallet was still pretty full.
"I don't mind. Actually, I really like watching you eat."
'That eating style, clearly like a well-mannered noble lady, yet somehow able to eat fast and a lot.'
And when she saw his gaze, she'd always shyly tuck her hair and cover her mouth with her hand and sleeve…
It was ten thousand times more fun than those beauty mukbangs in his past life.
"Re… really?"
'Could it be the gods heard my prayers and actually made the real-world Kage-kun say he "like you"?'
Overwhelmed with joy, Hinata almost stumbled into Uchiha Kage's arms.
"If that's the case, I-I'll try to eat more!"
"No need to try too hard, just eat like you normally do."
Seeing Hinata suddenly become so eager, Uchiha Kage worried a bit that she might overstuff herself for his sake.
"Mm…"
'Is it about the money? It's fine. Later I'll secretly slip my wallet into Kage-kun's pocket.'
'She definitely won't let Kage pay for everything.'
'If Kage-kun revives his clan and runs out of money someday, I can also take money from home to support… fund him.'
———
'That masked man… Obito is actually tangled up with Orochimaru.'
'Maybe he also wants to stick a hand into Orochimaru's plan to destroy Konoha?'
'If that's the case…'
Thinking of the Kage that night, and the image of Orochimaru and the masked man standing together, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt uneasy.
"Kakashi, no progress with the Flying Thunder God Technique yet?"
Kakashi was the best candidate to deal with Obito.
But unfortunately, it seemed he really couldn't learn Flying Thunder God.
This was going to be a problem.
"Lord Hokage, I really don't have talent in this area, but…", Kakashi thought of his two students.
"Maybe we can let Sasuke, Naruto, or one of the new generation ninjas train in this technique. I believe their talent isn't any worse than mine as a teacher."
"The new generation of ninjas…"
Sasuke's Sharingan had already reached the three-tomoe stage. If he also mastered the Flying Thunder God, even Hiruzen himself as Hokage would feel it difficult to handle.
Sarutobi Hiruzen did hope for another powerful force like Uchiha Itachi, but not another Uchiha Itachi.
As for Naruto, it was even more out of the question. A Nine-Tails jinchūriki… if a jinchūriki learned Flying Thunder God, how would they control him?
Too bad, if only Danzo were here.
If Danzo were around, Hiruzen wouldn't even need to say anything. Danzo would use "for the village" as an excuse to reject Kakashi's proposal for him.
But now, in order to maintain his ever-shining public image, Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't directly refuse Kakashi's sincere proposal.
He could only vaguely brush it off for now…
"Sasuke… I'm worried he might fall into darkness because of his brother. Naruto… Naruto is a good kid, but does he really have more talent than you? Flying Thunder God is a forbidden technique. This matter needs to be considered carefully."
"Yes."
Kakashi just brought it up casually anyway.
To be honest, he didn't even know if anyone besides the Fourth Hokage could ever learn this technique.
"You may go for now. I've just been too impatient lately."
It seemed that even if he told Kakashi right now that the masked man was Uchiha Obito, it might still not be enough to force him to learn Flying Thunder God…
After much thought, Sarutobi Hiruzen still didn't reveal this piece of information to Kakashi.
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