After returning home and finishing dinner, Hyuga Aokawa rested for a while.
He then packed his schoolbag, preparing to go to school.
As he was leaving, his grandma called out to him from behind.
She put a paper bag in his hand, containing more than a dozen large meat buns.
"Grandma, that's too much, two is enough for me."
Hyuga Aokawa said, preparing to hand the bag back to her.
"What do you mean too much? You're still growing."
She gripped him with her rough, wrinkled hand.
Hyuga Aokawa wanted to say something more, but he was already being pushed out.
"You'll be late, hurry to school."
When he arrived at school, Hinata Ayane was already there.
She still had her head buried under the desk, unfazed by the surrounding noise.
She was probably foraging again.
Hyuga Aokawa didn't disturb her. He put the buns his grandma gave him into his desk drawer and started reading his book.
After a while.
Hinata Ayane suddenly sat up, twitching her delicate, upturned nose as if searching for something.
Her cheeks, which were full from chewing, also stopped moving.
She turned her head and found that Hyuga Aokawa had actually come to class, and a smile immediately appeared in the corner of her eyes.
"Why are you here!" she asked, her words slightly slurred.
"The Hospital matter has come to an end," Hyuga Aokawa said.
Hinata Ayane's eyes widened at his words, sparkling as she grinned and asked happily:
"So, from now on, you'll be coming to school every day!"
"What's so happy about coming to school every day?"
"Huh!" A look of confusion appeared on Hinata Ayane's face.
"Not happy? School is much freer than staying at home, how could it not be happy?"
As she spoke, she suddenly looked around, as if attracted by something.
She picked up the bun in her hand, sniffed it, and her confused expression deepened.
Wrinkling her pretty nose, she sniffed left and right, searching everywhere, finally targeting the spot below Hyuga Aokawa.
Smelling the aroma of the meat buns emanating from the drawer, she felt that the bun in her hand no longer smelled as good.
"What's wrong?" Hyuga Aokawa asked.
"Nothing?" Hinata Ayane smiled somewhat sheepishly.
Soon, Inoue Reigetsu walked in and began class.
Hyuga Aokawa, as usual, started flipping through his book. There was no need to listen to the first class, which was a review of throwing techniques.
After he had flipped through two or three books, a fair little hand reached out and appeared in his vision, then lightly lifted and retracted.
A note was left on the desk.
Hyuga Aokawa looked at Hinata Ayane in confusion, then turned and unfolded the note.
"Aokawa, can you give me a bun?"
Hyuga Aokawa smiled slightly, looking at her like a little gluttonous cat.
This little girl probably ran out of pocket money again.
No wonder when she came earlier, he didn't see many snacks in the drawer below. She was probably hungry.
He took out his pen and wrote on the paper:
"They're all for you, eat them all."
Then he took out the meat buns from the drawer and handed the large bag along with the note to Hinata Ayane.
Hinata Ayane's eyes widened, a flicker of light in their depths.
The smile at the corner of her mouth couldn't be suppressed, but in the end, she held it back.
"I can only eat one, I can't eat too many," she wrote humbly.
How could Hyuga Aokawa let her be humble? He was just wondering how to deal with the buns.
His finger moved, and the pen tip touched the paper as he began to talk nonsense:
"These buns look big, but they're not filling."
"My neighbor's daughter, younger than you, eats two bags by herself, a total of over forty!"
Hinata Ayane's beautiful eyes widened after reading the note.
Then she suddenly understood, her eyes sparkling.
Grinning, with even a bit of shimmering drool visible at the corner of her mouth, she wrote delightedly:
"So that's it. I wondered why I wasn't full after eating over 20 buns last time."
"It turns out some buns just aren't filling."
Without any burden, she cheerfully reached out and took the bag.
She leaned on the desk, took out a bun, and began to eat it in small bites underneath.
Time passed quickly, and when Hinata Ayane had devoured all the buns.
It was also time for class to end.
"Aokawa, thank you for the buns!" Hinata Ayane said happily, wiping the grease from the corner of her mouth.
"My grandma made them. I'm glad you liked them."
"Grandma is amazing, to be able to make such fragrant buns."
The two chatted, laughing and talking.
Inoue Reigetsu then began to gather everyone to go to the playground again.
Upon arriving at the scene, Hyuga Aokawa realized there was a familiar face at the Training Ground.
Kakashi!
His mysterious mask, coupled with a head of wild, cool, and dashing white hair.
He quickly became the focus of the field.
After a brief hubbub, the students quieted down under Inoue Reigetsu's stern gaze.
She introduced Kakashi: "This is the observer sent by the Village."
"He will record your performance in the exam and report it to Hokage-sama, so everyone must do well."
"Now, those whose names are called, come forward to your respective target positions."
"Ozawa Hayato, go to Target Position 1."
"Oda Naohito, go to Target Position 2."
"Yajima Shin, go to Target Position 3."
"…"
The students whose names were called came forward one after another, took out the Kunai given by the teacher earlier, and began throwing.
Knowing that it would be reported to Hokage-sama, the students were all very nervous.
Thump, thump, thump!
The Kunai scattered crookedly on the targets and the surrounding trees.
Suddenly!
A student's hand trembled while throwing a Kunai.
The Kunai went seriously off target, hit the edge of the target, and then turned directly towards Kobayashi Kurenai in the crowd.
Kobayashi Kurenai was instantly terrified, her legs frozen, her face pale.
Uchiha Shinichi saw his beloved in danger and hurriedly threw his Kunai, trying to change its direction.
On the other side, Kakashi had the same idea, pulling out a Kunai and throwing it at extreme speed.
Kakashi's Kunai arrived later but moved faster.
Clang! Clang!
Three Kunai collided in the air simultaneously, and one of them actually shot backward to the side.
It flew directly towards Hinata Ayane, who was eating dried fish under a tree.
Uchiha Shinichi and Kakashi were both shocked to see this; they hadn't expected anyone else to make a move besides themselves.
At this moment, it was too late for them to throw again from their positions.
Hinata Ayane was also startled.
Her eyes widened, her eyebrows furrowed, staring intently at the Kunai in the air.
Changing from her usual cute demeanor, she instantly became heroic and spirited.
Just as the Kunai was about to reach her.
"Bagua Palm: Return to Heaven"
A rapidly rotating Chakra appeared. The Kunai was immediately bounced away upon contact, tumbling towards the students on the other side.
Kakashi's heart tightened, and with a flick of his hand, another Kunai appeared in it.
The next moment!
A black shadow, faster than him, darted out from the crowd, rushing directly into the air.
Clang!
Thud!
The sound of metal colliding and wood being struck rang out one after another.
Immediately after, everyone saw that the tumbling Kunai had been pierced through its tail ring by another Kunai.
It was silently pinned to the center of the target, swinging left and right like a pendulum.
"Such quick reactions!"
Uchiha Shinichi turned to look at Hyuga Aokawa in the crowd, his face full of disbelief.
This pretty boy was actually so strong.
After the Kunai was deflected by Return to Heaven, it flew erratically.
To find the position of the ring in an instant.
Then hit it and pin it to the bullseye.
It was not as simple as his mere hit on the Kunai.
This indicated that Hyuga Aokawa's insight and perception were already far superior to his.
Kakashi was also somewhat surprised by this.
Although he wasn't in the same class as Hyuga Aokawa, he often heard about him being held back after graduation.
He didn't expect him to be so profound; this Kunai throwing technique was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
The scene suddenly quieted for a moment, then erupted in cheers.
"Aokawa-kun, sugoi!"
"I'd like to see who dares to say he's all show and no substance now. He's clearly very useful."
"Oh? How do you want to use him?"
"Pah! Get lost, you pervert."
Inoue Reigetsu watched Kakashi write down a score of 100, and she also noted the data on her paper; this Kunai technique no longer needed to be assessed.
Her perception of Hyuga Aokawa had improved considerably.
It seemed her worries were unnecessary; a child of a great clan was, after all, a child of a great clan.
This year's performance still seemed promising.
However, Hyuga Aokawa, as the person involved, focused on Hinata Ayane.
He hadn't expected Hinata Ayane to actually know Return to Heaven.
And judging by her activation speed, she had probably mastered it to a certain extent.
He walked up to Hinata Ayane and smiled:
"I didn't expect you to have such a heroic and spirited side."
Hinata Ayane had already reverted to her cute demeanor.
Praised by Hyuga Aokawa, her face immediately turned rosy.
Her two index fingers kept poking at each other.
"Do you
think I was, like, really fierce just now..."