NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16: Training Hinata
It took Hinata about half an hour to finally calm down her emotions, when she did, however, a crimson-colored blush appeared on her face.
'Oh no, I cried this long while hugging them. I bet they will be annoyed by me now.'
Naruto and Yuna however, had a different plan. They both saw Hinata's red face and gave each other a glance. Just seconds later they both had smiles filled with mischief on their faces. Both of the twins immediately started patting Hinata's head.
"Is little Hinata all better now?" said Yuna.
"Don't worry little Hinata everything's alright." Said Naruto.
Hinata started to blush even more furiously after the twins talked to her like a baby. Just when steam was about to come out of her ears, Yuna laughed out loud and diffused the situation.
"HAHAHA, don't worry Hinata, we are just teasing you a little. Now that we solved the problem with the seal, let's get to the important bits. What do you want to do now?"
Although Hinata pouted a little at being teased, she quickly regained her bearing after hearing Yuna's question.
'Right, where am I even supposed to go now? I have no one left that can take care of me. I am all alone. Will I have to live on the streets from now on?'
Hinata's thoughts were quickly spinning out of control and she was just about to cry again when Yuna flicked her finger against Hinata's forehead.
"OW! W-Why did you do that?"
"Because bad children need to get punished."
"B-bad? Why are you calling me bad?"
"Because you think, that I would kick you out of our house after I went through the trouble of picking you up and even removing that seal. Isn't your trust in us too low?"
"Eh? Y-you would allow me to live here? What about your parents? There is no way they would just allow me to live here."
"No need to worry about that. Naruto and I are orphans. In case you are wondering why we are living alone then…too bad, that's a secret for now. You won't be living here for free though. You will help us with chores and you will spend a lot of time training with Naruto and me to get stronger.]
Hinata immediately got depressed when she heard that she was supposed to train. She had no talent, after all. No matter how much she trained, she just wouldn't get stronger. She could only lower her head and attempt to get out a sentence.
"I-I-I c-c-can't train. I-I-I'm weak...o talen…"
She could barely get out the whole sentence. She was simply too afraid, that the siblings would abandon her if they found out how useless she was. Hinata was currently looking at the ground so she couldn't see Yuna rolling her eyes at her.
'Just how messed up is this little girl's confidence? The moment the word training is said, she immediately returns to her shell, while muttering nonsense about being weak and having no talent.'
"Okay, let me tell you two things about that. First: Of course, you are weak. You are a five-year-old little girl. I would be rather surprised if you weren't weak. Second: Those that claim to have no talent for getting stronger, either don't try hard enough or use the wrong method. Which one are you, little Hinata?"
Hearing Yuna's words, Hinata actually got angry.
"I am working very hard, you know! I train every day until I collapse! There is no way this can be considered not working hard!"
Even though Yuna was currently being yelled at, she still had a casual smile on her face. After all, she provoked Hinata on purpose and even called her little Hinata again to make it seem like Yuna was looking down on her. The easiest way to see someone's true self is by seeing them angry. Hinata getting angry at being called someone that doesn't try hard enough shows that she is proud of her hard work and just hates it, because it doesn't give her any results. Yuna had no interest in slackers. If Hinata is willing to train as hard as she claims she does, Yuna will have no difficulties in improving her strength. She had the confidence that she could pick up a random beggar on the street and improve his strength to at least the level of a strong chunin in a few years. The previous heiress of an ancient clan, that even has a bloodline limit, is naturally on a completely different level. Well, Hinata is still a young child, so reaching the level of a chunin will still take some time, but after Yuna finishes building Hinata's foundation she will pretty much have no walls or limits in her growth. Hinata was just about to continue her rant when Yuna interrupted her.
"Well, it must be the second reason then."
Hinata immediately froze up after hearing Yuna's casual reply.
'Did I react to extremely? She said there were two reasons. Why did I immediately assume she was mocking me? What if she starts hati… *FLICK*'
"OW! Why did you do that?"
"Because bad children need to get punished. Although I am not entirely sure what you were thinking, it looked like you were expecting me to beat you up and kick you out of the house. As I have already said: Isn't your trust in us too low?"
Hinata couldn't help but be disappointed in herself.
'Indeed, these two have shown me nothing but goodwill, yet I assume they will discard me at a moment's notice. Won't they get annoyed at me for always *FLICK*'
"OW!"
This time, Hinata didn't say anything, as she already knew the answer to her question. After hearing Hinata asking no questions about the finger flick, Yuna decided to continue the conversation.
"Anyways, now that we have established that you were using the wrong method, tell me what you are doing and I will tell you how to improve."
Although Hinata had some suspicions, that a ten-year-old (Yuna and Naruto still were transformed) wanted to improve the methods of Hinata's father, she decided to roll with it.
"Usually, I am sparring with my father."
Yuna nodded her head at that. Sparring is indeed a very important aspect of training. No matter how much you improve your control and body, if you don't know how to use it properly, it will be useless.
"Alright, and then?"
"And then? Well… more sparring? Sometimes with my older cousin and sometimes with other members of the family."
"Yeah, I got the sparring part, but what else do you do?"
"What else do I do? There is no way I can still move after having fought other people the whole day."
"Please don't tell me your training only consists of fighting other people."
"Well, when I was younger, I was told to go through the movements of the Hyuga clans Gentle Fist so I get accustomed to it. After I learned it, I started sparring against other people for the whole day. My father said: the best way to get stronger is through fighting stronger opponents."
Yuna almost spat out blood after hearing Hinata's explanation. The sentence: "The best way to get stronger is through fighting stronger opponents" certainly isn't wrong, but what kind of nutjob would do so all the time? If you push yourself during a dangerous fight it is indeed possible to break through your limit, but constantly pushing a person and expecting that person to constantly break through the limit is just insane. There are only very few people that can go through with that kind of training. They need to be 100% insane and need to have pretty much unshakable willpower. Something almost impossible to achieve. What Yuna didn't know yet, was that a certain boy currently wearing green spandex and running on his hands around Konoha, while shouting about youth, was exactly that kind of type of person.
"A-alright, *cough* let's put that method aside for now and try something different. First, let us have a little spar, so I can see your strength. Just a few minutes, so I can get a good look at your current skill level, okay? No need to push with everything you've got, okay?"
They quickly left for a nearby training area to have their sparring match and a few moments later Yuna proclaimed the start of the fight. Although Hinata didn't understand why Yuna was constantly pointing out that she didn't need to go all out, she took the Gentle Fist stance and started waiting for Yuna's attack. However, the moment she took the stance, Yuna immediately started frowning.
'What is with that stance? It doesn't fit her at all.'
"Hinata, before we start, I would like to ask you a question I hope you can answer. Does everyone in the Hyuga clan learn the same type of Gentle Fist?"
Hinata couldn't help but be confused by that question. The same type? Are there other types? Why would they want to learn anything else? The Gentle Fist is Konoha's strongest taijutsu style after all.
"Of course not, the Gentle Fist is known as Konoha's strongest taijutsu style after all. Everyone in the Hyuga clan learns it."
Yet again, Yuna was on the verge of coughing out blood. Someone, somewhere in the history of the Hyuga clan seemed to have seriously f* up how the clan is run. There is no "strongest technique", there is only the technique that is most compatible with you.
For example, in her previous life, Yuna had picked up an incredibly eccentric disciple. For reasons that are still completely unknown to her, he insisted to train himself in a rather odd Dao. The Dao of Cheese. When Yuna heard his resolve for the first time, she considers beating him up until he changes his mind, but she didn't. Being insane isn't weird for long-lived cultivators, after all, so she just let it go. Pretty much everyone was laughing at him for that choice or at least they were laughing at him until he somehow made a breakthrough and became the God of Cheese, reaching godhood far faster than almost all of Yuna's other disciples. Although Yuna still felt slightly disgusted at remembering massive amounts of people choking to death on even more massive amounts of cheese, she couldn't help but occasionally remember that eccentric disciple of hers with some fondness.
Anyway, in conclusion: Assuming that a technique that works well for one person will also work well for another one is just ridiculous. Just from seeing the basic stance, Yuna could see, that the Gentle Fist is tailored for men. Fewer possibilities for movement while focusing on the range of the hands, rather than on speed or dexterity. A technique that is fit for women would, without a doubt, put much more focus on speed and moving around the battlefield. Yuna immediately decided to cancel the match. There was simply no need for it. No matter how far Hinata's training has pushed her, there is no way she could show it with a fighting style that completely crippled her.
"Okay Hinata, let's forget about this match for now and change the rules a bit. I will teach you a new combat style. Give me 1 month, no, two weeks. If you, after these two weeks, think that you prefer the Gentle Fist, then you can keep training it, but if you think the style I taught you is better, you will focus on that style from then on and follow the training methods I give you. What do you think?"
Although Hinata didn't understand why Yuna suddenly canceled their sparring match, she just nodded for now. In her opinion, there was no way, that there was a better combat style than the Gentle Fist since it is considered the strongest one in Konoha, but since she would only lose 2 weeks of training, she doesn't mind trying Yuna's combat style for that time period and then switches back to the Gentle Fist. What she didn't know yet, was that after these two weeks were over, she wouldn't even bother to spare the Gentle Fist a single thought.