Chapter 6: Sixteen Nights' Plan
"Sixteen Nights-kun, this is great—we succeeded."
Leaving the clan grounds with Sixteen Nights, Hinata could no longer contain the excitement in her heart. Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke.
"Calm down. Be careful your father didn't send guards to secretly follow us and overhear you saying that," Sixteen Nights reminded her with a smile.
At his words, Hinata immediately covered her mouth and glanced furtively around. It was absolutely adorable.
"Come on, I'll take you somewhere."
Sixteen Nights wasn't entirely sure whether guards were secretly following them, so he didn't cancel his transformation technique. Instead, he took Hinata and left the central street, heading toward the training field in the wilderness.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
After entering the forest, Sixteen Nights created a shadow clone. The clone disappeared in an instant.
Shortly after, Sixteen Nights canceled his transformation technique.
Seeing this, Hinata looked delighted. "Sixteen Nights-kun, does that mean no one's following us?"
"Yeah, it's confirmed. No one followed."
Sixteen Nights nodded and grinned. "I'll teach you a technique. Practice it at home after you return. 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's appearance to invite Hinata out—that was Sixteen Nights' plan.
Otherwise, if he went himself to invite her, Hinata would never have been able to come out.
At best, it would be a wasted trip. At worst, Hyūga Neji, who received orders, might come warn him, or he could be transferred to another seat in the class, or even to another class entirely.
Kids might not understand what's going on.
But Sixteen Nights understood—it was a method used by adults.
In a world with daimyos and nobles, the class divisions were even more distinct than in his previous life.
Hinata was the daughter of a prestigious ninja clan, while Sixteen Nights was just a common orphan without even a surname.
There was a great chasm between them.
If Sixteen Nights were a girl, he might still have a chance to be friends with Hinata.
But as a boy, to prevent Hinata from falling for him and to avoid any risk of the clan's bloodline limit leaking out, neither Hyūga Hiashi nor the elders of the main family would allow Hinata to get too close to Sixteen Nights.
Unless... Sixteen Nights' value was extremely high.
If he was a genius civilian worth recruiting, he might qualify to marry into the clan.
If he, like Uzumaki Naruto, became a hero of Konoha and a savior of the ninja world, only then could he marry the heiress of the main family.
Before proving his worth, Sixteen Nights could only resort to these little tricks.
Yamanaka Ino was the daughter of the Yamanaka clan, one of the new generation of the Ino-Shika-Chō trio. Even if her abilities were mediocre, she could still become a big figure in the intelligence department using the clan's secret techniques—a person with real power.
The Ino-Shika-Chō trio were closely allied. Among the Konoha 9, if anyone qualified to be Hinata's friend, it was undoubtedly Yamanaka Ino.
Only by transforming into Yamanaka Ino could one invite Hinata out, and it was highly likely there wouldn't be any guards following.
If he weren't worried about the growing gap in strength between them making it harder to trigger a red keyword, Sixteen Nights honestly wouldn't want to take such a risk.
Once the first major exam arrived and he earned the title of top student, he'd finally have a bit more confidence.
But more than the red keywords from Naruto or Sasuke, Sixteen Nights wanted to trigger Hinata's red keyword.
As long as he awakened the Tenseigan, then he would have nothing to fear.
That's why he didn't want to waste this holiday.
Arriving at the abandoned training field, Sixteen Nights looked at Hinata and asked, "Hinata, have you learned the Three Body Technique?"
"Not yet," Hinata shook her head. "Father wants me to focus on training Gentle Fist. He said I can only practice other ninjutsu in my spare time once the school starts teaching them."
"In that case, I won't teach you the Three Body Technique."
Sixteen Nights smiled. "I'll teach you a technique that can improve your chakra control. Whether you're practicing your clan's Gentle Fist or learning the Shadow Clone Technique, it'll be twice as effective with half the effort."
Hinata's beautiful eyes widened, and she looked stunned. "Sixteen Nights-kun, you… you're going to teach me the Shadow Clone Technique?"
"That's right."
Sixteen Nights nodded. "In the future, my real body will rarely go to school. You can come here to find me anytime, or you can practice the Shadow Clone Technique and, like me, secretly send a clone to class while your real body comes here to train with me."
At his words, Hinata was clearly tempted.
After finding out that Sixteen Nights had been sending a clone to class, she had wanted to learn the Shadow Clone Technique too.
Not for anything else—just so she wouldn't fall too far behind Sixteen Nights.
But as she had said, Hyūga Hiashi only allowed her to practice Gentle Fist and wouldn't teach her anything else, nor did he allow her to learn other techniques.
Let alone the Shadow Clone Technique—Hinata hadn't even learned the Three Body Technique.
Now hearing that Sixteen Nights wanted to teach her the Shadow Clone Technique, and that she could secretly come here every day to train with him—building friendship while enjoying the freedom she longed for—Hinata was naturally thrilled.
Seeing her expression, Sixteen Nights knew exactly what she was thinking.
"Follow me, I'll teach you how to improve chakra control."
Sixteen Nights smiled at Hinata, then walked up to a tree so large it would take several people to encircle it.
He formed an unfamiliar hand seal and said to Hinata, "Form the seal and gather chakra at the soles of your feet, then overcome your fear and do this…"
As Hinata watched with wide eyes and an astonished expression, Sixteen Nights lifted his right foot and placed it on the tree trunk.
As soon as his right foot landed on the trunk, he raised his left foot and stepped up as well.
With both feet off the ground, his body was perfectly horizontal in Hinata's view.
Then, one step at a time, as if walking on flat land, Sixteen Nights climbed from the base of the tree all the way to the top.
Turning to face Hinata from above, Sixteen Nights' body formed a right angle with the tree. He smiled and said, "Walking up a tree using your feet—that's the technique I'm teaching you."
"A-Amazing!"
Looking at Sixteen Nights defying gravity, Hinata was completely stunned.
Walking down from the tree, Sixteen Nights said with a smile, "Walking on trees with your feet is only the first stage. There's an even harder one—walking on water."
"As long as you master these two techniques, whether it's the Three Body Technique, the Shadow Clone Technique, or even the Body Flicker Technique, none of them will be hard for you."
"C-Can I really learn them?" Hinata asked with a lack of confidence.
"Don't underestimate yourself. You're the heiress of the Hyūga clan."
Sixteen Nights patted Hinata on the shoulder and encouraged her, "Give it a try. Don't be afraid of falling—I'll catch you."
"If you fall too far behind me, I'm not going to wait for you."
That last sentence was spoken with a hint of teasing, like a joke.
Yet that single line made Hinata firm her resolve. She nodded vigorously. "Mm!"
She had already disappointed her father. She absolutely could not let Sixteen Nights down too—she didn't want to lose her only friend.
(End of Chapter)