On the streets of Konoha, Kakashi Hatake, who had just finished teaching Team 7, was walking with drooping eyelids, preparing for his daily routine visit to the Memorial Stone.
Turning a street corner, he happened to run into Kurenai Yuhi.
"Yo."
Kakashi raised a hand lazily in greeting.
"Kakashi."
Kurenai responded with a smile, then noticed that Kakashi didn't look very optimistic.
"It looks like things aren't going very smoothly on your end?"
Kakashi sighed, looking up at the sky with dead-fish eyes.
"Ah... something like that. None of them are easy to handle."
Kurenai was stunned for a moment, then covered her mouth and chuckled.
Kakashi shrugged helplessly, then as if suddenly remembering something, his tone became a bit more serious.
"Speaking of which, Kurenai, Hinata Hyuga from your Team 8... where was she around the time our Team 7's assessment was halfway through?"
Kurenai Yuhi was somewhat puzzled.
"Hmm? That girl Hinata? She's excellent and passed very early on. She probably went back to rest. Why do you ask?"
Kakashi rubbed his chin, his single eye narrowing slightly.
"It's nothing, just... I thought I saw her in a tree near the training ground. I thought she was doing some reconnaissance training, but was she just there to watch the show?"
"Hinata?"
Kurenai was even more surprised.
"She went to watch your assessment?"
She recalled Hinata's performance from yesterday.
"Well... if it's her, she might really be able to avoid your senses and observe from a distance..."
Kakashi nodded.
"That girl is not simple. I'm afraid she far exceeds the average member of the Hyuga Clan..."
He paused.
"In any case, keep a close eye on her."
Kurenai's expression also became more serious.
"I understand. The Hokage personally instructed me. When I conducted the preliminary assessment for them yesterday, Hinata's performance was very much beyond my expectations. She saw through and broke my Tree Binding Death almost effortlessly."
"Oh?"
Kakashi became interested.
"Tell me in detail?"
Kurenai briefly recounted how Hinata had easily avoided the vines yesterday, precisely broke the genjutsu, and saved Shino and Kiba.
After Kakashi finished listening, he was silent for a moment. No wonder she passed so early; there really wasn't much to test. Just breaking her genjutsu was worth praising.
Among the Genin of this batch, there really were hidden dragons and crouching tigers: the Uchiha Genius, the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki, and now an unfathomable Hyuga Young Miss... "Kurenai, it seems your burden is not light either."
Kurenai Yuhi took a deep breath and nodded.
"I know. I will guide them well, especially Hinata."
Her curiosity and level of importance toward Hinata rose another Rank in her heart.
The two exchanged a few more words about their experiences guiding rookies, then parted ways, walking in different directions.
As Kakashi walked, he recalled the scenes of his contact with Hinata and shook his head helplessly.
After watching Team 7's chaotic bell-snatching test and gaining 888 points for free, Hinata returned to her own courtyard in the Hyuga Clan Compound contentedly to continue studying the Shadow Clone.
She didn't try to form hand seals immediately, but first repeatedly deduced and analyzed the core principles of this jutsu in her Sea of Consciousness.
With her powerful Divine Sense from the Foundation Establishment Stage and her deep understanding of the nature of energy, she soon gained insight into the mysteries of this jutsu.
Through special Chakra distribution and spiritual imprints, one could create physical Clones with independent action and thinking abilities. After the Clone dissipated, its experiences, fatigue, and Cultivate results would be fed back to the main body.
She wanted to improve it, replacing the Chakra flow routes with meridian cycles that better suited her own Spiritual Energy characteristics, and converting the core driving energy from Chakra to the purer and more active Spiritual Energy of the Foundation Establishment Stage.
Hinata took a deep breath and began to form hand seals. Her movements were not fast, but every seal was incredibly precise. The Spiritual Energy in her body flowed and divided slowly according to the new route she had deduced.
"Multiple Shadow Clones!"
As she shouted in a low voice, a burst of white mist—more solid than a normal Clone Jutsu and carrying a faint spiritual light—flashed, and two figures identical to Hinata's main body appeared before her.
These two spiritual bodies had lively eyes. Their auras were connected to the original yet relatively independent, and one could even feel faint Spiritual Energy being absorbed by them on its own.
"It's a success!"
A flash of joy appeared in Hinata's eyes.
"Begin."
Hinata gave the command.
One of the Clones immediately walked to the side, sat down cross-legged, and began to circulate the Basic Qi Introduction Art, attempting to condense and purify Spiritual Energy.
The other began to polish Taijutsu techniques and fine control over Spiritual Energy.
After a period of time, Hinata dispelled the Clones.
She felt the experience and insights returning from the Clones.
"It really works!"
Hinata was excited. Although the feeling of fatigue would also stack, compared to the rapid accumulation of Cultivate results, this small burden was completely acceptable.
She immediately used Multiple Shadow Clones again to start her Cultivate.
Two hours later.
*Poof* *Poof*
With two soft sounds, the Clones turned into white mist and disappeared.
In the next moment, Cultivate insights, more refined control experience over Spiritual Energy, and a not-too-intense sense of fatigue flooded into Hinata's main body's consciousness and body like a tide.
She closed her eyes to digest for a moment. When she opened them again, a sharp light flashed and vanished in her eyes.
She could clearly feel that this was almost equivalent to nearly half a day of her usual hard work! Moreover, because what was fed back were the most direct insights and experiences, her Foundation was actually even more solid.
"As long as I control the number of Clones and the Cultivate time to avoid mental exhaustion and excessive fatigue of the Physical Body, this is simply a Cultivate accelerator!"
No wonder Naruto's training speed is so fast. Who wouldn't be fast with this?
...The next day, at Team 8's meeting point.
Kurenai Yuhi appeared on time. Seeing everyone full of energy, she nodded with satisfaction.
"Very good. Starting today, we will execute our first mission."
Kurenai took out a mission scroll.
"D-Rank mission: clear the accumulated fallen leaves and debris from the riverbed on the east side of Training Ground 3."
As soon as Kiba heard it, he immediately wilted.
"Huh? Cleaning the river? Isn't that a job for a janitor?"
The Ninja missions he imagined were supposed to be more exciting and cool.
Shino pushed his sunglasses and analyzed calmly.
"Cleaning the river can train patience and observation of details. It is not entirely without value."
Hinata's heart remained unruffled.
[As expected, the starting point for a Genin is all this trivial stuff. Whatever, I'll just treat it as experiencing life and earning some pocket money.]
Kurenai explained.
"Don't underestimate D-Rank missions. This is the basis for accumulating experience and becoming familiar with teammate cooperation. You must also remain vigilant when executing missions; no one can predict if there will be an unexpected situation. Now, let's head out."
Arriving at the mission site and seeing the riverbed piled with dead branches and leaves, looking somewhat murky, Kiba sighed. But he still rolled up his sleeves, jumped down with Akamaru, and began to clear it vigorously with a rake.
Shino stood on the bank, controlling a small swarm of insects to crawl into crevices and corners to clear the small debris that tools had difficulty reaching. His efficiency was surprisingly not low.
Hinata rolled up her pant legs, walked lightly into the riverbed, and carefully cleaned it, treating it as a way to Cultivate her character.
When the day's labor ended, the riverbed had returned to being tidy. When they delivered the mission, the villager who posted it looked at the riverbed as clean as new—especially since even the hard-to-clean corners were spotless—and praised them repeatedly, even giving a little extra reward.
On the way back, although Kiba was exhausted and covered in mud spots, looking at the clean riverbed and the reward in hand, he seemed to feel a bit of a sense of achievement from completing the mission.
Shino remained silent, but the look behind his sunglasses seemed a bit softer.
Hinata still looked the same, as if she wasn't tired at all.
This was her first day in her career as a Ninja.
But for Hinata, this was just a small segment of time on her long path of immortal cultivation.