As it turned out, when it came to the same discipline, the gulf between an idiot and a genius was very, very real.
Mm, Hinata wasn't singling anyone out. She was simply stating a fact.
"Gyaaaah!"
That was the tenth time Naruto had let out that particular shriek. The reason was simple enough: every time Sasuke nailed him with a R.E.D. Kick and sent him sprawling, the blond let out a howl of pure reflex.
Hinata had only given them four moves—deceptively simple ones at that—yet after just two days of training, Sasuke had already mastered them with impressive fluency. He'd even started improvising variations. The most telling sign of his progress? Naruto could no longer rely on his stamina advantage to outlast Sasuke in a taijutsu duel.
"Hmph. Dead-last. With your level of mastery, beating me is out of the question."
Big talk aside, Sasuke was getting winded himself. True, he'd knocked Naruto down ten times in a row, but even punching a sandbag for that long would wear you out—and this particular sandbag was a hell of a lot tougher than most.
"Damn it... I'm not done yet!"
Bruised and swollen, Naruto gritted his teeth and tried to stand. But even a jinchūriki's stamina had its limits. After a few futile struggles, he flopped onto his back with a thud, spread-eagled on the ground.
Sasuke, who'd been holding his stance, let out a quiet breath of relief—then dropped to the ground himself with a heavy thump. He'd been pressing his advantage for roughly half an hour, but his reserves were running on fumes. If that dead-last got up again, Sasuke wasn't sure he had the energy for another round.
"Enough. That's it for today's technique practice. Sasuke, you've clearly reached a high level of proficiency. But Naruto—do you not understand how to use these moves, or have you simply not bothered to learn them?"
Sitting cross-legged atop a wooden training post, Hinata released her chakra-condensing hand seal. Her tone was blunt to the point of cruelty. "From where I'm sitting, you haven't used a single Sacred Fist technique. You're doing exactly what you always do—feeding your face to Sasuke's fists. Or is it that you think the Sacred Fist forms aren't worth your time?"
It was true. If Sasuke's technique mastery was polished, Naruto's was an outright disaster. He'd been passable at the start, but as the sparring wore on, his attacks devolved into pure chaos—the hallmark of someone who hadn't internalized the moves at all.
"Shut up! I practiced hard too! But in an actual fight, there's no time to use these moves!"
Fists clenched, Naruto shouted back, raw frustration burning in his eyes. He'd noticed the talent gap himself. In the same span of time, Sasuke had refined all four techniques to smooth proficiency, while Naruto still couldn't grasp their essence.
"Don't make excuses. If you know your talent falls short, then you should be working harder—not standing here whining at me."
Not an ounce of coddling. Hinata's white eyes carried a cold, surgical cruelty. "A genius can memorize a move in ten repetitions. An idiot needs a hundred—or a thousand. Since you're not a genius, I shouldn't have to spell out what that means. Dismissed."
Watching the three young ninja file away from the distant training field, Kakashi—hidden in the canopy of a large tree—pressed his fingers against his forehead. Hmm, how to put it? It wasn't exactly easy to say, but this Byakugan girl had a severity about her that snuffed out any thought of talking back. And from what he'd observed over the full day, those four taijutsu forms looked simple enough that anyone with a decent foundation could execute them. But it was precisely that accessibility that proved their practicality and foundational value. Master them, and you might not become a taijutsu expert—but at the very least, you'd never be easy prey in close-quarters combat.
Still, Naruto clearly wasn't a genius. If he wanted to catch up to Sasuke and Hinata, he'd have to put in considerably more effort.
As night fell, another peaceful day in the Hidden Leaf drew to a close. Stepping back onto the streets of Konoha, Hinata found herself in a surprisingly decent mood. All things considered, while her plans had hit a few bumps here and there, the overall trajectory was solidly upward.
The production crew was on track, with Shikamaru and the others now on board. She basically just had to be a hands-off manager and script planner—Kakashi and the rest were covertly protecting the crew, so security wasn't even a concern. She just had to sit back and collect her money.
Training was the same story. The Sacred Fist's core method and techniques had proven viable. Naruto was admittedly dense when it came to mastering the forms, but he was the hardworking type at heart. If he could learn the Rasengan and the Shadow Clone Jutsu—both A-rank techniques—overnight, there was no reason he couldn't pick up a few basic taijutsu moves. It was simply a matter of not applying himself yet.
However, even with things going well, Hinata still needed to round out the Sacred Fist system.
She'd adapted her techniques from the Kusanagi Style of Ancient Martial Arts found in arcade fighting games, but compared to the real Fist of the Kusanagi, the current version was missing its most critical element: elemental power infused into each strike.
In the games, the Fist of the Kusanagi let the user sheathe their fists in flame—even hurl fire at will. If she couldn't manifest flames on her fists, her version of the Kusanagi Style would forever be nothing more than flashy posturing.
In the Naruto world, the most common method for converting chakra into elemental force was through hand seals—transforming water-natured chakra into a Water Dragon Bullet Technique, or channeling lightning-natured chakra into Lightning Blade, for example. The process always required forming seals.
But Hinata obviously couldn't weave hand seals mid-combat. That would defeat the entire purpose—she'd invented the Sacred Fist specifically to bypass the seal requirement and deliver elemental damage instantly, chasing that split-second speed advantage.
In other words, she needed a method to convert chakra into elemental force without hand seals.
Just then, Hinata's feet stopped of their own accord. Beside her stood a brightly lit shop. Unlike most stores, its display cases were lined with shuriken, explosive tags, Fūma Shuriken, and various other ninja tools. The sign above the door was straightforward: Tenten Ninja Tools Shop.
Active-duty Konoha ninja all received equipment stipends, but they could still lose tools during training, and consumables needed regular restocking. A ninja tools shop in the village was nothing unusual.
The name "Tenten," however, made Hinata's brow twitch. She knew that name, of course—the rich-girl with the Chinese aesthetic from the original series. The manga had mentioned her family ran a ninja tools business. This was apparently one of their branches.
After a moment's thought, Hinata pushed open the shop door to see what this world's ninja tools had to offer.
"Welcome! How can I help you?"
A cheerful voice rang out from behind the counter. The speaker was a black-haired girl with her hair up in twin buns—unmistakably the Konoha genin Tenten that Hinata had been thinking of. When Tenten noticed Hinata's distinctive white eyes, surprise flickered across her face. "Oh, those eyes—you're from the Hyuga clan too?"
"Do you carry a full range here?"
Hinata ignored the small talk entirely and cut straight to the point. Tenten blinked at being brushed off, but recovered quickly. "Oh, yes! This is the most fully stocked ninja tools shop in the whole village. Is there something specific you're looking for?"
"...What I'm looking for..."
Scanning the shelves, Hinata's eyes narrowed. She was certain something had just clicked in the back of her mind—a hazy feeling, indistinct—and then her gaze swept over a pair of brass knuckles, and it hit her like lightning. "Right. Let me ask you something: is there any kind of ninja tool that can directly convert a ninja's chakra into its corresponding elemental form?"
"Huh? But the Hyuga clan's... ahem, yes, actually. Are you referring to chakra-conductive metal?"
Tenten studied the boldly dressed Byakugan girl before her. She'd instinctively wanted to make conversation, but one look at those cold white eyes and she swallowed her friendliness, slipping back into professional shopkeeper mode.
"Chakra-conductive metal? Go on."
Hearing her hunch confirmed, Hinata's interest sharpened. And then it all came flooding back. Yes! In this world, there absolutely was a ninja tool material that could convert chakra directly into its elemental form!
It was the metal used to forge Sarutobi Asuma's trench knives. Those blades could absorb Asuma's own wind-natured chakra and extend it into broad wind blades. Later, they'd even been shown to absorb Shikamaru's chakra—channeling it to pin down an enemy's shadow with the same unique effect.
"Well, there are different materials used to forge ninja tools, and chakra-conductive metal is one of the rarer, more precious varieties. You can think of it as a material that absorbs the user's chakra nature and directly manifests it... but you're not actually planning to buy something like that, are you?"
Tenten eyed the Byakugan girl doubtfully. As Neji's teammate, she knew a thing or two about the Hyuga's Gentle Fist—it shouldn't require this kind of tool. And this girl was just as cold and unapproachable as Neji.
"Heh. I want three pairs of gauntlets forged from this metal. Can your shop handle that?"
The obstruction in Hinata's mind shattered completely. She understood now—she'd found exactly what she needed to take the Sacred Fist to the next level.
Chakra-conductive properties. The ability to absorb chakra nature and manifest it directly. With gauntlets like those, they could absorb Hinata's fire-natured chakra and wreath her fists in flame mid-combat—creating the true Fist of the Kusanagi!
Of course. Now that she thought about it, in the fighting games, the heir to the Kusanagi Style always wore a pair of gloves emblazoned with a blazing sun crest.
"Wait, seriously? Those are really expensive, you know!"
Tenten's eyes went wide. As if to strengthen her argument, she leaned forward across the counter. "Let me put it this way—three pairs of gauntlets would cost at least a million ryō!"
"Money isn't an issue."
Leaning forward herself to meet Tenten's gaze at close range, Hinata's eyes softened with a hint of amusement. "I'm only asking: can your shop do the work?"
"Well... if... I mean, yes, we can handle it... but the material is extremely rare, so you'd be looking at about two weeks' lead time. And we'd need at least a third up front as deposit..."
Tenten swallowed hard. By now she'd guessed exactly who this free-spending Byakugan girl was. Around Neji's age, throwing money around like this—it had to be the legendary Hyuga heiress herself.
"I told you. If money can solve the problem, it isn't a problem."
Opening her wallet, Hinata briskly wrote out a Land of Fire check for three hundred thousand ryō and handed it to Tenten. That was the entirety of her current personal savings. As for the remaining six hundred thousand, she was confident she could earn it within the two-week window.
"Then... in that case, please rest assured. We'll have the finished product ready in two weeks. Just bring the remaining balance when you come to pick them up."
After verifying the check, Tenten gave her answer—still somewhat dazed by the sheer largesse. The Hyuga heiress, indeed. An amount like that, produced without batting an eye.
"Wonderful. I'll be waiting with the utmost patience and anticipation for these two weeks."
Clenching her fists with satisfaction, a glint of triumph flashed in Hinata's eyes. After all, what separated humans from beasts was humanity's talent for using tools.
It seemed that despite the revolting nature of her transmigration, the pleasures to be found in this world were growing more numerous by the day.