December 21st, Year 54 of Konoha.
Unknowingly, the second semester had already ended.
This semester, all the first-year students had undergone very obvious transformations.
In the first semester, they only had cultural and physical education classes, without any real combat experience — they were no different from before they enrolled.
The second semester added taijutsu sparring, allowing them to grow through pain and shed some of their immaturity.
However, there was also a side effect: some students learned to use violence to solve problems.
Fights breaking out at the slightest disagreement, brawls, and even bullying classmates — incidents like these often happened.
More importantly, the teachers and school didn't stop it.
Obviously, in their eyes, cowards didn't deserve to be ninjas.
Rather than letting them die on missions after graduation, it was better for them to be bullied now and choose to drop out to live as ordinary people.
Thus, in every grade and class, there were incidents where underachievers tried to bully the top students.
Like Uchiha Itachi back then, like Hyuga Neji, like Uchiha Sasuke…
They had something in common: they were handsome geniuses, cold in personality, and very popular with girls.
But despite being so popular, they didn't like joining or forming cliques. Whether with boys or girls, they looked indifferent and disdainful.
This lone wolf attitude made many boys dislike them and want to teach them a hard lesson.
Unfortunately, all such bullying attempts ended in failure, and often, the bullies got beaten up instead.
Getting beaten up was one thing, but so many people failing to defeat one person — that was utterly shameful.
Afterward, they would even get bullied by the support teams of the victims, shunned by girls in their class and grade, and even targeted by anti-bullying actions from upperclassmen.
Because of this, their resentment toward these stars grew even deeper, and they even held grudges against people of the same clan.
For example, on this snowy day—
After waiting for the snow to stop, Hinata, who now had the freedom to go out without needing Izayoi to turn into Yamanaka Ino to invite her, immediately ran out of her clan's compound to their usual meeting place.
Hinata was wearing a white snowman outfit, a red scarf around her neck, looking round and adorable.
Over more than half a year, under Izayoi's suggestion, she had deliberately let her hair grow longer — now it was shoulder-length.
She tied her hair into twin tails, planning to change styles once it grew down to her waist.
Her cute little face was full of baby fat, and her cheeks were slightly red from the cold, making people want to reach out and pinch her.
To avoid being noticed, Hinata didn't knock on Izayoi's house door. Instead, she went to the empty lot outside the Ninja Academy to wait — this had become a tacit understanding between them.
"Is that guy a relative of Neji?"
"White eyes, it can't be wrong."
"Let's go teach her a lesson!"
While Hinata was waiting, a few boys' voices suddenly reached her ears.
When she turned her head, three boys, who looked one or two years older than her, were running over, surrounding her.
Their faces all carried bad-intentioned smiles.
"Umm… do you need something?"
Hinata asked gently.
Her voice was very soft, but if you looked closely, you'd see she wasn't bowing her head — she was just looking at the three boys with confusion.
"Those eyes are so annoying, just like that Neji guy!"
Looking at Hinata's eyes, one boy seemed to remember something unpleasant and shouted loudly, "You white-eyed freak, what are you looking at? Don't you know you've offended me? Get down on your knees and apologize!"
Hinata tilted her head slightly, a little confused.
But hearing her cousin's name, she still asked, puzzled, "Are you friends of Neji-nii-san?"
"Who's friends with that guy?!"
Another boy immediately shouted, "We're his enemies!"
"Kneel down now, loudly say sorry, and apologize in his place — or else we'll beat you up!"
The last boy reached out, trying to press down on Hinata's shoulder, wanting to force her to kneel and humiliate her.
Seeing the boy's approaching hand, Hinata's expression suddenly changed. She raised her gloved hand and extended her index and middle fingers, thrusting them forward at incredible speed, striking the boy's chest.
"Ah…"
Even through the thick winter clothes, Hinata's fingers, like silver needles, pierced right through, making the boy cry out miserably and fall to the ground.
Hinata then struck the other two boys in the same way, with equally fast moves.
They also cried out and sat on the ground.
"Ouch, it hurts so much, waaah…"
They kept rubbing their chests, but the pain from the outside to the inside showed no sign of relief.
Looking at Hinata standing there, they seemed to see a shadow of Hyuga Neji — powerful and towering.
Immediately, they burst into tears and scrambled away, fleeing in panic.
Hinata tilted her head again in confusion.
She hadn't even injected chakra — how did they cry like that?
With this level of strength, were they really Neji-nii-san's enemies?
Clap, clap, clap…
At this moment, clapping sounds came to her ears.
Following the direction of the sound, Hinata's face instantly lit up with a happy smile.
"Izayoi-kun, you're here."
"Hinata, you looked really cool just now."
Izayoi, also wearing a white snowman outfit, walked over, giving Hinata a thumbs up, and said, "When facing people with bad intentions, you should strike decisively like that. Otherwise, they'll only get worse, even turning bullying into a habit."
"Mm-hmm…"
Hinata nodded repeatedly, very obediently.
Looking at her like this, Izayoi's heart was filled with a sense of accomplishment.
In the original story, Hinata had been bullied many times by kids her age.
As the heiress of a prestigious clan, she had actually been bullied by some commoner boys — an utterly ridiculous situation.
Even more ridiculous was that Hinata had already started learning Gentle Fist back then.
Yet she could still be bullied into crying — obviously a personality problem.
But now, Hinata was the one making the bullies cry.
It showed that Izayoi's "reformation" was very successful.
After countless training sessions, her personality was no longer timid and cowardly.
Instead, she had become determined and strong, unwilling to give up easily.
She was still kind, but she would no longer sacrifice herself just to spare others.
She would act decisively and counterattack instinctively.
Unlike the delinquent queen version in Infinite Tsukuyomi, this Hinata was gentle on the outside, strong on the inside.
In just half a year, Hinata had changed so much — of course Izayoi felt proud.
Fortunately, they started reforming her early.
If they had waited until Hyuga Hiashi and Hyuga Neji broke Hinata's spirit, it would have been much harder to fix.
Hyuga Hiashi must be very grateful to Izayoi.
Giving Hinata the special privilege of free movement was the best reward.
"Let's go, let's train."
"Mm!"
The two kids in white snowman outfits headed toward the abandoned training ground.