"So? What were you two talking about before I showed up?" Ino asked while her fingers and brush still worked on Ren's hair, her grin widening when she saw Hinata blushing and averting her gaze. She was smelling a good rumor and she was ready to pounce.
Unfortunately for her, Ren had other plans.
"It's good that you came." He spoke, getting the attention of the two girls, "I was thinking about having you two consider what you want to specialize in when it comes to your combat capabilities. We will branch your training once you make up your mind."
"What? More training?" Ino whined, "Nooo. We are training enough as is. Hinata, quickly change the topic!"
Hinata just snorted at her and looked at Ren in curiosity, "What do you think I should specialize in?"
Hearing her, Ino huffed and petulantly pouted but also reluctantly spoke, "What she said. Gimme some ideas. Preferably something that will go great with my hair." She gently poked Ren's head with a finger.
Rolling his eyes, Ren unsealed two chakra papers from the seal on his wrist and put them on the table. "Let's see what chakra nature you two have first, I guess."
Hinata reached for one of them but stopped when Ino spoke, "Don't bother. Mine is Earth. Dad tested me when I was like ten or so." She then smirked at Hinata, "How come the Hyuga princess doesn't even know her chakra nature?"
"Practicing elemental ninjutsu is beneath the Hyuga clan." Hinata dismissively said, but her eyes betrayed her excitement as she grabbed one chakra paper and pushed her chakra into it, making it crinkle up.
"Lightning, huh? Heh. I am your counter." Ino cheerily grinned at Hinata with an eye-smile, "Shucks."
"I can still punch your teeth in." Hinata nonchalantly shrugged, making Ino scowl.
"Alright Ino, that is enough." Ren patted the girl's wrist, a bit reluctantly signaling her to stop playing with his hair and motioning her to sit behind the table.
"Thank you." He threw her a grateful and fond smile, making the blonde return it with a barely visible blush as she sat down.
Honestly, he didn't know if she did a good job or if his hair looked worse than after being hit by a lightning jutsu. But he didn't care right now.
Specialization was a serious business that was going to affect their whole life. Every single ninja in existence specializes in a few things.
Itachi had his Mangekyo and genjutsu. Sasori had his puppets. Orochimaru is a freak of nature. Kisame likes fishy swords. Deidara is a terrorist. Even Sarutobi, the Professor, specialized in ninjutsu.
Every single notable ninja had a clear skill set containing one or two ninja fields they heavily focused on.
This was not something told to kids at the academy. They were supposed to figure it out for themselves but Ren thought the whole practice stupid.
Many genin did not understand this. They tried to learn everything at once, ending up not learning anything at all, or learning many things half-heartedly, which didn't help them much.
A person needed direction. Ninja fields were very broad subjects. There was too much to learn and learning techniques took a lot of time and dedication. It wasn't something where one could just dabble in everything and expect to become strong.
That's not how it worked.
For example, ninjutsu specialists specialized in ninjutsu, but they also specialized in one, maybe two elements. They could spend their whole lives perfecting their elemental chakra control in said elements and learning corresponding elemental techniques.
And most still didn't manage to reach mastery.
Even with Byakugan, Ren doubted that Hinata would get to the second stage of lightning exercises before a half-year was up.
In the anime, Naruto breezed through most of his training. Tree-walking? Week. Rasengan? Month. Wind chakra control? Was it a week? Or a month? And he got Rasenshuriken for free out of that deal. Senjutsu? Pff, another month at worst.
The kid learned in a month things others needed their whole lifetime to figure out. He was a hax character through and through.
"I think Hinata should lean on her Byakugan advantages and specialize in medical and lightning ninjutsu. Hmm..." Ren rubbed his chin.
"I think I will teach you how to apply exploding seals on weaponry with just your chakra. It shouldn't take long with your Byakugan even if you are a novice at the sealing arts." He continued.
He wasn't going to teach her the sealing arts. Her family would definitely not appreciate it. But making her capable of applying one type of seal should be no problem. Her eyes will help immensely in that endeavor too.
"And then I will have you learn how to throw senbon. You could massively enhance throwing speed and range with lightning chakra and with your Byakugan, aiming should not be a problem even if the target is kilometers away."
"That... sounds kinda terrifying, to be honest." Hinata admitted, not knowing how to react. It sounded like a very dangerous skill set to have. She honestly never thought about using her Byakugan for long-range attacks. It wasn't something her clan did.
But clearly, her teacher had other ideas.
"It will take a lot of effort and time to make it as good as it sounds. You up for it?" Ren asked with a challenging smile, making Hinata bashfully nod.
"If you do well, I will give you a storage seal like this," Ren pushed chakra into his wrist and made the storage seal tattooed there to appear on his skin, "and fill it with senbon. I'd like you to be able to unseal a senbon, apply the exploding seal, apply lightning chakra, and throw it, all within a split second."
Now, technically, mastering this would make Hinata a jonin-level combatant as long as her body was up to par in physical prowess. But the gravity seals would ensure that.
Hinata was raised in a ninja household and she understood just how deadly the combo Ren was speaking about could be.
A pleased smile appeared on her face as she spoke, "You were not joking when you said you were going to help me. I," She took a deep breath, "I will do my best!"
"Of course." Ren nodded, glad she seemed so determined. They had three years to make her strong enough that the Hyuga elders would crap their pants just by thinking about putting that slavery seal on her.
Ren was going to make it into reality.
"Hey! What about me?" Ino grumpily butted in and looking at her Ren remembered the little assignment he gave the girls.
"Before that, why don't you two show me what is your progress with the hair techniques?" He hurriedly changed the topic, inwardly worrying he would again forget if he didn't bring it up now.
Not to mention, it gave him a few precious minutes before he had to tell Ino he had no freaking idea what she should specialize in.
Well, that was false. He did have ideas. Just nothing as fleshed out as Hinata's future path. And then there was the whole conversation about gravity seals and the requirements to apply them on her... yeah, Ren was happy to delay it, even if only for a few more minutes.
The girls exchanged challenging looks and Hinata jumped the gun first as her hair suddenly grew, reaching her lower back while the bangs falling around her face reached her stomach.
Unfortunately, the bangs previously covering her forehead also grew, now covering her whole face, making Ren laugh at her as she groaned in frustration from behind the curtain of her hair.
"Well, it's not a problem. It was just a week. You will get better control with more practice. Good job." He tried to comfort her but his snickering was probably not helping. Nor did Ino's unceasing giggling.
Scowling, Hinata quickly retracted her hair, ending in the same hairstyle she had before. She clearly practiced getting her hair to its previous state a lot because Ren could not see a difference from before.
Giving her a nod of acknowledgment, Hinata grinned as Ren turned to Ino who smugly smirked.
Her blond hair shrunk into a hairstyle reminiscent of Samui as she tried to imitate Hinata's hair. Then Ino took out a rubber ball from her handbag and threw it behind herself. Her hair instantly grew toward it as it became more rigid and sharp, skewering the ball.
The tendril of her hair skewering the ball twisted in the air and grew some more, bringing the deflated remainder of the ball back on the table before retracting and becoming silky smooth again. Ino then rearranged her hair into its previous length and had it style itself into a ponytail on its own.
She wasn't done showing off as her ponytail grew again and started putting a serving of curry on her plate. Once done, it retracted again and she dug in, innocently looking at Ren with a clear, 'praise me!' expression as she ate.
Ren was a bit speechless. The girl had surpassed him when it came to the control of her hair with chakra. He couldn't help but give her applause, which made her expression even more smug as she now condescendingly gazed at the scowling Hinata.
But... just this once, Ren let it be. Ino deserved the praise.
---
Author Note:
Oh my god! I made a mistake! I wonder how many people will notice?
Yes, it was pointed out to me that lightning beats earth. So, just take it as Ino being a kid who hadn't graduated from the academy and hadn't trained in elemental jutsu yet. She was just wrong. Happens to the best of us. I would know.
Feel free to leave a scathing comment about how this author knows nothing about Narutovers if you absolutely must. Lol.