Because of the fight Dix handled he was given an official reprimand as a formality, but in reality anyone he met looked at him with some amounts of respect. He was able to beat four bullies that were two years above him, without breaking a sweat at that. For the other students, and even the teachers, this was eye-opening. Even though it was a fight, something nobody liked, because of it word of Dix's strength still spread in the whole Academy. In his class he was the hero everyone liked.
There were many comparisons between him and Sasuke, as the latter was the 'prodigy of the Uchiha clan', which actually died out, so he wasn't some sort of 'young master' anymore. Still the girls seemed to like his stoic, cold and quiet demeanor. Soon the class broke into two camps, one which favored Sasuke and one that favored Dix. Neither of them wanted the attention, but was swept up by their classmates' enthusiasm. The class was turned into two halves, the side near the windows was Sasuke's territory, while the door and everything near it was Dix's kingdom.
Soon it was time for the class to finish its first year in school. Everyone had to take a written test and would have to repeat the year if they failed. It was only history and math and some other stuff. It was a walk in the park for Dix, and could be considered easy for most children, but many of them were quite worried about it. A few even managed to fail and had to drop a year. Dix was in the same room at the test as one of the failing students, who had a mental breakdown at the pressure that wasn't actually there. Dix was quite amused at the sight, and almost laughed out loud when the kid rushed out of the room, but knew it would've been extremely inappropriate, so he just kept to himself.
After the year ending tests there were two months of summer break. Dix had time to polish his skills and continue learning the five nature transformations. He was already done with wind, fire and was close to finishing lightning. Only water and earth was left. Next to mastering an element he would also learn as many jutsus and techniques as possible related to it. Also he wanted to keep his relationships going, so he hanged out quite a lot with Shikamaru and Choji, also Kiba joined them sometimes, even though he was hyper-competitive. Dix wouldn't let him beat him in any contest, so he was a constant challenge and reason for improve for Kiba.
Next to this he would sometimes hang around with Hinata, sometimes with others, and sometimes just alone. It was something like a 'date', but she was only 9 years old, which was a huge problem for Dix. He was a bit interested in her, but she was soooo young. And Dix is not a pedo for sure. He even hated the idea. He decided to temporary take on the role of 'older brother', so it wouldn't get awkward nor questionable.
He spent a lot of time with his classmates so he slowed down a bit with his training, while he also kept on sending out clones to fight criminals in the region. There were really few of them by then, as Dix kept roaming everywhere possible and would track down criminals and camps to the end of the world. This meant he had around 500 clones out of the village near the woods and all around the region overall. That is a huge number, and is probably more than the actual army of some of the nations without a Ninja Village.
Having 500 or more clones going for years was a bit scary for him though. So many clones running at once would mean his experiences keep stacking and stacking, and maybe sooner or later his brain would hit its limit. He was afraid that soon his memories and knowledge would get replaced. He was anxious, but still, unless he encounters this problem, he had no other choice but to push forward with everything he had. He was growing with extreme speeds, which didn't seem to stop anytime soon. Actually, even though most people would experience a sharp drop in growth speed as they reach higher and higher skill levels, because of the clones, he was able to keep the growth fairly linear, or even a bit better.
Dix decided, in order not to restrict his growth, after finishing the nature transformation training he would start going after the Flying Thunder God Technique. He calculated that this will take around 4 months, and he would have to approach the Third at the half of the school year, in the winter. At that time it was still summer, so he had a ton of waiting left for him.
Time flew by, soon the summer ended, and the kids had to return to school. Some were despairing at the idea that their freedom is taken once again, while others would be happy to be in class with their friends once again. This time, because they were already in their second year, they didn't have to attend any ceremony. Instead they were just told at the last day of their first year the date when they were supposed to return, and would have no obligation to do anything else. Everyone showed up in the same class they were in last year. The room was full of noise of happy and cheerful chatter, until Iruka showed up. The real party-pooper. Obviously he was doing his job, so whatever. He held a few homeroom classes, then let everyone home. Just as the last year, real studies will start the next day.
Nothing really happened throughout that half year. Dix was still the 'second cool guy' of the class, even though he hasn't done anything remarkable after the bully-incident, except for acing every test there was. He wanted to trash some other bullies though, it was always fun. But none of them showed up for some reason. He had no idea why.
Weeks and then months went by in the blink of an eye, soon it turned cold and the trees let go of their leaves. It was beautifully colorful. As time kept moving and Dix kept juggling his training and friends, he barely noticed its passage and he was glad for this. Training was kinda boring, even though every element he learned were fundamentally different and offered a different challenge every time. It was really hard to find combat experience, as Dix already killed most criminals, and new ones were heavily deterred by the rumors going around of the Grim Reaper in underground circles. Even though he was the one responsible for cracking down most of the criminal activity in the area, nobody knew about it, because his tactics regarding keeping his identity a secret were working really well. Actually no one lived to tell the tale of any of his ambushes.
Dix was still knee-deep in earth transformation when the first snowstorms swept trough the village and was worried, because he had felt like he was behind schedule, even though he was still growing at a monstrous rate.
With growth mentioned, Dix was surprised to see that because he was the 'leader' of one of the two camps in the class and because he had visibly favorable attitude towards Hinata, she was approached by others next to him too. This made her practice speaking and socializing, something she was pretty bad at. Slowly but surely her severely timid nature started to change for the better. Dix was happy for her and cheered her on with anything he could. Sometimes he even helped with her ninja training, even though he could only teach her basic hand-to-hand combat and throwing kunais, as his clan used a special set of techniques that are only usable with their Byakugans. Something Dix had nothing to do with. But he had something he could definitely could do for her.
"How could I ever be as strong as you?" she asked one day during their training, with a bit of sadness mixed in her voice. Dix just looked into her eyes with a confused look and answered.
"Haha, don't worry, you are already plenty strong. Even though you might seem weak for now, just keep trying. Don't try to rush it so much, its not something you should be worrying over. Just keep going and don't look back. Always strive to be better then who you were the day before, and push your limits to the very end. That way, one day you might get even stronger than me. Just stay strong and keep believing yourself. I will believe you too."
During his monologue he put his hand on her shoulder and kept staring into her eye. This made Hinata severely blush once again, as it did every single time Dix would get a bit too intimate with her. But she didn't mind it. She was happy for sure. But right then and there, another small thought crept itself into her mind.
"Why... why are you so nice to me?" she asked with expectant eyes. Dix wasn't expecting a question like this, so he froze for a second, then thought for a few seconds while scratching the back of his head.
"Well, I'm not too sure myself. I think because I believe that this is the right thing to do." he said as he looked away like he was shameful he can't give a proper answer. Hearing this Hinata couldn't really do much with herself, so she just stepped closer and hugged him around his waist and buried her face into his chest. Even though girls were supposed to grow faster then boys when they are young, still, Hinata was a head shorter than him. Dix was surprised by her actions once again, but just went with the flow and hugged her back. She had an emotional moment, and Dix didn't want to disrupt it.
"Thank you... thank you so much, for everything you have done for me..."