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Chapter 49: First!
"Come on!"
"Ah ah ah ah ah!"
"Get down!"
The red glow of the setting sun filled the sky.
After school, the ninja academy was bustling as usual.
Just across the wall, outside was a peaceful and quiet street.
But inside, it was like an arena filled with the smell of sweat and blood.
Noisy and roaring sounds came from the school.
The venue, the audience, the passion, the fighting, all the elements that a gladiatorial arena should have were fully reflected in the training ground after school.
Those who stayed in the training ground after school were those who were willing to throw everything aside to fight in order to become ninjas, while those who avoided fighting and held back had already left school early.
Although there was a Chunin-level teacher always on standby nearby, ready to rescue at any time, a real battle was not something that could be easily stopped. Many real ninjas couldn't do it, let alone just a group of children.
Although it was stipulated that exploding tags and ninjutsu with lethal power couldn't be used, when real anger was ignited, it was still difficult to control one's behavior at this energetic age.
After entering the school, Ryosuke walked up to the high platform of the training ground with ease and looked down at the various training grounds below.
At first glance, his sight penetrated the crowd and saw Hinata, who looked extremely eye-catching and dazzling among a group of girls.
Cool and indifferent, her whole body exuded an aura of "no strangers allowed."
This was why Ryosuke was able to recognize Hinata at first sight among the densely packed crowd.
The girl had grown a lot during the time he was away. It seemed that because she had been disguised for too long, the cold feeling in her had completely integrated into her aura, and she gradually got used to showing this face to others.
Although the expression on her face and the posture of her body were resisting the crowd, there was an endless stream of girls surrounding her, like flowers vying for beauty, clustering around Hinata.
From time to time, someone would take the initiative to talk to Hinata and say something.
But her reaction was cold, and her lips only opened and closed once or twice.
Even more often than not, she would just ignore them, or might just say "hmm" or two in response, but Ryosuke was too far away to hear it.
"Have you become... the big sister?"
This strange scene found Ryosuke very interesting.
The girl looked completely different from what he had seen before, but the feeling was not bad. At least this cold attitude was much better than her previous timid look.
This kind of personality might be more suitable for survival in this ninja world.
Ryosuke was also more looking forward to Hinata's current fighting power.
Although due to the existence of chakra, the gender gap between men and women was not serious in the ninja world.
When at the same level, many powerful female ninjas were not inferior to male ones.
But in the school's training ground, this distinction was quite obvious.
Girls like Hinata gathered together for actual combat, while the boys also gathered in groups.
The two did not interfere with each other and rarely challenged each other.
Ryosuke gently jumped down from the platform and entered the training ground.
He began to walk towards the training ground with a stream as its environment where Hinata was.
Along the way, many classmates recognized Ryosuke and greeted him kindly, and he responded one by one.
Only Uchiha Sasuke still had that sour face. Even when he saw him, he didn't react at all when he nodded, pretending not to know him.
But I'm really not familiar with it.
Apart from Naruto who approached him actively, Ryosuke had never spoken to Uchiha Sasuke, who was the second most dangerous person in this elite class, and they had no interaction with each other.
Speaking of which, Naruto still hadn't shown up at the training grounds, and he still seemed out of place with the rest of the class.
"Hinata, are you really going to fight that Inuzuka Kiba tomorrow? That guy looks so fierce and it's obvious that he's not someone you'll want to mess with."
As soon as he walked into the group of girls, Ryosuke heard someone talking quietly to Hinata.
"I will win."
Hinata didn't say much. She just uttered four words calmly and didn't continue.
She looked pretty confident.
The smile on Ryosuke's face grew wider.
As for his approach, many girls recognized his identity and began to quietly remind Hinata.
Obviously, Ryosuke could feel that Hinata's body trembled after hearing the reminders from others around her.
She quickly turned her head, and the moment her eyes met his, the coldness on her face and the indifference in her eyes gradually faded away, and she became more spirited and radiant.
"Ryosuke..."
Blinking her eyes and looking at Ryosuke, Hinata walked out of the crowd, and the others tactfully made way for her.
"You're back."
The girl took steps with her short legs and came to him step by step.
The childish voice and tone of voice were the same as before, as if the cold and distant girl that Ryosuke had seen just now was just an illusion.
Her appearance surprised the others around her.
They all looked at the scene in front of them with disbelief.
"I just got back this afternoon. I thought you should be done with school, so I came to pick you up."
Ryosuke nodded and turned his attention to the group behind her, "You should be done here...right? It's almost time to go home for dinner. Hanabi missed you."
He asked hesitantly, not knowing what had happened in the past month.
But it seems that the girl who planned to take first place only in theoretical knowledge has also gained the courage to compete with others in actual competition, and seems to have performed well and is very popular in the training ground.
When he reminded her, Hinata suddenly remembered that her disguise seemed to have just been disconnected.
However, she did not panic as she did before at this scene. Instead, she calmly changed her expression in a few seconds. Then she turned her head and spoke calmly to her companions behind her.
"I'm leaving now. See you tomorrow."
"It seems that a lot has happened in this month."
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Walking on the way home with Hinata, this scene hasn't happened for a long time, and Ryosuke missed it very much.
"As a ninja, you can't be without practical experience." Hinata replied in a low voice, appearing very well-behaved.
"Indeed, it seems that you are quite popular. Your actual combat ranking should be high among your grade, right?" Ryosuke said with a chuckle, "But it's a pity that I didn't get to see you take action today."
"If it's a girls' group, I'll be first."
Although she tried very hard to maintain the pride in her tone, Hinata couldn't suppress the joy in her heart.
"First place? It looks like Hinata is working hard."
Ryosuke didn't hesitate to praise her, but he had expected this to happen.
As a member of a taijutsu family, she possesses taijutsu levels far beyond her peers.
Before we grow up, when we are all children, chakra amount is a common problem for most people.
As long as she can muster up the courage, she can easily defeat not only the girls but also some of the boys.
(End of this chapter)
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[ VISIT MY PATREON EXTRA CHAPTERS currently on chapter 83]
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