Helping Hinata

Since I have an hour of free time, I decided to stop by the training grounds and see how Naruto is doing. Ever since he got beat by Susake again, he always goes there to train after school even when I'm not there. When I got there, I was surprised to find Hinata there too.

Naruto sees me and yells "Hiro-niisan! I didn't think I'll see you again today." Naruto ran over to give me a hug.

"I have some free time so I came over to check on you," I told Naruto as we broke out of the hug.

"What about your team?" He asks

"I'll see them again in an hour." I turn to Hinata. "I didn't think I'll see you here Hinata."

"Umm… w-well… I-I…" Her face flushed redder and redder as she tries to explain why she's here. She's probably here to spy on Naruto again under the guise of training.

"Oh! I know. Why don't we have a spar Hinata." I said seemingly out of nowhere. I have an idea I to help Hinata get over her fighting problem. I just have to spar with her to see if it'll work.

"Let's go," I said grabbing her along, not giving her the chance to refuse.

"Hey! What about me? I want to spar too." Naruto complains as he follows us.

"We spar almost every day and I want to see how good Hinata is. I'll spar with you afterward if you want."

"Really?! Alright! This time I'm going to beat you for sure." Naruto declared.

"We'll see about that later. For now," I stop in the middle of a clearing and let go of Hinata's hand. By now she's used to me pulling her wherever I wanted so it doesn't get to her anymore but she's still red from before and from Naruto watching us nearby.

"Umm...Hiro-kun, I…" I stopped her with a raised hand.

"We never get to that spar that we were going to do almost a year ago. Now that I'm a Genin, I won't have much free time in the future so I want us to do it now."

"A-alright," she says after a while, she couldn't come up with an excuse so she got her clan's signature stance.

[Hinata relationship -1 for making her spar.]

I close the screen with a swipe. If I can help her with her problems, a little lost of relationship points doesn't matter.

"As I said before, I'm only going to defend at the start so you can come at me with all you got. Ready when you are." I got into a basic stance.

"Byakugan" I hear Hinata said as she ran at me. It surprised me a little that she doesn't need to wave hand seals like she did in the Chunin Exam and activate it with only one hand seal. I didn't let the surprised to get me though as I dodge or deflect her blows.

As she tries to hit my stomach with her palm, I caught it and sigh. I know she tends to hold back in fights because she doesn't want to hurt people but she's not even using half her power. Then there's also the fact that she seems to hesitate between moves making her slower than she should be.

"Hinata," I said sternly, stopping the fight.

She flitch, "Y-yes?!"

"Why are you holding back?" I ask

"I-I…"

It doesn't look like she'll find an excuse so I interrupt her. "*Sigh. Hinata, do you know what your family's Taijutsu is called?"

"Gentle Fist?" She answered in more of a questioning tone than an answer.

I nodded, "Yes, it's called the Gentle Fist. Do you know why it's called that?"

"Umm…" She thinks about the question for a while before she honestly answers, "I-I never really thought about it."

"The Gentle Fist is named so because unlike other fighting styles, it's not used just to hurt or killed the enemies but can also be used to disable their fighting power instead." I'm just BSing right now but it should still be part of the reason why the technique was created.

"Once you trained it to its high level, you'll be able to end a fight in just a couple of moves while making sure no one gets hurt but if you hold back like you just did, not only will it prolong the fight, it'll also give more chances for not just your opponents to hurt you but for you to actually hurt them by accident as well," I make sure to see if she gets it before continuing, "Now, if you understand, I want you to come at me with all you got."

She looked down and seems to be thinking to herself so I waited. After a minute or so, she finally looks back up at me and said with a little resolve, "I think I understand. I'll try and use all my strength."

I give her a bright smile and got ready.

"Come," I told her. She instantly rushes at me, noticeably faster than before. Even if she's faster, I'm almost a rank faster and more than a rank stronger than her so I'm still able to deflect her blows.

Unlike before though, she shows less hesitation between her moves and is able to connect them faster and smoother. Still, years of doing holding back made it a habit so she slowed every once in a while. She'll have to train hard to get rid of those habits completely.

Since I was distracted analyzing her, I wasn't paying much attention to the fight. Before I notice it, Hinata manages to slip past my defense and hit a tenketsu on my right shoulder, disabling my right arm. The pain it brings, snapped me out of my thoughts as I jump back to avoid any further blows.

I thought she'll use that chance to come after me but when I look back at her, I can only see her looking worried. She quickly runs over but it doesn't look like she's going to fight.

"H-Hiro-kun, are you ok?" She asks as she looked at my arm.

I smiled at her to calm her down a little, "I'm alright." I told her as I brought my left hand over the tenketsu she hits. With Eidetic Memory, I remember the exact place she hit and using my superior chakra control and reserve, I was able to easily get rid of the blockage.

"See," I move my arm around to show her that it's alright.

Hinata looks surprised, "I never saw anyone besides the Hyuga remove the effect of the Gentle Fist before."

"Don't be so surprised. Anyone with a good enough chakra control can release it. They only need to know where their tenketsu is located to do so." I explained, "That's why after you seal or disrupt a tenketsu, you shouldn't give your opponent a break and quickly finish the fight. If you have come after me, you could've beat me because I'll be fighting at half power without an arm."

"But wouldn't that be unfair to you? You were only defending after all." She asks

"Yes, but you should take any advantage you got. Keep in mind that the more advantage you have, the faster you can end a fight, therefore, the fewer chances of someone getting hurt."

She thought about it for a while before she gives a nod and said, "I think I got it."

[Hinata relationship +1 for helping her]

"Great job in the fight by the way. You are a talented kunoichi. If you keep it up, you might even be able to end fights before she starts."

She blushed at the compliment, "I-I'm not that talented…" she said in a low voice.

"Hinata. You are a very talented girl. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise." I said seriously making sure she knows because it'll help boost her confidence and also because it's true.

"Alright! My turn!" Naruto said from the side… I forgot that he was here too. Hinata also seems to have forgotten because she blushed harder when she notices him.

I looked at the sun and saw that I had already been here for more than half an hour. Something I learned to do since there are no watches here.

"Sorry Naruto, we'll do it next time." I rub his hair. If I spar with Naruto now, It'll take longer than half an hour and I'll be too tired for Guy's test.

"What?! But you said you'll spar with me after Hinata." Naruto complained

"I know but I'll have to meet up with my team shortly. How about I take you to Ichiraku later to celebrate my graduation." I try to appease him.

Naruto pout but still agree, "Alright but only because it's Ichiraku."

I smile and rub his hair again, "See you later Naruto." I turn to Hinata, "You too Hinata. I won't be able to talk to you at school anymore so if you want to meet me, just come here with Naruto. I'll be here at least a few times a week."

I was going to leave but I remember something, "Oh, and Hinata. Fate CAN be changed. I managed to beat Neji as Shinobi of the Year." I told her before disappearing ninja style.