Chapter 320: Hinata's Wish
For the next few days, the two didn't seriously look for the cat, but they still used the mission as a cover, running to the Daimyo's residence whenever they had an excuse.
Unfortunately, after several consecutive days, they didn't even see a shadow of the Daimyo.
Ino wanted Hinata to use her Byakugan, but the Daimyo's residence had a sealing barrier to prevent peeping. After looking for a long time, all she saw was a blank space.
The two had no choice but to wait for an opportunity.
The capital was not peaceful. A conspicuous Byakugan user here could easily become prey for enemies.
Before setting out, both Jiraiya and Hiashi Hyuga had instructed her to protect Hinata.
Ino gave Hinata a pair of goggles, somewhat similar in style to the ones Naruto wore at the Ninja Academy, just with slightly darker lenses to effectively hide her Byakugan.
It was clear that Hinata's focus on Naruto was diminishing. This focus, from beginning to end, was never really love, but a kind of admiration.
It was strange, but among the Konoha ninjas of the original timeline, you could hardly find love in the traditional sense.
Naruto and Hinata, Sasuke and Sakura, Sai and Ino, Shikamaru and Temari—was that love? You couldn't see it at all! It was basically the kind of situation where two people reached a certain age, their elders urged them on, and with no other choice, they just decided to live together.
The love lives of young ninjas were generally not looked upon favorably, yet the gay guys in Akatsuki were very popular. It was really strange…
Hinata's feelings for Naruto were primarily admiration; she felt that Naruto had achieved things she couldn't.
In reality, this admiration was just a symbol. This symbol was very vague; it could be you, or it could be her.
Naruto had made great progress, but compared to Ino, the gap was still extremely obvious.
The former was not someone she could normally get close to, and the Hyuga family opposed her contacting Naruto. The latter she was often with, eating, chatting, and sparring, and her family didn't object. Plus, everyone knew that Naruto liked Sakura. The object of Hinata's admiration naturally shifted to Ino.
It was still admiration now, not something else.
According to the current trend, it was almost impossible for Hinata to ever call Iruka "Father."
Ino wanted to rest in their room, but Hinata wanted to go to the market. She also proposed that since it was a rare trip to the capital, they should buy some gifts for Inoichi, Rino, and the others. Ino was bewildered. Why are you buying them gifts?
Although she didn't quite understand, she couldn't let the naive Hinata go to the market alone, so she had to go with her.
The two changed into casual clothes and strolled through the capital's market.
Hinata's ninjutsu was not good; she still hadn't developed the water-nature chakra transformation that Ino had taught her. But she had a talent for shopping.
She bought a scarf for Inoichi, a pair of shoes for Rino, then a shogi set for Shikamaru, and an extra-large backpack for Choji.
Ino had a face full of question marks. Are you close to them? You're buying things for those two?
When Hinata was paying, Ino saw the string of bank account numbers and found it familiar.
This probably, maybe, perhaps is my bank account number? How is my bank book in your hands?
"Yes, it is." Hinata lifted her small face, exceptionally righteous. "Yes, Auntie said you spend your mission rewards recklessly, with no concept of frugality at all. And…"
Her expression turned serious. She pointed at Ino, from head to toe.
What did that mean?
Hinata acted as if she had been given some imperial sword. "Auntie said you have too few clothes to change into. You're clearly a great beauty, but you only have these two sets of clothes. So, she told me to take you out to buy clothes."
Oh, is that so?
Ino scratched her head. She had never bought clothes for herself; what she wore now was basically the original Ino's old clothes.
The reason many of her clothes had become short-sleeved crop tops, and were getting shorter and shorter, was partly due to the Yin Seal, and another part was that the clothes were getting smaller while she was getting bigger. It was a relative process.
"Alright, then."
"It has to be alright, even if it's not. We must buy clothes today!"
"Okay, okay…"
Hinata resolutely pulled her to buy clothes.
"Ino's figure is really good," Hinata said with feeling while trying on clothes.
Ino found it amusing. "Your figure is the one that's top-class. Among the female ninjas, I think only Teacher Tsunade can compare to you. Tsk tsk, you call this good? I'm at most a little better than Sakura and Tenten, maybe about the same as Temari."
The topic became more and more racy. Hinata's small face turned slightly red, her fingers twirling around each other.
"Actually… actually, you don't understand my troubles. They're a bit… a bit burdensome. Yours is very good."
Ino spouted nonsense with a straight face. "From an action standpoint, it is indeed inconvenient. But yours is a special gift, a blessing from the heavens. Many people are envious. Let me tell you, Sakura is especially envious."
As she turned to look in the mirror, she reached out her hands as fast as lightning towards Hinata, feeling them. Heh, this heavy weight, it's truly a burden that life cannot bear.
Hinata slapped her hands away. After more than a minute, she asked in a very low voice, "You know a lot of ninjutsu. Is there… is there a ninjutsu to make… to make that… to make that a little smaller?"
Ino was dumbfounded.
"...This… this is truly unheard of."
She thought about it very seriously. Chakra is omnipotent! It can even resurrect the dead. Is this little problem even a problem? Of course not.
But really, no one had developed ninjutsu in this direction. Out of ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million people, you couldn't find one who needed this ninjutsu. For no good reason, who would go and develop such a ninjutsu!
Hinata certainly couldn't talk about this matter with male ninjas, nor with her parents or sister. Among the female ninjas, the only one she was close to and who had extremely high ninjutsu skills was Ino.
Ino thought seriously for a moment, deliberately teasing her. "Actually, I can use a partial Hydrification Technique to dissolve it for you. But it's hard to control the proportions. What if one ends up big and one small? That definitely wouldn't work, right?"
Hinata kicked her lightly on the calf in annoyance.
Only then did Ino think seriously. "I'll look through some medical books later and study it. It shouldn't be difficult. It's nothing more than harmonizing yin and yang chakra… massage and medicine, probably. At that time, we can guide it through the chakra pathways, returning this growth to your body, increasing your chakra and ocular power, and at the same time, promoting bone growth."
Hinata nodded like a little chick pecking at rice. Being short was also a great regret of hers.
She was currently just 1.52 meters tall. Normally, she wasn't too short among female ninjas of her age, but she often hung out with Ino.
This girl, Ino, was about to reach 1.70 meters. With her crop tops and long legs, she looked young, beautiful, and full of heroic spirit.
As for Hinata, because of her physique, she walked with a stooped back. Coupled with her short stature and extremely conservative dress style, when the two walked together, she looked particularly childlike.
She wanted to be a little taller too!
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