Chapter 016: Hinata Hyuga and Her Gift

After their self-introductions, Iruka led the students on a tour of the campus and distributed various teaching materials.

Naruto was delighted to discover that the ninja academy wasn't merely intent on turning children into mindless killing machines.

Rather, it aimed to mold them into killing machines with brains.

Besides content directly related to ninja training, the curriculum included subjects like literature, mathematics, and history.

After skimming through the textbooks, Naruto realized that, even if a graduate decided not to pursue a ninja career, they would still have other means to make a living with the knowledge gained.

Of course, in the past, such opportunities would only arise during peaceful times.

Nowadays, if these graduates had nowhere to go, they could always seek out Orochimaru.

Orochimaru had left Leaf Village to start his own enterprise.

The schedule was tight.

After receiving various teaching tools in the morning, classes began in the afternoon.

The first day was devoted to teaching fundamental knowledge.

Naruto noticed that, aside from himself, none of the students in his class had refined their chakra.

Even those from established ninja clans had not been taught how to refine chakra by their parents in advance.

Before five o'clock, the day's lessons ended.

Naruto stretched lazily and left the academy.

Most of the subjects, such as reconnaissance, traps, survival in the wild, and improvised weapon crafting, he had already mastered.

Only cryptography was unfamiliar to him; or rather, the system of codes he knew was different from the cryptography of this world.

Here, it should more accurately be called "secret signals."

Leaving the academy, Naruto didn't go home; instead, he made his way to his laboratory in the woods.

"Except for what's on that blue-painted table, don't touch anything else!" he called out as he donned his work clothes, without turning around.

As he spoke, a small head peeked through the doorway.

It was Hinata Hyuga.

Naruto remembered her—the unlucky child who had been kidnapped by Cloud ninjas three years ago.

On her first day of school, she dared to follow a classmate out to play after classes, instead of going straight home.

Such bravery suggested the kidnapping hadn't left her with lingering trauma.

Naruto didn't think she was insensitive; in his view, even a military organization like Leaf Village owed its children the freedom to run and play without worry.

The previous incident was simply a failure of the village's security.

Speaking of which, what about the other girl who was kidnapped that time? The one called Aki?

That girl seemed to have the Uchiha surname, just like a particularly arrogant boy in their class.

He wondered how she was doing now.

"Um... Naruto... I'm sorry..." Hinata hesitated, her cheeks flushed as she stepped out from behind the door.

She shuffled awkwardly, then bowed to Naruto.

"I'm sorry for following you without permission."

"It's fine, you're always welcome to play here," Naruto said, ruffling her hair as he used to do with the younger children at the orphanage.

"If you get bored, let me know and I'll take you home—or are your parents coming to pick you up?"

Hinata's cheeks reddened further.

After a moment, she suddenly knelt in a deep gesture of gratitude, startling Naruto.

"Thank you, Naruto! I know you saved my life!"

As if gathering every ounce of courage she had, Hinata shouted, "If you hadn't appeared three years ago, I'd already be in the Cloud Village! And my eyes would be gone! Thank you, Naruto! Thank you!"

So she still remembered what happened three years ago. Naruto himself hardly dared admit he remembered his life before crossing over.

He smiled, pulled Hinata up, and had her sit at the tea table.

There was a set of wooden teaware and some snacks on the table.

Naruto had made the snacks himself; he enjoyed cooking and often helped out in the mess hall.

He had originally planned, after retiring, to go to the orphanage and make snacks with the children he'd rescued, then sell them together.

But before he'd even packed his bags, he ended up back here.

Pouring some homemade tea for Hinata, Naruto waved his hand in explanation.

"It's nothing. We're companions; helping each other is only right. If I were in trouble and you happened to be there, I'm sure you wouldn't stand idly by, right?"

Hinata nodded earnestly.

"That's settled, then. Relax!"

Naruto gently patted Hinata's head.

He wondered what kind of shampoo she used—her hair was so soft and pleasant to the touch.

"Alright, I need to start on today's project," Naruto said to Hinata.

"Some of my things are nearly finished, and I want to wrap them up soon, so I won't be able to entertain you."

"There are a few tables here—only the items on the blue-painted table are safe to play with."

"The things on the other tables aren't finished yet, and they're a bit dangerous."

With that, Naruto turned to his work.

A series of mechanical sounds echoed as the belt around his waist transformed into four robotic arms, which he then operated to carry out precise tasks.

Hinata was startled by the commotion.

She squirmed in her seat, feeling awkward. After a short while, listening to the whirring and clanking from Naruto's side, her curiosity finally got the better of her.

She hopped off the bench and ran over to watch Naruto work.

Without turning, Naruto explained as he busied himself, "I'm making a miniature gear launcher. It's supposed to be larger, relying mainly on mechanical and steam power to fire shells or explosives."

"I originally wanted to build a bigger one, but ran into technical issues, so I'm starting small to figure things out."

"I want to understand the principle first, then make a larger one."

He placed the completed miniature gear launcher on the table.

Hinata, fascinated by the delicate little device, thought it was adorably clumsy.

Naruto put a piece of toasted bread at one end of the table and set the launcher at the other.

He loaded some homemade jam as ammunition, aimed at the bread, and fired.

Bang—splat—

The jam landed precisely—not on the bread, but on the table beside it.

"You see," Naruto pointed to the gear launcher, "it should have hit the center of the bread, but I can't figure out why it's off. No matter how I adjust it, it doesn't work. I don't know what's causing the issue."

In theory, he could use spirit mechanics to compensate for the launcher’s minor errors, but Naruto didn’t want to waste such power on something so basic.

Besides, the launcher’s outputs were random—he couldn’t use spirit mechanics to guide each projectile to its target.

If he did, he might as well throw them himself, which would defeat the purpose of building the launcher.

Naruto frowned in frustration.

At that moment, Hinata suddenly said, "Naruto, I saw when it fired just now, one part twisted strangely and made it shoot off target. Isn't the edge of that part a bit too thick?"