"Sasuke, Naruto has Hinata and others waiting for him. What's wrong with your mouth?"
On the screen, Naruto and Hinata's first meeting was so beautiful.
It was so beautiful that even Orochimaru couldn't help but tease Sasuke.
If someone like Naruto can have someone who likes him, then what about my dear disciple?
But when Orochimaru turned to look at Sasuke, he realized that Sasuke's mouth seemed to be a little off.
Why is it so crooked?
"It's nothing."
Sasuke quickly rubbed his cheek and returned to his usual look.
"Sasuke, you..."
"I know what you're thinking."
Sasuke raised his hand to stop Orochimaru and continued, "There are many people who like me, I just don't know who to choose."
"I think..."
"No."
Sasuke interrupted Orochimaru again and said, "You just think that none of the girls who like me are as good as Hinata, so you think you lost to Jiraiya?"
There were really a lot of girls who liked Sasuke.
Not to mention the older and younger students, just in his current year, except for Hinata, almost every girl liked Sasuke.
But if we look at their backgrounds, none of these girls can compare to Hinata.
The only one who could somewhat compare to Hinata was Ino, but she couldn't marry Sasuke.
Why can't she marry him?
Because the Yamanaka clan is looking for a son-in-law, and Sasuke, as the Uchiha clan leader, can't just join the Yamanaka clan, right?
Also, Sasuke didn't really like Ino.
Even Sakura, who was in the same team, he thought was annoying.
"So..."
"Don't say anything. I will never go looking for some rich noble girl because of your and Jiraiya's weird rivalry. Just give up on that idea."
Orochimaru was speechless.
He hadn't said anything yet, but all the words were already spoken by Sasuke.
This made him feel quite frustrated.
Orochimaru: "You're using my words!"
"By the way, Sasuke-kun, have you noticed that you've become much more cheerful lately?"
"Really? Maybe."
Sasuke shrugged, not wanting to continue the conversation with Orochimaru.
Seeing that Sasuke didn't want to talk anymore, Orochimaru chuckled strangely, his expression mysterious as if thinking about something.
[That night, Naruto walked Hinata home and comforted her, saying, "Why are you crying when you have such a big house? I don't have anyone around me, but I never cry."]
[Naruto's optimistic and sunny nature planted a seed in Hinata's heart. She started to notice this seemingly insignificant boy.]
Seeing this, Kushina's fist tightened.
She had already calmed down but now she was angry again.
"Calm down, Kushina. You need to stay calm. You can't take it out on the Third Hokage or Jiraiya-sensei again."
From a mother's perspective, Kushina couldn't stand how unfair Naruto's childhood had been, which led her to want to lash out at the Third Hokage and Jiraiya. This was understandable.
But if she lashed out a second time, it would be different.
No matter how much the Third Hokage and Jiraiya may have wronged Kushina or Naruto, they were still Konoha's leaders, the faces of Konoha.
"Don't worry, Minato. I'm not an ignorant woman."
The Third Hokage and Jiraiya couldn't be touched, but what about the others?
Tilting her head, Kushina noticed Obito quietly talking to Rin. She smiled faintly.
Immediately, Obito felt a shiver down his spine.
He quickly looked around, and saw Kushina smiling at him.
"...Sigh~ What a tragedy."
"What's wrong, Obito?"
"It's nothing. After we finish watching the video, I'll have Kakashi send you home."
"What about you?"
"Me?"
Obito sighed and continued, "I need to pay back the interest for the bad things I did."
At this moment, Rin also saw the smiling Kushina and immediately understood.
She looked at Obito with pity and softly said, "Then I wish you good luck."
[Although Naruto is clumsy and loves to have fun, everyone in the village is annoyed by him, but he has a strong sense of justice.]
[When Hinata was being bullied, Naruto would step up to take the hits for her. Although his stance wasn't the most graceful, it was quite effective.]
[Because of this, Naruto successfully won Hinata's heart.]
[From then on, Hinata would often sneak out of her house and secretly watch Naruto train in the small forest.]
[Naruto's ninja way is to always keep his word and never give up.]
[In her heart, Hinata silently made Naruto her role model. She hoped that one day she could also be someone who never gives up, like Naruto.]
[This dream isn't easy to achieve. Although Naruto is currently the weakest, he has the main character aura and the Nine-Tails as his backup, so it's only a matter of time before he soars.]
[Meanwhile, Hinata (at that time) was not very talented, and the person she compared herself to was the genius of their clan.]
[Even though Hinata poured all her effort into every training session, always injuring herself, she still couldn't bridge the huge gap between herself and the genius.]
[This gap troubled not only Hinata but also Neji, the genius, and the elders of the Hyuga clan.]
[Years later, Hinata's younger sister, Hanabi, who was five years younger, grew up. The clan elders gradually noticed that Hanabi was exceptionally talented and a natural martial artist.]
[In comparison, Hinata was too kind-hearted and disliked fighting, which made her less suited to become the head of the Hyuga clan.]
So, they also trained Hanabi as the heir to the main clan.
One day, Hiashi had Hanabi and Hinata engage in a mock battle, instructing them to treat each other as real enemies and forbidding either of them from holding back.
However, Hinata, who Hiashi had high expectations for, disappointed him.
Hinata's heart was too kind to bring herself to hurt her younger sister, and as a result, she lost to Hanabi.
In the end, the Hyuga clan chose to replace the eldest with the youngest, training Hanabi as the true heir to the main clan, while Hinata lost her qualification and was sent to the ninja academy, becoming an ordinary ninja like her cousin Neji.
"Minato, you know what I'm thinking right now, right?"
If earlier Kushina could give Obito a "kind smile," now she had no intention of smiling, her face looking quite grim.
"Yeah, I can guess."
Kushina's thoughts weren't hard to guess.
The reason her face was so grim was because of Hinata, who she had already come to view as a daughter-in-law.
According to the Hyuga clan's rules, after Hinata lost her status as the clan heir, she could be branded with the "Caged Bird" seal by the clan elders at any time.
"Our daughter-in-law must never be marked with the Caged Bird seal by the Hyuga."
"Don't worry, I'll talk to Hiashi afterward. Since Hinata hasn't been branded with the Caged Bird seal yet, I believe Hiashi is secretly protecting her. Otherwise, the moment Hanabi's heir status was confirmed, Hinata's fate would've been sealed."
Considering Hiashi's brother Hizashi and Neji, the fact that Hinata hasn't been branded with the seal yet means her father, the clan leader, is likely stopping it. Minato couldn't think of any other reason.
*********
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