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After Kurenai left, Shino took the initiative to ask Ryūsei for his opinion. "Ryūsei, should we come up with a battle plan or set up traps here?"
This also signaled that Shino was voluntarily relinquishing his role as the leader of Team 8 to Ryūsei.
In the original storyline, Kiba might have appeared to be the leader of Team 8, but in reality, Shino was the backbone of the team. For trivial matters, Shino would let Kiba make the decisions, but when it came to critical moments, Shino would stand firm without backing down, his imposing demeanor enough to keep both Hinata and Kiba in line.
But now, Shino was willingly stepping aside, content to serve as Ryūsei's second-in-command. It wasn't because Ryūsei was the top student—it was because he had no choice. Unless Shino wanted to be isolated.
The trio of Ino, Sakura, and Hinata was famously known throughout the school, and it was one of the main reasons why Ryūsei's fan club couldn't surpass Sasuke Uchiha's. With Ryūsei and Hinata assigned to the same team, Hinata would undoubtedly follow Ryūsei's lead without question. The two-to-one ratio meant that if Shino wanted to remain in Team 8, he had no choice but to yield authority.
Ryūsei was quite pleased with Shino's tactfulness and smiled. "It's still early. The fact that Kurenai-sensei didn't start the test immediately means she's giving us time to prepare. However, even if the three of us join forces and set up traps, there's no way we can defeat Kurenai-sensei, a jonin. So, the main purpose of this survival exercise, as Kurenai-sensei said, is simply to assess our abilities and teamwork. There's no need for traps—if we fall under Kurenai-sensei's genjutsu, those traps might end up harming us instead. Let's just go over our individual jutsu specialties and come up with a battle plan. As long as we give it our all, that's enough."
Unlike Kakashi, Kurenai didn't threaten Ryūsei's team with the possibility of being sent back to the Academy if they failed the survival exercise. Only those with exceptionally poor skills and an unwillingness to cooperate with their teammates would be forced to return. For top students like Ryūsei's group, even if their teamwork was lacking, they wouldn't be sent back—there was simply nothing left for the Academy to teach them.
This was why, unlike Kakashi's intimidation tactics with Team 7, Kurenai didn't use the threat of returning to the Academy to scare Ryūsei's team. In fact, she cherished these three promising students too much to even consider it.
It was precisely because Ryūsei recognized this that he remained so confident.
"Alright," Shino agreed with Ryūsei's reasoning.
As they retraced their steps, the three of them took turns explaining their jutsu abilities. When Ryūsei finished describing his techniques, Hinata's sidelong glance at his profile was filled with admiration.
Though Shino's expression remained unchanged, if one were to remove his sunglasses, they would see his pupils constricting sharply. Internally, his mind was in turmoil.
He had thought it was already outrageous that Ryūsei had mastered the B-rank Water Release: Water Wall at the age of ten. But now, it turned out the top student had been hiding even more abilities! No wonder Sasuke Uchiha had never been able to defeat him.
In fact, even if all the clan-born students teamed up, they wouldn't stand a chance against Ryūsei. The guy had probably been strong enough to graduate the moment he enrolled in the Academy.
After sharing their jutsu, the three of them drafted a simple battle plan, agreeing that they could still make adjustments the next morning if any new ideas came up.
Once they returned to Konoha's central district, Team 8 disbanded for the day.
As Ryūsei and Hinata walked down the street together, it marked their first time alone since that night nine years ago when they were three years old.
There was no helping it—Ryūsei was just a civilian without a family name, making him ineligible to enter the Hyūga clan's estate. Even Sakura faced the same restriction. Only Ino had the privilege of visiting Hinata and inviting her out to play.
As a result, whenever Hinata left the compound, she was either accompanied by guards or by Ino.
Hinata's expression was distant, her Byakugan seemingly transporting her back through time to that snowy night when she was three. That night, Ryūsei had walked her home just like this.
Unconsciously, nine years had passed.
The boy she had idolized back then had indeed grown into someone whose excellence was unmatched.
Stealing glances at Ryūsei's handsome profile and recalling the memories they had shared over the years, Hinata's lips curled into a faint smile, her heart as sweet as if she had eaten honey.
Just then, Ryūsei suddenly turned his head, locking eyes with her.
Caught in the act, Hinata gasped and immediately lowered her head, nervously twiddling her fingers.
Seeing her adorable reaction, Ryūsei couldn't help but chuckle. "Hinata, would you like to come to my place to train together?"
"...Mm." Though inwardly overjoyed, Hinata kept her head down, her voice barely above a whisper.
Ryūsei was used to this. For a shy girl like her, daring to go home with him alone was already an act of immense courage. He had half-expected her to refuse.
When she agreed, Ryūsei was genuinely delighted.
Being assigned to Team 8 was, without a doubt, the best surprise for him. He had been worrying about how to invite Hinata out without Ino's help in the future. Now that they were teammates, he would have plenty of opportunities to spend time with her, nurturing their relationship while also trying to obtain the Byakugan—the Kekkei Genkai hidden within her.
After bringing Hinata home, Ryūsei created a shadow clone to handle cooking while his real self took Hinata to the training room for taijutsu sparring.
Only through training could Hinata quickly adjust to being alone with Ryūsei.
As expected, the moment she stepped inside, the reality of her bold decision hit her—she kept her head lowered the entire time, her cheeks flushed.
Ryūsei planned to wait until she was fully comfortable before inviting her out for unregulated sparring. Unless he got lucky like when the game system first awakened—what could be called a "beginner's bonus"—the only way to obtain red-tier or higher loot was through unrestricted combat.
And sure enough…
Even after defeating Hinata repeatedly in taijutsu, Ryūsei saw no glowing orbs appear.
But after a year of this, he was already accustomed to it.
Once the shadow clone finished cooking, Ryūsei invited Hinata to stay for lunch.
Hinata didn't refuse. Over the years, Ryūsei had often cooked for her and the others, and they had eaten at his place many times. It was already a familiar routine.
Normally, when Ryūsei cooked, the girls would help out. If not for her earlier flustered state, Hinata would have created a shadow clone to assist Ryūsei's clone in the kitchen.
Now that she thought about it, she felt a pang of guilt.
It was already embarrassing enough to let Ryūsei cook—yet here she was, freeloading a meal!
Unaware of her thoughts, Ryūsei simply found it amusing that she kept her head down and ate less enthusiastically than usual, assuming she still wasn't used to being alone with him.
After the meal, Hinata quickly pushed Ryūsei aside and took the initiative to wash the dishes in the kitchen.
Seeing this, Ryūsei didn't stop her.
Once the dishes were done, Hinata didn't leave immediately. Instead, she started cleaning Ryūsei's house.
This was another habit the girls had developed—repaying Ryūsei's hospitality with chores whenever they visited.
Only after finishing the cleaning did Hinata finally say goodbye, hurrying away in a fluster.
Aside from the moments during taijutsu sparring when she was fully focused, Hinata had spent the entire time acting like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
Ryūsei could only lament how slow technological progress was—if only portable cameras existed, he would have loved to capture Hinata's adorable expressions.