Chapter – 15 Storeroom & Omelet Rice

Sunlight spilled through the window as Sasuke looked outside the classroom with a troubled expression. The terrible summer heat was starting to sting his skin making him sigh, "Window seats are not the best choice during peak summer…'

At this time, Funeno Daikoku (one of the academy instructors) completed writing a few Kanji symbols on the Blackboard, then he pointed at one of the trainees, and questioned, "All right… let's see… etto… Hyuga Hinata, how about you…? What's the answer?"

Sasuke looked at the blackboard and read the Kanji symbols, 'Dog – Horse – Bird… huh… I see… it's Wind Style: Breakthrough…' He had immediately identified the name of the Jutsu.

Contrary to many misconceptions, while mastering just the three basic Jutsu might be the criteria for graduating, other ninjutsu of various Chakra Natures are also taught at the academy. 

Of course, everyone knows that most trainees are incapable of mastering these Ninjutsus because of their low chakra reserves and poor Chakra control, but this doesn't stop the academy from including the mechanism and hand seals of a few Rank-D ninjutsu in the course materials. Whether a student can master these Ninjutsus or not is entirely up to the student, they are taught, nonetheless.

A few seconds passed as the instructor called the young girl's name to answer the question. however, she hadn't responded at all, "..."

"Hyuga Hinata?" Daikoku called out once again only to find that the girl wasn't paying attention at all. It's one thing to now know the answer, but if her grades in the written exams are anything to go by, Daikoku didn't think that the girl did not know the answer.

Sasuke looked at the shy girl sitting beside him with a frown, her state was clearly out of place, and it wasn't because she was being timid or shy, rather, she was distracted. Noting this, Sasuke stretched out his hand and tugged at her sleeve, and called out her name, "Hinata." 

Hinata immediately recovered from her stupor and turned to him in a daze, "Sasuke-san?"

Sasuke didn't say anything in response just pointed at the podium. The instructor was still looking at her, hoping she would answer. The other children in the classroom were also looking at her with curious expressions.

"Ano…" the girl was a little confused for a moment. She looked at the blackboard and noticed the three Kanji symbols. She hadn't heard the question because of being distracted, however, she quickly put two and two together and understood that the instructor wanted her to tell the name of Jutsu based on the Hand Seals. 

Hinata read the Kanji, "Dog – Horse – Bird…" and thought to herself, 'Since, it's ending with the 'Bird' which means the Jutsu is closely affiliated with the Wind Style…' and answered in a light voice, "Wind Style: Breakthrough."

Daikoku nodded, "Good…" he then said, "And please pay attention to the class…"

Hinata apologized while looking down, "I am sorry."

While Daikoku did not pursue the matter any further and continued with the lecture, Sasuke looked at the girl beside him with a confused expression, 'I wonder what's wrong with her today…' 

Although physically she was present in the classroom, mentally she was clearly somewhere else.

If it was anyone else, he wouldn't care as much, but since it was Hinata, he felt a little concerned. No, it had nothing to do with Sasuke liking Hinata, rather, it's related to Hinata helping him out for the past two months. More often than not, he catches up on his sleep in the academy during classes, and it's only because of Hinata's help that he has been able to do so without any problem.

"I guess, I will talk to her during the break…" mumbled Sasuke as he turned back to the podium. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. Kindness for kindness, and blood for blood this is what Sasuke believes in. Since Hinata has been helping him out, he ought to repay the gratitude if possible.

The rest of the classes continued normally with the only difference being Sasuke not dozing off in them.

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Break time!

As the instructor left the classroom with his stuff, Sasuke once again turned to the Byakugan princess, "Hinata…" As you would expect, her mind was elsewhere. Sasuke didn't care, he approached the girl and then flicked her forehead to break her out of her stupor.

"Ouch…" Hinata yelped in pain and held her forehead, then she looked at Sasuke with a confused and dissatisfied expression, "Sasuke-san? W-why?"

The others in the classroom were attracted by Hinata's yelp and directed their attention towards them.

Without paying any attention to others, Sasuke spoke to Hinata, "Come with me…" and then moved toward the gate of the classroom.

Unsure of what Sasuke wanted to do and why he flicked her forehead, Hinata looked at Sasuke's back, then she got up and followed after him.

Seeing Sasuke invite the weird girl with white eyes as he was going out, one of the girls in the classroom realized the opportunity, she approached him, and asked, "Sasuke-kun, are you going to the cafeteria? If... if you'd like, you can eat from my lunch box!"

"No," responded Sasuke without even looking at the girl, then left the classroom with Hinata silently following behind him.

She was disappointed and looked at Hinata's disappearing back with envy and jealousy in her eyes. She wasn't the only one, there were other girls as well who were dissatisfied with Hinata for always sitting with Sasuke, and now being invited by him for lunch! "That stupid girl with those ugly eyes!"

On the other hand, as Naruto watched Sasuke leave with Hinata, he suddenly got up and wanted to go after him as well. He wanted to challenge Sasuke to a fight, but Shikamaru stopped him just in time, "Naruto, you should probably stay here, and don't go after him today…"

"Huh? What do you mean Shikamaru? Why?" asked Naruto with a confused expression.

"Uhh…" Shikamaru didn't know how to explain it, he hesitated for a moment, and said, "Well, that girl was acting a little weird today… maybe Sasuke wants to talk to her about that…"

"But isn't she always weird?" questioned Naruto while tilting his head.

"That…!" Shikamaru couldn't argue with Naruto's argument. Indeed, Hyuga Hinata has always been a weird one in their class. The little Nara scratched his cheek trying to think of something but couldn't come up with a solid reason and said, "Well… just don't go after him today… trust me on this."

"Fine, whatever!" Naruto folded his hands with a dissatisfied expression, and said, "But, I am going to challenge him later, and this time defeat him, believe it!"

"Sure, good luck." After calming down Naruto, Shikamaru looked at the gate of the classroom and thought to himself, 'Does he know about the recent events related to the Hyuga Clan? That shouldn't be the case, right?' Unlike most of the students in the class, he was aware of the recent things in the Hyuga Clan. He had overheard his parents discussing something about the wife of the Patriarch of the main branch of the Hyuga Clan being ambushed by some unknown enemy ninjas. 

The village and the Hyuga Clan are investigating the matter, and they are trying to figure out the ninjas responsible for the death of Hyuga Himari.

Shikamaru sighed, 'It's a total mess. Only three months ago, the Uchiha Genocide occurred, and now the assassination of the wife of the Hyuga Clan's main branch's Patriarch as well as several members of the branch family that were accompanying her at the time…'

He did not know how the village and the Hyuga Clan would respond to the death of Hyuga Himari.

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After coming out of their classroom, Sasuke led Hinata to the storeroom of the Academy and immediately closed the door, lest someone annoying might come to disturb his peace.

Hinata fiddled with her fingers and looked around. The storeroom was dark, and a bit gloomy, making her a little nervous. She did not know why Sasuke brought her to the storeroom.

Sasuke turned toward Hinata, and questioned, "Are you hungry?"

"Huh?" Hinata was takenaback by his sudden question, and shook her head, "N… no…" Growl!

Unlike her, her stomach was more honest, it instantly growled in response to Sasuke's question making her blush in shame. "Sorry…" said Hinata as she looked down in embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it…" muttered Sasuke as he sat down on the floor with his back resting against the wall and took out a scroll from his Shinobi bag.

Hinata curiously looked at the scroll that he had taken out. Under her watchful eyes, Sasuke unfolded the scroll and injected his chakra into it. Immediately, with a puff of smoke, a place of omelet rice on top of the scroll, and its aroma wafted in the storeroom.

Sasuke picked up the plate and handed it to Hinata, "Here you go…"

"Is it alright for me to eat this?" Hinata was reserved and wasn't certain if she should eat someone else's food.

"Hn," nodded Sasuke as he beckoned her to take the plate of omelet rice.

After a bit of hesitation, she accepted the place of omelet rice and sat down a step away from Sasuke. She joined her hands together, and prayed, "Itadakimasu!" then ate a spoonful of it.

Sasuke watched her eat, and as she completed the first bite, he questioned, "How is it?"

"It's very good…" answered Hinata lightly.

"That's relieving…" spoke Sasuke as he took out another place of omelet rice from the storage scroll. "Itadakimasu!" After offering his prayers, he too started to eat.

Neither of them spoke any word and ate their share in silence, and soon finished their plates.

Growl! But it turns out that Hinata was still hungry. The girl immediately held her stomach and looked down in shame. Sasuke didn't comment on that, he simply took out another plate of Omelet Rice from the storage scroll and handed it to the girl, "Here you go…"

Considering Hinata's title as the 'Legendary Queen of Gluttony,' Sasuke wasn't surprised that she was still hungry. 

Hinata wanted to refuse, however, the pleasant aroma tickled her nose and made her gulp. Looking at Sasuke's insistent gaze, she accepted the plate, "Thank you," and started to eat, meanwhile, Sasuke took out another plate for himself as well.

The two continued to eat in silence, and only after each of them had finished three plates did they stop eating. Once the two had their fill, Sasuke sealed back the utensils inside the storage scroll and put them back in his shinobi bag. After that, he spoke to Hinata, "If you want to go back to the classroom, you can go… if you find it difficult to sit there with all that noise, you can stay here… it's quiet here, and no one would disturb you." Then without paying her much attention Sasuke took another scroll from his Shinobi bag and started to read it.

Hinata hesitated and hesitated, but she couldn't help herself to leave the storeroom and go back to the classroom while leaving behind Sasuke, so she remained seated and kept looking at the floor.

Noting that the young Hyuga did not leave, Sasuke did not comment, he was immersed in reading the scroll, meanwhile, Hinata did not have much to do and kept looking at the floor as various memories flashed through her mind. 

A silence enveloped the storeroom and neither of them spoke any words. Time passed minute by minute and soon the sound of dozing off reached his ears, 'Zzzz…'

Sasuke raised his head and noticed that Hinata had fallen asleep while resting her back on the wall. He shook his head and without paying much attention to the girl, he continued to read the scroll.

Soon, the bell rang and the break was over, however, Hinata was still sleeping. Looking at her Sasuke mumbled, "Maybe she did not sleep too well because of whatever is going on with her…" He decided to not wake her up and continued to read the scroll. Although the two of them would be missing a few theoretical classes, it was no big deal. Sasuke naturally did not have any problem with missing a few classes and considering that Hinata was capable of completing the written part of the Chunin exam on her own without having to cheat, it's obvious that she is intelligent, so there's no problem for her either. 

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"Hinata…" Sasuke called out the girl's name and shook her shoulder.

Slowly, Hinata opened her eyes and looked around with a drowsy expression. She noticed Sasuke in front of her, and asked, "Sasuke-san?" 

"It's time to go home… the classes are over for the day…," said Sasuke.

"Classes? Home?" She was a little confused and rubbed her sleepy eyes.

Sasuke explained, "Don't you remember? You dozed off shortly after having Omelet Rice, and have been sleeping since then…"

Hinata muttered as memories of eating Omelet Rice flashed through her mind, "I see…"

"Come on, get up… it's time for you to go home…" said Sasuke and got up.

"Hmm," nodded Hinata and she too got up.

The two then came out of the storeroom and made their way to the gate of the Ninja Academy. Walking through the empty corridor of the academy, while Hinata fiddled with her fingers. She looked down, and spoke in a low whisper, "Sasuke-san, thank you for the food…"

"Hn," nodded Sasuke.

The two continued to walk and by the time they arrived at the exit, Hinata's attendant was already waiting for her, "Hinata-sama."

Hinata nodded lightly, "Ko-san…"

Sasuke spoke to Hinata, "Guess, I will see you tomorrow…" Then without waiting for her reply or looking at her, he left for his apartment.

Hinata looked at Sasuke's disappearing back with a dazed expression.

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