Just like with Naruto and Sasuke, Yagyu had never spoken a word to Hinata in class over the past year. This girl was far too shy, and even Yagyu didn’t know how to approach her as a friend. Moreover, at that time, the game system had not yet awakened, so Yagyu was hesitant to get too close to Hinata. After all, who knew if the news would reach Neji Hyuga or the Hyuga clan, making them think he had ulterior motives towards Hinata and prompting them to come and warn or reprimand him? It’s important to note that Yagyu was not the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and had no backing.

It wasn’t until the awakening of his “golden finger,” another heroic rescue, and the imminent announcement of his title as the top student that Yagyu began to have new ideas. He now felt he barely qualified to be friends with Hinata. Even though, as a commoner, he still felt unqualified to invite Hinata out to play, among the new generation of "Ino-Shika-Cho," the 'Ino' had that qualification. As fellow fans of Hokage, Hiashi Hyuga would definitely agree to Hinata being friends with Ino. Although he was disappointed in his eldest daughter, Hiashi had not completely given up on Hinata.

In the new generation of "Ino-Shika-Cho," Ino was the only girl. As long as Hinata and Ino became friends, it would mean a future friendship between the Hyuga clan and "Ino-Shika-Cho," which was crucial for networking. The sight of Ino and Hinata approaching also indicated that Yagyu's plan was progressing smoothly; Hiashi had indeed allowed it.

“Mission accomplished, I brought Hinata out,” Ino said proudly as she returned to Yagyu.

“Impressive, as expected of Ino,” Yagyu replied, giving her a thumbs up. He then turned to Hinata, who was standing next to Ino and stealing glances at him, and smiled, “Hello, Hinata.”

When Hinata met Yagyu’s gaze, she instinctively lowered her head. However, recalling what Ino had said before they left, she finally mustered the courage to raise her head and nervously said, “Yagyu-kun, th-thank you!”

After expressing this overdue gratitude, which had recently become incredibly strong, Hinata suddenly felt a sense of relief.

“Have you been secretly watching me just to say thank you?” Yagyu asked knowingly.

“... Yes.”

Relieved, Hinata shyly lowered her head again.

“Alright, I accept your thanks,” Yagyu smiled and invited, “We’re getting ready to train; would you like to join us?”

Hearing this, Hinata looked up in surprise, “C-can I?”

“Of course, you’re very welcome,” Yagyu nodded vigorously.

Ino, who had already recognized Hinata’s personality, put her arm around Hinata’s shoulders and said in a big sisterly manner, “From now on, we’re friends, Hinata.”

“Please take care of me, Hinata,” Sakura also smiled gracefully.

Looking at the friendly and warm trio of Yagyu, Hinata’s beautiful white eyes suddenly filled with mist. The sudden rush of happiness left the girl, who had longed for friendship but had never been able to obtain it, somewhat bewildered. But she knew she couldn’t let this opportunity slip by. She nodded vigorously, her voice choked, “... Yes!”

With Yagyu’s matchmaking, three of the four budding flowers of the new generation had become friends ahead of time.

————

“Yagyu, look, I can climb to the top of the tree now!”

Entering the familiar grove, Ino hurriedly found the big tree covered in small footprints and couldn’t wait to show off her practice results.

Defying gravity, Ino ran up the trunk with ease, reaching the top of the tree, which had not yet become lush.

“Impressive!”

Looking at Ino showing off from the treetop, Yagyu gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up. From repeatedly falling to now reaching the top in one go, it was clear that Ino must have put in tremendous effort at home. This showed just how determined she was. As long as she kept this up, Ino might not end up being left behind by Sakura and Hinata like in the original story.

“Hinata, do you want to give it a try?”

After coming down from the tree, Ino looked at the surprised Hinata, made a hand sign, and smiled, “Concentrate chakra to your feet, then stick to the tree trunk and climb up. This is the technique Yagyu taught us.”

“My father said this is a technique that even ninja schools won’t teach.”

“Wow… that’s amazing.”

Hinata was even more astonished and admired Yagyu even more. Then she nodded and said, “Um… I want to try too.”

Raising her hands with her index and middle fingers, Hinata formed the hand seals to channel chakra to her feet. Then she stepped toward the big tree.

The image of Ino’s heart being struck, causing her tons of pain, slowly emerged.

Hinata, trying to climb the tree for the first time, walked up the trunk as if it were flat ground, just like Sakura.

In no time, Hinata reached the spot where Ino had just been standing.

This was just her first attempt, and she had already reached the top of the tree. Even Sakura had to try several times before getting to the top.

“Wow… that’s amazing.”

This time, it was Sakura and the emotionally complex Ino who were astonished.

Yagyu, however, was not surprised at all. Among the four budding flowers, the one with the best talent was not Sakura but Hinata.

Not to mention that Hinata was the only one among the four girls with a bloodline limit.

Being from the Hyuga clan, Hinata had been practicing the Gentle Fist technique, which involves channeling chakra into the body's chakra points since she was little.

This technique, just like climbing trees, relied on chakra control. Having practiced the Gentle Fist technique since childhood, Hinata’s foundation was much stronger than Sakura’s.

In the original "Shippuden," she also mastered medical ninjutsu and barrier techniques.

During the Three-Tails incident, when Shizune, Sakura, Hinata, and Ino formed the sealing team, only Ino lagged behind.

Before Sakura became Tsunade’s apprentice, Hinata was also the strongest among the four budding flowers.

If it weren’t for her personality issues, Hinata could have definitely become a prominent figure in the school.

Even so, she was still among the top five in her grade.

Watching the three girls from the first year who had mastered tree climbing, Yagyu felt genuinely happy for them and finally began his own plan.

He looked at Hinata and the other two girls and smiled, “Since you’ve all learned to climb trees, I’ll teach you the Body Flicker Technique next, and we can practice combat skills together.”

“Great, great…”

Ino immediately raised her hand and cheered, “I wanted to ask you about the Body Flicker Technique yesterday, Yagyu.”

“Uh-huh…”

Sakura echoed, “The way you defeated Sasuke yesterday was really cool.”

Hinata also nodded in agreement.

From the looks on their faces, the three girls seemed to overlook the combat skills mentioned.

This was exactly what Yagyu wanted to see.

What they considered a side lesson on combat skills was actually Yagyu’s true intention.

Because he wanted to use Hinata and the other two girls for an experiment!

As long as he could extract something from them, Yagyu could determine whether the “items” dropped from defeating monsters were completely lost or “replicas.”

If they were not completely lost, Yagyu wouldn’t have to worry about defeating someone and suddenly dropping their bloodline limit, only for the other party to find out they had lost their bloodline limit, leading to suspicions that Yagyu had the ability to take away bloodline limits.

In this way, Yagyu could act without restraint.