Chapter 43: Unexpected Meeting

Keitaro continued to listen to the rest of the conversation that the other older kids were having but tuned them out after a short while. They had quickly moved on from the evening's planned activities and had instead begun to talk about things that had been happening at the academy.

Of course while he would have been interested in gleaning some interesting things about the academy in question, they weren't talking about anything really important in his opinion.

He especially wasn't keen on listening to them talk about the things that happened at the shinobi academy once they started gossiping about which teachers were secretly in love with each other.

So he had left the group and had instead continued to wander around outside. While it might be rude of him not to mix and mingle given that he was supposed to be at a party, Keitaro hadn't really been keen on being there in the first place. 

Add to that the bad taste left in his mouth after seeing with his own eyes the dynamic of the Hyūga Clansmen and Keitaro was more than happy to avoid just about everyone at the moment. 

Still, even if he wasn't in the best of moods his mind still wandered to the upcoming competitions planned for the evening and even though he tried his best not to show it, he couldn't help but to become excited at the prospect of what was to come. 

While he was undergoing training of his own, none of it could truly be considered shinobi training in earnest. All that he really did was focus on forging a solid foundation that would eventually be used to build his future strength upon once his true shinobi training began. 

Kazuki had been adamant about him not undergoing any of the more advanced training exercises until he had given the all clear to do so, which meant the Keitaro had been stuck with a basic training regiment when it came to his physical training.

Constantly building up his endurance and general physical fitness level was going to be a lenghthy and time consuming endeavor and Kazuki wasn't planning on letting him cut any corners. 

Of course Keitaro wasn't opposed to it, especially since physical fitness was one of the things that allowed the clan raised shinobi to stand above their civilian counterparts. While they had to spend time getting their bodies in shape for shinobi life, clan kids could spend that time on other things instead, which was one of the main reasons that clan raised shinobi were almost always head and heels above their civilian peers.

Given how much time Kazuki spent focusing on his physical fitness, by the time that Keitaro enrolled in the academy in another year or two, he'd be running circles around just about everyone else with relative ease. 

Of course while this was a good thing for him in the long run, it didn't stop Keitaro from feeling disgruntled that he hadn't been able to do the more interesting and objectively more dangerous training that young shinobi in training underwent.

No matter how much he acknowledged the logic of forcing him to run laps around the training field and being forced to do simple body weight exercises like push ups and sit ups all the time, he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed when he watched as Renji was flickering about his training field. 

Of course since Renji had already been enrolled in the academy for some time, he had already begun serious shinobi training, and since he and Keitaro would often train together, Keitaro had already seen some of the things that he had been forced to do. 

Not only was he able to utilize more advanced Jutsu as a way to increase the intensity of his workout, but even the taijutsu that Renji had been training in was something that Keitaro wasn't allowed to learn. 

Instead he was stuck with basic forms that didn't have much combat potential and were instead focused on training hand eye coordination and overall body control. In fact the only true taijutsu training that he would do from time to time was mostly him just imitating some boxing moves he had seen in his past life from time to time. 

But while Keitaro was well aware of how hard working Renji was, he also knew that Renji paled in comparison to some of the truly gifted genius shinobi that the clans would most likely put forward to represent them once the activities began. 

Even though he had been reborn for five years now, he hadn't been exposed to the more extraordinary aspect of shinobi life in the slightest, but this was going to be a chance for him to get to see some of the techniques and abilities of some of the most memorable clans in all of Konoha. 

How could he, as a Naruto fan boy, not get excited about such things?!

Just thinking about the signature abilities of the clans that were bound to be on full display made his mouth water with anticipation.

As Keitaro kept deluding himself with his thoughts of fancy techniques and abilities, he found himself alone as he had wandered far off from the crowd of party goers and had seemingly found himself in a secluded garden area of sorts.

The garden area that he had found himself in was quite spacious and had been decorated with rows and rows of blooming flowers, several koi ponds and a small bridge that stood over one of the largest of the ponds. 

It was a nice place to take a break and since he wasn't planning to head back just yet he decided that he might as well take a moment to smell the roses anyway.

He soon found a spot in the shade under one of the trees and simply lay there enjoying the soft rustling of the leaves in the breeze and the flora aroma that permeated the air. For a while he simply enjoyed the tranquility around him and was fading into and out of consciousness as he dozed for a bit.

Though his relaxing moment of peace was soon broken when he heard the sound of someone sniffing. He opened his eyes and looked around for a bit unsure as to whether what he heard was real but soon saw the culprit kneeling off behind one of the other trees in the garden. 

Keitaro Awkwardly looked around, unsure as to what he should do in this situation before finally deciding to see what seemed to be the problem. 

To his surprise as he got closer to the kneeling figure, he realized that he recognized the kneeling person and once he rounded the trunk of the tree his hunch was fully confirmed. 

A young Hinata was kneeling on the ground, her hands covering her face as tears fell from her eyes as she tried her best to stop the tears from falling. She kept whipping them away, but she wasn't making much headway given her quiet sobs.