After Iruka returned, he announced the punishment given by the Hokage.
Running ten thousand meters was actually a small matter, but copying the Will of Fire ten times was too much.
Although the Will of Fire book was relatively thin, it had quite a few words.
Copying it ten times would surely break their hands, and they would also be brainwashed.
That old man Sarutobi Hiruzen was ruthless enough.
Fine, just accept the punishment obediently.
Xia Mu turned over and started running, and the others followed suit one after another.
It wasn't until school ended that the ten thousand meters were finally finished.
Everyone was panting with exhaustion.
Xia Mu also had to pretend to be tired, forcing himself to sweat quite a bit.
There was nothing else he could do.
For a six-year-old child to run ten thousand meters wildly, it would be too strange not to sweat or pant.
Just then, Xia Mu saw a short-haired kid with Byakugan peeking from a corner and immediately felt speechless.
Who else could it be but Hinata, that secret observer?
When watching the anime before, he thought this little girl was too shy and timid.
Now, seeing her, it made him even more anxious.
Forget getting closer to Naruto, she didn't even dare to speak loudly.
Xia Mu looked at the foolish Naruto, then at the hiding Hinata, and couldn't help but twitch his mouth.
You guys!
Can't I just give you a hand?
"Hey!
Hinata!
Come here!" Xia Mu waved to Hinata.
Hinata was startled and instinctively shrank back, but after a moment, she peeked out again.
Facing everyone's curious gazes, her face turned red again for a moment, but she still slowly walked over.
The Hyuga family's upbringing was evident; since Xia Mu called her, she naturally had to come out.
Naruto was full of doubt: "Hinata, what were you doing hiding in the corner?"
Hinata fiddled with her fingers and said in a low voice: "Na-Naruto-kun, everyone..."
Xia Mu said directly: "Hinata, this guy Naruto's taijutsu is terrible, he got beaten up badly and is quite injured.
Do you have any ointment?
Give him some."
"Is Naruto-kun badly injured?
I have ointment here!"
Hinata immediately became nervous, quickly took out the ointment, and wanted to help Naruto with his injuries, but she was too shy to get close.
Naruto said discontentedly: "Xia Mu, what nonsense are you talking about?
Whose taijutsu is terrible?
I, Lord Naruto, was just going easy on them.
Once I unleash my power, I'll definitely beat them until they're searching the ground for their teeth!"
See, he's boasting again.
Inuzuka Kiba: You said searching the ground for whom?
Everyone was speechless but didn't say anything, instead looking at Hinata curiously.
The clever Shikamaru and Shino seemed to understand something.
Seeing Xia Mu looking like he was leisurely watching a play, and then seeing the carefree Naruto and the shy, blushing Hinata, they suddenly had an epiphany.
So that's it!
No wonder this little girl was peeking!
However, Naruto was completely oblivious.
Seeing Hinata's red face, he even leaned in to touch her forehead, thinking she was sick.
He didn't expect Hinata's face to turn completely red instantly, and she fainted on the spot.
"Hinata?
Hinata, what's wrong?" Naruto held Hinata and kept calling out.
Hinata happily fainted in his arms.
Xia Mu watched and found it amusing.
As for the Naruto and Hinata pairing, Xia Mu didn't feel anything about it, nor did he have any thoughts of eliminating Boruto from the source.
Hinata had long since fallen deeply in love with Naruto; there was no room for anyone else to intervene.
He could only blame Xia Mu for awakening his past life memories too late, completely missing the opportunity to get involved.
Moreover, even if there was an opportunity, Xia Mu still didn't want to get involved.
Leaving aside how good Hinata was, just the rules of the Hyuga clan were enough to make people keep their distance.
If he married Hinata, would their future children be branded with a slave mark like the Cage Bird Curse Mark?
Just this point alone made Xia Mu refuse.
Instead of considering such a possibility, it was better not to get involved from the start.
It wasn't as if there were no other good girls in the Ninja World, and it wasn't necessarily required to get married.
So, it was fine to just quietly ship the couple from nearby and occasionally give them a push, saving himself the anxiety.
Hinata was taken care of by Naruto.
Everyone else dispersed, as they still had to go back and copy the Will of Fire.
Xia Mu returned home even faster.
After eating and digesting, as soon as seven o'clock arrived, he immediately entered the special laboratory and began his research projects.
Project One: Can the Transformation Technique, when transforming into thin paper, be used as the Paper Drawing of the Six Styles?
Project Two: Development of the Clone Technique for combat use.
Project Three: Chakra Mode Transformation and Chakra threads.
Project Four: Nature Transformation of Chakra and research into integrating Water Release Chakra into the Rasengan.
He had quite a few projects planned, but the first three wouldn't take too much time.
The most important one was the fourth; Xia Mu wasn't confident he could complete the integration of Chakra Mode Transformation and Nature Transformation in one night.
Naruto took a long time to create the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
Even though Xia Mu considered his talent to surpass Naruto's, without a teacher's guidance and completely relying on his own exploration, success would be very difficult.
The most crucial point was that he had never seen Nature Transformation of Chakra!
If only he knew one Water Release Ninjutsu, even if it was just a D-rank, he could observe the process of Chakra turning into water.
As it was, he was completely in the dark and could only research with a trial-and-error approach.
If it really didn't work, he could only make another deal with Shino.
It probably wouldn't be difficult for Shino to get a D-rank Ninjutsu scroll.
"Just thinking is useless, let's just start.
First, the first one."
Xia Mu thought about the form of thin paper in his mind, then quickly formed hand signs.
The next second, with a 'bang', he indeed turned into a piece of paper, but it was as thick as a book.
This was a manifestation of insufficient mastery of the Transformation Technique; he couldn't transform as he wished.
Moreover, what Xia Mu wanted to transform into wasn't just a piece of paper.
To be precise, it should be a thin paper-like figure that would sway with a light breeze and be pushed away by the wind from an incoming punch without being broken.
Only then would it resemble Paper Drawing, one of the Six Styles from One Piece.
This move's evasion was quite good and worth researching, especially since Xia Mu didn't have many things he could research right now.
He kept trying, constantly transforming while imagining, and finally, half an hour later, he successfully transformed into a thin paper-like figure.
He even used his mind to create a few puppet figures to attack himself.
No matter how heavy the puppets' attacks were, the paper figure could easily evade them, and even if hit, it wouldn't be damaged.
"Phew!
Transformation Technique: Paper Drawing, completed!"
Xia Mu returned to his original form and was very satisfied with the successful completion of the first research project.
Before he could even be happy, he was hit on the head by a puppet figure, making him grimace in pain.
It turned out he had forgotten to dispel these puppet figures.
He quickly told the puppets to scram, rubbed his head, and inhaled sharply.
Even though there was no damage, it still hurt, but he didn't dare to waste time and continued with the second research project.
Development of the Clone Technique for combat use.
This wasn't difficult, but it was worth a try.
The Clone Technique is a technique that uses Chakra to create one or several illusions without substance or attack power, used to confuse opponents.
It sounds quite practical, but its drawback is significant.
Once the opponent discerns the clones, they can basically ignore them, rendering the Clone Technique essentially useless and wasting Chakra.
Therefore, in the original work, the Clone Technique was only seen in the early stages, such as the graduation exam, and Sakura and Ino also used it during their Chunin Exams battles.
In short, it was a disliked textbook move.