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Chapter Text

Naruto Uzumaki looked up at Iruka-sensei. His teacher's face, normally stern and lined with frustration during class, now wore a genuine, albeit tired, smile. The scar that crossed the bridge of his nose no longer looked like a war wound, but a wrinkle of pride, a mark that said, "I trusted you, and you didn't fail me."

"Congratulations, Naruto. As of today, you are a shinobi of Konohagakure."

A lump formed in Naruto's throat. A sob, loaded with twelve years of loneliness, of hateful stares, of nights in an empty apartment, fought to escape. He barely held it back, transforming all that accumulated pain into the biggest, most radiant, and absurdly bright smile his face could manage. The smile of a winner.

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei! Believe it! I'm gonna be the greatest ninja ever and become Hokage, you'll see!"

Iruka's laugh was warm, a sound that to Naruto was more comforting than a thousand bowls of ramen.

"I know, Naruto. But first, tie on your headband. You've earned it."

With hands trembling from adrenaline and pure emotion, Naruto tied the headband around his forehead, replacing his old, worn-out goggles. The metal against his skin felt strangely right, like a puzzle piece that had finally found its place. It was real. He was a ninja. The first, and hardest, step of his dream was beneath his feet.

And then, just as his euphoria reached its peak, the world shattered.

Before his eyes, superimposed over the image of a smiling Iruka and the other graduates celebrating with their families, a window appeared. It was a semi-transparent blue, with crisp white text that floated in the air as if it had always been there.

[Soul Synchronization Complete. Welcome.]

Naruto blinked. The window didn't go away. He blinked again, harder, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. It was still there.

[System: Falna Activated.]

"What the...?"

The question died on his lips before it was born. The initial shock gave way to a dizzying confusion. Was this a genjutsu? A prank by some jealous classmate? He looked around. No one else seemed to see it. Iruka was still smiling; Mizuki-sensei watched from a distance with an unreadable expression. Everything was normal. Except for the strange screen that only he could see.

A new wave of text appeared, cold and impersonal, as if he were reading it from one of the scrolls in the library.

[System: Falna.] [Description: A divine blessing bestowed upon a mortal, which inscribes their deeds and growth upon their back—a reflection of the soul—to manifest their true potential. It allows for the development of Abilities, Chakra Manifestations, and Skills that transcend mortal limitations.] [Primary Function: Status Update.]

Naruto reread the description over and over, his twelve-year-old mind struggling to process concepts like "divine blessing" and "transcend mortal limitations." Chakra Manifestations? What was that? Chakra was real. Jutsus were real. But "Chakra Manifestations"?

"Status... update?" he whispered to himself. The word sounded strange, like something out of one of those board games Chōji sometimes brought to the academy.

As if responding to his thought, the blue window updated with a new and alarming amount of information.

[To perform a Status Update on a compatible subject, the host must perform the Falna bestowal ritual.] [Ritual Requirements:] [1. The subject must be a willing and conscious female.] [2. The host must establish direct skin-to-skin contact on the subject's back.] [3. The host must use a drop of their own blood, infused with their chakra, to draw the status on the subject's back.]

Naruto froze.

He read the first requirement. Then he reread it. And a third time, to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

The subject must be a female.

Then he read the second and third, and the combination of the three sentences set off a bomb in his brain.

Direct contact. Skin-to-skin. On the back. Drawing with his own blood. And only on girls.

He stood paralyzed, his mind trying to process the enormity of what he had just read. The elation of graduation, the joy of his ninja headband... it all evaporated, replaced by a mixture of horror, confusion, and a spark of something else, something a twelve-year-old boy who had spent most of his life isolated and without female friends barely dared to name.

"Naruto? Are you okay?"

Iruka's voice sounded distant, distorted, as if coming from the other end of a tunnel. The world around him had become a blur. The bustle of parents congratulating their children, Akamaru's barking, the murmur of conversations... it all faded away. In his mind, only those three sentences existed.

"I'm... I'm fine!" he managed to gasp, forcing himself to stand up straight. A cold sweat beaded on his forehead, sticking blond strands to his skin. The world spun around him, the colors too bright, the sounds too loud. He needed to think. He needed to be alone.

"Iruka-sensei, I think... I need to go home and rest. It's been a long day."

"Of course, Naruto," Iruka said, placing a hand on his shoulder. The contact grounded him, pulling him out of the whirlwind of his own mind. "Go get some rest. You deserve it."

Naruto nodded, turned, and walked away from the academy courtyard without looking back. He didn't run. He walked with a deliberate slowness, as if afraid that a sudden move might cause the blue window in his vision to shatter into a thousand pieces.

He strayed from the main path. He didn't head to his apartment. Instead, he sought out a secluded spot, a small clearing behind the training grounds that almost no one used. He sat under the shade of an old oak tree, his back resting against the rough trunk.

The blue window was still there, floating patiently.

"Okay... okay... think, Naruto, think," he said to himself, pulling at his blond hair in genuine desperation. "This is a jutsu. It has to be. A super secret, rare jutsu that activated when I graduated. Yeah, that makes sense."

He reread the requirements. Over and over. And the mind of a twelve-year-old boy, who until that moment had only cared about ramen, pranks, and being acknowledged, began to explore the implications.

Only on women.

The first image that popped into his mind was Sakura Haruno. Her pink hair, her green eyes, the way she always looked at him with irritation before turning her attention back to Sasuke.

He imagined the scene.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, congrats on graduating! To celebrate, would you mind taking off your shirt so I can draw on your back with my blood and give you superpowers?"

The response in his imagination was instantaneous and painful: a punch that would send him flying to the Hokage's office, followed by a scream of "PERVERT!" that would be heard throughout the entire village.

Ruled out. Completely ruled out.

His mind ran through the other girls in his class. Ino Yamanaka. Almost as obsessed with Sasuke as Sakura, and much more concerned with her appearance. The probability of her punching him was 100%. The probability of her also telling everyone he was a creep was 200%.

Tenten. She was more practical, yes. But he barely knew her. Approaching her with such a request would be like asking a kunai not to cut you.

The realization hit him with the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face. This power, this "Falna," wasn't just a tool. It was a social and logistical nightmare. To use it, to make people stronger, to do... whatever it did, he had to...

He had to convince the strongest and most promising kunoichi in the world to let him... take off their clothes so he could draw on their bare backs with his blood.

And then, his mind, freed for a moment from the panic and confusion, began to connect the dots in a completely different way. A way that had nothing to do with strategy or survival.

Skin-to-skin. On the back.

A slow, mischievous, and absolutely perverted smile began to form on his lips. The initial horror gave way to a wave of adolescent curiosity.

What would Sakura-chan's back look like? And Ino's?

The thought made him blush violently. He mentally slapped himself. Focus, you idiot! This is serious!

But his mind wouldn't stop. This "jutsu" was the perfect excuse. He wouldn't be a pervert; he'd be "updating their status"! It sounded super technical and official! He could tell them it was a high-level medical ninjutsu, that the skin on the back was the point with the highest concentration of tenketsu for chakra transfer. It sounded believable!

He could become the secret hero of all the girls in Konoha! They would all want him to "update their status"! He imagined a line of kunoichi waiting for their turn, thanking him for their new powers. He pictured himself, with a serious and professional expression, saying things like, "Yes, your agility levels have increased considerably. Excellent work."

The idea was so glorious he almost laughed. The euphoria of graduation was returning, but tinged with a completely new and hormonal hue. This power was incredible!

But then, a darker thought pushed through. What if they didn't believe him? What if they all reacted like he'd imagined Sakura would? They'd brand him a pervert, get him kicked out of the academy he had struggled so hard to pass. His dream of becoming Hokage would go up in smoke.

The smile vanished, replaced by frustration. It was the most incredible power in the world, but its activation method was the stupidest.

It was then, in the midst of his whirlwind of hormonal thoughts and existential doubts, that he saw her.

Hinata Hyuga.

She wasn't there in person. It was a memory, an image floating in his mind from the academy courtyard. She was standing next to her father, Hiashi, whose expression was a mask of icy disapproval. Hinata wasn't looking at her father. She was looking at him, at Naruto. And as soon as their eyes met for a split second, she had flinched, her cheeks turning a deep red, and she had dropped her gaze to the tips of her sandals, fidgeting with her fingers.

The Hinata that Naruto knew was just the weird, shy girl from his class. The one who always stammered and looked like she was about to faint.

But now, in the solitude of his hiding spot, his mind made a brutal and instantaneous connection.

Power to make people stronger. An intimate and extremely embarrassing activation ritual. And the potential candidate: the shyest, most modest girl in the history of Konoha, who, if his instincts weren't wrong, always seemed to look at him in a... different way.

The mental image appeared uninvited: him, Naruto Uzumaki, trying to explain to Hinata that he needed her to take off her shirt so he could save the world (or at least, to test his weird new jutsu). He saw her fainting. Or maybe her father, Hiashi, killing him on the spot with the Gentle Fist. Probably both.

The elation of graduation had completely evaporated again. The joy of receiving his ninja headband felt like a distant memory of a simpler life. Just ten minutes ago, his biggest problem was how he was going to get someone to treat him to a celebratory bowl of ramen.

Now, his problem was how to start a magical empowerment cult through physical contact without being labeled a pervert or getting himself killed.

He put his head in his hands, pulling at his blond hair in genuine desperation.

Meanwhile, not far away, hidden behind a dense hedge, another person had observed the scene in the academy courtyard from a very different perspective.

Hinata Hyuga had felt her heart stop when Iruka-sensei called Naruto-kun's name. And then, she had felt her heart overflow with a joy so pure it almost made her cry when he smiled. His smile. That smile that seemed capable of dispelling the darkest clouds.

He had done it. Despite everything, despite everyone.

She had watched, as always, from a distance, as he tied on the ninja headband. And for an instant, she had felt like the happiest kunoichi in Konoha.

But then, something changed.

She saw Naruto's smile freeze. She saw his face go pale, how an expression of shock and confusion replaced the joy. She saw him stumble, sweat. She saw him talk to Iruka-sensei and then walk away, not with the energy of a winner, but with the heavy gait of a condemned man.

Hinata's heart clenched with worry. What had happened? Was he feeling sick? Had someone said something hurtful to him? The parade of happy parents with their children was always a difficult time for him. Maybe the loneliness, in the moment of his greatest triumph, had become too heavy.

The urge to follow him, to ask him if he was okay, was overwhelming. But fear, her old, faithful companion, paralyzed her. What would she say? How could she approach him without stammering to the point of being incomprehensible?

But then, she saw the direction he took. Not toward the shopping district, not toward Ichiraku, not toward his home. Toward the training grounds. Toward solitude.

And the worry, finally, was stronger than the fear.

Naruto-kun is alone, she thought. And he looks... sad. On the happiest day of his life.

The thought was unbearable. With a determination that surprised even herself, she excused herself from her father with a bow and slipped away. She moved with a stealth her training had taught her, following his chakra trail, a trail that vibrated with an agitation that worried her more and more.

She found him in the clearing. Sitting, his head in his hands, pulling at his own hair. She heard him whispering, shouting under his breath. She saw him go through a whirlwind of emotions: desperation, a strange, blushing smile, and then desperation again.

He was suffering. He was confused. He was alone.

Hinata hid behind a tree, her heart pounding. She had to do something. She had to say something. Her mother's words echoed in her memory: "Kindness is not a weakness, Hinata. It is a strength that can heal."

She gathered her courage. Every step she took out of her hiding place felt like walking on hot coals. Her pulse hammered in her ears.

She saw Naruto lift his head, his blue eyes filled with a cosmic frustration. And she heard him shout that strange, confused question to the sky.

It was now or never.

She took a step into the clearing. The crunch of a dry leaf under her sandal sounded like a thunderclap.

Naruto jumped, spinning around with the speed of a ninja on high alert. His eyes went wide when he saw her.

"H-Hinata? What are you doing here?"

The surprise in his voice made her shrink back. But she couldn't retreat now.

"I-I..." she began, her voice barely an audible thread. She forced herself to breathe. "I saw you... I saw you in the courtyard. You looked... you didn't look happy. I thought that maybe... that maybe you were feeling lonely."

The word "lonely" hung in the air between them.

Naruto's mind, which was still full of thoughts about bare backs and perverted powers, went blank. Lonely? Sad? He was euphoric! And horrified! And confusingly aroused! But not sad!

"Sad? No! I'm great! I graduated, believe it!" he said, his voice a little louder than necessary.

But Hinata shook her head, her pearly eyes fixed on him with an empathy that disarmed him.

"Everyone left with their families to celebrate," she said quietly, and every word was a truth he couldn't deny. "And you... you left alone. No one should be alone on a day like today."

The comment hit him where it hurt most. His absurd thoughts about his new power vanished. Suddenly, he remembered the feeling of being in the courtyard, surrounded by happy families, and the pang of loneliness he always ignored. Hinata was right. Despite his triumph, despite the headband on his forehead, he was still the boy who ate ramen alone.

The forced smile faded from his face, replaced by an expression of genuine, vulnerable confusion.

"I..." he started, but he didn't know what to say.

Hinata, seeing she had struck a nerve, took another timid step.

"You don't have to pretend with me, Naruto-kun," she said. "It's okay to not be okay. Sometimes... sometimes, even in the best moments, that's when we need someone the most."

Naruto looked at her. At the shy girl, the one he had barely ever spoken to. And for the first time, he didn't see her as the "weird girl." He saw her as the only person in the entire world who had noticed that, behind his winner's smile, there was still a lonely kid.

"Thanks, Hinata," he said, and his voice was a whisper.

They sat in silence for a moment, the strange blue window still floating in Naruto's vision, a secret that now felt a little less heavy, simply because he was no longer completely alone to face it.

Chapter Text

The vulnerability in Naruto's eyes, an honesty he had never shown anyone before, seemed to instill a surge of courage in Hinata. Her posture straightened slightly, and her hands stopped fidgeting so anxiously.

"B-but... you did it!" she said, her voice a little louder, tinged with an admiration that took him by surprise. "I saw you. During the exam. Everyone underestimated you, they laughed when you failed... but you never gave up. You came back and... and you saved Iruka-sensei. T-that... that's what makes you strong, Naruto-kun. That's why... I... I admire you!"

The confession slipped out, and the blush that followed was so intense that Hinata wished the earth would swallow her whole. She instantly averted her gaze, fixing it on her sandals as if they were the most fascinating thing in the world, her shoulders hunched, expecting mockery or, even worse, his laughter.

Naruto was speechless. Admiration? People looked at him with contempt, fear, pity, or irritation. Kids threw rocks at him. Shopkeepers refused him service. No one, ever, had looked at him with admiration. The warmth he felt in his chest had nothing to do with the euphoria of graduation or the afternoon sun. It was something new. Something warm and comforting that spread from his stomach to his cheeks.

"Whoa..." was all he could say, his mouth slightly agape. He rubbed his nose with the back of his hand, feeling strangely shy. "No one's... no one's ever told me that before."

"It's the truth," she murmured, still not looking at him.

"Thanks, Hinata. For real."

A strange calm settled between them. It wasn't awkward anymore. It was... peaceful. Naruto realized that the blue window in his field of vision, which had been a source of panic and confusion since the incident with Mizuki, now seemed a little less threatening, its glow a bit softer. For the first time, he didn't feel the need to fill the space with noise and bravado. They just stood there, in a shared silence that said more than any words.

"Well, uh... it's getting late," Naruto finally said, standing up and dusting off his pants. The sun was beginning to paint the sky orange. "Are you heading home?"

"Y-yes," she replied, still not looking at him directly, as if she feared her blush could set the air on fire.

"I'll walk you," he offered without thinking. The impulse not to let her go alone, to extend this moment of calm a little longer, was stronger than his own confusion. Seeing the surprise on her face, he quickly added an excuse. "I mean, if you want. To make sure you don't get into any trouble! I'm a ninja now, it's my duty to protect the citizens of Konoha!"

The excuse was so clumsy and so typical of him that Hinata couldn't help but let out a small, soft laugh, a sound that made Naruto truly smile, a genuine grin he hadn't felt all day.

"O-okay, Naruto-kun."

The walk back was an exercise in adorable awkwardness. Naruto walked with his hands behind his head, trying to look relaxed, while Hinata maintained a safe distance at his side. To fill the silence, Naruto started talking about the first thing that came to mind.

"So? Are you on a team yet? Do you know who you'll be with?" he asked.

"I-I don't know yet," she answered quietly. "They'll tell us tomorrow. I-I hope... I hope I get nice people."

"Hah! Niceness doesn't matter! Strength is what matters!" Naruto declared. "I hope I get Sakura-chan! And that smug jerk Sasuke, too! Then I can finally show him who the best ninja is once and for all." He paused for a second. "Though if I got you, that wouldn't be so bad either. You don't seem like the type to yell much."

Hinata blushed even deeper, if that was possible. "T-thank you... I guess."

They continued walking, passing food stalls that were starting to close and streets that were becoming increasingly empty.

His confidence was so simple and absolute that it made Hinata smile. It was refreshing. In her clan, everything was complicated, filled with expectations, rules, and disappointments. Naruto was... direct.

When they reached the imposing stone wall that surrounded the Hyuga compound, they stopped. The entrance was flanked by two guards who watched them with stern, expressionless gazes. The atmosphere changed instantly, becoming heavy and formal.

"Well, this is it," Naruto said, stuffing his hands in his pockets, suddenly feeling out of place. This world of prestigious clans and high walls was completely alien to him.

"Thank you... for walking me home," Hinata whispered, finally daring to meet his eyes. There was sincere gratitude in them.

"Don't mention it," he replied with a shrug. "And... Hinata. Thanks to you, too. For... you know."

She nodded, and a silent understanding passed between them. With a final, timid bow, Hinata disappeared behind the compound walls, leaving Naruto alone on the darkening street.

He stood there for a moment, looking at the closed gate. For the first time in a long time, he didn't feel completely alone. And a brilliant idea, almost a revelation, was beginning to form in his mind.

****

Naruto's apartment greeted him with its usual silence and the smell of instant noodles. But tonight, Naruto didn't find it oppressive. He ignored it completely. He slammed the door shut, making an empty milk carton on the counter tremble, and began to pace the small space, electric energy coursing through him.

"Unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable! A power that can make people stronger!" he said aloud, looking at the blue window floating in front of him, a tangible reminder of his new, strange gift. "This is my super secret jutsu! The fastest way to become Hokage! Nobody will see it coming!"

He stopped in front of the cracked bathroom mirror, his eyes shining with excitement. He pointed at himself with his thumb.

"Okay, okay, calm down, genius," he told himself, though he couldn't stop smiling. "Think. Analyze the situation like a real leader would." He struck a thoughtful pose, one hand on his chin. "It has weird requirements... 'Only applicable to females'... and the thing with the back... and the blood..." He made a face. "A little gross, but... who cares! Great jutsus have strange conditions! That's what makes them legendary!"

Doubt had no place in his mind, only the pure thrill of having an ace up his sleeve, a power no one else in the world possessed. The only question was: who would be the first? Who would have the honor of receiving his incredible power?

"Let's see, let's think..." He began counting on his fingers. "Sakura-chan... She's at the top of the list! She's smart, strong, and...!" He paused, imagining the scene. Him, approaching with a nervous smile: "Hey, Sakura-chan, can I put my bloody hand on your back?" The mental image ended with him embedded in the wall of the nearest hospital. "Nope... She'd send me flying to the hospital before I could even say 'back'." Scratched.

Then, the memory of the afternoon returned to him. The soft voice. The unexpected kindness. The admiration in her eyes.

"Hinata..." he whispered. And then, a huge grin spread across his face, lighting up the room. "Hinata! She's perfect! She won't hit me! Probably! And..." He paused, his expression softening. "She was the only one who was nice to me today. The only one who saw past the fool everyone thinks I am." His smile returned, but it was different this time. It wasn't just excitement, but certainty. "I trust her."

The decision was made. There was no more confusion or fear, only a clear, brilliant plan of action. He slept soundly that night, with no nightmares, dreaming of armies of incredibly powerful kunoichi led by him, the Seventh Hokage, and mountains of ramen to celebrate their victories.

The next morning, Naruto wasn't just wandering. He was on a mission. He woke before sunrise, dressed with a speed that would have impressed any sensei, and hit the streets with a determination he usually reserved for getting a limited-edition bowl of ramen. He searched for Hinata all over the village. He ignored Kiba when he called out to show him a new trick Akamaru learned. He walked right past Shikamaru, who greeted him with a lazy "what a drag," and didn't even notice the usual morning fight between Sakura and Ino over who would get to the Academy first. He had only one goal in mind.

He asked at the Yamanaka flower shop, but Ino just gave him a suspicious look. He checked the training grounds where Shino and Kiba usually were, but they were alone. His frustration began to build. What if he'd been wrong? What if she thought he was a creep and was avoiding him now?

Finally, just as he was about to give up and drown his sorrows at Ichiraku, he found her. She was at a secluded training ground, one of those hardly anyone used, near the Hyuga compound. She was throwing kunai at a log, an expression of intense frustration on her face. Most of her throws were off by inches, quivering in the wood but missing the center.

"Damn it!" he heard her whisper to herself, her voice tense. "More... stronger... I have to be stronger..."

Naruto watched her for a moment from the cover of the trees. He saw the determination in her posture, the same kind he felt every time he failed a jutsu. He saw that she wasn't just a shy girl, but a ninja fighting to improve. And that solidified his decision.

Without hesitating another second, he stepped out from the trees, deliberately snapping a twig so he wouldn't startle her.

"Hinata! I found you!" he shouted with so much enthusiasm that she jumped, and the kunai in her hand fell to the ground with a dull thud.

She spun around, bright red at the sight of him, as if he'd caught her doing something terrible. "N-Naruto-kun! G-good morning... W-what are you doing here?"

"Morning!" he said, approaching with a huge grin, ignoring her nervousness. "Hey, I'm so glad I found you! I've been looking all over for you. I have to talk to you about something super important! A top-class secret! Something that will change our lives!"

Naruto's intensity left her paralyzed. His blue eyes shone with an almost fanatical conviction. "W-with me?"

"Yeah, with you!" he affirmed, stopping in front of her. "But not here. It's too... open. Someone could hear us." He looked around exaggeratedly, as if expecting spies to be hiding in the bushes. "Let's go somewhere more private! This is Kage-level stuff, believe me!"

Without waiting for a reply, he gestured for her to follow. Hinata, her brain short-circuiting and her heart pounding a mile a minute, could only pick up her kunai and obey. A secret? With her? From Naruto-kun? He led her to the clearing by the stream where they had met, the same place he had relentlessly practiced his shadow clones. Once there, he stood before her, vibrating with contained energy.

"Okay, listen," he began, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper that made Hinata lean in instinctively. "Hinata, out of all the girls I know, you're the most trustworthy. Seriously. You don't laugh at me, you don't yell at me... and you were really nice to me yesterday. That's why I want you to be the first to know my biggest secret."

She stared at him, wide-eyed, unable to process what was happening. The boy she admired from afar was entrusting her with something important. It was more than she had ever dreamed of.

"I discovered an incredible secret jutsu!" he continued, gesturing with his hands to emphasize his words. "One that can awaken a person's true power! Make them super strong! It's like... like opening a door you didn't even know you had! It's my secret weapon to become Hokage!"

The passion in his voice was contagious, and Hinata found herself listening, captivated. The frustration from her failed training melted away, replaced by an overwhelming curiosity.

"How... how does it work?" she ventured, her voice barely audible.

Naruto's smile became a little nervous, but he didn't lose an ounce of his enthusiasm. He scratched his cheek. "Well, this is where it gets weird. The part you have to promise you won't tell anyone. Promise?"

Hinata nodded eagerly, her eyes fixed on him.

"Okay... To activate it... I need... uh... a little direct contact!" He paused dramatically, leaning toward her. "On the back!"

Hinata froze. Her cheeks, which had returned to a normal color, flared up again. "T-the back?"

"Yeah!" he exclaimed, not noticing her reaction. "Like, on the skin of the back! And I need a little of my blood to draw... well, to put a mark! I know it sounds crazy! Totally crazy! But it's real! I swear on my love for ramen! I'm not a pervert, it's just how the jutsu works!"

He took another step closer, his eyes full of desperate sincerity. "Imagine it, Hinata! I saw you training earlier. You want to be stronger, right? Well, with this, you'd be invincible! Your eyes are incredible, but your Taijutsu would be unstoppable! You'd be the strongest kunoichi! Stronger than Sakura-chan, stronger than anyone! And the first to try my super jutsu!"

He was looking at her with such pure expectation and absolute confidence that Hinata's embarrassment began to fight against another feeling: the desire not to disappoint him. He, the boy she admired, the one who never gave up, wasn't just asking for her help—he was offering her the chance to be his first ally. His first partner on his path to his dream. He was entrusting her with everything.

The battle in her mind lasted only a few seconds. The fear of the unknown against the loyalty she felt for him. The shyness ingrained by her clan against the admiration she secretly held for him. The voices of her father telling her she was weak against Naruto's voice telling her she could be invincible.

Hinata lifted her head. Her face was intensely red, but her eyes, for the first time, didn't waver. They held a firm resolve. She took a deep breath, one that seemed to carry away all her fears.

"Alright, Naruto-kun."

Her voice was quiet, but firm. Without a stutter.

"I believe you."

For a second, Naruto stood still, processing. He blinked, as if unsure he'd heard correctly. And then, his face lit up with a joy so explosive and radiant it seemed the sun itself had decided to come down to earth.

"YES! I KNEW IT! I KNEW I COULD COUNT ON YOU!" he yelled, and in a burst of pure happiness, he lunged forward and wrapped her in a strong, energetic hug, lifting her slightly off the ground. "YOU'RE THE BEST, HINATA, BELIEVE IT!"

Hinata went completely rigid in his arms. The world stopped. She could feel the warmth of his body, the smell of sun and fresh air on his clothes, and the beat of her own heart thundering in her ears like a war drum. She felt her brain short-circuit, as if steam might actually be coming out of her ears. She was so red she could have lit up the entire clearing on a moonless night.

Naruto let her go as abruptly as he had grabbed her, still grinning from ear to ear, oblivious to the mental collapse he had just caused. "We have to celebrate! This is the beginning of something big! I'll treat you to Ichiraku Ramen! My treat!" He paused, thoughtful, as his pocket made an empty sound when he patted it. "Well, I'll borrow the money from Iruka-sensei, but it's the thought that counts! Right?"

Hinata, who was still trying to remember how to breathe, could only manage a small, incoherent squeak and a nod. Her mind was a whirlwind of panic, excitement, and a happiness so overwhelming it was scary. She had agreed to help Naruto-kun with a secret and slightly perverted jutsu, he had hugged her, and now he was asking her out to eat.

Their adventure, without a doubt, had just begun.

Chapter Text

Naruto let go of her as abruptly as he had grabbed her, still grinning from ear to ear, completely oblivious to the mental breakdown he had just caused.

"We're a team! The first and most secret team for my new jutsu!" he declared, planting his hands on his hips with an air of triumph. "And teams celebrate their victories! Hinata, this calls for the most sacred ritual of all Konoha shinobi!"

Hinata, who was still trying to remember how to breathe, could only stare at him with wide eyes.

"A-a... r-ritual?"

"A bowl of ramen at Ichiraku's!" he exclaimed as if it were the most obvious truth in the universe. "It's the only way to seal such an important pact! Let's go!"

Without waiting for an answer, he took her hand. The contact was like an electric spark. Naruto's hand was warm and slightly rough from training calluses; hers was small and soft. For Naruto, it was an impulsive gesture, like a kid grabbing a friend to go play. For Hinata, it was as if the sun itself had decided to take her by the hand. The world faded away, and her only reality was the pressure of his fingers intertwined with hers.

"R-r-right now!" she managed to stammer as he was already dragging her out of the clearing.

They walked, or rather, Naruto dragged her, through the streets of Konoha. He was a step ahead, bursting with energy, pointing at random things with his free hand.

"Look, Hinata! The candy shop! They say their dango is almost as good as the food of the gods! We have to try it someday!"

Hinata barely registered the scenery. Her mind was entirely focused on not fainting. People watched them pass: the loud Uzumaki boy dragging the shy Hyūga heiress by the hand. It was such an unlikely sight that it drew stares of pure curiosity. Hinata tried to make herself invisible, lowering her head and wishing her hair would completely cover her face, but at the same time, a part of her—a brave, dreaming part—was absolutely thrilled.

Halfway to the shopping district, Naruto stopped short, a look of horror on his face.

"Oh, no!"

Hinata stopped with him, her heart skipping a beat with worry. "W-what's wrong, Naruto-kun? Are you okay?"

He slapped his free hand against his forehead in a gesture of pure desperation. He dug through his pants pocket and pulled out his frog wallet. He opened it. It was pathetically empty.

"The money!" he moaned. "I invited you on a super epic celebratory date and I don't have a single ryō! I'm the worst teammate in history!"

Hinata blinked. A date? Did he say "date"? The word echoed in her head, momentarily erasing the money problem.

Naruto started pacing in circles, muttering to himself. "What do I do, what do I do? I can't ask Old Man Teuchi for credit on our first date... that would be humiliating!"

Suddenly, he stopped. A light of genius, or perhaps absolute stupidity, flashed in his eyes.

"I've got it! I know someone who can fund us! It's an investment in the village's future, believe it! Follow me!"

Before Hinata could ask, he was already pulling her along again, this time in the direction of the Academy.

****

Iruka Umino sighed, rubbing his tired eyes. The pile of mission reports from the new genin on his desk seemed to be growing instead of shrinking. Being a chūnin instructor was a rewarding job, but it was also exhausting. He heard a commotion in the hallway and his instinct, honed by years of dealing with a certain orange whirlwind, told him exactly who it was.

The door to the teachers' lounge burst open without the courtesy of a knock.

"Iruka-sensei! Emergency! I need funding for a top-secret, S-Rank mission of vital importance to Konoha's security!"

Naruto stood there in the doorway, an expression of utmost seriousness on his face, holding the hand of a Hyūga girl who looked to be on the verge of spontaneous combustion.

Iruka looked at Naruto. Then he looked at Hinata, whose face had reached a shade of red that rivaled the Uzumaki clan symbol. Then he looked at their intertwined hands. A slow, knowing smile spread across his face.

"Naruto," he said, with a calm that completely disarmed his student's drama, "a 'mission' to take Hinata out for ramen doesn't count as S-Rank."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "How did you know?"

"I'm your teacher. And your frog wallet is always empty," Iruka replied, leaning back in his chair. He crossed his arms. "Besides, that's the most ridiculous excuse you've come up with since you tried to convince me that your shadow clones needed their own lunch budget."

Hinata let out a small squeak of pure embarrassment and tried to pull her hand away from Naruto's, but he held on tighter.

"It's not ridiculous! It's a celebration! Hinata and I have formed a secret alliance! And alliances are sealed with ramen! It's the rules!"

Iruka raised an eyebrow, his gaze shifting from amusement to genuine interest. An alliance, he thought. This kid... he's finally making friends. And not just any friend. He looked at Hinata, who was still trying to hide behind her own hair.

I feel like his personal piggy bank, Iruka thought with an internal sigh, but the idea didn't bother him. In fact, it filled him with a strange sense of pride. Naruto was growing up. He was taking a step, albeit a clumsy and loud one, toward maturity.

"Alright," he finally said, pulling out his own wallet. He took out a few bills, more than enough for two bowls of ramen and maybe even dessert. "But this is a loan, you understand, Naruto? And I want it back. With interest."

"You got it, Iruka-sensei! Thanks! You're the best!" Naruto exclaimed, snatching the money with lightning speed.

"And Naruto," Iruka added, his tone becoming more paternal. "Be a gentleman."

Naruto gave him a wink. "Always am! Believe it!"

With that, he bolted from the room, dragging Hinata with him and leaving Iruka alone with a tired smile and a stack of paperwork.

"That kid..." he muttered to himself. "He's going to be a great Hokage. Or the cause of my early retirement. Probably both."

****

The atmosphere at Ichiraku Ramen was a soothing balm. The smell of pork broth, the sound of slurping noodles, and the warm smiles of Teuchi and Ayame were Naruto's true home.

"Two miso ramen with extra pork for Konoha's newest and coolest ninja!" Naruto shouted as he entered, plopping down on his usual stool. He then realized he was still holding Hinata's hand and let go abruptly, a blush rising to his cheeks that rivaled hers.

"And... um... one for my friend," he added, his voice a little lower.

Ayame peeked out, a mischievous grin on her face. "Your friend, Naruto? This is the first time you've brought a girl here. Is this a date?"

"YES!" Naruto yelled, his confidence returning.

"N-NO!" Hinata shrieked at the same time.

Teuchi laughed from the kitchen. "Sounds complicated. The first round is on the house for your graduation. What will you have, young lady?"

Naruto turned to Hinata. For the first time, instead of just assuming what everyone wanted, he asked.

"Hey, what's your favorite? You can order whatever you want. I'm paying!" he declared, proudly displaying Iruka's money.

Hinata was surprised by the question. "I-I... I like shio ramen. The simple kind."

"One shio ramen for the kunoichi with the best taste in the village!" Naruto ordered.

The meal was... surprisingly normal. Naruto explained his complex philosophy on the perfect balance between the noodles, the broth, and the naruto fish cake. He told her stories of his most epic pranks, and to Hinata's surprise, she found herself laughing. Not a shy little giggle, but a genuine laugh that made Naruto stop mid-story just to look at her.

"Hey, you have a really nice laugh, Hinata," he said, with a sincerity so direct it made her blush all over again.

Toward the end of the meal, as the sun began to set, Naruto got serious again.

"So... about the jutsu," he said in a low voice. "Tomorrow, after we get our teams? Let's meet at the training ground near your house. The one by the river."

Hinata nodded. The embarrassment was still there, but now it was mixed with an excitement that gave her butterflies in her stomach.

"I-I'll be there, Naruto-kun."

Naruto paid the bill with an air of great importance and left a generous tip. When they left the stand, the sun had set, and Konoha's paper lanterns were beginning to light up the streets.

****

The walk back to the Hyūga compound was much quieter. The silence was no longer awkward. Naruto walked with his hands behind his head, whistling an off-key tune. Hinata walked beside him, feeling happier and braver than she had in her entire life.

Just as they were turning a corner, they bumped into a familiar figure with pink hair and a red ribbon.

"Naruto?"

Sakura's voice was tinged with its usual irritation, but she stopped short when she saw who was with him. She didn't yell, she didn't insult him. She just stood there, blinking, as Naruto and Hinata walked past.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Naruto greeted her with an energetic nod.

Sakura didn't answer. Her analytical gaze shifted from Naruto to Hinata. They weren't holding hands, nor were they standing particularly close, but something was different. Hinata's posture was straighter. And her face... Sakura had never seen Hinata Hyūga smile like that before. It wasn't a shy or nervous smile. It was a radiant, genuine smile, full of a happiness that seemed to light up the darkening street.

How strange, Sakura thought, frowning as she watched them walk away. I've never seen her smile like that. Especially not with Naruto.

It wasn't jealousy. It was curiosity. An anomaly in the social order she knew. A piece of the puzzle that didn't fit. And Sakura Haruno did not like unsolved puzzles.

****

At the gate of the Hyūga compound, the goodbye was as awkward as the beginning.

"Well, uh... see you tomorrow, then," Naruto said.

"Y-yes. Tomorrow," Hinata replied.

"Awesome! Get ready to get super strong!" he told her with a wink before turning and running off.

Hinata watched him go until his orange silhouette disappeared into the night. She touched her lips, where she could still feel the echo of her own smile.

Naruto ran home, but this time he didn't feel alone. He felt... accompanied. The strange blue window was still in his vision, but it was no longer a crushing secret. It was a secret that, for the first time, he was about to share. And that, he decided, was much more exciting than any bowl of ramen.

Chapter Text

The Hyuga compound was a sanctuary of silence and order. Every roof tile was perfectly aligned, every plank of the polished wooden floor gleamed under the soft light of paper lamps, reflecting a world of unbreakable traditions and suffocating expectations. For Hinata Hyuga, walking back through that gate after the warmth of Naruto's company was like plunging into ice-cold water.

The joy she had felt, that bubbling and novel emotion that had made her smile uncontrollably, vanished, replaced by the familiar mask of submission and stillness. She walked through the immaculate corridors, her steps deliberately silent, her gaze fixed on the floor. But inside, her heart was still beating to a different rhythm, one it had learned on the streets of Konoha, next to the loudest boy in the village.

He was waiting for her.

Hiashi Hyuga was not sitting in meditation. He was standing in the center of the main hall, his back to the entrance, looking at an ancient scroll on the wall that depicted the founder of his clan. His mere presence seemed to absorb all the warmth and sound from the room. He was a statue of cold, absolute authority.

Hinata stopped at a respectful distance and knelt, bowing her head.

"Father. I have returned."

"You're late." Hiashi's voice wasn't a shout; it was something worse. It was flat, devoid of emotion, a knife of ice that cut through the air. "Dinner ended an hour ago. Your sister asked for you. The gate guards reported that you arrived with company."

Hinata felt a knot of ice form in her stomach. She didn't ask how he knew; she took it for granted. In this place, there were no secrets.

"I was... I was with a friend, Father."

"Friend?" he repeated the word as if it were a foreign and unpleasant term. "The guards described a rowdy boy in orange clothes. The vessel of the Nine-Tails. Is that what you call a 'friend,' Hinata?"

The venom in his words was subtle, but lethal. It wasn't the anger of a worried father, but the disdain of a clan leader who sees a stain on his lineage.

"He is my classmate from the academy," she replied, her voice barely a whisper. "We just graduated."

"That boy is trash," Hiashi declared, finally turning to look at her. His white, pupilless eyes analyzed her as if she were a defective object. "He is a clanless outcast, a failure who had to retake the graduation exam. The fact that he carries the burden of the fox only makes him a walking danger. He is not suitable company for the heiress of the main house of the Hyuga clan."

Hinata clenched her fists in her lap, her nails digging into her palms. The injustice of his words burned her throat. Trash? Naruto-kun was the most determined and brave person she knew.

"He is... he is a good person," she managed to say, her voice trembling, not with fear, but with restrained fury.

"'Goodness' is a luxury the weak cannot afford," Hiashi retorted, taking a step toward her. "Your association with him is unacceptable. It creates misunderstandings. It gives the impression that the main house stoops to the level of the marginalized. It gives the impression that you are weak."

The word "weak" hit her with the force of a punch. It was his verdict, his sentence, the word that had defined her entire life under that roof.

"I don't want you to be seen with him again," Hiashi continued, his voice growing even colder. "Your duty is to uphold the honor and dignity of the clan. A duty you have already failed at repeatedly. Your kindness, your hesitation, your lack of a killer instinct... you are a failure as an heiress, Hinata. Don't give me any more reasons to be ashamed of you."

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she couldn't stop them. But they weren't tears of sadness. They were tears of pure, helpless rage. Rage at being judged, at being misunderstood, at the only person who had treated her with genuine kindness being despised in such a way.

She didn't scream. She didn't beg. She rose slowly from the floor, a silent act of defiance that surprised her father. With her head still bowed in a show of respect she did not feel, she turned away.

"Understood, Father."

And she left. She walked to her room, each step a reaffirmation of a new promise being forged in her heart. Her father didn't see it, but her fists were clenched so tightly her knuckles were white.

Once in the safety of her room, she leaned against the closed door, and the tears finally flowed freely. She cried silently, not for her father's harshness, but for the frustration of not being able to defend Naruto as he deserved.

She went to the mirror and looked at herself. She saw her tear-streaked face, her red eyes. She saw the weak girl her father saw. But then, she remembered Naruto's smile, the warmth of his hand, the unwavering faith in his voice when he told her she could be invincible.

"I will become strong," she whispered to her reflection. The whisper wasn't a wish; it was an oath. "I will become so strong that you will never have to call me weak again. I will become so strong that no one, ever again, will dare to insult the people who are important to me. I'll prove it to you, Father. I'll prove it to everyone."

Her sadness transformed into a determination as cold and sharp as steel. The determination Naruto had inspired in her that afternoon, without him knowing, had just taken root in the most fertile ground of all: a wounded heart with something to protect.

****

The Ninja Academy was silent. Night had fallen, and the halls were now empty. The air still smelled of chalk and the electric energy of the exams.

Iruka Umino was in classroom 301. A small, nostalgic smile played on his lips. Another year was over. Another generation of shinobi was ready to face the world. And among them, his most troublesome student and, secretly, his greatest pride, had finally made it.

With a gust of wind, a figure appeared in the open window frame, silhouetted against the full moon.

"Good evening, Iruka-sensei. Working late?"

The voice was lazy, almost bored, but it startled Iruka. He turned to see Kakashi Hatake, leaning against the windowsill as if he'd been there all night. His orange book was in his hand, though he wasn't reading it.

"Kakashi-senpai!" Iruka exclaimed, his heart returning to its normal rhythm. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"My apologies," Kakashi said, though he didn't sound very sorry. "I just received my team assignment for the new genin. And from what I've heard, I've hit the jackpot."

He hopped into the classroom without a sound, his movements fluid and economical.

"So... that loud kid, the one in the orange jumpsuit... I hear he's the one they're assigning to me," he said, his single visible eye curving into a smile that revealed nothing.

Iruka's paternal instincts went on high alert. He knew Kakashi's reputation. The genius, the prodigy, the jōnin who had never passed a single genin team, sending them all back to the Academy. And they had assigned him Naruto.

"His name is Naruto Uzumaki," Iruka said, his tone turning protective. "And he's not just 'the loud kid'."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, his interest barely perceptible.

"Oh? His academic record says otherwise. Dead last in his class, the worst at chakra control, a master of disaster. His only noteworthy jutsu seems to be a perverted one he probably invented himself. Doesn't sound very promising."

"His file doesn't define him!" Iruka retorted, his voice gaining a passion that surprised Kakashi. "Naruto... is complicated. He's loud because it's the only way he's found to get people to notice him. He's clumsy because he has such massive chakra reserves that controlling them is like trying to hold back a flood with your bare hands. But underneath all that..." Iruka paused, searching for the right words, "underneath all that is a will of steel. I've seen geniuses give up, Kakashi. I've seen prodigies break under pressure. But Naruto... I've never seen him give up. Not once."

Kakashi remained silent, listening. His expression didn't change, but his mind was analyzing, filing away the information.

"He's a lonely boy," Iruka continued, his voice softening. "He's grown up with no one. All he's ever wanted is to be acknowledged, to have a place to belong. And for that dream, he's capable of moving mountains. Don't underestimate him. He may be an idiot, but he's an idiot with the ability to change the people around him. He has a heart that draws people in, even if he doesn't realize it himself. Give him a chance, Kakashi. He'll surprise you."

Kakashi watched Iruka for a long moment. He saw the unwavering faith in the instructor's eyes. He saw an affection that went beyond a teacher's duty.

Interesting, Kakashi thought. The official report speaks of an unstable and troublesome jinchūriki. His teacher speaks of a budding hero. The truth, as always, must be somewhere in the problematic middle.

"We'll see," he finally said, his voice returning to its lazy tone. "Thanks for the warning. I'll try not to break him on the first day."

With a swirl of leaves, he disappeared as silently as he had arrived, leaving Iruka alone in the dark classroom.

"Please, Kakashi..." Iruka whispered into the empty air. "Take care of him."

****

Sakura Haruno's bedroom was a shrine to order and aspiration. Everything was in its place: textbooks stacked by subject, study scrolls rolled and labeled. On the wall, a poster of the Fourth Hokage, the legendary hero of the village.

Sakura was sitting at her vanity, brushing her long, pink hair. It wasn't an act of vanity; it was a ritual. One hundred brush strokes, every night. She used a special oil that gave it shine and a cherry blossom scent. Many shinobi considered it stupid to worry about appearance, an obstacle on the battlefield. But for Sakura, it was a weapon. A weapon in a different war: the war for Sasuke Uchiha's attention.

Tomorrow, she thought, and her heart gave a nervous flutter. Tomorrow, they assign the teams.

She put down the brush and looked at herself in the mirror. She practiced a smile, the one she hoped Sasuke would see when they were announced to be on the same team.

I'll beat Ino-pig, she told herself, her determination hardening her expression. I'll be the one by his side. He'll see how strong I am, and he'll realize... he'll realize that I do this for him.

Her mind ran through the scenarios. She and Sasuke, the elite team. Together on missions, fighting side-by-side. It was the perfect dream. There was just one annoying variable that could ruin it all.

I just hope I don't get stuck with Naruto... she sighed internally. He's so loud. So annoying. Always ruining everything.

The memory of that afternoon crossed her mind. The encounter on the street. Naruto, yes, but the strange thing had been Hinata. The way she was smiling. A smile she had never seen on her before. Radiant, happy. And she was with Naruto.

How weird, she thought again, frowning. The image was a small puzzle piece that didn't fit on the board of her world. But she quickly dismissed it. It was irrelevant. The only thing that mattered was tomorrow. Tomorrow and Sasuke.

****

Naruto couldn't sleep.

The excitement was an electric current running through his body, making it impossible to stay still. He tossed and turned in his bed, got up and paced in circles, practiced hand seals in the air. Tomorrow was the day! His first official day as a ninja!

"Tomorrow! Team! Missions!" he whisper-shouted to the four walls of his apartment.

He stopped in front of the mirror, the Konoha ninja headband gleaming on his forehead in the moonlight.

"I hope I get put on a team with Sakura-chan! She's so smart and pretty! And with Sasuke-teme, too! That way I can beat him up and show him once and for all who's number one!"

His mind then jumped to his other big plan.

"And after that... after that, I'll find Hinata!"

A nervous, excited grin spread across his face.

"She said yes! She really said yes!"

He mentally summoned the blue window, which appeared before him, its light bathing the room. He reread the requirements of the ritual, and his heart began to beat faster, a mix of terror and dizzying excitement.

"On her back... with my blood... This is gonna be so weird! And so cool!"

The idea of what he was about to do was both terrifying and the most exciting thing that had ever happened to him. What if he messed up? What if it hurt her? What if...?

No. There was no room for doubt. Hinata had trusted him. He couldn't fail her.

The excitement was too much to contain in his small apartment. He went out onto the balcony and looked out at his village. The lights twinkled, and the stone face of the Fourth Hokage watched him from the mountain, a silent reminder of his dream.

Tomorrow, it all began. His path to becoming Hokage. His new life as a shinobi. And his first mission as the wielder of a strange, secret power.

"Konoha!" he whispered to the night, his voice filled with an unbreakable promise. "Get ready! Because Naruto Uzumaki is here, and nothing will ever be the same! Believe it!"

The excitement was so overwhelming that he knew he wouldn't sleep. So he did the only thing he could do: he started doing push-ups on his bedroom floor, counting out loud, hoping the dawn would come faster.

Chapter Text

The dawn painted the Konoha sky in shades of orange and purple, a silent indication of a day that would change their lives forever. For most of the newly graduated genin, it was a morning of nervous anxiety and dreams of glory. For Naruto Uzumaki, it was the first day of the rest of his life, and he had no intention of wasting a single second.

He planted himself in front of the imposing main gate of the Hyuga Compound, feeling as out of place as a bowl of ramen at a tea ceremony. The wood was dark and polished, the stone walls high and intimidating, and the very air seemed to vibrate with a silent, suffocating discipline. It was a world completely different from his own; a world of rules, lineages, and expectations. And, at that moment, it was the world that housed his only friend.

Two Hyuga guards, posted on either side of the gate, watched him with the same blank, icy expression Hinata's father gave him. Their white, pupil-less eyes analyzed him, judged him, and dismissed him in a single instant. They said nothing, but their silence was a shout: "you don't belong here."

The Naruto from two days ago would have been intimidated. He would have shrunk back, maybe made a joke to hide his discomfort, or simply turned around. But this was a new Naruto. A Naruto with a secret, a power, and most importantly, a friend who had trusted him.

He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the cool morning air, and cupped his hands around his mouth.

"HINATA!"

The shout tore through the compound's reverent silence like a kunai through a scroll. It was loud, it was obnoxious, and it was unmistakably Naruto.

"IT'S ME, NARUTO! I CAME TO WALK YOU TO THE ACADEMY! YOU DON'T WANT TO BE LATE FOR OUR FIRST DAY AS NINJA, DO YOU?! BELIEVE IT!"

The two guards stiffened, their faces shifting from cold indifference to absolute shock, followed by a restrained fury. One of them took a step forward, his hand instinctively moving toward the kunai on his belt.

"Insolent! How dare you disturb the peace of the Hyuga clan? Get out of here right now, you demon!"

Naruto didn't flinch. He planted his hands on his hips, a defiant grin on his face.

"I'm not a demon, I'm a shinobi of Konoha. And I came to get my friend. Or does this fancy clan not allow friends?"

Just as the guard was about to retort, the main gate slid open. It wasn't Hinata. It was a younger girl, with the same long, dark hair and the same white eyes, but with an expression of childish arrogance. Hanabi Hyuga looked them all over; first the guards, then Naruto with pure disdain.

"What is all this commotion? You're disgracing the dawn."

"Lady Hanabi, this... this intruder..." the guard began.

"I know," she cut him off. "I can hear him from my room. It's pathetic." Her gaze landed on Naruto. "You? My sister's friend? Don't make me laugh. She's a failure, but at least she has the decency to be quiet. You're just a walking spectacle. Leave."

But before Naruto could unleash the sharp retort forming on his tongue, another voice, soft and trembling, joined the scene.

"H-Hanabi-sama... p-please, don't be rude."

Hinata appeared from behind her sister. She was fully dressed in her usual lavender jacket, her newly polished ninja headband tied around her neck. Her face was such a deep shade of red it looked painful. She was mortified, but she was there.

"He... he's my friend," she affirmed, and though the sentence began with a stutter, it ended with a firmness that surprised her sister.

Hanabi looked at her in disbelief. "Friend? Since when do you have friends, sister? Especially one like... him."

Hinata didn't answer her. Her eyes, filled with a mixture of panic and overwhelming gratitude, met Naruto's.

"N-Naruto-kun... y-you didn't have to..."

"Of course I did!" he interrupted, his grin turning genuine and warm upon seeing her. "I told you I'd walk with you! And a future Hokage always keeps his word! Ready to go?"

Completely ignoring Hanabi and the dumbfounded guards, he offered her a smile so radiant that Hinata felt the entire Hyuga compound and its suffocating rules fade away. She nodded, unable to speak.

As they walked away, Naruto turned and winked at the stupefied Hanabi.

"See ya, little sister!"

They walked in silence for the first few minutes; the sound of their footsteps on the empty morning streets was the only thing breaking the tension. Hinata was still blushing, trying to process the fact that Naruto Uzumaki had come to her house. For her.

"Sorry for yelling so much," Naruto said suddenly, breaking the silence as he scratched the back of his neck. "I learned yesterday with... well, with you, that being too impulsive sometimes scares people. I'm still working on it."

"I-it's okay," she replied, venturing a small smile. "It was... it was brave."

"You bet it was! Hey, are you excited?" he asked, changing the subject with his usual energy. "Today's the day! Teams, missions! Our ninja life is really starting! And..." he lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "...our top-secret meeting is this afternoon."

Hinata felt the heat return to her cheeks. "M-meeting..."

"Well, mission! Top-secret mission!" he corrected himself, waving his hands. "We have to do it right after they assign teams, you know? It'll be like a power-up to start our new life. It's the perfect plan! Are you nervous?"

"A... a little," she admitted. The idea of the ritual still terrified her, but the fear was being overshadowed by the excitement of sharing a secret with him.

"Don't worry!" he said, giving her a gentle, friendly nudge with his elbow. "I'll be there! And I'm an expert at weird jutsus. Trust me!"

The confidence in his voice was so absolute that Hinata felt her own doubts dissipate. She nodded, her smile becoming more certain.

****

The Academy classroom was a hive of tension. Glances crossed like kunai, alliances were formed and broken in whispers, and the arrogance of the recent graduates filled the air. When Naruto walked in with Hinata a step behind him, there was a microsecond of silence. Seeing them arrive together was an anomaly, a disruption to the established social order that left more than one person confused.

Naruto ignored the stares. His attention was fixed on a single person.

Sakura Haruno.

She was sitting near the window, arguing quietly with Ino. But Naruto didn't see the argument. He saw the result of meticulous effort. He saw how the morning light reflected off her pink hair, which wasn't just clean, but brilliant, with every strand perfectly in place. He saw the slight gloss on her lips and the way her red ribbon was tied with a precision that was not accidental.

He approached her desk. Ino braced for a stupid comment. Sakura braced for a yell of "Sakuuura-chaaan!" Sasuke, sitting nearby, didn't even bother to look.

"Wow, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, his voice surprisingly calm, devoid of its usual shrillness.

Sakura looked at him, raising an eyebrow, ready to defend herself.

"You look absolutely beautiful today," he continued, with a sincerity so direct it hit her like a physical force. "Your hair... it's really shiny. It must have taken you a long time. It looks great on you."

And with that, he smiled, a small, genuine smile, and went to sit in his usual spot.

The brain of Sakura Haruno, one of the sharpest and most analytical of her generation, stopped working.

She was frozen, her mouth slightly open. She had no insults. She had no sarcastic comebacks. Her arsenal of defenses against "Naruto the idiot" was completely empty.

"He noticed?"

The thought was so revolutionary it left her breathless. Years. Years of waking up early, of brushing her hair until her arm ached, of choosing the perfect ribbon, all with the secret, desperate hope that Sasuke would notice. And he never had.

And now, the one person in the entire world who had paid attention, who had recognized her effort, was... Naruto?

"Earth to Forehead Girl?" Ino's mocking voice snapped her out of her trance. "What's wrong with you? Cat got your tongue? Naruto the idiot gives you a compliment and you're speechless. Pathetic."

But Ino was confused, too. Sakura's reaction wasn't normal. And Naruto's compliment... hadn't been normal either. It hadn't been a desperate cry for attention. It had been... quiet. Genuine. Weird.

Sakura didn't answer Ino. She couldn't. She was too busy trying to reboot her operating system. She glanced at Naruto, who was already arguing with Kiba about whether or not a dog could learn the Sexy Jutsu. He was the same idiot as always. Or was he?

"Silence!"

Iruka-sensei's voice filled the classroom, and everyone returned to their seats. Sakura's heart began to pound, the excitement of team assignments finally overcoming her shock. "Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun," she chanted in her mind like a mantra.

Iruka began to read the list.

"...Team 10: Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi."

Ino shot a look of despair. Sakura felt a pang of triumph. One rival down!

"...Team 8: Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame."

Naruto instinctively turned to look at Hinata. Her team! A pang of genuine disappointment hit him. "Aw, man... I wanted to be on Hinata-chan's team. She's my friend." The thought was so new and so real that it surprised him.

Hinata felt his gaze. Their eyes met for an instant. She saw the disappointment on his face, and her heart skipped a beat. He... he wanted to be on her team? The idea was so overwhelming and wonderful it almost made her dizzy.

"And finally, Team 7," Iruka continued. "Naruto Uzumaki..."

Sakura held her breath. "No, no, no, please, no..."

"...Sakura Haruno..."

Sakura's world collapsed. A groan of pure desperation escaped her. No! All her effort, all her care, only to end up on a team with the biggest idiot in the village!

"...And Sasuke Uchiha!"

The emotional whiplash was so violent Sakura nearly fainted. From the abyss of despair to the peak of ecstasy in less than a second.

"SASUKE-KUN?!"

The joy should have been pure, absolute. She should have been jumping, screaming, declaring her love to the world. But when her gaze fell on Sasuke, who merely grunted an indifferent "Hn," and then shifted to Naruto, who was looking at her with a genuine smile and a thumbs-up, she felt... confused. The joy was there, yes, but it was mixed with the image of a strangely considerate Naruto and the memory of a compliment that still echoed in her ears.

Naruto, for his part, was ecstatic. He was on a team with Sakura-chan! And with Sasuke, which meant he could show him who was boss! It was perfect!

But then, his gaze met Hinata's again. She was on the other side of the classroom with her new team. She felt... far away. He shot her a look, a 'lost puppy' expression, a silent communication that only the two of them understood: "They separated us! My only friend in the world!"

Hinata gave him a small, shy smile in return, one that conveyed that even though they were on different teams, their secret alliance was still intact.

The chaos of team assignments erupted around them. Sakura tried to get the attention of an indifferent Sasuke. Kiba was already arguing with Shino about who the team leader was. But in the midst of it all, two new, quiet connections had been established.

One, that of an Uchiha and a Haruno, a team brought together by destiny and chance, yet fractured by a growing confusion.

And the other, that of an Uzumaki and a Hyuga, a team separated by the rules, but united by a secret, a commitment, and the strange feeling that, for the first time, they had found someone who truly understood them. The real test wouldn't begin on a training field, but that very afternoon, in the privacy of a messy apartment

Chapter Text

The chaos that followed the team announcements was instantaneous and deafening. Shouts of joy mixed with groans of disappointment. Clans gathered, friends congratulated each other, and rivalries were reaffirmed with sharp glances across the classroom. In the midst of it all, the newly formed Team 7 was an island of silent dysfunction. Sasuke had stood up and left without a word, a magnet for envious and admiring glances. Sakura, for her part, had remained seated, paralyzed, her mind still a whirlwind where the euphoria of being with Sasuke fought against the memory of an unexpected compliment.

"Alright, let's go!" Kiba's voice boomed, pulling her from her trance. "Hinata, Shino, let's go! Team 8 has to show them who's boss from day one!"

Sakura watched Hinata stand up. She saw the small, determined smile on the Hyuga's face as she followed her teammates. And her curiosity, that need to understand Naruto's new behavior as well as Hinata's strange behavior, was something she couldn't ignore; not out of obsession, but simply out of curiosity

"Hinata, wait a moment."

Her voice came out more authoritative than she intended. Hinata stopped and turned, surprised. Kiba and Shino paused a few feet away, waiting. Sakura got up and approached her, lowering her voice so only they could hear.

"You and Naruto," she said, getting straight to the point. "Yesterday.... And this morning. What's going on? I've never seen you... well, talk to him. Let alone smile like that."

Hinata blushed instantly, her newfound confidence wavering under the intensity of Sakura's gaze. She fiddled with her fingers, an old habit that returned in moments of stress.

"I-I... it's not..."

"You're always alone," Sakura continued, her tone softening slightly at Hinata's reaction. She didn't want to intimidate her, just understand. "You avoid everyone. Especially loud boys like him. And suddenly, you two arrive at the Academy together like it's the most normal thing in the world. It's... strange."

Hinata took a deep breath, gathering the courage she had recently discovered. She looked at Sakura, and though her cheeks were still burning, her eyes were sincere.

"I saw him alone," she said, her voice barely a whisper, but clear and without a stutter. "The day of graduation. After everyone had left. He was in the courtyard, and everyone else was with their families, celebrating. But he... he had no one. He looked so... lost."

Sakura listened, and each of Hinata's words was a pang in her conscience.

"So... I went over to him," Hinata continued. "I just wanted to tell him he wasn't alone. That I... that I was happy for him. And... and we became friends. That's all."

"That's all." The phrase was so simple, so pure in its kindness, that it struck Sakura deeply.

Suddenly, her mind was flooded with images she had always ignored: Naruto, eating alone on the swing; Naruto, being pointed at by the villagers; Naruto, desperately trying to get attention with pranks, only to be met with shouts and insults. She herself had yelled at him countless times, called him an idiot, despised him.

He has no one, she realized with a painful clarity. He's completely alone.

The revelation was overwhelming. She realized that her own obsession with Sasuke, her rivalry with Ino, her entire world, had been incredibly selfish. While she was worrying about whether a boy noticed her hair, another boy her age had no one in the world to celebrate his greatest triumph. Guilt washed over her. She felt small. She felt... cruel.

"I see," Sakura said finally, her voice strangely soft. She looked at Hinata in a new light, not as the weird girl, but as someone with a depth of kindness she didn't possess. "That was... very kind of you, Hinata."

Just then, the cause of their conversation appeared, making his way through the crowd.

"Hinata-chan! I was looking for you! Ready to go?"

Naruto stopped when he saw Sakura. His smile widened.

"Sakura-chan! You're here too! Awesome! Team 7 is already showing its incredible synchronization!"

Sakura looked at him. She saw the genuine smile, the boundless energy. But now, behind all that, she also saw the lonely boy Hinata had seen. And her heart ached.

Instead of the usual "Shut up, you idiot!" the words that came out of her mouth surprised even herself.

"Naruto..." she began, her voice a little shaky. "About what you said this morning... about my hair..."

He blinked, his smile faltering, as if expecting a blow. "Yeah?"

"Thank you," she said, the words coming out in a whisper. "Thanks for noticing."

A thick silence settled between them. Hinata watched, her eyes wide. Naruto stood completely still, processing. It was the first time Sakura Haruno had sincerely thanked him for anything. And there was no sarcasm in her voice. It was... genuine.

Naruto scratched the back of his neck, a light blush creeping up his cheeks. He suddenly felt shy.

"Oh... well... it was nothing."

"No," she insisted, meeting his eyes. "It was something to me. Nobody... nobody notices things like that."

"Well, they should!" Naruto said, his confidence returning in a wave. "You're very pretty, Sakura-chan. I've always wanted to tell you that."

Sakura gasped.

"B-but..." he continued, his voice getting a little faster with nerves, "I always thought you hated me. You know, you're always yelling at me and hitting me. So I decided not to bother you. But today... I don't know. I felt like you put in extra effort today, and it looked amazing. So much that... I couldn't keep quiet. I'm sorry if it bothered you."

She couldn't speak. Her brain had short-circuited for the second time in less than an hour. He... he thought she was pretty? And he had decided not to tell her... so he wouldn't bother her? The idea of Naruto being considerate, of him being afraid of her reactions, was so alien to her perception of him that it left her completely disoriented.

"I... I don't hate you," she managed to say, and she realized that, for the first time, she meant it.

Naruto's smile became so radiant it almost hurt to look at.

"Awesome! Then we're friends! Team 7 is going to be the best team in history! Sasuke-teme won't know what hit him!"

His energy was back in full force. He turned to Hinata.

"Well, Hinata-chan, I guess I'll see you later for our secret mission!"

Hinata nodded, a small, happy smile on her face.

"Y-yes, Naruto-kun."

"Secret mission?" Sakura asked, her curiosity finally overcoming her shock.

"It's a secret!" Naruto said with a wink. "But don't worry, soon all of Team 7 will have their own secrets! Hey, do you guys think our new sensei will be super strong?! I bet he can breathe fire and make mountains explode!"

And just like that, the three of them began to walk out of the Academy together. Naruto was in the middle, gesturing and talking nonstop about the incredible feats their future sensei could surely perform. Hinata walked on one side, listening with a shy smile, adding a "w-wow..." or an "a-amazing..." from time to time. And Sakura, on the other side, found herself listening. And then, responding.

"Don't be ridiculous, Naruto," she said, but without her usual venom. Her tone was more analytical. "They wouldn't assign an elite jōnin to a team of newly graduated genin. Unless the team had a special designation. It's probably because of Sasuke-kun and his bloodline."

"Nonsense! It's because of me!" Naruto retorted. "The future Hokage needs the best teacher! It's only logical!"

"Your logic is... interesting," Sakura said, and she almost smiled.

They talked about their expectations, the other teams, what they would do on their first day of training. The conversation flowed. It was easy. It was... nice. Sakura found herself forgetting her obsession with Sasuke, forgetting her rivalry with Ino. For a moment, they were just three classmates, walking home.

It was so pleasant that she didn't even notice they had passed her street. She didn't realize they had kept walking, absorbed in conversation, until Naruto suddenly stopped.

"Well, here you are," he said, pointing.

Sakura blinked and looked around. They were in front of her house. The white fence, the small garden her mother tended so carefully. They had arrived. Naruto and Hinata had walked her all the way to her door. And she hadn't even noticed.

"Oh..." was all she could say. She looked at Naruto, then at Hinata. "Thanks... for walking me home."

"No problem, teammate!" Naruto said with a thumbs-up. "See you tomorrow! Get ready to meet our awesome sensei!"

"Goodbye, Sakura-san," Hinata said with a small bow.

Sakura watched them walk away together, their silhouettes framed against the afternoon sun. She stood at her door for a long moment, processing.

The conversation had felt... good. Strange, yes. But good.

****

Naruto and Hinata walked in silence until Sakura's house was out of sight. Naruto's exuberant energy had subsided, replaced by a nervous tension Hinata could feel. The moment they had both been anticipating and dreading had arrived.

"Well..." Naruto began, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I guess it's time for the... you know. The mission."

Hinata nodded, her heart beginning to pound.

"W-where... where are we meeting?"

Naruto looked around. The streets were starting to fill with people coming home from work. He saw a couple of Hyuga clan shinobi watching them from a distance. His eyes narrowed. Doing anything near the compound was out of the question. If they were seen, Hinata would be the one to face her father's anger. A forest clearing was too risky, too. They could be seen by anyone.

Suddenly, a huge grin spread across Naruto's face, replacing his concern.

"I've got it!" he said, his voice dropping to an excited whisper. "We can go to my place! My apartment!"

He looked at her, his eyes sparkling with the brilliance of his idea. "It's the safest place in the whole village! Nobody ever comes over, so it's totally private. We won't have to worry about anyone seeing us or you getting in trouble. It's perfect!" he added, puffing out his chest. "Come on, I can show you where the future Hokage lives!"

Hinata’s eyes widened. His apartment? The idea of seeing where Naruto-kun lived, his most personal space, sent a flutter of nervous excitement through her. He was worried about protecting her. The thought was so considerate it made her heart ache in a good way. The offer felt even more special than him trying to sneak into her room; it was an invitation.

"O-okay, Naruto-kun," she agreed softly, the decision feeling right.

His grin somehow got even wider. Before she could get lost in her nervousness, he changed the subject, his gaze turning soft and curious.

"Hey, that girl from this morning... was that your little sister?"

Hinata nodded. "That's Hanabi. She's... the clan heir now."

There was a sadness in her voice that Naruto noticed instantly.

"And your father?" he asked quietly. "He seems... intense."

Hinata shrank a little, the memory of the previous night's confrontation still fresh.

"He just... wants me to be strong. To be perfect. Like a true Hyuga. But I'm not like that. I'm not like Neji-niisan or Hanabi. I... I always hesitate."

Naruto listened, and something in her description, in her frustration, clicked in his mind. It wasn't just shyness. It was something deeper.

"You know," he said, his voice thoughtful, "when I saw you training, you got frustrated with every kunai that didn't hit the center. And this morning, when your sister spoke to you, you didn't back down. You stood your ground."

Hinata looked at him, surprised by his level of observation.

"Everyone thinks you're shy, Hinata," he continued, and his blue eyes looked at her with an understanding that took her breath away. "But I don't think that's it. I think you're harder on yourself than anyone I've ever met. You fight the toughest battles inside your own head. Every day. You demand perfection from yourself, and you punish yourself for every little mistake that no one else even sees. That's not weakness. That takes incredible determination."

An expression of astonishment and relief transformed Hinata's face. Tears welled up, but this time they weren't of sadness or anger. They were of pure, overwhelming relief. Someone... someone saw it. Someone understood the silent war she waged within herself every single day.

"That's why I trust you, Hinata," he said, his voice full of absolute sincerity. "Because I know you're a good person. And I know you fight harder than anyone, even when no one is watching. If you weren't like that, then... you wouldn't be Hinata."

She wiped a tear away with the back of her hand. The doubt and fear about the ritual vanished, replaced by a firm resolve. This boy, this friend, understood her. And she would do anything for him.

"Okay," she said, her voice firm and clear. "Let's go to your apartment."

Chapter Text

The afternoon sun was beginning to set, staining Konoha's clouds a vibrant orange that, for once, rivaled Naruto's jacket. The village's bustle was a constant murmur surrounding them, the sound of lives carrying on, oblivious to the secret pact they both shared.

"We're almost there, Hinata!" Naruto announced, his voice overflowing with a contained excitement that seemed about to burst. "Get ready to witness the headquarters, the command center, the very palace of the future Hokage!"

Hinata walked beside him, her heart pounding in her chest. Every step they took together pulled her further from the cold, orderly world of the Hyuga complex and deeper into the unknown, chaotic territory of Naruto Uzumaki. The idea was both terrifying and the most exciting thing she had ever experienced.

"I-is... it very big, Naruto-kun?" she ventured, her voice barely a whisper.

Naruto laughed, a sound both energetic and carefree.

"It's huge! In spirit! It has... uh... a very advanced security system!"

He noticed a couple of passing villagers glance their way, a mixture of curiosity and the usual disdain they always directed at him. But for the first time, he didn't care. He didn't feel alone. Instinctively, he slowed his pace, making sure Hinata didn't feel intimidated by the stares.

"Don't worry about the mess," he added in a conspiratorial whisper. "It's... a post-battle minimalist style. Super popular among future Kages, believe it!"

Finally, they stopped in front of a modest and somewhat neglected apartment building in one of the village's less-traveled neighborhoods. Naruto climbed the exterior metal stairs with a noisy familiarity, his sandals clanking on every step. Hinata followed him in silence, her light, graceful movements a stark contrast to his racket.

Naruto stopped at a wooden door with slightly peeling paint and fumbled in his pocket for the key.

"Welcome to my humble abode!" he declared with the grandiosity of a king showing off his castle.

He opened the door and held it for her to pass. Hinata entered with timid hesitation, and the inner world of Naruto Uzumaki was revealed to her.

She felt a tightness in her chest.

The apartment was the physical manifestation of loneliness. A precarious tower of empty instant ramen cups was stacked on the only table. There was a single set of chopsticks, a single cup in the sink. A carton of milk on the counter smelled sour from the doorway. Clothes were thrown over a chair, and the only bed was unmade, its sheets tangled. There were no photos. No family mementos. There was nothing to indicate that anyone lived there but a child surviving on his own.

Hinata, who had grown up in an environment of suffocating neatness and order, didn't feel disgust at the mess. She felt a pang of empathy so deep it nearly left her breathless. She saw past the chaos and perceived the overwhelming absence of a home. "This... this is his world," she thought, and her determination to help him, to be his friend, solidified. It went from being an impulse to a silent oath.

Naruto watched her reaction, expecting a grimace of disgust or a word of criticism. He scratched the back of his neck, suddenly feeling incredibly self-conscious.

"Well, uh... it needs a coat of paint. And maybe a cleaning crew! Hahaha!"

But Hinata didn't laugh. She turned to him, and in her pearly eyes, there was no judgment, only a soft, sad understanding that completely disarmed him.

"It's... got a lot of character, Naruto-kun," she said, and it was the kindest thing anyone had ever said about his home.

The comment left him speechless for a second. He quickly composed himself, his enthusiasm returning to fill the silence.

"Of course, it does! The character of a champion! Alright, let's get to work! To the secret mission!"

He tried to sound professional, but his excitement betrayed him. He started clearing junk from the center of the small living room, creating an empty space on the wooden floor. He shoved a pile of ninja magazines under the bed and hid the tower of ramen cups behind the sofa.

"Perfect! The jutsu lab is ready for operation!" he announced, rubbing his hands together.

He turned to Hinata, his expression shifting to a mix of excitement and nervousness.

"Okay... now comes the part... you know. The important part."

Hinata nodded, her own pulse quickening. She felt as if they were about to perform the most forbidden and powerful jutsu in the world, and in a way, for them, it was.

"Like I told you," Naruto began, his voice dropping to a whisper despite them being completely alone, "the jutsu needs to... read your soul. And apparently, the best way to do that is through your back. It's super advanced! So... if you turn around... and lift up your jacket a little... get ready to become incredibly strong!"

His enthusiasm was so genuine, so much like a child about to show off his coolest toy, that Hinata's embarrassment was tempered by a strange sense of being part of an adventure. With her heart in her throat and her hands trembling, she nodded.

Slowly, she turned her back to him, facing the wall. She took a deep breath and, with a movement that took all of her willpower, she lifted her lavender jacket and the mesh shirt underneath it, just to the middle of her back, exposing her pale skin to the dim light of the apartment.

Naruto held his breath. In his mind, this had been an abstract idea, a fantasy of power and curiosity. Now, it was real. He knelt behind her, his mind suddenly blank.

It was then that the words left his mouth, unfiltered, without forethought, a pure and honest observation.

"Wow, Hinata..." he whispered, his voice filled with genuine awe. "You have a really nice back. Believe it!"

The compliment was so unexpected, so direct, and so incredibly innocent that Hinata's mind went completely blank. A small, choked squeak escaped her, and she felt every inch of her skin, from the nape of her neck to her toes, burn with an intense blush.

Realizing what he'd said, Naruto blushed too.

"I-I mean, for the jutsu! It's a perfect back for the jutsu! Smooth and... and with good space for drawing! Yeah, that!"

He bit his thumb harder than necessary. "Ouch!" A small drop of blood welled up, glowing with a reddish tinge from the chakra he focused into it. He wiped the sweat from his brow with his free hand.

"Okay, here I go. This might tickle a little."

He extended a trembling index finger and, with extreme care, placed it on the base of Hinata's back.

The world exploded in a silent blue light.

For Hinata, it was a warm, electrifying sensation, a tingle that spread up her entire spine, washing away her nerves and her shame, replacing them with a feeling of pure energy.

For Naruto, it was an avalanche of information. The blue window flooded his vision, but this time it wasn't just text; it was living data, numbers moving and changing at a dizzying speed.

[ACTIVATING FALNA SYSTEM] [COMPATIBLE SUBJECT: HINATA HYUGA] [INITIATING STATUS UPDATE. CONVERTING ACCUMULATED VITAL EXCELIA...]

Naruto watched, fascinated, as the stats appeared and the numbers began to climb frantically.

HINATA HYUGA LEVEL: 1 STRENGTH: I-0 -> I-92 RESISTANCE: I-0 -> I-79 DEXTERITY: H-0 -> H-188 AGILITY: H-0 -> H-195 CHAKRA POTENTIAL: I-0 -> I-61

"Incredible!" Naruto whispered, his voice full of awe. "Your stats are super high! Dexterity and Agility are almost at G-Rank! You're super fast, Hinata!"

[ANALYZING QUALITY EXCELIA...] [SIGNIFICANT EVENTS DETECTED: 'PERSISTENCE AGAINST FAMILIAL SCORN', 'SOLITARY SECRET TRAINING', 'DETERMINATION TO BE RECOGNIZED'.] [CONVERTING QUALITY EXCELIA INTO ADDITIONAL ATTRIBUTES...]

The numbers shot up again.

STRENGTH: I-92 -> H-110 RESISTANCE: I-79 -> H-135 DEXTERITY: H-188 -> G-274 AGILITY: H-195 -> G-281 CHAKRA POTENTIAL: I-61 -> I-99

"Your letters are improving!" he exclaimed, too excited to hold back. "Now you have G's! That's way better than H! Believe it!"

[ATTRIBUTE CONVERSION COMPLETE.] [ANALYZING SUBJECT'S SOUL FOR SKILL MANIFESTATION...] [DOMINANT ESSENCE DETECTED: 'PROTECTIVE DEVOTION'.] [INITIATING MANIFESTATION...]

A new section appeared on the screen.

[SKILL ACQUIRED] [LIONESS HEART] ACTIVE BURST ABILITY. ACTIVATES WITH THE WILL TO PROTECT AN ALLY. TEMPORARILY INCREASES ALL ABILITIES EXCEPTIONALLY. THE EFFECT IS AMPLIFIED IN PROPORTION TO THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TARGET TO BE PROTECTED.

"'Lioness Heart'..." Naruto read in a whisper. "Hinata, you just got a skill, and it sounds incredibly heroic."

[UPDATE COMPLETE. CLOSING CONNECTION.]

The instant he read the last line, he felt a violent pull in his gut. Energy drained from him all at once. The air rushed out of his lungs and he fell backward, landing on the floor with a thud, his vision filling with black spots.

From the floor, he saw a soft white light envelop Hinata for a second before vanishing.

Silence.

"Um... are you done?" Hinata's trembling voice asked.

"Yeah... I think so," Naruto panted from the floor. He was so tired he felt like he could sleep for a week.

Hinata adjusted her clothes and turned around. She saw him sprawled on the floor, and worry filled her face.

"Naruto-kun? Are you okay?"

But then she stopped. She looked at her hands, flexing them. She took a deep breath. An expression of pure amazement spread across her face.

"I feel... light," she whispered. "And strong. I can feel my chakra."

She walked over to Naruto and, without hesitation, offered him a hand. He took it. Her grip was firm, sure. She pulled him up as if he weighed nothing.

Just then, the blue interface flickered in Naruto's vision again, this time directed at him.

[CONGRATULATIONS!] [FIRST BELIEVER ACQUIRED: HINATA HYUGA] [THE HOST GROWS AS THEIR FAMILIA GROWS. A CONNECTION HAS BEEN FORMED.] [HOST STATUS UNLOCKED]

A new screen appeared, detailing his own power for the first time.

NARUTO UZUMAKI LEVEL: 1 STRENGTH: H-105 RESISTANCE: H-120 DEXTERITY: I-75 AGILITY: I-81 CHAKRA POTENTIAL: I-10

[DEVELOPMENT ABILITY UNLOCKED] [FORERUNNER'S GUIDANCE] PASSIVE ABILITY. ALLOWS THE USER TO GROW ALONGSIDE THE MEMBERS OF THEIR 'FAMILIA'. THE STRENGTH AND WILL OF BELIEVERS ACCELERATES THE GROWTH OF THE HOST'S BASIC ABILITIES.

Then he understood everything. It wasn't a one-way street. When she got stronger, so did he!

An exhausted but euphoric laugh escaped his lips. The weakness in his body was overshadowed by an overwhelming emotion.

"Hinata!" he shouted, looking at her with a joy so pure it took her breath away. "Not just you! Me too! I've gotten stronger with you! We're connected!"

He moved toward her and, instead of a clumsy hug, he grabbed both of her hands with a renewed energy that seemed impossible for someone who had just collapsed.

"I didn't give you a power, we're building it together!" he declared, his blue eyes shining with a renewed intensity. "This is the best jutsu in the world! We're going to be the strongest team that ever existed! Believe it!"

Hinata looked at him, holding his hands, feeling his energy, his joy. Her own face lit up with a radiant smile. Naruto's apartment, once a place of loneliness, had become the stage for a miracle. A shared secret now bound them in a way neither of them could have ever imagined. And in that small, messy space, surrounded by empty ramen cups, their true life as shinobi, together, had just begun

Chapter Text

"I didn't give you a power, we're building it together!" Naruto declared, his blue eyes shining with the intensity of the sun as he held Hinata's hands. "We're a real team! The best team in the world! Believe it!"

The joy in his voice was a force of nature, an explosion of pure, unbridled euphoria that filled every corner of the small, messy apartment. The revelation that their growth was intertwined, that he was not just a giver of power but also a recipient, was more intoxicating than any victory. For the first time, his secret power didn't feel like a lonely burden, but like a connection, an invisible bridge that linked him to the girl standing before him.

Hinata looked at him, her face still flushed with a blush, but her eyes reflected the same astonished joy. The warmth of Naruto's hands, the energy radiating from him, was contagious. She was living a dream, one that far surpassed the timid fantasies she had harbored in the silence of her room.

"T-together..." she whispered, the word feeling sacred on her lips.

"Together!" he confirmed, squeezing her hands enthusiastically. "We're going to be invincible! Imagine the possibilities! We can train twice as fast! We'll learn jutsus that...! That...!"

He stopped mid-sentence. The radiant light in his eyes flickered. The smile on his face faltered, losing its strength. His grip on Hinata's hands, which had been so firm, suddenly loosened.

"Naruto-kun?" she asked, concern instantly coloring her voice.

"Whoa..." he mumbled, his voice suddenly a faint thread. The color began to drain from his face. "I think... I think yelling so much... uses a lot of... chakra..."

Naruto's world tilted on its axis. The adrenaline and euphoria that had kept him standing vanished in an instant, revealing the abyss of exhaustion beneath. The Falna ritual, the massive transfer and reconfiguration of energy, had cost him far more than his excited body had let him feel. The chakra debt had just come to be collected, with devastating interest.

His knees gave out. His eyes rolled back, and before Hinata could even process what was happening, he collapsed forward, unconscious.

"Naruto-kun!"

Hinata's choked cry was pure panic. Acting on an instinct much faster than her thoughts, she lunged toward him, getting between his inert body and the wooden floor. She caught him just in time, using her own body to cushion the fall and protect his head. They ended up kneeling on the floor in a clumsy, desperate embrace, with Naruto's head resting on her shoulder.

For a second, she was frozen, panic chilling the blood in her veins. Was he hurt? Had the jutsu harmed him? With trembling hands, she gently pulled him away and laid him on the floor. She placed two fingers on his neck, searching for a pulse as she had been taught in the academy.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

It was there. Strong and steady. His chest rose and fell with a deep, regular breath. He wasn't hurt. He was, plain and simple, passed out from total exhaustion.

The relief she felt was so immense that her own legs gave out, and she sank to the floor beside him. She took a deep breath, trying to calm the frantic hammering of her own heart. She looked at Naruto's face, so peaceful in unconsciousness. The lines of tension and manic energy had vanished, leaving only the face of a twelve-year-old boy, vulnerable and fast asleep.

A protective tenderness flooded her chest. Very carefully, using a strength she didn't know she possessed, she managed to drag him the few feet to his futon and arrange him as best she could. She covered him with a threadbare blanket.

She remained there, kneeling beside him, watching over him as he slept. And it was then that her eyes truly took in the room.

In her worry, she had barely noticed. Now, in the silence, she saw everything. The tower of ramen cups. The single lonely mug. The mess that wasn't that of a lazy person, but of someone who had no one to teach them how to care for a home, or no one worth keeping it tidy for.

Every object was a silent scream of the loneliness he lived in. And Hinata heard it.

Her heart ached with an empathy so painful it brought a lump to her throat. He called me family, she remembered. And yet, he lived in a place that didn't feel like a home.

In that moment, she made a decision. It wasn't a logical one. It wasn't a strategy. It was an impulse born of gratitude, affection, and an overwhelming desire to care for the person who, for the first time, had made her feel strong.

She stood up silently. She rolled up the sleeves of her lavender jacket. And she began to clean.

It was quiet, methodical work. She washed the mug and chopsticks, drying them with a clean cloth she found in a drawer. She collected all the empty ramen containers and put them in a trash bag. She folded the clothes that were strewn about and left them in a neat pile on the only chair. She found the withered plant on the windowsill and, using water from her own canteen, gave it a drink.

As she worked, she spoke to herself in whispers that were lost in the apartment's silence.

No one should live like this... He smiles so much, gives so much light to the world... but then he comes back here, to this. It's not fair.

This power he's given me... I'll use it to protect him. To make sure he never has to feel as alone as he seems to feel here.

I will protect his secret. I will protect him. It's my first mission. And I'm not going to fail.

As the sun began to set, casting long shadows across the room, Hinata finished. The apartment wasn't spotless—she couldn't work miracles—but it was tidy. It was... calm. It felt a little more like a home.

Tired but satisfied, she sat in the chair, now clear of clothes, and settled in to wait for Naruto to wake up.

Naruto woke up with the feeling that his brain was wrapped in cotton. He opened his eyes and found himself staring at the familiar ceiling of his room. For a moment, he thought it had all been an incredibly vivid dream. The Falna, the ritual, Hinata...

Then, the smell of clean reached his nose. He sat up with a jolt, a movement that sent a pang of pain through every muscle. And he saw her.

Hinata was sitting in the chair, dozing, her head propped up on her hand. The evening light bathed her in a golden glow. The apartment was... unrecognizable.

****

Shame hit him with the force of a punch. She had cleaned his mess! While he was sleeping like a log!

"Hinata...?" his voice was a croak.

She started awake, her eyes blinking to focus. Seeing him awake, a smile of relief lit up her face.

"Naruto-kun! You're awake! How do you feel?"

"Embarrassed," he said, and he had never been so honest in his life. "You... you cleaned. You didn't have to. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," she said, her voice soft. "I wanted to. You... you looked like you needed a rest."

He looked at her. At the girl who had spent her afternoon cleaning his mess instead of going home. At the girl who had waited for him. The gratitude he felt was so immense he didn't know how to put it into words. So he said the first thing that came to mind.

"You're the best, Hinata. Believe it."

They sat on the now-clean floor of the apartment. Night had already fallen outside. Hinata had given him a glass of water, and Naruto drank it in one gulp.

"Listen," Naruto said, his tone turning serious. "I know we've talked about it, but I have to say it again. The Falna thing... it's our secret. More than S-Rank. If anyone finds out... if the old men on the council discover I have this power..."

Genuine fear returned to his eyes.

"They already look at me like I'm a monster, Hinata. If they knew I could do... this... they wouldn't hesitate. They'd lock me up, cut me open, and dissect me like a frog just to figure out how it works. And I swear, that would be super painful!"

Hinata looked at him, and the protective fury she had felt earlier returned with full force.

"That won't happen," she said, her voice as firm as a rock. "I promised you, Naruto-kun. I will protect your secret. No one will hurt you as long as I'm here."

The intensity of her promise took his breath away for a moment. He nodded, believing her.

"It's a shame we're not on the same team," he said, the thought returning to his mind. "We were going to be invincible."

"We can still be friends," she said, a small, shy smile returning to her lips.

"Of course we can!" he exclaimed. "But it feels like they split us up. Hey! I know!" his eyes lit up. "Tomorrow we have to go get our ninja registration photos taken. Would you come with me?"

Hinata blinked. "To... to your photo?"

"Yeah! It's just... well... Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme will probably go together, or something. And everyone else will be with their teams. It feels weird to go alone. And you..." he paused, searching for the words, and what came out was a truth so simple and so profound it surprised even himself, "...you're... like... the only family I have right now, you know?"

Hinata's eyes filled with tears. Family. The word was a gift, the most precious one she had ever received.

"Y-yes," she managed to say, her voice choked with emotion. "Y-yes, Naruto-kun. I'll go with you."

To break the emotional weight of the moment, Naruto jumped to his feet, ignoring the protest from his muscles.

"Awesome! But first, a little reality check! Just to see how fast you are now! Try to run to that wall and back! But be careful this time!"

Hinata laughed, a genuine, happy sound. She stood up.

"O-okay."

She concentrated, but this time, instead of a burst of power, she tried to release just a thread of it. She ran. She was fast, incredibly fast, but this time she had a sliver of control. She touched the wall and turned to come back, but she misjudged the turn. Her feet got tangled, and she tripped.

Naruto, who was watching with a grin, reacted on instinct. He lunged to catch her. The result was an inevitable crash. They fell to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs, with Hinata landing softly on top of him.

They lay motionless for a second, surprise reflected on their faces, before the absurdity of the situation hit them. A muffled laugh erupted from Naruto's throat, and Hinata's joined it, filling the small apartment with the sound of pure, simple happiness.

****

Later, at the entrance to the Hyuga compound, the goodbye was different. The walk had been filled with easy, comfortable chatter.

"See you tomorrow, then," Naruto said with a smile.

"Y-yes. Tomorrow," she replied, her face still glowing with joy.

Naruto watched her enter her world of silence and order. As Hinata walked through the halls of her home, she replayed the day. The ritual, her power, the cleaning, the promise, the fall, the laughter. And she remembered Naruto's compliment to Sakura. He notices the effort.

She stopped in front of the mirror in her room. Tomorrow wouldn't just be a photo. It would be her first outing as his friend. As his... family.

Tomorrow, she decided with a new, brave resolution that made her heart skip a beat. I'll put in a little effort, too.

She would fix her hair. She would pick out her best clothes. It would be her silent way of telling him that he was special to her, too. And the thought made her smile all through the night.

Chapter Text

Naruto walked alone through the streets of Konoha as night fell. The paper lanterns on the stalls and houses were beginning to light up, illuminating the darkness with patches of warm, orange light. His steps were light, almost floating. The exhaustion he had felt after the Falna ritual had vanished, replaced by a vibrant energy that wasn't just chakra, but pure and simple happiness.

He brought his left hand to his chest, right over his heart. He could still feel the memory of Hinata's laugh, a sound so genuine and liberating it felt like it had cleansed something inside of him, something he didn't even know was dirty. He replayed the day's events in his mind, over and over, savoring every detail of the memory. The moment she believed him. Her courage in taking him to her apartment. The way her eyes had lit up when she saw his new power. The clumsy, ridiculous fall that had made them laugh on the floor. And her promise. The promise that they would go get their picture taken together.

"Family," he had said. The word had left his mouth without thinking, an impulse born from an emotion he couldn't name. But thinking about it now, he realized it was true. In a single day, Hinata had become more than just a classmate. She had become the first person in his life to whom he had entrusted his true self: the confused, the scared, the lonely one. And she hadn't run away. She had stayed. She had cleaned up his mess. She had smiled at him.

A goofy, genuine smile spread across his face as he walked. The world felt... different. Less hostile. Brighter. He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost bumped into a figure coming out of the Academy.

"Naruto!"

Naruto snapped his head up. Iruka-sensei was standing in front of him, a stack of scrolls under his arm and a tired look on his face. But upon seeing Naruto's face, his expression changed to one of surprise.

"Whoa," Iruka said, adjusting the scrolls. "It's been a long time since I've seen you with such a genuine smile. Normally by this time, you're already plotting your next prank or complaining about something. What's with the good mood? Did you hear they're adding a new ramen flavor at Ichiraku?"

Naruto laughed, a bright, happy sound.

"Even better than that, Iruka-sensei! Today was the best day of my life! I graduated, I have a team, and...!" He paused for a second, the secret bubbling up inside him, and channeled it into the simplest, most important truth of all. "And I made a friend!"

The declaration, so pure and full of childish joy, took Iruka completely by surprise. His tired smile transformed into a warm, fatherly one. He saw the boy he had known for years—the lonely one, the outcast, the one who fought desperately for any kind of connection—and saw that he had finally found it. The pride he felt was immense.

"A friend?" Iruka said, his voice full of genuine affection. "That's... that's wonderful, Naruto. It really is."

He looked at the boy, saw the light in his eyes, and knew that a moment like this couldn't pass without a proper celebration.

"You know, news this big deserves a celebration. What do you say? How about I treat you to a bowl of ramen? To celebrate your graduation... and your new friendship."

Naruto's eyes went wide, shining with a gratitude that took Iruka's breath away.

"REALLY?! IRUKA-SENSEI, YOU'RE THE BEST TEACHER IN THE WORLD!"

****

The steam from the broth at Ichiraku Ramen created a warm, comforting atmosphere. Naruto was in his element, sitting on his favorite stool and already halfway through his first bowl of miso ramen with extra pork. Iruka was beside him, eating more slowly, watching his former student with a mix of amusement and curiosity.

"So," Iruka began after swallowing a bite of noodles. "Who's the lucky girl? Who managed the feat of becoming a friend to Konoha's most unpredictable ninja?"

Naruto loudly swallowed a piece of pork, nearly choking in his excitement to tell him.

"It's Hinata! Hinata Hyuga!" he declared, as if announcing the name of a legendary heroine.

Iruka blinked, feigning surprise. After all, he had been the one to finance their date the night before.

"Hinata? Hiashi-sama's daughter? Wow. I wasn't expecting that. She's always been so... quiet."

"That's what everyone thinks!" Naruto exclaimed, waving his chopsticks and splashing a little broth. "But she's not, Sensei! Well, she is quiet, but that's not all she is! She's incredible!"

Iruka set down his chopsticks and turned to give him his full attention, fascinated by the passion in Naruto's voice.

"Tell me. Why is she so incredible?"

"Because she's the kindest person I've ever met!" Naruto said, his voice taking on a lower, more serious tone. "After graduation, I was... well, you know. Kinda lonely. And she was the only person in the whole village who noticed. The only one who came up to talk to me. Not out of pity. Just... to be kind."

Iruka listened, his teacher's heart swelling with pride. Naruto wasn't bragging about a new conquest. He was valuing kindness.

"And she's super determined!" Naruto continued, his energy returning. "Everyone in her clan tells her she's weak, but she's not! She works harder than anyone! And she's super smart! And brave! She stood up to her little sister for me this morning! You gotta see her, Sensei! She's gonna be one of the strongest kunoichi in history, you'll see! I'm sure of it!"

Iruka smiled. A genuine, warm smile. To see Naruto speak of someone else with such admiration and faith, to see that he was able to recognize someone's inner qualities beyond superficial strength, was the greatest proof of his maturity. It was a more important milestone than any jutsu he could learn.

"I'm very happy to hear that, Naruto," Iruka said sincerely. "You've made a good friend. That combination of strength and kindness is rare. It's the mark of true heroes."

Naruto nodded his head vigorously, his mouth full.

"You know," Iruka continued, his tone turning more reflective, as if a distant memory had been stirred, "the way you talk about her reminds me of a story. A Konoha legend about one of the Sannin."

Naruto swallowed hard, his blue eyes fixed on Iruka with sudden curiosity.

"A Sannin? Like the Pervy Sage? There are more like him?"

Iruka let out a small laugh. "Yes, they were a team of three. And one of them was the strongest kunoichi and the greatest medical-nin the world has ever known. Her name was Tsunade Senju."

The name echoed in the small ramen stand. Naruto leaned forward, completely captivated.

"She was the granddaughter of the First Hokage," Iruka began, his voice taking on the tone of a storyteller. "She had monstrous strength. Legends said she could shatter the ground with a single finger and that a single punch of hers could change the landscape. She was feared on the battlefield like a demon."

"Whoa!" Naruto exclaimed. "Super strong!"

"But that wasn't her true strength," Iruka continued, his expression darkening slightly. "Her true strength lay in her desire to protect her comrades. You see, Naruto, Tsunade had a little brother, Nawaki. He had your same energy, your same smile... and your same dream. He wanted to be Hokage."

Naruto's heart skipped a beat.

"Tsunade gave him the First Hokage's necklace as a good luck charm so he could achieve his dream," Iruka explained, his voice filled with a restrained sadness. "But the very next day, on his first mission in the war, he died."

Naruto gasped. The ramen in his bowl was forgotten.

"His death shattered her. And the pain pushed her to do something revolutionary. She proposed an idea to the Konoha council that would change the rules of war forever: to include one medical-nin in every four-man squad."

"A medical-nin?" Naruto repeated.

"Yes. Back then, medics stayed in the camps, far from the front lines. The wounded often died before they could receive treatment. Tsunade's idea was to bring healing to the heart of the battle. It was an idea born from her pain, from her desperate desire to prevent other children, other siblings, from dying like hers. At first, the council refused. They considered it a waste of resources. But she fought for it with an unbreakable passion."

Iruka paused, looking at Naruto to make sure he understood the weight of the story.

"And then there was Dan, her love. He supported her dream. He also believed in a future where no shinobi would have to die in vain. But he died in the war, too, bleeding out in her arms while she, the world's greatest medical-nin, was powerless to save him."

The tragedy of the story wrapped them in a heavy silence. Naruto could feel it, a tightness in his chest.

"After that, something inside her broke," Iruka said quietly. "She lost the two people she loved most, the two people who shared her dream. The First Hokage's necklace, the symbol of the Hokage dream, now seemed like a curse to her. She lost faith. She lost faith in the dream, in the village, in herself. And one day, she just... left. She abandoned Konoha and became a wanderer, roaming the world, drowning her sorrows in sake and gambling."

He finished the story. The silence that followed was deep, respectful. Naruto stared at his now-cold bowl of ramen. The image Iruka had painted was that of a tragic heroine. A woman of incredible strength, driven by an even greater love, and ultimately broken by unbearable pain.

"A Sannin who's super strong... and the best doctor in the world... and who fought to protect her friends..." Naruto muttered, recapping the points that had impacted him the most. He turned to Iruka, his eyes shining with a new, fierce admiration. "She's the coolest woman in history! She's like a Hokage, but even better! Because she doesn't just protect, she also heals! Where is she now, Sensei? Someone like that has to come back to the village! We need her!"

The passion in Naruto's voice was so intense that Iruka was moved.

"Nobody knows, Naruto. It's been a long time. She became a legend, but also a ghost."

They ate the rest of their ramen in a thoughtful silence. The cheerful celebration had transformed into a profound lesson.

****

Later, as Naruto walked home alone under the starry sky, the story of Tsunade was spinning in his mind. He reached the base of the Hokage Monument and looked up at the stone faces that watched over the village.

His dream had always been simple: to become Hokage to be acknowledged. To be the strongest.

But now... now it was more complex. Hinata's kindness had taught him the value of connection. And Tsunade's story had shown him a new dimension of strength. The strength to protect. The strength to heal.

The name "Tsunade" was etched into his mind, not as a mission or a goal, but as an ideal. A new kind of strength to aspire to, alongside the Fourth Hokage and the old Third.

He looked at the stone face of the Fourth Hokage.

"To protect and to heal," Naruto thought, a new determination forming in his heart. "That's what a true Hokage does."

And with that thought, the story of a distant legend began, unbeknownst to anyone, to influence the future of a boy who was destined to change the world.

Chapter Text

The night enveloped the Hyuga compound in a deep silence. Every sound—the soft whisper of the wind in the garden trees, the distant chirp of a cricket—was a solitary note in a symphony of order and quiet. In her room, Hinata Hyuga felt a happiness so chaotic and vibrant that it broke through that forced calm.

She stood before the full-length mirror that adorned one of her walls. On her futon, carefully laid out, were two different sets of clothes. One was her usual outfit, the practical and comfortable lavender jacket she had worn for years. The other was a blouse of a slightly darker violet shade, with shorter sleeves and a cut that felt a bit more... bold. It wasn't extravagant, but it was different. It was a choice.

Her reflection watched her. She saw the same girl as always: the long, dark hair, the pearly eyes. But something in her gaze had changed. It was no longer the look of someone who wished to disappear. It was the look of someone who, for the first time, wanted to be seen.

She remembered Naruto's compliment to Sakura. "You look absolutely beautiful today." It hadn't been a joke. It hadn't been a clumsy attempt to flirt. It had been a sincere observation. He had noticed the effort.

With a determination that surprised herself, she put her hair up, trying a different style. She let a couple of strands frame her face, softening her features. She looked again. She felt... pretty. The thought made her blush, a pleasant warmth spreading through her chest. Tomorrow wouldn't just be a photo. It would be a promise.

"What are you doing?"

The sharp, cutting voice shattered the bubble of her thoughts. Hinata jumped, spinning around. Hanabi stood in the open doorway of her room, arms crossed and an expression of pure disdain on her childish face.

"Hanabi-sama..." Hinata whispered, her body tensing by instinct, returning to the submissive posture she had been taught since birth.

Hanabi's white eyes scanned the scene: the clothes on the bed, her sister's new hairstyle, the lingering blush on her cheeks. A grimace of disgust twisted her lips.

"Don't tell me you're still thinking about that loud-mouthed boy. Father already warned you."

Hanabi walked into the room and picked up the violet blouse between her fingers as if it were dirty. "Associating with the village scum is a disgrace. Do you really think a different piece of cloth is going to change who you are?"

"Naruto-kun is not scum," Hinata replied, her voice firmer than Hanabi expected. "He's my friend."

"Friend?" Hanabi scoffed, dropping the garment. "And that's why you're getting all dressed up? To impress a clanless orphan? Pathetic. You're the failed heiress, sister, but you're still from the main house. Have some dignity, please."

Each word was a precise blow, designed to hurt. And they did. But they no longer broke her. The Hinata from a few days ago would have collapsed in tears. The Hinata of now felt a cold, silent fury building inside her.

"You don't understand, Hanabi-sama," Hinata said, her voice quiet but with an edge that made her sister look at her with renewed attention.

"What don't I understand? That you're throwing away what little honor you have left for an idiot?"

"You don't understand what it's like to have a friend," Hinata corrected. "Someone who sees you for who you are, not for who you should be. Someone who doesn't judge you. Naruto-kun... he's the most determined and brave person I know. He doesn't see a failure. He sees a person. And I... I don't see a demon, either. I see a friend."

Hanabi was speechless for a moment, taken aback by her sister's strange conviction. She scowled, her arrogance taking over again.

"Whatever. Keep playing at having friends. But when Father finds out, don't come crying to me. You're still weak, no matter how you do your hair."

With that, she turned and left, leaving Hinata alone again. Her sister's words hung in the room, but instead of extinguishing her new flame, they only fanned it. She looked at herself in the mirror one last time, and the girl looking back at her no longer seemed so fragile. She had a mission. She had a secret. And she had a friend waiting for her.

****

The next morning, Naruto waited at the entrance of the Hyuga compound, bouncing on the balls of his feet with boundless energy. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, but for him, the day was already bright. He ignored the icy glares from the guards, his attention fixed on the gate.

When it opened and Hinata walked out, Naruto's breath caught.

It wasn't a drastic change. She wasn't wearing heavy makeup or an extravagant dress. But the details were enough to transform her. The violet blouse highlighted the color of her eyes. The new hairstyle softened her face, giving her an air that was both delicate and confident. And the shy smile she gave him when she saw him... that's what left him speechless.

"Whoa..." he managed to say, his usual torrent of words reduced to a whisper. "Hinata... you look... different."

"D-different?" she asked, a blush rising to her cheeks.

"Different in a good way! I mean, a really good way!" he hurried to correct himself, feeling his own face heat up. "Did you do something with your hair? It looks awesome! You look super pretty today, for real!"

The compliment, so direct and pure in its sincerity, warmed Hinata's soul. The effort, the small, silent rebellion in her room, had been worth it. He had noticed.

"T-thank you, Naruto-kun."

From a distance, hidden behind a lattice window of the main house, Hanabi watched the scene with a disgusted scowl. Naruto saw her and, instead of ignoring her, gave her one of his biggest, brightest smiles and waved at her with an exaggerated gesture.

"Hey, little sister! Have a great day!"

Hanabi just let out a disdainful sound, an "Hmph," and turned away, disappearing into the shadows of the house. Naruto laughed.

"Your sister's a little grumpy, huh?"

"S-she's just... complicated," Hinata said as they started walking.

****

The walk to their teams' meeting point was, for the first time, completely comfortable. They talked about everything and nothing. Naruto told her his plan to prove to his new sensei that he was Hokage material from day one. They laughed. It was easy. It was natural.

But as they neared the bridge where they would part ways, a melancholy started to settle in Naruto's heart.

"This sucks," he said suddenly, stopping.

Hinata looked at him, confused. "What does?"

"This. Splitting up," he explained, with a childish yet profound honesty. "It's the second day I have a real friend to walk with, and now they put us on different teams? It's not fair! We should be together! Imagine what we could do!"

The feeling in his voice was so genuine it made Hinata's heart ache.

"W-we'll still be friends, Naruto-kun," she assured him, her voice soft. "And... we have our secret mission. That doesn't change."

The words seemed to calm him. He smiled at her, his good mood returning.

"You're right! Our secret mission! Don't forget! After I survive whatever crazy test my new sensei throws at me, I'll meet you right here. For the photo mission. Okay?"

"Okay," she promised with a smile.

They reached the bridge. Team 8 was already there, waiting for her. Kiba greeted her as Akamaru barked cheerfully. Shino gave a silent nod. Hinata turned back to Naruto.

"Well... I'll see you later, Naruto-kun."

"You bet! Good luck, Hinata-chan!"

He watched her go, joining her team. He felt a genuine pang of loss, the feeling of his only ally walking away. The resignation lasted only a second. He shook his head, and the excitement for what was to come—his new team, his new sensei—returned in full force. It was the beginning of a new day!

****

When Naruto arrived at Training Ground 7, Sakura was already there. And Sasuke, of course, was leaning against a post, as distant and silent as ever.

Naruto greeted Sakura with an energetic nod and, instead of sitting as far away as possible like he would have before, he sat on the bridge railing, at a safe but close distance.

Sakura glanced at him, a mix of surprise and uncertainty on her face. In that hesitation, Naruto found an opening.

"Well, if we're going to be a team, I guess we should... I don't know, talk?" he began, trying to sound casual.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Talk? To you? About what?"

"Team stuff!" Naruto insisted. "Sounds cool, right? Team 7! Seven is my lucky number!"

Sakura snorted, but it lacked its usual venom. "I didn't know you had a lucky number. I thought your only luck was managing not to burn down the kitchen every time you try to make ramen."

"That's a talent, too!" Naruto retorted, grinning. "But seriously, Sakura-chan. We're going to be spending a lot of time together. We should get to know each other. For example, what's your favorite color? Mine is orange, obviously! The color of champions!"

The question was so simple, so childish, that it disarmed Sakura. No one had asked her that since she was a little girl. "Why do you want to know that?"

"Because teammates know that stuff! It's for bonding!"

"I don't know..." she said, looking at her own gloves. "Red, I guess."

"Red is awesome!" Naruto exclaimed. "It's a strong color! Like you! And like tomatoes! Tomatoes are good in ramen! See? We already have something in common!"

Sakura couldn't help it. A small smile formed on her lips. "You're an idiot, Naruto."

"The best idiot you'll ever have as a teammate!" he declared proudly. "So what do you like to do? Besides staring at Sasuke with a dopey look on your face, I mean."

Sakura's smile vanished, replaced by a blush. She was about to yell at him, but the way he said it, without malice, like it was a simple observation, stopped her.

"I... I like to read," she admitted in a low voice.

Naruto's eyes widened. "Read? For real? Whoa! You're a brainiac! That's awesome! I fall asleep after the second page! What do you read?"

"Books about ninja history and jutsu theory, mostly."

"Great! So when our sensei explains something complicated, you can translate it for me!" Naruto said enthusiastically. He turned to the other member of their team. "Hey, Sasuke! What about you? What do you like? Or hate?"

Sasuke didn't even look at him. "Hn."

Naruto waited another second, then shrugged, turning back to Sakura. "Well, I guess he just likes being mysterious."

The conversation continued. Naruto, with his insatiable curiosity, kept asking questions. And Sakura, to her own surprise, answered. She found herself talking with him, having a normal, pleasant conversation.

Time passed. A minute, five, ten. The sun climbed higher in the sky, and their sensei didn't show up. But Sakura didn't mind. For the first time, the wait wasn't torturous boredom. It was... okay. She was talking to Naruto. And, to her absolute and utter astonishment, she was enjoying it.

Chapter Text

The air in Training Ground 8 was different from the rest of the village. It was wilder. The scent of pine and damp earth mixed with the almost imperceptible smell of an animal's den and the low, constant hum of Shino's insects, which seemed to form a second layer of atmosphere around him. For Hinata, it was a world of new and overwhelming sensations.

She was sitting on the branch of a tree, a position that a week ago would have given her paralyzing vertigo. Now, it felt natural. Her feet rested firmly on the bark, her balance perfect. From there, she watched her two new teammates.

Kiba Inuzuka was an explosion of impatient energy. He paced in circles, punching a fist into his palm, while Akamaru, peeking his head out of Kiba's jacket, let out small, muffled barks of pure boredom.

"How much longer are we gonna wait?" Kiba grumbled, looking at the sky as if he could speed up time with the force of his gaze. "Senseis are supposed to be on time! I'm getting the urge to bite something!"

Shino Aburame, in contrast, was the personification of stillness. He stood by the trunk of a tree, so motionless he almost blended into the shadow. If it weren't for the faint hum of his kikaichū insects, you might think he was a statue. He showed no impatience, only an analytical and expectant presence.

Hinata sighed softly, the vapor of her breath visible in the cool morning air. Her mind wasn't entirely there. A part of her was still in the Academy classroom, reliving the look of disappointment in Naruto's eyes when they announced they were on different teams. A disappointment she interpreted as a silent lament for their separation. The memory brought a warmth to her chest, a mix of joy for the feeling she attributed to him and sadness for the forced distance between them.

I have to get stronger, she thought, clenching her fists in her lap. The promise she had made to herself and, silently, to him, was a fire burning beneath her usual timid composure. Not just for me. So he can rely on me. So that when he needs me, I'll be ready.

"It seems the wait is over."

Shino's calm, monotonous voice pulled her from her thoughts. Hinata looked down. A woman had appeared in the center of the clearing. They hadn't heard her arrive. She moved with the grace of a falling leaf, but her presence was unmistakable. She had long black hair and piercing red eyes that seemed to analyze every inch of them. She wore the standard attire of a Konoha jōnin, but she carried it with a confidence and elegance that made her seem almost royal.

"Good morning, genin."

Her voice was melodic, but with an edge of authority that instantly silenced Kiba's complaints.

"My name is Kurenai Yuhi. And from today on, I will be your sensei."

Hinata felt a pang of intimidation, an old reflex. Kurenai was famous, one of the most talented kunoichi in the art of genjutsu. But the feeling was fleeting, replaced by a quiet determination. She slid off the branch and landed silently on the ground, a move that caused Kurenai to raise an eyebrow with interest.

"Before we begin, I want to know who I'm working with," Kurenai said, her gaze moving from one to the next. "Introduce yourselves. Your names, what you like, what you dislike, and your dreams for the future. You first," she pointed to Kiba.

Kiba grinned from ear to ear, his energy returning in full force.

"I'm Kiba Inuzuka, and this is my partner, Akamaru! What we like is running through the forest and barbecue pork ribs! What we dislike is having to stay still! And my dream is to become the best ninja in the Inuzuka clan and have my name be as famous as a Hokage's!"

Akamaru barked energetically, as if co-signing every word.

Kurenai nodded, a small smile on her lips. "And you?" she said, looking at Shino.

"My name is Shino Aburame. I like insects. I do not like being asked why. My dream is to study the ecology of new insect species and perfect my clan's techniques. It is a logical goal."

His introduction was so direct and strange that Kiba rolled his eyes. Kurenai, however, seemed to find it fascinating. Finally, her red eyes settled on Hinata.

"And you."

Hinata felt the gazes of her companions fixed on her. Heat rose to her cheeks. The old shyness fought to take control, to make her look down, to make her stammer. But then, she remembered Naruto's smile. She took a deep breath.

"M-my name is Hinata Hyuga," she began, her voice a whisper. "I like... pressed flowers. And zenzai. I d-dislike... people who judge others without knowing them. And my dream..." she paused, and her voice became firmer, clearer, "...my dream is to become a strong and kind kunoichi. Someone my family can be proud of... and someone my friends can rely on."

The silence that followed her introduction was different. Kiba stared at her, surprised by the unexpected firmness of her last words. Shino tilted his head, analyzing. And Kurenai watched her with a new intensity. She saw the shyness, yes, but she also saw the spark of steel beneath it.

"Alright," Kurenai said finally. "A tracking and containment team with a taijutsu specialist, a sabotage expert, and a Gentle Fist heiress. Interesting. But words are cheap. I want to see what you can do."

Her smile became a little sharper.

"Your first test as a team will be simple. A training match. Two on one. Kiba, Shino, you will attack. Hinata, you will defend. The goal isn't to win; it's to show me what you're capable of."

Kiba smirked arrogantly. "Two on one? Poor Hinata! Don't worry, we'll go easy on you! Right, Akamaru?"

Akamaru barked, though it sounded a little guilty.

Hinata felt a pang of panic. Defend against both of them at once? It was a test designed to make her fail, to expose her weakness. But then, the feeling of the power now flowing within her reminded her that she was no longer the same girl.

"I'm ready, Kurenai-sensei," she said, her voice steady.

The battle began like a storm. Kiba was a whirlwind of animal instinct.

"Fang over Fang!"

He and Akamaru launched themselves at her in a tornado of claws and teeth. At the same time, Shino, with a subtle movement of his fingers, sent a swarm of kikaichū insects across the ground—a silent, black carpet seeking to surround her and drain her chakra.

The old Hinata would have frozen. She would have cowered, waiting for the impact.

The new Hinata moved.

For her, the world slowed down. The power Naruto had transferred to her hadn't just boosted her stats; it had sharpened her perception to a superhuman level. With her Byakugan active, she didn't just see Kiba's attack; she sensed the concentration of chakra in his limbs, the tension of his muscles, the exact trajectory of his spin. She didn't just see Shino's swarm; she perceived the collective flow of their chakra, the pattern of their advance.

She didn't dodge Kiba's attack with a desperate leap. She took a single, fluid side-step, a movement so economical and precise it seemed as if she hadn't moved at all. Kiba's tornado ripped past her, cutting through nothing but air.

In the same instant, she jumped back, landing on the balls of her feet just where Shino's swarm had not yet reached. All in less than a second.

Kiba skidded to a halt, stumbling from his own momentum. He turned, his mouth open.

"But how...? I didn't even touch you!"

Before Kiba could recover from his shock, Shino launched his next attack. A cluster of insects rose into the air, shooting toward her like living bullets.

Hinata didn't retreat. She met them. Her hands moved in a blur, a dance of open palms, creating a barrier. An almost invisible dome of pure chakra materialized around her for an instant. The insects collided with it and fell to the ground, stunned but unharmed.

"A rotational chakra defense..." Kurenai muttered to herself from a distance, her red eyes wide with surprise. "That's not a standard Gentle Fist technique. It's... advanced."

Kiba, fed up with missing, charged again, this time head-on, pure brute force.

"You're not dodging this!"

Hinata sighed. I'm sorry, Kiba-kun. She remembered Naruto's words: Show them you're not weak.

Just as Kiba was about to reach her, she moved. She slipped inside his guard, a seemingly impossible maneuver, and her hand shot out. It wasn't a powerful strike. It was a touch. Two fingers, precise and firm, struck a pressure point on Kiba's shoulder.

Kiba's arm went instantly limp, hanging uselessly at his side. The force of his charge dissipated, and he fell to his knees at her feet, a look of absolute bewilderment on his face.

"My arm... I can't move it..."

Shino, seeing his teammate neutralized, stopped his attack. The training ground fell silent, broken only by Kiba's ragged breathing.

Hinata stood there, her face flushed from being the center of attention. The surge of power left her slightly dizzy.

"I-I'm sorry," she said quietly. "Are you okay?"

Kurenai approached slowly, her expression a mixture of astonishment and deep curiosity. She looked at Hinata, then at Kiba's paralyzed arm, and then back at Hinata.

"Hinata..." she began, her voice carefully neutral. "That was... an exceptional display of skill. Your speed, your defense, your precision... they far exceed the level of a newly graduated genin. Where have you been training?"

Hinata blushed even more. The lie she had prepared felt weak under her new sensei's intense gaze.

"I-I've been... working hard on my own, Kurenai-sensei."

Kurenai didn't seem entirely convinced, but she nodded. She knelt beside Kiba and, with a pulse of chakra, released the pressure point, restoring mobility to his arm.

Kiba stood up, rubbing his shoulder, looking at Hinata as if she were an alien.

"That was amazing!" he shouted, his frustration replaced by loud admiration. "You beat me without breaking a sweat! You're incredible, Hinata!"

"Your defensive and counter-attacking abilities are... logically superior," Shino said, adjusting his glasses. "I underestimated you. That was a miscalculation."

The praise from her teammates, so direct and sincere, made her feel a wave of pride and panic in equal parts. They were all looking at her, expecting things from her. It was what she had always wanted, and it was absolutely terrifying.

Kurenai stood up, a smile of genuine excitement on her face.

"I think I've just found the vanguard for my tracking team," she declared. "Congratulations, Hinata. From now on, your place will be at the front."

****

The praise from her new team was still replaying in Hinata's head. Kiba hadn't stopped asking her questions, excited to have such a strong teammate. Shino had observed her with an analytical interest that was strangely comforting. And Kurenai... Kurenai had looked at her with a pride she had never seen in her own father's eyes.

It felt... good. She felt strong. She felt like a part of something.

But as she walked, a persistent question floated in her mind, a worry that mixed with her newfound happiness. She touched the ninja headband around her neck, the symbol of her new life.

I wonder... she thought, a small, soft smile forming on her lips as she looked at the sky, as if she could see through it to another training ground, one where an orange whirlwind was surely causing chaos.

...how Naruto is doing.

Chapter Text

Naruto was about to explode. He had been waiting for almost three hours. He had counted the cracks in the ceiling (twenty-seven), tried to guess how many leaves were on the tree outside (too many), and even attempted to have a telepathic conversation with the fly buzzing near the blackboard (the fly didn't cooperate). His energy, with nowhere to go, was turning into pure, raw frustration.

"This is ridiculous," he muttered for the fifteenth time, swinging his legs. "Are you sure Iruka-sensei told us to wait here? Maybe our new sensei forgot about us! Or maybe he was kidnapped by ninja pirates!"

Sakura, sitting beside him, sighed. The surprisingly pleasant conversation they'd had while waiting had reached its natural limit. Now, all that remained was the harsh reality of Naruto's impatience.

"There's no such thing as ninja pirates, Naruto," she said, her voice tinged with exhaustion. "And yes, Iruka-sensei was very clear: ‘Wait in the classroom for your jōnin-sensei.’ This is probably another test. To see if we have the patience of a shinobi."

"Well, I don't have any!" he retorted. "My patience went out for ramen two hours ago and hasn't come back!"

Sasuke, at the other end of the row of seats, hadn't moved an inch all morning. He remained with his eyes closed, hands clasped in his lap, a statue of cold indifference. But Sakura, watching him, noticed the slight twitch in his jaw muscle. He was fed up, too. He just showed it in a much quieter, more menacing way.

Just as Naruto was about to stand up and declare a hunger strike, the classroom door slid open without a sound.

A tall, lanky figure was leaning against the frame, as if he'd been there for a while. His hair was a logic-defying shade of silver, and a single dark, lazy eye observed them from over the edge of a small orange book.

"Team 7, I presume?" his voice was a lazy drawl, almost bored. "Wow, you didn't leave. Good for you."

Naruto leaped to his feet.

"YOU'RE LATE!"

The silver-haired man looked up from his book, showing no surprise at the outburst.

"Oh, am I? Sorry about that. A black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way around to avoid bad luck."

The excuse was so absurd, so blatantly false, that it left Naruto speechless for a moment. Sakura frowned, her curious mind trying to analyze the strange character before them. Is he really this lazy, or is he putting on an act?

"My name is Kakashi Hatake," the jōnin said, snapping his book shut with a soft click. "From now on, I'll be your sensei. Meet me at Training Ground 3 in five minutes. Try not to get lost."

And with a swirl of leaves that seemed to appear from nowhere, he was gone.

The silence he left behind was almost louder than his presence. Naruto blinked.

"Whoa… that was so cool! And weird! Let's go!"

****

Training Ground 3 was a place steeped in history. The three wooden posts in the center, worn and scarred by countless blows, stood like silent witnesses. Beyond them, the Heroes' Stone gleamed under the midday sun, a granite reminder of the price of wearing the headband they now wore. The gentle murmur of the nearby river was the only sound.

Kakashi was already there, waiting for them by the posts. A small alarm clock in his hand chirped shrilly, marking noon exactly. He turned it off and placed it on top of one of the posts.

"Right on time," he said, his eye curving into a smile. "Good. Let's begin."

He pulled two small bells from his pocket. They tinkled softly, their silver sound cutting through the air.

"Your objective is simple. You have until this clock rings again at three to take these two bells from me."

Sakura frowned instantly. Wait a minute… two bells? There are three of us. This doesn't make sense.

"Whoever doesn't get a bell by then," Kakashi continued, his tone turning sinister, "won't get any lunch. In fact, I'll tie them to one of these posts and eat my lunch right in front of them. And, of course, they'll fail and be sent back to the Academy."

Naruto clenched his fists. What?! He wants us to fight over food?! This guy's crazy! We're supposed to be a team!

"You can use any weapons, including shuriken and kunai," Kakashi added, his gaze sweeping over them. "If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you won't stand a chance."

The pressure in the air became suffocating. Sakura felt a chill run down her spine. Intent to kill… He's not kidding. But the test still doesn't make sense. Why would Konoha want to form teams of selfish ninja who betray each other for a bell? It's not logical. It has to be a trick. There's something he's not telling us.

Sasuke, on the other hand, saw no trick. He saw a challenge. Two bells. One for me. The other is irrelevant. I just have to be faster and stronger than him. Simple.

"Any questions?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted. "It's not fair that there are only two bells!"

Kakashi looked at him, his smile widening. "Exactly. A ninja's life isn't fair. Get used to it."

He placed his hand on the alarm clock.

"When I say 'start,' you may begin."

A tense silence fell over the clearing. The wind whispered through the trees. The sun glinted off the metal of the bells.

Naruto bent his knees, energy coiling in his legs. I'll show this weirdo what a real team is! I'll get those bells for everyone!

"Ready…"

Sakura took a step back, looking for the perfect angle to disappear into the trees. I have to think. I have to find the real answer.

"...START!"

In a split second, Sasuke vanished, a black blur that melted into the shadows. Sakura also leaped back, seeking the cover of the forest to observe and analyze the situation.

Naruto, however, didn't move. He stood planted in the middle of the clearing. And then, with a defiant grin on his face and a battle cry that sent birds scattering from the trees, he prepared to charge.

Here I go! I'll show him what teamwork is my way!

He was about to launch himself forward, an orange whirlwind of pure determination, when an unexpected force stopped him in his tracks. A hand had grabbed the collar of his jacket from behind, yanking him back with surprising strength.

"What the—?!"

Before he could finish the sentence, he was dragged backward, stumbling, until the dense cover of a thicket swallowed them both. He landed unceremoniously on a pile of leaves.

"Sakura-chan! What's wrong with you?!" he whisper-shouted, furious. "The action was about to start! He's going to find us!"

"Shut up!" she hissed back, her own voice a tense whisper of panic and adrenaline. She was crouched beside him, her face inches from his, her green eyes shining with a fierce intelligence. "Are you crazy!? Were you really going to charge him head-on?"

"Of course I was! That's the test! We have to fight him!"

"No, the test can't be 'go get yourself killed'!" she insisted, pointing through the leaves with a trembling finger. "Look at him, Naruto! He's a jōnin! An elite jōnin! He'd tear us to pieces before we could even blink! And he's not even paying attention to us!"

Naruto looked. Kakashi hadn't moved. He was still in the same spot, his orange book back in his hand, reading calmly as if he were on a picnic. He wasn't looking for them. He didn't seem the least bit concerned.

Sakura's logic, though a direct blow to his pride, was… undeniable.

"But… but if we don't fight, how are we going to get the bells?" he asked, his frustration mixing with confusion.

"I don't know! But definitely not like that!" she said. "He wants you to do that. He's expecting the 'loudmouthed idiot' to charge right in so he can humiliate you and get you out of the way. If you do what he expects, you've already lost."

Naruto fell silent, processing her words. He looked at Sakura. He saw the seriousness in her eyes, the way her brain was working at top speed. She wasn't insulting him. She was warning him. She was acting like a teammate.

"So… what do we do?" he asked, his tone losing its indignant edge. "Just hide here like cowards? I'm not a coward."

"It's not cowardly, it's smart," she replied, her voice growing more confident as she saw he was listening. "We can't beat him in a fight. It's impossible. But he's arrogant. Overconfident. That's his only weakness, and our only chance. We have to be smarter than him."

"Smarter?" Naruto repeated.

"Yes. We need a plan. An ambush. Something he won't see coming. That's what a real team of ninja would do, right? Think. Attack together."

The idea began to take shape in Naruto's mind. A plan. An ambush. It sounded… a lot cooler than just running and screaming.

"So, we're not running away…" he said slowly, testing the words.

"No," Sakura confirmed. "It's a tactical retreat."

A huge grin spread across Naruto's face.

"A tactical retreat! I like it! That sounds super professional! Believe it! Good idea, Sakura-chan!"

They moved deeper into the woods, moving with a stealth Naruto rarely used. They found a sheltered spot, a hollow between three large, moss-covered boulders. From there, they had a partial view of the clearing.

"Okay," Sakura whispered, her mind now completely focused on the problem. "The terrain. The river is to the south; its noise can mask our movements. The trees are tall, good for an attack from above. We need a distraction… something big, something that will force him to move from his spot and take this seriously."

Naruto smacked his fist into his palm.

"I've got it! My specialty! Shadow Clones!" he said in an excited whisper. "I can make a ton of them! A whole army! I'll send them to attack from the west, on the other side of the field! They'll make so much noise he'll have to pay attention to them!"

Sakura looked at him, her green eyes widening slightly in surprise.

"That's… that's not a bad idea. A massive diversion… it could work."

"And I can hit hard!" Naruto added proudly. "I've been training in secret! I can make the distraction super convincing! He'll think the real me is over there, and then, while he's busy… you set up the real trap!"

The plan, though simple, was solid. Sakura nodded, a strange sense of camaraderie forming between them.

"Alright. I'll need time to set up some wire and basic traps near the river. If you can keep him busy for five minutes…"

Just then, a movement in the branches of a nearby tree caught their attention. It was Sasuke. He was crouched there, watching the clearing, completely unaware of their presence.

Naruto, in his new and fervent team spirit, didn't hesitate.

"Wait here!" he whispered to Sakura.

Before she could stop him, he slipped between the rocks and moved with surprising stealth to the base of Sasuke's tree.

"Hey! Sasuke!" he whispered up.

Sasuke glared down at him, his face a mask of cold irritation.

"What do you want, loser? Get lost."

"We have a plan! It's foolproof!" Naruto insisted, ignoring the insult.

"Then it's perfect for you. I'm not interested," Sasuke replied, turning his attention back to the clearing.

"Come on, Teme! It's a good strategy!" Naruto said, quickly explaining. "I'll create a massive diversion with my clones from the west! Sakura will set up a wire trap near the river! If you attack from the east while he's confused, we can get the bells! All three of us, together!"

Sasuke looked down at him again. His black eyes were filled with a disdain so deep it was almost palpable.

"Don't drag me into your loser games. I don't need your help, and I definitely don't need hers. Get lost before you blow my position and ruin my chance to get a bell on my own."

Naruto was speechless. The rejection was so absolute, so cutting, that it hurt. He turned and walked back to Sakura, his face a mixture of disappointment and renewed fury.

"That arrogant jerk!" he muttered. "Fine! We'll do it ourselves! We don't need him! We'll show him what we're made of!"

He crouched down next to Sakura again. They looked at each other, and for the first time, there was no mockery or annoyance between them, but a new understanding. The first and most unlikely alliance of Team 7 had been forged.

"Okay, Naruto," Sakura whispered, her voice filled with a new, fierce determination. "Ready to show our sensei what two 'losers' can do?"

Naruto looked at her, and his frustration melted away, replaced by a wild, confident grin.

"Believe it!"

Chapter Text

The air in the forest was thick, charged with an almost palpable tension. Crouched among the rocks, Naruto and Sakura held their breath. Every rustle of a leaf, every distant bird call, sounded like a thunderclap in the silence. The plan was set, the pieces in place. They just needed the right moment to start the show.

"Well?" Naruto whispered, impatience vibrating in every syllable. "I'm gonna turn into a fossil here. When do we start the tactical retreat?"

"When I say so," Sakura hissed back, not taking her eyes off the small portion of the clearing she could see through the leaves. "Kakashi-sensei hasn't moved. He's still reading that stupid book. He's waiting for us to make a mistake, for one of us to get nervous and give away our position."

"Well, it's working," Naruto grumbled. "My nerves are about to make a shadow clone and run off on their own."

Sakura ignored him; her concentration was absolute. She analyzed Kakashi's posture, the way the wind moved the leaves around him, the position of the sun. Everything was a variable in an equation she had to solve. Her trap near the river was rudimentary; it would only work if the target was led to it unsuspectingly and at the precise moment. She needed the perfect distraction.

What she didn't know was that the distraction was about to arrive, just not in the way she had planned.

On the branch of a towering oak tree, on the opposite side of the field, Sasuke Uchiha observed the same scene, but with a completely different interpretation. Where Sakura saw a game of patience, he saw an opening. An offense. Kakashi wasn't taking them seriously. He was reading. He was so sure of his superiority that he didn't even deign to look for them. For Sasuke, whose entire world had been built on the foundation of strength and recognition, that was an intolerable insult.

He thinks we're kids playing ninja, he thought, his fingers tightening around a kunai. He thinks he can just sit there while we tire ourselves out. He doesn't see me. He doesn't consider me a threat. I'm going to show him what a threat is.

Naruto and Sakura's plan seemed pathetic to him. Cooperation? Strategy? That was for the weak who needed to rely on others. Not him. He was an Uchiha. The elite. He just needed one opportunity, one instant of hesitation, and those bells would be his. He would prove his worth, not just to that arrogant jōnin, but to himself. It was one more step on the path to avenging his clan.

He saw Kakashi turn a page in his book. That was the moment. The subtle instant of distraction.

With a fluid and silent motion, Sasuke dropped from the branch. He landed on the ground without a single sound, a shadow among shadows. He moved with a speed that would have surprised anyone his age, flanking the clearing and always staying in Kakashi's blind spot.

From her hiding place, Sakura noticed a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye.

"Wait... what is he doing?" she whispered, more to herself than to Naruto.

Naruto peeked out carefully. "It's Sasuke! That idiot is gonna do it alone!"

Sasuke's plan was simple and direct: first, a diversionary attack to force a reaction. He threw three shuriken simultaneously. They flew through the air, whistling, on a perfect trajectory to converge on the exact spot where Kakashi stood.

Without looking up from his book, Kakashi tilted his head a couple of inches to the left. The three shuriken whizzed past where his temple had been and embedded themselves deep in the trunk of a tree behind him.

Sasuke was already moving.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" he yelled.

He inhaled deeply; his lungs filled with air and his chakra turned to heat. He exhaled a sphere of orange flames that roared across the clearing, scorching the grass in its path. It was an impressive jutsu for a genin, a display of power that should have forced any opponent to jump and dodge.

Kakashi didn't jump. He simply closed his book, tucked it into his vest, and, at the last second, vanished.

The fireball slammed into the ground where he had been, kicking up a cloud of dirt and smoke. Sasuke smirked, believing he had seized the initiative. He landed where Kakashi had been, looking for his next move.

"Looking for someone?" a bored voice sounded from directly beneath him.

Sasuke's eyes widened. He looked down. The grass and dirt at his feet weren't solid—they were Kakashi's arms.

"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu!" the voice exclaimed.

Kakashi's hands clamped around Sasuke's ankles and pulled with irresistible force. Sasuke's world flipped upside down. He was dragged underground in a fraction of a second, until only his head stuck out of the ground like some macabre plant. He was completely immobilized, unable to move a single muscle. Panic, an emotion he rarely felt, began to bubble in his chest.

Kakashi emerged from the earth a few feet away, brushing the dust from his shoulders.

"Nice try with the fireball," he said casually, his visible eye curving into a mocking smile. "But you should never announce your jutsu. It takes all the fun out of the surprise. And never, ever lose sight of your opponent, not even for a second."

He crouched in front of Sasuke's head.

"You stay here for a while and think about the importance of not underestimating your enemy. Lesson number one."

From the rocks, Naruto and Sakura watched with their mouths agape. It had all happened in less than ten seconds. The speed, the precision, the absolute ease with which Kakashi had neutralized the supposed best of their class… it was terrifying.

"He... he buried him," Naruto stammered.

Sakura swallowed hard, her heart hammering in her chest. Fear was a cold, heavy thing in her stomach, but her analytical mind was already at work, processing the new information. Kakashi had moved. He had left his post. Sasuke, in his arrogant failure, had given them exactly what they needed.

She turned to Naruto, her green eyes shining with a feverish determination.

"Naruto, now!" she hissed. "It's the distraction we didn't ask for, but it's the one we've got! Kakashi is focused on Sasuke! Execute the plan! Now!"

Naruto looked at her. The fear inside him warred with Sakura's command. Seeing Sasuke defeated so easily had chilled him to the bone. But then he saw the confidence in her eyes—a confidence that wasn't just in her plan, but in him. He nodded, a tense, determined grin on his face.

"You got it, Captain Sakura-chan!"

He brought his hands together in a cross-shaped seal he knew as well as his own name.

"Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The air around the rocks exploded in a series of white smoke clouds. Poof! Poof! Poof! One, two, ten, fifty, a hundred clouds of smoke dissipated to reveal a sea of orange jackets. A hundred identical Narutos filled the edge of the forest, all wearing the same defiant grin.

Kakashi, who had been about to pull his book out again, paused. He raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised for an instant. Not by the jutsu itself, but by the sheer number. A hundred clones. A newly graduated genin shouldn't be able to create so many.

"Hey, you, weird-haired sensei!" the hundred Narutos shouted in unison, their voices creating a chaotic chorus. "Don't forget about us!"

And then, the orange army charged.

The clearing became a madhouse. A hundred Narutos ran, jumped, and screamed, converging on Kakashi from all directions. The ground trembled beneath their feet.

"Well, well," Kakashi muttered to himself, a hint of amusement in his voice. "This is a little more than I expected."

The first wave of clones arrived. Kakashi moved like a ghost. He dodged a punch, blocked a kick, used one clone as a springboard to leap over another, and dispelled it with a swift chop to the back of the neck. He moved with a fluid grace amidst the orange hurricane. Every movement was efficient, precise, and lethal to the clones. Poof! Poof! Two clones vanished in clouds of smoke.

But for every clone he took down, two more took its place.

"Not so fast!" shouted a clone, lunging from the right.

"Take this!" shrieked another from the left.

Naruto, the real one, moved through the trees, staying hidden on the periphery. He coordinated the assault, not with words, but with instinct. He had spent countless hours training with his clones; he knew how they thought, how they moved. They were an extension of himself.

Pressure him from the left! Force him back toward the river! he thought, sending the intent to his creations.

A group of twenty clones focused their attack on Kakashi's left flank. They didn't attack randomly: five went low, forcing him to jump; ten attacked him in mid-air, forcing him to block and evade; and the last five were already waiting where he was going to land. It was a surprisingly sophisticated team effort, executed by a single individual.

Kakashi landed and spun, his leg sweeping in an arc that dispelled all five clones at once. Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!

"Not bad," Kakashi admitted, as he dodged a kunai thrown by another clone. "Using superior numbers to limit my movement options… It's a textbook tactic."

Despite his words, his tone remained relaxed. It was still a game to him; a slightly more complicated game, but a game nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Sakura moved like a snake through the undergrowth along the riverbank. Her hands moved quickly and surely, checking the knots of her traps. The nearly invisible metal wire was strung between two trees, connected to a hidden net in the branches above and a series of strategically placed kunai in a fallen log. Everything depended on Kakashi stepping in the exact right spot.

She could hear the shouts and sounds of battle behind her. The roar of Naruto's clones was the perfect cover. Her heart ached for him; she knew how much chakra he must be burning through. She couldn't let his sacrifice be in vain.

Just a little closer, Naruto… push him just ten more meters south.

On the battlefield, the number of clones had dwindled by half. About fifty remained, but they continued to fight with the same ferocity. Naruto was beginning to feel the strain. It was getting hard to breathe, and every clone that dispelled felt like a small physical and mental blow.

I can't hold on much longer! the real Naruto thought, crouched behind a bush. It has to work now!

Kakashi, sensing the tide of clones was receding, decided to end the game. He performed a rapid sequence of hand seals.

"Playtime's over, Naruto."

He gathered a crackling ball of electrical chakra in his hand. The current sparked and buzzed, illuminating his face. But just as he was about to unleash his attack, a Naruto clone did something unexpected: instead of attacking, it tripped and fell flat on its face, directly in Kakashi's path.

Kakashi hesitated. He couldn't use a jutsu of that caliber on a clone that was on the ground; it would be a waste. And in that split second of hesitation, three other clones tackled him from behind, grabbing onto his legs and arms.

"We got you!" they shouted in unison.

"No, you don't," Kakashi said calmly.

He shrugged them off with a simple flex of his muscles, sending them flying. But they had served their purpose. They had forced him to take three steps back to regain his balance; three steps that put him directly in the zone of Sakura's trap.

Sakura didn't hesitate. She yanked hard on the tripwire in her hand.

The effect was instantaneous. The main wire, hidden in the grass, snapped taut around Kakashi's ankles. At the same time, the net dropped from the trees, entangling him. And from the fallen log, the kunai shot out, not at him, but at the net, pinning it to the ground around him to anchor it securely.

For the first time all day, Kakashi's expression shifted from bored amusement to genuine astonishment. He was caught. It would only be for a few seconds—a shinobi of his level could break free easily—but in a battle, a few seconds were an eternity.

"A trap?" he said, looking at the wires with newfound respect. "Coordinated with the distraction?"

Sasuke's buried head watched it all in disbelief. Sakura? The girl who only cared about her hair had set a trap that actually worked? And Naruto? The class clown was fighting a battle that had managed to corner a jōnin? It was impossible. It made no sense.

Naruto's remaining clones, seeing their chance, launched one last desperate attack, not to defeat Kakashi, but to keep his attention fixed.

And that's when Sakura made her move.

She shot out from her hiding spot by the river. She didn't run through the center of the clearing, but along the edge, using every tree and shadow as cover. She moved with a silence and grace that neither Naruto nor Sasuke knew she possessed. Her heart was pounding, but her movements were precise and economical. It wasn't Naruto's desperate charge or Sasuke's flashy assault. These were the movements of a hunter.

Kakashi saw her coming. His eyes narrowed. He was tangled in the net, with half a dozen Naruto clones on top of him, but he was still an elite jōnin. He could break free and stop her. And yet, his own arrogance, that assumption that she posed no real threat, was his undoing.

The girl? he thought. She's the weakest. She doesn't have Naruto's strength or Sasuke's technique. What's she going to do? Punch me?

Sakura didn't stop to attack. She didn't prepare any jutsu. Her sole objective was the two small, silver objects hanging from his belt. She slipped under a clone's arm, leaped over another's leg, and, with surprising agility, found herself right beside Kakashi's hip.

Her hand shot out like a flash. Her fingers closed around the bells.

Jingle.

The soft chime was the loudest sound in the entire training ground.

There was a moment of absolute silence. The remaining Naruto clones stopped, dumbfounded. Sasuke, from the ground, couldn't believe his eyes.

Sakura landed a few feet away, breathing heavily, her hand clenched in a fist. She slowly opened her fingers. In her palm, shining in the midday sun, rested the two bells.

Kakashi, still entangled, stared at her. The laziness was completely gone from his eye; it was replaced by something cold, sharp, and dangerous.

"Impressive," he said, and his voice was no longer drawn out or bored. It was the voice of a predator. "Truly impressive."

With a single motion, he tore the net as if it were tissue paper and dispelled the remaining clones with a wave of chakra. He stood up, and his posture changed. He was no longer slouched and relaxed. Now he was tense, ready for action, radiating a power that made the air turn cold.

"The test was to take the bells from me," he said, his gaze fixed on Sakura. "But I never said you could keep them."

He was going to move. Sakura saw it in his eyes. He was going to cross the distance between them in less than a blink, and all their effort would have been for nothing. He was about to show them the difference between a genin and an elite jōnin.

But just as his muscles tensed to spring, an orange whirlwind slammed into him.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Naruto yelled.

It wasn't a clone. It was the original, who had burst from his hiding spot in a final, desperate act. He didn't punch him. He didn't try a technique. He simply threw himself at Kakashi and clung to his torso with his arms and legs, like a monkey to a tree.

"RUN, SAKURA-CHAN!" he shouted, using all his weight to anchor the jōnin.

Kakashi stumbled from the surprise of the impact. Naruto's weight was negligible; he could throw him off with a mere shrug. But, again, it was the unexpected tactic that stopped him. The sacrifice. Naruto wasn't trying to win; he was making sure his teammate didn't lose.

"Let go of me, you brat!" Kakashi growled, trying to shake him off.

"NOT UNTIL SAKURA'S SAFE!" Naruto yelled back, squeezing tighter, his face pressed against the back of Kakashi's vest.

That struggle, which lasted no more than three seconds, was all the time Sakura needed. She ran to the far end of the clearing, putting a safe distance between herself and her sensei.

At that exact moment, a sharp, shrill beep echoed through the air.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The alarm clock on the wooden post went off, marking twelve o'clock.

Time was up.

Silence fell over Training Ground 3 once more. Naruto slowly let go of Kakashi and backed away, panting but with a triumphant look in his eyes. Sakura stood her ground, holding the bells high, her chest rising and falling with adrenaline. Sasuke was still buried up to his neck, his face a complex mixture of humiliation and astonishment.

Kakashi stood still in the center of it all, looking at the three of them. A slow smile formed under his mask.

His own lesson, his own test, had been turned against him. His defeat was not from a lack of skill, but from an excess of pride.

He had underestimated the brats.

Chapter Text

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The sharp, persistent sound of the alarm clock on the wooden post was like a sentence. It cut through the tension, broke the spell of the combat, and declared with metallic finality that time was up.

The silence that followed was almost louder than the alarm.

Naruto slowly let go of Kakashi and took a couple of steps back, his chest heaving as he gasped for air. a smile of pure, absolute triumph spread across his dirty, sweaty face.

"WE DID IT!" His shout echoed in the clearing, so full of explosive joy it seemed to shake the leaves on the trees. "WE DID IT, SAKURA-CHAN! YOU GOT THE BELLS! WE'RE THE BEST! BELIEVE IT!"

Sakura, standing on the other side of the field, barely heard him. The world had shrunk to the weight of the two small bells in her hand and the hammering of her own heart in her ears. She had done it. Against all odds, against an elite jōnin, she—the one who had always felt a step behind—had been the one to secure victory. A wave of adrenaline, pride, and exhaustion washed over her, leaving her trembling, but standing.

On the ground, Sasuke pushed himself up on his elbows, his face a mask of disbelief and a humiliation so deep it was almost a physical wound. He had been defeated, buried, and reduced to a spectator while the two teammates he considered dead weight executed a plan and won. The logic of his world, where genius and individual power were everything, had been shattered.

Kakashi stood up, dusting himself off with an exasperating calm. The laziness had returned to his posture, but his single visible eye wasn't on his book. It moved between his three students, analyzing, assessing. An almost imperceptible smile formed under his mask. They really did it, he thought, a hint of genuine surprise coloring his amusement. Not the way I expected, but the result is the same. Interesting.

He walked calmly over to Sasuke. With no apparent effort, he grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and plucked him from the ground as if he were a simple carrot. Sasuke scrambled to his feet, pulling away from him with a growl. He brushed the dirt off with a silent fury, refusing to look at Naruto or Sakura.

"Well, well," Kakashi said, his drawl breaking the silence. "The bells. You have them. I'm impressed. You passed the challenge and demonstrated the value of cooperation against a superior enemy. You've learned the first lesson of teamwork."

Naruto puffed out his chest with pride. Even the weird-sensei admitted it!

"But," Kakashi continued, and that single word made the air freeze again, "there's one small problem."

He turned to Sakura, who was still holding the bells in her trembling hand.

"Sakura. You were the one who got the bells. The victory is yours. You made the decision to set a trap, and Naruto trusted your judgment. On this mission, you acted as the leader."

Sakura looked at him, confused. What was he getting at?

"However," Kakashi said, his tone turning clinical, devoid of all warmth, "you only have two bells. And you are a team of three. According to the rules I established, that means two of you pass and one returns to the Academy. Forever."

Sakura's heart stopped.

"Naruto failed to get a bell. And Sasuke failed spectacularly. You, as the winner and the de facto leader of this operation, have the burden of the decision." Kakashi stared at her, his eye as dark and deep as a well. "Choose, Sakura. Who do you give the second bell to? Who among them moves on with you, and who among them sees their dream of being a ninja end right here, right now?"

The question landed in the clearing like a granite slab. It wasn't a test. It was torture.

Sakura's mind went blank. A high-pitched ringing filled her ears. She looked at Sasuke. She saw his tense face, his clenched jaw. She saw the last of the Uchiha, the brilliant, mysterious boy who had filled her thoughts and dreams for years. His dream of avenging his clan… a dream she knew consumed him, that it was the only reason he was still breathing. How could she be the one to stand in that way? If she chose Naruto, Sasuke would hate her. He would hate her forever. And that thought was an abyss of terror that threatened to swallow her whole.

Sasuke-kun… He's a genius. He deserves to be a ninja more than anyone. If I choose him, it's the logical decision. He's the strongest. A team needs the strongest.

Her gaze shifted to Naruto. He was watching her, but not with the expectation of a competitor. There was concern in his blue eyes. Concern… for her. She saw the dirt on his face, the scrapes on his arms from the clones he had created. She remembered his desperate shout as he clung to Kakashi, buying her the time she needed.

But… did Sasuke fight for the team? she asked herself, and the answer was a painful no. He attacked on his own. He was defeated on his own. He called us losers. He didn't even want to hear our plan.

Naruto, on the other hand… The sequence of events replayed in her mind with crystal clarity. Naruto trusted me. Without hesitation. He created an army to give me a chance. He sacrificed himself to protect me. He threw himself at a jōnin just to buy me three seconds. Without him… without his trust, without his distraction, without his sacrifice… I wouldn't have these bells. This victory isn't mine. It's ours.

She understood the truth in that instant. Being a teammate wasn't about who was the most talented or the strongest. It was about who fought with you. About who was willing to fall so you could keep standing.

She looked at Sasuke, and for the first time, she didn't see the boy of her dreams. She saw a stranger, a loner consumed by his own pride. Then she looked at Naruto, and she didn't see the class idiot. She saw a comrade.

She took a deep breath, a decision forming in her heart, as terrifying as it was liberating.

Sasuke watched her, his face a mask of arrogance, but there was a flicker of uncertainty in his black eyes. He expected her to choose him. It was the obvious thing. The logical thing. Naruto watched her too, and seeing the agony on her face, he was about to shout "Choose him, Sakura-chan! It's okay!" but he bit his tongue. He had trusted her plan. He had to trust her decision.

Sakura took a step forward. Then another. She walked right past Sasuke, who watched her, stunned, unable to believe she hadn't stopped in front of him.

She planted herself in front of Naruto.

Her voice, when she spoke, was quiet, but every word resonated in the silent clearing.

"Sasuke-kun. You're a genius. You're probably the strongest genin of our generation, and no one doubts you'll become an incredible shinobi."

Sasuke looked at her, confused by the praise.

"But…" she continued, and her green eyes met Naruto's, "…a teammate doesn't abandon the plan to fight on his own. A teammate doesn't call his teammates 'losers.' And a teammate doesn't stand by and watch while another fights for everyone."

She raised the hand holding the second bell. The sun glinted off the metal.

"This victory… it wasn't mine. It was ours. Your clones were the perfect distraction. Your final tackle was what bought me time. You fought with me. You trusted me when no one else would have."

She held out the bell to him.

"This belongs to you, Naruto. We pass. Together."

Naruto's world stopped. He looked at the bell in Sakura's outstretched hand, and then at her face. He saw the resolve in her eyes, the sincerity. She… had chosen him? Him, over Sasuke? The idea was so revolutionary, so absolutely unexpected, his brain couldn't process it. She chose me? he thought, pure, overwhelming astonishment filling him. But… why?

Sasuke, behind them, froze. The rejection was so brutal and so public it was like a slap in the face. Not only had he been defeated by Kakashi; now, he had been publicly cast aside by his biggest admirer in favor of the dead last. His pride, already wounded, shattered. He clenched his fists so tightly his nails dug into his skin, his body trembling with a silent rage.

Naruto, however, felt no triumph. He took the bell, its cool touch on his warm hand. He looked at Sakura's face. He saw the relief in her eyes, but he also saw the pain it had cost her to make that decision. He saw the way she avoided looking at Sasuke. He saw Sasuke, vibrating with rage.

And he understood. He understood Kakashi's real trap. The test wasn't getting the bells. It was what you did afterward. A victory that broke the team wasn't a victory at all. It was a failure.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan," he said quietly. "That… means a lot to me."

Then, to the astonishment of Sakura and Kakashi, he walked over to one of the training posts. He placed the bell on the wood. He took out a kunai.

"Naruto! What are you doing?!" Sakura yelled.

With a swift, decisive motion, he struck the bell with the handle of the kunai. The metallic crack of parting metal was sharp and final. The bell split cleanly in two.

He picked up the two halves. He walked to Sasuke, who was glaring at him with an expression of pure hatred. Naruto didn't look back with condescension or triumph. His face was serious. He held out one of the broken halves.

"Here."

Sasuke looked at him as if he were being offered poison.

"Sakura-chan was right. You acted like an arrogant jerk," Naruto said, his voice calm and steady. "But a team doesn't leave anyone behind. Not even an insufferable teme. If we pass, all three of us pass. Or none of us."

Sasuke stared at the broken half of the bell in Naruto's hand. Then he looked at Naruto. He saw a sincerity in his eyes he couldn't comprehend. With a sharp movement, he snatched the piece of metal from him.

Kakashi watched the entire sequence unfold. He saw Sakura's difficult, brave decision. He saw Naruto's even more difficult, wiser solution. And he understood.

He gets it… He understood the true lesson. It's not just about working together to win. It's about staying together after the victory. This kid… he's no idiot.

A slow smile, this time genuine and full of pride, formed under Kakashi's mask. He walked to the center of the clearing.

"Well, well."

The three genin turned to look at him.

"Those who put the needs of the team before the rules, who understand that an individual victory is a failure for the group, and who are willing to sacrifice their own success for a comrade… those are the only ones truly qualified to be shinobi."

His single visible eye curved into a warm smile.

"You pass. All of you."

The relief that washed over Naruto and Sakura was so immense it almost made them collapse.

"Team 7," Kakashi announced, "begins its first mission tomorrow."

They stood there, the three of them, in the quiet training ground. Sakura, with a proud and relieved smile. Sasuke, clutching the broken half of the bell in his fist, his face a mask of rage, humiliation, and a confusion he didn't know how to process. And Naruto, in the middle, smiling, the true, quiet leader of his fractured, dysfunctional, but now, officially formed team.

Chapter Text

The afternoon sun poured over Training Ground 3, a golden light that seemed to want to bathe the scene in an aura of glory. But for the newly formed Team 7, victory had a bittersweet taste and was marked by a bone-deep exhaustion. The silence that followed Kakashi's departure was thick, heavy with unspoken words and raw emotions.

Naruto was the first to break it, collapsing onto his back on the grass with a groan that was meant to be dramatic but came out more like a choked whimper. He lay there, arms and legs spread, watching the clouds drift by as if they were the most fascinating spectacle in the world. An exhausted, yet genuinely happy, laugh erupted from his chest.

"We did it…" he said to the sky, his voice a bit hoarse. "We really did it. We're a real team, Sakura-chan."

Sakura, who was still standing and trying to catch her breath, looked down at him. The sight of him sprawled on the ground like an orange starfish was so ridiculous she couldn't stop a small, tired smile from forming on her lips. He had dirt on his face, a leaf stuck in his hair, and his clothes were a mess. He looked like a kid who had lost a fight with a garden. She dropped down to sit beside him, hugging her knees with a force that betrayed the tension still clinging to her body.

"Yeah… we did," she repeated, her voice barely a whisper. "Though I think it was in spite of you, probably."

"Hey! My distraction plan was awesome!" he protested, though without his usual energy. He was too tired to really argue. He turned his head on the grass to look at her. "Did you see his face? He had no idea what to do with so many Narutos!"

"Your plan was 'charge straight ahead and yell as loud as you can'," she reminded him, plucking a blade of grass. "My plan was 'don't be an idiot and let me think for a second.' Turns out, it worked."

"Our plan!" he corrected, and his grin widened, spreading a warmth that Sakura hadn't expected. "It was our plan. You thought, I yelled. Teamwork!"

Sakura felt a slight warmth in her cheeks and looked away toward the forest. Our plan. The words echoed in her mind. It was true. For the first time in her life, she hadn't relied on her intelligence alone, nor had she been waiting for Sasuke to do something amazing. She had trusted Naruto. The dead last. And they had won. The feeling was strange, new, and… surprisingly pleasant.

"I guess so," she admitted quietly. "Are you okay?."

"Nah, I just swallowed a bunch of dirt," Naruto answered with a grimace. "Tastes worse than it looks."

"Kakashi-sensei doesn't mess around," Naruto murmured, turning his gaze back to the clouds. "He's incredible. He beat us without breaking a sweat. How are we supposed to get stronger if the bar is that high?"

"I guess that's why he's a jōnin," Sakura replied, feeling a chill. "And why he made us work together."

Their moment of quiet celebration was interrupted by the sound of footsteps walking away. They weren't fast, but each step sounded heavy, laden with a contained anger. They both turned to see Sasuke's back as he left the training ground without a single word, his figure rigid with humiliation and wounded pride. The way he walked, shoulders tense and fists clenched, said it all.

"Hey, jerk!" Naruto shouted, pushing himself up on his elbows. The effort drew a grunt from him. "Where are you going? Teams are supposed to celebrate their victories together! We should go get ramen! Kakashi-sensei should treat us!"

Sasuke didn't stop. He didn't turn around. He simply lifted a hand in a vague, dismissive gesture, a flick of the wrist that could have meant anything from "leave me alone" to "go to hell." He kept walking until the trees swallowed him up, leaving an even more awkward silence than before.

Naruto sighed, letting himself fall back onto the grass with a dull thud. "That arrogant jerk… What's his problem? We won. We're a team. Doesn't he get it?"

"Give him time, Naruto," Sakura said quietly, her gaze still fixed on the spot where Sasuke had disappeared. The disappointment in her own voice was clear. "To him, this wasn't a victory. Kakashi-sensei neutralized him in seconds. For someone like Sasuke, that's worse than losing."

"But he didn't lose! We passed!" Naruto insisted, sitting up again, this time with more energy. "Because you and I worked together! Doesn't he understand? It's not about him, it's about us!"

"I think… it'll take him a while to get used to the idea of 'us'," Sakura replied, finally looking away from the forest. "He's always been alone, Naruto. He doesn't know how to function any other way."

They fell silent for a moment, the weight of their fractured third member hanging between them. The victory felt incomplete without him. It was then that Naruto's eyes shot wide with an expression of pure panic.

"Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no!"

Sakura jumped. "What? What is it now? Did you just realize you swallowed a bug?"

"Worse!" he exclaimed, leaping to his feet so abruptly that his muscles protested with a cramp. "The picture! The promise! I told Hinata-chan I'd meet her for my registration photo! I'm going to be late! I'm going to be really late!"

Sakura watched him panic, running in circles while clutching his head, and a strange warmth spread through her chest. It was incredible. After the most exhausting day of his life, after facing an elite jōnin, and dealing with Sasuke's attitude, his first and greatest concern was not breaking a promise he'd made to a friend. It wasn't for a mission, or for glory. It was for something simple. Something decent.

"But look at me!" he continued, his voice rising to a high pitch of desperation. He pointed at himself. "I'm covered in dirt, leaves, and Sasuke's humiliation! I smell like sweat! I can't show up like this! She'll think I was attacked by a hellcat!"

"Naruto," Sakura said, standing up as well, with a calmness she didn't entirely feel. "Calm down. Breathe. First, hellcats don't exist. And second, Hinata will probably understand that you've been a little… busy saving your own skin to become a genin."

"But a promise is a promise!" he insisted, his face a mask of genuine anguish. "A shinobi always keeps his word, that's my ninja way! I can't let her down. She trusted me!"

The seriousness with which he said it disarmed her. He started to run toward the exit of the training ground but stopped after two steps and turned back to her, his expression a mix of haste and sincerity.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan. For today. For… for not laughing at my clone plan. And for not letting me crash into Kakashi-sensei at the start."

Sakura blushed again, feeling a little embarrassed. "Someone has to use their head on this team. Otherwise, we'd all end up buried."

"Well, yours works great!" he said with a radiant smile, so bright that for a moment he forgot how tired and dirty he was. "See you tomorrow! We'll train for real!"

And he ran off, kicking up a small cloud of dust, leaving Sakura alone in the clearing. She stood there, listening to the sound of his footsteps fade, with a mixture of exhaustion, a deep and bewildering curiosity, and the strange feeling that maybe, just maybe, she had misjudged Naruto Uzumaki.

****

Naruto ran through the streets of Konoha as if his life depended on it. Every muscle in his body screamed in protest and his lungs burned, but the mental image of Hinata waiting alone, checking the time and thinking he'd forgotten her, was a stronger motivator than any physical pain.

Please still be there, please still be there, please don't be gone, he repeated in his mind like a mantra, dodging villagers who were strolling peacefully in the evening.

As he rounded the corner to the registration building, his heart sank. He didn't see her anywhere. Panic began to rise in his throat. But then, he spotted a familiar figure leaning against the railing of the nearby bridge, watching the water with an expression of boredom so profound it looked like an art form. Long, dark hair tied in a high ponytail and a languid posture that defied gravity.

"Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled, skidding to a halt in front of him with a final burst of energy. He leaned on his knees, panting.

Shikamaru looked up slowly, as if the simple act of moving his neck was a monumental effort that required careful strategic planning. "Ah, Naruto. What a drag. You're making too much noise. You'll scare the clouds."

"I don't care about the clouds!" Naruto said breathlessly, trying to catch his breath. "Have you seen Hinata? We were supposed to meet here! Am I really late? Is she gone?"

Shikamaru yawned, a long, deep yawn that seemed to last an eternity. "The Hyuga girl, huh? Yeah, she was here. Waited for a bit. Kept looking toward the main street every two minutes. Very inefficient." He paused as if remembering was too much work. "Then she saw me and asked me to give you a message. Said talking to me was less tiring than continuing to stand."

Naruto's heart sank. Had she gotten tired of waiting and left? Left a message telling him not to worry about it?

"She told me to tell you…" Shikamaru continued with excruciating slowness, scratching the back of his neck, "that she figured you'd be exhausted after Kakashi-sensei's test and that you'd probably show up a mess. And she didn't want to make you run any more than you had to, so she went ahead to the registration building." He paused again and gestured over his shoulder with his thumb. "She said she'd wait for you inside, on the benches. For you to take your time. A very considerate girl. Too much trouble for me, but oh well."

Naruto blinked. Once, twice. And then, a smile so big and relieved spread across his face it nearly split it in two. She wasn't angry. She hadn't left. She had been… considerate. She had thought about him and how tired he would be.

"Thanks, Shikamaru, you're the best!" he shouted, slapping him on the back with enough force to nearly knock him off balance.

"Yeah, yeah, what a pain…" Shikamaru muttered, rubbing his back as Naruto sprinted off again with renewed energy. "Now I have to readjust my center of gravity. This is going to ruin my evening of cloud-watching…"

Naruto burst into the registration building, earning a disapproving glare from the receptionist, a middle-aged woman with a bun so tight it looked painful. But he didn't care. His eyes scanned the waiting area, and there she was, sitting on a wooden bench, reading a small book to pass the time.

"Hinata-chan!" he panted, leaning on his knees to keep from falling over.

Her head snapped up, her pale eyes going wide. A smile of pure relief lit up her face, erasing any trace of impatience she might have felt. "Naruto-kun. You made it."

"Of course I did!" he said, straightening up and trying to look less like he'd just run a marathon. "And I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I know I'm late! It's just that the test was crazy, and Kakashi-sensei is a demon!"

"It's alright," she interrupted him softly, getting to her feet. Her voice was calm, a balm to his frayed nerves. "Shikamaru-san told me he would give you my message. I wasn't worried. I knew you would come."

The simple, absolute faith in her voice left him speechless for a moment. No one, ever, had spoken about him with such certainty. "Well, I'm here now!" he finally said, his voice full of renewed joy. "Let's do this! The world needs to see my incredible genin face!"

The photographer, a tired-looking man with dark circles under his eyes and an expression that suggested he'd seen too many arrogant genin faces in his life, looked at them with complete disinterest. "Next," he grunted, pointing to a stool inside a small, curtained-off room.

Naruto sat on the stool, puffing out his chest and trying to put on his best "future Hokage" face. He stared into the camera, ready for posterity. But just before the flash went off, a brilliant, chaotic, and absolutely perfect idea crossed his mind. With a blur of motion, he pulled a small container of red paint he used for pranks from his pocket.

FLASH!

"Alright, out. Next," the photographer grumbled, already turning his back.

Naruto walked out of the small studio, trying to hold back a laugh that threatened to explode. The machine spat out the newly developed photo, and he grabbed it eagerly. He showed it to Hinata, who was watching him with curiosity.

It was a photo of Naruto, yes, but with two large, clumsy red circles painted on his cheeks and a huge clown smile drawn around his mouth. His expression in the photo was dead serious, which made the image even more ridiculous.

Hinata covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide with shock. Her body trembled. And then, it happened. A choked giggle escaped her, a sound fighting to get out. Then another. Finally, she couldn't hold it in anymore and she started laughing. It wasn't a shy or restrained laugh. It was a clear, crystalline laugh, so genuine and happy that it made several people in the waiting room turn to look at her, surprised that such a joyful sound could come from the always quiet and timid Hyuga heiress.

Seeing her laugh like that, freely, because of one of his stupid pranks, was a bigger victory for Naruto than getting a thousand bells. It was like watching the sun come out.

"Knew you'd like it," he said with a proud grin, feeling the day's exhaustion melt away.

As they left the building, the sun had already set completely. The streetlights of Konoha were beginning to flicker on, and stars were appearing in the inky sky. The laughter was still shining in Hinata's eyes as they walked side by side.

"That was… very irresponsible, Naruto-kun," she said, though her tone held no reprimand. A small smile still played on her lips. "That's your official registration photo."

"It was strategic!" he retorted, waving the photo in the air. "Now, whenever an enemy sees my profile picture, they'll be confused! They won't know whether to face a legendary ninja or a clown! It's the confusion tactic!"

They stopped at a crossroad. The path to the Hyuga compound went one way, and Naruto's went another. The end of a long and memorable day had arrived. A comfortable silence settled between them.

"Well…" Naruto began, scratching the back of his neck, a gesture he made when he wasn't sure what to say. "Thanks for coming, Hinata-chan. And for waiting. Really. It made everything… better."

"Thank you for inviting me," she replied quietly, looking down at her feet. "I'm glad I was here for… this." She glanced up at the photo, and another small laugh escaped her.

They stood there a moment longer. The day had been a whirlwind of emotions: tension, fear, triumph, relief, joy. And she had been there, in one way or another, for every step of the journey. He didn't want the day to end just like that.

"Hey," Naruto said suddenly, the idea forming in his head. "I know we're all dead tired, and your dad will probably kill you if you're late… and I smell awful… but a day like this can't end without ramen. It's an unwritten rule. To celebrate us passing and my photo being the coolest in the entire history of Konoha. What do you say? A quick bowl? My treat… well, technically, I'll have to ask Iruka-sensei for another loan, but it's the thought that counts!"

Hinata looked at him. She saw the exhaustion etched into his features, the dirt still smudging his cheek, but she also saw the bright hope in his blue eyes. And in that moment, she knew there was nowhere else in the world she wanted to be. "I'd love that, Naruto-kun."

"Awesome! Great! I know the best—!"

"If you're buying, you could at least include the teammate who did all the thinking, you idiot."

The voice, laced with a familiar sarcasm but strangely devoid of its usual venom, made them both turn. Sakura was leaning against the wall of a nearby shop, arms crossed and one eyebrow arched. She hadn't gone home. She had been waiting for them, or following them; they weren't sure which.

Naruto blinked, completely surprised. "Sakura-chan? What are you doing here?"

"Don't play dumb," she said, walking over. A small, tired smile played on her lips. "I saw you run off like a maniac and figured you'd make it. And after the day we've had, I think I've earned at least one bowl of ramen. Besides, you said it yourself, didn't you? A team celebrates together."

Naruto stared at her, then looked at Hinata, who was smiling shyly at him, as if she were delighted by this turn of events. And then, a gigantic grin, the biggest one of the entire day, spread across his face. He was exhausted, bruised, dirty, and probably in trouble with Iruka for another loan he couldn't repay. But he was here, in the middle of the Konoha night, with his brave new friend and his new, unexpectedly cool teammate. Even with Sasuke being a sourpuss, this felt right. It felt good.

Wow… he thought, as the three of them began to walk together toward the warm light and fragrant steam of Ichiraku Ramen. I think I'm the luckiest guy in all of Konoha.

Chapter Text

Night had fallen over Konoha, but the darkness was sprinkled with the warm glow of paper lanterns and the murmur of a village coming back to life after a long day. for most, it was a night like any other. But for three genin walking together toward the heavenly aroma of ramen, it felt like the beginning of a new era.

Inside a small, quiet tavern—the kind where the smoke from tobacco mixed with the smell of cheap sake and stories of past missions—three of the village's most respected senseis were gathered.

"MY DEAREST RIVAL!" Might Guy's voice boomed, causing several heads to turn. "I must admit, your decision to pass your team on the first try is a flame of youth that burns with unexpected brilliance! Although, of course, not as brilliantly as my own team, led by the genius of hard work, my student Rock Lee!"

Kakashi Hatake, leaning back in his seat with a practiced laziness, didn't even look up from his book.

"Congratulations, Guy. You sound like a proud father."

"Of course I am!" Guy exclaimed, slamming a fist on the table that made the teacups rattle. "A sensei must be the fuel for his students' fire!"

Iruka Umino, sitting across from them, smiled wearily. He had spent the entire day waiting for news, his stomach in knots with anxiety.

"I'm glad all the rookie teams passed, Guy-sensei," his gaze shifted to Kakashi, his tone growing more serious, filled with a concern he couldn't hide. "And your team, Kakashi? I heard you passed them. How... how was Naruto?"

Kakashi turned a page in his book.

"A complete and utter disaster," he said in his usual lazy drawl.

Iruka shot up straight, defensive.

"Don't say that about him! Naruto tries harder than anyone! He just needs a chance and—!"

"A disaster," Kakashi interrupted, finally closing his book and letting his words hang in the air, "that passed. All of them."

Guy's jaw dropped. Iruka froze for a second, and then, a smile of pure, overwhelming pride spread across his face, erasing all the exhaustion from his expression.

"Really? All three of them?"

Kakashi nodded, his single visible eye curving into a wry smile.

"I underestimated them," he admitted, and the confession made Iruka lean forward, fascinated. "The test was designed to break them. To force individualism and conflict. And for a while, it worked. The Uchiha acted exactly as I expected: a lone wolf convinced of his own superiority."

"And Naruto?" Iruka asked, holding his breath.

"And Naruto..." Kakashi paused, as if searching for the words. "I expected him to be an idiot. And he was. The problem is, the script had a couple of twists I didn't see coming."

He recounted a condensed version of events. He spoke of Sakura's unexpected intervention, of her logic in stopping Naruto's suicidal charge. And then, he spoke of Naruto himself.

"When everything was on the line," Kakashi said, his voice losing its laziness and taking on a shade of genuine surprise, "the kid everyone calls a loser, the one who should have been the most desperate to get a bell for himself, sacrificed himself. He used his own body to pin me down and ensure his teammate wouldn't lose the victory they had earned together. And later, when given the choice to leave his rival behind, he found a way to break the rules to keep the team together."

He looked at Iruka, and in his eye was a new light of respect.

"He's not just a loudmouthed idiot, Iruka. There's... something else there. Some kind of glue. A strange will that somehow forces others to rally around him. It's problematic. And fascinating."

Iruka leaned back in his seat, the smile on his face so bright it could have lit up the entire tavern. He didn't say "I told you so." He didn't need to. He simply savored the moment.

****

Ichiraku Ramen was a sanctuary of steam, aromas, and happiness. To Naruto, it was heaven on earth. He was on his third bowl, slurping the noodles with an enthusiasm that was music to Teuchi's ears.

"And then, BAM!" he was recounting, gesturing with his chopsticks. "I trapped Kakashi-sensei with my incredible strength and Sakura-chan snatched the bells from him! It was perfect teamwork!"

Sakura, sitting beside him, rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

"That's not exactly how it happened. My part of the plan was 'keep Naruto from getting pulverized in the first thirty seconds.' And you didn't 'trap' him, you clung to him like a scared monkey."

"A tactical monkey!" he corrected. "It was a high-level immobilization maneuver!"

Hinata, sitting on Naruto's other side, giggled, a soft, happy sound. The atmosphere among the three was incredibly light. The day's exhaustion had melted away, replaced by the warmth of the broth and the comfort of a newfound camaraderie.

"Still," Sakura said, turning to Hinata with genuine curiosity, "how did it go for you, Hinata?."

Hinata blushed, a little overwhelmed by Sakura's direct attention.

"W-well... Kurenai-sensei gave us a combat test. And... and things went well."

"'Well'!" Naruto exclaimed. "I bet you were amazing! With your new power, you must've blown them away! Believe it!"

"Your Byakugan must be really useful for tracking," Sakura said, her analytical mind taking over. "Our team has a lot of offensive power with Sasuke-kun and Naruto, but we're lacking a good sensor. You're lucky to have such a useful ability."

The way Sakura spoke of her skills, with genuine respect and tactical interest, made Hinata feel... seen. Seen as a kunoichi, not just as a shy girl.

"Th-thank you, Sakura-san. Your... your skills are amazing too. What you did in the test... was very smart."

A strange current of mutual respect began to form between them. The old rivalry Sakura felt for any girl who might be interested in Sasuke seemed irrelevant now. Hinata wasn't a rival. She was... an ally. A friend.

Naruto, watching them talk, grinned from ear to ear. His plan, intentional or not, of bringing people together around him, seemed to be working on its own. He finished his fourth bowl with a loud slurp.

"Old man! Another one!" he shouted. Then he slapped his pocket, which made a hollow sound. He turned to Sakura and Hinata with a shameless grin. "Well, uh... do either of you have a chunin friend we can ask for a loan? Iruka-sensei is gonna kill me!"

He was about to get up to find his teacher when a small, timid hand stopped his on the counter.

"N-no, Naruto-kun. There's no need."

Hinata opened her small coin purse. Her hands trembled slightly, but her expression was determined.

"I-I'll... I'll treat you this time."

Naruto blinked.

"Huh? No way! I invited you guys to celebrate! A man always pays!"

"To be a man, you have to have money first, idiot," Sakura interjected with a smirk. She turned to Hinata. "Let it go, Naruto. It's called being thoughtful. It's your turn to be treated."

"B-but..."

"It's my way of saying thank you," Hinata said, her voice gaining a surprising firmness. "For... for everything. For being my friend. Please."

Naruto looked at her. He saw the determination in her eyes and knew that arguing would be an insult to her gesture. He sighed dramatically.

"Alright. But next time, it's my treat! Even if I have to wash Teuchi's dishes for a month!"

Just as Hinata was about to give the money to Ayame, a large, calloused hand stopped hers.

"Not a chance, young lady."

Teuchi, the owner of the stand, was looking at them with a smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes. He had been listening to the whole conversation.

"Seeing Konoha's genin, tired and dirty but celebrating together after their first big test... that's the best payment an old man like me can receive. This round is on the house. Congratulations on passing, kids. You've earned it."

The gesture, so unexpected and fatherly, left the three of them speechless. Naruto was the first to recover.

"OLD MAN TEUCHI, YOU'RE THE GREATEST GUY IN THE WORLD!" he yelled, nearly jumping over the counter to hug him.

As they ate their free bowls of ramen, the conversation turned deeper. They talked about the future.

"I'm going to be the best team leader ever," Naruto declared. "I'll lead Team 7 to the top! And I'm going to become Hokage!"

"I... I want to be a kunoichi my team can always count on," Sakura said, her gaze lost in the steam from her broth. "I don't want to be a burden ever again."

"And I," Hinata added, her voice quiet but clear, "want to be strong enough to stand by my friends' side. To protect them."

Their dreams, though different, all orbited around the same idea: companionship, protection, strength gained not just for oneself, but for others.

****

The walk back was quiet. The night was cool, and the sky was full of stars. They dropped Sakura off at her front door.

"Thanks for dinner, guys," she said, and for the first time, her smile at Naruto was completely genuine and free of sarcasm. "See you tomorrow. Don't be late."

"Never!" he lied shamelessly.

As Naruto and Hinata continued on alone toward the Hyuga complex, the silence that enveloped them was comfortable, intimate. The group's energy had faded, leaving only the calm of their mutual company.

They reached the imposing gate. The full moon lit the path, casting long shadows. It was the end of a perfect day.

"Well, here we are again," Naruto said with a smile.

"Yeah," Hinata replied softly. She stopped and turned to him, her face blushing in the light of the lanterns. She was twisting her fingers together, gathering every ounce of her newfound courage. "Naruto-kun... o-one more thing."

Naruto waited, curious.

"Thank you..." she began, her voice trembling but sincere. "For... for this morning. When... when you noticed. My... my hair. And... you said I looked pretty."

The memory made her blush deepen.

"It... it made me really happy."

Naruto was taken aback. To him, it had just been an honest observation. He didn't know the weight those simple words had held for her.

"Well, uh... I was just telling the truth!" he said, scratching the back of his neck.

Before he could say anything else, she took a step forward. She stood on her tiptoes and, with a swiftness born from a mix of courage and absolute panic, gave him a quick, soft kiss on the cheek.

The contact was like a small electric shock, warm and fleeting.

Naruto was left completely frozen.

The instant after the kiss, all of Hinata's courage evaporated. She turned the color of a ripe tomato, let out a choked squeak that sounded like, "G-good night!", and spun around and ran through the compound gates, disappearing into the darkness before Naruto could even process what had just happened.

He stood alone on the street, under the moonlight. He was paralyzed, his eyes wide. Slowly, he brought a hand to his cheek. He could still feel the warmth, the soft touch of her lips.

A slow, goofy, disbelieving, and absolutely radiant smile began to spread across his face, from ear to ear. He looked at the closed gate, and then up at the starry sky.

Wow... he thought, a feeling of pure, overwhelming happiness filling every corner of his being.

...my life has gotten so much better.

Chapter Text

"What do you mean there's no one available?!"

The voice, rough from cheap sake and thick with a frustration that vibrated in the air, made several of the shinobi waiting in the mission assignment office turn their heads. The man who had shouted was burly, with a worker's calloused hands and a desperate look that didn't fit the bureaucratic atmosphere of the Hokage Tower. His name was Tazuna, and his patience had run out three cups of sake and half an hour of waiting ago.

The chūnin behind the counter, a young man named Kotetsu with a perpetual adhesive bandage over his nose, didn't even look up from his scroll.

"Sir, as I've already explained for the third time, I must ask you to lower your voice. I didn't say there's no one. I said there are no teams available for an off-village escort mission at this time."

"I paid for a C-Rank mission, not an excuse!" Tazuna insisted, slamming his palm on the counter. The dull thud finally made Kotetsu look up, his eyes filled with an infinite weariness. "The road to the Land of Waves is crawling with bandits and thugs! An old bridge builder like me is an easy target! I need to get home to start an important job!"

Kotetsu sighed, the sound of a man who had had the same conversation a hundred times that day.

"Sir, I perfectly understand your situation. However, the protocol is clear. The latest Academy class has just graduated. All the newly formed genin teams, which are the ones that normally handle C-Rank missions, are currently assigned to local evaluation missions within the village. It's a standard procedure to calibrate their skills and teamwork in a controlled environment."

As the chūnin spoke, his voice a monotonous drone of rules and procedures, Tazuna's mind was a storm. Protocol... These ninja and their stupid rules! he thought, a cold sweat running down his back despite the heat of the office. They don't get it. They aren't just "bandits." They're Gato's men. They're assassins. Every day they keep me here, trapped in their bureaucracy, is another day my people suffer. Inari... Tsunami... Every day, Gato gets stronger. I don't have time for their paperwork.

"It's for your own safety and ours, sir," Kotetsu continued, oblivious to the silent agony of the man before him. "We can't send an untested team on a mission outside the village, no matter how simple it may seem. It would be irresponsible."

"What's irresponsible is letting a tax-paying citizen get mugged on the road!" Tazuna roared, his frustration boiling over again.

Kotetsu remained unfazed. He picked up a new scroll and a quill.

"What I can do for you is put you on the waiting list. You're first in line for a C-Rank escort mission. As soon as one of the jōnin teams evaluates their genin and deems them fit for external missions, one will be assigned to you immediately. It could be tomorrow, or maybe in a few days. We'll send you a notification."

A few days... the phrase thundered in Tazuna's mind like a death sentence. In a few days, there might not be a bridge to build. There might not be a home to return to.

Seeing the defeated look on Tazuna's face, Kotetsu felt a pang of pity.

"Look, it's the best time of year to visit the hot springs. Why don't you take a few days off? Enjoy Konoha's hospitality."

Tazuna let out a dry, joyless laugh. "Rest? Kid, I haven't rested in over a year. I won't rest until my work is done."

He clenched his fists in defeat. He knew arguing was pointless. These desk-job shinobi didn't understand deadlines or tyrants. They only understood rules.

"Fine," he muttered. "Put me on your stupid list. But you'd better be quick about it."

Without waiting for a reply, he turned and strode out of the tower, leaving the smell of sake and desperation in his wake. Kotetsu sighed, stamped a seal on a scroll, and yelled, "Next!" without giving the troublesome old bridge builder a second thought.

*****

The main dojo of the Hyuga clan was a masterpiece of silence and symmetry. The cypress wood floor, polished for generations until it reflected light like a dark mirror, smelled of wax and discipline. The shōji paper doors, with delicate paintings of cranes in flight, filtered the sunlight, creating a serene and timeless atmosphere. It was a beautiful cage.

In the center of that cage, Hinata moved.

This wasn't the clumsy, hesitant training from before. This was a dance. Her body, imbued with the new energy vibrating under her skin, flowed through the Gentle Fist katas with a grace and speed she had never before possessed. Every turn was precise, every palm strike cut the air with a silent whisper. The power of the Falna had not only increased her strength and agility; it had given her a control over her body that felt instinctive, natural.

As she practiced, her mind was far away. It was at a ramen stand, listening to Naruto's laugh. It was in his apartment, feeling the warmth of his gratitude. It was on a bridge, waiting for a photo that was a promise. I have to get stronger, she thought with every movement. So he can trust me. To be someone worthy of standing by his side.

She didn't notice his presence until he spoke.

"You've improved, Hinata-sama."

The voice, cold and laden with a quiet arrogance, made her stop in her tracks. Neji Hyuga was standing at the dojo's entrance, watching her. She didn't know how long he'd been there. His expression was unreadable, but his white eyes analyzed her with an intensity that made her feel naked.

"Neji-niisan," she said, bowing out of pure instinct.

"I've heard the rumors," he continued, stepping into the dojo, his footsteps silent on the wood. "They say you surprised your new team. They say Kurenai-sensei looks upon you favorably." He stopped a few feet from her. "It seems your... friend... has infected you with some of his useless determination."

The way he said the word "friend" was like an insult.

"Naruto-kun has taught me that effort can change things," Hinata replied, her voice firmer than she felt.

Neji let out a short, humorless laugh.

"Effort. What a simple concept. Allow me to measure your 'progress,' Hinata-sama. A training match."

It wasn't a request. It was an order. Hinata nodded, her heart beginning to pound with a mix of fear and a new, defiant resolution. She took the Gentle Fist combat stance.

The match was a lesson in humility. Or so Neji intended.

He attacked first, his movement an explosion of speed. "Hakke Rokujūyon Shō! Two palms! Four palms!"

The old Hinata would have been defeated in the first second. The new Hinata, however, saw the attack coming. Her Byakugan, combined with her newfound perception, saw not just the movement, but the intent behind it. She dodged the first two palms with a seemingly impossible twist, her body flowing around him. She managed to block the third, the impact of her forearm against his echoing in the dojo. The fourth caught her in the shoulder, a precise strike that sent a wave of pain through her and blocked several of her tenketsu, causing her to stumble back.

Neji paused, genuinely surprised. She had dodged. She had blocked. She had lasted three seconds longer than he'd expected. The surprise on his face was quickly replaced by a cold anger. His prodigy's pride had been grazed.

"Interesting," he said, his voice losing its calm. "But not enough."

He lunged again, this time with his full speed. He used his Kaiten, the Heavenly Spin, creating an impenetrable dome of chakra that repelled her. Before she could regain her balance, he was on her. A single, precise strike to her chest sent her to the floor, breathless, her chakra system thrown into complete disarray.

He stood over her, looking down.

"You see? Useless," he said, his voice returning to its cold, philosophical tone. "You can improve your speed, you can increase your strength, but you cannot change your nature. Fate decreed that you would be a failure. And that I would be a genius. These are unalterable facts, decided the moment we were born. Your effort is just a pathetic attempt to fight against the current of an unstoppable river."

Hinata pushed herself up on her elbows, coughing, trying to catch her breath. Tears of frustration stung her eyes.

"No!" she gasped, her voice trembling but filled with a new, defiant fury. "My destiny... is my own! I decide who I become!"

"Really?" Neji scoffed. "And who put those ridiculous ideas in your head? Oh, right. Your failure of a friend. The one with the least talent in our entire generation."

"Naruto-kun is not a failure!" she yelled, struggling to her feet.

"He is," Neji stated with absolute certainty. "And so are you. It's natural for the weak to seek each other out. You cling to impossible dreams of willpower and hard work because it's all you have. But your foolishness can't erase the mark of weakness in your eyes, nor can it erase the mark of a monster in his."

His composure broke for an instant, and the bitterness he carried inside spilled out.

"You, born into the main branch, complain about your cage. You know nothing!" he hissed, his voice shaking with years of resentment. "True destiny is a mark you cannot see and can never escape. A mark that reminds you of your place in the world every single day."

He pointed to his own forehead, where, beneath his ninja headband, rested the Caged Bird seal.

"Keep playing at having friends and dreaming of changing the world, Hinata-sama. Reality will put you both in your place soon enough."

He turned and left, leaving Hinata alone in the center of the vast, silent dojo. She stood there, trembling, not from the pain of the blows, but from the cruelty of his words. The tears finally came, tears of helpless rage.

She couldn't convince him. Not with words. The walls of his prison of fatalism were too high.

She turned and ran out of the dojo. She ran through the immaculate hallways, ignoring the surprised looks from members of the branch family. She didn't stop at her room. She ran out of the Hyuga compound, a fugitive from her own home.

She wasn't running aimlessly. She was running with a purpose. Her face was streaked with furious tears, but her eyes held a steel-like determination. Words were not enough. She needed more than that. She needed strength, yes. But she also needed someone who understood her. Someone who wouldn't judge her through the cold filter of her clan's traditions.

I have to find Kurenai-sensei, she thought, and the idea was a beacon in her storm. I have to find her now.

Chapter Text

Training Ground 8 was bathed in the mid-morning sun. Kiba and Akamaru were a whirlwind of barks and claws, launching themselves at a series of wooden targets with playful ferocity. Shino, at the other end of the field, stood motionless, watching his kikaichū insects devour a fallen leaf with quiet, methodical efficiency.

Kurenai watched them both from the shade of an oak tree, her arms crossed and a satisfied smile on her lips. Her team was… a strange mix. An impulsive wolf-boy, a stoic entomologist, and…

Her gaze shifted to the entrance of the field, just in time to see Hinata arrive. She wasn't running, but she walked with an urgency that didn't fit her usual shyness. Her face was pale, her eyes red and swollen, and the way she clenched her fists at her sides told Kurenai everything she needed to know. Something had broken.

"Hinata," Kurenai called out, her voice soft but firm enough to stop her in her tracks.

Hinata stopped, her head bowed. She said nothing.

Kurenai approached her, her expression shifting from that of a sensei to a protective figure.

"Kiba, Shino," she said aloud. "Take a break. Do a reconnaissance sweep of the forest perimeter. See who can find the most tracks of unusual animals. I want you back in an hour."

Kiba, who was about to protest the interruption, caught the seriousness in Kurenai's tone and the distress in Hinata's posture. For once, he didn't argue.

"Got it, Sensei! Come on, Akamaru, we'll beat those creepy crawlies!" he shouted, running towards the woods.

Shino simply nodded and disappeared among the trees in the opposite direction, leaving the two kunoichi alone in the silent clearing.

Kurenai led Hinata to a small stone bench under the oak. They sat, and Kurenai waited. She didn't press her. She simply offered her presence, a haven of calm in her student's storm.

Finally, Hinata spoke, her voice a broken thread.

"He… he's right."

"Who's right, Hinata?" Kurenai asked gently.

"My cousin… Neji-niisan," she replied, tears welling up again and tracing silent paths down her cheeks. "We had a match. And he defeated me. He told me my effort was useless. That I… that I'm a failure. And that fate has already decided that I'll always be weak."

She told the story. The words poured out of her in a torrent of accumulated frustration: the pressure from her father, Neji's arrogance, the unbearable weight of her clan's expectations.

"It doesn't matter how much I train, no matter how much I improve," she concluded, her voice choked by a sob. "To them, I'll always be the same. The failed heiress. The kind girl who doesn't have what it takes. What if they're right, Kurenai-sensei? What if, in the end, it doesn't matter what I do? What if I'm destined to be… this?"

Kurenai listened in silence, absorbing every word, every tremble in her voice. When Hinata finished, she didn't offer empty words of comfort. She offered the truth.

"Your frustration is understandable, Hinata. And it's valid," she said, her voice calm and steady. "But what Neji sees as fate, I see as a cage. A cage built from the resentment and pain of the branch family. He's trapped in it, and he wants you to believe you're in one too."

She placed a hand on Hinata's trembling shoulder.

"What I saw in our first training session wasn't a weak girl. I saw a kunoichi with speed that left Kiba breathless. I saw precision that would have neutralized a seasoned shinobi, just as I would have done. And I saw a chakra defense I had never seen before in a genin. Do you think that's weakness?"

Hinata looked up, her teary eyes meeting her sensei's.

"Neji's strength is obvious, loud, like a wildfire," Kurenai continued, her gaze intense. "Yours is different. It's like an underground river. Silent, deep, but with the power to erode the hardest rock over time. They don't understand your kind of strength, Hinata. And that's what scares them. People always fear what they can't measure or control."

She leaned in a little closer, her voice becoming a confident whisper.

"So I'll give you some advice, not as your sensei, but as a kunoichi who has also had to fight against the expectations of others. Don't fight to prove them wrong. That's giving them the power to define you. Fight to prove yourself right. Become the kunoichi you know you can be, not the one they expect. The only approval that matters in the end, the only one that will bring you peace, is the one you give yourself."

Kurenai's words were like a balm. Hinata didn't feel magically cured, but she felt… understood. Validated. The anger and frustration didn't disappear, but they found a new channel, becoming fuel for her determination.

She wiped her tears on the sleeve of her jacket.

"Thank you, Kurenai-sensei," she said, her voice regaining some of its firmness.

Kurenai smiled at her, a genuine, motherly pride in her eyes.

"That's the heiress I want on my team. Now, get up. We have a lot of work to do."

****

The midday sun was an unforgiving hammer on Mrs. Tami's garden, an elderly widow whose sole passion in life seemed to be her prize-winning petunias and making life impossible for others. And at that moment, her targets were the three genin of Team 7.

"It's an outrage! An affront to my honor as a shinobi!" Naruto shouted, ripping a dandelion from the ground with a violence that nearly took a chunk of lawn with it. "The future Hokage shouldn't be doing yard work! We should be saving princesses from dragons or something!"

"There are no dragons in the Land of Fire, Naruto," Sakura said with a sigh, kneeling beside him. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of a gardening glove. "And stop yelling at the plants."

At the other end of the garden, Sasuke worked in a furious silence. He wasn't pulling weeds; he was executing them. Every move of his small hand trowel was a precise, lethal strike. His face was a mask of contained anger, and every weed he uprooted seemed to be a substitute for his sensei's face.

"Faster, you brats!" Mrs. Tami's raspy voice echoed from the porch, where she sat in a rocking chair, sipping iced tea. "I'm not paying you by the hour to take the day off! And you, the one with the duck hair! Stop staring at my poor weeds with that killer face, you're scaring them!"

Sasuke clenched his jaw so tightly Sakura feared he might crack his teeth.

"I can't take it anymore," Naruto said, dropping onto his back on the grass. "I give up. Let the weeds win. Konoha is doomed."

Sakura looked at him. She saw the childish frustration on his face, and instead of irritation, she felt a pang of camaraderie. She hated this too. But she understood the lesson.

"Get up, you idiot," she said, giving him a gentle kick in the side. "Kakashi-sensei told us. These missions are for learning to work together on the basics. If we can't coordinate to pull weeds, how are we going to survive when a real enemy attacks us?"

Naruto looked at her. Sakura's words, for once, made sense. Annoying, boring sense, but sense nonetheless. She's right. It's a pain, but she's right, he thought. He shot up, a new light of determination in his eyes.

"Alright! If it's a teamwork test, then we're going to be the best weed-pulling team in history! I've got a plan!"

Before Sakura could stop him, he clapped his hands together.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

POOF! POOF! POOF!

A dozen Narutos appeared in the garden. The chaos was instantaneous.

"I'm first!" "No, this is my section!" "Hey, this clone found a worm! Think it tastes like chicken?"

Mrs. Tami nearly fell out of her rocking chair.

"What is all this racket?! Get out of my petunias, you pack of orange vandals!"

Sasuke stopped and stared at the scene in pure horror. He was trapped in an asylum.

Sakura put a hand to her face. For a moment, she considered letting them destroy themselves. But then, an idea formed in her mind. Naruto's plan was stupid, yes. But the resources… the resources were interesting.

"Listen up!" she shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos. The clones, programmed to obey the original but influenced by his presence, stopped and looked at her. Sakura pointed to different sections of the garden with an authority that surprised herself. "Clones one through three, you take the area by the fence! Four through six, the area around the pond! Seven through ten, I want you to form a line and advance through the center! And for the love of God, nobody touch the petunias!"

The clones looked at each other, then at the original Naruto, who nodded with a "listen to the boss" grin. With shouts of "Got it!" the orange army set to work with surprising efficiency. Naruto's chaos, channeled by Sakura's logic, had become an unstoppable workforce.

Sasuke watched, stunned. His individual work method, though efficient, was much slower than the organized chaos before him. The frustration inside him grew. To him, they were cheating, using a jutsu for manual labor. But it was working. And they were doing it… together. With an almost inaudible grunt, he sped up his own pace, refusing to be outdone by Naruto's multiplied stupidity.

They finished the garden in less than an hour. It was spotless.

Mrs. Tami inspected the work with a critical eye. She pointed out a single clover they had missed.

"Hmph. Acceptable work, I suppose," she said, before giving them a pittance for their effort and complaining about a petunia that looked slightly crushed.

As they walked away from the house, dirty, tired, and underpaid, a strange sense of accomplishment united them.

"Well…" Naruto said, looking at his soil-covered hands. "I guess even heroes have to start somewhere, right?"

"Exactly," Sakura replied, and for the first time that day, a genuine smile lit up her face. "And today, we bravely saved a garden from the tyranny of dandelions."

Just as Naruto was about to retort that dandelions were, in fact, formidable enemies, a figure appeared before them in a swirl of leaves.

"Good teamwork," Kakashi said, his visible eye smiling. "You learned to coordinate on a simple task under pressure. I'm… moderately impressed."

Naruto and Sakura swelled with pride.

"Your next mission is tomorrow at eight o'clock sharp," Kakashi continued. "You have to paint a fence."

The proud expressions on Naruto and Sakura's faces morphed into ones of pure, absolute horror.

"WHAT?!" they screamed in unison.

Chapter Text

"The wind never stops in this damned place."

The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa's, voice was a harsh growl that barely rose above the constant whistling of the wind. The desert air, scorching and thick with fine sand, battered his face, a relentless sandpaper that seemed to want to erase any expression. He stood on the edge of a forgotten canyon on the border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire, a dead spot on the map that belonged to no one.

Two figures stood behind him, as silent as the rocks that surrounded them. Baki, his most trusted jōnin, kept his face half-covered by cloth, but his sharp eyes never stopped moving, scanning the horizon. Beside him, Setsuna, a silent assassination specialist from Suna's ANBU squad, remained motionless, a statue of loyalty and contained danger.

"He should have arrived by now," Baki said, his voice muffled by the fabric. "This is reckless, Lord Kazekage. Making a deal with that snake…"

"Recklessness is a luxury Sunagakure can no longer afford, Baki," Rasa replied without turning. His golden eyes were fixed on the setting sun, which was bleeding over the dunes and staining the world a reddish-orange. "The Feudal Lord of Fire has cut our funding. Our missions are dwindling. Konoha prospers while our village withers under this relentless sun. The humiliation of dependence is a disease worse than any poison."

His mind was a whirlwind of justifications and a bitterness as deep as the canyon at his feet. I've pushed for months for them to accept my children into Konoha's Chūnin Exams, he thought, the memory of the political negotiations leaving a taste of ash in his mouth. A formality, I told them. A gesture of goodwill. And they bought it. A perfect excuse to infiltrate our greatest weapon into their own backyard.

He thought of Gaara. Not as a son, but as a variable in an equation of power. A monster contained in a fragile vessel, an ace up his sleeve that, if played correctly, would restore Suna's honor.

"I don't trust Orochimaru," he continued, more to himself than to his men. "Trusting a snake is for fools. But I understand him. His venom is his hatred for Konoha. And my venom is desperation. Two venoms, Baki, can sometimes create an antidote. Today, we will ensure the dose is correct."

Just as he finished speaking, the wind stopped.

It was not a gradual calm. It was an abrupt cut. The constant whistle that had been the soundtrack to their wait died, leaving an unnatural, heavy silence. The temperature seemed to drop several degrees.

Baki and Setsuna were instantly on guard, their hands on their weapons.

From the deepest shadows of the canyon, where a second before there had been nothing, five figures emerged. They slid into the light without a sound, as if they were part of the moving rock itself.

At the front was him. Orochimaru. His skin was pale, almost white under the evening light. His golden eyes, with their vertical, reptilian pupils, shone with an ancient and malevolent intelligence. A smile formed on his thin lips, a curve that promised nothing good.

"Lord Kazekage." His voice was a soft, almost melodic hiss that nonetheless made the skin on Rasa's arms crawl. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long. The beauty of the desert is so… absorbing."

Behind him, four figures remained in a deadly silence. Rasa recognized them from the reports: the Sound Four. And a fifth, a young man with white hair and two red dots on his forehead, whose presence was as cold and empty as a corpse's. Kimimaro.

"You're late, Orochimaru," Rasa said, his voice attempting to project an authority he didn't quite feel.

"Patience is a virtue, especially when planning the fall of one of the great nations," Orochimaru replied, approaching with a fluidity that was not entirely human. "I trust your… assets… are already in position within Konoha for the exams."

The way he said "assets" instead of "children" did not go unnoticed by Rasa.

"Temari and Kankurō will play their part. And Gaara…" he paused. "Gaara is under control. For now. He will be the key, just as we agreed. When the signal is given in the final round of the exams, he will release the Shukaku. The chaos will be our cover to eliminate the Third Hokage."

"Kukuku… your son," Orochimaru hissed, his forked tongue darting out for an instant. "Such a marvelous and exquisitely broken weapon. A testament to Suna's audacity. You must be very proud."

The compliment was a silk glove filled with blades. Rasa clenched his jaw.

"Pride doesn't win wars. Results do. Your Sound ninja, are they ready? My spies report that Konoha's security will be tighter than ever during the exams."

"My ninja are… very persuasive," Orochimaru said, his smile widening. "They will enter the village as lambs, and they will become wolves when the time comes. The plan is flawless. Suna's attack from the outside, the chaos from your Bijū on the inside, and my… personal touch… to ensure Konoha's leadership is decapitated."

As they spoke, their subordinates watched each other in a silent duel. Baki and Setsuna were as tense as bowstrings, every muscle ready to react. Opposite them, Kimimaro stood with empty eyes, a deadly calm. Beside him, Tayuya, the only girl in the quartet, smirked mockingly, and Sakon and Ukon seemed to vibrate with a contained, violent energy. The hostility was an invisible beast between them.

"There is one more detail to discuss," Rasa said, trying to regain control of the conversation. "The division of the spoils. Once Konoha falls, the territory…"

Orochimaru raised a hand, a lazy gesture that nonetheless silenced Rasa instantly.

"Details, details. All in due time, Lord Kazekage. First, let us seal our pact. The confirmation that our two great villages, united by a common purpose, will march together to correct the mistakes of history."

He stepped closer and extended his pale hand. Rasa looked him in the eyes. In those golden pupils, he did not see an ally. He saw an abyss. But he had already come too far. His village's future depended on this pact. With a hesitation only he felt, he shook Orochimaru's hand. It was cold. Unpleasantly cold.

"To a new era for Suna," Rasa said, his voice firm.

"To a new era," Orochimaru repeated, his smile reaching its fullest expression.

They held the handshake for a second longer than necessary. Then, Orochimaru let go. Rasa felt a wave of grim relief. The deal was done. The risk had been worth it. He turned slightly to give an order to his men, to signal that the meeting was over.

It was his last mistake.

There was no war cry. There was no warning. Just a sound.

A soft, wet sound, like a ripe fruit being pierced.

Rasa spun around. The air froze in his lungs.

Kimimaro was standing where he hadn't been a second before. Behind Setsuna. A bone, sharp as a spear and white as ivory, protruded from the Suna ANBU's chest. Blood soaked the front of his uniform. Setsuna looked at his Kage, his eyes wide with surprise and betrayal, before collapsing to the ground without a sound.

Baki reacted, a choked cry in his throat as he drew his blade. But he was too late. The members of the Sound Four moved as one. Tayuya unleashed a sonic wave from her flute that paralyzed him for an instant. It was enough. Sakon and Ukon struck him from two angles, and Jirōbō finished him with a punch that sent him crashing against the canyon wall. He fell as an unconscious heap, gravely wounded but alive.

The whole thing had lasted less than three seconds.

"Damned traitor!" Rasa roared, shock giving way to volcanic fury.

Gold surged from the sand at his feet, a bright, heavy wave that lunged toward Orochimaru.

"Gold Dust: Torrential Rain!"

Orochimaru didn't even move. He simply smiled as the wave of gold approached.

"Naive," he hissed.

Just before the gold crushed him, his body fell apart. It became a mass of white snakes that scattered, avoiding the attack with unnatural fluidity. The snakes regrouped behind Rasa.

"Did you truly believe I would share Konoha's destruction with you, Rasa?" Orochimaru's voice echoed from his new position. "This is my revenge. My experiment. You were just the key to open the door. And now… I no longer need you."

Rasa turned, preparing another wave of his golden sand. But a shadow fell over him. Orochimaru, from above, had extended his neck grotesquely, his head descending like a viper about to strike.

"DIE!" Rasa screamed.

But Orochimaru's mouth opened, and from it came not a sound, but a blade of pale light: the legendary Kusanagi sword.

The blade pierced Rasa's gold defense as if it were paper. It ran through his shoulder and his heart with insulting ease. The pain was a blinding, white explosion.

Rasa fell to his knees, his own gold falling around him like useless rain. He looked down at the sword protruding from his chest. His last thoughts were not of hatred, but of crushing regret. He thought of his village, doomed. He thought of his children, turned into weapons for a purpose that would now never be fulfilled. He thought of Gaara, the monster he had created, who would now be another's tool. His failure was absolute.

Orochimaru landed softly in front of him and withdrew the blade with a wet sound. Rasa collapsed onto the sand, the life leaving his golden eyes.

The Sannin knelt beside the body, his face a mask of cold satisfaction.

"Make sure there's no trace of his bodyguards left," he ordered his minions. "I… will put on my new disguise."

Under the impassive gaze of Kimimaro and the others, Orochimaru placed his hands on the dead Kazekage's face. Rasa's skin began to bubble and melt under his touch, a grotesque sight. Orochimaru took a deep breath, and the essence, the face, and the identity of Rasa were absorbed into him. His own body reconfigured itself under the Kazekage's robes, adopting his height and shape.

When he was finished, he stood up. He was a perfect replica of the Fourth Kazekage. He picked up the conical hat that had fallen in the sand and placed it on his head. He observed himself in the reflection of the Kusanagi's bloodied blade. He saw Rasa's face, but the eyes that stared back were those of the snake.

He approached Baki, who lay unconscious and badly wounded.

"Let this one live," he hissed in Rasa's voice. "He will need to tell a believable story about an ambush by Rock ninja. He will be a useful witness."

He turned, his new figure silhouetted against the rising moon. His gaze drifted northeast, toward the distant Konoha.

Perfect, he thought, as a smile that was not Rasa's formed on his new lips. Sunagakure's participation in the Chūnin Exams has just been… secured. Now, to pay a visit to my old home. And to claim my future apprentice.

Chapter Text

The morning sun spilled over the streets of Konoha, but for Team 7, the daylight had become synonymous with crushing monotony.

"I can't believe we're doing this again," Naruto complained, dragging a huge shopping bag that looked ready to burst at the seams. The contents, a collection of exotic and specific groceries, seemed to weigh more than he did. "At this rate, I'm going to know every brand of pickle the elders' council likes! This isn't ninja training, it's being an errand boy with a fancier title!"

Sakura walked beside him, a list in her hand and a patience that was visibly wearing thin with each of her teammate's complaints. "Calm down, Naruto. It's a D-Rank mission. They're supposed to be like this, to build teamwork and discipline in… mundane tasks." She paused, rereading the list. "Besides, you have to admit, thanks to your clones we finished a week's shopping list in fifteen minutes. That has to be a village record."

"But it's boring!" he insisted, dropping the bag with a thud that made several glass jars clink dangerously. "Fifteen minutes of maximum boredom! We should be chasing bandits or learning awesome jutsus! Right, Sasuke? Wouldn't you rather be doing something… I don't know, cooler?"

Sasuke, walking a few steps ahead of them with a studied indifference, didn't deign to answer. His only contribution to the mission had been a burst of speed as sudden as it was unnecessary to snatch the last giant daikon from a housewife right before the market stall ran out. He performed the feat with deadly seriousness, landing with the vegetable in his hand as if he had just recovered a forbidden scroll. The scene was equal parts impressive and utterly ridiculous.

Naruto huffed. "You're no fun either."

"At least he made sure we completed the list," Sakura muttered, more to herself than to anyone else.

****

Meanwhile, in a completely different sector of the village, Team 8 was concluding their own D-Rank mission with an efficiency that bordered on professional.

"There it is," Hinata said in a soft but clear voice, the veins around her temples pronounced from using the Byakugan. Her gaze was fixed on the top of a towering tree in the center of a park. "Mrs. Harada's canary. It's in a nest on the third main branch, on the east side."

Kiba grinned from ear to ear, showing his fangs. "You hear that, Akamaru? Piece of cake!"

Akamaru, perched on his head, let out an affirmative bark.

"Let's go!" Kiba shouted. With an agility that seemed to defy gravity, he leaped onto the tree trunk and began to ascend from branch to branch. He didn't climb; he flowed upward. Akamaru, from the ground, began to bark in a specific sequence drawing the small yellow bird's attention downward. In less than a minute, Kiba was back on the ground without a single leaf in his hair, the canary perched calmly on his index finger, chirping as if nothing had happened.

Shino, who had remained perfectly still observing the entire process, adjusted his dark glasses. "Mission complete. Total time: seven minutes and fourteen seconds. Our operational synergy has increased by twelve percent since last week's evaluation. Logical. Akamaru's distraction patterns were optimal."

Kiba handed the bird to its owner, an old woman who showered them with blessings and sweets, and then rejoined his team. "Twelve percent, huh? That's because I'm getting faster."

Just as both teams were preparing to head to the Hokage Tower to report their success—and in Team 7's case, to collect their pay to go to Ichiraku's—two different chūnin appeared before them in a nearly simultaneous swirl of leaves.

In front of Team 8, a stern-looking ninja spoke in a formal, urgent tone. "Team 8. The Hokage requires your presence in his office. Immediately."

****

Across the village, another chūnin with a scar on his cheek addressed Team 7 with the same seriousness. "Team 7. You are ordered to report to the Hokage. Right now."

The surprise was absolute for both groups. Naruto looked at Sakura, his eyes wide with confusion and a hint of panic. "Did we do something wrong? I swear I paid for all the tomatoes! Even the one I squashed by accident!"

Sakura frowned, mentally reviewing their actions. "No, we didn't do anything. Maybe it's a new mission… an urgent one."

****

Hinata looked at Kurenai, who had appeared by her side the instant the messenger arrived, a worried expression on her pale face. Kurenai simply shook her head, placing a reassuring hand on her student's shoulder, just as bewildered as her genin. The urgency of the message was unusual for rookie teams.

The Hokage's office was crowded, and the atmosphere was tense. The six genin from Team 7 and Team 8 were lined up in front of the desk, forming a strange and silent congregation of completely disparate personalities. Naruto couldn't stop fidgeting, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Kiba wore an arrogant smirk, as if expecting a medal. Sasuke looked deathly bored, Hinata was nervous, Shino was analyzing the dust floating in a sunbeam, and Sakura was trying to appear professional and calm, though inside her mind was racing.

At the edges of the room, the adults formed their own group. Kakashi was leaning casually against a wall, reading his inseparable orange book as if the summons had nothing to do with him. Kurenai stood beside him, arms crossed, an expression of intense curiosity on her face. Surprisingly, Iruka was also present, standing next to the Hokage with a stack of scrolls, and for some reason, he looked incredibly proud, stealing furtive glances at Naruto.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, observed them all over his pipe, his old eyes twinkling with a mixture of amusement and weariness. He let the silence stretch for another moment, enjoying the youths' bewilderment.

"I have summoned you all," he finally began, his voice, though tired with age, filling the room with unmistakable authority, "because we are facing a problem… unprecedented in Konoha's recent history."

Naruto straightened up immediately, his eyes shining with excitement. He knew it! It had to be something big! An invasion! A giant monster attacking the gates! An S-Rank mission!

"...Thanks to the... unprecedented efficiency and enthusiasm of your two teams," the Hokage continued, casting a particularly amused look at Naruto and Kiba, who puffed up with pride, "you have successfully completed every available D-Rank mission in the village for the next ten days."

A baffled and absolute silence fell over the room. Even the faint sound of Kakashi turning a page in his book stopped.

"Huh?" was all Naruto could manage.

Hiruzen took a long drag from his pipe and exhaled a ring of smoke. "In other words," he clarified, "you have left all your fellow genin without work. Team 10 is painting the same fence for the third time this week because there are no more fences that need painting. Team Gai is holding a push-up championship on the training grounds because, and I quote their sensei, 'We must channel the fire of our youth even in times of forced peace!'. You've created an efficiency crisis."

Kiba puffed out his chest, not quite grasping the problematic nuance in the Hokage's words. "That's because we're the best! Obviously!"

Naruto nodded vigorously, his enthusiasm returning. "Yeah, believe it! No one can keep up with us!"

Kakashi finally closed his book with a soft snap. "As I reported to you yesterday, Lord Hokage," he said in his usual lazy tone, but with an undercurrent of seriousness, "my team has demonstrated a capacity for cooperation and problem-solving that far exceeds expectations for their level. They are loud, yes, but they are undeniably effective. They are ready for a greater challenge."

"My team has also passed every test put before them," Kurenai added, her voice clear and confident as she stepped forward. "The combined skills of Kiba's tracking, Shino's strategic containment, and Hinata's notable combat insight and perception make them more than suitable for higher-caliber missions."

The Hokage nodded slowly, his expression turning serious, the amusement fading from his eyes. "I agree. And that is why your 'problem' of efficiency has arrived at a very opportune moment. We have a C-Rank mission that has been on our waiting list for almost a week, awaiting the right team."

Sakura felt a pang of recognition. She immediately remembered the rough, desperate, alcohol-scented man she had seen at the tower days ago, arguing with the staff.

"A bridge builder named Tazuna," the Hokage continued, confirming her suspicions. "He needs an escort back to the Land of Waves. He claims the road is infested with bandits and common thieves. Under normal circumstances, I would assign this task to a single genin team supervised by their jōnin. However…" His gaze deliberately shifted from Kakashi to Kurenai. "...your senseis have presented me with a rather unusual proposal."

Kakashi stepped forward, drawing the attention of all the genin. "Kurenai and I have discussed the capabilities of our respective teams at length. We have concluded that they are not only compatible, but perfectly complementary. Team 8 possesses first-class tracking, defense, and sensory perception skills. They are the perfect eyes and ears."

"Meanwhile," Kurenai said, continuing the explanation without missing a beat, "Team 7 has considerable direct assault power, unpredictable versatility, and, though still developing, an emerging strategic mind." She glanced briefly at Sakura and Sasuke. "They are the spear."

Kakashi nodded. "Therefore, we propose to operate as a single unit for this mission. It will be an unprecedented joint exercise in the recent history of Konoha's genin. An opportunity for two teams to learn to cooperate on a real field mission, under the supervision of two jōnin. The combination of our specialties not only guarantees an almost certain success for the mission but also provides an invaluable training experience that we could not replicate in the village."

The revelation baffled the genin. A mission… together?

The idea settled on each of them differently.

Naruto turned almost instinctively and looked at Hinata. Their eyes met for a split second, and a smile of pure, disbelieving joy spread across both their faces before Hinata, blushing, looked down. A mission together! For real! Not in training, not in the village, but in the real world!

Sakura's mind processed the information at lightning speed. Six genin and two jōnin for a C-Rank mission that only involves bandits. This is ridiculous overkill. Either the mission isn't as simple as they say, or this is a covert final test before the Chūnin Exams. Or, most likely, both.

Kiba looked at Sasuke with a challenging smirk he didn't try to hide. Awesome! Finally a chance to see if the great and famous Uchiha is as good as he thinks he is outside of training!

Sasuke, on the other hand, felt a surge of cold, silent fury. More people. More hindrances. More noise. Now he not only had to put up with the idiot Naruto and a Sakura who had become strangely assertive, but he would also have to deal with the dog boy, the bug freak, and the Hyuga girl who, for some reason he couldn't and didn't care to understand, had become inexplicably strong. It was a logistical nightmare for his goal of getting stronger without distractions.

"The proposal seems sound to me," the Hokage concluded, interrupting their thoughts. "And I accept it. This is an excellent opportunity for all of you. The mission is assigned. Team 7 and Team 8, from this moment until further notice, you will operate as the Alpha Escort Squad under the joint command of Kakashi Hatake and Kurenai Yuhi. Prepare your gear. You leave at dawn. Iruka, please show the client in."

Iruka nodded with a smile and opened the door. Tazuna entered the office. He smelled of cheap sake and an impatience that had been fermenting for days. His tired, critical gaze swept over the group of six kids and two adults before him. He stopped, incredulous.

"It's about time!" he growled, his voice raspy. "And they give me this squad of brats? Seriously! It looks like a school field trip! Are you sure you can protect me from a couple of thugs? Especially the shorty in the orange jumpsuit with the idiot face!"

Naruto flinched, offended to his core. His excitement turned to anger in an instant.

"HEY, OLD MAN! WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHORTY WITH AN IDIOT FACE?! I'M AN ELITE NINJA OF KONOHA AND THE FUTURE HOKAGE! YOU SHOULD BE ON YOUR KNEES, THANKING ME FOR BEING ON YOUR MISSION, BELIEVE IT!"

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura scolded him, though without much force, as part of her agreed that the description, while rude, wasn't entirely inaccurate at that moment.

Kiba laughed out loud. "Ha! I like this old man! He's got spirit!"

Tazuna ignored them completely and focused on the tallest, seemingly most competent figure. "You," he said, pointing at Kakashi. "The one with the gray hair. You look like the only real ninja here. You'd better get me home in one piece. I paid for quality protection, not a babysitting service."

Kakashi simply gave him an eye-smile, a gesture that conveyed nothing but infuriating calm. "Don't worry, Tazuna-san. You're in good hands. Many, many good hands."

*****

The next day's dawn was a cold, orange promise on the horizon. The nine shinobi, plus their client, were gathered at the imposing main gate of Konoha. The atmosphere was a chaotic mix of clashing emotions.

Naruto and Kiba were already in the middle of a heated argument about who was faster, a competition that had started the moment they met at the rendezvous point.

"I bet I can get to the first town before you, even with Akamaru!" Naruto challenged.

"In your dreams! Akamaru and I could run circles around you and still win!" Kiba retorted, as his puppy barked in agreement from his head.

A few feet away, Sakura and Hinata were speaking in low, serious tones, reviewing a list of medical supplies they had both brought.

"I have three extra rolls of bandages and soldier pills," Sakura said.

"I brought burn ointments and basic antidotes for common poisons," Hinata replied, her voice soft but steady. "You never know." They looked at each other with mutual understanding, a silent alliance formed against the inevitable recklessness of their respective teammates.

Shino was watching a beetle meticulously crawl up the massive gate wall, completely absorbed. Sasuke stood apart from everyone else, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his silence conveying more hostility than any shout.

Kurenai and Kakashi were speaking in whispers, finalizing the details of their travel formations.

"You and your team will take the vanguard," Kurenai said. "Hinata's perception is more effective if she covers our flanks and the rear."

"Understood," Kakashi replied. "Sasuke and I will stay close to the client. Naruto and Sakura can alternate at point. Keep Kiba on a flank; his sense of smell might detect an ambush before the Byakugan."

And in the middle of it all, Tazuna watched them all with a bottle of sake in his hand and an expression of pure, absolute regret, probably wondering if it wouldn't have been safer and cheaper to face the bandits on his own.

"Well, team… or teams," Kakashi said finally, his voice cutting through the chaos and silencing everyone. "Welcome to your first real mission outside the village."

He turned and, without further ceremony, began to walk, leaving the protection of Konoha for the open road.

"Try not to kill each other before we reach the first checkpoint."

The adventure, at last, had just begun.

Chapter Text

[Two days before]

"The report."

Danzō Shimura's voice was not a whisper nor a command, but a statement of fact. It cut through the oppressive silence of his subterranean office, a space that knew no sunlight. Kneeling in the center of the room, perfectly still on the cold stone floor, was a Root shinobi. His blank porcelain mask was expressionless, and his presence was so discreet it seemed like a temporary disruption in the void. He had been kneeling in complete silence for three minutes, a test of patience Danzō imposed without needing to announce it.

The office itself was a reflection of its owner: sterile, functional, and devoid of anything that could be considered an adornment. The walls were lined with shelves holding hundreds of scrolls, each cataloged with a coding system indecipherable to anyone outside of Root. There were no paintings, no plants, no mementos. Only a dark wooden desk, impeccably organized, and a single lamp that cast a harsh, yellow light, creating shadows that seemed more solid than the objects that cast them.

The operative, codenamed Fu, did not move. His tone, when he spoke, was as devoid of emotion as his mask. "Standard surveillance of the genin sector, Lord Danzō. An anomaly has been detected."

Danzō did not look up from the scroll he was studying, a logistical analysis of the village's weapons supply. "Details."

"The operational efficiency of Team 7 and Team 8 has exceeded all projected parameters," Fu continued, his voice a clinical monotone. "They have exhausted the village's entire inventory of D-Rank missions available for the next two weeks. The completion rate is three hundred and twelve percent higher than the average for newly graduated teams."

Danzō paused, setting aside the brush he was using for notes. Finally, he looked up. His single visible eye, dark and piercing, fixed on the shinobi.

"Efficiency is a result, Fu. Data without context is useless. I want the variables. The Uchiha's behavior. The jinchūriki's interaction with his teammates. Is there genuine cohesion or simple convenience to finish faster? Don't give me numbers; give me analysis."

Fu remained impassive but processed the command. His training allowed him to recall every observed detail. "Understood. The Uchiha operates with isolated efficiency. He moves to complete the objective with minimal interaction. His actions are precise, but not collaborative. He is a factor of individual strength, not a team multiplier."

"Predictable," Danzō murmured. "And the jinchūriki?"

"He is chaotic, yet strangely effective. His use of Kage Bunshin creates a massive workforce that overwhelms tasks. He does not follow procedures, but his teammates have learned to adapt to his unpredictability. The Haruno, Sakura, acts as a tactical coordinator, directing the jinchūriki's clones while the Uchiha secures the main objective. It is a dysfunctional dynamic that, nevertheless, works."

"An organized dysfunction," Danzō corrected. "Continue."

"Team 8 operates with near-perfect synergy. The Inuzuka, acts as the spearhead and primary tracker. The Aburame, provides cover and containment. The Hyūga, functions as the team's nerve center; her Byakugan directs their movements and detects threats before they materialize. Their cooperation is notably superior to that of Team 7."

"And yet, their combined efficiency is what's causing the problem," Danzō concluded, more to himself than to Fu. "The raw power of Team 7 and the precision of Team 8."

Upon hearing "Uzumaki" and "Uchiha" in the context of such anomalous performance, he felt the click of a complex puzzle piece falling into place. On the surface, the information was trivial, but Danzō had spent his entire life studying the currents that moved beneath Konoha's surface. And in those two words, he felt a strong current.

"Any indication of the next deployment from the Hokage?"

"Preliminary intelligence suggests a C-Rank mission outside the village is being considered for both teams, jointly. It has not been officially announced yet. The information is low-level, considered a simple administrative matter by the Tower."

"An administrative matter," Danzō thought with a hint of contempt. Hiruzen was always incapable of seeing the full board.

With an almost imperceptible wave of his hand, a short, dry motion, he dismissed his subordinate. Fu vanished from the room as silently as he had appeared.

Danzō rose from his chair with a stiff, deliberate movement. He walked across the room, his steps muffled by his sandals on the stone. His mind was no longer on weapons reports, but on the two anomalous pieces Hiruzen was moving across his board.

Sasuke Uchiha. The ember that Itachi, in his sentimentality, had failed to extinguish. A walking reminder of Konoha's greatest internal security failure. Hiruzen saw him as a boy who needed guidance. Danzō saw him as a risk. A power shaped by hatred could not be controlled. It had to be excised.

Naruto Uzumaki. Konoha's ultimate weapon, and Hiruzen treated him like a long-lost grandson. The Third's sentimentality was a blindness that endangered the entire village. A jinchūriki was not a child; it was a nuclear asset.

His mind drifted to the past. He recalled with perfect clarity a meeting in this very office, years ago. Hiruzen, standing where now only shadows lingered, his face etched with pain and fatigue after the Kyūbi's attack. "No one must know that Naruto is the Fourth's son, nor that he is the jinchūriki," Hiruzen had ordered. "He must have the chance for a normal life. It's the least we owe him."

Danzō had remained silent, but inwardly, the decision had already been made. A normal life. Hiruzen and his delusions. The village was broken, terrified. They needed a lightning rod for their fear. A place to focus their pain so they wouldn't consume themselves.

It was not a proclamation. It was a word whispered in the market to a merchant known for his loose tongue. An anonymous note slipped under the door of an elder on the civilian council. It was not an act of cruelty; it was an act of stabilization. The shared suspicion united the village against a tangible internal threat. And every hateful glance toward the boy was another crack in the armor of Hiruzen's moral authority.

Now, fate was once again presenting him with his two greatest problems.

He stopped before a wall that seemed identical to the others. He pressed a specific stone, and a section of the wall slid inward with a soft hiss, revealing a hidden archive. His fingers traced the labels until he found the one he was looking for: "External Requests - Pending." He unrolled Tazuna's petition. Trivial. But the destination caught his attention: the Land of Waves.

He left the scroll and went deeper into the archive, searching for a different classification: "Economic Intelligence - Minor Nations." He pulled out a thick file on the Land of Waves. He opened it and found reports on a shipping magnate named Gatō, his monopoly, his cruelty. And, in a recent addendum, a note from a low-level informant about the "increased hiring of mercenaries and rogue ninja by Gatō Corp."

The pieces were there, but the full picture needed an outside perspective.

"Nomi," Danzō said to the empty air.

An instant later, an older man appeared, kneeling in the center of the room. He wore no mask. His face was lined with scars, and one of his eyes was a milky white, blind. Nomi was one of his oldest and most trusted analysts, a shinobi retired from the field whose mind was as sharp as any kunai.

"Lord Danzō," Nomi said, his voice raspy from disuse.

"Observe," Danzō ordered, pointing to the scrolls on his desk. "We have two genin teams with anomalous performance, their core being the jinchūriki and the last Uchiha. We have a C-Rank mission request to the Land of Waves, which the Hokage is considering assigning to them. And we have reports of military instability in that region under the control of a local tyrant. Connect the dots, Nomi."

Nomi stood, approached the desk, and read the documents with absolute concentration. His one good eye darted quickly from one text to another. After several minutes of silence, he spoke.

"It's an opportunity, Lord Danzō," he said finally. "A high-stress field test. Fu's report indicates the assets are potent, but their team dynamics are imperfect. Subjecting them to a hostile but theoretically controllable environment will provide us with invaluable data on their limits, their breaking points, and the jinchūriki's true combat potential under pressure."

Nomi's perspective was that of Root: everything was an opportunity to gather information.

"Your analysis is correct, but limited," Danzō replied, turning his back on him and beginning to pace again. "You see a test. I see a solution."

He stopped beside the map on the wall. "Gatō is hiring rogue ninja. Not mere thugs. We're talking about trained shinobi who have abandoned their villages. Tazuna's mission is no longer C-Rank. It never was. Hiruzen is either too lazy or too incompetent to conduct a proper background check. He will send those eight shinobi into a situation that far exceeds their capabilities."

Nomi nodded slowly. "Then, should we warn the Hokage? Or send a covert support team to protect the assets?"

Danzō almost smiled. Nomi was brilliant, but he still thought in terms of preservation.

"No," Danzō said, turning to face his analyst. "We will do neither. We will let Hiruzen make his mistake. And then, we will make it a little... worse."

Nomi's one good eye widened slightly as he grasped his master's true intention.

Danzō continued, his voice lowering to a conspiratorial tone, "If I send my men to eliminate the Uchiha, the risk is too high. But if he dies on a mission approved by the Hokage... it's a tragic accident. An intelligence failure. Hiruzen's reputation will be stained, and a future threat to Konoha's stability will be cleanly eliminated."

"And the jinchūriki..." Nomi whispered, understanding the second part of the plan.

"The jinchūriki, faced with an overwhelming threat, with the possible death of his comrades, will be forced to draw on a power he doesn't understand. The seal will weaken. The Kyūbi's chakra will leak out. It doesn't matter if he loses control and becomes a monster or if he masters it and becomes a terrifying hero. In either scenario, the village and the Council will see the truth: that Konoha's weapon is too volatile to be in the hands of a child under the supervision of a sentimental old man. They will demand firmer control. A control I can provide."

Nomi remained silent, processing the scale of the plan. This was not a simple espionage mission or an assassination. It was a political coup, executed with genin pawns and a foreign tyrant.

"I understand, Lord Danzō," Nomi said, bowing his head. "The end justifies the purge. How shall we proceed?"

"Gatō already has the will and the resources," Danzō explained. "But he will likely hire mercenaries appropriate to the perceived threat: a genin team and a jōnin. We must ensure his response is... overwhelming. He needs the right motivation to hire someone truly dangerous."

He returned to his desk. The decision was made. The strategy, formulated. All that remained was execution.

"That is all, Nomi. You are dismissed."

Nomi bowed and vanished, leaving Danzō alone once more.

Danzō performed an almost imperceptible hand seal. A second later, another Root operative, Torune, was kneeling where Fu had been.

"Torune," Danzō said, "your speed is required."

He took a small, blank scroll from a drawer. With a brush and ink, he wrote a single line in swift but flawless calligraphy. He did not sign it. He applied no seal. He rolled it up and sealed it with a piece of unmarked black wax.

"Your destination is the Land of Waves," he ordered, extending the scroll. "You will find a shipping magnate named Gatō. This scroll must reach his hands. The delivery must be anonymous, untraceable." He paused, his gaze hardening. "Gatō has spies and information routes in the ports of the Land of Fire. The information must appear to come from one of them. A whisper in a tavern, a note left at a known meeting place. Use your discretion, but the origin must be unquestionable to him. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Lord Danzō," Torune whispered. His voice was guttural, barely audible. He did not ask about the contents. He did not ask about the purpose. In Root, obedience was absolute.

"The content is simple," Danzō clarified. "'Konoha is sending an escort for Tazuna. Eight shinobi, including Kakashi of the Sharingan.'"

Every word was a weapon. "Eight shinobi" was an alarmingly high number. "Kakashi of the Sharingan" was a name that would force Gatō to hire someone of an equivalent or superior caliber.

"Nothing more, nothing less," Danzō concluded, handing him the scroll. "Failure is not an option, Torune. Not for you, and not for them. Go now."

Torune took the scroll. In an instant, he vanished in a blur of motion so fast he seemed to dissolve into the room's shadows.

Danzō was alone again. The silence returned, but now it felt different. It felt charged with potential. He walked to the large map of the shinobi world that hung on one of the walls. His single visible eye fell upon the tiny dot that represented the Land of Waves.

A faint, almost imperceptible smile pulled at the corner of his lips. It was not a smile of joy, but of satisfaction. The satisfaction of a master craftsman who has just set the key piece in his work.

Now, Hiruzen, he thought. Let's see how your precious 'Will of Fire' survives the coming storm. I will be waiting in the shadows, as always. Ready to pick up the pieces and build a stronger Konoha on the ashes of your failures.

*****

Author's Note

This fanfiction will continue on Patreon at patreon.com/ItsDevil or patreon.com/ShuraZero.

A free one-week subscription trial is currently enabled for anyone who'd like to subscribe.

Otherwise, the next public release is scheduled for Monday, September 15, 2025.

Chapter Text

Gatō, a short, portly man whose body was fighting a losing battle against the confines of his silk suit, watched the miserable village he had under his boot from the window. His empire, built on debt and control of the sea, had a single weak point: a bridge. The foolish dream of an old idealist named Tazuna.

"Are you sure he'll only hire some brats?" he asked without turning.

Standing in the center of the room, Gōzu and Meizu, the Demon Brothers, exchanged a look. They were thugs, not spies, but Gatō's pay was too good to admit ignorance.

"Our informants at the port are clear, Boss Gatō," said Gōzu, the bulkier of the two. "An old builder can't afford more. I doubt he even has enough funds for a chūnin."

Gatō turned slowly, a contemptuous smile on his lips.

"An old bridge builder dares to defy me. Pathetic. I want you to intercept him on the road from Konoha. Bring me his head as proof. I want it to be a clear message to anyone who thinks hope is a good investment in my country."

"Consider it done, boss," Meizu replied with brutal confidence. "Two renegade chūnin against some kids... it's an easy job. We'll be back with your trophy before dinner."

"You'd better be," Gatō said, making a dismissive gesture for them to leave. "Now get out. The smell of cheap muscle is ruining the aroma of my brandy."

As the two thugs left, Gatō poured himself a drink. He sat in his sea-dragon leather armchair, an extravagance that had cost him a fortune, and smiled to himself. Ninjas... they're just tools, he thought. You buy the right one for the right job. And for an old, rusty nail like Tazuna, two second-rate hammers are more than enough. Cheap and efficient. He felt completely in control, the king of his small, profitable swamp.

A couple of hours later, as Gatō reviewed his shipping route reports, a silent servant entered the room. He said nothing. He simply left a tray with a cup of steaming tea and a small sweet on the desk and retreated with a bow. Gatō ignored him, irritated by the interruption. He hadn't asked for tea.

But as his gaze fell upon the tray, he noticed something. Peeking out from under the lacquer coaster was a tiny corner of rice paper. The signal.

His heart skipped a beat in anticipation. He waited, listening to the servant's footsteps fade down the hall. When he was sure he was alone, he took the note with surprisingly nimble fingers. It was from his most expensive and reliable informant in the Land of Fire, a man whose information had never failed. He unfolded the paper. The calligraphy was quick, almost a scrawl, but legible.

"Tazuna's escort has departed. Eight shinobi. Two jōnin, including Kakashi of the Sharingan."

The silence in the luxurious office suddenly turned cold and heavy. The glass of brandy in his other hand slipped from his fingers. It shattered on the wooden floor with a loud crack, the amber liquid spreading across a rug woven with gold thread.

Gatō didn't hear it. He stared at the note, his small eyes wide, fixed on the words. He reread the sentence, over and over, as the color drained from his face.

Eight shinobi.

The number was illogical. A waste of resources.

Two jōnin.

Cold sweat began to form on his forehead, sticking his sparse hair to his scalp.

Kakashi of the Sharingan.

The name.

That name wasn't just any shinobi's. It was a legend. A ghost from the bingo books, a nightmare whispered in mercenary taverns. The Copy Ninja. The man who, according to rumors, had memorized over a thousand jutsu.

"No..." he whispered, his voice a choked squawk. "No, no, no, it's a lie. It's a trap."

He leaped to his feet, the sea-dragon leather chair toppling backward with a dull thud. He began to pace the room like a caged animal, the note crumpled in his fist. His mind, normally an instrument of cold calculation, was a chaos of panic and paranoia.

A bluff? Does Konoha know about me? Are they trying to intimidate me, to make me spend my fortune on defenses I don't need?

Or is it real?

The question chilled him to the bone. If it was real, it meant he had made a catastrophic miscalculation. It meant Tazuna's bridge wasn't just an idealistic project. It was a strategic asset for Konoha. He wasn't fighting an old builder. He was fighting one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations.

And to think he had been about to send two second-rate thugs against an army led by a legend.

Rage, born from pure, absolute terror, consumed him.

"GŌZU! MEIZU!" he roared, his voice a high-pitched shriek that made the windowpanes vibrate.

The door burst open and the two Demon Brothers ran in, their faces a mixture of confusion and alarm.

"Boss? What's wrong?"

Gatō lunged at them, shoving the crumpled note in their faces.

"READ THIS, YOU USELESS PAIR!"

Gōzu took the paper, his eyes scanning the words. His confident expression vanished, replaced by a waxy pallor that mirrored Gatō's own panic.

"Kakashi... of the Sharingan," he mumbled, his voice barely audible.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?" Gatō screamed, his face contorted with fear. "IT MEANS YOUR PATHETIC AMBUSH PLAN IS SUICIDE! IT MEANS YOU PROBABLY WON'T EVEN SEE HIM BEFORE YOU'RE DEAD! IT MEANS YOU'VE JUST DELIVERED MY NAME DIRECTLY INTO THE HANDS OF A KONOHA EXECUTIONER!"

"But, boss, the pay..." Meizu tried to say, his thug's mind still processing the information in terms of risk and reward.

"FORGET THE PAY! FORGET THE PLAN!" Gatō shoved them aside and returned to his desk. He poured another drink with trembling hands. "You two... you aren't enough. You'd be slaughtered. And what's worse, you'd talk before you died."

He opened a secret compartment in his desk, one that required a combination and his thumbprint. From within, he took out a black scroll, rolled and sealed with red wax. He spread it across the desk. It was a list. A list of names and prices. Names that were rarely spoken aloud.

"I need something more," he muttered, his eyes scanning the list. "I need insurance. I need to hire a real demon to hunt a ghost."

His trembling finger traced down the list of elite rogue ninja. It passed over names from Iwa, from Kumo... and then it stopped.

A grim, desperate smile formed on his lips.

"This is going to cost me a kingdom..." he whispered. "But the silence of my enemies is priceless."

He turned to the two Demon Brothers, who were watching him with a new mixture of fear and respect.

"Get out of here. Wait for my orders. The hunt has just become much more interesting."

****


Hundreds of miles away, in a dead forest on the border of the Land of Fire, the full moon bathed the land in a pale, ghostly light. There was no sound. It was a place where life itself seemed to hold its breath.

In the center of a clearing, Torune was kneeling. The mission was complete. The seed of paranoia had been planted. The tyrant would react as expected. Escalation was inevitable.

He performed an almost imperceptible hand seal. A pulse of his own chakra, encoded with the unique signature of Root, was sent through the invisible network connecting him to his master. The message was an emotionless report: Mission complete. Information delivered and accepted by the target. Reaction is as projected. Escalation is imminent. Awaiting final orders.

The response was not long in coming. It wasn't a voice, nor a sound. It was another pulse of chakra, one he felt vibrate in the curse mark on his tongue. The order was cold, absolute, and contained a single word of intent: Terminate.


There was no hesitation. He moved with a ritualistic grace. He methodically removed his white porcelain mask, the one that had served as his face for years, and placed it carefully on a flat rock, like an offering at a nameless grave. His real face, young and devoid of any emotion, was exposed to the moonlight.

He unsheathed his tantō. The short blade gleamed, a fragment of moonlight made steel. The blade did not tremble in his hand.

With a precise, fluid motion trained to perfection, he drove it into his abdomen, twisting it with a firmness that defied the pain he should have felt. His body convulsed for an instant, an animal reflex his Root-forged will instantly crushed. He remained upright, kneeling.

As life drained from him, his other hand moved with deliberate slowness to a pouch on his belt. He pulled out a small paper talisman, covered in complex black ink seals. With the last of his strength, he placed it over the bleeding wound.

The instant his heart beat for the last time, the seals on the talisman glowed with a pale, sickly light.

There were no flames. There was no smoke. There was a silent disintegration.

A cold fire, colorless and heatless, began to consume his body from within. His flesh, his bones, his uniform—everything turned to a fine black ash. Even the porcelain mask on the rock crumbled, becoming dust. The ash rose in a small spiral, caught by a breeze that seemed to spring from nowhere.

The wind blew through the clearing, carrying away the last vestiges of Torune. It left no bloodstain on the ground. It left no scrap of cloth. It left not a single trace that he had ever existed.

The erasure was absolute.

There was no body. No blood. No grave. In the great, silent book of Konoha, the page of a shinobi had just been torn out and burned, as if it had never been written.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

The silence in the fog was heavy, damp, and suffocating; it had drowned out every sound in the forest. The eight Konoha ninja remained in their defensive circle, back-to-back, forming a hedgehog of kunai amidst a tension so thick you could feel it in the air.

"Anyone see anything?" Naruto whispered, his voice unusually restrained, his knuckles white from how tightly he gripped his weapon.

"Don't be an idiot, Naruto. If we could see anything, we wouldn't be like this," Kiba retorted in a tense hiss. Akamaru whimpered softly, pressed against his leg. "Am I the only one who gets a bad feeling from this place? Akamaru won't stop shaking."

"You are not the only one," Shino confirmed, his voice a monotone murmur that was somehow more unsettling than the silence. "My kikaichū are agitated. They cannot fly in this fog, and they sense an overwhelming chakra presence, but it is... diffuse, without a clear origin."

Hinata had her Byakugan active, the veins around her temples bulging from the strain. Her white eyes swept across the milky opacity, searching for a chakra flow, a signature, anything that would betray the source of the bloodlust that still chilled their skin.

"It's everywhere and nowhere at once," she murmured, her breath catching. "It's pure killing intent, but it has no definite origin. I've never felt anything like it."


Kakashi didn't answer immediately. His single visible eye was narrowed, moving methodically from side to side. Beside him, Kurenai remained perfectly calm, a hand resting lightly on Hinata's shoulder in a gesture of silent support.

"Hold the formation," Kakashi ordered, his low, calm voice cutting through the rising anxiety. "Do not break the circle for any reason. Kurenai, on my signal..."

"Understood," she replied.

Sasuke remained silent He wasn't going to waste chakra until there was a clear target. Still, the pressure was real. It reminded him of the night of the massacre, that feeling that death was an imminent certainty. He hated it.

And then, as abruptly as it had arrived, the sensation vanished.

It wasn't gradual. It was as if someone had flipped a switch. The pressure in the air dissipated, and the bloodlust evaporated. The fog, that unnatural white wall, began to recede, dissolving into lazy tendrils, revealing the trees, the path, and the afternoon sun that was still shining as if nothing had happened.

The birdsong returned, timid at first, then in a cheerful chorus that seemed to mock their panic.

They stood motionless for a long second, confused by the anticlimax.

"What... what the hell?" Kiba blurted out, looking around. Akamaru let out a hesitant bark.

"It's gone," Hinata whispered, deactivating her Byakugan with a sigh of relief. The effort left her slightly dizzy. "The presence... it's completely disappeared."

Naruto straightened up, lowering his kunai. "Just like that? Did it get scared of us and run away?"

Sakura shook her head. "I don't think so. This wasn't a retreat. It was deliberate. Like they were testing us."

Kakashi and Kurenai exchanged a look over their students' heads. Their stances didn't relax; they were still on high alert. That hadn't been normal. A shinobi with that level of control over their killing intent, capable of projecting it so broadly, was a high-level jōnin at the very least. Or something worse.

It was then that a loud, mocking laugh shattered the tension.

"AHAHAHA! And all this fuss for that!"

Tazuna, who had been huddled behind Sakura, got to his feet, dusting off his pants with a smug grin on his sake-flushed face.

"A little river fog! That's all it was!" he exclaimed, his voice echoing in the now-peaceful forest. "And you, the great and mighty ninja of Konoha, nearly pissed your pants in fear!"

Kiba glared at him. "River fog? Old man, that was no river fog! There was a killing intent out there that could cut steel!"

"Bah, ninja exaggerations," Tazuna interrupted him, waving a dismissive hand. He turned to point at Naruto, who still looked bewildered. "Especially you, the one in the orange suit. You almost fainted! I saw you shaking! You've probably never left your cozy little village, have you, kid?"

Naruto's face tightened. Confusion morphed into pure rage. After two days of putting up with the old man's complaints, his constant smell of alcohol, and his sarcastic comments, that insult was the last straw.

"SHUT UP, YOU DRUNK OLD MAN!" he roared, taking a step forward that made Tazuna instinctively back away. "IT WASN'T JUST FOG! THERE WAS SOMETHING OUT THERE! A KILLING INTENT! AND IF YOU DIDN'T FEEL IT, IT'S BECAUSE YOU HAD TOO MUCH SAKE IN YOUR BRAIN TO FEEL ANYTHING BUT YOUR OWN HANGOVER!"

"Naruto, calm down," Kakashi said, his voice quiet but firm, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.

But it was too late. The fuse was already lit. Before Kakashi could intervene, another voice joined Naruto's, clear and sharp.

"Stop bothering him!"

Everyone turned to look at Sakura. She was standing in front of Tazuna, hands on her hips and a fire in her green eyes that surprised everyone, especially Naruto. Her expression wasn't one of irritation, but of cold fury.

"Excuse me, young lady?" Tazuna tried to sound intimidating.

"I said leave him alone," Sakura repeated, not backing down an inch. "We are ninja trained to detect danger, and there was real danger out there. You don't have the faintest idea what we felt. Naruto is right. The only reason you're still breathing is because we were here to protect you from that 'river fog.' Instead of mocking us, you should be grateful that we take your safety so seriously."

The fierce and unexpected defense left Naruto speechless. He could only stare at her, his mouth slightly agape. Tazuna blinked, the arrogance vanishing from his face, replaced by genuine surprise at the pink-haired girl's vehemence.

Hinata, though she didn't speak, took a silent step to stand beside Sakura, her normally timid gaze now fixed on the bridge builder with disgust. It was an act of solidarity that went unnoticed by no one.

"Well, well, what a temper..." Tazuna muttered, suddenly feeling outnumbered by a group of teenagers.

"Enough," Kurenai said, her tone serene but with an edge of steel that ended the argument immediately. "Caution is a shinobi's greatest tool. Overconfidence is what gets people killed in our world, Mr. Tazuna. The incident is over. Let's move on."

They resumed their journey, but the atmosphere had changed. The tension from the danger had been replaced by an odd mix of irritation and a new camaraderie. Naruto kept stealing amazed glances at Sakura, who walked with her head held high, pretending not to notice. Kakashi and Kurenai remained vigilant, their senses extended, knowing that had only been a warning. The enemy knew their position and had decided to play with them before attacking. The real fight was yet to come.

****

An hour later, they stopped in a sunny clearing for a well-deserved break. The tension from the fog incident had dissipated, replaced by the murmur of a quiet afternoon. Naruto, unable to stay still for more than five minutes, had already invented a game.

"It's called 'Kunai-Leaf'!" he announced, holding up a wide, green leaf. "I throw it in the air, and we have to stick a kunai in it before it hits the ground! Whoever does it the most times wins the title 'King of Marksmanship'!"

Sakura rolled her eyes, but a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "That is the stupidest name I've ever heard in my life, Naruto."

"It's a cool name! It's direct and to the point!" he replied proudly. "Come on, play! I bet you can't beat me. You too, Hinata!"

The two girls exchanged an amused look. Hinata nodded shyly.

"Alright, but if I win, you have to stop calling it 'Kunai-Leaf'," Sakura agreed, pulling out a kunai.

"You got a deal!"

The game was simple, silly, and surprisingly fun. Naruto threw the leaves with battle cries, his kunai often just grazing the edges. Sakura was precise and methodical, cleanly splitting the leaves in half with an elegant motion. Hinata, to both of their surprise, demonstrated flawless aim; her throws were silent and always hit their mark.

"Whoa, Hinata! You're amazing!" Naruto exclaimed after she split a leaf he had missed.

She blushed. "It's just... just practice, Naruto-kun."

Kiba, too proud to join in such a "childish" game, pretended not to be interested while sharpening a kunai, but he shot furtive glances over whenever he heard an exclamation. Akamaru, however, had no such self-control and barked excitedly with each hit, wagging his tail frantically.

At one point, Naruto turned toward the solitary figure practicing at the other end of the clearing. Sasuke was standing on a puddle, perfecting his chakra control to remain on the water's surface.

"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, waving a hand. "We're playing Kunai-Leaf! Wanna join? I bet you can't beat me!"

Sasuke paused. The water rippled beneath his feet. He looked at Naruto, at Sakura and Hinata laughing as Sakura teased Naruto for a bad throw. The sound of their laughter filled the clearing. A strange sensation, a pang of something that was neither anger nor disdain, shot through him. It was... isolation. For the first time in a long time, he didn't feel superior and separate by choice. He just felt... out. Excluded. And he didn't like it.

He looked away, focusing back on the water. "No, thanks," he said, his voice surprisingly neutral, devoid of its usual venom. "I'd rather train."

The "thanks" was so subtle, so unusual, that it almost got lost in the air, but Naruto noticed. And he grinned widely. It wasn't an acceptance, but it wasn't the insult he expected either. It was progress.

"Your loss, you jerk!" he yelled, before tossing another leaf. "This is the deciding one, Sakura-chan!"

****

Meanwhile, deep in the woods, the atmosphere was not one for games.

Zabuza Momochi sat on the root of a massive tree, wiping non-existent blood from the blade of his Kubikiribōchō with a cloth. His one visible eye was closed, but fury emanated from him in silent waves that made the air around him feel colder. Haku stood beside him, silent, waiting.

A rustle of leaves announced the arrival of the two men Zabuza least wanted to see at that moment. Gōzu and Meizu, the Demon Brothers, appeared in the clearing, their steps hesitant.

"Can you tell me what the hell you're doing here?" Zabuza's voice was a low, dangerous growl, without him even opening his eye. "I was about to cast my Hidden Mist Jutsu. I had the Konoha team right where I wanted them. My ambush was perfect. Why did you interrupt?"

"Orders from Gatō, Lord Zabuza," Gōzu said, in a tone that tried to be respectful but failed to hide his own nervousness. Zabuza was far more terrifying than their boss.

Zabuza stopped cleaning the blade. "Orders?"

"He said the operation is called off for now," Gōzu continued, swallowing hard. "That the situation has changed."

Zabuza slowly opened his eye. It was a slit of pure, contained fury that fixed on the two chūnin. "Changed? Gatō is a cowardly civilian who hides behind his money. He doesn't give orders to a shinobi. I decide when and how to attack. I'm the one risking my neck out here, not him."

"He... he said he's called in a new ally," Meizu explained, his voice barely a whisper. "Someone to help us. To deal with the two jōnin. He said we should wait for his instructions and not act on our own until they arrive."

Zabuza froze. His hand tightened around the hilt of his sword so hard his knuckles turned white. A new ally. To help us. The idea wasn't a relief; it was an insult of the worst kind. It meant that Gatō, that insignificant worm, didn't trust him—Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist—to do the job alone. His professional pride, the only thing a rogue ninja had left, had been trampled.

He stood up, his imposing figure casting a shadow over the two brothers. "So the little tycoon thinks I need help taking care of Kakashi of the Sharingan and a mind reader," he hissed. "He thinks his money can buy loyalty and dictate strategy."

Haku took a step forward, placing a gentle hand on Zabuza's arm. "Zabuza-sama, perhaps it would be wise—"

"Wise is killing Gatō when this is over and taking all his money," Zabuza interrupted. "Damn Gatō... And damn Kakashi... When the time comes, I'll kill them all. The Konoha team, the new 'ally,' and our pathetic employer."

****


Back in the clearing, the game was over. The group was resting, regaining their energy while eating some rations. Kiba, as always, was looking for conversation, and his gaze fell on Naruto, who was sitting unusually close to Hinata, sharing his water bottle.

"Hey, Naruto," he began, a mischievous grin forming on his face. "I've been thinking."

"That's dangerous, Kiba," Sakura replied without looking up from her gear.

Kiba ignored her. "You haven't left Hinata's side for a second since we left the village. You're acting like her personal bodyguard. What's the deal, huh? Is she your girlfriend?"

Naruto, who was about to take a drink of water, choked and started coughing violently, spilling liquid on his jacket. "What?!" he squawked, his face red.

Beside him, Hinata, who had been calmly watching a butterfly, instantly turned the color of a ripe tomato. Her hands flew into her lap, twisting nervously.

Naruto recovered and stood up, puffing out his chest with completely unwarranted pride and an expression of utter seriousness.

"She's not my girlfriend!" he declared, his voice echoing in the clearing with a conviction that made everyone fall silent. "It's much more serious than that!"

Kiba stared at him, incredulous. Sakura raised an eyebrow. Shino tilted his head. "More serious?"

"We're married!" Naruto claimed with such unwavering conviction that for a second, just one second, it almost sounded believable.

The silence that followed was total and absolute, so thick you could have cut it with a kunai.

Kiba's jaw dropped, and he blinked. Akamaru tilted his head, letting out a confused whine. Sakura, who had been sharpening a kunai, stopped and stared at him as if he had grown a second, orange, whiskered head. And Sasuke, who was trying to meditate on a nearby tree branch, snapped his eyes open at the sheer stupidity he had just heard and nearly lost his balance.

Hinata, for her part, seemed to have transcended blushing and entered a state of spontaneous combustion. A small, choked sound, like a frightened kitten, escaped her throat. "Na-Naruto-kun..."

"MARRIED?!" Kiba finally managed to shout, breaking the spell. "You're completely insane! You can't be married! We're too young!"

"Of course we are!" Naruto insisted, crossing his arms, completely oblivious to the general disbelief. "She gave me a kiss on the cheek! That's what people do when they get married! The hero saves the girl, she gives him a kiss, and boom! It's a sealed pact!"

The logic was so absurd, so perfectly Naruto, that Sakura couldn't take it anymore. She dropped her kunai and burst out laughing. Not a giggle, but a loud, open-throated laugh, tears of pure amusement streaming down her cheeks. She doubled over, clutching her stomach. "Oh my god, Naruto! You are unbelievably stupid!"

It was Kurenai, who had been watching the scene with a mixture of horror and amusement from a distance, who finally intervened. She approached the group, trying to suppress a smile that threatened to betray her.

"Naruto..." she began, her voice taking on a motherly, patient tone, as if she were explaining chakra theory to a very small child.

"Yeah, Kurenai-sensei?" he replied, still completely serious and awaiting validation.

"A kiss on the cheek..." she said slowly, choosing her words with the care of a bomb disposal expert, "...is a sign of affection. Of fondness. Sometimes, of gratitude. It is not a marriage proposal. Trust me."

Naruto stared at her, his brain working at full speed to process this new information. Genuine bewilderment appeared on his face, and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Oh... it's not?" he blinked. "Are you sure? It seemed really official in the books."

"Completely sure," Kurenai confirmed, nodding her head.

"Wow," Naruto said, scratching the back of his neck with an expression of foolish realization. "Well, then I guess we're just super-duper-best-friends! Which is almost like being married, so I wasn't that far off!"

He turned to a nearly fainted-from-embarrassment Hinata and smiled at her with all the brilliance of the midday sun.

"Don't worry, Hinata! We can still get married for real when I become Hokage! It's a promise!"

That was the final straw. With one last, sharp "Eeeh!", Hinata's eyes rolled back into her head and she slumped gently to the side, falling onto a still-laughing Sakura who barely managed to catch her.

Kiba just shook his head, muttering, "unbelievable, this guy's unbelievable." Kakashi, from his tree, lowered his book just enough to observe the chaos. He exchanged a look with Kurenai, who was now smiling openly with affection. He offered her an almost imperceptible shrug, thinking that, perhaps, this was going to be the most troublesome and entertaining team he'd ever had.

Chapter Text

[Two years earlier, somewhere in the nameless swamps on the border of the Land of Grass]

The smuggler, a man named Kento, hated the swamps. He hated the smell of stagnant water and rotting vegetation that clung to his clothes. He hated the constant buzzing of insects the size of his thumb. But most of all, he hated the silence. It wasn’t a peaceful silence; it was an expectant one, a silence that seemed to watch, that seeped through the cracks of his leather armor and chilled his skin.

"Are you sure this is the way, Jiro?" he whispered, his voice a choked squawk in the moonless night.

Jiro, the large man walking ahead of him, turned with a toothless grin.

"Relax, Kento. I know these swamps like the back of my hand. No Grass shinobi dares to venture this deep. We're safe. In an hour, we'll reach the meeting point and we'll be rich."

Kento wasn’t so sure. He adjusted the heavy, forbidden scroll on his back. The pay was good, true, but the feeling of being watched hadn't left him since they had entered the reeds.

The wind whispered through the tall stalks, a soft, melancholic sound. Shhhhhh...

Jiro stopped suddenly. He stood still, his head tilted as if listening to something.

"What is it?" Kento asked, his heart starting to pound.

Jiro didn't answer. He simply brought a hand to his neck, his expression a mixture of confusion and surprise. Kento saw a thin red line appear on his partner's throat, as if an invisible artist had drawn it with an impossibly fine brush. The line widened. Blood welled up, dark in the starlight. Jiro's eyes went wide, uncomprehending, before his body collapsed forward with a dull splash into the muddy water.

Panic, pure and absolute, seized Kento.

He didn't scream. There was no time. He turned and ran. He ran blindly, water splashing at his feet, the reeds scratching at his face. He didn't know where he was going, only that he had to escape that murderous silence.

His feet tangled on something. Something he didn't see. He fell flat on his face, the scroll crushing him into the muck. He tried to get up, but his ankle was caught. A thread, almost invisible but with the strength of steel, had pulled taut around his boot, anchoring him to the ground.

"Noise attracts predators." A calm, emotionless voice emerged from the darkness beside him. It wasn't a shout, barely a whisper. "You should have learned to move in silence."

Kento turned, terrified, and saw him. A slender figure, wrapped in layers of moss green that blended into the surroundings. His face was hidden by a woven reed mask that had no features, only a dark void. In his hand, he held the end of a nearly invisible thread that gleamed faintly in the moonlight.

"W-who are you?" Kento stammered.

"Irrelevant," replied the Whisper in the Reeds. "Mission complete."

It was the last thing Kento ever heard.

Kageri Hazama watched the life leave the smuggler's eyes. He wiped his kusarigama blade on the dead man's clothes and stood up. The silence returned to the swamp, as if nothing had happened.

"Targets eliminated. Mission complete," he reported through a small communicator in his throat. "Clean, as always."

"Good work, Kageri," the voice of his team leader, Jomei, sounded in his ear. "Return to the rendezvous point. We have orders to evacuate."

Kageri nodded to himself and began to move. He knew the routine. The mission was done. Now came the boring part: the report. He suspected nothing. Duty and logic were the only pillars of his world.

He reached the rendezvous point, a small islet of firm ground in the middle of the swamp. Jomei and the other two members of his Kusagakure black ops squad were waiting for him.

"Any complications?" asked Jomei, a heavyset man with a scar on his chin.

"None," Kageri replied. "Two targets. Eliminated without an alert. Just as planned."

"Excellent," Jomei said, and then Kageri saw the look in his eyes. It wasn't the look of a satisfied leader. It was a look of pity.

Kageri's instinct, forged in hundreds of missions like this one, screamed a warning. He threw himself to the side an instant before the rain of kunai reached him. Several embedded themselves in his arm and leg, but the killing blow was avoided. He landed in the water, the pain a sharp explosion in his nerves.

"Jomei? What is the meaning of this?!" he yelled, trying to understand the betrayal.

"I'm sorry, Kageri," Jomei said, and his voice was filled with genuine regret. "Orders from high command. The mission was... unofficial. The client was a rival Feudal Lord. We can't leave any loose ends. Plausible deniability. You know how it works."

Plausible deniability. The phrase he had used so many times to justify his own actions was now his death sentence.

He saw his teammates, the men with whom he had shared rations and secrets, preparing explosive tags.

"You're the best, Kageri," Jomei said, like an epitaph. "Too good. If you survived, you'd be a risk. Nothing personal."

The explosion engulfed him. The world became an inferno of white fire and unimaginable pain. He sank into the muddy water, his body shattered, the taste of betrayal more bitter than that of his own blood. And as the darkness claimed him, a single thought, cold and hard as a diamond, formed in his dying mind. Never again. I will never trust anyone again. Only in payment up front.

[Present Day]

"Payment is up front."

Kageri Hazama's voice was calm, without inflection, but it cut through the tense atmosphere of Gatō's office like a wind blade. He stood by the window, his back to the tyrant, observing the docks of the Land of Waves with an analytical gaze. He had been in the room for five minutes, and his silence was more intimidating than any shout.

Gatō, sitting behind his enormous mahogany desk, swallowed hard. The man before him was nothing like the hired thugs he was used to dealing with. There was no arrogance, no bravado. Just a professional calm that chilled him to the bone.

"So you're the famous 'Whisper in the Reeds'," Gatō said, trying to make his voice sound authoritative. "I've paid an exorbitant sum for your services. I expect the rumors of your efficiency to be true."

"Rumors are irrelevant," Kageri replied, turning slowly. His greenish-gray eyes seemed to see right through Gatō, assessing not the person, but the threat he represented. "Only the terms of the contract matter."

He approached the desk. He didn't sit. He remained standing, a slender and silent presence.

"Half the payment now, in unmarked cash. The other half will be deposited into a secure account the moment it's confirmed that the bridge's construction has ceased. Permanently."

Gatō clenched his fists under the desk. The man's audacity was insulting.

"Those are demanding terms for a simple job of..."

"It's not a simple job," Kageri interrupted. " eight Konoha shinobi, led by two jōnin, one of whom is Kakashi of the Sharingan. You're not asking for pest control. You're asking for the hunt of a legendary ghost and his army. My fees reflect the risk."

Gatō was speechless. This man already knew everything.

"I need a detailed topographical map of the entire island," Kageri continued, as if dictating a shopping list. "Including tidal currents, swamp depths, smuggling routes, and the blueprints for all of your warehouses and docks. Knowledge of the terrain is non-negotiable."

"That's confidential information!"

"Precisely," Kageri said. "And I need it to ensure there are no surprises. I hate surprises."

He paused, his gray eyes fixed on Gatō.

"And the final term. My operations are my own. I don't answer to your other... employees. I've heard you already have a Mist ninja on your payroll. My sphere of action is the docks, the waterways, and the marshes. Terrain control. If your thugs interfere with my work, if they stumble into one of my traps, if they make noise when I need silence, the contract is void. And I disappear. And you don't want me to disappear knowing so much about your operations, do you?"

The threat, though subtle, was unmistakable. Gatō felt a drop of cold sweat run down his spine. He had hired an assassin, yes. But he had also invited a wolf into his henhouse. A wolf who was dictating his own rules.

With a gesture of his trembling hand, Gatō pointed to a metal briefcase in the corner of the room.

"Half the payment. The maps are being prepared."

Kageri nodded once, a short, clipped motion. He picked up the briefcase. He didn't open it.

"I'll be in touch," he said, and turned to leave.

"Wait," Gatō said, his curiosity overpowering his fear. "How do I know you can do the job?"

Kageri stopped at the door. He didn't turn around.

"You don't," he answered. "You only know that I'm the only one crazy enough to take it. And that, unlike your other employees, I don't fail."

And with that, he vanished into the hallway, leaving Gatō alone with a sense of relief and a new, profound terror. The terror of having hired someone who was far more intelligent and dangerous than he was.

****

The mist in the clearing was thick, a veil that muffled sound and concealed shapes. Zabuza Momochi sat on a rock, the Kubikiribōchō resting at his side. His one visible eye watched impatiently as the two Demon Brothers argued in low voices. Beside him, Haku remained silent, a calm presence amidst the tension.

A rustle of leaves, and Gatō entered the clearing, followed by a cloaked figure.

"Zabuza," Gatō said with false bravado. "I see you're already here. Let me introduce Kageri. A specialist. He'll handle perimeter surveillance and cut off any escape routes. Consider him tactical support."

Gōzu let out a laugh.

"Ha! This scrawny guy? He looks like a gust of wind would blow him over! We don't need help to crush some brats."

Kageri, who had removed his hood to reveal his impassive face, said nothing. No one saw the movement. No one saw the thread. They only heard a small metallic clink. The top button of Gōzu's vest, perfectly sliced, fell to the ground and rolled to a stop at his feet.

Gōzu touched his chest, confused. He looked at the missing thread on his vest, and then at Kageri, his eyes wide with disbelief.

Zabuza hadn't laughed. He had been watching Kageri from the moment he arrived. He didn't see a scrawny guy. He saw a professional. He ignored the Demon Brothers and addressed him directly.

"Your style is stealth and traps," he said, his voice deep and menacing. "Mine is the mist and direct terror. Stay out of my way."

"Noise draws unwanted attention," Kageri responded, his voice calm and precise. "I operate in the silence you leave in your wake. Make sure your... dogs... don't stumble on my threads. I won't be held responsible for accidents."

Haku, who had been observing Kageri with analytical intensity, took a step forward.

"Your chakra control is... refined," he said, his eyes hidden behind his mask. "Almost imperceptible."

"Precision is more lethal than brute force," Kageri replied, acknowledging the only other true professional in the clearing.

An uneasy alliance had been formed. Zabuza was wary. The Demon Brothers were now intimidated. And Kageri was already analyzing the terrain, his mind weaving an invisible web of traps and escape routes. He looked at the motley crew of killers.

Two jōnin, six genin, a demon of the mist, and two loud thugs, he thought, as his gaze drifted into the mist toward the bridge. Too many uncontrolled variables. This is going to be... problematic.

Chapter Text

"Ouch! Naruto, be more careful. You're pulling my hair."

Sakura's complaint, though feigning annoyance, was lost in the gentle murmur of the river. She was sitting on a frayed blanket in the center of a clearing bathed in the afternoon sun. Behind her, Naruto was on his knees, his tongue sticking out from the corner of his lips in a gesture of utmost concentration.

"Don't move, Sakura-chan!" he retorted, frowning as he battled a particularly rebellious lock of pink hair. "The art of hairstyling requires a static canvas. If you keep moving, you're going to end up with something that looks more like a rat's nest than a braid!"

"My hair is already a disaster, Naruto," Sakura sighed, though a small smile touched her face. "It's the price of sleeping on the ground for three straight nights. Honestly, I still don't understand how I agreed to this."

"Because deep down, you know I'm a misunderstood artist," Naruto declared grandly, puffing out his chest. "Once, at the academy, I gave a training dummy a haircut. It looked so incredible that Iruka-sensei almost passed me in stealth just for the creativity. He said no enemy would expect to be attacked by something that looked like a pineapple with style."

Hinata, sitting across from them, let out a soft, melodious giggle, covering her mouth with her hand. "I-if you turn your wrist a little more to the right when you cross the strands, Naruto-kun," she suggested in a quiet voice, "the knot will be much tighter and won't come undone so easily."

"Like this?" Naruto asked, trying to follow her advice and nearly tangling his fingers in the process. "Wow, you're right, Hinata! You're an expert!"

"My little sister, Hanabi, used to ask me to braid her hair all the time," she explained, a faint blush on her cheeks. "She has very long, straight hair, it's... it's easier than Sakura-san's, no offense."

"Don't worry about it," Sakura laughed. "My hair has a personality of its own, and most days, it's in a bad mood. But thanks, Hinata. At least now I know that if Naruto leaves me bald, you can fix it."

The atmosphere was so light that the words flowed effortlessly. They found themselves talking about things that had nothing to do with the mission, with the danger, or with the tension that had accompanied them since they left the village.

"You guys have no idea what I'd give for my bed right now," Naruto said, sighing dramatically. "Even with that lump in the mattress that digs into my back. It's my lump."

"A lump? I'd give anything for a flat futon," Sakura replied. "Last night, I could've sworn a tree root tried to kidnap me in my sleep. I think I'm going to have a bark pattern on my back for a week. What do you miss most, Hinata?"

Hinata seemed to think for a moment. "The tea my father makes in the morning," she said finally, "and the silence of the dojo at dawn. Here... everything here is so loud."

"But it's a great kind of loud!" Naruto exclaimed. "It's the sound of adventure!"

"It's the sound of bugs that probably want to eat us while we sleep," Sakura corrected, shuddering.

The conversation drifted to food, as it often did when Naruto was present.

"I've heard they sell dango in the capital of the Land of Fire that will change your life," Naruto said, his eyes shining. "They say it's so good that people cry when they taste it."

"That's an exaggeration, Naruto," Sakura replied, rolling her eyes. "But it is good. I tried it once with my parents. The sweet soy sauce is thicker than what we use in Konoha."

"The best dango is at the stall near training ground three," Hinata interjected with uncharacteristic confidence. "They make it with a different kind of rice. It's more... sticky."

Naruto and Sakura looked at her, surprised.

"Really?" Naruto asked, intrigued. "Better than the stuff at the Akimichi's shop?"

Hinata nodded seriously. "Much better."

Encouraged by the relaxed atmosphere, Hinata even dared to share a small anecdote. "Speaking of things you can eat... one time, Akamaru ate an entire scroll of Kiba-kun's tactics."

Naruto burst out laughing. "Seriously? What happened?"

"Kiba-kun spent a week trying to decipher the strategies based on... well, on what Akamaru left in the backyard," Hinata recounted, her face completely red but with a genuine smile.

The laughter of the three of them echoed through the clearing, a warm, pure sound that seemed to chase away any shadows. Sakura found herself thinking that she had never had a conversation like this with Sasuke. With him, everything was silence, tension, or single-word answers. This, on the other hand, felt... normal. It felt good.

A few yards away, by a crackling fire, Kurenai carefully turned the fish skewered on wooden sticks. The aroma of grilled fish with a hint of smoke was beginning to fill the air. Beside her, Kakashi was leaning against a tree trunk, his book held firmly in front of his face. He gave the impression of being completely absorbed, but Kurenai, who had known him for years, knew that not the slightest movement around him escaped his notice.

"It seems they're finally relaxing," Kurenai commented in a low voice, without taking her eyes off the fire. "They needed it. The journey from the village has been tense."

"Mmm," was Kakashi's only response from behind his book. After a pause, he added, "The calm is often more dangerous than the storm. It's when people let their guard down."

"That's why we're here, isn't it?" she replied with a half smile.

Beyond them, the bridge builder, Tazuna, was already well into his bottle of sake. He reeked of alcohol and self-pity as he told his life's stories to an audience that could not have been less interested.

"And then I told the foreman!" he slurred, his voice pasty and far too loud. "I told him he could shove his blueprints where the sun don't shine! A real man builds with his soul, not with an instruction manual!" He paused to take a long swig. "Once... once I built a three-story scaffold... in a single night! And it was raining! No, what am I saying, raining! It was a typhoon! You kids today, you don't know what real work is!"

His speech was theoretically aimed at Sasuke, who was at the opposite end of the clearing. The young Uchiha was ignoring the old man with a dedication that was almost an art form. He stood there, throwing kunai at a fallen tree with cold, methodical precision.

Thwack. The kunai sank into the wood with a dull, satisfying sound.

Thwack. Another, a millimeter from the last one.

Thwack. A third, forming a perfect triangle.

Each throw was a final word in a conversation he wasn't having, a way to channel the frustration and impatience he felt. Tazuna's noise was an annoying fly buzzing around him, but his concentration was a wall of steel.

The relative peace of the camp was shattered by a shout from the woods.

"Everyone step aside! The dinner provider has arrived!"

Kiba burst into the clearing, his chest swelled with pride. He held an improvised rope from which hung half a dozen decently sized fish, writhing in their final moments. At his side, Akamaru trotted with his tail held high, barking triumphantly as if he had just defeated an entire army.

"The Inuzuka tracking team never fails!" Kiba proclaimed, dropping his catch on the ground. "We'll eat like kings tonight thanks to me! And Akamaru, of course!"

Just behind him, so quiet he seemed to have emerged from the shadows, Shino appeared. In one of his hands, he held a glass jar. Inside, several iridescent green beetles crawled up the glass walls.

"Your method of obtaining food was... loud," Shino commented, his voice as monotonous and devoid of emotion as ever. "You scared away all the fauna in a fifty-meter radius. My kikaichū, on the other hand, operated in silence. They located a nest of these river beetles two hundred meters from our position. They are a more efficient source of protein, and their acquisition did not alert potential enemies."

Kiba turned to look at him, an expression of pure disbelief on his face.

"Are you kidding me? No one in their right mind would rather eat bugs than good grilled fish!" he snapped. "Fish is warrior food! Bugs are... well, they're bugs! Admit it, my method is way cooler!"

"'Coolness' is not a tactical variable that can be quantified," Shino replied, adjusting his sunglasses. "Efficiency and stealth, however, are. Logically, my method was superior."

"Superior my—!"

"The fish is almost ready," Kurenai interrupted, her voice melodic but firm, cutting off the argument before it could escalate. "But with Tazuna's appetite, it looks like we could use one more. Good work, Kiba."

The praise was enough to calm her student, who smiled, satisfied.

But the mention of catching one more was like a spark in a powder keg for someone else.

"Fishing competition!" Naruto suddenly shouted, leaping to his feet and leaving Sakura's braid half-finished. "Whoever catches the biggest fish will be crowned the Ninja King of Fishermen! And as a prize, they won't have to wash the dishes tonight!"

The idea was so sudden and so ridiculous that Sakura and Hinata couldn't help but laugh.

"We barely have any dishes to wash, Naruto," Sakura reminded him, amused. "We've been eating with the bare minimum."

"It doesn't matter!" he insisted, a determined glint in his eyes. "It's honor that's at stake! Honor and glory!"

The proposal was met with unexpected enthusiasm. Kiba, always up for a competition, provided them with makeshift rods he had fashioned from flexible branches and some fishing line from his gear pack. Within minutes, Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata were lined up on the riverbank, ready for what seemed, at that moment, to be the most important battle of their lives.

Naruto, true to his style, adopted the least subtle technique possible. He cast his line with a war cry and began to shake the rod violently.

"Come on, you stupid fish! Come and face my hook of destiny! Whoever gets caught will be immortalized in the legend of the Fishing King!"

As expected, any fish within a ten-meter radius fled in terror. Sakura, beside him, sighed and cast her own line with more delicacy. Hinata, for her part, sat on a smooth rock, holding her rod with infinite patience, her figure reflected on the calm surface of the water.

She was the first to have success. A gentle tug on her line, a quick and expert flick of the wrist, and a small silver fish flew out of the water, landing in the grass at her feet.

"Nice one, Hinata!" Sakura congratulated her.

"That's just beginner's luck!" Naruto declared, visibly jealous. "Mine will be so big we'll have to use a summoning jutsu to pull it out!"

He had barely finished speaking when Sakura's rod bent sharply and violently, nearly snapping in half.

"Whoa! I think I've got something!" she yelled, her voice tinged with a childish excitement she hadn't felt in years. "And it's a big one! A really big one!"

She jumped to her feet, struggling to keep her balance on the slippery stones of the riverbank. The rod was arched dramatically, the line as taut as a violin string, cutting through the water.

"Come on, Sakura-chan! You can do it!" Naruto cheered, having completely forgotten his own rod.

"Pull with your legs, not your arms! Use your weight!" Kiba advised from the campfire, now completely absorbed in the spectacle.

Sakura laughed, a sound of pure, genuine joy as she fought against the invisible force pulling from the other end. The sun warmed her face, the cold splashes of water wet her feet, and for an instant, she forgot everything. She forgot she was a kunoichi on a dangerous mission. She forgot about Sasuke and her complicated feelings. She felt like a normal girl, on a perfect summer day, enjoying the thrill of fishing. It was, without a doubt, the happiest and most carefree moment she had experienced in a very, very long time.

Just as Sakura, muscles tense and a triumphant smile on her face, prepared to give the final pull that would yank her colossal catch from the water, Naruto's expression changed.

It wasn't a conscious thought. It wasn't something he saw or heard. It was a purely visceral sensation, an icy chill that ran down his spine in the middle of the warm day. The air around him seemed to thicken, to become heavy and oppressive. The cheerful murmur of the river suddenly sounded muffled and distant, as if he were hearing it through a thick wall of glass.

Cold. Something felt terribly cold.

In the periphery of his vision, the discreet blue interface of the Falna, which had remained inactive and silent for days, flickered a single, jarring time. It showed no text, no statistics. Just a flashing red border that pulsed in his mind with a single, clear, and terrifying word.

[DANGER]

For Sakura, the world was still perfect. Laughter still played on her lips, her muscles burned with the pleasant effort of the struggle, and her green eyes were fixed on the exact spot on the water's surface where the fish was about to emerge.

And then, she saw Naruto's face.

All the joy, all the competitive excitement, had vanished. His face was a mask of pure, absolute terror. His blue eyes, normally so full of life, were wide, fixed not on her, nor on her rod, but on the water at her feet.

Before she could even form the question "What's wrong?" he moved.

He was an orange blur of desperate speed. There was no shout of warning, no time for explanations. In one brutally efficient motion, he snatched the fishing rod from her hands and, in the same instant, slammed his shoulder into her. The tackle was so unexpected and forceful that it knocked all the air from her lungs with a choked gasp. Her world tilted violently, and she felt her feet leave the ground, flying backward, away from the river's edge.

And then, the world exploded.

The roar was deafening, a thunderous detonation that drowned out the sound of the river, the shouts of her companions, and any other thought. A blinding white flash left her momentarily blind, painting dark spots in her vision. A shockwave hit her like an invisible wall, throwing water, dirt, and splinters of wood in all directions. The air filled with a nauseating smell, a mixture of burnt fish and the acrid stench of chakra consumed by an explosion.

Sakura's universe shrank to a sharp, painful ringing in her ears. She found herself on the ground, several yards from the bank, with Naruto's weight on top of her. His body had acted as a human shield. Her first reaction was a confusion tinged with anger. What the hell has he done? Has he gone completely insane?

And then, her eyes, blinking to regain focus, saw the scene. She saw the black, smoking crater in the water, right where she had been standing just a second ago. She saw the ripples spreading out from the center of the explosion, disturbing the river's surface. She saw the dead fish floating, their white and silver bellies turned toward the sky.

The realization hit her with the force of a physical blow, more stunning than Naruto's tackle, more brutal than the shockwave.

I... I was right there. I was... about to...

Cold, absolute terror flooded her like an icy tide. An uncontrollable tremor started in her hands and quickly spread through her entire body. The world, which a moment before had been so warm, safe, and full of laughter, was now a place of invisible dangers and sudden death. She felt incredibly small and fragile. Without thinking, out of pure, primitive survival instinct, she clung to the only solid thing in her crumbling world. She clung to Naruto.

She hugged him with desperate force, burying her face in the hollow of his shoulder, feeling the rough fabric of his orange jacket against her wet cheek. In that moment, she wasn't Sakura the kunoichi, Kakashi's brilliant student. She was a terrified girl who had just stared death right in the face. And he, the boy she had always considered an idiot, had saved her.

Naruto was stunned. The ringing in his ears was deafening. He felt Sakura's trembling body clinging to him, her choked, silent sobs against his shoulder. His first thought wasn't about the enemy, or the danger that might still be lurking. It was about her. He awkwardly returned the hug with one arm, patting her on the back in a gesture that was meant to be reassuring.

"It's okay, Sakura-chan..." his voice was a hoarse whisper, barely audible over the ringing in his ears. "It's... it's over. Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Naruto-kun! Sakura-san!"

Hinata's distressed voice reached them. She was running toward them from the campfire, her face pale with panic. Behind her came Kiba, a furious expression on his face, and Shino, already on high alert, his insects surely swarming beneath his jacket.

On the riverbank, the change had been instantaneous. Kakashi and Kurenai were already on guard. Their relaxed postures had vanished, replaced by the cold, lethal efficiency of two elite jōnin. They had kunai in hand, and their eyes were sweeping the opposite bank, the forest canopy, and the sky, searching for any sign of the attacker. Sasuke had joined them, his gaze scanning the perimeter for any anomaly.

Kakashi approached the water's edge, crouching to analyze the debris. His gaze was sharp and analytical.

"Explosive tags," he said, his voice quiet but as sharp as ice. "Tied to a nearly invisible chakra thread, submerged. The trap was triggered by the tension on Sakura's fishing line. It was a professional and deadly trap." He paused, the implication hanging in the air. "If Naruto hadn't reacted..."

He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to. They all understood.

Naruto helped a still-shocked Sakura to her feet. She didn't let go of his jacket sleeve; her grip was tight, as if she feared that if she let go, the world would fall apart again. He looked at her, concern clearly visible on his face.

"You... you saved me..." she whispered, her voice choked with a mixture of gratitude and residual horror. She looked up at him, her green eyes searching for an answer. "How... how did you know? There was no sign."

Naruto tried to manage a smile, but it came out as a shaky grimace, somewhat embarrassed by the intensity of her gaze and their closeness. He scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit.

"I-it was nothing, Sakura-chan, really. I just... I had a bad feeling, that's all. A chill. That's what teammates are for, right? To watch each other's backs."

They stood like that for a moment, in the middle of the now silent and devastated clearing. The campfire was still crackling, but the festive atmosphere had evaporated. The food was forgotten. The laughter was extinguished. Near the fire, Tazuna was on the ground, pale as a ghost, the sake bottle fallen from his hand, its contents spilling uselessly onto the dirt. The drunken smirk and bravado had vanished from his face. The reality that expert ninja were trying to murder him, experts capable of such calculated and patient cruelty, had finally hit him with its full force.

"Playtime is over," Kurenai said, her voice as cold as steel, addressing everyone. "The enemy knows exactly where we are. And they aren't simple thugs."

The calm had been broken, shattered to pieces. The idyllic outing had transformed, in the blink of an eye, into a war zone. And for Team Alpha, the mission had just truly begun.

Chapter Text

Kakashi approached the water's edge and knelt to analyze the smoking debris. The calm had been shattered, and with it, the jōnin's lazy demeanor. With the tip of a kunai, he extracted a small, twisted fragment of metal from a piece of floating wood.

He examined it for a second, his single visible eye narrowing. Then, he stood up and walked unhurriedly toward Tazuna. The bridge builder was on the ground, pale as a ghost. The sake bottle had fallen from his hand, its contents spilling uselessly onto the dirt. The drunken smile and bravado had vanished from his face. The reality he had tried to deny and hide had just blown up in his face.

Kakashi didn't yell. He didn't threaten him. His voice, when he spoke, was quiet, almost conversational, which made it infinitely more terrifying.

"Tazuna-san," he began, opening his hand to show the shiny, deformed piece of metal. "The lies are over."

Tazuna looked at him with wild eyes, trembling uncontrollably. He tried to form words, but only an incoherent babble came out.

"This," Kakashi continued, his tone flat and cutting, "is a fragment of a military-grade explosive tag. The trap was activated by a submerged chakra thread, designed to detonate on contact. It's clean, professional work. And very expensive."

Kurenai walked over, crossing her arms. Her usual maternal warmth had been replaced by an analytical coldness. "Forest bandits and thugs use rusty axes and clubs, Mr. Tazuna. They don't invest in equipment of this quality. Professional assassins do."

"You lied to us," Kakashi concluded, his gaze fixed on the bridge builder. "And that lie almost cost one of my students her life."

The circle of genin closed in a little tighter around him, their gazes heavy with judgment.

"You could have gotten me killed," Sakura said, her voice trembling slightly, not from fear, but from contained anger. "Don't you even care?"

"Start talking, old man!" Kiba barked, stepping forward, Akamaru growling by his side. "Or I swear I'll have Akamaru bite the answers out of you!"

"Pathetic," Sasuke hissed, his disdain unconcealed. "Endangering an entire Konoha team just to save some money."

Tazuna tried one last bluff, his voice a desperate croak.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about! They must be very clever bandits! Maybe they stole the equipment from some ninja! I'm just a simple bridge builder! A poor old man!"

"STOP LYING!"

Naruto's shout was so sudden and so charged with frustration that it made Tazuna flinch as if he'd been struck.

"You almost got Sakura-chan killed! You almost got us all killed!" Naruto continued, stepping forward until he was inches from the old man's face. "We believed in you! We were protecting you! We deserve to know why we're really risking our lives!"

The direct accusation, the pure, undeniable truth in the boy's voice, was what finally broke the old builder. His tough, stubborn facade shattered, revealing the terrified man beneath. He collapsed to his knees, his body wracked with sobs that seemed to come from the depths of his soul.

"I'm sorry!" he wailed, tears carving channels through the dirt on his weathered face. "I'm truly sorry! I had no other choice... I was out of options."

And then, the story poured out of him. It was a torrent of pent-up desperation and suffering, a confession torn from him by fear and guilt. He spoke of his home, the Land of Waves, a once-proud nation, now economically strangled by a tyrannical and ruthless shipping magnate named Gatō. He told them how Gatō, a man with more money than scruples, had seized control of all shipping lanes, becoming the sole master of everything that entered or left the island. With his monopoly, he had plunged his people into a suffocating poverty where hope was a luxury few could afford.

"The bridge..." he said, his voice choked with tears as he gestured vaguely toward the horizon. "The bridge is our only hope. It's the only way to break his monopoly, to connect our island to the mainland, and to give freedom and a future back to our people, to my grandchildren."

He looked up, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the young ninjas' faces. "That's why Gatō wants to stop me. He wants to kill me. Because that bridge isn't just wood and stone... it's a direct threat to his empire of greed."

Sasuke let out a disdainful snort, his pragmatism unmoved by the man's tragedy. "So why lie about the mission's rank? If the enemy is that powerful, deceiving your protectors is illogical. It's suicide."

"BECAUSE I'M POOR!" Tazuna shouted, slamming his fist into the ground with what little strength he had left. The sound was dull, pathetic. "My country is poor! We've been bled dry! We couldn't afford a B-Rank mission or higher! Hiring a C-Rank mission already used up every last saving from my village, every coin we could scrape together!"

He looked at Kakashi, his eyes pleading, desperate.

"But I never thought it would come to this! I swear on my grandson's life! Gatō is a miser, a first-class cheapskate! He's a businessman, not a warlord! I thought he'd send a couple of thugs, low-level muscle to scare me! Maybe some masterless samurai! Never, not in my worst nightmares, did I imagine he would spend a fortune to hire expert ninja just to kill an old builder! It was a miscalculation! A terrible mistake that almost cost all of you your lives! I'm sorry! Please, I'm so sorry!"

He remained there, kneeling and sobbing, a broken man who had gambled everything on a lie and lost in the worst way possible.

The silence that followed was thick. Naruto's fury dissipated like morning fog, replaced by a wave of empathy. To fight for your home, for your people, to be acknowledged... it was something he understood to his core.

Sakura glanced at Hinata, and in the Hyuga girl's lavender eyes, she saw the same compassion she felt in her own heart. Even Kiba had stopped growling, merely looking away, uncomfortable.

Kakashi and Kurenai stepped a few feet away, their conversation a low, professional murmur, out of the genin's earshot.

"The protocol is clear, Kakashi," Kurenai said, her face serious, leaving no room for ambiguity. "Mission compromised, dishonest client, threat level B at minimum. We should abort, return to the village, and report to the Hokage. That's what the rules dictate."

"The rules were written for ideal situations," Kakashi replied, his gaze fixed on the river darkening with twilight. "Going back would take days. We're already in enemy territory, and worse, they've found us. Our route back will be compromised. We'd almost certainly be ambushed on the way. Retreating now could be even more dangerous than pressing on."

"And what do you propose? We continue?" Kurenai arched an eyebrow. "With six genin who just had their first brush with real death? Naruto is a powder keg, Sasuke a razor without a handle. My team... they're specialists, not front-line fighters. It's a huge risk, Kakashi. Unacceptable, some on the council would say."

"It is," Kakashi admitted without hesitation. "It's a huge risk. But..." His gaze fell upon his students. He saw Sakura place a calming hand on Naruto's arm, his anger soothed by the gesture. He saw Hinata offering her canteen to a still-tense Kiba, who accepted it with a grunt that almost sounded like thanks. He saw Sasuke, standing apart, watching Tazuna, his anger replaced by a cold, calculating focus. "They're not the same genin who left the village a few days ago, Kurenai. They've been tested by fire. And they haven't broken."

Kurenai followed his gaze, evaluating each of the young ninja. She saw the fear, yes, but she also saw something else: a steely determination, a cohesion forged in danger. She nodded slowly, a decision forming in her eyes.

"Alright. We'll continue," she said, her voice firm. "But under new rules. Our rules."

They turned and walked back to the group. The atmosphere shifted instantly. The genin straightened, their faces expectant. Kakashi spoke, his voice no longer that of a relaxed sensei, but of a commander on the battlefield.

"Listen up. The situation has changed drastically. Tazuna's lie has put us in an extremely dangerous position. But the decision has been made. We will continue the mission to protect him until the bridge is finished."

A murmur of relief and tension rippled through the genin. No one wanted to quit, but the fear was a palpable undercurrent.

"But let me be absolutely clear," Kurenai continued, her tone as sharp as Kakashi's, cutting through any hint of complacency. "This is no longer a C-Rank escort mission. Forget the rank. This is a high-risk protection detail in hostile territory. From this moment on, we assume every shadow is an enemy and every silence is an ambush. Blind trust is over. Only constant vigilance and teamwork will keep us alive."

"The next step is crossing the river by boat. That will be our most vulnerable moment," Kakashi explained, his gaze passing over each of them, assigning roles with a military precision that left no room for doubt. "We'll be exposed, a slow target, and on the water—the perfect terrain for a Water-style jutsu specialist. We need 360-degree coverage, no blind spots. Every one of you has a vital role."

His gaze landed on Hinata. She flinched but held her ground, straightening her back.

"Hinata."

"Yes, sensei!" Her voice was barely a whisper, but it was steady.

"Your Byakugan will be our eyes in the rear. Your vision is everything. You are our lookout. Nothing—not a bird, not a leaf, not a ripple in the water—will approach us from behind without you seeing it first. The entire team's life could depend on your watchfulness."

Hinata swallowed hard, the immense gravity of her responsibility settling on her. She nodded, her knuckles white from how tightly she clenched her fists. "Understood."

"Naruto," Kakashi continued, his tone permitting no argument. "Your job is to protect Hinata. You will stay by her side; you will be her shadow. If anyone attacks our rear, you are the first and only line of defense. Your sole mission is to ensure that nothing and no one interrupts her vision. Don't get distracted. Don't attack on your own. Your objective is her. Understood?"

"Got it!" Naruto replied, his face a mask of seriousness. He looked at Hinata, and she saw a silent, fierce promise in his eyes. He would not fail.

"Sasuke, Sakura," Kurenai said, taking over. "You two will stick to Tazuna. One on each side. He is the primary target. You are his human shields. If a kunai flies toward him, you intercept it. If an enemy appears, you neutralize them. Do not leave his side under any circumstances, not for a second."

"My side," Sasuke said simply, glancing at Sakura.

"Understood," she replied, nodding. Their dynamic had changed in a matter of minutes. They were no longer an Uchiha and his admirer; they were two links in a defensive chain.

"Kiba, Akamaru," Kakashi ordered. "Your noses and ears are our first alert against non-chakra traps or threats hidden by scent or sound. You will cover the port flank, the left side of the boat. I want you to alert us to anything out of the ordinary: the smell of wet metal, the sound of a branch breaking on the shore, anything."

"Leave it to me and Akamaru!" Kiba barked, filled with renewed confidence. "Nothing's getting past us!" Akamaru yapped in agreement.

"Shino," Kurenai concluded, addressing the quietest member of the group. "Your kikaichū insects will scout ahead of us and to the starboard, the right flank. They will be our silent scouts, our first line of reconnaissance. I need you to keep one swarm underwater and another patrolling the fog ahead. Your control is critical."

Shino simply inclined his head in a nod. A low, audible buzz emanated from his collar, the silent confirmation that his insects were already receiving their orders.

The orders were given. The roles assigned. They were no longer two genin teams with their respective senseis. They were a combat unit with a clear mission and an unseen enemy waiting for them.

Twilight had stained the sky a deep violet by the time they reached the dock. It was little more than a rotting wooden pier jutting into the dark water. A silent old boatman waited for them in a small rowboat, a hooded, hunched figure who seemed a part of the mist rising lazily from the water.

The team prepared to board, the silence between them now one of shared focus, not discomfort. Each mentally reviewed their role, their position.

Hinata was the first to approach the shore, her white eyes already glowing with a pale lavender hue as she activated her Byakugan, scanning the mist that shrouded the opposite bank. Her face was pale, not from fear, but from the strain of keeping her dōjutsu active.

Naruto walked up and stood beside her, placing himself between her and the rest of the world. The loud energy that defined him was gone, replaced by a quiet, protective seriousness.

"Hey, Hinata," he said softly, just loud enough for her to hear.

She turned to look at him, her white eyes luminous in the growing darkness, the veins around her temples pronounced from using the Byakugan.

"Don't worry about anything else," he continued, his voice a firm, quiet vow. "Just focus on watching. I'm right behind you. I won't let anything get near you. I promise."

His promise wasn't a boast. It wasn't the brag of a boy trying to impress someone. It was an oath. Hinata looked at him, and a small but determined smile touched her lips. She didn't need words. She nodded once, a gesture that said it all: "I trust you."

One by one, they boarded the boat, taking their designated positions in a disciplined, practiced silence. Kiba and Akamaru crouched on the left side. Shino sat on the opposite side, still as a statue. Sasuke and Sakura flanked a visibly trembling Tazuna, their gazes constantly sweeping the banks. And in the stern, Hinata stood like a ghostly sentry, with Naruto at her back, her silent guardian. Kakashi and Kurenai positioned themselves at the bow, their postures hiding a predator's tension.

The boatman pushed off from the shore with his pole. The small vessel glided soundlessly over the dark water and into the thick, cold fog that blanketed the river, a small bastion of Konoha ninja heading toward an unknown danger. The mission, at last, had truly begun

Chapter Text

"Can't you make this thing go any faster?"

Tazuna's voice, rough with sake and fear, broke the silence that enveloped them in the fog.

"Sit down and be quiet, Tazuna-san," Kurenai's voice was soft, but it left no room for argument. "Noise travels over water."

"What noise? You can't even hear the damn crickets!" the bridge builder complained, clutching a bottle of sake to his chest. "I don't like this. I don't like it at all."

Sasuke, sitting back-to-back with Sakura, didn't move. "Did anyone expect you to?"

"A little optimism wouldn't hurt, Sasuke-kun," Sakura replied in a whisper, her gaze fixed on the white curtain to starboard.

"Optimism doesn't deflect a kunai," he answered, emotionless.

At the bow, Kiba knelt, sniffing the air with a grimace. At his feet, Akamaru let out a low whine, huddled and trembling.

"Easy, boy," Kiba murmured, stroking his dog's head. He turned to his sensei. "Kurenai-sensei, this stinks."

"What do you mean?" she asked, her attention never wavering from the fog.

"I don't know, but it's unnatural. The air is dead. It doesn't smell like anything, and that's what smells like a trap."

On the other side of the bow, Shino remained motionless. "My kikaichū confirm Kiba's observation. The air lacks the usual biological signatures. It is... sterile."

Meanwhile, at the stern, Naruto watched Hinata. She stood perfectly still, her Byakugan active. The veins around her temples bulged, betraying the effort she was making. She hadn't complained, hadn't said a word in almost an hour, but he could see the tension in the line of her shoulders, the way her knuckles were white where she gripped the side of the boat.

He took a step closer, lowering his voice so only she could hear. "Are you okay? You've been using it for a long time."

Hinata didn't turn, but her voice reached him, a whisper barely audible over the soft lapping of the oar. "I'm fine, Naruto-kun. It's just... this fog is filled with chakra. It's faint, but it's everywhere."

"Want me to take over? I can use a clone to..." he began to offer.

"No," she interrupted, her tone a little firmer. "Your clones don't have the Byakugan. I'm the only one who can see through this. It's my job."

Naruto scowled. He hated this. Hated feeling useless, hated watching her push herself to the limit. "Your job isn't to go blind. Rest for a minute, Hinata. Just one. I'll keep watch."

He felt, more than saw, a faint smile on her lips. "I appreciate your concern, Naruto-kun. I really do. But we can't risk it."

He sighed, frustrated. He didn't want to argue with her, not now. Instead, he stayed a little closer, right behind her. If anything came out of that fog, it would have to go through him to get to her. It was the only thing he could do.

In the center, Sakura felt a slight shift in Sasuke's posture. "What is it?" she whispered.

"The water," he answered, his voice barely a murmur. "The pattern of the waves isn't natural."

Sakura focused her chakra control. Slowly, she extended her senses from the boat into the water, probing the flow of chakra around them.

"You're right," she confirmed seconds later. "There's something in the water. Could they be traps?"

"Sensei," Shino's voice, though low, cut through the tense silence. All eyes turned to him.

"What is it, Shino?" asked Kakashi, speaking for the first time. He had been watching the boatman in silence, his relaxed posture hiding a deadly focus.

"My kikaichū," Shino continued, his tone as flat as ever, but with an underlying urgency no one missed. "The scouting party I sent out has stopped."

Kurenai tensed visibly. "Were they destroyed?"

"Negative. I have not felt their deaths," Shino explained. "They have simply ceased all movement. Their chakra connection to me is still active, but they are... immobilized."

The same instant Shino finished speaking, Hinata gasped.

"Chakra!" her voice was strangled with surprise and panic. "It's everywhere! Below us! It's a trap!"

The final word was the trigger.

The boat jerked to a halt so violently that it threw everyone forward. Tazuna fell on his rear with a choked cry. The soft splashing of the oar stopped. The silence that followed was absolute, unnatural.

"They've got us!" Kiba shouted, jumping to his feet.

The boatman, until then a hooded and silent figure, suddenly stood tall. With a fluid motion, he threw off his straw hat and ragged cloak, revealing the standard Kirigakure flak jacket and a grin full of rotten teeth. A kunai appeared in his hand.

"Die!" he roared, lunging for the easiest target: Tazuna.

The move was a thug's, fast for a civilian, but to the jōnin of Konoha, it seemed to happen in slow motion.

Before the kunai had even crossed half the distance, Kakashi was there. There was no puff of smoke, no flashy jutsu. Just a flicker of movement, a dull, wet thud, and the thug collapsed to the bottom of the boat, unconscious, his neck at an unnatural angle.

"A distraction," Kurenai said, her red eyes already scanning the fog.

She had barely spoken the word when the real attack came.

A sharp whistle cut the air from starboard. A volley of thin senbon needles, nearly invisible in the fog, shot directly at Tazuna's chest.

"Move!" Sasuke snarled.

He threw himself between the attack and the builder. His kunai deflected the needles with a series of sharp sparks. The ping-ping-ping of metal on metal was the only sound in the air.

At the same time, Sakura grabbed Tazuna by the collar of his shirt and yanked him to the wooden floor of the boat, shielding him with her own body.

"Down!" Hinata yelled from the stern.

A blade of wind, invisible but sharp, skimmed across the water's surface, aimed directly at their legs. Naruto reacted on pure instinct. Without thinking, he wrapped an arm around Hinata's waist and lifted her off the floor. The blade of wind whistled under them, carving a clean, deep gash into the side of the boat.

Naruto set her down, his heart pounding. "It almost cut you in half!"

"Thank you, Naruto-kun!" she said, her voice trembling with adrenaline.

"Kiba, your left!" Kurenai shouted.

But the warning came a split second too late. A chain with a sickle at the end shot out of the fog. It wrapped with brutal force around Kiba's ankle and pulled.

"Aaaargh! Dammit!" he yelled, being mercilessly dragged toward the edge.

Akamaru barked frantically, lunging to bite the chain, but his puppy teeth barely scratched it.

"He won't let go!" Shino exclaimed. "Kikaichū, to the chain!"

A dense swarm of his insects descended on the chain. They covered it completely, their combined weight making the grip unstable. From the fog, the unseen attacker was forced to release it to avoid being devoured.

Kurenai and Sasuke grabbed Kiba by the arms just as he was about to go overboard and hauled him back into the boat. He landed with a thud, coughing and clutching his bruised ankle.

The first assault was over. It had lasted less than ten seconds.

The silence returned, heavier and more threatening than before. They were unharmed, but the feeling of being trapped and watched by an invisible enemy was suffocating.

Naruto stood up, clenching his fists so hard his knuckles turned white. The initial shock had been replaced by a burning fury.

"That's it!" he roared, his voice echoing over the silent water. "I'm not just going to sit here and wait for us to be picked off one by one!"

"Naruto, wait!" Sakura warned him. "You don't know where he is! You'll just waste chakra!"

"Then I'll just have to find him!" he retorted, forming the hand seal they all knew so well. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A series of smoky explosions filled the already crowded boat, nearly sinking it. A dozen identical Narutos appeared, all with the same defiant look on their faces.

"Listen up!" the original Naruto ordered, pointing in all directions. "I want you to find that coward! Go!"

Without a hint of hesitation, the clones leaped from the boat. Some ran across the water's surface, others jumped toward the unseen shore, disappearing into the curtain of fog.

The silence returned once more. It lasted three seconds.

Then, the sounds began.

POOF!

Naruto flinched, receiving the memory of an incredibly sharp chakra thread slicing through his clone's neck.

"Threads!" he gasped. "He's using chakra threads!"

POOF!

Another memory assaulted him. Three senbon hitting a clone from three different directions at the same time as it jumped through the trees.

"He's using needles, too!" he reported, gritting his teeth.

POOF! POOF! POOF!

Three more clones running together along the shore were erased from existence by a blade of wind that cut them off at the knees.

With every clone that vanished, a piece of the puzzle returned to the original Naruto. A blurry image, the sensation of an attack, the approximate direction.

"He's in the trees... to the right," he said, pointing. "He's constantly moving. He's circling us."

"You're revealing our exact position with every clone that screams," Sasuke said coldly. "It's useless. You're just giving him more information."

"It's not useless!" Naruto snapped, turning to face him. "We know how he attacks! That's more than we had a minute ago!"

Just then, a voice broke the tension. It didn't belong to anyone on the team. It was calm, male, and seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, amplified by the fog.

"The fox boy is right," the voice said, with a tone of condescending amusement. "It isn't useless. It's a massive waste of energy... but it has saved me the trouble of hunting you down one by one. Thank you for confirming your position."

Kakashi and Kurenai stiffened. The voice was not what they expected.

"Let's see what we have here..." the voice continued. "The famous Kakashi of the Sharingan, though it seems you don't want to use your eye just yet. And Kurenai Yūhi, Konoha's genjutsu master. How impressive. They sent two of their top jōnin to protect a drunk old man."

There was a pause, heavy with a killing intent that felt like needles on the skin.

"Then there are the children. An Uchiha. How rare. I thought your clan was extinct. You have good reflexes, I'll give you that. But without your special eyes, you're just a boy with a kunai."

Sasuke clenched his jaw, his black eyes fixed on the fog, searching for the source of the voice.

"The dog boy," the voice went on, mockingly. "Impulsive, loud... Your dog is more dangerous than you are. And the insect user. Predictable. Always on the defensive. Boring."

Kiba growled, while Shino remained impassive.

The unseen voice paused, as if focusing its attention. "Then, the Hyūga girl. A Byakugan of surprising quality for your age. You try so hard, don't you? Poor little girl, your head must ache from trying. But your eyes won't do you any good if you don't know what you're looking for."

Hinata flinched as if the voice had physically touched her. Naruto took a protective step in front of her.

"And you," the voice said, clearly addressing Naruto. "A reckless idiot. All that power inside you and the only thing you can think to do is use it to throw copies of yourself to a certain death. What a waste of potential."

"And finally..." the voice drawled, savoring the moment. "...the pink-haired girl. Honestly, I don't even know who you are or what you're doing here. Moral support? The bait, perhaps?"

The insult hit Sakura with the force of a slap. She clenched her fists, her face flushing with anger and humiliation.

"A strangely unbalanced team," the voice concluded. "Too much raw firepower, not enough subtlety. But fascinating, nonetheless."

The silence returned. Kakashi exchanged a grim look with Kurenai. The truth was clear and cold.

"He wasn't trying to kill us," Kakashi whispered, low enough for only Kurenai to hear. "He was testing our defenses."

As if he'd heard the whisper, the hunter's voice echoed one last time, with a chilling finality.

"This has been an... interesting demonstration. Thank you for your cooperation."

With those final words, the pressure they had felt on the boat vanished. The chakra threads holding them captive went slack and dissolved into the water. The killing presence, that cold, calculating intent that had been watching them, faded completely.

They were left floating in the middle of the river, in the heart of a fog that suddenly felt empty and ordinary.

Tazuna let out a long, shaky breath. "Is... is he gone?"

No one answered right away. The team remained on high alert, scanning the fog, listening for the slightest sound. But there was nothing. Only the drip of water from the unconscious boatman's oar.

"I think so," Kurenai finally said, her face pale in the diffuse light. "That fighting style... precise, based on traps, remote analysis. It doesn't belong to any assassin I recognize."

"No," Kakashi confirmed, his single visible eye narrowing as he looked toward the shore. The fog was beginning to dissipate slowly, revealing the dark silhouettes of the trees. "This is the work of someone who isn't looking for a direct fight."

He looked at his team. The genin's faces were pale, a mixture of relief, fear, and rage.

"Listen up, everyone," Kakashi said, his voice regaining its leader's firmness. "This changes things. The mission has just gone from Rank C to, at a minimum, Rank A. We could even be looking at Rank S. We're not facing some random ninja. Gatō has hired an expert in traps. A butcher for his dirty work."

He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in.

"We just fell into the first of those traps. And worst of all," he concluded, his gaze sweeping over his students' faces, "we've revealed some of our abilities to him."

The boat began to move again, propelled by a gentle wind jutsu from Kakashi.

Chapter Text

"Is that the shore?"

Sakura's voice, barely a whisper, broke the still air.

"There it is. The Land of Waves," said Kakashi, guiding the boat with a Wind Style Jutsu.

The boat's keel scraped against the gravel with a harsh sound that made everyone tense up. They had arrived. The shore wasn't a beach, but a strip of black sand and slick rocks. A forest of twisted trees rose just behind it, their gnarled roots clinging to the earth like claws. The fog swirled around the ground, cold against their ankles.

"I don't like this place," Kiba muttered, as Akamaru let out a low growl from inside his jacket.

"It's the humidity," said Shino, his voice as monotonous as ever. "And the lack of active insect sounds. It's abnormal; it suggests the presence of a predator."

"Thanks for the tip, Shino," Kiba retorted sarcastically. "I feel so much better."

Kakashi said nothing. He was the first to leap onto the shore, landing without a sound. His single visible eye scanned the surroundings, pausing on every shadow, every twisted branch. He didn't relax. No one did. Sasuke followed him, his hand near his kunai pouch, his eyes fixed on the darkness of the forest.

"Landing formation," Kakashi ordered, his voice low and calm, but with an edge of steel. "Kiba, right flank. Shino, left. Sasuke, with me."

They moved with an efficiency learned the hard way. Kurenai helped Tazuna get off the boat. The bridge builder stumbled as he hit the sand, his legs trembling too much to support him.

"They almost... they almost killed us," he stammered, his gaze lost on the water.

"But they didn't," Kurenai said firmly, though she gave him a reassuring look. "And they won't. We're here to protect you."

Sakura and Hinata were the last to get off, covering the rear. Naruto landed beside them, his knuckles still white from how tightly he had been gripping his weapon.

"Clear," Kakashi finally announced, breaking the tense silence. "For now." He nodded toward a small, rocky cove a few yards away. "There. It'll give us cover."

The hollow in the rocks was damp, but it protected them on three sides. However, the feeling of being watched didn't go away. They knew the enemy had let them go. And that's what frayed their nerves the most.

Sakura, moving on pure instinct, knelt beside Tazuna and pulled a small roll of bandages from her pouch.

"Are you hurt, Tazuna-san?" she asked, more to keep her hands busy than anything else.

"Hurt? I'm about to have a heart attack!" the old man complained, though he let the girl check his arms. "You're supposed to be elite ninja! We almost ended up at the bottom of the river!"

"And yet, here we are, on solid ground," Kakashi intervened calmly, without taking his eyes off the forest. "The mission continues."

Sasuke had already climbed to the highest rock. Hinata, despite the clear exhaustion on her face, activated her Byakugan again. Her white eyes, veined and tense, methodically scanned the surroundings. Kurenai approached her.

"Hinata, how are you on chakra?" she asked in a low voice.

"I can keep going, Kurenai-sensei," Hinata replied, her voice steady despite the trembling in her hands. "I don't detect anyone within a five-hundred-meter radius. Just... a lot of trees."

"Good. Rest when you can," her teacher instructed before turning. Her eyes landed on Naruto, who was standing by Hinata, watching her back. Her expression was that of a sensei about to teach a lesson.

"Naruto. We need to talk."

Naruto turned around, his usual smile absent. "Yes, Kurenai-sensei?"

The rest of the group fell silent. Sakura stopped bandaging a non-existent wound on Tazuna's arm. Kiba sat down and scratched Akamaru's ears, but his attention was fixed on the conversation. Even Sasuke seemed to tilt his head from his perch.

"I understand what you felt on the boat," Kurenai began, her voice calm but leaving no room for argument. "The rage, the helplessness. The need to do something, anything. I get it. But what you did was stupid."

Naruto didn't blink.

"You launched a blind attack, wasting a huge amount of chakra with no chance of hitting anything," she continued, her tone hardening, that of a teacher who cannot afford mistakes from her students. "Not only that, you showed the enemy one of your best cards: the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu. You gave him free information. You let him analyze your fighting style, your chakra level, your temperament. It was a rookie mistake, Naruto. And on a mission like this, rookie mistakes get people killed. I need you to understand the gravity of what you did."

Kurenai finished, expecting an outburst. She expected him to yell, to defend himself, to make excuses. But Naruto remained silent, listening to every word with a seriousness that was unusual for him. When she was done, a small, strange smile appeared on his lips. It wasn't a smile of joy. It was a cunning smile.

"Heh. Did you really think that was my plan, Kurenai-sensei?"

The question, so calm and unexpected, left Kurenai speechless. The air seemed to freeze.

"Explain yourself," she finally managed to say.

Naruto looked around, making sure he had everyone's attention. He saw the confusion and reproach on Sakura's face. He saw Sasuke's cold indifference, though he was now looking directly at him. He saw the unwavering faith in Hinata's eyes, and that gave him strength. He took a deep breath, and when he spoke, his voice was completely different. It was stripped of all his usual clumsiness.

"The first trap," he began, "the one that almost caught Sakura-chan, was in the water. It was a chakra thread, right? It was triggered when something pulled on it."

He looked at Kakashi, who had been watching everything from a distance. The jōnin nodded slowly, encouraging him to continue.

"Correct."

"This ninja attacking us is a trap specialist, isn't he?" Naruto continued. "He's not an amateur. He's not just going to set one trap and call it a day; that would be stupid. It was obvious the whole path between our boat and the shore would be filled with more threads like that."

Kurenai blinked. She was beginning to see where he was going, but her mind refused to accept it. It was too far-fetched.

"We couldn't stay on the boat," Naruto reasoned, his logic simple and brutal. "We were a sitting duck, a floating death trap. We had to get to the shore, and fast, before the guy with the weird voice got bored and sank us. But the path to the shore was also a minefield. So what could we do?"

He paused, letting the question hang in the air.

"If we sent a single person to scout, like Kiba with his sense of smell or Shino with his insects, and that person triggered a trap... we'd lose them. It was too high a risk; we couldn't sacrifice anyone." Naruto clenched his fist. "But... I can make clones, hundreds of them, and mine are different. They're solid, but they're expendable. If one of them blows up, nothing happens to me. I just lose a little chakra, and I can make more."

A slow, astonished understanding began to dawn on Kakashi's and Kurenai's faces. Sakura brought a hand to her mouth.

"My real plan," Naruto said, the cunning smile returning to his face, wider this time, "wasn't to find the ninja hiding in the fog. That was a distraction! The show! The magic trick to keep the enemy busy!"

He extended an arm, pointing to the path they had taken across the river.

"My real plan was to use my clones as a human minesweeper. A living trap detector."

His voice filled with confidence as he revealed his strategy.

"Every clone that jumped into the water and ran without anything exploding told me that stretch of the river was safe. I had them advance in a sweeping pattern, covering the entire space between the boat and this cove. While the enemy was laughing at my clones, thinking, 'What an idiot, he's attacking blindly,' I was mapping a safe path for us. The attack wasn't for him. It was for you. To make sure you all got to the shore in one piece."

The silence that followed was total, broken only by the soft lapping of the waves against the black sand.

Kurenai stared at him, her mask of severity completely shattered, replaced by an astonishment so deep she couldn't speak. This boy... this loudmouthed idiot... he used his own reputation as a weapon. He created a diversion based on what everyone, including the enemy, expected of him. He pretended to be an impulsive fool to execute a tactical protective maneuver...

Kakashi, who had been pretending to clean a kunai, slowly lowered the weapon. His single eye was wide open, fixed on Naruto with a light of respect no one had ever seen in it before. He had been wrong. He had grossly underestimated the boy. He wasn't a simple-minded loudmouth; he was far more cunning than anyone had given him credit for.

Sakura and Sasuke, who had heard every word, were just as shocked.

"So..." Sakura whispered, looking at him as if seeing him for the first time. "All that yelling... 'Come out, you coward!'... All of that was...?"

"An act," Naruto finished, smiling. "It had to be convincing, didn't it?"

Sakura's perception of him shattered in that instant. The boy she had always considered a burden, the one who needed the simplest plans explained to him, had just orchestrated a multi-layered strategy that had saved their lives. The idea that behind his outrageous facade was a mind that worked in such a bizarre and brilliant way was... overwhelming.

From his rock, Sasuke felt a surge of icy fury. Not at Naruto, but at himself. He, the Uchiha genius, the best in his class, hadn't seen it. He had been so focused on the enemy's power, on the humiliation of being trapped, that he had completely missed the brilliance of the maneuver the "idiot" was executing right under his nose. The realization that Naruto was not only strong but also undeniably craftier in that situation was a direct blow to his pride, more painful than any physical attack.

He jumped down from the rock, landing softly on the sand. He walked toward the group, his steps slow and deliberate. For a moment, Sakura thought he was going to hit Naruto. Instead, he stopped in front of him.

"So you're not a total idiot," Sasuke said, his voice a low, resentful murmur. It wasn't a compliment, but coming from him, it was the greatest acknowledgment Naruto had ever received.

Naruto just shrugged, his smile becoming a little more genuine. "Sometimes you have to think like an idiot to win."

Kurenai was the first to find her voice. A warm, proud smile lit up her face.

"Naruto," she said, her tone filled with a completely new respect. "That was... one of the most brilliant and selfless disinformation tactics I have ever seen. Not from a genin, but from any ninja. You used the enemy's perception of you against them and prioritized the team's safety above all else. That's incredible growth. Not just as a shinobi, but as a leader."

Kakashi walked over, standing beside his colleague. "Kurenai's right. You used your own reputation as camouflage. That's a jōnin-level tactic, Naruto. Deceiving your enemy is one thing. Deceiving your own comrades to protect them... that's another level."

The double praise, so direct and sincere, made Naruto blush to the tips of his ears. He scratched the back of his neck, reverting to his usual demeanor.

"Well, you know! I had to make sure we all got here safely! Someone has to use their head around here!" he declared, puffing out his chest. "And the best part is, the guy in the mist bought it completely! Right now he must be thinking, 'I'm so lucky, I'm up against a team with a clown!' Making him underestimate us was part of the plan! It was a perfect plan, believe it!"

His childish joy broke the remaining tension. Kiba burst out laughing.

"No way!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "You, the king of idiots, had it all planned out! Akamaru, can you believe it?!"

The dog barked happily, as if sharing his owner's surprise.

Shino adjusted his glasses. "An illogical strategy to counter an enemy who relies on predictable logic. Forcing him to analyze a meaningless variable while the real plan was executed unseen. Fascinating. Though a great expenditure of chakra."

"Chakra comes back! My friends' lives don't!" Naruto retorted fervently.

Hinata, who had never doubted him, looked at him with an admiration so intense she had to look down, her cheeks flushing. He's not just brave and kind, she thought to herself. He's... brilliant. In his own unique way.

The group's dynamic had changed forever in the span of five minutes.

Kakashi cleared his throat, taking command again. "Alright, team. Thanks to Naruto's strategy, we've reached the shore. But the mission is just beginning. From here on out, we're on his turf. Kurenai, you and I take the lead. Tazuna, in the center. Teams 7 and 8, diamond formation around him. Stay alert. And don't underestimate anything."

He paused, and his final gaze rested on Naruto, lingering there a second longer than normal.

"Especially... each other."

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Sunlight slipped through the window of the Hokage's office, illuminating Hiruzen Sarutobi's weary face. The usual clutter of scrolls and documents had been replaced by an almost ceremonial order. Today was not a day for jutsus, but for politics—a battle fought with ink and seals.

Across from him, seated with a stiffness that betrayed the tension, were his two advisors and former teammates, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane. On the Hokage's desk, a blank, high-quality scroll waited.

"Are you completely sure about this, Hiruzen?" Koharu's voice was the first to cut the silence. "Inviting Sunagakure to co-host the Chūnin Exams, here, in our home... it's a risk I'm not sure we should take."

"She's right," Homura added with his usual pragmatism. "Their military power has dwindled drastically in recent years. A cornered village is dangerous, unpredictable. They might see any gesture as an offense or, worse, as an opportunity."

"And let's not forget the Feudal Lord," Koharu continued, leaning slightly on the desk. "He's already unhappy with our military spending. If we take on the financial burden of hosting a full delegation from Suna—not just the genin, but their jōnin and diplomats—he'll interpret it as a provocation or a waste. He'll cut our funding."

"Security is another point," Homura insisted. "Our ANBU are already stretched thin with border patrols. Opening the gates like that is an invitation for infiltration. How many spies do you think will try to slip in, posing as merchants or assistants?"

Hiruzen took a long drag from his pipe, letting the smoke fill his lungs before exhaling slowly.

"We must invest in peace, my old friends, not see it as a simple expense," he said with a calm that contrasted with his advisors' sharpness. "And sometimes, the most profitable investments are the ones that seem riskiest."

He placed the pipe in the ashtray and looked at them directly.

"The Fourth Kazekage is a proud man, I know. Proud to the point of stubbornness. But he isn't stupid. His village is suffering. The Feudal Lord of the Wind has systematically cut their budget. They need to demonstrate their strength, to prove they are still relevant. They need this alliance as much as we need stability on our southern border."

"And you think an exam will solve that?" Koharu replied, skeptical.

"No, but it's a start," Hiruzen answered. "Treating them as equals, instead of as an impoverished neighbor to be watched over, is what will strengthen our ties. Not for us, but for the next generation. Theirs and ours."

His gaze drifted to the window, watching the rooftops of Konoha. He thought about how Team 7 and Team 8, despite their differences, had worked together to finish their assignments ahead of schedule. He thought of Naruto's determination, Sakura's intelligence, Sasuke's undeniable talent, and Hinata's quiet but firm strength. They were living proof that the future could be different.

"Our generation knew war," he murmured, almost to himself. "Too many wars. If we do this right, if we play our cards intelligently and with a little generosity, perhaps theirs can know a lasting peace."

Silence settled again, but this time it was different. It was the silence of deliberation. Hiruzen's logic, as it had so many times before, was hard to refute, as it stemmed from a genuine hope anchored in political reality.

"Prepare the invitation, then," Koharu finally conceded, though her tone remained stern. "But I insist that the ANBU double the surveillance at all entrances to the village, starting today. And I want a daily report on every foreigner who crosses our gates."

"It will be done," Hiruzen nodded. He took the brush, dipped it in the inkwell, and his hand glided across the scroll. Each stroke was both elegant and firm, an extension of his own will. It wasn't just a letter; it was a political gesture, an offer sent across the desert with the hope it would be accepted.

"To my esteemed colleague, the Fourth Kazekage of the Village Hidden in the Sand," he wrote. "With the arrival of a new season, a new generation of shinobi also arrives, full of promise and potential. It is in the spirit of fostering these new talents and reaffirming the bonds that unite our two great villages that I have the honor of formally inviting Sunagakure to participate in and co-organize the upcoming Chūnin Promotion Exams, to be held this year in Konohagakure..."

As he wrote, he couldn't help but think of Rasa. A difficult man, consumed by the pressure of leading a village on the brink of collapse. I hope this amounts to something, my old friend, he thought. He had no way of knowing that the man to whom he directed his hopes had already been killed.

*****

The wind howled in Sunagakure, striking the Kazekage's Tower with gusts of sand. Inside, the office was plunged into a gloom barely broken by the flicker of a few oil lamps. Shadows stretched and danced on the clay walls.

Orochimaru, wearing the face and robes of Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, stood by the window, watching the storm. Beside him, Baki remained silent. The official story was that he had been injured in an ambush by Iwagakure ninja—an ambush in which the Kazekage had demonstrated a power and cruelty few had ever seen from him before. Since that day, his Kage had changed. He was more direct, more eloquent. And strangely, colder.

"Any news on the patrols on the border with the Land of Rivers, Baki?" Orochimaru asked, perfectly mimicking Rasa's harsh, guttural tone.

"None, Lord Kazekage. All is calm. Too calm, if you ask me."

"The calm precedes the storm. Or the drought," Orochimaru replied with a flourish that made Baki frown for a split second. The real Rasa would have grumbled something about weakness and complacency. He wouldn't have gotten poetic.

At that moment, a Suna chūnin entered, bowed so low his forehead nearly touched the floor, and held out a scroll bearing the unmistakable seal of Konoha.

"Lord Kazekage. An urgent missive has arrived from the Hokage."

Orochimaru turned with theatrical slowness.

"From the Hokage?" he murmured. "What does the old monkey want now? Bring it here."

He took the scroll. He could feel the faint trace of Hiruzen's chakra embedded in the seal, a familiar warmth that turned his stomach. He broke the wax seal without a second thought and unrolled the paper, his eyes scanning his former master's calligraphy.

As he read, his face displayed a sequence of perfectly acted emotions: first surprise, then consideration, and finally, a smile of satisfaction.

"Baki," he said, looking up. "It seems the Hokage has grown generous in his old age. He honors us with an invitation to participate in the Chūnin Exams. In Konoha."

Baki blinked, genuinely surprised. "In Konoha? But the location was supposed to rotate this year. It was our turn, or Kiri's..."

"Times change," Orochimaru interrupted, enjoying the irony. "Old man Sarutobi is trying to buy our loyalty with hospitality. A gesture of goodwill to strengthen the alliance. He thinks that if he treats us as equals, we'll forget they've been looking down on us for years."

What a sentimental fool, Orochimaru thought, as a cold, serpentine smile that didn't belong to Rasa at all stirred within him. He still believes that trust and friendship are the foundations of power. He doesn't understand they are merely cracks to slither through to bring the whole building down. This invitation is the key to his house.

His true plan went far beyond simple destruction. Destruction was the noise, the distraction. The real prize was Sasuke Uchiha. The exams were the perfect stage. A testing ground designed to push genin to their limits, to break their confidence and expose their weaknesses, to make them yearn for a power their masters would never give them.

The fool Rasa thought his little monster, Gaara, was his trump card, he reflected with disdain. He's merely the opening act. The real show will be watching Sasuke-kun's Sharingan awaken in the midst of despair, and his inevitable fall into my arms when he realizes Konoha can't give him what he needs.

"Lord Kazekage," Baki said, his voice pulling him from his thoughts. "You... seem pleased. You've always said the joint exams were a diplomatic farce."

Orochimaru let out a dry laugh. "An ambush makes you reconsider many things, Baki. Perhaps I have been too... rigid. A strong alliance with Konoha could be beneficial. Their economy is strong. We could renegotiate the terms of our joint missions."

Baki nodded, but his unease didn't fade. The Kazekage spoke of economics and diplomacy with a fluency he'd never had before. The ambush hadn't just changed him. It seemed to have turned him into someone else. He shook his head, dismissing the thought as an unforgivable betrayal.

"Prepare a response," Orochimaru ordered a scribe waiting in a corner. "We will accept the Hokage's generous offer with the deepest gratitude. Express our most sincere wish that these exams serve to strengthen our unwavering alliance and lead us to a future of mutual prosperity for both our villages."

As the scribe hurried to carry out the order, Orochimaru turned back to the sandstorm. Your prosperity will be my feast, sensei, he sneered inwardly.

Once the Konoha messenger departed with the reply, Orochimaru was left alone in the gloom. He approached a large map of the shinobi world hanging on the wall and placed a finger on the symbol of the Leaf.

"Soon, sensei," he whispered to the empty room. "Soon we will have our reunion. And I will show you everything I have learned since I left your nest."

****

In an underground training field, hidden deep in the desert, the only sound was the occasional drip of water. Three figures knelt on the stone floor, their faces turned toward the silhouette pacing before them.

"The Chūnin Exams will be held in Konoha," Orochimaru's voice, now his own—hissing and devoid of any warmth—echoed in the cavern. "You will enter as genin from my Village of the Sound, with the official blessing of the 'Kazekage.' No one will suspect a thing."

Dosu, Zaku, and Kin remained motionless.

"Zaku. What is your purpose in these exams?" Orochimaru asked, stopping in front of the youth with the modified arms.

"To demonstrate the power of the Village of the Sound, Lord Orochimaru. And to win," Zaku answered with forced confidence.

Orochimaru smiled. "Almost. Your primary objective is to survive. The secondary is to display our power. But there is a third objective, one much more... delicate."

He continued his slow walk, his steps barely making a sound on the stone. "I want the world to see the dawn of a new power. I want them to feel our poison in their veins. But your true mission concerns a single individual."

He stopped again, and his gaze fell upon the three of them, making them shudder.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

The name hung in the cold air.

"You will find him. He is the last 'loyal' Uchiha of the Leaf. Unmistakable. He wears the weight of his massacred clan like a cloak." He paused. "You are not to kill him," he continued, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Under any circumstances. Nor are you to gravely injure him. Your mission is much simpler, and yet, far more complex."

He leaned in, his serpentine face inches from Dosu's. "Your mission is to break him."

Kin and Zaku exchanged a confused glance over Dosu's bowed head.

"Break him, Lord Orochimaru?" Kin dared to ask.

"Precisely," Orochimaru hissed, straightening up. "In every phase of the exam, at every opportunity you get, I want you to attack him. I want you to humiliate him. Corner his team."

His voice grew more intense, more passionate.

"I want you to make him doubt his own strength. To doubt the loyalty of his teammates. To question why his master teaches him team tricks instead of killing techniques. Thwart his ninja way at every turn."

He stopped in front of a wooden chest, opened it, pulled out a file, and threw it on the ground before them. It fell open, revealing a portrait of Sasuke, his expression serious and defiant.

"Instill in his mind the idea that the power he seeks—the power to avenge his family—cannot be found in the pathetic light of Konoha's Will of Fire. Make him understand that his friends make him weak, that his village is a cage limiting his potential."

He crouched again, his gaze fixed on Sasuke's photo.

"Make him yearn for darkness. Make him crave it like a thirsty man craves water in this desert. When he is at his lowest point—alone, frustrated, and desperate for power... I will be the only way out he sees. And he will be mine."

He stood up, his silhouette framed against the light of a lone torch.

"That is your true mission. The destruction of Konoha is the stage. The Uchiha is the prize. Do not fail. The consequences of your failure would be... most unpleasant."

The three Sound genin bowed their heads in unison, cold sweat running down their backs.

"As you command, Lord Orochimaru."

Orochimaru smiled. His gaze seemed to pierce through the tons of rock and sand above them, traveling across the desert, to that green village he so hated and so desired to possess.

The hunt, he thought. It's about to begin.

Chapter Text

"Thank you for the meal."

Kurenai's voice tried to cut through the silence that had settled over the table, but it wasn't enough. The only replies were the sound of chopsticks against bowls and the rain that had begun to gently patter on the roof.

Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, forced a smile. "It's not much, but it's what we have."

"It's good," Kiba said, chewing a piece of dried fish more loudly than necessary. Akamaru, peeking out from his jacket, gave a small bark of agreement. "Right, Akamaru? Though a little meat wouldn't hurt."

"Kiba," Kurenai warned in a low voice.

"What? I'm just telling the truth," he defended himself, though he lowered his voice.

Tsunami shook her head, her smile a bit more genuine now, though tinged with sadness. "With Gatō controlling the port, getting anything we don't pull from the sea is nearly impossible. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for," Hinata intervened, her voice soft, barely a whisper. "It's delicious, Tsunami-san."

Meanwhile, Naruto wasn't eating. He pushed a piece of fish around in his rice porridge, his gaze fixed on Inari. The boy hadn't even touched his breakfast. His face was blank, his eyes fixed on the wood of the table, vacant. That look reminded him too much of the nights in his apartment when silence was his only companion. It was a loneliness he recognized, and it tied his stomach in a knot.

Kakashi, who hadn't said a word either, placed his chopsticks on his empty bowl with a soft but definitive click that drew everyone's attention. His single visible eye settled on the bridge builder.

"Tazuna-san, after breakfast, I need a complete blueprint of the bridge. I also need a detailed report on Gatō's men. Patrol routes, number of effectives, if they have any ninja among them, and if so, what you know of their abilities."

Tazuna nodded, exhaustion etched onto his face. "I have the blueprints in my workshop. As for Gatō's men... I don't know much. They move in groups, intimidate people. They're thugs, but some of them... they move differently. They're not from around here."

"Rogue ninja," Kurenai murmured, more to herself than to the others.

"Exactly," Kakashi confirmed. "Therefore, we've decided to split the squad. Kurenai and I believe it's the best way to proceed."

Naruto looked up, interested for the first time.

Kakashi continued, his tone practical and direct. "I will lead the main escort team. Sasuke and Sakura will come with me. Our priority will be to protect Tazuna at the construction site. He is the primary target, and it's where we expect the most direct attack."

Sasuke made a faint sound of approval, his dark eyes glinting with anticipation. Sakura, sitting beside him, nodded with determination.

"And what about us?" Naruto blurted out, pointing to himself and the others. "Are we staying here to knit?"

"You, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino will form the support and home protection team, under Kurenai's command," Kakashi explained, unfazed by the interruption. "Your mission is twofold and no less important."

"'Home protection'?" Kiba repeated with a smirk. "Sounds like we're going to be babysitters."

"Your first task is to secure this house," Kurenai interjected, her firm voice making it clear there was no room for argument. "Tsunami and Inari are the leverage Gatō could use against Tazuna. They are as important as the bridge itself. We can't let anything happen to them. Understood?"

Kiba grumbled but nodded.

"Your second task," Kakashi continued, looking directly at Naruto, "is reconnaissance and intelligence. The village is terrified. We need to know why. We need to understand Gatō's control from the inside. Talk to people, observe the patrols, look for anything out of the ordinary. You are our eyes and ears in the town. The information you gather could be the key to winning this without anyone else getting hurt."

The explanation seemed to placate Naruto, though his frown didn't completely disappear. The idea of being "eyes and ears" sounded more important than being "babysitters."

"Do not underestimate your role," Kakashi concluded, his gaze sweeping over each member of Kurenai's team. "A surprise attack on the rear guard can destroy an entire operation. Your job is to make sure that doesn't happen."

Breakfast ended on that solemn note. As Kakashi's team prepared to leave with Tazuna, Naruto glanced at Inari again. The boy was still in the same position, withdrawn, drowned in a silence that Naruto was beginning to hate more than any enemy he had ever faced.

The village greeted them with an oppressive stillness. The fog enveloped everything, muffling sounds and desaturating colors. It wasn't a stealth mission, but the silence of the villagers made it one. The streets, flanked by wooden houses weathered by salt, were nearly empty.

"This is depressing," Kiba muttered, adjusting his hood. Akamaru let out a low whine from inside his jacket.

"No," Shino corrected in his monotonous voice. "It's fear."

Naruto clenched his fists. "Stop talking like this is a nature documentary! They're people! Look at them!"

He pointed to an old fisherman mending a net with clumsy, trembling hands. His fingers were covered in scars and the thread he used was frayed. When he saw the ninja approaching, his face contorted into a mask of panic. He hastily gathered his net and practically ran to his house, slamming the door shut.

Kurenai sighed, a cloud of vapor escaping her lips. "I'll try."

She approached a woman sweeping her porch with slow, resigned movements. Her back was hunched, not just from age, but from an invisible weight that was crushing her.

"Good morning," Kurenai said with her kindest smile. "We're just passing through. We were wondering if you could tell us where to find the market."

The woman looked up. Her eyes, sunken and lifeless, widened when she saw the Konoha protector on Kurenai's forehead. Panic paralyzed her for a second. She dropped the broom, which clattered in the street's silence, and scrambled into her house, slamming the door even harder than the fisherman had.

"Wow, you're really popular, Kurenai-sensei," Kiba joked, though there was no humor in his voice.

"It's not us they fear," Hinata said quietly, activating her Byakugan for a moment, her pearl-like eyes scanning the surroundings. Her shoulders slumped slightly. "They're watching. From the windows. Behind the curtains. They see us... and then they hide."

"They fear the consequences of being seen talking with us," Shino analyzed. "Gatō has established a system of control based on punishment by association. It is a classic and effective tactic of psychological oppression."

"I don't care if it's effective!" Naruto exploded, unable to hold back any longer. He stepped ahead of the group and stood in the middle of the empty street. "Hey, everyone!" he shouted, his voice echoing in the fog. "We're from Konoha! We're here to help! You don't have to be afraid!"

His only answer was the sound of several windows shutting in unison. A gust of wind rolled a dry leaf down the street. The silence that followed was more resounding than any scream.

Naruto stood there, fists clenched and shoulders slumped. Frustration burned inside him. He had imagined spectacular fights, powerful enemies, a chance to prove his worth. He never thought his first great challenge would be a wall of silence, an entire village that had already given up.

"Naruto, let's go," Kurenai said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Shouting isn't going to solve anything."

"Then what will?" he retorted, turning to face her. "How are we supposed to help people who don't want to be helped?"

Kurenai had no answer. She just squeezed his shoulder tighter and led her team back to Tazuna's house as the fog swallowed the sound of their footsteps.

That night, the storm that had been brewing at sea finally broke. The wind howled and the rain beat against the roof of the house. Inside, the atmosphere was no less stormy. Kakashi's team had returned, soaked and covered in mud. Their day had been tense, filled with hostile glares from the other workers and the constant feeling of being watched.

Now, everyone was gathered in the main room, sitting around a crackling fire that cast dancing shadows on their faces. The only sound, apart from the storm and the fire, was the occasional gurgle from Tazuna's sake bottle.

Naruto couldn't sit still. He stood up and began to pace, his pent-up energy about to burst. Every glance at Tazuna's defeated face, every glimpse of the dark corner where Inari had curled up, fueled his anger.

"I don't get it," he snapped suddenly, stopping his pacing. "Why doesn't anyone do anything? Why do they just sit around waiting for Gatō to crush them?"

"It's not that simple, kid," Tazuna answered in a hoarse voice, not looking up from his bottle.

"Yes, it is!" Naruto shot back. "You fight! You resist! You don't give up and let yourself be trampled! That's what ninja do! That's what men do!"

Inari, from his corner, let out a snort of contempt, a small but venom-laced sound.

It was the last straw.

Naruto stood before Tazuna, his blue eyes burning in the firelight. The movement was so abrupt it made Sakura jump and Hinata hold her breath.

"That's enough, old man!" he yelled, his voice competing with the roar of the wind. "You lied to get us here! We were almost killed when we arrived! We've risked our lives! And in return, your grandson tells us we're already dead and your village treats us like we have the plague! We need to know why! Why has everyone given up? What the hell did Gatō do to you to leave you all so... broken?"

The silence that followed was heavy. Kakashi watched the scene over the top of his book. Kurenai looked like she was about to intervene, but something in Tazuna's gaze stopped her.

The old builder looked up. His eyes were red, not just from the alcohol, but from a pain so deep it had eaten him away from the inside. He looked at Naruto, a boy full of fire and rage, and then his gaze shifted to his grandson, a small, trembling figure in the darkness.

"Sit down, kid," Tazuna said, his voice now a ragged, broken whisper. "And I'll tell you a story. Not about ninja or great battles. The story of a hero... and how they drowned him."

Naruto hesitated, the fury still boiling inside him. But a serious, expectant look from Kurenai told him to obey. He sat down reluctantly, crossing his legs on the tatami. An expectant silence fell over the room, broken only by the crackling fire and the roar of the storm.

"A few years ago," Tazuna began, his gaze lost in the flames, "this town wasn't an empty shell. We were poor, we've always been poor. But we weren't broken. There was laughter in the streets. The fishermen would sing on their way home. We helped each other. If a family's roof broke, we all helped fix it. If someone got sick, we shared our food. We were a community."

He took a long swig of sake, the liquid seeming to give him the courage to continue.

"And we had someone who reminded us every day why it was worth fighting. His name was Kaiza."

At the name, Inari shrank even further, trying to disappear into the shadows. Tsunami, sitting beside him, placed a hand on his back, a futile gesture of comfort against such immense pain.

"He wasn't from here," Tazuna continued. "He washed up on our shore, a castaway. We could have ignored him, but we didn't. We took him in. And he... he paid us back tenfold. He was just a fisherman, he didn't know any jutsu or wield a katana. But he had an indomitable spirit, one that wouldn't bend to anything."

A small, sad smile touched his lips. "He stayed. Became one of us. He fell in love with Tsunami... and he became the father Inari never had. The boy's real father..."

He sighed, the sound heavy with regret. "Inari idolized him. Followed him everywhere, never leaving his side. And Kaiza... Kaiza taught him how to be brave. I remember once, some older kids took Inari's toy. Inari came back crying, and Kaiza knelt in front of him and said, 'It's okay to cry, Inari. It shows you care. But a real man isn't one who doesn't cry. He's the one who dries his tears and keeps fighting to protect what he loves.'"

Naruto glanced at Inari. He saw the almost imperceptible tremor in the boy's small shoulders.

"When Gatō first arrived," Tazuna's voice darkened, losing any trace of warmth, "he didn't come with an army. He came with bags of money and a fake smile. He started buying up businesses, taking control of the shipping lanes. He offered ridiculous prices. Those who refused to sell suddenly had 'accidents.' Their boats would turn up with holes in them. Their nets, slashed. People started to whisper. Fear began to spread through the streets."

"It was Kaiza who stood up. The first one. The only one, at first. When Gatō's thugs came to threaten a family into giving up their shop, he stood in their way. He didn't use ninjutsu. He used his fists and a will of iron. There were three of them, and one of him. But he threw them out of town. That day, he reminded us what it meant to have courage. He became our hero. People started to follow him. We started to resist. We started to dream again. The idea to build the bridge was his. 'It will be our path to the future,' he'd say. 'A way to connect with the world and free ourselves from Gatō.' He was our symbol of hope."

The story stopped abruptly. Tazuna drained the sake bottle in one go. The only sound was the incessant drumming of the rain.

"What happened?" Sakura asked in a low voice, almost afraid of the answer.

Tazuna closed his eyes. The pain on his face was so raw it was hard to look at. "Gatō realized that fear wasn't enough to break us as long as we had Kaiza. So he decided to make an example of him. An example no one would ever forget. He brought more men. This time, he brought ninja."

His voice cracked, and he had to stop to take a breath. "They captured him. They didn't hide. They did it in broad daylight."

"They took him to the town square," he continued, his voice now a rough, broken whisper. "And they forced all of us out of our houses to watch. The men, the women, the children..." His gaze locked onto the corner where Inari sat. "They tied him to a post and they... they executed him. Publicly."

Sakura brought a hand to her mouth, a choked gasp caught in her throat. Hinata no longer tried to hide her tears; they ran freely down her cheeks, glistening in the firelight. Sasuke, who had been staring into the flames with apparent indifference, looked up. His expression had transformed into a mask of terrible, icy intensity. The story of a father figure, a protector, publicly executed for defending his people... it wasn't a story. It was a brutal reminder of the night that had destroyed everything for him. His fist, hidden beneath the table, clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.

"They killed him in the cruelest way possible," Tazuna went on, every word a torment. "They wanted the message to be clear: 'This is what happens to heroes.' And it worked. That day, Gatō didn't just kill a man. He killed the hope of an entire village. Kaiza's spirit died with him in that square. And the Inari we knew... the brave, cheerful boy who followed his father everywhere... he died that day, too."

Now they all understood. The silence. The fear. The empty eyes. The soul of an entire town, murdered in cold blood.

Inari, who had listened to the whole story trembling in silence, couldn't take it anymore. He shot to his feet, his small fists clenched, his face soaked with tears of a rage and pain too great for a child.

"SHUT UP!" he screamed, his voice broken by sobs. "STOP TALKING ABOUT HIM! You talk like he was brave! But he was just a fool! Heroes don't exist! There are only fools who think they're heroes and die for nothing!" His accusing gaze swept over the Konoha ninja. "And you're all the same! You talk about helping and fighting! You don't know anything! You're going to die! Gatō will kill all of you! YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

With that last, gut-wrenching scream, he ran from the room, the sound of his feet pounding up the stairs lost in the roar of the storm. Tsunami, her own face streaked with tears, stood up and went after him without a word.

The room was plunged into a heavy, painful, tragedy-laden silence. Kurenai and Kakashi stared into the fire, their faces grim. This mission had just escalated from a simple escort to something infinitely darker and more complicated.

Hinata continued to cry silently, her heart broken by the story and the pain of a boy who had watched all his hope be taken from him.

Naruto had remained motionless throughout the entire tale. His face was a grim mask, his blue eyes fixed on the dancing flames. The story of Kaiza, a normal man who became a hero through his will to protect others, had hit him with the force of a punch. It was a reflection of everything he aspired to be, stripped of all fantasy.

Slowly, without taking his eyes off the fire, he moved. He shifted closer to Hinata. He said nothing. He offered no empty words of comfort that would sound false in this room full of pain. He simply sat beside her and, with a gentleness no one would associate with his usual loud energy, he wrapped an arm around her, drawing her into a silent and awkward, but firm, embrace.

She startled for a second, then leaned into him, her sobs now muffled against the orange fabric of his jacket.

Chapter Text

"No," Naruto told himself, his eyes wide in the gloom.

He turned over on the futon, facing away from the wall, but the dark wooden ceiling offered no more comfort. Sleep escaped him. It was useless to try and sleep every time Kaiza’s story returned to his mind, every time he remembered the empty look on Inari’s face.

A soft snore came from the other side of the room. It was Kiba. Even in his sleep, he seemed restless. Beside him, Akamaru whimpered in his dreams, his paws twitching as if running from something. Naruto propped himself up on an elbow, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness, which was barely broken by the reddish glow of the dying embers.

His teammates were scattered around the room, each an unmoving lump under a blanket. Sakura slept near the fire, her face finally free from the tension that had gripped her all day. For the first time in a long time, she didn't look worried. She just looked… tired.

Sasuke, as always, had chosen the farthest corner, almost invisible in the darkness. Naruto didn’t need to see him clearly to know that, even unconscious, his body would be tense, ready to react. Shino was an impenetrable silhouette, so still he could have been mistaken for a piece of furniture if not for the slight movement of his chest. And Hinata… she was nearby. Her breathing was deep and calm, the only point of stillness in the tense room. The image of her hug, its unexpected warmth, sent a strange pang through his chest.

No, he definitely wasn't going to be able to sleep.

He got up with a care that would have stunned anyone who only knew his loud side. His bare feet made no sound on the wooden floor as he moved between the sleeping bodies. He slid the main door open and stepped out onto the porch.

The cold night air hit him immediately. The storm had passed, and a nearly full moon hung in the clear sky, bathing the clearing in a ghostly white light. The drops of water clinging to the leaves of the nearby trees reflected the light.

That's when he saw her.

Sitting on the edge of the porch, her knees hugged to her chest, was Kurenai. The moonlight outlined her figure, giving her long, dark hair a silver sheen. She wasn't wearing her Jōnin vest, just a simple black shirt that made her look smaller, less imposing. Her gaze was fixed on the dark line of the trees.

Naruto paused in the doorway, hesitant. This wasn’t the Kurenai-sensei he knew, the confident, calm commander with a maternal smile. The woman sitting there looked as if she was crushed by a heavy burden. He recognized that kind of loneliness. He knew it very well.

He approached without a sound and sat beside her, leaving a respectful distance between them. He said nothing. He simply stared into the same darkness she did, listening to the rhythmic drip of water from the eaves of the roof.

She flinched slightly when she sensed him beside her but didn't turn immediately.

"You can't sleep either, huh?" she said, her voice a bit hoarse. It wasn't a scolding, just a tired observation.

"No," he replied softly. "Too many things spinning around up here."

She let out a short laugh, devoid of any joy. "Yeah. I know the feeling."

Silence settled between them again, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was a shared silence. Naruto, for once in his life, felt no need to fill it with words. He just waited. The sounds of crickets and dripping water were the only things speaking.

"Is everyone okay?" Kurenai finally asked, her eyes still on the forest. "Is Kiba asleep?"

Naruto almost smiled. "His snores can be heard all over the house. Akamaru's having nightmares, but… yeah, they're asleep."

"Good."

Another minute passed. Naruto could feel the tension radiating from her.

"Are you okay, Sensei?" he dared to ask.

Kurenai sighed, a long, shaky sound. The question seemed to release all the pressure she'd been holding in.

"No, Naruto. I'm not," she confessed, and the words seemed to pain her as they came out. "I'm thinking I made a terrible mistake."

Naruto looked at her profile. The moonlight accentuated the shadows under her eyes.

"What mistake?" he asked, with genuine curiosity.

"Bringing you all here," she said, her voice a bitter whisper. "I convinced Kakashi to continue with the mission. He said it was beyond our rank, and he was right. But I insisted. I talked about the experience, the challenge…" She broke off, swallowing hard. "I was an idiot. Arrogant. And now… now Kiba is humiliated, Shino had to watch his partner paralyzed with fear, and Hinata…" Her voice cracked for a moment. "That girl has fought so hard to find her courage, and I brought her to a place where people like Gato crush the brave just for fun."

The guilt in her voice was plain. Naruto listened in silence, absorbing every word. He saw the image of Kiba, his face pale and his eyes wide from the poison. He saw Sakura, trembling on the riverbank.

"This isn't a training exercise, Naruto," Kurenai continued, almost as if to convince herself. "This is a war zone. And I brought six kids into a war zone. If something happens to you… if one of you ends up like that man, Kaiza… it will be my responsibility."

Naruto looked down at his own hands, resting on his knees. He didn't know what to say to fix it. There were no magic words. But silence didn't feel right either.

"I don't think it's your fault," he said finally, his voice surprisingly firm.

Kurenai turned to look at him for the first time, an expression of disbelief on her face. "How can you say that? I'm the Jōnin in command, along with Kakashi. Your well-being is my top priority."

"I know," Naruto nodded. "And that's why it's not your fault. A bad commander wouldn't be out here, unable to sleep with worry. A bad commander would be snoring louder than Kiba, dreaming about the mission's pay."

The simplicity of his logic seemed to disarm her.

"You're here because you care," he continued, looking her in the eyes. "Because you're thinking about us before the mission or the client. That doesn't make you a bad commander. It makes you a good person. And the kind of sensei anyone would want to have."

The words, so direct and without any artifice, affected her more than any elaborate speech could have. They came from the boy many in the village still saw as a problem, as the fox's container. But in that moment, under the moon of the Land of Waves, he was just a genin who saw things with a surprising clarity.

"A bad commander wouldn't doubt himself," Naruto added, almost as if thinking aloud. "He'd just order us forward, no matter the cost. And if one of us fell, he'd write a report and ask for a replacement. You… you feel the weight of every one of us. That's what makes you different."

Kurenai held her breath. A small, genuine smile, the first in what felt like days, formed on her lips. It was a fragile smile, but it was real.

"Thank you, Naruto," she whispered.

"Besides…" he said, his tone suddenly changing. It grew sharper. Concern gave way to strategy. "That guy who attacked us at the river… He was testing us, right? Analyzing our skills."

Kurenai nodded, intrigued by the shift. "Yes, it seems so. He wanted to know what he was up against."

"Exactly," Naruto said, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. "But think about it, Sensei. He had plenty of chances to finish us. When Kiba was trapped in the puddle, when Sakura was alone on the bank with me… He could have killed us. But he didn't."

"He was toying with us," Kurenai replied, repeating the thought that had been tormenting her.

"Or maybe he couldn't?" Naruto countered, and his blue eyes shone with a new intensity. "Think about it. Why would a super-powerful ninja bother with water traps and poison needles? Why would he hide in the mist?"

He posed the question to the air but didn't wait for an answer.

"Because he's not as strong as he wants us to think!" he exclaimed in a passionate whisper. "If he could really take on you and Kakashi-sensei in a straight fight, he would have done it already. He would have shown up in the middle of the river and cut us all in half. But he didn't! He attacked us from a distance, with tricks. He threw a few needles at us and then left. That's not what an invincible guy does."

Naruto's logic was so raw, so direct, that Kurenai felt a new perspective cutting through her fear and guilt. She had been seeing the enemy as an insurmountable threat. Naruto, on the other hand, saw him as a cheating bully who was afraid of getting his face smashed in a fair fight.

"It means he has a weak spot," Naruto concluded, his voice now filled with a contagious conviction. "It means he's afraid. And if he's afraid, we can beat him."

Suddenly, the enemy no longer seemed invincible. He seemed like a simple obstacle. A dangerous one, yes, but a beatable one.

"You might… you might be right," Kurenai admitted, and a new determination, that of the commander she was, could be heard in her voice.

Naruto felt the change in her. He felt his words had hit their mark, that he had given her back a piece of the hope the mission had stolen. And in that moment of connection, the plan that had been forming in his mind took full shape.

He turned on the porch to face her, his expression completely serious in the moonlight. The earlier lightness was gone.

"Kurenai-sensei," he said, and his tone made her give him her full attention. "I have a plan. Something that could give us the edge we need."

Kurenai watched him, captivated by the sudden gravity in his voice. This wasn't the Naruto who yelled about ramen and becoming Hokage. This was another Naruto, one she had seen in brief flashes during the battle at the river.

"I can't explain exactly how it works," he continued, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "It's… a jutsu. A very special and very secret one. No one else knows it. But I think… no, I know it can change things. It would give our team something that guy won't expect. Something not even Kakashi-sensei could predict."

He paused, his blue gaze locked on hers, intense and filled with a seriousness she had never seen in him before.

"But for it to work, I need your help," he said. "I need something from you. Something very important."

"What is it, Naruto?" she asked, already caught up in his momentum.

"I need you to convince Kakashi-sensei," he said, the words spilling out in a rush. "Tomorrow morning, when he and Sasuke go to protect Tazuna at the bridge, I need you to convince him to let me train with Sakura-chan. Alone with you and Hinata. No supervision. No questions. The others will stay with Tazuna's family. It would just be you, Hinata, Sakura, and me."

The request hung in the night's silence, heavy with seriousness. It was insane. It broke every ninja protocol. A Jōnin momentarily abandoning the client's family in the middle of a lethal A-rank mission. It was blatant insubordination. Unthinkable.

Kurenai stared at him, searching his face for any hint of a joke. She found none.

"Naruto, that's…" she began, but didn't know how to finish. "Impossible. Kakashi would never authorize it. I would never authorize it. It's too dangerous."

"It'll be more dangerous if we don't," he insisted, his voice thick with urgency. "Sakura is scared. We all are. But she… she thinks she's a burden. I know she does. But she's not! She has incredible chakra control, better than mine and probably better than Sasuke's! She just needs the right tool. I can give it to her."

Seeing the doubt and conflict on her sensei's face, Naruto did the only thing he could think of. With a boldness that surprised even himself, he reached out and took her hand. His hand was small and rough with training calluses, but surprisingly warm in the night's chill.

"I know it's a lot to ask," he said, his voice now a plea. "I know I sound crazy. And I know you have no reason to believe me. I'm the dead last, the clown, the one who always screws things up."

He looked up, and in his eyes, Kurenai didn't see the academy idiot or the troublesome jinchūriki. She saw a young leader overcoming his own insecurity, asking her to trust him blindly.

"But I'm asking you to do it anyway," he concluded, his grip firm but not aggressive. "Please. Will you trust me, Sensei?"

Chapter Text

"Would you trust me, Sensei?"

Naruto's question hung in the cold night air, simple and direct. Kurenai stared at him, her jōnin brain processing the request at dizzying speed. Every manual, every protocol, every rule they had drilled into her since the Academy screamed a single word: no.

"Naruto, do you understand what you're asking me?" Kurenai said, her voice barely a whisper, careful not to break the stillness surrounding them. "This isn't just about trust. This is insubordination."

"I know it sounds crazy," he admitted, not letting go of her hand. His grip was firm, stubborn. "But, Sensei, you saw it. You saw how they move. That guy, the one who attacked us at the river, he doesn't fight fair. He uses tricks, traps, and attacks from a distance."

"Your analysis was correct, I don't deny that," she conceded, though every instinct told her to walk away from this conversation. "But that doesn't justify breaking the chain of command. Sakura is Kakashi's student. I have no authority to train her, much less in the middle of a mission of this caliber."

"And what if Kakashi-sensei doesn't see what I see?" Naruto replied, his voice thick with a frustration Kurenai recognized as genuine. "He's amazing, the best, I know. But he thinks like an elite ninja. He thinks in terms of one on one combat. These guys aren't like that. They hide, they wait, and they attack who they think is weak. They attacked Tazuna, not Kakashi-sensei."

Kurenai fell silent. Naruto's logic was, once again, simple and painfully accurate. The enemy wasn't targeting their strongest member, Kakashi, but their most vulnerable ones.

"If something goes wrong..." Kurenai began, weighing the consequences. "If Sakura gets hurt under my supervision, in an unauthorized training session I hid from her own jōnin-sensei... Naruto, it wouldn't just end my career. I could be accused of treason."

"She won't get hurt," he said with conviction, and his eyes didn't lie. They were the eyes of someone who cared more about others. "The jutsu I want to teach her... it'll make her stronger. It'll make her indispensable. We need Sakura. Now more than ever, we need her to be stronger."

Kurenai looked away toward the dark outline of the trees. She remembered the way Naruto had comforted Hinata without a single word, just a hug. She remembered how he had tricked the enemies, managing to verify the path was clear of traps. This kid didn't follow the rules, probably because no one had bothered to teach them to him in a way that made sense. He made his own as he went.

Could she follow the manual, knowing it could lead to defeat? Or could she bet on the one variable the enemy could never anticipate?

She squeezed his hand, a tiny gesture that sealed the pact.

"Alright, Naruto."

The relief on the boy's face was almost childish, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared, replaced by a seriousness Kurenai was beginning to respect.

"I don't like this. It goes against my judgment and all my training," she continued, her tone hardening. "So here are my conditions. I will be present for every second of this... training. I will supervise every move. And if, for a single moment, I believe Sakura is in the slightest danger, I'm stopping it. No questions, no arguments. Is that clear?"

"Crystal clear, Sensei!" Naruto answered, his usual energy returning in a rush. "I swear, you won't regret it! Believe it!"

Kurenai released his hand and took a step back, crossing her arms. "You'd better be right, Naruto. Because I've lied to people far less dangerous than Kakashi for much better reasons than this, and it has never ended well."

******

The morning light filtered through the windows of Tazuna's modest house. Tsunami moved silently around the kitchen serving miso soup and rice, her face tense with worry. Inari sat at the table, pushing food around with his chopsticks without taking a bite.

The dull, rhythmic sound of a kunai being sharpened filled the silence. Sasuke sat in a corner, completely absorbed in his task, ignoring everyone else. Kakashi, meanwhile, was already standing by the door, his inseparable orange book in hand, as if he had been ready to leave for hours.

Kurenai took a deep breath and approached him. It was time.

"Kakashi. I need to ask you a favor."

He lowered his book just enough to reveal his one visible eye, which curved in amusement. "A favor? Kurenai, the sun is barely up. You usually wait until after lunch to start making demands."

"I'm completely serious," she cut in. Her tone, devoid of any lightness, made the sharpening sound stop. Sasuke had looked up.

"I'm listening," Kakashi said, snapping his book shut. His interest was now genuine.

"I need Sakura for a special training session today," Kurenai said, direct and to the point.

The statement made Sakura, who was organizing her medical supply pouch for the tenth time, turn around with an expression of pure confusion. Kiba, who was giving Akamaru a piece of dried fish, froze with his hand midway.

"Sakura?" Kakashi repeated, his eyebrow arching. "Special training? Now? With the threat of more professional assassins out there, it doesn't seem like the most opportune time."

"That's precisely why it's the best time," Kurenai replied, holding his gaze. She had rehearsed her argument all night. "The ninja who ambushed us at the river was a strategist. He used the environment, traps, long-range attacks. We need countermeasures for that, not just brute force."

"Go on," Kakashi urged, his posture now fully attentive.

"Sakura's mind is her greatest weapon. She's a very intelligent girl. Her chakra control is, frankly, the most precise and stable of any genin I've ever seen," Kurenai explained, her voice sounding completely professional. "There's a high-level sensory perception technique based on projecting a thin layer of chakra to detect presences. It requires exquisite control, not power. I think she can learn it quickly. It could give us advance warning of any ambush, detect chakra traps before we trigger them. It's a tactical advantage we can't afford to ignore."

The cover story was solid. It played to Sakura's known strengths and addressed a tactical weakness they had all witnessed. Kakashi watched her in silence for a long moment.

"Interesting proposal," he said finally. "And what about protecting Tazuna and his family? If you take Sakura, the team in charge of guarding Tazuna's family is weakened."

"On the contrary," Kurenai answered without the slightest hesitation. "I'll leave Kiba here. His sense of smell and Akamaru's senses are much more effective for close guard duty in one location than on a noisy, open bridge. Shino will establish a surveillance perimeter with his kikaichū around the property. The house will be sealed. We'll know if anything gets within a hundred meters."

Kiba jumped to his feet, puffing out his chest. "You can count on us, Sensei! No one's getting near this house! Right, Akamaru?" The dog barked energetically in agreement.

Shino, who had remained completely still, simply nodded. "The sensei's logic is sound. It is the most efficient deployment of our resources."

Kakashi sighed, a barely audible sound. Kurenai's plan was strange, but tactically flawless. And the determination in her eyes told him arguing would be pointless. Besides, his curiosity was eating at him. What was Kurenai Yuhi really planning?

"Alright," he relented, opening his book again. "Sakura is yours for the day. But if anything goes wrong..."

"The responsibility will be entirely mine," she interrupted, her tone final and absolute.

A scoff came from the corner. "A waste of time," Sasuke muttered, returning to his kunai, though his movements were now more aggressive. "Special training for her? She'll just slow us down."

Sakura blushed, feeling the sting of Sasuke's words, but her confusion outweighed her embarrassment. She approached her sensei as he and Tazuna headed for the door.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you sure? I should go with you to protect Tazuna..." she began, her voice filled with uncertainty.

Kakashi stopped and gave her one of his closed-eye smiles. "Kurenai-sensei is one of Konoha's finest kunoichi, Sakura. If she thinks you can master a technique that will help us all, then I trust her judgment. Learn everything you can."

With that, he and Tazuna left, followed by a Sasuke who didn't bother to look at anyone.

Sakura stood there, completely bewildered. She turned to the red-eyed jōnin.

"Kurenai-sensei..." she whispered. "What is this perception technique? I've never heard of it."

Kurenai walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, her gaze intense but, for the first time, with a touch of warmth. "It's a training that requires something more than chakra control, Sakura. It requires trust." She paused, then added in an even lower voice, "Trust me. And, for today, trust Naruto."

Before Sakura could process that strange request, Kurenai turned to the others.

"Naruto, Hinata. It's time for us to go. Kiba, Shino, you have your orders."

"Yes, Sensei!" Kiba responded energetically. Shino nodded again.

Naruto walked to the door, and as he passed Sakura, he gave her a quick, awkward pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. You'll see."

And with that, they left the house, leaving behind a Sakura who was more confused and anxious than ever, heading toward a secret training session she knew absolutely nothing about.

They headed deep into the forest, following a barely perceptible trail that Kurenai navigated without hesitation.

They walked in silence for several minutes, a tense silence, heavy with the questions Sakura was dying to ask. She watched the backs of her companions. Kurenai walked in front, her stride confident and determined. Behind her, Naruto was unusually quiet. There was no trace of his usual boundless energy; instead, there was a grim focus Sakura had never seen from him. And next to him, Hinata moved with a grace and calm that unnerved her. She didn't seem nervous or confused. She seemed... prepared. As if she knew exactly where they were going and why.

What is going on here? Sakura wondered for the tenth time. I feel like there's something important they haven't told me. Nothing has made sense since we got to this land. What do the three of them have in common that I don't know about?

Curiosity and the feeling of being excluded gnawed at her. Unable to stand it any longer, she closed the distance to Hinata.

"Hinata..." she whispered, making sure her voice didn't carry to the front. "Do you know what this is all about?"

Hinata looked at her, her lavender eyes serene. "Kurenai-sensei will explain when we get to the right place," she answered quietly, but with a firmness that invited no more questions. "It's important that we're somewhere safe."

The answer only deepened the mystery. Sakura frowned and decided to try Naruto. She moved to his side.

"Naruto, Kurenai-sensei said to trust you. Don't you think I deserve to know what I'm trusting you with?"

Naruto glanced at her, a small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "Of course you do. But it's something... that's better to show than to tell. If I explain it now, you'll think I'm crazy."

"I already think you're crazy half the time," she shot back, a bit of her usual exasperation showing.

"Exactly. So just wait a little, okay? I promise it'll be worth it," he said with a wink, and his tone, though light, held an undercurrent of sincerity that made her fall silent.

They continued their walk, and after what felt like an eternity, the dense foliage of the forest began to thin. The light filtered through more intensely, and the soft, almost imperceptible sound of water reached their ears.

Suddenly, they emerged from the forest, and Sakura's breath caught.

They had arrived at a small, hidden lake, a circle of turquoise water nestled in a hollow of gray, moss-covered rocks.

They stopped on a small, white-sand beach at the water's edge.

Kurenai turned around slowly, her face impassive, her red eyes fixed on Naruto. The maternal warmth she sometimes showed her students was completely gone. In its place was the piercing gaze of a jōnin commander who had taken a monumental risk and was now demanding justification.

She took a moment to scan the surroundings, her eyes moving methodically over the rocks, the treetops, the surface of the water. Sakura realized she was checking, with an expert's skill, that they were truly alone. Satisfied, her gaze locked back onto the blond boy.

"Alright, Naruto. We're here." Her voice was clear and sharp in the pure air. "We're alone. Kakashi won't follow us. There isn't a soul for miles. You're in the safe place you wanted."

She paused, letting every word settle in the silence of the place.

"Now is the time for you to explain what exactly this 'secret jutsu' is that I just lied to a fellow jōnin for, risked the cohesion of my own team for, disobeyed the chain of command for, and broken half a dozen fundamental rules of the shinobi code for." Her voice dropped, becoming more dangerous. "Start talking. And it had better be good."

Chapter Text

Kurenai's intensity made the air feel colder. Naruto swallowed hard; the seriousness of the situation was finally crushing his usual carefree attitude.

"Of course it's serious! It's my super special secret jutsu!"

Naruto's voice burst out, an attempt to break the tension with his usual energy. He stood up straight, placed his fists on his hips, and forced a smile.

"And it's amazing!" he continued, though his enthusiasm sounded a bit hollow under Kurenai's steely gaze. "But it's not something I can explain with boring words! It's something you have to see!"

He turned, searching for his ally with his eyes. Hinata, who had been watching in silence, felt her heart speed up when she saw Naruto's smile directed at her.

"Hinata-chan, it's time! Show them what I'm talking about!"

The request made Hinata jump. Sakura took a step forward, her confusion turning to alarm.

"Wait a minute, what? Hinata? What does she have to do with this, Naruto?"

Naruto winked at her. "Relax! She's the living proof that it works!"

"Living proof?" Kurenai repeated. "What exactly have you done to her, Naruto?"

"Nothing bad!" he defended himself, holding up his hands. "I just... helped her. Like I want to help you, Kurenai-sensei, and Sakura-chan."

Hinata took a deep breath. The air by the lake was cool and clean. She filled her lungs with it and with the trust Naruto had placed in her. She knew that Kurenai-sensei's and Sakura's doubts were logical, but she had felt the change inside her.

I won't fail him, she thought.

With renewed determination, she stood up and took a step forward. She turned, giving her back to Kurenai and Sakura, her heart pounding but her posture straight.

Sakura watched the scene, her analytical mind working nonstop. It's not a perception technique. Kurenai-sensei lied. Or Naruto lied to her. Why do they need Hinata? Is it a jutsu that requires an assistant? A chakra transfer technique? Why is Hinata so calm? She isn't impulsive, she always thinks things through. She must trust Naruto completely to do this...

"For my jutsu to work, to 'update someone's status', I need to touch their back," Naruto explained, his voice a little more serious now as he knelt behind Hinata.

"Touch their back?" Sakura snapped, incredulous. "What kind of ridiculous condition is that? This is sounding more and more like a bad joke, Naruto."

"It's not a joke!" he insisted, frowning. "It's the only way. I don't get why, but that's how it is. Believe me, if I could do it with a high five, it would be a lot easier."

Kurenai said nothing. She leaned forward instinctively, her red eyes fixed on her student's back, her jonin senses on high alert. Her eyes sharpened, activating her dojutsu almost imperceptibly to see what was happening. Sakura also moved closer, her skepticism battling an overwhelming curiosity.

"I'm just going to channel a little bit of chakra," Naruto whispered, more to himself than to the others. "I'm not going to do a full update. It's just so you can see."

He extended his right index finger. For a moment, he hesitated, the memory of the exhaustion, of collapsing in his apartment, fresh in his mind. But Hinata's quiet trust gave him the resolve he needed.

He gently placed his finger on the center of Hinata's back. And he channeled his chakra.

To Sakura, it was a flash. A pulse of orange light, so fast she almost doubted she had seen it. She saw Hinata's jacket light up from within for a fraction of a second. She blinked. Is that it? A simple chakra discharge? It was... insignificant.

But Kurenai saw everything.

Her eyes, trained to unravel the most complex illusions, did not see a simple flash. They saw the truth. And the truth left her cold.

The instant Naruto's chakra touched Hinata, it didn't mix with hers. Instead, a network of intense, wild orange chakra lines spread beneath Hinata's skin. It wasn't a random pattern. It was a seal. A design of a complexity Kurenai had never seen before. It swirled in hypnotic spirals, converging to form an unmistakable image, an image burned into the memory of every Konoha jonin who lived through that day.

A fox. A stylized fox, with nine tails of flowing liquid energy.

The mark glowed with an internal light, bright and terrifying, for no more than a second. And then, the instant Naruto removed his finger, it vanished without a trace.

Kurenai held her breath. A cold sweat ran down her back. The world around her seemed to fall silent.

Nine tails... The thought paralyzed her. That chakra... it isn't Naruto's. Or not just his. It's the Kyuubi's chakra. How is that possible? The Fourth Hokage's seal is supposed to contain it. But this... Naruto isn't using a leak of the fox's chakra. What kind of power have we allowed him to bring on this mission?

Hinata shivered as she felt the familiar tingle of power. She turned, her face flushed but serene, oblivious to her sensei's terrifying vision. Naruto stood up, waiting for the verdict.

"That's it," he said simply.

Sakura broke the silence, her voice a mix of disappointment and academic curiosity.

"That's it?" she asked. "An illumination jutsu? We saw a flash. What exactly is it supposed to do? I didn't see any real change in her chakra system. No increase in reserves, no activation of inner gates... Nothing."

Naruto scratched the back of his neck. "See? This is why I didn't want to explain it with words! It's complicated."

"Try," Sakura demanded. "I'm a ninja. I understand the human body and chakra better than anyone on our team. Explain it to me."

"Okay..." Naruto sighed. "I don't know where it came from," he admitted honestly. "It showed up the day I graduated. I call it 'updating the status'. When I do it, I can see... a person's abilities. Like... numbers. Strength, speed... that stuff."

Sakura stared at him. "Numbers? What kind of numbers? An arbitrary scale you invented?"

"Just numbers!" he insisted, frustrated. "Don't ask me about the science! And the important thing is that I can use my chakra to take a person's experience, their will to improve, all the hard work they've done, and turn it into more power! Into higher numbers!" He paused. "I don't give them anything they didn't already have inside. I just... open the door for their potential to come out."

"I... I felt..." Hinata interjected shyly. "When Naruto used his jutsu on me, I felt much stronger. Everything became... clearer."

Sakura shook her head, her logical mind struggling to accept what she was hearing.

"That's... impossible," she declared. "It goes against every known law of chakra manipulation. Potential growth is determined by genetics and training. You can't just 'unlock' it. Are you saying you can quantify a person's soul, accelerate their growth with your chakra, and the only component is... touching their back? What's the conversion mechanism? This makes no sense!"

"I don't know!" Naruto yelled, exasperated. "I'm not a ninja scientist like you, Sakura-chan, I'm a ninja who does amazing things! And I just know that it works! Look at her! Do you think the Hinata from the academy could have dodged Kiba's attacks like that?"

Naruto's words hit Sakura. It was true. The change in Hinata was undeniable. The only new variable in her life was... him.

Kurenai, who had been silent, processing the image of the nine-tailed fox, finally found her voice. It was quiet, but it carried a weight that silenced both genin.

"I don't think it works on just anyone, Naruto."

Naruto looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Hinata trusts you," Kurenai continued, her red eyes fixed on him. "Completely. Perhaps more than anyone in the world. Last night, when you asked me to trust you, it was a condition you weren't even aware of, and you sought my trust unintentionally."

The surprised look on Naruto's face was all the confirmation Kurenai needed.

"Perhaps that's the key," she said. "Your jutsu isn't universal. It requires the absolute trust of the recipient." She paused, the image of the Kyuubi seal burning in her mind. "Your chakra, due to its... special nature," she chose the word carefully, "would probably be rejected by anyone else's system. The body would identify it as a poison. But if the person you touch has unshakable faith in you... perhaps that faith prevents their chakra system from rejecting it."

She turned to Naruto, her expression a mixture of awe and a deep, renewed concern.

"Your power... it may be tied to the people around you. It depends on how they see you and what they feel for you."

Kurenai's theory filled the air, and for the first time, Naruto began to understand a deeper piece of his own power. It was about trusting and being worthy of that trust.

Kurenai took a deep breath. The decision she was about to make was, without a doubt, the most dangerous of her career. She looked at Sakura. She saw her student, so brilliant, but also so vulnerable. She saw the fear she tried to hide behind her logical facade. Her duty as a sensei was absolute.

She turned to Sakura, her gaze softening. "Stay here."

Then, she turned back to Naruto, her face a mask of steel resolve.

"Naruto. I understand the risks, you say this power awakens potential. You've seen my abilities. You know my strength lies in genjutsu and my experience as a jonin."

Before the astonished eyes of the three genin, she began to untie the top of her red combat dress.

"Do it on me first."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "W-what? So you really do trust me?!"

Sakura reacted too. "Sensei, you don't have to do this! It's my problem. If I'm going to do it, I'll do it."

"I am a jonin," Kurenai continued, her firm voice cutting through their protests. She lowered the top of her dress, exposing her back to the cool lake breeze. "My chakra system is more mature and robust than any genin's. If there are any adverse side effects from... that mark I saw... I will be better able to withstand it. I want to see this power for myself. I want to understand its scope and its cost firsthand. And only then... only then will we try it with Sakura."

She turned completely, her back to Naruto.

"She is my responsibility," Kurenai said, her voice heavy with authority. "I will not put her in danger without facing the risk myself first."

The offer hung in the air. Hinata and Sakura gasped, staring at their sensei's bare back. Sakura felt a lump in her throat. Her sensei was willing to become a guinea pig for her.

Naruto looked at Kurenai's back, then at the shocked and worried expressions on Sakura's and Hinata's faces.

"Alright, Naruto," Kurenai said, without turning around. "You said you needed trust. I'm giving it to you. Now, show me I'm not making the biggest mistake of my life."

Chapter Text

"Wow, Kurenai-sensei, your back doesn't have a single scar," Naruto blurted out.

The words hung in the air, so out of place that for a moment no one knew how to react. Kurenai, who had just untied the top of her dress to offer her back to the group, didn't move. Sakura, on the verge of shouting an objection, was left with her mouth open, her protest choked by the awkwardness of the comment.

Naruto realized what he had said and color rose to his cheeks. "I mean... it's not like I was looking at her like that! It's just... you look so strong. Like no one's ever been able to touch you. It's awesome!"

A faint smile curved Kurenai's lips, a gesture so subtle that only Hinata, watching attentively from the side, could notice. Naruto's clumsy comment had broken the tension.

"Naruto!" Sakura hissed, finding her voice. "This isn't the time for... for that! Besides, Sensei, please, don't do this!"

She took a step forward, her hands outstretched and panic etched on her face. "Stop! This is crazy! Are you going to let him use that... that jutsu on you? We just saw it on Hinata! We don't really know what it does!"

Kurenai kept her back straight. "We know enough, Sakura. We saw it worked on Hinata."

"Working doesn't mean it's safe!" Sakura retorted, her voice rising. "Remember the mark. The Kyūbi's seal! What if it's permanent? What if it connects you to... to that thing? What if it corrupts you? It could destroy your chakra network from the inside!"

The implication hung in the air. Hinata shivered visibly, hugging herself.

"That's a risk I have already calculated and accepted," Kurenai said, her voice calm. "Naruto, I'm waiting."

"But it's my fault!" Sakura insisted, frustration and guilt tinging her words. "If I weren't so weak, we wouldn't have to resort to something so desperate. Let me do it! I'll take the risk."

"No," Kurenai cut her off with a finality that allowed no argument. "You are in no condition to take any risks. More importantly, you don't understand the tactical situation we are in."

She turned slightly, just enough for her red eyes to lock onto Sakura's. "This is no longer just about helping you. We've stumbled upon a tool we can use on this mission. Trust Naruto as I trust him. Besides, my duty as the jōnin in command of this team is to investigate any advantage we can get. If Naruto's jutsu can strengthen a shinobi, I need to understand how it works, what its scope is, and what its limitations are. I need to experience it myself."

"Experience it? You're not a test subject, you're our teacher!" Sakura exclaimed.

"In the field, we are all tools for the success of the mission," Kurenai replied. "And this is my decision. As your superior officer and the one responsible for your safety, I am ordering you to stand still, remain silent, and observe. Consider this a lesson in decision making under pressure. Understood?"

The word "order" was a wall. Sakura stepped back, her face pale and her fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white. Helplessness washed over her. She was a Konoha ninja; she could not disobey a direct order in the field. She bit her lip and nodded stiffly.

Naruto swallowed. The excitement that someone like Kurenai trusted him was still bubbling in his chest, but the seriousness of the situation finally hit him.

He glanced at Hinata, who was still standing to the side, watching everything with worried eyes. Their gazes met, and she gave him an almost imperceptible nod. It was enough. You can do it, her eyes seemed to say.

He knelt behind Kurenai. Unlike the trial with Hinata, the air was thick with tension.

"Are you sure, Kurenai-sensei?" he asked in a low voice. "Once I start..."

"I'm sure, Naruto," she answered, her voice firm. "Proceed."

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his hammering heart. He extended his right hand, his index finger straight. For a second, he hesitated, the tip of his finger hovering millimeters from his sensei's pale skin.

I can't mess this up. I can't mess this up.

He placed the tip of his finger on the center of her back. The skin was cold, or maybe it was his own hand that was trembling. He closed his eyes and concentrated, gathering his chakra.

To Sakura, the effect was terrifying. An intense orange light erupted from the point of contact, spreading beneath Kurenai's skin. The intricate black web of the fox's seal spread across the jōnin's back with blinding intensity, each line burning with power. It lasted for four, maybe five seconds that felt like an eternity. She saw every muscle in Kurenai's back tighten to its limit, a choked hiss escaping through her teeth as her body contracted. Then, as abruptly as it began, the light vanished, and Kurenai slumped slightly forward.

For Kurenai, the experience was a cataclysm. It wasn't the warmth of a medical jutsu or the flow of an energy transfer. The instant Naruto's chakra entered her, she felt as if her full potential had been unleashed all at once. An avalanche of pure, unrefined power flooded every one of her cells and chakra points. The sensation was both terrifying and strangely exhilarating.

Her entire body vibrated. She felt the small spiritual scars, the inefficient knots of chakra accumulated over years of casting and countering thousands of genjutsu, simply dissolve.

For Naruto, the vision was overwhelming. When the "screen" appeared in his mind, he almost fell backward from the sheer density of the information. It was a torrent of data that made Hinata's information seem insignificant in comparison.

Name: Kurenai Yuhi Level: 1 Strength: D [550] → C [610] (+60) Endurance: E [480] → D [530] (+50) Dexterity: C [690] → B [745] (+55) Agility: B [780] → A [850] (+70) Chakra: A [890] → S [955] (+65)

Development Abilities:

• Mind's Eye (G): Allows for greater resistance to and detection of attacks affecting the spirit and mind. Facilitates perception of fluctuations in the opponent's mental state.

• Huntress (H): Enhances combat skills when fighting monsters, demonic beasts, or non-human beings.

Jutsus/Techniques:

- Magen: Jubaku Satsu
- Magen: Kasegui no Jutsu
- Genjutsu: Kai
- Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu
- Kori Shinchū no Jutsu

• Sly Mind Affect Technique …and the list went on, a litany of techniques he could barely read before they vanished.

Skills:

• Genjutsu Master (S)

• Sensory Perception (A)

• Shurikenjutsu (B)

• Close Quarters Combat (C)

• Tactical Analysis (B)

She has S-ranks! Naruto thought, stunned. What the hell is 'Mind's Eye'? And 'Huntress'? This is incredible!

He pulled his finger back with a gasp. A wave of exhaustion, much deeper than the first time with Hinata, hit him hard. He staggered back, breathing heavily, but a smile of pure triumph spread across his face.

"I... I did it," he panted, placing his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

Kurenai remained motionless for a long moment. Slowly, she fixed her dress. When she finally turned, her expression was unreadable, but her red eyes shone with a new intensity.

She looked at her own hands, flexing her fingers as if she didn't recognize them. Then she closed her eyes, concentrating.

"I can feel it," she whispered, her voice filled with a restrained awe that chilled Sakura. "The chakra... it's so clear."

She took a step, her movement so fluid and fast it seemed like she glided. "My sensory range... has increased ridiculously."

Sakura stared at her, searching for any sign of illness or corruption. She found nothing. Only her sensei, who seemed more alert, vibrant, and dangerous than ever.

"What did you see, Naruto?" Kurenai asked, her voice slowly recovering without completely hiding her own excitement. "I need the details. Exactly what you saw."

Naruto straightened up, still breathless but overflowing with energy. "It was amazing, Kurenai-sensei! She's Level 1! And her numbers shot up! Her agility went from B 780 to A 850! And her chakra! Her chakra went from A 890 to S 955! She has an S-rank in chakra now! For real!"

Sakura frowned, crossing her arms. "Naruto, I still don't get what that means. What's an 'S-rank'? How do you quantify chakra in a number? Or 'agility'? Did the jutsu also give you a stopwatch and a measuring tape?"

"I don't know!" Naruto exclaimed, frustrated at not being able to explain. "I just know the numbers went way up! And the letters! Going from B to A is a huge jump! And from A to S is even better!"

"Try to calm down, Naruto," Kurenai said patiently. She turned to Sakura. "He can't give us the science behind it because there isn't any. He's the only one who can interpret the results. We have to learn his language." She turned back to Naruto. "Tell me about the other things you saw. You said there was something else."

"Yeah! That was the coolest part!" Naruto said, perking up again. "Two 'Development Abilities' appeared! One is called 'Mind's Eye' and the other is 'Huntress.' I don't know exactly what they do, but their names are awesome!"

"Mind's Eye..." Kurenai repeated to herself, her eyes momentarily unfocusing. She raised a hand and channeled a minuscule amount of chakra. "I see... I understand. It's a passive ability. My affinity for genjutsu has always been based on projecting illusions outward, on affecting my opponents' minds."

She looked at Sakura again, and this time, Sakura felt a chill. It was as if Kurenai's gaze was analyzing her on a non-physical level. "Now... I can use it to perceive inward. I can feel your skepticism like a barrier of static. And Hinata's concern, like a warm current. Naruto's self-doubt, hidden under all that energy... This is a revolution for my fighting style. I can anticipate a mental attack before it's formed. I can feel an opponent's intent."

She turned to Sakura, and her gaze softened. "Sakura, this is real. I don't understand how it works, and I assure you, the origin of this power terrifies me as much as it does you. But the result is undeniable. I feel stronger. Faster. I feel my chakra responding to my will with an efficiency I've never experienced before."

That statement, coming from one of Konoha's most skilled kunoichi in chakra control, hit Sakura. Her skepticism, her logic, all her training wavered before her own master's testimony.

"But... how?" she whispered, her mind struggling to find a logical anchor. "How can her agility increase instantly? Did her muscles become denser? Has the transmission speed of her nervous system improved? That's biologically impossible without years of training! And the chakra? Where did that extra power come from? You can't create energy from nothing! Did you steal it from someone, Naruto?"

"Dummy, I didn't steal anything!" Naruto defended himself, offended. "I've told you a bunch of times! It's the power she already had! All the training, every mission, every battle! My jutsu just grabs all that experience and turns it into real strength. It's not power from nothing, it's the power she earned!"

"It's like... unlocking latent potential," Kurenai intervened, her voice thoughtful. "All shinobi have limits. Physical and mental barriers that define how fast we can react or how much chakra we can mold. This jutsu seems to take those limits and push them upward. It has perfected what was already there."

Sakura brought a hand to her forehead, massaging her temples.

"So, what's the cost?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper. She looked at Naruto. "Nothing is free. What's the price for this power?"

He shrugged, his expression turning serious. "It makes me tired. A lot. Leveling you up left me much more exhausted than the first time with Hinata. I guess the stronger the person, the more chakra it costs me. I need to rest."

Kurenai nodded, her face grave. "An exchange of energy. That makes sense. And the other cost..." she looked Naruto directly in the eyes, "...is trust. If my body had fought against your chakra, if I hadn't been willing to accept it, the conflict between our two energies could have been catastrophic. It could have torn me apart from the inside."

A tense silence fell over the group. The power had been tested, the effects confirmed, and the cost, at least in part, established.

Kurenai turned completely toward Sakura. Her expression softened, regaining the warmth of a teacher worried about her student.

"The final decision is yours, Sakura. I've tested Naruto's power, and not only am I unharmed, I'm better than before. I understand your doubts, believe me. But I also know you long to be stronger. Not for pride, but to protect your comrades, to stop feeling like you're the one who always needs protecting."

She placed a hand on her shoulder, her grip firm and reassuring. "No one is going to force you. But the offer is on the table. This power... it could give you the tool you've been looking for."

Sakura looked at her sensei's serious face, then at Hinata, who watched her with silent empathy. Finally, her eyes landed on Naruto.

She took a deep breath and made the most illogical, irrational, and terrifying decision of her life.

"Okay," she said, her voice trembling but firm. She turned and, with a decisive movement that mimicked her master's, she gave her back to Naruto. "Be gentle."

Chapter Text

"Ready, Sakura-chan?"

Naruto's voice sounded distant and muted. It lacked its usual energy, that boom that always made her roll her eyes. Sakura kept her back straight, the cool lake breeze making her shiver slightly.

"Yes. Just... do it already."

She didn't want to think. With every passing second, her brain screamed a new reason why kneeling with her bare back to Naruto was a terrible idea. But she had seen Hinata, she had seen Kurenai-sensei. The evidence was there, and it overrode her fear.

She waited. The silence stretched on, broken only by Hinata's soft murmur a few feet away and the distant song of a bird.

"Naruto, what are you waiting for?" she asked, her voice trembling despite her efforts.

Behind her, there was no answer.

"Naruto, are you okay?" Sakura insisted, turning her head slightly. "If you don't feel up to it, we can stop. Seriously, you don't have to..."

"I'm fine," he interrupted, but his voice was a forced whisper. "I just... need to concentrate a little. Close your eyes, Sakura-chan."

She obeyed, squeezing her eyelids shut. She could hear his ragged breathing, almost a pant. He was pushing himself too hard, she knew it.

"You don't have to prove anything to me, you idiot," she muttered, more to herself than to him.

Naruto gritted his teeth. The green of the trees around him vibrated with a painful intensity, and the image of Sakura's face, which he had seen moments before, was blurring and doubling. A dull hum filled his ears, a growing pressure inside his skull. He knew this feeling. It was the total exhaustion, the absolute emptiness he felt the day he made a thousand shadow clones to graduate. He had no reserves left.

Just a little more, he told himself. Just this. For Sakura-chan.

He raised his right hand. It felt incredibly heavy. His arm trembled from the effort of holding it up. He extended his index finger, aiming for the center of Sakura's back. He saw her pale skin, the muscles tense with anticipation. He was so close.

He made one last, desperate effort to gather his chakra, searching for the last drop of energy. He managed to focus one last, faint spark. And then, the spark went out.

He lost consciousness.

Sakura felt a nearly imperceptible warmth on her skin, a fleeting touch, immediately followed by a dead weight collapsing against her.

"Aaaah!"

A sharp scream escaped her. The impact threw her forward, and only instinct made her put her hands on the ground to keep from falling on her face. Naruto's body slid down her back and landed inertly beside her with a dull thud.

"Naruto!"

Panic erased every other emotion. She turned, not caring that the top of her dress was still untied, and saw him lying on the ground. His eyes were closed, his face pale and shiny with a thin layer of cold sweat.

"Naruto-kun!"

Hinata's voice, thick with anguish, sounded beside her. Kurenai was already there, kneeling next to him, two fingers pressed to his neck. Her face was serious, focused, but there was no panic in her eyes, and that was the only thing that kept Sakura from falling apart.

She crawled to his side, her heart racing.

"What's wrong with him? Is he...?" She didn't dare finish the sentence.

"Breathe," Kurenai said, her calm, firm voice cutting through the hysteria that threatened to choke Sakura. "His pulse is stable, though very weak. He's completely out of chakra. He overestimated his limits, that's all."

Sakura ran a trembling hand across her forehead. "Idiot... I told him he didn't have to do it. I told him it was my problem, that we could wait."

"This isn't your fault, Sakura," Kurenai said, looking up. Her red eyes studied her with a calmness that instantly soothed her. "It was his decision. And mine for allowing it. I forgot that, despite all the power he wields, his body is still that of a genin who is still learning to measure his strength."

Hinata knelt on Naruto's other side. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. Gently, she brushed a lock of blond hair from Naruto's sweaty forehead.

"He always does this," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "He never thinks about himself. He always dives in headfirst to help others."

Kurenai nodded slowly, a look of understanding on her face. "We need to get him back to the house. He won't recover out here in the open. The upgrade will have to wait, Sakura."

Her cheeks burning with a mixture of embarrassment and worry, Sakura quickly adjusted her clothes. "Can you manage on your own? I can try to..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Kurenai acted. With a fluidity and strength that left Sakura speechless, she slid one arm under Naruto's knees and the other across his back. She lifted him from the ground with no apparent effort. She carefully settled him onto her own back, making sure his head rested in the crook of her shoulder.

"Let's go," she said simply, and started walking back toward Tazuna's house with a steady pace.

Sakura and Hinata hurried to follow. The journey back began in a tense silence, broken only by the sound of their footsteps on the grass and Naruto's soft, almost imperceptible breathing. The afternoon sun was beginning to set, painting the sky in shades of orange and casting long shadows that stretched between the trees.

After several minutes of walking, Naruto stirred on Kurenai's back, letting out a soft groan.

"Mmm... soft..." he muttered, his voice thick. His cheek rubbed against the fabric of Kurenai's outfit. "And... smells nice..."

Sakura, walking to Kurenai's right, stopped dead in her tracks. Heat rushed up her neck to her ears, painting her face a deep red.

"What did he just say?!" she hissed in a furious whisper, looking at Hinata with wide eyes.

Hinata, on the other side, brought a hand to her mouth, but she couldn't completely hide the small smile that formed on her lips or the amused glint in her eyes.

Kurenai didn't even turn her head. She continued walking with the same firm, steady pace. "He's not awake, Sakura. He's just rambling. Don't worry about it."

"Naruto, you idiot! Wake up right now and apologize!"

Naruto only responded by snuggling closer. A sigh escaped Kurenai's lips, a sound that was almost a stifled laugh.

"Leave him, Sakura. Really, it's fine."

Sakura looked down at her feet, feeling incredibly stupid. Kurenai was right. She was so used to reacting to Naruto's antics, to yelling at him out of habit. She was doing it even now, when he was helpless precisely because he had tried to help her. Shame washed over her. She had to be more considerate of him.

"Yes, sensei... You're right," she murmured, her voice quiet.

They continued walking in silence. The path narrowed, forcing them into a single file line. Kurenai was in the lead with her cargo, followed closely by Hinata, with Sakura bringing up the rear. From her position, she could see Naruto's head bouncing gently with each of Kurenai's steps. He looked so peaceful, so different from his usual loud, chaotic self. A strange feeling of warmth settled in her chest, displacing the shame. Despite everything, she was glad they were the ones taking care of him.

"Naruto-kun always tries too hard for others," Hinata said softly, as if reading her mind. Her voice was gentle, but clear in the still evening air. "I remember one time at the Academy, when Iruka-sensei asked us to clean the classroom. Everyone complained, but Naruto-kun stayed late, cleaning up what everyone else had left behind just so Iruka-sensei wouldn't have to. No one thanked him."

Sakura listened to the story in silence. She had never seen that side of Naruto, or perhaps she had never bothered to look.

"I'm glad we can take care of him now," Hinata concluded.

Sakura nodded, though Hinata couldn't see her. "Yeah. Me too."

The sun had almost disappeared below the horizon when they finally saw the lights of Tazuna's house flickering through the trees. The familiar sight brought a collective sigh of relief. It had been an incredibly long and strange day.

When Kurenai pushed open the front door, the first person to see them was Kiba, who was lying on the floor, using a sleeping Akamaru's belly as a pillow.

"About time," he complained, lifting his head lazily. "I was starting to think a mist monster got you or something. How was the secret girls' club outing?"

Akamaru yelped and jumped to his feet, causing Kiba to fall to his side. The dog ran toward them, tail wagging enthusiastically, but stopped short when he saw Naruto's condition. His tail stopped moving and he let out a low, worried whine, approaching cautiously.

"Hey, what's wrong with that idiot Naruto?" Kiba asked, sitting up. His mocking tone vanished instantly when he saw his teammate's pale face and the way he hung limply on Kurenai's back. "Did he fall and hit his head? Because that would be so typical of him."

Shino, who was sitting in a corner of the room, apparently meditating while an insect crawled on his finger, looked up. His dark glasses reflected the lamp light.

"His chakra flow is abnormally low. Almost nonexistent," he declared in his usual flat, clinical voice. "The cause is, logically, an excessive expenditure of energy. He requires immediate rest."

"He overdid it during training," Kurenai said, her voice cutting off any other questions before they could be asked. "He needs to sleep. Sakura, Hinata, help me get him to the room."

Kiba stared at them, completely confused. "Training? What kind of training leaves you looking like a ghost? Hey, don't ignore me. What are you hiding?"

Akamaru barked, as if seconding his master's question.

Kurenai ignored him completely and started up the stairs. Sakura and Hinata followed her without a word.

"Hey! We're a team, we're supposed to share information!" Kiba yelled after them, but his voice faded as they went upstairs. He crossed his arms, frustrated. "What the hell is wrong with everyone?"

In the guest room, Kurenai laid Naruto on one of the futons with a surprising gentleness. Sakura knelt beside him and carefully removed his dust covered sandals, while Hinata folded an extra blanket and placed it over him, tucking him in up to his chin. They worked together in synchronized silence, a makeshift team with fluid, efficient movements.

"I'll stay here until he wakes up," Sakura said.

Kurenai watched her for a moment, her red eyes analyzing the determination on the girl's face. Finally, she nodded. "Alright. Hinata, come with me. Help me brief Kakashi when he arrives. It'll be better coming from us."

Hinata nodded and, after one last worried glance at Naruto, followed her sensei out of the room. The paper sliding door closed with a soft whisper, leaving Sakura alone in the silence, with only Naruto's steady breathing for company. She placed a hand on his forehead. It wasn't as cold anymore. That was a good sign. She sat beside him, her back straight, taking up a watch, and waited.

She didn't have to wait long. About twenty minutes later, she heard voices downstairs. The front door opened and closed. It was Kakashi and Sasuke, returning with Tazuna from their work on the bridge. She heard Kurenai's footsteps approaching them, and then the murmur of their voices. She couldn't make out the words, but Kakashi's tone was calm, and Kurenai's was firm and direct.

A few minutes later, the door to her room slid open. It was Kakashi. His one visible eye scanned the scene: Naruto sleeping soundly, Sakura sitting beside him. He didn't seem surprised.

"Kurenai filled me in," he said quietly, entering the room and closing the door behind him. "Overexertion from training, she told me."

Sakura nodded, not taking her eyes off Naruto. "He'll recover. He just needs to rest."

Kakashi walked over and stopped by the futon, looking down at his student. "This is the second time in a short while that he's pushed himself like this." His eye moved from Naruto to Sakura. "Curious. What kind of training were you doing, exactly?"

Sakura's heart skipped a beat. The question was casual, but she felt the weight of a test behind it. "Just... chakra control training. Kurenai-sensei was trying to teach us something."

"I see," Kakashi said. For a second, Sakura had the strange feeling that his eye was analyzing her, seeing through the half lie, evaluating not what she said, but why she was hiding it. But the feeling passed as quickly as it came. "Well. Tsunami is making dinner. Go down and get something to eat. I'll stay with him."

"No, it's fine. I'd rather stay here," she replied, perhaps too quickly.

Kakashi looked at her intently. "Alright. You've done a good job."

Kakashi turned and left the room.

Sakura blinked, surprised. A direct compliment from Kakashi-sensei was unusual. A small, genuine smile formed on her lips. Maybe she wasn't so useless after all.

The smell of miso soup and grilled fish made her stomach roar. Just as she was thinking about going downstairs, she heard a movement beside her. Naruto stirred on the futon.

He groaned and his eyelids fluttered. Slowly, he opened his eyes. They were a hazy, unfocused blue.

"Sakura... chan?" he mumbled, his voice hoarse and raspy.

Sakura's heart leaped with relief. She forgot about dinner and knelt beside him again. "Hey, idiot. It's about time you woke up. You gave us a good scare."

Naruto blinked several times, trying to focus on her face. "What...? What happened? The last thing I remember is... your back. And then... nothing."

The blush returned to Sakura's cheeks with a vengeance, but she ignored it. "You passed out. You used up every last drop of your chakra. Kurenai-sensei had to carry you all the way back."

The confusion on Naruto's face was replaced by an expression of pure horror. His eyes went wide. "What!? Kurenai-sensei... carried me!? Oh, no! How embarrassing!"

He tried to sit up abruptly, but a wave of dizziness forced him back onto the futon with a groan. Sakura placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Stay still! I told you not to move. You need to rest. Are you an idiot, or do you just like acting tough?"

"But... your upgrade... I didn't do it... I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I failed." His voice was filled with genuine disappointment.

"There'll be time for that later," she said, surprised by the softness in her own voice. "The important thing now is that you recover. You can't help anyone if you're completely wiped out. Got it?"

Just then, the door opened again. It was Hinata, carrying a cup of water.

"I heard voices," she said shyly, her eyes lighting up when she saw Naruto was awake. "Naruto-kun, are you feeling better?"

Naruto looked at her and a tired but genuine smile spread across his face, relaxing the tension in his features. "Hey, Hinata-chan. Yeah, a little. Though I feel like an angry Choji ran me over with his Human Bullet Tank jutsu."

Hinata let out a small, nervous laugh and held out the cup to him. "Here. Drink some. It will help you rehydrate."

Naruto sat up carefully, more slowly this time, with Sakura's help, and took the cup with trembling hands. He drank the water in one go, desperately.

"Thanks," he said, handing the cup back to Hinata. "I'm sorry, guys. I caused you a lot of trouble."

"Don't be silly, Naruto-kun," Hinata said with uncharacteristic firmness, sitting on his other side. "We're a team. We look out for each other."

"She's right," Sakura added, crossing her arms but unable to hide her relief. "Besides, you owe me for collapsing on my back. So you'd better recover quickly, because when you do, you're going to finish what you started. Understood?"

Naruto looked at her. He saw the determination in her green eyes and nodded, feeling a new surge of energy. It wasn't chakra; it was something different, born from the faith his friends had in him.

"Understood."

The door opened a third time. It was Kurenai. Her expression was calm, but a new warmth shone in her eyes when she saw Naruto awake, flanked by his two teammates.

"I see the dead have come back to life," she said, a hint of a smile on her lips. "Dinner is ready. And this time, that's an order for all three of you. You need to eat."

Her voice was an invitation. A promise of a hot meal and companionship in a small house in the middle of a distant land. For the first time in a long time, surrounded by the three of them, feeling their concern and their strength, Naruto felt completely at home.

Chapter Text

"Another bowl, please," Naruto announced, sliding the empty bowl across the table with a thud. "I'm starving!"

Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, chuckled and took the container. "That's your fourth, Naruto. Are you sure you have a stomach and not a black hole?"

"Training burns a lot of energy!" he defended himself, his mouth full of rice.

"Especially when you end up full of poison," Kiba shot back from the other side of the table, giving Akamaru a playful nudge. The dog whimpered in agreement. "Isn't that right, buddy? They almost took us out for good."

Sakura frowned. "It wasn't that bad. I had the antidote ready."

"Easy for you to say," Kiba retorted, pointing at his dog. "Akamaru saw his canine life flash before his eyes. He needs compensation. You deserve that last piece of fish, don't you, champ?"

Akamaru barked enthusiastically.

"Don't even think about it, fleabag," Naruto intervened. "That fish is mine. I helped with my clones."

"And I sniffed out the enemies! That's tactical work!"

As they argued, Hinata discreetly took a portion of her own fish and slid it onto Naruto's plate when no one was looking. Engrossed in his debate with Kiba, he didn't notice and ate it in one bite, causing a tiny smile to form on Hinata's face.

Shino adjusted his glasses. "Logically, food distribution should be based on caloric expenditure. Naruto and Sasuke engaged in the most strenuous combat. Therefore, their claim to the fish is the most valid."

"Hey! Whose side are you on?" Kiba complained.

In a corner, separate from the rest, Sasuke ate in an impenetrable silence. He didn't say a word, but his eyes moved from Naruto to Kiba, then to the disputed piece of fish, with an expression of absolute disdain for their childishness.

Kurenai watched it all with amusement. The argument over the fish wasn't just noise; it was a manifestation of the group's energy. She could feel Kiba's simple, direct pride, a clear and uncomplicated emotion. She felt Naruto's chaotic and overflowing energy, an overwhelming force that seemed to need constant fuel. Next to him, Hinata's concern was a warm and constant presence, an unconditional affection flowing in his direction.

Sakura was more complex. Kurenai felt her irritation at her teammates' stupidity, but underneath was a layer of relief and a pang of guilt. "I feel useless," she had thought earlier. Now, that feeling mixed with the satisfaction of having healed Kiba and been useful.

And then there was Sasuke. His presence was a cold spot in the room. It was the wounded pride of a prodigy who had been surpassed, even momentarily, by the class idiot. But there was something else, something new and tiny, buried under layers of arrogance and rage: a spark of grudging respect directed at Naruto. It was so faint she almost missed it, but it was there.

"Are you okay, Kurenai?" Kakashi's voice pulled her from her analysis. He was sitting beside her, book in hand, but his one visible eye was fixed on her.

"Yes, just... tired," she lied, though it wasn't entirely a lie. Processing all that information was exhausting.

Kakashi studied her a second longer. "This team is... loud."

"Tell me about it," she sighed, turning her gaze back to her students just in time to see Naruto snatch the last piece of fish from Kiba. "But they're alive."

"That, for now, is enough," Kakashi agreed, returning to his book.

Exhaustion soon took its toll. Kiba was the first to fall, snoring with Akamaru curled up beside him. Hinata and Shino followed soon after.

Naruto, however, seemed to have energy to spare. He remained seated, watching Sasuke, who was still in his corner, sharpening a kunai with a whetstone.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto began.

Sasuke didn't even look up. The sound of metal on stone was the only thing to be heard. "What."

"What you did when they ambushed us at the lake... That was amazing."

The sharpening stopped for an instant. Sasuke looked up, and his dark eyes met Naruto's. "So? I don't need the dead last to tell me what I did."

"No, it's just... how did you do it? Moving like that, so fast..."

"By training," Sasuke cut him off, returning to his kunai. "Something you wouldn't understand. Now shut up and leave me alone."

Naruto clenched his fists but said nothing more. He stood up and went to his own futon, the energy he felt now tinged with frustration.

Tazuna watched the scene from his seat by the fire, a bottle of sake in his hand, though this time it was closed. "That boy... he has a lot of demons inside him, huh?"

Kurenai nodded, collecting some empty bowls. "More than you can imagine."

She couldn't sleep. The energy the Falna had given her was buzzing under her skin, a constant vibration that made it impossible to stay still.

"Kakashi, I'm going to do one last patrol of the perimeter," she said, using the most believable excuse she could think of.

"Be careful," he replied without looking up from his book. He knew it wasn't just a patrol.

Naruto couldn't sleep either. Sasuke's words echoed in his head. "By training." It was true. Sasuke was always training, always one step ahead. And now, Naruto felt this new power inside him, an energy he didn't know how to use. It was like having an arsenal of new weapons without an instruction manual. He heard Kurenai leave and waited a few minutes. The need to move, to do something, was too strong. He slipped out of his futon and followed her into the night.

The moonlight turned the lake into a disk of polished silver. Naruto moved silently, looking for a place where he could practice without being disturbed.

He stopped at the edge of the forest, hidden in the shadows. He wasn't alone.

Kurenai was in the center of a small, sandy beach. She didn't seem to be on watch. Her eyes were closed, an expression of intense concentration on her face. A swarm of butterflies made of light flowed from her hands. They weren't real, but they looked it. Each had a unique pattern on its wings, moving without the slightest sound. They danced over the water's surface, creating silver ripples and circling around her.

She was so immersed in her creation that she didn't sense Naruto's presence until he spoke, his voice barely a whisper.

"Whoa, sensei... that's... incredibly beautiful."

The spell broke. The butterflies vanished like smoke. Kurenai flinched, her eyes snapping open as she turned toward him. In the moonlight, Naruto saw a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Naruto!" she hissed, a mix of surprise and embarrassment in her voice. "What are you doing here? You should be sleeping!"

He stepped out of the shadows, approaching with his hands up in a placating gesture. "I couldn't sleep. To be honest, I felt... I don't know, too energetic. And it looks like you couldn't either." His gaze shifted to her hands. "Is it because of the new power?"

The question was so direct it disarmed Kurenai's defensive posture. Her shoulders relaxed with a sigh. "Yes. It feels... strange. I have so much energy." She looked at her palms as if they belonged to someone else. "It's like I've had a veil over my eyes my whole life, and suddenly, someone's pulled it away."

"The Mind's Eye?" Naruto asked, remembering the term.

She nodded, sitting on a rock by the shore. He followed her lead, sitting at a respectful distance.

"It's... it's a completely new sense," she tried to explain. "I feel emotions as if they were colors or temperatures. At dinner, I could feel Sasuke's frustration. And Hinata's loyalty to you... it's new to me."

Naruto scratched the back of his neck, a little embarrassed. "Wow. What do you feel from me?"

Kurenai turned to look at him, a small smile appearing on her face. "You're a chaos of energy, bright and very powerful. You draw others in, even if you don't realize it." She paused, looking back at her hands. "And it's not just that. My genjutsu... they've become easier to manifest. I thought of butterflies, and they just... appeared. Effortlessly."

They sat in silence, the only sound the gentle lapping of water against the shore.

"It must be cool to be so good at something," Naruto said quietly, almost to himself. The melancholic tone didn't escape Kurenai.

"What do you mean?"

"Well... genjutsu. You're a master. The best. You always have been, right? You were born with that talent."

The question, so personal and laden with Naruto's own insecurity, hung in the air between them. Kurenai let out a short, humorless laugh.

"Everyone thinks that," she said, with a sad smile. "That I was born an illusion prodigy. The truth couldn't be more different."

Naruto looked at her, surprised.

"When I was your age, on my genin team," she began, her voice taking on a distant tone, "I was the useless one. My taijutsu was mediocre, to be generous. And my chakra control... was a complete disaster. I was on a team with Asuma Sarutobi, who was already a genius with his wind jutsu, and another boy who was a master with ninja tools. And me? I was the one who always fell behind."

The confession left Naruto speechless. Trying to imagine Kurenai-sensei, the calm and lethal commander, as a clumsy genin was almost impossible.

"I remember one mission in particular," she continued, her gaze lost in the reflection of the moon. "It was a simple escort mission, but we were ambushed. Asuma was holding off three of them, our other teammate had two... and I was left with just one. A simple thug with no ninja training. And he was beating me badly. I couldn't land a punch, and when I tried to use a basic ninjutsu, my chakra went haywire and I almost hit my own teammate. I felt so... humiliated. Honestly, it was embarrassing."

Naruto hung on every word, captivated. The story felt painfully familiar.

"My sensei noticed. He saw that I didn't have Asuma's raw strength or the other's precision. But he saw that I had imagination. He told me something I never forgot: 'Kurenai, genjutsu isn't about power, it's about control. You don't need to destroy a mountain; you just need to make your enemy believe the mountain isn't there.' So that's what I did. I trained. While my teammates were learning fire jutsu that could burn down a forest, I spent weeks just trying to make a single leaf look like two. It was frustrating. I'd hear about their progress while I was still stuck on the basics."

She looked directly at Naruto, and in her red eyes, he saw the ghost of his own struggle, his own loneliness.

"But one day, it finally worked. On another mission, we were cornered. We were outnumbered. And while everyone was preparing for a last-ditch battle, I caught the enemy leader in an illusion. A very simple one: I made him think the ground beneath his feet was turning into a swamp. He stumbled. It only lasted three seconds, but that was long enough for Asuma to disarm him and turn the tide of the battle. That's when I understood. My strength wasn't in destructive power, but in deception. In creating the perfect distraction at the right moment."

A new understanding formed between them in the silence that followed. They were two people who knew what it was like to be at the bottom of the class, what it was like to fight for every ounce of respect.

"You're amazing, Kurenai-sensei," Naruto said, and the sincerity in his voice surprised and moved her.

"You are too, Naruto," she replied, her voice soft. "In a much louder and more chaotic way, but you definitely are."

They stood up to head back. The night air was beginning to cool.

"You know," Kurenai said suddenly, her tone shifting, becoming more analytical, more like a sensei's. "Now that I can feel your chakra more clearly with the Mind's Eye, I understand your problem."

"My problem?" Naruto asked, defensively. "Hey!"

"It's not an insult," she laughed. "Your chakra is... a mess. But not in the way everyone thinks. You have too much power for the tools you've been given. You use too much force for everything, which is why you get tired so quickly and why your clones are so fragile."

Naruto pouted. It was the clearest explanation anyone had ever given him. "It's just that no one ever taught me how to regulate the pressure."

They reached the edge of the clearing where Tazuna's house stood. Kurenai stopped and turned to him.

"Kakashi is teaching you how to fight. He's giving you more weapons. But what you need first is to learn how to aim," she said. "Since we're both awake, and since you've helped me accept this new power... let me help you with yours. Tomorrow morning. Before the others wake up."

Naruto's eyes went wide. "For real? You're going to train me? But Kakashi-sensei said...!"

"Kakashi is focused on the team. I'll focus on you for a moment," she interrupted, her voice firm. "There's a chakra control exercise every genin should master. It's the foundation for everything. But with your massive reserves, you likely skipped it or never mastered it because you could just overwhelm it with brute force."

She looked at him, and in the moonlight, Naruto saw a challenging smile on her face.

"Tomorrow at sunrise, at this very lake. I'll teach you something much more important. I'm going to teach you how to walk on trees."

The offer hung in the air. A promise of control, of self-mastery. For Naruto, who had always felt like a passenger to the immense energy living inside him, it was the chance he had been waiting for his entire life. The chance for someone to finally teach him not how to be a weapon, but how to be a true ninja.

"Believe it!" he whispered, the words filled with an emotion so pure and overwhelming that Kurenai couldn't help but smile in the darkness.

Chapter Text

"I can't believe they woke us up at dawn for this," Kiba complained, stretching until his back popped. Beside him, Akamaru let out a yawn that was almost as loud as his owner's.

"Come on, Kiba! Aren't you excited?" Naruto shot back, bouncing on the balls of his feet, his energy already overflowing despite the early hour. "New training! I bet it'll be something awesome, like breathing fire or summoning something giant!"

Sasuke just snorted, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed. "Don't be an idiot. We can barely focus our chakra. We're not summoning anything."

"Nobody asked you, Sasuke!" Naruto snapped.

"Quiet, all of you," Kakashi ordered, cutting through the morning argument. He looked as sleepy as ever, his book already in hand, but there was an edge of authority in his tone that made everyone fall silent. He moved to the center of the clearing, next to a huge tree. "Today's training is about control. Specifically, chakra control."

Sakura raised her hand, ever the diligent student. "What kind of control, sensei?"

"The principle is simple," Kakashi continued. "The trick to walking on trees, or any vertical surface, is balance. Too little chakra in your feet and you slip. Too much and the bark repels you. You have to find the exact point."

He explained the theory with an efficiency that bordered on boredom, and then, to demonstrate, he put his book away and walked effortlessly up the trunk of the nearest tree. He didn't stop until he was a dozen meters up, where he flipped upside down, took his book out again, and continued reading. It was such blatant showboating that Naruto gritted his teeth.

"He always has to show off," he muttered to himself.

"Alright, your turn," Kakashi said from his perch, his voice barely altered by his inverted position. "Whoever gets the highest first wins my eternal respect. Or something like that. Begin."

Sasuke scowled, his gaze shifting from Kakashi to the tree and then to his own feet. He focused, feeling the buzz of energy inside him. "Here I go."

He ran toward the tree. On his first attempt, he released too much energy. His feet hit the bark with a CRACK! that left a mark the size of his sandal before the force pushed him backward. He landed with agility, but his expression was one of cold frustration.

"Damn it," he whispered, only for himself to hear.

Kiba laughed. "Looks like the great Uchiha isn't so perfect after all!"

Sasuke ignored him. He looked at the tree again, this time with even more intense concentration. He closed his eyes for a second, visualizing the flow, adjusting it. On his second attempt, he got it. He ran, and this time, his feet stuck. He walked up the trunk with an ease that seemed almost natural, stopping a few meters off the ground. From there, he looked down at the others with a silent superiority that was more irritating than any words could be.

"Were you saying something, Kiba?" he asked, his voice dripping with smugness.

Hinata, meanwhile, approached her own tree calmly. Kurenai placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't think about the height, Hinata," she advised in a low voice.

Hinata nodded and closed her eyes. She didn't think about climbing; she focused on the flow of chakra she could now feel so clearly within her. She felt it swirl at her feet, a warm, obedient energy awaiting her command. She opened her eyes and walked. Her feet adhered firmly to the bark, and she climbed the tree with a quiet, fluid grace that made Kurenai smile with unmistakable pride.

Sakura and Kiba were another story.

"Come on, come on, come on," Sakura muttered to herself, her forehead beaded with sweat. She had her hands on her knees, staring intently at the tree. "The right amount of chakra... steady flow... no energy spikes..."

But every time she tried, her analytical mind seemed to get in the way. She would either release such a minuscule amount that she'd slip after two steps, landing on her butt with a thud, or she would get frustrated with her failure and release too much, shooting backward to land in a pile of leaves.

"This is impossible!" she yelled after her fifth failed attempt.

"Move it, Sakura! Let me show you how it's done!" Kiba barked. He thumped his chest and winked at Akamaru. "Ready, buddy? Watch the next Hokage in action!"

"HERE I GO, AKAMARU!"

Kiba launched himself at the trunk with all his might, his feet glowing with an excess of chakra. The result was always the same: a crack of splintering wood, a choked cry, and Kiba sliding down the bark, leaving a trail of fabric from his jacket and several splinters in his butt.

"Ow! I think this tree hates me!" he complained as Akamaru licked his scrapes.

And then there was Naruto.

His case was different. He wasn't just a disaster; he was a spectacle of failure so grand it almost seemed intentional.

On his first attempt, he focused so much chakra into his feet that, instead of sticking, he created a small explosion. A muffled BOOM! left a crater at the base of the tree and sent him flying into the lake, creating a wave that soaked everyone nearby.

He emerged from the water, spitting and coughing, with seaweed in his hair.

"I THINK I USED TOO MUCH!"

"You think, genius?" Sakura shouted, wringing the water out of her hair.

On his second attempt, trying to correct his mistake, he was extremely cautious. He used so little chakra that his feet barely stuck. He managed one step, then another, and just as a triumphant grin spread across his face, the connection broke and he slipped, falling flat on his back with a thud that knocked the wind out of him.

"The tree... betrayed me," he gasped from the ground.

And so it continued. Each attempt was a new and creative way to fail. He tried running so fast that inertia would keep him stuck; he bounced off. He tried jumping and sticking midway; he missed and face-planted. He tried yelling at the tree to cooperate; the tree, surprisingly, did not respond.

Kakashi watched him from his branch, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter. But Kurenai watched Naruto intently.

She slid gracefully down her own tree and walked over to Naruto. He was sitting on the ground, covered in mud, leaves, and frustration.

"You're overthinking it, Naruto."

He looked at her, annoyed and defensive. "What do you mean? I'm barely thinking at all! I'm just trying to climb like everyone else!"

"That's the problem," she said, kneeling beside him. "You have immense power, but you're releasing it all at once. This exercise isn't about strength, it's about precision."

"I don't get it at all!" he protested, crossing his arms. "What am I supposed to do?! Ask it nicely?! It's a tree!"

"Exactly," she replied, to his surprise. "Close your eyes."

Naruto looked at her skeptically. "Close my eyes? I'll just fall again!"

"Trust me," her voice was soft but firm. "Close your eyes. Forget about the tree. Forget about Sasuke watching you from above and Kiba laughing. Feel the ground beneath your feet. Now, imagine your feet are roots, that they're growing, sinking gently into the ground. Don't push... adhere. Become a part of it."

He scowled, but Kurenai's calm voice soothed him. He closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and stopped thinking. He focused on the feeling of his feet, on the earth. He imagined the roots, small and stubborn, growing from his heels, searching for an anchor.

"Good," Kurenai whispered, seeing his frown relax. "Now... walk. Just... walk."

Naruto stood up, his eyes still closed, and took a hesitant step toward the tree. His foot made contact with the bark. And it stuck. He took another step. And another. The feeling was strange, as if the tree itself was holding him.

He snapped his eyes open. He was two meters off the ground, standing horizontally.

"I'm... I'm doing it," he whispered in awe. A slow, genuine smile spread across his face.

"I'M DOING IT!" he roared a second later, his joy exploding. "LOOK AT THIS! I'M THE KING OF THE TREES! BELIEVE IT! HAHAHAHA!"

The premature celebration, of course, broke his concentration. The chakra flow cut off, and he slid down the trunk, landing on the ground with a soft thud. But this time he didn't care. He jumped to his feet, a smile on his face that lit up the whole clearing. He had done it. He knew how. In his excitement, he even hugged Kurenai.

It was in that moment of triumph that the calm was broken. One of Gatō's thugs, a man they had seen in town, burst into the clearing. He was out of breath, his clothes were dirty, and his face was pale with panic.

"Ninjas!" he gasped, bending over at the waist and pointing at Kakashi. "Gatō-sama... demands an answer!"

Kakashi dropped silently from the tree, his book disappearing into his vest in a single motion. His lazy demeanor had vanished. "An answer to what?"

The thug pulled out a scroll with trembling hands and offered it to him. "To... to this."

Kakashi took it and unrolled it. Kurenai gently freed herself from Naruto's hug and came to his side to read over his shoulder. The genin fell silent, the playful atmosphere instantly dissolving.

Kakashi's voice, when he read the message aloud, was cold. "To the Konoha ninja. Playtime is over. You have until sundown tomorrow to bring me Tazuna's head. If you do, I will spare your lives and grant you safe passage home. If not, my new associates and I will hunt you down and kill all of you. Choose wisely."

*****

The assassins' hideout was a damp cave behind a waterfall. Zabuza sat on a rock, sharpening the edge of his giant Kubikiribōchō with a whetstone. The rhythmic, metallic shing-shing-shing was the only thing that broke the silence.

"That damn coward with his traps has delayed us by two days," he growled, the vibration rumbling in his chest. "If it were up to me, I would have already gone into that house and cut everyone to pieces. I'd start with Kakashi, just to enjoy it."

Kageri, huddled in a dark corner, was weaving a web of nearly invisible chakra threads between his fingers. His voice, coming from the shadows, was sharp. "And you would have fallen into at least three perimeter traps that the Konoha jōnin have surely set. Your style is loud. Noise alerts the prey. A patient hunter always wins."

"Patience is for the weak and the cowardly!" Zabuza retorted, testing the blade's edge with his thumb. A drop of blood welled up, and he ignored it. "Strength conquers all."

"Zabuza-sama, Kageri-san is right that caution is necessary," Haku intervened with his perpetually soft voice. He approached with a cup of tea. "But I also understand your frustration. Kakashi of the Sharingan is a formidable opponent. The wait only heightens the anticipation for the battle."

Just then, one of Gatō's thugs ran into the cave. "Zabuza-sama! A message from Gatō-sama!"

Zabuza snatched the scroll from his hands and read it. A cruel smile spread across his bandaged face.

"It seems our employer has grown tired of waiting," he said, crumpling the scroll in his fist. "Good. I was sick of all this subtlety and your stupid, useless threads anyway," he added, shooting a sharp look at Kageri.

He stood up, his imposing figure filling the cave. "Your game of patience is over. Tomorrow, we attack. And we'll do it my way: head-on and with all our strength."

Kageri stopped weaving his threads. He slowly looked up.

"A frontal assault is suicide," he stated, his tone flat and analytical. "They have two jōnin, one of them Kakashi. They have an Uchiha who, though inexperienced, might read your movements. They have a Hyuga with nearly three-hundred-sixty-degree vision who will detect your approach. Every variable is a danger."

"I don't give a damn about your stupid odds!" Zabuza roared, slamming the hilt of his sword against the rock. "Those are for gamblers, not for fighters!"

"But..." Kageri continued, his tactical mind already adapting to the new variable, "...a frontal assault, loud and foolish, could be the perfect distraction."

Zabuza paused, his anger replaced by a flash of interest. "What do you mean?"

"If you, the great 'Demon of the Hidden Mist,' make your grand, bloody spectacle on the bridge, you'll draw their attention," Kageri explained. "You'll draw the jōnin. Kakashi won't be able to resist a duel with you."

Slow understanding dawned in Zabuza's eyes. "...and while Kakashi is busy with me and my mist..."

"...I, along with our... noisy friends," Kageri gestured with his head toward the Demon Brothers, who were watching from the entrance, "...will infiltrate the house. We will separate the genin from their commanders, and I will eliminate the primary target. Tazuna will die before Kakashi even realizes the real battle wasn't on the bridge. Divide and conquer."

Zabuza considered it for a moment. The plan was cunning. It gave him the fight he craved against Kakashi and fulfilled Gatō's objective at the same time. He smiled beneath his bandages.

"Alright. We'll do it your way. For now," he conceded. "Haku, get ready. Tomorrow, the Konoha ninja will learn why they call me the Demon of the Mist."

******

Back at the lake, Gatō's ultimatum had left a chilling silence.

"Kill all of us?" Sakura whispered, her voice barely audible. "Is he serious?"

"Guys like Gatō are always serious," Sasuke replied, his hand already near his kunai pouch.

"Let him try!" Naruto shouted, his fear quickly replaced by a protective fury. "I'll kick his ass and his thugs' asses!"

"What do we do, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked again, seeking reassurance in her teacher's voice.

Kakashi looked at Kurenai. They didn't need words. He saw in her eyes the same resolve he felt in his own chest. Konoha doesn't negotiate with tyrants. And its ninja don't abandon a mission or the people they're protecting.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

What's up, everyone?

First off, a huge thank you for all the support. Seriously, the comments and ideas you all drop have been fantastic and really help shape the stories.

Things are getting intense across most of the fics, and I want to focus on what you're most hyped about. So, here’s the deal: I'm clearing my schedule tomorrow to write for the top two most-voted stories in this poll. Your votes will directly decide which updates I prioritize. So, choose wisely!

Also, get ready for another poll...

In the next few minutes (or by tomorrow at the latest), I’m going to post a poll to figure out what we're doing with Naruto and Kurenai. A reader I really appreciate made a great point, and it got me thinking. Here’s what they said:

"Look, I wouldn’t be here reading this if I wasn’t OK with the concept of Naruto having a harem. But I hope you still allow Kurenai to end up with Asuma Sarutobi. They had the only well written relationship in the entire show. The only other two that even had chemistry were Shikamaru & that sand girl. And they didn’t actually have a relationship until like the very last couple of chapters in Shippuden when everyone were pairing up like rabbits."

Just a heads-up, voting on that specific poll will be only for patrons in "The Immortal Throne" tier.

Thanks for being an awesome community! Now, let's get to voting.

POLL OPTIONS:

• Bestowing Falna on the Kunoichi

• Naruto’s Falna System: Goddess of Kunoichi Path

• BNHA: Dog Walker to Goddess Spanker

• The Incredibles: Secret File Gamma Jack

• Hero Trainer: Choke Me With Those Thighs!

• Mushoku Tensei: Swordsage Path - The Noble's Great Breasts

Poll available only on patreon.com/shurazero

Chapter Text

Sakura kept her eyes fixed on the exact spot where Sasuke had disappeared, trying to process the strange warmth swirling in her chest. It was, without a doubt, the closest thing to a "take care" she had ever heard him say.

"Wow," Naruto whispered beside her, his voice barely an exhale that broke the spell. "I think that was 'good luck' in Sasuke-speak."

"I guess so," Sakura replied, almost on autopilot. She hugged herself as a chill ran down her arms. The night's cold was starting to set in, or maybe it was the accumulated tension of the day finally catching up to her. The strategy planning, the splitting of the teams, the latent fear of what tomorrow would bring… it was all a knot in her stomach.

They stood there, side by side, without saying anything else. The darkness enveloped them, dotted by the distant light of the stars. The only sound was the rhythmic murmur of the waves breaking against the shore and the chirping of crickets.

Naruto scratched the back of his neck and jumped to his feet, abruptly breaking the stillness.

"Hey, it's freezing out here and my throat's dry! I'm gonna see if Tsunami-san has some tea or whatever! I'll be right back!"

Before Sakura could say a word, he had already disappeared inside the house, the paper sliding door closing with a soft thud behind him.

Sakura let out a long, tired sigh, slumping onto the wooden porch steps. Maybe it was for the best. Apologies were difficult. She didn't know where to start, what words to use to undo years of being… well, of being herself.

She rested her chin on her knees and stared at the sky. Away from the lights of Konoha, the stars were sharper, brighter. She felt that if she reached out her hand, she could brush them with her fingertips.

Several minutes passed. She was about to give up and go inside when the soft sound of the sliding door pulled her from her thoughts.

Naruto returned. In his hands, he carefully held two ceramic cups giving off a light steam. A slightly embarrassed smile formed on his face.

"I couldn't find the tea," he admitted, his voice a little lower than usual. "But there was a bag of chocolate powder in the cupboard and Tsunami-san said I could heat up some milk. I burned it a little at first and had to start over."

He sat down next to her on the step, the space between them much smaller than before. He held out one of the cups. Sakura took it, her fingers brushing against his for an instant. The ceramic was pleasantly warm against her cold skin. The scent of chocolate, sweet and familiar, reminded her of quiet mornings at home, of simpler times.

"Thank you, Naruto," she said in a whisper.

She brought the cup to her lips and took a sip. It was a little watery and definitely too sweet, but right then, it was the most comforting drink she had tasted in a long time. The warmth spread down her throat and into her chest, loosening the knot of anxiety a little.

"Not bad," she lied, forcing a small smile.

Naruto's face lit up. "Of course it's not bad! I made it, the next Hokage!"

He triumphantly brought his own cup to his mouth and took a big gulp, only to pull it away immediately with a pained expression.

"Ow, ow, ow, hot!" He blew on his tongue, fanning his hand in front of his mouth.

Sakura couldn't help it. A genuine laugh escaped her, a bubble of relief that burst free from the tension and fear that had oppressed her all day.

"Idiot," she said, but this time the word sounded almost affectionate.

They drank in comfortable silence for a while. The warmth of the chocolate seemed to have dissolved more than just the cold. She was the one who broke the silence, her voice so low that the sound of the waves almost drowned it out.

"I'm scared, Naruto."

The confession slipped out before she could stop it. Naruto stopped drinking and looked at her.

"Tomorrow," Sakura continued, her gaze lost among the stars again. "You'll stay here, protecting Tazuna and his family. And I'll be on the bridge with Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun. If the enemy shows up…"

Her voice broke, and she had to swallow before continuing. "I don't know if I'm strong enough. I don't know if I'm good for anything."

She looked away from the sky and at him. "At the lake, I realized. If it hadn't been for you, I'd be dead. It's that simple. What have I ever done for someone to risk themselves for me like that? I don't have a Byakugan, I don't have a ninja hound partner like the Inuzuka, and it's clear I'm not an Uchiha."

The words poured out of her, an avalanche of all the insecurities she had kept locked away.

"I'm just… me. The pink-haired girl with good chakra control. That's all I am."

"I always wanted everyone to see me as a ninja," her voice was barely a murmur now. "For them to see I could be strong. But it's not true. Tomorrow, on that bridge, I'm going to be a burden. I'm scared that because of me… something will happen to you, or Sasuke, or Kakashi-sensei. I'm scared someone will get hurt because I wasn't good enough."

She finished speaking. The silence that followed was absolute, broken only by her own ragged breathing.

Naruto listened without interrupting, his expression strangely calm. When she finally ran out of words, he didn't offer empty platitudes or promises he couldn't keep.

Instead, he said something that completely surprised her.

"You're an idiot, Sakura-chan."

She turned to look at him, her eyes wide. The bluntness of the phrase took her by surprise.

"What did you…?"

"You're not weak," he interrupted. "You're wrong if you think that. Your strength isn't in your fists. Not yet, at least."

He tapped his temple. "It's here."

Sakura looked at him, confused.

"Do you think I noticed the bell test trap?" Naruto continued. "Not a chance! I was going to charge straight ahead like a fool, like always! You were the one who saw the trap. You were the one who realized Kakashi-sensei was tricking us. If it weren't for you, we would have lost in the first five minutes."

He leaned a little closer, and the intensity in his blue eyes took her breath away.

"Sasuke and I are the same in that way. We only know how to run forward and hit things. We're simple. If there's a wall, we try to smash through it with our heads. But you're different. You see the whole game board. You see the pieces, the moves we don't. You're the smartest of the three of us, by far. That's your strength, Sakura-chan. Everyone has their own. Sasuke's is his technique. Mine is my incredible amount of chakra and my stubbornness. And yours is your brain. That's the strength that keeps us alive."

Naruto's words, so simple and direct, filled with an absolute faith in her she never knew existed, opened a floodgate inside her.

The tears she had been holding back so forcefully streamed from her eyes uncontrollably. She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a sob, but it was useless.

"I've been an idiot, Naruto," she said through sobs, the words stumbling over each other. "For years. A complete and utter idiot. I've yelled at you, hit you, looked down on you… and I never stopped to think about how you felt, or that you were always alone. Hinata had to tell me to my face for me to realize."

She looked up, meeting his eyes through her tears. "I never saw the boy sitting alone on the swing. I only saw the clown who disrupted class. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Naruto."

The raw, unadorned apology hung in the air.

Naruto looked completely lost. Awkwardly, he raised a hand and patted her on the shoulder, a stiff and uncertain gesture.

"Uh… don't worry about it, Sakura-chan," he said softly. "What happened, happened. You can be a little scary when you're mad, you know? But now we're a team. We're friends. That's what matters, right?"

He pulled his hand back and raised his cup. "A toast to that?" he proposed with a small smile. "To Team 7?"

Sakura wiped her tears with the back of her sleeve, a choked, trembling laugh escaping her lips. She picked up her own cup.

"To Team 7," she repeated. The soft clink of the ceramic cups was a strangely solemn sound.

They stayed on the porch a while longer. The tension was completely gone.

"Sakura-chan… about what we tried at the lake…"

She tensed slightly. "What about it?"

"I'm fully recovered," he said, his gaze fixed on the dark horizon. "My chakra is at one hundred percent. So… the offer still stands. If you still want to do it."

Sakura looked down at her now empty cup. The chance to never be a burden again. Before, the idea had terrified her. But now, after that conversation, everything felt different. Naruto's words echoed in her head: "You're the smartest of the three of us," "That's your strength."

It was no longer about her insecurity or impressing Sasuke. It was about being worthy of the faith her teammate had just placed in her. It was about having the tools to protect them.

She looked up, her green eyes meeting his blue ones. Her gaze was firm, determined.

"Yes," she said, her voice clear and strong. "More than ever."

The smile Naruto gave her was answer enough. He jumped to his feet.

"Then let's go. I know the perfect spot for this."

He didn't wait for a reply and started walking. Sakura left her cup on the porch and followed without hesitation. He led her in silence around Tazuna's house to a small clearing behind the property that ended abruptly at a cliff. The full moon, high in the sky, bathed the rocks in a silver light.

When they reached the center of the clearing, Sakura realized they weren't alone.

Two figures were already waiting for them there. Hinata, with her serene expression, gave her a small, encouraging smile. And beside her, Kurenai, her arms crossed, a look of quiet approval in her piercing red eyes.

Sakura stopped, surprised. She looked from Naruto to the two kunoichi.

"You guys… how…?"

"A secret like this needs guardians," Kurenai said softly. "We're here to make sure no one interrupts you."

Hinata approached Sakura and gave her arm a gentle squeeze. "You don't have to be afraid, Sakura-san. You'll be fine."

Sakura looked at the three people surrounding her. Hinata, her new friend. Kurenai, her unexpected mentor. And Naruto, the boy who had gone from her biggest annoyance to her best friend. She understood this was about much more than a simple power transfer.

She nodded with resolve. The last trace of fear evaporated, carried away by the sea breeze. With total confidence, she turned and gave Naruto her back, facing the vast, dark ocean.

Naruto knelt behind her. The atmosphere in the clearing became solemn. He glanced up for a moment and met Kurenai's eyes. The jounin gave a single nod of confirmation. Beside her, Hinata activated her Byakugan, ensuring they were truly alone.

"Okay, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, "close your eyes."

She obeyed, sinking into the darkness, aware only of the sound of the waves and the presence of her comrades around her.

"It's time for you to become incredibly strong."

Chapter Text

"This might feel... weird," Naruto warned. "Like static electricity, or like sticking your hand in a cool stream. Or maybe like getting struck by lightning! I really don't know. Hinata said it tickled."

A faint, nervous smile formed on Sakura's lips. It was strangely comforting that Naruto would demystify a sacred ritual with such an incoherent and contradictory explanation.

Then she felt it: a surge of pure, raw energy shot up her spine, branching out through every nerve ending and making the hair on her arms stand on end.

Naruto, kneeling behind her, held his breath. The world dissolved into a familiar, ethereal blue light as the system interface flooded his vision.

[ACTIVATING FALNA SYSTEM] [COMPATIBLE SUBJECT: SAKURA HARUNO] [CALIBRATION COMPLETE. INITIATING STATUS UPDATE. CONVERTING ACCUMULATED VITAL EXCELIA...]

The numbers began to scroll, fast and fluid.

SAKURA HARUNO LEVEL: 1 STRENGTH: I-0 -> I-15 ENDURANCE: I-0 -> I-25 DEXTERITY: I-0 -> I-55 AGILITY: I-0 -> I-60 CHAKRA POTENTIAL: I-0 -> H-150

Naruto blinked. "Your physical stats are starting low, but... whoa, Sakura-chan, your Chakra Potential is already H-rank! That's huge! It's way higher than mine!"

[ANALYZING QUALITY EXCELIA...] [SIGNIFICANT EVENTS DETECTED: 'ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE', 'PERFECT SCORE ON CHAKRA CONTROL EXAM', 'ANALYTICAL MIND UNDER PRESSURE: BELL TEST', 'EMPATHETIC BREAKTHROUGH: AN APOLOGY UNDER THE STARS'.] [CONVERTING QUALITY EXCELIA INTO ADDITIONAL ATTRIBUTES...]

The numbers shot up again, a surge of progress. The Chakra Potential stat skyrocketed.

STRENGTH: I-15 -> I-45 ENDURANCE: I-25 -> I-70 DEXTERITY: I-55 -> H-110 AGILITY: I-60 -> H-125 CHAKRA POTENTIAL: H-150 -> G-299

"G-rank!" Naruto shouted, his excitement finally breaking his concentration. "You went straight to G-rank in Chakra Potential! That's insane!"

[ATTRIBUTE CONVERSION COMPLETE.] [ANALYZING SUBJECT'S SOUL FOR SKILL OR DEVELOPMENT ABILITY MANIFESTATION...] [DOMINANT ESSENCE DETECTED: 'METICULOUS CONTROL' & 'DESIRE TO BE INDISPENSABLE'.] [CROSS-REFERENCING WITH HIGH CHAKRA POTENTIAL...] [MANIFESTATION FOUND.] [DEVELOPMENT ABILITY UNLOCKED] [POINT BREAK] PASSIVE/ACTIVE ABILITY. ALLOWS THE USER TO FOCUS THEIR CHAKRA INTO A SINGLE, MICRO-SIZED POINT UPON A PHYSICAL IMPACT. INSTEAD OF REINFORCING THE BODY, THIS ABILITY RELEASES THE CHAKRA OUTWARD IN A DESTRUCTIVE, CONCUSSIVE BURST AT THE MOMENT OF CONTACT. THE EFFECTIVENESS IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO THE USER'S CHAKRA CONTROL.

Naruto's jaw dropped. "Point... Break..." he read aloud, his voice filled with awe. "Sakura-chan, you got a Development Ability. It says... it says you can release chakra like a destructive explosion when you hit something."

[UPDATE COMPLETE. CLOSING CONNECTION.]

The familiar, wrenching drain pulled at Naruto. He gasped, falling back onto the grass as the blue light faded from his vision. He was panting, his forehead beaded with sweat, but a huge, triumphant grin was plastered on his face.

For a moment, silence returned to the clearing. A soft, silver aura enveloped Sakura before dissipating into the night air. She remained completely still, her eyes closed. She opened them slowly and then looked down at her hands, turning them over in the moonlight. They looked exactly the same. Slender, pale, unblemished.

"I..." she began, her voice uncertain. "I don't feel any different."

"What?!" Naruto scrambled up from the ground, his fatigue forgotten. "No way! The screen said you got super strong! And you got a skill that sounds incredible!"

Sakura flexed her fingers. Nothing. She took a step, then another. She felt normal. Maybe a little lighter. A flicker of her old insecurity returned. What if it hadn't worked on her? What if she was just... incompatible?

"Maybe... maybe it didn't work right," she mumbled, her shoulders slumping.

"Don't be ridiculous," a calm, firm voice cut through the air. It was Kurenai. She stepped forward, her red eyes glowing with an unnerving intensity. "A Development Ability isn't a simple switch you can flip. You don't feel it because it's part of you now, as natural as breathing. You have to learn to use it."

Hinata approached Sakura, offering a reassuring smile. "It's true, Sakura-san. When it happened to me, I felt lighter, faster. But I know my ability, Lioness Heart, will be there for when I need it."

Naruto pointed dramatically at a large gray boulder at the edge of the clearing, about the size of a small cart. "There's only one way to find out! Punch that rock!"

Sakura stared at him, then at the rock. "Are you crazy? I'll break my hand!"

"No, you won't!" Naruto insisted with absolute faith. "The system is never wrong! Just hit it!"

Kurenai crossed her arms, her expression thoughtful. He's crude, but his logic is sound. A practical test is necessary. However, she shouldn't just punch it blindly.

She walked over to Sakura. "Close your eyes again. Remember the Academy. The leaf concentration exercise. Can you still feel that sensation? Drawing your chakra to a specific point?"

Sakura nodded and closed her eyes. She could. It was second nature to her, the one ninjutsu related skill she had always excelled at. The gentle pull, the warm, tingling feeling as the energy gathered where she directed it.

"The ability is called Point Break..." Kurenai continued, her voice like a sensei's in a private lecture. "The name is the key. It implies precision. Your strength isn't in your muscles, Sakura. It's in your control. The system recognized that. Try to focus your chakra into your fist, and as you make contact, imagine releasing it all from your knuckles into a single point."

Sakura took a deep breath.

She walked to the rock, her heart pounding. She stood before its cold, unyielding surface. She was definitely going to break her hand.

No. Trust them. Trust... yourself.

She drew her fist back. She ignored the idea of strength and focused entirely on her chakra. She pulled it from her core, letting it flow down her arm like a focused, controlled river. It pooled in her fist, a warm, vibrating sensation.

"That's it!" Naruto cheered from the sideline. "Now, let 'er rip!"

Sakura swung.

Her fist met the rock with a dull, fleshy thud. A sharp pain shot through her knuckles, and she cried out, pulling her hand back.

Nothing had happened. The rock was completely unscathed. Her knuckles, however, were already starting to swell and turn red.

"Ow, ow, ow!" she yelped, shaking her hand vigorously. "I told you I'd break it!"

Naruto's face fell. "Huh? But... the screen said..."

Kurenai, however, looked intrigued. "No, no. You were close. Your form was wrong, but the principle was right. You kept the chakra in your fist on impact. You tried to use it as reinforcement, like a normal ninja would."

She moved closer. "Think of it like this: your fist is just the delivery system. The chakra is the payload. The goal isn't a powerful punch. The goal is to get the payload to the target. Try again. And this time, at the very last second your skin touches the stone... release the chakra."

Sakura clutched her throbbing hand. She couldn't give up after one try.

She squared her shoulders and faced the rock again, using her left hand this time. She closed her eyes, ignoring the doubt, and focused. Again, she drew on her chakra, a familiar and comforting process. She visualized it swirling in her fist, a small, compressed vortex of blue energy.

She drew her arm back slowly.

Her fist flew forward.

This time, it felt different. She mentally opened the floodgates of the chakra pooled in her hand.

The moment of impact was surreal.

There was a sharp, violent crack. CRACK!

For an instant, she felt no resistance at all. There was no jarring impact, no pain. A flash of pale blue light erupted from her knuckles, and a concussive force blew her hair back.

She staggered back a step, her ears ringing, and stared.

The rock was still standing. But from the exact point where her knuckles had touched it, a web of deep, dark cracks spread across the entire surface.

Naruto was dumbfounded. Hinata gasped, her hands flying to her mouth, her eyes wide with disbelief. Kurenai's professional mask had vanished, replaced by an expression of pure astonishment.

"Did... did I do that?" Sakura whispered, looking at her left hand. It was perfectly fine. Not a scratch, not a bruise. It didn't even hurt.

"You... you did that," Naruto finally managed, his voice choked with emotion. He walked slowly toward the rock, as if it might explode. He reached out a trembling finger and touched one of the cracks. A small piece of granite crumbled away, turning to dust.

He whipped his head around to look at her, his blue eyes burning with an excitement that overshadowed anything he had shown before.

"THAT! WAS! AWESOME!" he roared, leaping into the air. "You didn't even punch it hard! It just shattered! You have a super punch! A demolition punch! We gotta give it a cool name! How about 'Sakura's Rock Smashing Petal Dance of Doom'?"

A laugh erupted from Sakura's chest. It wasn't the short, relieved laugh from before. It was a full, joyous, and disbelieving laugh. The tension, the fear, the years of feeling useless and left behind, it all seemed to crumble away.

"You idiot," she said, wiping away a tear of laughter. The word was pure affection.

Kurenai finally composed herself, though she couldn't completely hide the amazement in her voice. "That... is beyond anything I could have imagined. It's not a simple strength enhancing jutsu. It is a fundamental reapplication of chakra principles. The potential for devastation is..." her voice trailed off as she looked at Sakura's slender hands with a newfound respect, "...immense."

Sakura stared at the fractured boulder, then back at her own hand. Kurenai was right. She hadn't punched it. She had simply... touched it and commanded her chakra to break it. A new feeling began to dawn on her: not just relief, but confidence. A deep, solid, unshakable confidence. The fear of tomorrow's battle on the bridge was still there, but it was different now. It was no longer the fear of a helpless underdog. It was the nervous anticipation of a warrior.

"So," Naruto said, bouncing on the balls of his feet, radiating energy. "Now we're both superpowered. Me with my new guide, and you with your rock bursting fists of justice!" He pointed between them. "I knew it! When I get stronger, you get stronger! When you get stronger, I get stronger! This is the best jutsu in the world!"

He was practically vibrating with excitement.

Sakura looked at Naruto, truly looked at him. She saw past the goofy grin and the loud proclamations. She saw the boy who had sat alone on the swing, who had seen a strength in her that she couldn't see herself, and who, without a moment's hesitation, had shared his incredible, impossible secret with her. He hadn't just given her power. He had given her his trust.

"Thank you, Naruto," she said, and her words carried a weight they never had before. "For everything."

Naruto's bravado faltered. He scratched his cheek, a faint blush on his face. "Eh, don't mention it. We're a team, right?"

He then glanced at her and then at Hinata, who was examining the cracked rock with fascination. "Actually, a bigger team now, I guess. Team 7 plus honorary members!"

Sakura followed his gaze and smiled at Hinata. She walked over and stood beside her. "Thanks for being here, Hinata. I was... really nervous."

Hinata turned, her pale eyes soft. "I knew you could do it, Sakura-san. Your spirit has always been strong."

The four of them stood there for a moment in a comfortable silence. A genjutsu master jounin, a Hyuga heiress, the village pariah, and the girl who had just discovered a new and terrifying strength.

"Alright," Kurenai said finally, clapping her hands together, her leader persona returning. "That's enough excitement for one night. The enemy could be back tomorrow. Everyone needs to get some sleep. Naruto, you're on watch with Kakashi early tomorrow. Sakura, Hinata, you need to rest well. Now, go."

Naruto and Hinata nodded and headed back to the house. But Sakura paused for a second. She turned back to Kurenai.

"Sensei... how do I control this?" she asked quietly. "If I hit someone... could I...?"

Kurenai's expression softened. "You'll learn. Your greatest strength, your control, is precisely what will allow you to master it. You'll learn to measure the output. A touch to disable, a strike to shatter. We'll work on it. I promise."

The elite jounin's reassurance dispelled Sakura's last fears. She nodded gratefully and turned to follow the others.

As she walked back toward the warm lights of Tazuna's house, she held up her left hand again, observing it in the moonlight. It didn't look like a weapon. It looked like her own hand. But for the first time in her life, she understood it could be both.

Chapter Text

"I still can't believe it."

Sakura's voice was barely a whisper in the quiet of the forest, so low it was almost lost in the sound of her footsteps on the dead leaves. She stopped for a second, raising her hands to look at them under the pale moonlight.

"Did I really do that?"

Naruto, who was walking a couple of steps ahead, turned around with a smile. Though his eyes showed exhaustion, he was almost completely overcome with euphoria.

"Of course you did, Sakura-chan! You pulverized it!" He made an explosive gesture with his hands, nearly tripping over a root in the process.

Hinata rushed to grab his arm to steady him. "Be careful, Naruto-kun. You used up a lot of energy."

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he said, though he leaned on her for a moment. "It was worth it, wasn't it? Did you see her face? It was like she'd seen a ghost!"

Sakura let out an incredulous laugh. "I know. I felt the chakra flowing, but I never imagined… it would be so amazing."

"We're almost there," Kurenai pointed out from the rear, her tone calm but with a hint of warning. "Keep your voices down. We don't know if there are ears listening in the forest."

The group immediately fell silent, the reality of their situation settling in again. The excitement of the moment had almost made them forget they were in enemy territory, protecting a man with a price on his head.

"I'm sorry, Kurenai-sensei," Sakura murmured, looking at her hands again, but this time with a more serious expression.

Naruto nodded, his smile replaced by a focused grimace. "She's right. We have to stay alert."

They walked the last few meters in a tense silence, very different from the awed silence from before. This was now the silence of ninja on a mission. The warm lights of Tazuna's house appeared like a beacon of safety through the trees, and a collective sigh of relief escaped their lips without them even realizing it.

But the feeling of safety evaporated the moment they reached the porch.

The door swung open before they could knock. Kakashi stood in the doorway, blocking the entrance. His single visible eye lacked its usual lazy air; instead, it held a piercing sharpness that seemed to analyze everything. Behind him, barely visible in the dim light, Sasuke waited with his arms crossed.

"Well, well. It's about time," Kakashi said. His tone was light, almost carefree, but his gaze was anything but. It slid over Hinata and Kurenai, lingered on Naruto for an extra second, and finally settled on Sakura. "You're all covered in dirt and leaves. And if I'm not mistaken, Naruto looks like he rolled through the mud. A little night hike?"

Naruto opened his mouth, ready to blurt out the first excuse he could think of—something about a giant boar or secret survival training—but Kurenai stepped forward.

"It was specialized training, Kakashi."

Kakashi's visible eyebrow arched. "Specialized? At this hour? Most training sessions usually wait for the sun to come up. It's easier to see where you're stepping."

"I discovered a particular affinity in Sakura," Kurenai continued, unfazed. "A very precise and potent chakra control that required specific conditions to be tested. The night offered the necessary quiet, without distractions."

"I see," Kakashi said, though his expression said he didn't see anything clearly at all. "A training exercise so specialized it required the presence of your team and half of mine? I wasn't aware we were conducting joint maneuvers without prior notice."

Sasuke stepped forward, emerging from the shadows. His gaze locked onto Naruto. "You left your watch post. It was your turn for the first watch."

"Hey, it was important!" Naruto retorted defensively.

"Hinata's ability was necessary to locate a spot with the right density of rock and soil," Kurenai interjected again, her firm voice cutting through the tension. "Her Byakugan saved us hours of searching. And Naruto…," she paused, looking at her student in a way Kakashi couldn't quite interpret, "Naruto has chakra reserves you're already familiar with. He served as an external source so Sakura could feel and mold a flow of energy much larger than her own. It was a team exercise to test a new application."

The explanation was solid. Flawless, even. It covered all the bases and utilized the known skills of each of the genin. But something didn't sit right with Kakashi. The way they looked at each other, the vibrant euphoria under Sakura's fatigue, the new confidence in Naruto's posture… Something big had happened.

He stared at Kurenai for a long moment. A silent duel between two jōnin, an exchange of trust and suspicion. Kakashi knew Kurenai. She was methodical, brilliant, and fiercely protective of her students. She wouldn't do anything reckless. But she was also just as good at hiding things as he was. Finally, he let out a long, theatrical sigh, scratching the back of his neck.

"Well, as long as nobody lost an arm, I suppose it's fine. Come on in. Make sure you get some rest. We're going to need all of you at one hundred percent tomorrow." He stepped aside, letting them pass.

Kurenai's team started to enter, but Sasuke didn't move. He blocked Sakura's path, his dark gaze demanding answers.

"What kind of training?" he asked, his voice low and tense. "What exactly did you do?"

Sakura tensed under his scrutiny. Any other time, she would have been intimidated, anxious to please him. But tonight was different.

"Just… chakra control, Sasuke-kun," she answered, her voice firmer than she expected. "Kurenai-sensei is right. It was an exercise in precision."

"Precision," Sasuke repeated, the word sounding like an insult on his lips. "The 'Dobe' and precision? Don't make me laugh." His gaze shifted to Naruto. He felt left out, surpassed, and he didn't understand why.

"Sasuke, that's enough," Kakashi said from inside. "Let them rest."

Sasuke clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Hmph." He turned sharply and disappeared down the hall.

Once inside with the door closed, the tension eased. Tsunami greeted them with a warm smile, offering them a bowl of hot soup that smelled delicious. "Welcome back. You look exhausted. Please, sit down."

The smell of food suddenly hit Naruto, and with it, a wave of exhaustion so overwhelming that he staggered. The adrenaline that had kept him on his feet dissipated like smoke, leaving an emptiness that made his muscles ache.

"Food!" he exclaimed, trying to maintain his usual energy.

As the others headed to the small dining table, Sakura stopped him, placing a gentle hand on his arm. She waited until Hinata and Kurenai were a few steps away before speaking in a whisper.

"Hey… Naruto."

He turned to look at her.

"I just… really," she stammered a bit, searching for the words. "Thank you."

Naruto blinked, a little bewildered. "You don't have to thank me, Sakura-chan. We're a team, remember? This is what we do! We have each other's backs!"

"No," she insisted, shaking her head with a small smile. "This was different. It wasn't about having my back. You… you saw something in me that even I didn't know was there." Her voice broke a little at the end. "No one's ever done that before. Thank you."

Before he could respond, she gave him one last small but genuine smile and went to sit at the table. Naruto stood in the middle of the room, the warmth from that simple conversation spreading through his chest. It was a better feeling than any bowl of ramen.

"Naruto? Aren't you hungry?" Tsunami asked.

His head was spinning. The exhaustion and emotions of the night were a heavy cocktail. "I… uh… need some air," he muttered. Instead of joining the others, he headed for the back door that led to a small wooden porch.

The night air was cool, carrying the salty smell of the nearby sea and the scent of pine trees. He leaned on the railing and took a deep breath, trying to quiet the buzzing in his head. His body was begging him to lie down and sleep, but his mind was racing a mile a minute. He had to know. He had to see it with his own eyes.

He closed his eyes and concentrated. As he did, he saw the familiar blue light.

[FALNA SYSTEM ACTIVATED] [CHECKING HOST STATUS…] [HOST: NARUTO UZUMAKI] [CURRENT BELIEVERS: 3 (Hinata Hyuga, Kurenai Yuhi, Sakura Haruno)] [THE FAMILY'S FAITH ACCELERATES THE HOST'S GROWTH. CONVERTING SHARED VITAL EXCELIA INTO BASIC ATTRIBUTES…] [UPDATE COMPLETE!]

The virtual screen flickered, displaying his own stats. Naruto held his breath.

NARUTO UZUMAKI LEVEL: 1 STRENGTH: H-105 -> G-215 (+110) ENDURANCE: H-120 -> G-250 (+130) DEXTERITY: I-75 -> H-160 (+85) AGILITY: I-81 -> H-175 (+94) CHAKRA POTENTIAL: I-10 -> H-100 (+90)

An incredulous laugh, almost a gasp, escaped him. It was real. The surge of power he felt coursing through his veins wasn't an illusion. He was stronger, more resilient, faster. His control over his own energy, something that had always been chaos, was now more stable.

And then, a new message appeared, the one he had been waiting for.

[REQUIREMENT FULFILLED: MULTIPLE BELIEVERS CONNECTED] [DEVELOPMENT ABILITY UNLOCKED] [LEADER'S BOND (Rank I)] TYPE: PASSIVE/ACTIVE ABILITY DESCRIPTION: Allows the host to sense the general status (chakra levels, fatigue, and strong emotions like fear or determination) of the active members of his "Family." As the ability ranks up, the perception becomes clearer and more detailed, allowing for superior tactical coordination. Requires concentration to activate.

He closed his eyes again, ignored the screen, and focused on this new ability. He reached out with his mind, searching for the three connections he knew now existed.

He felt them instantly: three distinct and clear presences inside the house.

They were there. Connected to him.

"Naruto-kun?"

Hinata's soft voice pulled him from his concentration. He turned and saw her standing by the door, holding a glass of water. The light from the house silhouetted her form.

"When you got up from the table, you looked a little pale," she said, approaching with her usual timid steps. "I thought… well, that maybe you needed this."

She offered him the glass. Their fingers brushed as he took it, a fleeting contact that sent a strange current up his arm. He drank the water in one gulp, the cool liquid soothing his dry throat.

"Thanks, Hinata. You're the best," he said with a genuine smile.

The usual blush bloomed on Hinata's cheeks, but this time she didn't completely look away. "You did a lot for us tonight. Sakura-san… she's very happy. I've never seen her like this."

"She was amazing! I always knew she was strong!" Naruto said, leaning on the railing again.

"Yes," Hinata agreed, her lavender eyes shining with sincerity. "Her spirit has always been strong."

Naruto looked at her, really looked at her. Hinata always saw things in others that no one else noticed. She saw the kindness, the hidden strength, the potential. She had always seen it in him, even when he was the class clown.

"Hey, you've got something…" he began, tilting his head.

Hinata stiffened instantly, bringing her hands to her face. "W-what? Is my face dirty?"

"No, no," he laughed. "It's in your hair. Right there." He pointed to a small maple leaf that had gotten tangled in her dark blue locks.

She tried to get it out, but her trembling hands couldn't find the spot. "Oh, dear, I-I… I can't find it."

"Hold on, stay still," Naruto said with a naturalness that surprised him.

He moved closer to her and, very carefully, raised his hand. His fingers brushed against the incredible softness of her hair as he removed the leaf. For a second, the world seemed to stop. They were very close, and the gentle, floral scent of her shampoo filled the air.

"Got it," he said softly, showing her the leaf before letting the wind carry it away.

"T-thank you, Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered, her face bright red. Without another word, she gave a quick bow and practically fled back inside the house.

Naruto was left alone, a little confused but with a goofy smile on his face.

"It seems you have a very particular effect on my student."

Kurenai's voice made him jump. She was in the other corner of the porch, wrapped in shadows. He hadn't heard her approach at all.

"Kurenai-sensei! You nearly scared me to death!"

"A shinobi shouldn't be startled so easily," she replied, though a hint of a smile played on her lips. She walked over and leaned on the railing beside him, looking out into the darkness of the forest. "But you're right, I should have announced my presence. I didn't come to give you lessons in stealth."

A comfortable silence settled between them, filled only by the chirping of crickets.

"What you did tonight, Naruto," she finally said, her voice losing all trace of amusement and turning serious, "changed much more than just Sakura's strength. You've introduced a variable into this mission that our enemies can't anticipate. That power you use… it's not a jutsu you can learn from a scroll, is it?"

Naruto swallowed hard. "I… I just want to protect my friends. To give them a chance."

"I know," Kurenai responded instantly. "Sakura had to trust you blindly, and I had to trust both of your judgments. That seems to be the real key to all of this."

She turned to face him directly. In the moonlight, her red eyes seemed to glow with an almost hypnotic intensity. "When I offered to let you test it on me, it wasn't just to make sure Sakura was safe. It was a test for you."

Naruto looked at her, not understanding. "A test?"

"I wanted to see what was behind that power," she explained. "A power capable of granting strength to others is incredibly dangerous."

"I couldn't see anything wrong," she continued, and the small smile returned. "I saw a boy terrified of the possibility of causing harm, but even more terrified at the thought of doing nothing to help. I saw someone willing to carry a secret, just to give his friends the tools to survive." She paused, her gaze deepening. "In that moment, while I watched Sakura's chakra, I didn't see a loud-mouthed genin. I saw a leader."

The praise, so direct, so unexpected, and coming from an elite jōnin like her, hit him harder than any punch. He was speechless.

"That quality…," Kurenai went on, turning her gaze back to the dark outline of the trees, "to inspire such absolute trust that people place their potential in your hands… is extremely rare. It often leads to a life full of tragedy and sacrifice. But it is also the quality that forges a loyalty capable of moving mountains." Her eyes met his one last time. "It's the quality of a true Hokage."

She straightened up; her assessment was over. "Get some rest, Naruto. Tomorrow will be a long day, and you'll need it."

With a final nod of respect, Kurenai turned and went back into the house, leaving him alone with the echo of her words resonating in his mind.

Before heading to his futon, he stopped in the hallway and closed his eyes. He used his Leader's Bond one last time.

He felt the calm presences of the three kunoichi, already lost in sleep. Sakura's sparkling euphoria had subsided, becoming a warm, satisfied ember. Hinata's worry had dissolved into a serene, confident calm. And Kurenai's analytical mind had quieted into a deep, watchful stillness, even in her dreams.

A genuine smile formed on Naruto's face. A calm had settled, but it was the calm that always precedes the storm.

And he, for the first time in his life, felt ready to face it.

Chapter Text

"Sasuke, get up. It's time."

Kakashi's voice, devoid of its usual lazy tone, cut through the thin veil of sleep. Sasuke opened his eyes in the gloom. There was no sunlight, only the bluish gray that precedes the dawn. For an instant, instinct took over, the need to react to a presence in his room, but he suppressed it with a stifled grunt. It was his sensei.

He sat up, and the cold wooden floor was a sharp shock against his skin. A weariness weighed on his bones, a deep exhaustion that came not from lack of sleep, but from his restless mind. He had barely slept. He felt the sting of a team dynamic from which he had been completely excluded.

"I'll be out in five minutes," he said in a low murmur, hoarse from sleep.

"Good. Sakura is already awake and ready. We'll meet at the entrance," Kakashi replied. There was a pause, and for a moment Sasuke thought he would say something more, something about the previous night. But his sensei simply added, "Don't be late." His presence vanished as silently as it had arrived.

Sasuke sat in the darkness, listening to the sound of his own breathing. Frustration. It was too simple a word to describe the acid churning in his stomach. It wasn't just envy. An Uchiha didn't envy; he observed, analyzed, and surpassed.

Power, as he understood it, had a lineage. It came from blood, from a kekkei genkai passed down through generations of elite warriors. Or it was forged through hellish training, discipline, and sacrifice, like his Fire Style Jutsu. It was a ladder climbed with effort and innate talent. He was on a higher rung, and the others were far below. That was how the world worked.

But Naruto and Sakura had found a shortcut. He saw the way Sakura looked at Naruto, not with her usual irritation, but with a gratitude and respect she had never shown him. He saw Hinata's protective calm, Kurenai's serious approval.

And he, the last of the Uchiha, the genius of his generation, was an outsider looking in.

He stood up with a sharp movement, the sound of his bones cracking in the silence. He dressed with mechanical efficiency, every strap and buckle secured with practiced precision. He grabbed his kunai pouch, feeling the familiar cold weight of the steel. This was real. This was understandable. Hard work. Skill. Lineage.

Whatever they had, he would surpass it. He would prove that their strange tricks were no match for true power.

He left the house and the cold morning air hit him. Sakura was already there, standing next to Kakashi, stretching her arms. She didn't look like the same girl from yesterday. There was a new stillness about her, a confidence in her posture that was irritating. When her green eyes met his, there was none of the usual hesitation or admiration. Just a serene, direct gaze. It bothered him more than he was willing to admit.

Tazuna came out of the house, rubbing his sleepy eyes and yawning loudly. "Are we leaving already? We have to be careful with Gato, he's an unpredictable guy."

"We will be," Kakashi assured him, placing a calming hand on the builder's shoulder. "That's why we're going. To make sure he's the only one who has a bad day."

The journey to the bridge was made in a tense silence. The sun was beginning to rise, painting the sky in shades of orange and purple. Sasuke walked slightly ahead, his senses sharp. Every rustle of a branch, every chirp of a bird, was analyzed and dismissed. But his mind was divided. One part focused on the mission, searching the surroundings for threats. The other, louder part was still caught up in the mystery of his teammates.

"Kakashi sensei," Sakura's voice broke the silence. "What's the strategy?"

"The strategy is simple," Kakashi answered without looking at her. "I'll handle the strongest ninja, and you two protect Tazuna. Don't split up. Don't look for unnecessary fights."

"But yesterday I…" she began, but stopped herself.

"Yesterday was a controlled situation. Today will not be," Kakashi cut in, his tone making it clear the conversation was over.

Sakura pressed her lips together but nodded. Sasuke watched her out of the corner of his eye. He noticed her hands weren't nervously wringing as they usually did, but rested near her gear pouch. Her walk was firmer, her back straighter. How did she do it? What did it feel like? The idea that she, the girl who had always been a burden on the battlefield, now possessed an ability he couldn't explain was an offense to his pride.

They reached the bridge as the sun rose fully above the horizon. The first thing they noticed was the silence. An absolute, unnatural silence. There was no sound of hammers, no murmur of workers' conversations, no creak of wood being laid. The massive skeleton of the bridge stretched over the water, deserted.

"I don't like this," Sakura muttered, her hand instinctively moving to her kunai pouch. "There should be people here."

"They got scared," Tazuna said, his voice tinged with bitterness. "Gato must have threatened them again."

"I don't think that's it," Sasuke said quietly, his eyes scanning the metal beams and scaffolding. "There are no tools scattered around. No one left in a hurry. They just didn't show up."

"Stay alert," Kakashi ordered, his eyes sweeping over every inch of the structure. "Are you sure they were supposed to be here today, Tazuna?"

"Absolutely," the old man replied, his voice trembling slightly. "I told them today was a crucial day. We were about to finish the main section."

That's when they felt it. A change in the atmosphere. The humidity in the air suddenly spiked, making their clothes stick to their skin. A wisp of white mist drifted over the water's surface, then another, and another, converging on the bridge with supernatural speed. In a matter of seconds, they were engulfed in a fog that reduced their visibility to just a few feet. The world shrank, becoming a small bubble of wooden planks and metal surrounded by a white, silent sea.

"Kakashi sensei…" Sakura's voice was tense, a sharp whisper in the stillness.

"I know," he replied, his voice a deadly calm in the middle of the silent chaos. The familiarity in his tone indicated he knew exactly what they were facing. "Sasuke, Sakura, protective formation around Tazuna. Now."

They obeyed instantly, forming a defensive triangle around the terrified builder. Sasuke and Sakura flanked him, with Kakashi in front, facing the mist. Sasuke drew a kunai, the cold steel a familiar comfort in his hand. The fog was so saturated with its creator's own energy that it was like trying to see through a wall.

A shiver ran down Sasuke's spine. This was no ordinary ninjutsu. It was the work of a master.

Then, a voice echoed from the heart of the mist, a deep, rough voice full of cruel amusement.

"Eight points."

Sasuke tensed. Sakura stifled a gasp, instinctively stepping closer to Tazuna.

The voice continued, moving around them, impossible to pinpoint, bouncing off the mist as if coming from everywhere at once. "Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart. Which of my favorite striking points should I choose?"

Suddenly, a presence appeared directly in front of Kakashi. The mist swirled and parted to reveal a tall, muscular figure, his face covered in bandages, with no eyebrows and a sideways Kirigakure forehead protector. He carried a gigantic sword on his back.

Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist, smiled.

"Kakashi. I see you brought brats to a mission that's too big for them."

"Zabuza," Kakashi replied, his single visible eye narrowing. "I should have known it was you. Not many ninja have such poor taste in swords and theatrics."

"And you bring your pets with you," Zabuza said, his murderous gaze falling on Sasuke and Sakura. The pressure radiating from him was physical, a wave of killing intent that made it hard to breathe. "Do you think this pathetic game of playing ninja will save them?"

The bloodlust emanating from him was so intense you could almost taste it. It was an overwhelming pressure, that of an elite assassin who had slaughtered hundreds. Sasuke felt a knot in his stomach, a flicker of terror. Beside him, Sakura was visibly trembling, but her hands were clenched into tight fists, knuckles white.

"They're not my pets," Kakashi said, slowly raising his own headband to reveal his left eye. "They are my students. And if you lay a single finger on them… you'll have to face me."

Zabuza let out a laugh that echoed in the mist. "Gladly! But first, let's set the stage."

He moved. He simply vanished.

"Look out!" Kakashi yelled.

Zabuza reappeared on the water next to the bridge, standing on the surface as if it were solid ground. His hands flew through a complex series of seals at a speed Sasuke could barely follow.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu!"

The already thick mist became almost solid. Sasuke couldn't see Sakura, who was only a few feet away. The world disappeared. Sound was muffled. It was a perfect assassination technique, designed to disorient and isolate.

"Sasuke, stay calm," Kakashi's voice was their only anchor. "Use your ears. Sakura, focus on protecting Tazuna. Don't separate for any reason."

Suddenly, a gust of wind cut through the mist in front of them. It was Kakashi. He had released a wave of chakra to clear a small radius. "Nice trick, Zabuza. But silent killing is a specialty we share."

"We'll see who the master is," Zabuza's voice replied from everywhere and nowhere.

*****

At Tazuna's house, the atmosphere was one of tense efficiency. Kurenai, taking her role as commander with absolute seriousness, had turned the humble home into a small fortress. It wasn't just her, Hinata, and Naruto. The entirety of Team 8 had been assigned as discreet backup as soon as Kakashi reported the true nature of the mission.

"Naruto, I want clones. Three on the roof, two on the forest perimeter behind the house, and one on the front porch," Kurenai instructed, her voice a controlled whisper. "I don't want them to engage anyone. Their only function is to be our eyes and ears. If they see anything, anything at all, they disperse immediately. Understood?"

"Got it, Kurenai sensei!" Naruto replied.

He created the clones with an ease that surprised Kurenai. Despite the energy he had spent the night before, his reserves seemed almost untouched. The clones shot off, moving with a stealth Naruto rarely displayed, as if the gravity of the situation had infected him.

"Kiba, I want you to stay inside. Your senses are crucial here," Kurenai continued.

"What? But I should be out there!" Kiba protested, jumping to his feet. Akamaru, curled up in his jacket, barked in agreement. "What good is my nose if I'm cooped up in this cabin that smells like old fish?"

"Your nose can detect someone attempting a stealthy approach long before we can, even before Naruto's clones," Kurenai replied calmly. "Your job is to be our early warning system. Akamaru too. If something gets close, you'll know."

Kiba crossed his arms, grumbling. "We should go help them!" he insisted.

"Our orders are to protect this location and the civilians," Kurenai reminded him firmly. "And that's what we will do. Shino, deploy your insects in a defensive perimeter. Keep them out of sight. I want to know if a leaf falls out of place."

Shino nodded silently, and a small swarm of insects emerged from under his sleeves, disappearing through cracks in the floor and windows.

"Hinata," Kurenai continued, turning to her. "You stay with me, Tsunami, and Inari in the main room. Your Byakugan is our best long range defense. Maintain a constant 360 degree scan. Look for chakra fluctuations, unnatural movements. Don't let your guard down for a second."

"Yes, sensei," Hinata nodded, the veins already bulging around her temples.

Naruto sat on the floor of the main room, legs crossed. He had done his part for now, and the rest was a waiting game. Kiba paced back and forth like a caged animal, making Akamaru whine nervously.

"Could you stand still? You're making me nervous," Naruto snapped.

"Maybe if you were doing something useful, I'd be calmer," Kiba shot back.

"My clones are a perfect decoy! And they're smarter than you!" Naruto growled.

"Enough, both of you," Kurenai interrupted them. "Naruto, focus. Kiba, sit down."

Naruto shut his mouth and his eyes, trying to calm the buzz of anxiety in his stomach. He concentrated, extending his awareness to use his new ability: the "Leader's Bond."

He felt Kurenai nearby, a calm and sharp presence. He felt Hinata, a steady, protective flame of concentration. Then he extended his perception further, searching the distance. He looked for Sakura.

At first, there was only a vague sensation, a faint connection. But then, something changed.

It was like a scream that only he could hear in his mind.

Naruto flinched, his eyes snapping open. A wave of icy cold washed over him. It wasn't his own fear. It was hers. He could feel it, a pang of pure, absolute terror.

At the same instant Naruto turned pale, Akamaru leaped from Kiba's jacket with a sharp yelp and hid under a table, trembling violently.

"Akamaru? What's wrong, boy?" Kiba asked, kneeling down.

"My insects have returned," Shino announced, appearing in the doorway. "They refuse to go beyond the edge of the forest. There is a massive and hostile chakra barrier covering the bridge area. The reason is simple: they perceive a bloodlust of a level they consider fatal."

"Naruto?" Kurenai asked, seeing the look on the boy's face.

Naruto swallowed hard, his heart hammering in his chest. "Team 7…" he said, his voice a hoarse whisper. "They've found the enemy. The battle… has just begun."

Kurenai's gaze hardened. Hinata brought her hands to her mouth. Kiba stopped trying to comfort his dog and stood up, his expression turning deadly serious. They were miles away, completely isolated, and all they could do was wait, knowing their friends were fighting for their lives. The helplessness was a cage.

****

Back on the bridge, chaos had erupted. Kakashi moved through the mist, chasing Zabuza. The clash of metal on metal rang out sporadically, followed by splashes of water.

"Sasuke, now!" Kakashi yelled from somewhere to the left.

Sasuke reacted instantly, throwing a flurry of shuriken toward a spot in the mist where he had just heard a sound. There was a grunt from Zabuza, followed by a laugh.

"Almost, kid! But your toys aren't enough!"

Suddenly, eight water clones of Zabuza emerged from the mist, surrounding Sasuke and Sakura in a perfect circle. They moved in unison, raising their own water swords.

"You handle the original!" Sasuke yelled to Kakashi. "We'll take care of these!"

"Don't underestimate them!" Kakashi warned, his voice more distant now. "Each one has a tenth of the original's strength!"

Sasuke launched into battle, his instincts and intensive training taking over. He dodged a downward slash and drove his kunai into a clone's chest, which exploded in a spray of water. Beside him, Sakura protected Tazuna, using her academic taijutsu to deflect attacks that slipped past Sasuke's defense.

"Sasuke, your left!" she shouted.

He spun just in time to block another clone's kick. They were a functional team, but they were being overwhelmed. For every clone they destroyed, another seemed to take its place.

In the midst of the confusion, the real Kakashi located the real Zabuza. After a quick exchange, Zabuza was caught in one of Kakashi's traps, and the Konoha jonin appeared behind him with a kunai to his throat.

But it was a trap within a trap. The Zabuza that Kakashi had caught dissolved into water, and the real one appeared behind him.

"Fool!" Zabuza growled. "Suirō no Jutsu!"

A heavy sphere of water formed around Kakashi, trapping him. He could move, but he couldn't escape. One of Zabuza's hands remained inside the sphere to maintain the jutsu.

"It's over, Kakashi," Zabuza said, smiling. "This jutsu requires me to keep one hand here, which prevents me from fighting. But I don't need to. Now I can kill you slowly. First, my clones will take care of your students."

Kakashi watched in horror as the water clones, now unopposed, advanced on his genin.

"Run!" he shouted, his voice distorted by the water. "Forget about me and the mission! Get Tazuna and run! That's an order!"

Neither Sasuke nor Sakura moved. Running was not an option.

"We won't abandon you, sensei!" Sakura yelled, her voice surprisingly firm.

Sasuke nodded, positioning himself in front of her and Tazuna. "A ninja never abandons a comrade."

Zabuza let out a choked laugh. "How noble. And how stupid. You'll die for that loyalty."

It was then that a new figure appeared on the bridge. He moved with a silent grace, appearing beside Zabuza as if he had emerged from the mist itself. He wore a Kirigakure hunter nin mask, white with red markings.

"It seems you need help, Zabuza sama," the newcomer said, his voice soft and inflectionless, filtered by the mask.

"You're late, Haku," Zabuza replied without taking his eyes off Kakashi. "But just in time for the party. Take care of them. Kill them all if you have to, but make sure the old man doesn't escape."

Haku nodded.

Kakashi's blood ran cold. Two against two genin. It was a death sentence.

Sasuke braced himself, his body coiled like a spring, and placed himself between the newcomer and Tazuna. He expected the attack to be direct and swift, aimed at the mission's objective. It was the logical, tactically sound move. Eliminate the builder and the mission would be over.

But Haku wasn't looking at Tazuna. His eyes, visible through the holes in the mask, passed over Sasuke as if he were nothing more than a minor obstacle. They fixed on the trembling but resolute figure behind him.

Kakashi saw it. Sasuke felt it. A subtle shift in the enemy's intent, a focus that made no sense.

Haku moved, and in the next instant, he was crossing the bridge at a speed that defied logic, two sharp senbon needles gleaming between his fingers.

He wasn't heading for the bridge. He wasn't heading for Sasuke. He wasn't even heading for Tazuna.

His target wasn't the mission. It was the girl with pink hair.

Chapter Text

Through the holes of the porcelain mask, his dark eyes glanced over the Uchiha as if he were a stone in the road. They fixed on the pink-haired girl standing a few steps behind.

The masked figure moved. A blink later, he reappeared. He was inches from Sakura's face, so close she could see her own terrified reflection in the mask's polished surface.

A wave of wounded pride washed over Sasuke. To be ignored. To be dismissed so completely was an insult. There was no time for strategy, only for action.

"Sakura, move!" he yelled, his own voice sounding distant.

He lunged forward. The kunai in his hand aimed straight for the enemy's jugular.

Haku didn't even turn his head. He bent backward from the waist. Sasuke's kunai sliced through the empty air where his throat had been a split second before. The momentum carried Sasuke a step past his target. It was a fatal mistake.

A side kick, so fast it was barely visible, slammed into Sasuke's ribs. He managed to raise his forearm to block at the last instant, but the force of the impact knocked the wind out of him. A sharp, vibrating pain shot through his entire side, making his teeth grind together.

"Your speed isn't bad," Haku said. The voice was soft, almost melodic, muffled by the mask. It sounded young. "But that's all it is. Speed without purpose. You run in a straight line hoping your enemy is stupid enough to stand still."

Sasuke stumbled back, barely regaining his balance. His arm hung numb at his side. The enemy's calmness, his didactic tone, was like adding fuel to the fire of his fury.

"What do you know?" he growled, refusing to show the pain. He forced his arm up again, into his fighting stance.

"I know what I see," Haku replied simply. "You think speed is a weapon when it's just a tool. And you're using it without thinking."

"Shut up!"

Sasuke lunged again. This time it wasn't a direct attack. It was a feint, followed by a low sweep meant to break his ankles, then an upward thrust with the kunai. A combination he had perfected, one that no Konoha genin had been able to anticipate.

Every one of Sasuke's strikes met only air.

"It's useless," Kakashi whispered from his prison. "Sasuke, his speed is superior! Don't attack, hold your ground! It's a trap!"

But Sasuke couldn't hear him. He could only hear Haku's calm voice continuing to dismantle his technique.

"Predictable feints," Haku commented, dodging another slash. "You give yourself away with your shoulders. You leave your left flank open every time you attack from the right."

"I'm going to wipe that smirk off your face!" Sasuke spat, though he couldn't see any smirk.

"I'm not smirking," Haku said, and his voice held a hint of what might have been sadness. "This brings me no joy. It is simply necessary." Suddenly, he stopped.

The change was instantaneous. The passive, defensive demeanor vanished.

"You are an obstacle," Haku said, "and obstacles must be removed."

In the blink of an eye, Haku leaped back, landing softly several meters away. His hands met, but only one moved, weaving a series of hand signs at a speed Sasuke could barely follow.

"Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishō."

The air around Haku seemed to shimmer. The moisture from the mist condensed, forming dozens upon dozens of sharp needles, senbon made of icy, lethal water that floated around him. With a simple gesture of his hand, the rain of death shot toward Sasuke.

He reacted on pure instinct, deflecting what he could with his kunai, but there were too many.

A sharp, piercing pain blossomed in his right shoulder. Another in his left thigh. A third in his calf. The impact wasn't the worst part; it was the immediate effect. His muscles seized instantly, a feeling of paralysis spreading from the wounds.

He fell to the ground with a choked grunt. Sasuke was out of commission. Just like that. That fast. That humiliating.

With Sasuke neutralized, Haku turned slowly. The expressionless mask, a blank porcelain face, fixed on his original target once more.

Sakura stood frozen. The prodigy, Sasuke Uchiha, had been defeated in less than a minute. Kakashi-sensei was trapped. Naruto… Naruto wasn't there.

She was alone.

Behind her, Tazuna let out a low groan. "It's over… We're dead."

That sound, that lament from a helpless man who had placed his life in their hands, was the needle that popped the bubble of her panic. Seeing Sasuke on the ground, awake, his teeth gritted in a grimace of pain and helpless fury, ignited something inside her. The fear didn't leave. It was still there, but now it was joined by courage and the will not to give up.

"No…" she whispered, the word barely audible. Then, louder, with a conviction she didn't know she possessed, "You won't get near him."

She got into a fighting stance. Her knees were shaking, her hands, clenched into fists, wouldn't stop trembling. But her green eyes, normally full of doubt, now burned with a fierce determination.

Haku tilted his head, a curious gesture. "Admirable," his soft voice said. "But futile. You don't have to die. Step aside."

"Make me!" Sakura yelled.

"As you wish."

He lunged at her.

Sakura reacted. She threw herself forward and swung a punch.

It was a terrible move. Her form was a mess, her balance precarious, her guard completely open. Haku could have killed her in ten different ways before her fist completed its trajectory. He dodged it with a simple side-step, almost looking bored. Sakura's fist sailed past, cutting through the air.

But then she remembered. Naruto's words. The feeling on the rock. The focus. At the last second, just as her fist was about to stop, she released her chakra.

BOOM!

Sakura's fist hit nothing, but the air in front of it distorted. An invisible shockwave erupted forward. It didn't touch Haku, who was already at a safe distance, but it slammed into the wooden bridge.

A circular section of the floor, the size of a large dinner plate, shot into the sky, disintegrating into a shower of splinters. The shockwave continued and struck one of the bridge's metal railings with a loud, metallic CLANG! that echoed across the entire structure. A deep dent was left in the thick metal.

The silence that followed was absolute.

Haku stopped dead, his body frozen. He turned slowly and looked at the destruction. He looked at the hole in the bridge. He looked at the dented railing. Then, he looked at Sakura's small fist.

From the other side of the bridge, Zabuza's laughter cut off abruptly. "What the hell was that?"

Inside his water dome, Kakashi's eyes were wide. "That chakra control…" he murmured to himself.

Sakura stared at her own fist, panting, her chest rising and falling erratically. She had done it. It had worked. But it had been… too much. She had put too much chakra into it. She felt her arm tingling all the way to her shoulder, an uncomfortable sensation, different from what she felt when she pulverized the rock the day before.

"Well now…" Haku said, and for the first time, there was a hint of genuine interest. "How unexpected. You aren't just a scared little girl, after all. What kind of jutsu is that?"

"It's not a jutsu," Sakura panted, more to herself than to him. "It's… just a punch."

"A bridge-destroying punch," Haku corrected. "Very interesting."

Sakura didn't answer. The fear was still there, but now it was joined by something new: the awareness of the chaotic and terrifying power running through her veins.

She lunged again. This time, Haku didn't stand still. The battle, if you could call it that, began in earnest.

Haku was a whirlwind of fluid movements, a phantom of deadly precision. He appeared and disappeared, throwing senbon from angles Sakura never saw coming.

Sakura was the complete opposite. She was clumsy, slow, and her movements were desperate. She lacked technique, form, training. But every one of her movements held the potential for catastrophic destruction.

She soon realized she couldn't keep up with Haku's speed. It was impossible. So she stopped trying. When a volley of needles flew toward her, she didn't try to block or dodge them. Instead, she punched the ground in front of her. Another blast of force created a curtain of debris, dust, and wood splinters that intercepted most of the projectiles.

Haku appeared at her left, a needle in hand, ready for a precise strike. She spun and threw a kick. The movement was so slow that Haku could have dodged it. But at the last instant, just before the point of impact, Sakura released chakra from the tip of her foot. The shockwave forced him to leap back to avoid being thrown through the air.

"Too much chakra!" Sakura thought, nearly falling over from the imbalance of her own attack. Her leg stung with the same tingling sensation as her arm. She was burning through her energy at an alarming rate.

"Control, Sakura, control!" Kakashi's voice, louder now as he tried to project it through the water. "Don't force it all at once! Release only what you need! Focus!"

She tried to listen. The next time Haku attacked from the front, a simple feint, Sakura tried to release just a little chakra into her fist. The result was a small, harmless puff of air that wouldn't have ruffled a cat's fur. Haku ignored it and dealt her a quick blow to the shoulder with the back of his hand, sending a jolt of pain down her arm. She had to drop to the ground to dodge the needles that followed, and one grazed her cheek, leaving a thin, burning cut.

"Damn it!" she yelled, slamming the ground in frustration.

This was impossible. There was no middle ground. It was all or nothing.

The frustration was consuming her. She was just reacting, creating chaotic explosions in the hope of keeping her enemy at bay. Each massive blast cost her more than the last. Her pants grew deeper, and sweat pasted her pink hair to her forehead.

From the ground, Sasuke watched everything.

The pain from the senbon was a constant agony, but the wound to his pride was far, far worse. He forced his head up, his vision blurred by pain and humiliation.

And he saw her.

He saw Sakura. Panting, sweating, a bleeding cut on her cheek, but standing. He saw her punch the bridge and send wood flying. He saw her create explosions out of thin air. He saw how she forced that unbelievably fast enemy to keep his distance.

A part of his mind was confused. What was that ability? Was it a bloodline? Chakra control so precise it looked imprecise? How did it work? What was its limit?

But another part of him was screaming.

How?

The thought drove itself into his mind.

How is this possible? I was defeated in seconds. And she… she, the one who's always crying, the one who's always watching from the sidelines… she's still fighting.

He saw Haku move. And he saw her, clumsy and desperate, but answering again and again with brute force.

While I'm bleeding on the ground, defeated by my lack of speed, she's standing, fighting a battle that should be mine.

A fury directed not only at the enemy, but at her. At his own weakness.

That power should be mine!

The final thought was so intense, so pure in its desire, that it echoed in his skull. And with it, something changed.

A fire ignited behind his eyes. It was a physical burning, a real pain. The stabbing pain from the senbon in his body faded, drowned out by this new, overwhelming sensation. He gritted his teeth as a growl rumbled from his throat.

Haku, seeing Sakura's breathing become more and more erratic and her movements slower, decided it was time to end the game.

"You've been entertaining," he said, his voice returning to its calm, distant tone. "But this is over."

He performed a new series of one-handed seals, at a speed that turned his fingers into a blur. "Hijutsu: Makyō Hyōshō!"

The water vapor in the air, the dense mist that enveloped them, froze instantly. Thin, black plates of ice emerged from the ground and the air. They rose around Sakura, perfect rectangles that joined at the edges, forming a dome of twenty-one mirrors with her trapped in the center.

"Sakura, break the mirrors! Use your strength now!" Kakashi yelled, his voice filled with desperate urgency.

Sakura didn't think twice. She spun and punched the nearest mirror with every ounce of strength and chakra she had left. The explosion was immense, the biggest one yet. The mirror cracked, a spiderweb of fissures spreading from the point of impact. But it didn't shatter. And the next instant, Haku's image appeared in every one of the twenty-one mirrors, looking at her from all directions.

"Now," Haku's voice resonated, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, "you will see what true speed is."

And the assault began.

Haku's figure shot out of a mirror to her right, throwing a shower of senbon, and entered the mirror on her left before Sakura could even begin to turn. Pain blossomed in her arm, then her leg. She spun, trying to hit the reflections, but her fist only met solid ice while the real Haku was already somewhere else, attacking from another angle. It was a storm of needles and pain. She couldn't follow him.

Sasuke watched, and the fire in his eyes intensified. He blinked, the movement slow and deliberate. The blurry, painful world around him suddenly came into focus with an unnatural clarity.

He looked at the dome of mirrors. Before, he would have only seen confusing reflections. Now, he saw more. He saw the subtle flow of chakra connecting Haku to each of the mirrors. He saw the blur of his movement between the mirrors, but it was no longer an incomprehensible chaos. He could follow it. He could see the trajectory, the pattern, predict the exit point a fraction of a second before it happened.

In the reflection of a fallen kunai near him, he saw his own face. His eyes were no longer black. They were a deep red, a blood red. And in each pupil, a single black tomoe spun slowly.

The Sharingan. It had awakened.

Inside the dome, Sakura cried out in pain and frustration. She fell to her knees, multiple senbon stuck in her arms and legs, the paralyzing poison beginning to take effect. Haku appeared in the mirror directly in front of her, this time without moving. He held several needles between his fingers, aimed directly at her neck.

"Game over."

Time seemed to stretch. Sasuke saw Haku begin to emerge from the mirror, a fluid transition from reflection to reality. He saw the needles fly through the air. He saw the look of terror and resignation on Sakura's face.

Sasuke moved. Ignoring the muscles screaming in protest, the agony of his wounds, he shot to his feet in one explosive motion. His hand closed around the kunai on the ground. His arm tensed and moved with absolute precision.

He threw the kunai.

The weapon spun through the air, heading toward a seemingly empty spot.

CLINK!

The sound was sharp, clear, and piercing. Sasuke's kunai struck Haku's main needle, the one aimed at Sakura's neck, deflecting it by mere millimeters. The needle embedded itself harmlessly in the surface of the mirror behind her. The other needles missed their mark.

Haku paused, halfway out of the mirror. His masked head turned slowly to look at the kunai vibrating in the ice surface. Then, his gaze shifted outside the dome.

Sasuke was standing. Bleeding from half a dozen wounds. But he was standing. And his eyes… they were locked directly onto the one mirror that concealed the real Haku, with absolute certainty.

"Now… I see you."