Naruto's New Year's gift wasn't anything expensive, just a pure black hairband.
Konome Taketori, of course, didn't rudely rip it open on the spot. The Byakugan's x-ray vision was unbeatable for gathering intel in battle, but in daily life it really did steal away a lot of the fun.
"Sorry, Naruto. I can't accept your gift."
As she said it, Konome sat upright, her expression unusually solemn.
It was hard to look truly serious while wrapped in a fluffy pajama onesie, but Naruto and Might Guy could still feel the weight behind her words.
"W-why?" Naruto blurted.
To have a gift he'd chosen so carefully rejected by the person he liked, the urgency in his sky blue eyes was obvious. His hands clenched the box so tightly that his fingers dented the surface into little pits.
"If you gave me a kunai, I'd accept it. But between male and female friends, we can't give each other something that personal."
Konome refused clearly.
She wasn't a child.
Naruto's feelings for her weren't some mystery. When a boy and a girl keep sending each other goodwill, most people with normal brains can sense it, even if some are more sensitive and others a bit slower.
Claiming you know nothing at all is just treating the other person like an idiot.
As for why so many people pretend not to know, there are two reasons. One, making it explicit is awkward. Two, they want to enjoy the special treatment without any burden.
In the end, they can always say, "I didn't know," and take zero responsibility. They don't have to return the gifts either.
Konome didn't want to do that.
Accepting his gift happily, then later answering a confession with "I had no idea," would be disgusting.
Some things were better said early.
Naruto held the gift he'd spent so long thinking over. His lips moved, but nothing came out.
His tiny secret hadn't even crawled out of his heart yet, and it already felt exposed. His unspoken crush ended before it could even begin.
"I… I understand."
Outside, the wind and snow seemed to grow harsher. Even with the window glazed in frost like rime ice, they could still see the shadow of thick flakes falling beyond the glass.
Naruto lowered his head.
The snow on his hair had melted completely. Damp blond strands stuck to his scalp, making him look pitifully bedraggled.
His voice lost the bright lift it had earlier, turning bitter and heavy. His sky blue eyes were even worse, dull and lonely, drained of shine.
Konome didn't comfort him.
Better short pain than long pain. A feeling that was doomed to go nowhere should be cut off from the beginning, so it wouldn't end in something ugly that ruined even friendship.
"This is youth!" Might Guy suddenly roared.
The heavy mood in the room shattered.
With his shiny bowl cut, Guy clenched both fists. He bit down hard on his lower lip, and tears were already pouring out in thick streams.
He'd never dated. He'd never even had a crush. Yet somehow he still empathized with Naruto so fiercely that he was practically drowning in it.
"It's okay, Naruto! We'll keep trying! Youth never gives up!" Guy was crying so hard even snot ran down, and no one knew what exactly he was getting so moved by.
"Thank you, Guy-uncle."
Even with Guy's encouragement, Naruto's head stayed low, his eyes still bleak.
Heartbreak is like that. Other people's pep talks don't help much, unless… unless…
Naruto's body suddenly froze.
Guy-uncle was Konome's guardian, wasn't he? Then does that mean…
Does this mean I've gained approval from her family?
He jerked his head up.
Those blue eyes locked onto Guy, who was still drowning in his own emotional storm. Hope flared again in Naruto's chest, and he copied Guy's pose, clenching his fist.
"Thanks for the encouragement! Don't worry, Guy-uncle. I won't give up easily!"
"This is youth!" Guy hugged Naruto's head and burst into even louder sobbing, tears pumping like a broken faucet. At this point he didn't even care about being called "uncle" anymore.
What is this idiot even doing?
Konome narrowed her eyes, utterly speechless at this confusing behavior.
She'd finally found the perfect moment to snuff out the little spark in Naruto's heart, and this moron just reignited it.
Her mind was already hazy from the ongoing soul sublimation. Now it started to throb. Konome lay back down on the platform, choosing to keep waiting for her Sage Body to evolve.
She'd said what needed to be said.
Naruto was stubborn and strong. He probably wouldn't do anything reckless. And if he did go dark because of heartbreak, then it would be Guy's fault.
Crack.
She was thinking that, but she was still irritated. When she lay down, she didn't control her strength.
The platform immediately creaked and groaned, spiderweb cracks blooming under her like lightning on glass.
After a full month, her "new bed" finally collapsed.
Ever since obtaining a Sage Body, it wasn't only her chakra that had grown explosively. Shikotsumyaku, fueled by the Sage Body's life force, had hardened her bones into something dense and brutal, like tungsten steel. Her muscles had grown thicker and tighter as well.
Her chakra reserves were now at least four to five times what they used to be. With her last weakness patched, even without Samehada's help, she was unquestionably a Kage level shinobi.
And if she stacked three state-type abilities at once, Sixth Gate of the Eight Gates, the Tailed Beast Cloak, and Lightning Release Chakra Mode, even she didn't know how terrifying her taijutsu would become.
She had secretly tested that full burst once in the Forest of Death.
Afterward, she lay in bed for an entire day.
Her bones could withstand it. But her muscles, organs, and blood vessels could not handle the pressure.
With all three abilities active at once, under that extreme load, her internal organs, arteries, veins, and even her meridians and fascia tore apart together. If her self-repair ability wasn't strong enough, she would have dropped in an instant.
Shikotsumyaku had pushed her body far beyond the human category, but in the end she still had flesh and blood. She wasn't as "built" as her steel-hard bones.
To make her flesh adapt to that extreme state, she drove Shikotsumyaku to catalyze her body's growth at full speed. Her muscle strength did improve, but it still couldn't carry that power. Worse, her density and mass started to surge out of control.
Her weight was now impossible to measure.
She'd already crushed two scales just by stepping on them, and she didn't have anything left to weigh herself with.
Crack crack crack.
Once the fractures appeared, they expanded quickly. Black lines split into dense branches, and the whole platform visibly caved and crumbled, dirt and gravel shedding away.
Naruto, fired up by Guy's encouragement, was practically burning with fighting spirit. When the strange sound rang out, both boys turned at the same time.
Boom!
Konome, lying flat, suddenly sank three inches.
In the center of the cracked platform, a star-shaped depression formed. The sides bulged and warped from the compression, the soil surface sloughing off in chunks.
Guy and Naruto went stiff.
As people close to Konome, they knew her weight was abnormal. But crushing and deforming a solid earthen block like this was far beyond what they'd imagined.
Konome crawled up from the dent.
Her soft, pale hands and feet used only a little force, and the shattered platform crumbled under her fingers. Hardened dirt and stone poured through the gaps like wet, rotten mud.
Gulp.
The bigger boy and the smaller boy swallowed at the same time.
"You need to train taijutsu harder, Naruto," Guy said grimly.
If he wanted to pursue Konome, he didn't have to become a monster, but he at least couldn't be tofu that snapped at the slightest touch.
This wasn't a joke.
Naruto's face turned even more serious. He wiped his wet hair with his sleeve. The top of his head felt ice-cold, and he didn't know if it was melted snow or cold sweat.
Maybe the snow was too cold. The fire in his heart began to cool.
Sometimes feelings are like that.
A rejection doesn't always work. Only when the brain truly realizes the gap between two people, the hot blood can calm down fast, and the emotion naturally gets buried deep inside.
Konome carefully climbed down, unaware of what was going on in their heads.
She was already shaping chakra into Earth Style, controlling the collapsed platform and restoring it flat.
The weight problem was getting worse and worse, and it was starting to affect her daily life.
With a body this heavy, if she moved even a little faster, the impact force had to be measured in tons.
In battle, that was unstoppable. Once she charged, almost no one could stop her.
But in daily life, it was incredibly inconvenient.
Ordinary furniture broke if she used the slightest strength. She didn't even dare walk quickly, or one step would leave a crater.
In this state, she disliked moving around more and more. She could only imitate Kakashi and let herself "rot," just to avoid causing damage.
Maybe only Ōnoki's Lightweight and Heavyweight Rock Technique could solve her problem completely. But his Dust Release was too dangerous. Against Particle Style, her steel bones probably wouldn't be any tougher than the platform beneath her.
Troublesome.
As she thought, the platform finished repairing under her Earth Style. She was about to lie down again when Guy stepped in and blocked her quickly.
"It's New Year's! I heard there are fireworks outside tonight. How about we go out and do something?"
"You two go," Konome said, shaking her head.
She was curious what Konoha's New Year looked like, but she was in the middle of metamorphosis. Her strength was genuinely hard to control.
With crowds outside, it would be hard not to bump into someone. And if that person crumbled like the platform, that would be unbelievably rude for the holidays.
"New Year's is only fun when it's lively. How can we just leave you here alone?"
Guy didn't actually want to go watch fireworks that badly.
As an orphan, his New Year's had always been him alone, sitting in his house with a bowl of soba, watching other people's warmth through the window. That feeling was miserable.
Naruto lowered his head again, gloomy. If they couldn't go out together, then he would have to go home alone for the holiday.
Just as they were stuck, footsteps came from outside.
The sliding door opened.
A one-eyed man in a black uniform stepped in, wind and frost clinging to him. His silver "broom hair" swayed, and snow scattered off his head.
"Kakashi, why are you here?" Guy asked.
"I was bored at home," Hatake Kakashi said lazily. "Came to see if you and Konome want to play cards."
He brushed the snow off his clothes. With a flick of his hand, he produced a deck like a throwing weapon trick, smooth and cool. Naruto stared so hard his eyes practically sparkled.
"Perfect! We were just struggling to find something to do!" Guy punched his palm, totally on board.
"Where's Konome?" Kakashi's single eye slid to her, clearly asking for her opinion. Everyone's gaze followed.
"That's fine," Konome said immediately.
As long as it wasn't something athletic, playing cards wasn't dangerous.
"And this kid?" Kakashi looked toward Naruto. That iconic blond hair and the Uzumaki crest on his back made his gaze blur for a moment.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I'm the man who's going to become Hokage!" Naruto pushed up his goggles and introduced himself with a bright grin.
In Kakashi's mind, a name that had long been buried flickered past.
"I'm Uchiha Obito! I'm the man who's going to become Hokage!"
Naruto's confident smile overlapped perfectly with that person's face and voice.
"I'm Hatake Kakashi," Kakashi said softly, a trace of nostalgia passing through his eye as he shook the deck. "Want to play with us?"
"Of course!" Naruto's eyes lit up with pure joy.
During New Year's, everyone gathered with family. Even the Third Hokage couldn't stay with him. This was the first time he'd been invited.
"Great, that makes four," Kakashi said, rubbing his chin. "This game is best with five. Otherwise we have to change the rules…"
Finding a fifth person at this hour was hard. Getting five together wasn't easy.
"I… I can find someone," Naruto raised his hand.
But his eyes drifted toward Konome.
Konome let out a helpless sigh.
She knew who he meant.
Someone Naruto cared about that much, and someone who would be free on a day meant for family reunions… there was probably only that boy.
So this was the bond between Asura and Indra?
"Go," she said.
"Hehe!" Naruto grinned wide, then dashed out into the snow without caring about the wind at all.
At school, the only person who could keep Sasuke in check was Konome. If it was her invitation, Sasuke usually wouldn't refuse.
Not long after.
Warm lamplight filled the room.
Two older boys and three younger kids sat on the floor in a circle. In the center lay a freshly shuffled deck and a cup of cold water.
"So you had Naruto call me over… for this?" Sasuke sat neatly on the tatami beside Konome, his face cold.
He'd been training Fire Release at home. He heard Konome needed him, and rushed over, only to find out it was to play cards.
His clan's blood-soaked hatred hadn't been repaid. How could he waste time like this? If he'd known, he wouldn't have come.
Konome glanced at him, then at Naruto, who was learning the rules with sparkling excitement.
"You're already here. Relaxing helps your training too."
Sasuke fell silent.
He respected strength. Konome was far stronger than him, so her words carried weight. Besides, being alone in the Uchiha district really was colder and lonelier than this.
Clap clap clap.
Kakashi clapped to draw attention. "Everyone understand the rules? Whoever loses gets a strip of paper stuck on their face. No cheating."
All four nodded.
Then one Byakugan and three Sharingan lit up at the same time.
"She's cheating!"
Kakashi and Sasuke pointed at Konome's glowing eyes and shouted together.
"Huh? No!" Konome immediately panicked, jumping up to argue.
"Paper! Paper!" Guy howled like he was born for chaos.
He dipped a strip of paper into the water cup with an evil grin and slapped it right onto the "key" mark at Konome's forehead.
Her puffed cheeks and the fluttering paper strip made everyone's lips curl up helplessly.
Normally she was terrifying, like a monster. When did they ever get to see her lose? This was rare treasure.
Even Sasuke, who didn't care about cards, couldn't help getting excited.
Konome bared her teeth and shut her Byakugan off.
Her world went dark instantly.
"Again!"
Laughter echoed under the warm yellow lamplight. Outside, heavy snow fell and the north wind howled, but it could no longer make the lonely people inside feel cold.
In that moment…
This was what home tasted like.
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