KonohaGakure No Sato :
Konoha Academy :
The Academy was a bustle of noise and movement as classes ended, the hallways flooding with students eager to escape into the evening.
For Naruto, the day had blurred by. He found that time moved frighteningly fast when his mind was occupied with the complexities of the Sign-in System or dissecting the sensory data from yesterday's grueling session.
His whole body ached. The "stone treatment" Hattori had subjected him to had left deep, throbbing bruises across his ribs and arms. Every step sent a dull protest through his muscles.
Yesterday was not just Chakra Sense training but also a Pain Tolerance Training , Hattori Sensei threw Stone Fast and Furious , They Hurt , They hurt like Hell , especially with that speed .
( I need a bath ) Naruto thought, his mind already drifting to the steam of the public bathhouse.
( If I go to the hot springs now and use the Sign-in opportunity there, I can trigger the Rejuvenation skill in the water. That should boost the healing effect )
Lost in his calculations about maximizing his recovery buffs, Naruto turned the corner leading to his usual path out of the Academy. He wasn't looking at the world around him; he was looking at the blue interface screen in his mind.
THUD.
"Ugh!" "K-Kya!"
Naruto's bruised equilibrium failed him completely. He tripped over his own feet and the person he had just walked into, gravity taking them both down in a tangle of limbs.
"Ouch..." Naruto groaned, the impact sending a fresh jolt of pain through his battered shoulder. He shook his head, clearing the dizziness, and opened his eyes.
He was face-to-face—literally inches away—from a girl with dark blue hair.
"Hinata?"
She was lying on her back, staring up at him with wide, lavender eyes. Her face wasn't just blushing; it was undergoing a rapid chemical reaction, turning a shade of scarlet so intense it looked painful.
Getting up, Naruto ignored his own aching joints to prioritize her. "I am so sorry, Hinata! I was completely spaced out. Are you okay?"
He extended a hand to help her up, offering a lopsided, apologetic smile.
But Hinata didn't take the hand. She didn't even seem to hear him. She remained on the floor for a moment, her fingers twiddling furiously against her chest, her eyes spinning in spirals.
To Naruto's Hound's Senses, Hinata smelled like lavender and sheer panic. It looked like she was performing some kind of "Steam Release: Red Face Jutsu."
"A-A-Ano..."
Suddenly, Hinata seemed to realize she was still on the floor. She scrambled up, bypassing Naruto's hand entirely, moving with the jerky coordination of a broken puppet. Her eyes darted to the floor, spotting a small, round tin jar that had rolled away during the collision.
She snatched it up, dusting it off with trembling hands.
Naruto, seeing that she wasn't answering and was looking away, felt a pang of guilt.
( Did I hurt her? Is she mad? )
"Hey, really, I'm sorry," Naruto tried again, stepping closer. "I didn't mean to—"
"N-No!" Hinata cut him off, her voice a high-pitched squeak.
She spun around to face him, squeezing her eyes shut as if bracing for an explosion. She thrust her hands toward Naruto's chest. her head bowed so low her chin touched her collarbone.
"A-Ano...here ..... t-take... this...for the pain "
Naruto blinked, looking down at the small hands trembling in front of him. She was holding a jar of high-grade medicinal ointment—the kind the Hyūga clan was famous for.
Naruto was surprised. Hinata, the girl who usually hid behind pillars, was actually talking to him? And giving him a gift? But as he took the cool tin jar, a deeper confusion set in.
He looked at his own body. He was wearing his orange jacket, zipped all the way up. Underneath that, he had a mesh shirt, and underneath that, he was wrapped in bandages. To the naked eye, he looked tired, maybe a little stiff, but certainly not injured.
Naruto looked back at Hinata in genuine astonishment. The words left his mouth before he could filter them.
"Medicine?"Naruto asked, genuinely confused. He took the tin; it felt cool in his hand.
"Wait... Hinata, how did you know I have bruises?"
The Critical Hit.
The question hung in the air, innocent and devastating.
Hearing this, Hinata froze. Her brain, which was already running on emergency backup power, suddenly short-circuited.
POOF!
It was like an anime special effect. Steam literally erupted from her ears and the top of her head. Her face turned a color that transcended red and entered the ultraviolet spectrum. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and she swayed.
THUD.
She passed out cold.
Naruto stood there, holding the ointment, completely bewildered. "EHHH?! Hinata?!"
Naruto didn't know the impossible struggle that had led to this moment.
The FlashBack ( 2 hours ago ):
Earlier that day, during lunch, Hinata had been sitting on her usual bench, peeping as usual at Naruto as he walked across the courtyard.
But today was different as She had noticed Naruto-kun's gait immediately—the way he favored his left side, the slight wince when he sat down.
Overwhelmed by concern, she had done the forbidden. Before she could stop herself, veins bulged around her eyes.
Byakugan!
Her intent was just to check his chakra flow for injuries. But the Byakugan sees through obstacles. Including clothes.
She had seen everything. She saw the angry purple bruises on his ribs, the welts on his arms, and the layers of bandages. And, unavoidably, she saw the skin beneath.
The image of a battered, shirtless Naruto had burned itself into her memory.
At that moment, Hinata totally forgot her own clumsiness and shyness. Her concern simply overwhelmed every other emotion. She decided right then to fetch the best ointment in her bag.
Despite the Academy having started a month ago, Hinata had never found the courage to approach him. But today was different. Seeing Naruto-kun hurt pushed her past her limit.
She had waited for him. She watched him bid farewell to his friends, Gian and the others. She positioned herself in the hallway on his usual path—a path she knew by heart because she stalked and Observed him every single day for the whole year.
Panic and concern warred inside her. Concern won. She had spent the rest of the day gripping this ointment, psyching herself up. "I can do this. Naruto-kun is hurt. He needs this. Move, Hinata! Just waiting for him on his usual path."
While waiting, she had put herself in a "genjutsu" of self-encouragement.
But in the end, when she came face-to-face with him, her voice died. Her body stopped moving. The collision happened.
She thought she had ruined it. But then, Naruto asked the question: "How did you know about the bruises?"
In that split second, Hinata's mind flashed back to lunch—to looking through his clothes, seeing his bare skin, and realizing she was essentially a super-powered peeping tom. The guilt, the embarrassment, and the memory of his toned, bruised body collided in her mind.
I... I saw through his clothes...
"Naruto-kun... naked... bandages... waah..."
She muttered unintelligible gibberish before her knees gave out completely.
System failure. Shutdown imminent.
And so, everything went black.
------------------------------------
Present :
Naruto, despite his battered body screaming in protest, moved with the reflexes of a predator. The moment he saw the "Steam Kekkai Genkai" erupt from Hinata's ears and her eyes roll back, his Dynamic Vision kicked in.
Because of his condition, Naruto wasn't wearing his usual weighted vest or armbands. Without those restrictors, his speed was explosive. He moved faster than the falling girl.
Swoosh.
Before Hinata could hit the cold, hard floor of the corridor, she landed softly in Naruto's arms.
Looking down at the unconscious girl, who was still clutching the ointment tin in her sleep, a lightbulb finally went off in Naruto's dense skull. Thanks to SharpMind , The pieces of the puzzle clicked together with a deafening snap.
The blushing. The running away. The stuttering. The fact that she brought me medicine before I even asked. The fact that she was watching me closely enough to see the bruises under my clothes...
Naruto's eyes widened.
(She likes me. She actually likes me!)
A grin threatened to split his face. Naruto repeated it to himself, letting the reality sink in. (She likes ME!)
Suddenly, the pain in his ribs didn't matter.
The exhaustion from Hattori's training? Gone.
The plan to go to the hot springs to sign in for the Rejuvenation skill? Cancelled.
To hell with the hot springs! To hell with the system!
Naruto looked at the girl in his arms with a newfound sense of purpose. This was it. This was the God-given opportunity he had been too scared to hope for.
Naruto had been hesitant to approach her before, afraid that his new changes or a clumsy mistake would mess things up. But now? Fate had literally dropped her into his arms.
(I finally got the chance! First date! We're having our first date right now!)
With a decisiveness that would have made the Fourth Hokage proud, Naruto adjusted his grip, lifting Hinata into a perfect princess carry.
His destination wasn't the infirmary. It wasn't the classroom. And it certainly wasn't the teachers' office where they would ask awkward questions.
(I'm taking her to my exclusive training ground! It's private, it's quiet, and when she wakes up, we're going to talk. We're going to talk all day! Muahahaha! Calm down, Naruto, calm down... hehehe.)
Uzumaki Naruto knew his priorities.
Training could wait.
Love could not.
He turned on his heel, preparing to whisk his princess away to his secret base. However, in his euphoria, Naruto had forgotten a crucial detail about the politics of the Hidden Leaf.
Hinata wasn't just a cute girl; she was the Heiress of the Hyūga Clan. The eldest daughter of the most rigid, traditional family in Konoha. Did he really think they let her roam around without eyes watching her?
Usually, the main family's bodyguards would watch from the shadows, observing but not interfering unless her life was in danger. They would have likely let Naruto carry her to the infirmary.
But today, her escort wasn't a standard bodyguard.
From the shadows of a nearby pillar, pale eyes narrowed in disgust. Neji had been at the end of his patience for hours. He had been forced to waste his valuable training time trailing this... failure.
Neji had watched her dilly-dally, hesitate, and waste time worrying about a dead-last loser like Naruto instead of training her Gentle Fist.
For Neji , Naruto was still a loser , And so was Uchiha who lost to him , only he himself was genius , A Genius who was forced to be slave because of his Destiny.
Neji's resentment bubbled under his skin like poison. He looked at Hinata—the "Main House's Failure"—weak, shy, and utterly undeserving of the legacy he was cursed to protect. And now, she had fainted from embarrassment and was being carried away by the That clown?
It was an insult to the Hyūga name. It was an insult to his time.
He wouldn't let this farce continue. Not because he cared about her safety, but because looking at her weakness made him sick.
Naruto took one step toward the exit.
"Stop right there."
The voice was cold, sharp, and carried an authority that cut through Naruto's romantic delusions instantly.
Naruto froze mid-step, blinking. He turned his head slowly to see a boy with long brown hair and pale eyes stepping out of the shadows, his arms crossed and his face a mask of arrogance.
Naruto tilted his head, holding Hinata tighter.
"Huh??"
Neji stepped fully into the light, his long hair swaying slightly. His gaze flickered toward Hinata, but there was no warmth or familial concern in his eyes. To him, she was just an object of disappointment—a "thing" that represented the unfairness of the world.
Neji then looked at Naruto, the boy who was supposed to be the academy's dead-last just last year , holding the Hyūga heiress in a Princess Carry as if he were a hero in some cheap novel.
Neji's lip curled in a sneer. The coldness in his voice could have turned the humid July air into ice.
"Give that thing to me and get lost," Neji commanded, his hand shifting toward his weapon pouch. jealousy towards Naruto and Hinata overshadowed Neji's thoughts and He spoke
"A failure like you has no business touching the main house's disappointment. Your mere presence is a stain on her name."
Naruto blinked. For a split second, he was genuinely bewildered. He knew Neji was strong, and he knew about the branch house resentment, but being told to "hand over" Hinata like she was a bag of groceries didn't sit right with him.
The MindHub Lv2 kicked in, processing Neji's posture, his arrogance, and the blatant disrespect in his tone.
Naruto's previous "muhahaha" romantic mood vanished, replaced by a sharp, protective edge. He felt the weight of the ointment in his pocket—the gift she had struggled so hard to give him—and he tightened his hold on her.
Naruto didn't stutter. He didn't back down. He just stared back at Neji with a look of pure, stubborn defiance.
"Naaaaaaaaaaaa,"
Naruto replied simply, his voice popping with a casual lack of concern that clearly grated on Neji's nerves.
"What?" Neji's eyes narrowed, the veins near his temples beginning to throb as his Byakugan threatened to activate.
"I said 'Naaa,'" Naruto repeated, shifting Hinata slightly to get a better grip, making it clear he wasn't going anywhere.
"I don't know who you think you are, calling her a 'thing,' but she's the one who gave me this medicine. She came to see me. So, until she wakes up and tells me she wants to go with a grumpy guy like you, she stays with me."
Naruto's Lone Wolf Lv3 flared. He wasn't the loser kid from the back of the class anymore. He was a shinobi who had survived Hattori's hell Training , and he wasn't about to let his "first date" be ruined by a guy with a bad attitude and a hidden forehead Scarf
"You're just a branch on a tree, right?" Naruto added, a cheeky, provocative glint in his eyes. "Maybe you should go and understand what a branch house means "
Neji's face contorted. The arrogance of this loser was beyond belief. "You truly do not understand the concept of Destiny, do you, Uzumaki? A failure will always be a failure. And I will not allow you to drag the Hyūga name through the dirt any longer."
Neji took a step forward, his fingers forming the signature Gentle Fist stance
Neji didn't even have time to settle into his stance. To him, Naruto was a stationary target, a fool burdened by the weight of a fainted girl. He expected a slow, clumsy beatdown
Instead, he witnessed the impossible.
With a fluid, almost casual motion, Naruto tossed Hinata gently into the air. Time seemed to slow as her light frame floated upward, gravity momentarily losing its grip on her.
Neji's Byakugan tracked her upward trajectory, his mind momentarily confused by the sheer recklessness of the move. He's throwing her? Is he insane—
[ Body Flicker ]
Neji's world turned into a distorted blur. Even with the near-360-degree vision of the Byakugan, Naruto's silhouette didn't just move; it vanished
LoneWolf Lv3 and MindHub LV4 worked in perfect unison. Naruto reappeared within Neji's guard before the Hyūga could even register the displacement of air.
Naruto's fist, unburdened by his training weights and propelled by 100% of his refined speed, buried itself deep into Neji's stomach or Solar Plexus
*BOOM*
The air was driven out of Neji's lungs in a violent wheeze. The shockwave of the 50% force + 100% Speed , punch rippled through his internal organs, bypassing his tenketsu defense entirely through sheer kinetic velocity. Neji's eyes bulged, the veins around his temples pulsing frantically as his knees hit the floor.
"What—" Neji choked out, his vision swimming in a sea of gray and white
He looked up, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, only to see a fist rapidly enlarging in his field of vision.
Naruto hadn't stopped. Utilizing the momentum of his pivot, Naruto snapped his hips and launched a brutal, clinical uppercut.
( I Never liked Neji anyways)
*CRACK*
The blow connected squarely with Neji's chin, snapping his head back. Neji's world exploded into a galaxy of shimmering stars. His consciousness flickered and died before his body even hit the ground.
The "Genius" of the Hyūga clan slumped over, unconscious, defeated in two moves by the boy he had called a failure seconds ago.
As Neji collapsed, Hinata began her descent.
Naruto didn't look back at the fallen escort. He simply stepped backword . his arms outstretched, and caught Hinata perfectly in a princess carry once again, as if she hadn't just been airborne.
"Destiny, huh?" Naruto muttered, looking down at the snoring Neji with a touch of wit.
"I guess your destiny today was to take a nap and admire stars in daylight "
Naruto adjusted his grip on Hinata, feeling the Lone Wolf humming in the background. The corridor was silent again, save for the distant sound of cicadas.
(Alright ...! Back to the plan! No more interruptions!)
With his Hound's Senses checking for any other lurking Hyūga, Naruto vanished from the Academy halls, heading straight for his exclusive training ground.
( Uzumaki Naruto is a man of focus, commitment and sheer will... muhahahahahahahah )