Chapter 529: An Ominous Presentiment
Hinata gently knocked on Hanabi's room door, and a muffled mumble came from inside.
Pushing the door open, she saw her little sister curled up entirely under the blanket, with only a head of messy long hair showing.
"Hanabi, it's time to get up. Morning training time."
Hinata's voice was gentle as she reached out to lightly shake the bundled-up blanket.
"Mmm... Big sister... five more minutes... just five minutes..."
Hanabi bargained sleepily, burying her face deeper into the pillow, clearly not having had enough sleep.
As the second Young Miss of the Hyuga clan, she also had the sleepy side typical of girls her age.
"No can do. We agreed to practice new Moves today."
Hinata smiled patiently, but her hands didn't stop. She gently but firmly pulled back a corner of the blanket and took her sister's wrist.
"Get up. The morning air is wonderful, and you'll feel much more energized after practicing your fist techniques."
Just as the sisters were having this warm interaction—one gently urging, the other half-asleep and refusing to get up—by the window of another room, a red figure quietly withdrew from behind the slightly parted curtains.
Karin, barefoot, slipped back to the bedside without a sound, her movements as light and agile as a cat's.
She pushed up the glasses she habitually wore even indoors. Behind the lenses, her red eyes shimmered with a complex light.
There was relief from finally confirming something, a trace of hard-to-detect smugness, and a mixture of some deeper, more burning emotion.
"Hmph... Just as I thought. There's nothing special between Naruto-kun and that old hag."
She muttered to herself, her voice so soft it was almost audible only to her.
Just now, the moment Tsunade walked out of Naruto's room, she had alertly hidden behind the window. Relying on her outstanding sensory abilities, she had heard the conversation in the courtyard loud and clear.
With her anxiety relieved, another more private, more burning desire quietly welled up.
She climbed onto the bed, pulling the blanket up to cover half her face, leaving only her sparkling eyes exposed.
Scenes from her fantasy uncontrollably drifted into her mind: a warm, quiet room with only her and Naruto-kun, where she could gently hold his warm hand, feel that comforting Chakra and body warmth, and then fall into a peaceful sleep...
"I really want to... I really want to sleep while holding Naruto-kun's hand again..."
A faint, uncontrollable hum of infinite longing came from under the blanket, filled with the sweetness of a girl in love and a hint of faint anxiety from not receiving a response.
She rolled over and buried her burning cheeks in the pillow, as if doing so could hide her overflowing thoughts.
Inside and outside the mansion, the morning light grew stronger.
Some sank into compensatory sleep, some began their self-disciplined cultivation, some embarked on journeys, and others, harboring secret thoughts, tossed and turned in the brand-new day.
Another morning in Hidden Leaf Village slowly unfolded along their respective, different paths.
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Uchiha Hikari was pulled back to reality from her daze by Karin's shout. As she walked toward the dining room, her mind was still swirling with the self-doubt and comparison that hadn't stopped since she woke up this morning.
As a young girl in the prime of her youth, her figure was actually quite exquisite and well-proportioned.
It was just that Tsunade's incredibly "mind-blowing" visual impact last night was simply too intense, causing her to involuntarily fall into a strange state of comparison.
"My figure is clearly perfect..."
But when her thoughts drifted back to Tsunade, those astonishing curves seemed to reappear before her eyes, shaking the confidence she had just built up.
Actually, the proportions of one's measurements needed to be balanced; big didn't necessarily mean good, and what suited oneself was best.
Hikari was, after all, a beautiful fourteen-to-fifteen-year-old girl entering puberty, despite her historical age of two hundred years.
Having such thoughts was completely normal.
Entering the dining room, the aroma of food wafted over.
Hikari glanced around. Sitting at the table were Hyuga Hinata, Hyuga Hanabi, and Uzumaki Karin. The three of them were already seated, waiting for her to start eating.
Exquisite breakfast dishes were laid out on the table, including side dishes, miso soup, rice, and grilled fish. It looked like Hinata's cooking.
Hikari's gaze lingered on the two empty seats for a moment, her brow furrowing imperceptibly.
"Where's Naruto?"
She pulled out a chair and sat down, her tone carrying a trace of hard-to-detect urgency and confusion.
Naruto was not the type to sleep in and miss mealtime, especially when there were so many people at home.
Hinata looked up gently, her white eyes clear and soft, as she softly answered Hikari's question: "Naruto-kun... he is still resting."
Her tone carried a hint of worry, but it was mostly filled with understanding and thoughtfulness.
"Is that so?"
Hikari's brow furrowed deeper, a trace of doubt flashing through her black eyes.
This wasn't like Naruto's style.
Moreover, although the breakfast in front of them was delicious, it was obvious at a glance that it wasn't made by Naruto; it was clearly prepared with care by Hinata.
The type of food Naruto liked to make was clearly different from Hinata's.
If Naruto were at home, no matter how tired he was, he would often come over to help with the cooking or at least show up on time.
"Yes," Hinata nodded and continued to explain. "He used the Flying Thunder God last night to visit the Hidden Mist Village to check on the battlefield situation and came back very late.
He probably exerted a lot of energy and needs to rest a bit longer."
"To the Hidden Mist?"
Hearing this, Hikari immediately put down the chopsticks she had just picked up, her slightly furrowed brow instantly tightening.
"Why didn't he call me if he was going to a fight?"
There was clear dissatisfaction in her voice.
As one of the most important combat assets by Naruto's side, how could he not bring her along for such an important operation?
Seeing Hikari instantly tense up, Hinata quickly waved her hands and gently reassured her: "It wasn't for a fight. When Naruto-kun went, the battle on the Hidden Mist battlefield was already over, and Hidden Leaf Village had won.
Naruto-kun just went to assess the situation and handle some follow-up matters, and he returned very quickly."
"I see..."
Only then did Hikari's tense body relax, and she picked up her chopsticks again, though the slight displeasure between her brows didn't entirely vanish.
It turned out to be just clean-up work, so it was understandable that he hadn't called her, but she still felt a bit of an empty feeling in her heart.
The atmosphere at the dining table relaxed slightly.
Karin looked at Hikari, then at Naruto's empty seat, and suddenly remembering something, she asked, "By the way, what about Miss Otohime? Is she not having breakfast either?"
Hanabi, sitting next to Karin, was sipping her miso soup. Hearing this, she looked up, blinked her pure white eyes, and replied in a slightly helpless tone, "Sister Otohime... she's playing video games in her room.
When I went to call her, she said, 'I'm in a critical dungeon and don't have much of an appetite,' and told me to leave her alone."
Hearing the name "Otohime," Hikari recalled the white-haired, golden-eyed, wooden-horned, flat-chested girl from last night, especially her eccentric personality and subtle interactions with Naruto. The slight annoyance she felt from not being called to the Hidden Mist seemed to be replaced by another subtle emotion.
She silently picked up a piece of grilled fish, put it in her mouth to chew slowly, but her gaze was somewhat vacant, wondering what she was thinking about again.
The four girls at the dining table, each with her own thoughts, enjoyed their breakfast in the quiet morning light, lacking only the blonde youth who could always easily stir their emotions.
Meanwhile, in the room upstairs, Naruto was deep in sleep, making up for the massive exhaustion brought about by his almost self-torturing, frantic cultivation last night.
The sunlight outside filtered through the gaps in the curtains, spilling onto his slightly tired sleeping face.
At this moment, inside the Hokage Office, Hyuga Hiashi picked up his pen and put it down again.
"Why do I always have an ominous premonition?
I wonder when Naruto and the others will be back. Sigh!"
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