Thunk!
Naruto blocked the descending wooden club with his arm.
When he raised his head again, the fox-like crimson pupils in his eyes flashed briefly before returning to their normal blue color.
"Naruto-kun, you finally succeeded!"
Hinata's delighted cheer rang beside his ears.
Then Naruto suddenly felt sothing soft and warm throw itself against him.
After blanking out montarily, Naruto imdiately beca equally excited.
Laughing loudly, he lifted Hinata up and spun her around several tis on the spot.
"Ah, Hinata, seriously, thank you so much!"
"I finally mastered it!"
Naruto grinned proudly, just about to demonstrate his success properly in front of Hinata—
When sudden dizziness struck him.
Fortunately, Hinata had long since beco accustod to situations like this.
She imdiately brought over the al she had already prepared beforehand.
"A whole year and a half…"
Naruto sighed emotionally while stuffing food into his mouth.
"It really wasn't easy."
That's right.
An entire year and a half had passed.
Throughout all that ti, they repeated this exact training almost every day.
By now, both Naruto and Hinata had already beco deeply accustod to spending ti beside each other.
"We should tell Sasuke-kun the good news too."
Hinata naturally and skillfully scooped another bowl of rice for Naruto while speaking.
"He's always been incredibly curious about your training. I don't even know how many tis he ca to check on it before."
"Hehe."
Naruto scratched his cheek proudly.
"Well, I promised him I'd teach him once I mastered it."
"Even though he always acts like he doesn't care, he's definitely super curious inside."
"Though at this hour, he's probably still training and hasn't co back yet."
After finally eating his fill, Naruto glanced toward the alarm clock specially purchased for training purposes before looking at Hinata.
"Should I walk you ho now?"
"It's okay."
Hinata gently shook her head.
"I'll clean up here first. Naruto-kun, you should rest a little."
"Oh."
Naruto quietly watched Hinata's back as she efficiently cleaned the room.
Then suddenly—
As though possessed by sothing—
He asked softly:
"Hinata…"
"Do we count as family?"
"Eh?"
Hinata froze, her hands stopping mid-motion.
Then she turned around in confusion.
"Naruto-kun, did you say sothing just now?"
"N-No, nothing!"
For one of the rare tis in his life, Naruto's face instantly turned red.
He waved his hands frantically.
"?"
Hinata tilted her head adorably.
Though after a mont, she stopped worrying about it.
Later, beneath the glow of the streetlamps and the quiet night sky, Naruto escorted Hinata back ho.
After waving goodbye, Naruto silently watched her figure disappear into the Hyūga compound.
Faintly—
He could almost hear Hinata talking with her father inside.
A long-forgotten loneliness quietly surfaced within Naruto's heart once more.
"Family…"
Naruto murmured softly.
Still, he quickly shook off those emotions and turned to leave.
However—
Instead of heading directly ho—
He walked toward another direction.
Because there was another idiot out there who was definitely missing his family too.
"Haa… haa… haa…"
Heavy breathing mixed with the sounds of impacts echoed continuously from within the forest ahead.
Naruto silently stood atop a tree branch, quietly watching Sasuke training below.
This was the Uchiha clan's secret training ground.
Naruto understood Sasuke.
Because he was always like this.
It wasn't because Sasuke wanted to hide things from Lee or the others.
Nor because he deliberately avoided everyone.
Ever since the destruction of the Uchiha clan—
And especially after awakening the Sharingan yet still losing miserably when challenging Naruto—
Sasuke had secretly trained here every single night.
Naruto had taken that battle seriously.
Because after learning what happened to the Uchiha clan, Naruto told Sasuke everything he knew during the fight.
Yet Sasuke's answer back then had been extrely decisive.
You can't understand.
And I can't forgive.
Those words—
Spoken by Sasuke even while collapsed upon the ground, exhausted beyond movent, yet still stubbornly refusing to lose consciousness—
Deeply remained in Naruto's heart.
And yes.
Naruto truly couldn't understand the pain of losing family.
That was also the very first ti Naruto genuinely got hit by Sasuke during one of their fights.
He still rembered how intense Sasuke's desire for victory looked at that mont.
Defeating Naruto truly had beco Sasuke's most important goal.
Thankfully, Naruto actually treated that fight seriously.
Otherwise, if he had continued lazily using Shadow Clones to toy with Sasuke, Sasuke's ntality probably would've exploded completely.
But thank you, Naruto.
Thank you for telling so of the clan survived.
That's enough.
That really… is enough.
Those were the final words Sasuke tearfully spoke before collapsing unconscious after landing that punch.
"Who's there?!"
Suddenly sensing sothing, Sasuke abruptly raised his head.
His scarlet two-tomoe Sharingan stared directly toward the tree where Naruto stood monts earlier.
Yet he saw nothing.
As though it had rely been his imagination.
Sasuke never told anyone about this place.
Aside from Itachi—
Only one other person knew of it and had ever co here before.
"Naruto…"
"Did he co just to tell he finally succeeded?"
Sasuke froze slightly.
Then slowly stopped training.
"Neji and Lee can wait until tomorrow."
anwhile, Naruto reappeared back ho.
Stretching lazily, he looked around the room Hinata had cleaned spotless and smiled before sinking into his inner world once more.
"I succeeded!"
Kurama half-opened one eye while pretending not to notice Naruto had intentionally wandered outside first to calm his emotions before returning here.
"Then let's see if you can actively enter that state yourself now."
"Oh!"
Naruto imdiately clapped his hands together confidently.
Closing his eyes, red markings slowly appeared around them.
Then—
When Naruto reopened his eyes—
His bright blue pupils had transford into dangerous crimson vertical slits.
A sharp yet restrained aura slowly spread outward from his body.
Naruto himself curiously examined his transford state.
"This is amazing."
"It feels like I can hear way more sounds…"
"See more colors…"
"And my body feels unbelievably light."
Naruto casually punched toward empty air.
The sonic boom produced by that simple motion nearly hurt his ears.
"Just like this old man told you before."
Kurama lazily flicked his tails.
"For now, simply get used to this power."
"Based on your current state, your physical abilities have increased several tis over at minimum."
"That alone will make adapting to Sage Mode difficult."
"So cool!"
Naruto's fox-like eyes sparkled brightly.
"Oh, right!"
"Why's it called Sage Mode anyway?"
Naruto looked toward Kurama curiously.
"I think with these eyes and everything, 'Fox Sage Mode' or 'Sage Fox Mode' sounds cooler."
"Call it whatever you want."
Kurama snorted.
"This old man doesn't care."
Then suddenly, the giant fox seed to rember sothing.
"Oh, right."
"There's sothing else."
"It concerns your father."
"He has sothing he wants to tell you."
"Eh?"
Naruto froze.
"But didn't you say before that my father was already dead?"
"Hm?"
Kurama tilted his head lazily.
"Did this old man say that?"
"I rember you saying 'his spirit in heaven is always watching you' before…"
"Naruto."
A gentle voice suddenly sounded behind Naruto.
The unfamiliar yet strangely familiar voice caused Naruto's heart to leap with both shock and joy.
He imdiately spun around—
Only to see…
A floating ghost fla.
The glowing spirit hovered before Naruto while smiling warmly.
"Naruto."
"I am your father."
"Father?"
Naruto froze completely.
"You see?"
Kurama's tails swayed smugly behind him.
"This old man technically wasn't wrong at all."
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