Naruto's Uchiha girlfriend is too Tsundere Chapter 16 - 16

The evening sun's dying light painted the entire forest crimson, enveloping two small figures in warm golden-red radiance. Their clothes were covered in dust and leaves, their faces smudged with dirt—traces from repeatedly falling out of trees throughout the afternoon.

The two large trees before them were riddled with kunai marks. Each scratch recorded their progress, from initially only reaching the trunk's middle to now approaching the very top.

During their repeated practice, Naruto had shared the secret Sakura mastered in the original series—maintaining ntal calm. Focus your mind on the tree. Thanks to this advice, both their progress far exceeded the original tiline, without needing to train until dawn like Team 7's duo had.

Satsuki stood beneath the tree, black hair plastered to her cheeks with sweat as she felt the chakra flow within her body. After nurous attempts, she'd finally found that delicate sense of balance.

Now!

Suppressing her excitent, she forced herself to remain calm. She concentrated all her attention on the trunk, feeling the subtle sensation of chakra emanating from her feet.

Step, step, step.

With a series of light footsteps, Satsuki ran steadily up the vertical trunk. This ti, her chakra control was smoother than ever before—each step adhered perfectly to the bark without the slightest waste.

When she gracefully leaped onto the highest branch, the sunset's glow bathed her small face in warm light. Sasuke looked down excitedly at the ground below—she'd succeeded!

Just then, rustling sounds ca from the neighboring tree. Satsuki turned to see Naruto likewise completing the full course with clean efficiency, executing a beautiful flip to land on an adjacent branch. His golden hair glead in the sunset while his blue eyes sparkled with joy.

Naruto had succeeded too. But, Satsuki thought to herself, she'd reached the treetop first—this competition was her victory!

"Hey! Naruto!" She turned around, her small face blooming with a radiant smile. "I won this competition! How's that? Have you witnessed the Uchiha's power?"

Naruto stood on the neighboring branch, watching Satsuki's triumphant expression. Like a proud little cat, her bright black eyes and barely contained happiness revealed purely childish joy.

This kind of smile... rarely appeared on the original Satsuki's face... this pure bloom of happiness from simple pleasure.

Having deliberately held back, Naruto put on a frustrated expression. "As expected of an Uchiha genius. I lost this round."

Hearing this, Satsuki's smile curved even wider.

"But~" Naruto's tone shifted, "don't get too cocky. It was only by a tiny bit." He held up his thumb and forefinger to demonstrate a minuscule distance. "Keep working at this pace, and be careful I don't overtake you."

"Of course I will! I'll keep working hard! I'm going to surpass my sister and beco a ninja the clan can be proud of!"

Listening to Satsuki's proud declaration, Naruto caught a particular detail in her words... "sister."

'What the hell... is Itachi gender-swapped too?' Naruto recalled that during their first eting, Satsuki had indeed ntioned this being her sister's training ground.

He hoped there wouldn't be gender-swapped versions of Kakashi and the rest of the Rookie 12. Though if Kakashi were female, would she have romantic feelings for Obito? Naruto didn't particularly want to witness that scenario.

Just then, Satsuki swayed unsteadily as she stood up. Her small face was pale with exhaustion, fingers gripping the trunk tightly. She clearly wanted to climb down to ground level, but after an afternoon of intensive training, her legs had gone weak.

"Ah!"

A startled cry suddenly shattered the quiet. Satsuki's foot slipped and she pitched forward. Instinctively trying to gather chakra to stick to the trunk, but in her panic she couldn't maintain precise control. The world spun around her—she was falling!

Not good!

Naruto's body moved faster than his thoughts. He leaped forward, and during his descent, he precisely calculated angles and velocity, spreading his arms to catch the falling figure.

Satsuki squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the coming pain. But unexpectedly, she felt herself land in a safe embrace. Opening her eyes, she found Naruto's deep blue gaze re inches away, filled with concern.

Naruto nimbly bounced off the trunk repeatedly, each contact precisely absorbing the impact of their fall.

"Whew—"

With a final gentle cushion, Naruto landed steadily on the ground, fallen leaves swirling up in the air currents before drifting back down. He looked down at Satsuki in his arms, asking with concern, "That was close! Are you okay? Not hurt?"

Satsuki's small face was nearly buried in Naruto's collar, her voice barely a whisper. "Mm... mm..."

Only now did she suddenly realize how embarrassing this position was—curled up in his arms like a frightened kitten.

Satsuki didn't know that in the ninja world, this rescue thod had no special na, but in another world, it was called a "princess carry."

Naruto, too worried to notice, had unconsciously replicated his father's most classic rescue pose.

Hearing that Satsuki wasn't injured, he sighed with relief and carefully bent down, gently setting the red-eared girl on the ground.

"Be more careful next ti," Naruto patted Satsuki's shoulder. "If you'd really gotten hurt, the adults at ho would definitely forbid you from coming to train."

The mont Satsuki's feet touched ground, she swayed slightly, small hands quickly grasping the rough bark for support.

She kept her head down, black hair falling to hide her thoroughly flushed cheeks and ears. "Mm... thank you..."

Only now did Naruto notice sothing was off with Satsuki. Was this child... embarrassed? Thinking back, the rescue had indeed been rather intimate.

In his eyes, though, Satsuki was just a little girl who needed protection—he harbored no other thoughts. His own child's body sotis made him uncomfortable too.

"...Um! Let's go to the riverside!" Satsuki suddenly announced loudly, as if trying to break the awkward atmosphere. "Since we finished training, it's ti to test our results!"

She hurriedly turned and ran toward the river, black hair streaming behind her, steps still sowhat unsteady.

Naruto smiled and followed, watching that small figure ahead of him.