"How did you all find yourselves in this situation?" Naruto asks while wiping the tear at the corner of his eyes.
Satsuki and Hinata turn their heads towards Keimei in unison, which raises Naruto's eyebrow.
"So it was your fault?"
"So what if its my fault?" Keimei crossed her arms, not daring to stare at Naruto or the two girls, but one could see the redness on her cheeks deepen.
"I didn't know that the bench was freshly painted since there's no sign on it," Keimei explains in a somewhat hasty manner, which only makes Naruto laugh harder.
"Hahahaha... I didn't expect you to be that clumsy."
Keimei slightly pouts after hearing Naruto, which Hinata finds somewhat cute for some reason.
"Anyway, I didn't expect you two to meet up, especially given the fact that Fugaku clearly told us to take a rest," Naruto said as he stared at his teammates.
"Is it a problem for us to meet up?" Satsuki asks back while staring at Naruto. Her eyes were still burning with indignation, especially after Naruto laughed at their predicament.
"Nothing at all. I just find it interesting." A small smile appeared on Naruto's face.
"Naruto," Keimei suddenly said, attracting everyone's attention.
"Before we go, I need to return back to my apartment to change my clothes," she continues before her head turns towards Hinata and Satsuki. "You two would like to go to my apartment to change clothes?"
"I'd rather not," Satsuki responds flatly. Her pride wouldn't allow her to accept Keimei's help, especially after the prank she pulled off.
"Are you willing to go back to your house with that?" Keimei slightly raised her eyebrows.
Satsuki didn't respond but also understood that it would definitely be embarrassing if someone saw her with her back being tainted by paint.
"My apartment is nearby, and with Naruto's help, no one should be able to see us."
"How come I had to help you with your problem?" Naruto suddenly said while pointing a finger at himself.
"You're going to help whether you like it or not," Keimei responds while staring at Naruto intently.
Naruto sighed in defeat. He knows that if he doesn't help, Keimei without a doubt will cause problems for him these next few days, and he'd rather avoid such troublesome things.
"Are you going to join them?" Naruto said while staring at Hinata.
Hinata slowly nods, and Naruto then snaps his finger, and all of a sudden they vanish from the park and arrive at Keimei's apartment.
Keimei's apartment was in the same apartment building where Naruto's apartment was located, but unlike Naruto, whose apartment was at the top, Keimei's was on the middle floor of the building.
Satsuki and Hinata were confused after seeing the surroundings suddenly change. This confusion, though, didn't last any longer as the two girls stared at Naruto in shock.
They are unable to believe the fact that Naruto knows space-time ninjutsu. While they didn't know how Naruto managed to know such advanced ninjutsu, there's one thing they were sure of: the jutsu he performed wasn't the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, which was the famous technique of the Fourth Hokage.
The reason for this conclusion was the fact that they didn't see any seals of the formula in the area, which was something that the Flying Thunder God Jutsu needed.
While there might be a way to hide the seal's formula, Hinata and Satsuki's gut feeling tells them that Naruto uses different space-time ninjutsu.
Just as the two girls were staring at Naruto with shocked expressions on their faces, they snapped back to reality after Keimei suddenly spoke.
"Come in," Keimei calmly said after opening the door of her apartment.
Keimei then turned her head towards Naruto and calmly added, "You are not allowed to enter."
"Am I some kind of pervert in your eyes?" Naruto slightly raised one of his eyebrows.
"Yes" Keimei flatly respond.
Naruto immediately began clenching his chest as if what Keimei said magically hurt him, but Keimei ignored him and invited Hinata and Satsuki inside her apartment.
The three girls enter the apartment and immediately close the door, leaving Naruto in the hallway, and Naruto just shrugs and decides to patiently wait for them to leave.
The three girls didn't waste any more time and borrowed clothes from Keimei, and surprisingly, the trio had somewhat similar sizes.
Keimei wanted to give the clothes to Satsuki and Hinata, but the two sharply declined.
After the three change their clothes to the new ones, they swiftly leave the apartment and see Naruto patiently waiting outside.
Keimei says goodbye to Satsuki and Hinata and vanishes alongside Naruto. As for where their destination is, that's for Naruto and Keimei's knowledge.
Hinata and Satsuki glance at each other for a few moments before leaving the apartment building and walking towards the Hyuga Clan Compound.
While walking towards their destination, both Hinata and Satsuki were thinking about the relationship between Keimei and Naruto. The two are somewhat close, and this brings questions to their minds.
How long has it been since the two were close to each other?
Yet no matter how they ask, they can't receive any answer. They only know once they ask Naruto and Keimei, but they had a feeling that those two wouldn't answer their question to begin with.
But right now the two girls didn't have time to think as they focused on their main objective and the reason behind their meetup.
After arriving at the Hyuga Clan compound, they immediately went towards the specific courtyard where Hinata's mother was likely staying, as she takes care of her own collection of bonsai trees.
The moment Hinata and Satsuki arrived at the courtyard, they saw Hitomi pruning her newly added bonsai tree.
"Hinata, I didn't expect you to return this soon," Hitomi calmly said and slowly placed down the scissors in her hands on the floor.
"Nice to meet you, Satsuki. I heard many wonderful things about you from my daughter," Hitomi added as she looked at Satsuki.
"It is also a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Hyuga," Satsuki responds with a small bow.
"You don't have to be formal with me; you can call me Aunt instead. Your mother and I have known each other for a long time," Hitomi said with a small smile on her face.
"Okay, Aunt Hitomi," Satsuki said in a lower voice, and the smile on Hitomi's face became bigger.
"So why did the two of you want to meet me? I don't think the only reason you are here is to greet me."
"Mom, we wanted to ask something, and we believe you can answer our question," Hinata said in a low but serious voice, which made Hitomi take this a little seriously.
"We wanted to know if you know anything about cursed spirits," Hinata added, her voice tinted with slight hope, which Satsuki was able to tell.
Hitomi, on the other hand, stiffens after hearing Hinata's expression, and there's shock in her eyes, which does not go unnoticed by Satsuki and Hinata.
'So she really knows about the Cursed Spirits,' Satsuki thought inwardly.
This confirmation really made both Hinata and Satsuki sigh in relief inwardly, as they saved time searching for any clues regarding the Cursed Spirits.
They aren't even sure if they can search for any clues in a short period of time if Hitomi doesn't know anything about the Cursed Spirits.
"W-Where did you hear that?" Hitomi asks; her tone is incredibly serious, which slightly caught both Hinata and Satsuki off guard.
"We heard the term from Naruto," Satsuki responds.
'Did he make such a mistake? No, that's incredibly unlikely to happen, so why did these two girls learn about the cursed spirits? 'Hitomi thought inwardly while a frown appeared on her face.
"Can you two tell me how you learned about the Cursed Spirits?" Hitomi asks in a serious tone.
Both Hinata and Satsuki glance at each other for a moment, and they see confusion in each other's eyes. Still, they decide to share how they learn about the cursed spirits, especially after seeing the weird butterfly and dark cocoon.
"...I see..." Hitomi whispers, but one can tell the unwillingness within her voice.
"So the two of you can see cursed spirits, huh? What a great misfortune," Hitomi added, which made Hinata and Satsuki somewhat alert.
"Mom, can you tell us about the cursed spirits?"
"This isn't an ideal place to discuss it. Let's change location first," Hitomi responds while slowly walking inside the mansion.
Hinata and Satsuki are confused about what Hitomi previously said but still decide to follow, as they want to learn about the Cursed Spirits and the reason why Hitomi said it was their greatest misfortune.
After walking for a minute or two, the three enter a room that is empty and devoid of any people. Hitomi also placed a talisman in the door, creating a sound barrier around the room.
"With this I can safely inform you about the cursed spirit," Hitomi said while looking at the two girls with a serious expression.