When Koji came back to their tent later in the day, he found only Kuro there, lying in Yuki's bed of all places. "Kuro, what are you doing there?" he couldn't help but hiss out, feeling jealous that Kuro was able to do that.
"Thank me later" I was the Ninken said, not moving or even lifting his head.
"What are you on about?" Koji mumbled as he went to his bed, only to find a massive wet spot on it.
"Kuro? What did you do? I have to sleep there, you know." He complained to his partner.
"You really missed out." That smug tone instantly made Koji go on guard.
"What?"
"Yuki came back from a bath, wearing that yukata you liked so much last time." He said, speaking very slowly.
Koji swallowed hard. He knew that yukata, having been in camp for a few days, he heard things, learned things.
One of those was that the yukata for the bathhouse was donated by none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin.
Koji couldn't help but want to give him a thumbs up for those. They were so thin, they hid absolutely nothing! And since they were white, once they turned wet, they hid even less!
Missing a chance to see Yuki in that, indeed, he missed out. "But what does that have to do with the big wet spot there?"
"Well, I had Yuki rest in your bed for a while… all wet, laying there in your bed, on her stomach, her ass barely covered at all." Kuro said, his words making Koji stare at the bed, watching the wet spot, and seeing Yuki there.
"What's more… she was face down in your pillow, sniffing your scent, and well… from the way her scent changed, I would say she liked it." He continued.
"Fuck" Koji groaned and thew himself into the bed to hide his growing boner.
Not that it helped, because instantly he was surrounded by Yuki's scent. And he couldn't help but imagine her there, in his bed with him.
"I bet you want her, and go for it, she might agree." Kuro laughed from Yuki's bed.
"Shut up!" Koji screamed into his pillow. He was wet, hard and horny, and didn't want to listen to Kuro mocking him.
…
..
.
-----
Staying at the camp came with its ups and downs. For one, we could rest, eat good food, and more. However, on the other hand, we transitioned from a high-stress environment to one without it, and it was challenging to adjust.
We had been delayed due to having to wait for supplies to be delivered. We had been able to send letters back home, which was nice, but now we had to wait for the Hyūga and Inuzuka clans to pack the supplies we asked for.
Mostly food, and a few new outfits for me. But yeah, it delayed us.
We made the best of the situation, so I personally tried to learn more about the general situation, gaining a deeper understanding of what was happening, not just on other fronts, but also with the Suna front.
Because there was only so much we could learn from running around inside Rivers.
We missed many things.
For one, there had been some big fights between the two sides, hundreds crashing a few times.
Some of the teams we ran into or saw traces of might have gone towards those battles. But I was honestly glad we weren't dragging into that mess.
Big fights were the most dangerous. Not only did you have to watch out for your opponents. But you also had to be on alert from stray attacks someone else might have dodged.
With that many kunai and ninjutsu flying around, it's easy to be hit by one of those attacks, even friendly fire isn't rare.
But learning about that hardly solved the main problem; I was getting restless. It was like coming down from a month-long sugar high. Suddenly, everything just felt so slow, like you didn't know what to do anymore.
Now, we just had to sit around, doing nothing. And it got boring real quick.
"Hey Koji!" I shouted.
Yet, he wasn't around.
He had been avoiding me for a while now, not sure why. I thought that whatever had made him act strangely had ended a while ago… He still freaked out when I called him my partner and teased him, but he was getting better.
But now?
He suddenly avoided me. He never did that before.
And for some strange reason, it really bothered me.
"What's the problem, Hyūga?" someone asked.
The camp was filled with people; you couldn't just shout someone's name without plenty of people looking over, even if it wasn't their name, it was just human behavior.
I turned my head, and found that the person asking was another Kunoichi, with short reddish hair, and most importantly, red tattoos on her cheeks, an Inuzuka.
"Just looking for my partner, he seems to have run off, and I'm bored, is all." I explained.
The Inuzuka girl raised an eyebrow, then gave a sly smirk. "Partner, huh?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Koji. You probably know him. Same clan as you."
That smirk sharpened. "Oh, I know Koji."
"Well, are you busy? Because I'm bored, and I don't have him to knock around, so I figured you could tell me something about him, maybe? If you know anything, something I can tease him with later?" I asked, deciding that it could be a fun thing to do.
The girl snorted. "Oh, I've got plenty you could tease him about. But I'm not sure you'd want to."
"Why wouldn't I?" I asked, arching a brow.
She leaned against a crate, crossing her arms. "Because you should be real careful Hyūga-Chan, he might jump your bones if you tease him, I saw him around, and he looks like he is about to blow, real pent up and frustrated."
I couldn't help but feel my cheeks heat up at that. I mean, he was a young man, so I guessed that he had his needs, but I didn't know why I had to be told about that.
The girl just grinned, sharp and knowing. "Because you're the reason, genius."
I blinked. "What?"
She laughed, not unkindly. "Seriously? You didn't know? You can't go around being as pretty as you are and call him partner without getting him going, that kid is totally in love with you."
Now that was just ridiculous, I mean, he was awkward around me, sure, and that did indeed look like the sign for such a thing. But there was one important thing missing: he never acted on it. And no Inuzuka could hold back their desires. They love something, they say it, loud and forcefully, not always taking no for an answer.
"Please," I said, waving her off. "I know you people hate sitting through history lessons, but I had no choice. I know about the Inuzuka, being an old ally of ours. You guys never shy away from your desires. If he loved me, I would know it; no way he would hide it."
The girl didn't argue right away. She just looked at me, arms still folded, her smirk slowly giving way to something quieter.
"Yeah," she said after a moment, "normally, you'd be right."
That gave me pause.
She continued, voice more serious now. "Normally, an Inuzuka would've howled it from the rooftops by now. Or just jumped at you to fight, winner gets all style, but well, that's from my grandparents' generation. Since joining Konoha, we have been showing restraint."
She shifted her weight and tilted her head, eyes narrowing just a bit. "We still go after what we want, yeah. But not all of us do it loud. Not anymore. Especially not the ones like Koji—raised to keep their instincts in check."
I didn't respond right away. Something about the way she said it made me uneasy. Not in a bad way—just like I'd missed something obvious.
She didn't wait. "Look, I'm honestly impressed with him. Had you pulled that trick, calling one of us partner like that back a few years ago, you would have known what it means to be the partner of an Inuzuka. he held back, and still is."
I didn't know what to say. I had made a huge mistake, like one almost as big as letting myself get sealed inside the fucking moon.
My stomach twisted a little. I had made a harem protagonist level mistake. I had completely missed all the clues, been as thick as a stone!
All the teasing, all the little games—I thought I was in control of that dynamic. Thought I was the one making him squirm for fun. But the whole time…
He liked me.
Really liked me.
I pressed a hand to my face, groaning quietly into my palm. "Gods above, I'm such an idiot."
The Inuzuka girl just laughed. "Yeah, a little. But hey—you're hot enough to get away with it."
I glared at her through my fingers. "That doesn't help."
"Didn't say it was supposed to." She gave a shrug, then pushed off the crate. "Look, he's probably off sulking somewhere. Go fix it. Or don't. I don't care." She said as she left me standing there.
I couldn't help but think back to everything, and yeah, I should have realized it. I mean, I saw the signs, I suspected it multiple times, even tested it a few times, but he never reacted like I expected if he did like me.
So really, it wasn't entirely my fault, because, had he acted on those chances, the situation wouldn't have gotten this bad, I wouldn't have teased him like that.
I wasn't some heartless monster like my sons liked to claim.
I had loved their father; I had loved him just as I loved both of them. I had cared deeply about Seina and felt great pain at her death.
I had betrayed the clan because I loved this world, the beauty of it all.
Everything I did, I did because of love. I brought peace to this world because of love, because I knew people deserved a life without that suffering.
Inside the seal, I had felt the pain of countless people dying from war, dying because of my chakra.
I no longer felt that desire for the chakra, to gather it all. I wasn't sure why; it was either because of my transmigration or because this wasn't my true body, and the corruption left behind by the chakra fruit remained inside my body.
I wasn't a monster.
While I usually avoided it here in camp, I activated my Byakugan. Immediately, the entire camp entered my vision. I saw everything now. Everyone was visible before my eyes. every hidden guard, every secret. I saw the bathhouse, and I noticed a hidden spot where three people stood, spying on the bathing women.
I saw Commander Nara in his tent. I saw Genin washing clothes, firewood being cut, I saw it all.
I also saw a lot of things I would rather not. But I ignored everything and looked for Koji and Kuro. And it didn't take long to find them. because, I knew his chakra, I knew Kuro's chakra, and they weren't alone.
Next to them, was the chakra of another ninken. Likely the canine partner of the Kunoichi I just talked with.
I instantly understood that I likely had been set up.
After all, what is the chance that she just happened to hang out outside our tent, while Koji and Kuro were hanging out with her Ninken?
Yeah, I didn't believe that was just a coincidence at all.
That did make me suspicious about the things she told me about, but in the end, I decided to just find out myself. And the best way to do that was to ask. I wasn't afraid. And well, I figured that no matter what, Koji wouldn't turn down my test.
Because yeah, I wouldn't ask him, by now, that would be way too embarrassing. So better to take a roundabout way of finding out for sure.
(End of chapter)
Seina is the name of the maid seen in the Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes arc. Not sure if its her real name, couldn't find it, but here it's the name I'm going with.