Afternoon, July 14.
The two of them sat in the dango shop, saying nothing, quietly chewing the same gentle sweetness.
Hinata's smile kept slipping out. She was happy Naruto had approached her—and at the same time confused. Why had Naruto-kun suddenly come to hang out with her?
Then she remembered: she had just given Naruto-kun homemade ointment earlier. So Naruto-kun was buying her sweets as repayment!
The more she thought, the more convinced she became. Being proactive with Naruto-kun really was the right call.
Just then, she heard Naruto sigh softly.
"Naruto-kun?" Hinata immediately looked worried.
Naruto didn't explain. He waved it off with a smile. "Ah, it's nothing. I just thought of something annoying, that's all."
Of course, the more casual he sounded, the more curious Hinata became. She desperately wanted to help the person she liked.
"Naruto-kun… tell me. Maybe… maybe I can help."
Heh. That's what I was waiting for.
Naruto paused, then said slowly, "You know I have the Nine-Tails inside me, right? So I'm always under ANBU surveillance."
Hinata nodded. She'd heard her family mention it.
"So… my social circle isn't deep. Usually it's just you guys, and I'm also fairly familiar with a few ANBU brothers," Naruto continued smoothly, making things up without hesitation.
"Among them there's this one guy in white. We're closest. But lately… ah, don't even get me started…"
He leaned in and stopped talking.
Hinata leaned in too, close enough to feel his breath.
Naruto lowered his voice and gritted out, "That guy… owes me money."
"Ah?" Hinata blinked, surprised—and immediately filled with questions. Would ANBU really be short on money? And borrow it from Naruto-kun?
Before she could think further, Naruto suddenly grabbed her hand.
Hinata's face changed instantly. Her pale cheeks turned into a fully ripe red apple.
Her mind went blank—she only heard Naruto continue, "Yesterday he borrowed a few hundred ryō from me again. Said he was going to buy lottery tickets, and if he won, he'd pay me back. Like he's got my luck—how's he supposed to just win whenever he wants?"
"Y-yes…" Hinata fought desperately against her embarrassment, trying to process the information. Her expression grew stiff from the effort.
Naruto, apparently oblivious to her "crisis," continued, "And guess what? He promised to repay me today—then vanished. Last time I saw him, he was at the Hokage Tower."
"I can't exactly go to Grandpa Third and say 'your ANBU owes me money,' right? That'd be so rude!"
"Ah… if only I could know where he went~"
Only then did Naruto release Hinata's hand, giving her a moment to breathe.
Hinata stared at her palm, still warm with lingering sensation, feeling like she might faint. But a sliver of reason told her: Naruto-kun was confiding in her—how could she faint at a time like this?
And why did Naruto-kun come to her to vent?
Because he trusted her. Because she mattered to him.
After a long moment, under Naruto's slightly concerned gaze, Hinata finally recovered her composure.
She pressed her lips together, believing she could solve this.
"Naruto-kun…" she said softly, sweetly. "Maybe… I can help?"
"Really?" Naruto's eyes lit up with delight.
"Mm. I can use the Byakugan to lock onto his location. Then Naruto-kun can go collect the debt."
"…That's wonderful." Naruto thought for a moment, then showed visible relief.
"Oh, and Hinata—this isn't exactly something to be proud of. Could you keep it secret?"
Hinata's cheeks flushed again, a breathtaking pink.
Is Naruto-kun hinting… that this is our little secret?
The thought made her so excited she nodded hard. "Mm!"—so eager that even Naruto felt a flicker of surprise.
This girl is… ridiculously easy to fool.
If all the women in the world were this easy…
Tsk tsk.
Soon they found an open area. Naruto described the white-cloaked ANBU's appearance, and Hinata activated her Byakugan, scanning the entirety of Konoha.
"Be careful to avoid the Yamanaka clan's direction," Naruto reminded her. "They can sense unfamiliar surveillance."
"Mm."
Before long, her gaze fixed on the Ninja Academy.
"Naruto-kun…" Hinata pointed shyly. "That brother you mentioned—he's at the Ninja Academy right now."
"I see…" Naruto's brows tightened. "Thank you, Hinata. Let's stop here for today."
He escorted Hinata back to the compound, while he himself sank into thought.
Something's wrong at the Academy… He hadn't expected this direction at all, and for a moment he didn't know how to proceed.
He'd already graduated. If he showed up there without a reason, it would look suspicious.
"…So annoying. I'll go slurp ramen at Ichiraku," he muttered.
As he walked, another name popped into his head.
Konohamaru.
Maybe the kid had noticed something strange at school. The odds weren't high, but he could find an excuse later—invite him to ramen.
…
Morning, July 15 — Ichiraku Ramen.
"Slurp slurp slurp—Naruto-bro, thanks for treating me to ramen today!"
Konohamaru ate without shame, tearing into noodles and toppings with a mouth full of grease.
"Uncle, another bowl!" Naruto signaled Teuchi to cook more, while he quietly ate.
"Oh right—haven't heard much about Iruka-sensei lately. Have you had his class recently?" Naruto didn't go straight for the target; he used Iruka as the entry point and casually asked about school.
"Iruka-sensei…" Konohamaru stopped slurping, thought, then said bluntly, "Yesterday he had a huge fight in the office with Seisen-sensei from our school."
"…Hm?" Naruto caught the name Seisen immediately and gestured for Konohamaru to continue.
Konohamaru kept eating and, without much care, described how the two of them had shouted so loudly in the office that some students even gathered to watch.
And this teacher called Seisen had even declared he was going to abolish this damn course, and he'd shouted, Why don't you dare go pick a fight with the Hokage?!
Konohamaru didn't notice that Naruto's face was growing darker by the second. By the end, Naruto had stopped eating entirely, listening in silence as Konohamaru excitedly reenacted the whole "lecture" Seisen gave.
"…I see. What a… distinctive teacher," Naruto forced out, suppressing the storm inside him.
After Konohamaru left, Naruto finally slipped into panic, disbelief written all over his face—so intense that even the Nine-Tails could feel the upheaval in his heart.
Li. Yun. Long.
Those three words struck Naruto like thunder, leaving him unable to calm down—as if mountains were collapsing and seas were drying up, as if the last scraps of reason in his head were preparing to bid him a stylish farewell.
Worst of all, that transmigrator was already being watched by ANBU. That meant the secret of transmigration could be exposed at any moment.
Even approaching him casually would put Naruto under suspicion.
So how did he break the deadlock?
He wandered the streets, standing at the cliff edge of a future called Tomorrow, feeling like the mastermind had played a cruel joke on him.
Wait.
The mastermind.
Snap!
Something blocking his deeper thinking suddenly broke.
In the next instant, clarity struck him, and he formed a bold conclusion about the fog-shrouded situation before him:
He was absolutely not Li Yunlong!
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