"Chiba, what is this... for?"
The forehead protector engraved with Konoha's emblem slowly slid down from her smooth forehead. The hair it had held back gradually fell along both sides of her cheeks, framing her flawless, fair, beautiful face in graceful arcs together with her bangs.
Yet the cyan X-shaped curse mark on the smooth patch of forehead the protector had covered was glaringly conspicuous no matter how one looked at it.
At that moment, Yukina's vacant white eyes blinked as she asked in confusion.
From Chiba's voice, she could tell that having her remove her forehead protector seemed to be an extremely urgent matter. His voice even seemed to be trembling.
She had taken it off immediately.
"Chi... Chiba, what... what are you—?"
However, she received no answer. The instant she finished speaking, she felt warmth settle over her forehead as a warm hand pressed against it.
A blush immediately rose to her face.
This was Chiba's hand.
"Don't move."
Right after she instinctively voiced that question, Chiba's somewhat urgent yet still gentle voice came to her.
"Mm!"
Upon hearing that, she nodded almost instinctively. Then she closed her eyes, asked no more questions, and made no movement, quietly displaying absolute trust in Chiba.
Then...
This shouldn't take long! First, I need to enter the Caged Bird Seal!
At that moment, almost as soon as Yukina closed her eyes, Chiba glanced at the scroll on the table. A complex circular Sealing Jutsu Formula had slowly appeared on the scroll beneath his hand. Then he slowly closed his own eyes as well, releasing the Chakra gathered in his hand.
As his Chakra was released, his "consciousness" seemed to slowly spread outward. The darkness behind his closed eyes gradually lit up with cyan, threadlike pathways as his Chakra flowed into Yukina's