Satsuki slowly opened her eyes. It was the Tianyunban that she was familiar with... to be precise, it was the Japanese-style Tianyunban that she often stayed at home.
Outside the window, the clear and melodious chirping of birds could be faintly heard, which was the unique chirping of early morning.
She sat up slowly, and the blanket covering her body slipped off. She subconsciously said the name of the person she wanted to see the most at this moment, with the haziness and dependence she felt when she just woke up.
"Naruto..."
"Hey, you're awake?" The familiar and reassuring voice immediately came from not far away, "Did you sleep well? Did you have any nightmares?"
Satsuki turned his head when he heard the sound, and saw Naruto sitting cross-legged on the tatami not far away, leaning against the wall, holding a rather thick-looking novel in his hand and reading. The title on the book cover is - "Battle Through the Heavens"
Satsuki vaguely remembers that this book looks like one of the books on the bookshelf in my parents' study.
When he heard that she woke up, Naruto closed the book by himself, put it on the tatami next to him, then stood up and came over.
"Because you fell asleep directly after sleeping outside yesterday, so I brought you back here first."
He explained, "You didn't even eat dinner last night. Are you hungry? Get up and wash up first. I have something to show you."
Only then did Satsuki fully wake up and realize that the room she was in at the moment was the Japanese room next to the living room where she and Naruto had been warming up, drinking tea, and chatting to kill time yesterday afternoon, not her own bedroom.
This realization made her heart suddenly rise again, and nervousness and panic passed through her heart. He... he didn't send me back to my room? Then... has he ever had sex? Did you see... that...?
She raised her eyes cautiously and called softly tentatively. "Naruto..."
"Huh? What's wrong?" Naruto stopped and looked at her with a very self-conscious expression, without any trace of strangeness or ridicule.
After carefully looking at Naruto's expression, which had not changed at all and was as open as ever, Satsuki's hanging heart finally quietly returned to its true state, and a feeling of relief came over him.
It seems... he probably hasn't been in the hospital before...
She quickly lowered her head to cover up her previous attitude and muttered in a low voice, "No... it's nothing..."
When she was still immersed in the confusion and a little guilty feeling that she had just woken up, she found that Naruto took her hand involuntarily and brought her up with a little force.
"Hey, don't be in a daze, get up quickly!" Naruto had a sly smile on his face, "There is a 'surprise' waiting for you outside."
Seeing Naruto's obviously hidden expression, Satsuki became even more confused, but she had no intention of breaking free. She just obeyed and was held by Naruto's hand, and was pulled out of the room step by step, towards the living room.
After ——
An extremely familiar and gentle voice that she thought she could only hear in her dreams, at least for a long time, clearly reached her ears.
"Morning, Satsuki."
Satsuki's pupils shrank suddenly, his eyes suddenly widened, and his whole person froze in place as if a restraining spell had been cast!
This voice... she is so familiar! It's my mother's voice!
She looked towards the dining table in the living room in disbelief - and saw two people sitting there!
It was Mikoto Uchiha and Fugaku Uchiha who she thought were still comatose in the hospital and were even pronounced by the doctor as possibly unable to be revived for the rest of their lives.
They seemed to be waiting for Sasuke to have breakfast together. Fugaku was sitting there, his eyes seemed not as sharp as before, but looked tired, and his face looked a little haggard and pale.
And mother Mikoto... Although she had the most familiar gentle smile of Satsuki on her face, the red and even swollen corners of her eyes silently told her what kind of crying she must have experienced after waking up.
Satsuki was completely stunned on the spot, his brain was instantly overloaded, and he was completely unable to process the information in front of him that was beyond the scope of understanding.
She subconsciously and tightly clenched Naruto's arm next to her, and whispered to Naruto for confirmation with extreme uncertainty.
"...Naruto... you... can you see it?... Is that...?"
"Well," Naruto responded in a very affirmative and soothing tone, "Uncle and aunt are back. Welcome home."
"But... the doctor obviously said yesterday... they... how could this..." Satsuki still couldn't believe it, the huge shock made her speechless.
"Maybe it's a miracle. It doesn't seem like it... Anyway, let's go through the dream first, right? Check it with yourself. Then you'll know if Genjutsu or you are dreaming?"
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Naruto I almost blurted out, "Even without me, you won't be alone anymore." But when he thought about the Bonds level that skyrocketed like crazy last night and even exceeded the upper limit of the system, he swallowed it back.
Satsuki's heart was filled with confusion. She carefully walked forward step by step.
Seeing her daughter's cautious expression, fearing that the scene in front of her could break into pieces, Mikoto felt very distressed. She couldn't help it anymore, she reached out her hand first and grabbed Satsuki's cold little hand tightly.
Pass on that real, warm touch. She didn't say any words of comfort, she just stared at her daughter with extremely tender eyes, silently telling her that this is true, mom is here, and dad is here too.
The familiar warmth and strength from the palm of his hand, as well as the tenderness in his eyes that was filled with heartache, exhaustion and sadness, but was extremely real, finally completely shattered the last uncertainty and fear in Satsuki's heart.
The boulder in her heart that was suffocating her suddenly fell to the ground at this moment and shattered without a trace!
Instead, there was a surge of great joy and the ecstasy of regaining something that swept her whole body and mind in an instant!
"... Mom!"
With a crying cry, Satsuki rushed into the arms of Mikoto, as if to integrate himself into this lost and recovered warmth.
Once again, Satsuki burst into tears because of his father. The tears I shed this time were hot and full of great joy and catharsis.
She was so engrossed in crying that even Fugaku, the wife behind her who taught her to be strong and forbearing, did not frown at the moment. She just looked at her little daughter silently with her eyes that were slightly weathered after experiencing great changes, her eyes full of heartache and guilt.
Looking at the reunion scene in front of him, Naruto's heart that had been hanging around finally settled down, and the guilt in his heart finally dissipated a little, replaced by a kind of heartfelt relief and satisfaction.
Great... finally... even after the night of genocide, Satsuki can still have his father's company, and no longer has to bear everything alone...
However, at the moment when this warm and touching atmosphere reached its climax - Satsuki was crying in his arms, the crying suddenly stopped without any warning.
She suddenly raised her head from Mikoto's arms, almost with a kind of panic, as if looking for a life-saving straw, turned her head suddenly, her eyes quickly swept around, and finally, accurately fixed on the figure who had been standing quietly not far away——
She looked at Naruto.
Before Naruto could put away the pleased smile, he suddenly met the gaze of Satsuki.
This sight made his body freeze instantly.
Because...
Satsuki's eyes that were filled with joy and tears just now are no longer filled with happiness, but... panic!
What's wrong?
Naruto's heart was filled with confusion and sudden uneasiness. A pure fear was tightly entangled in Satsuki's heart, even overwhelming the great joy of just being reunited with his father.
Is she... scared?
Satsuki is really scared. When her father appeared in front of her safe and sound, and the "uniqueness" that drove her to desperation suddenly disappeared, a deeper fear bit her heart.
If her father comes back and everything is "back to normal", then what does her all-or-nothing, nearly begging dependence on Naruto yesterday count for? Where is the cornerstone of the "promise" that pulled her back from the edge of the abyss?
She was afraid that the only "cornerstone" that supported her would be taken away!
I am afraid that after I lose the extreme situation of "you have to do it", I will also lose the "qualification" and "reason" to stay by Naruto's side and monopolize all his attention.
Under his father's puzzled and uncomprehending gaze, Satsuki gently broke away from his father's arms. She lowered her head and slowly walked Earth Flow to Naruto step by step.
Finally, she stood still in front of Naruto, still not daring to raise her head to look at him, but murmuring in a confused and helpless voice so subtle that it was barely audible. "Naruto... you... I... I, what should I do..."
She slowly raised her hands and firmly grasped the sleeves of Naruto's arms. Then, under her father's increasingly suspicious eyes, she suddenly raised her head and cried out in a desperate cry.
"Naruto... please... don't leave!"
And when Naruto looked at her eyes that were completely washed by tears and filled with panic and pleading, he clearly understood the unspoken and deeper questioning.
'Will you still want me? Do I still have a reason to stay with you now? '
She is afraid. She is afraid that Naruto will feel that "the mission is over" and "the crisis is over", and thus leave her as a matter of course. She is afraid of losing this unique connection that she has just gained and which she regards as a treasure.
(One update this morning, three updates in the afternoon, Bie Tianzui will continue to work hard in the next chapter)