Bluffing

Naruto pushed open his front door in a daze. He even forgot to turn on the lights, stumbling through the darkness before collapsing onto the edge of his bed.

So... could it be that, without even realizing it...

He fell back onto the bed, Satsuki's retreating figure replaying over and over in his mind, along with the words she had blurted out: "I'll never get tired of you."

If I put aside the whole "demon fox" identity...

Naruto buried his burning face in his pillow. To be fair, having a girl like Satsuki as his girlfriend would be an incredible blessing.

Behind her delicate features lay a gentle heart. Though she was the Uchiha clan's young lady, she was willing to train with him, the "demon fox everyone hated." She acted tsundere on the surface, but in truth, she valued feelings more than anyone...

With a setup like that, she would absolutely be the female lead in a light novel.

Something is seriously wrong with me!

Naruto shot upright as a terrifying thought suddenly surfaced. He had only wanted to raise Satsuki's affection to earn system points, but now... it seemed that girl had captured him instead?

System... what exactly does Satsuki feel about me now?

Ding!

The moment he asked the question in his heart, the system immediately responded.

Satsuki Bond Level 6: The other party sees you as someone who will accompany her for the rest of her life. Confession success rate: 100%. You now hold a special position that no one can replace.

Current relationship: Absolute trust + severe emotional dependence, accompanied by strong possessiveness.

"..."

Naruto sat stunned for a full ten seconds before flopping back onto the bed. His body trembled faintly, whether from shock or some other emotion, he did not know.

Well... can I really run off with the Uchiha clan's young lady?

Naruto rubbed his forehead and decided to put those complicated thoughts aside for now. There were more important things to deal with at the moment: system draws.

Come to think of it... the original Itachi Uchiha seemed to be seriously obsessed with his little brother... In this timeline... wouldn't he become seriously obsessed with his little sister?

At the thought of being targeted by that filial lunatic with the bizarre way of thinking, Naruto could not help shuddering. He forced himself to focus.

With a thought, the system interface unfolded before him. On the glowing screen, the number "2900" shone enticingly.

I can do two ten-pulls... I'm still 100 points short of three.

What a pity, but whatever. I can't be too greedy.

He tapped the "Ten Pull" button. Familiar light exploded before his eyes, and ten cards spread out one after another like a fan.

"Chakra... Explosive Tags... a few Flying Thunder God Kunai..."

Naruto counted through the rewards. When he saw "500 grams of Chakra Metal," his eyes lit up. His earlier disdain vanished completely.

I need to put this away properly...

Yet as the cards flipped over one by one, Naruto's expression gradually fell. Most of them were ordinary items, until the final card.

"Basic Taijutsu Enhancement... only one rare reward..."

He scratched his head. It looked like his luck tonight was not very good.

Expressionlessly, Naruto tapped the button for a second ten-pull. The card-flipping animation flashed rapidly before his eyes. The first several cards were still ordinary items.

"Sealing Jutsu Talent Enhancement... ten Soldier Pills... Chakra..."

Nothing special.

Just as Naruto had mentally prepared himself for a complete haul of "blue skies and white clouds," the final card suddenly erupted with dazzling purple light!

"Epic!!"

Naruto sprang up from the bed, all traces of sleepiness swept away. Great! Looks like the goddess of luck hasn't completely abandoned me yet!

He eagerly looked toward the card giving off its alluring purple glow. The words on it gradually became clear.

Congratulations, you have obtained: Top-tier Pressure

Item Description: Upon activation, releases extreme killing intent and mental intimidation. At full output, it allows target creatures to directly experience the illusion of "death descending upon them" through all five senses. Some sensitive individuals may experience temporary physiological incontinence.

Naruto stared at the purple card on the system interface. He was stunned at first, but then his eyes slowly began to shine.

Wait... this skill... At first, Naruto had thought he had drawn something flashy but impractical. But after thinking it over carefully...

The reason Menma's alias had caused such a tremendous uproar in the Ninja World was not that terrifying aura capable of crushing Kage-level experts? Yet that power had ultimately been granted by an experience card, not his true strength.

There was still a long way to go before he could truly reach the point of standing against the entire Ninja World alone...

Even though he had mastered Flying Thunder God...

A terrifying being who claimed he wanted to "become war itself" could not possibly have to rely on space-time ninjutsu to dart back and forth every time he dealt with an ordinary soldier, right? What if the people of the Five Great Nations realized that Menma was merely a paper tiger putting on a bluff...

This pressure skill... was exactly what he needed!

He looked at the system interface again, his finger lightly brushing across the purple card. Though it could not directly improve his actual strength, it was precisely the "aura packaging" he needed most right now.

This seemingly "bluffing" skill might be even more valuable than a reward that directly increased his power. Because looking strong could really save him a lot of trouble.

The next afternoon, Naruto arrived at the place he had agreed to meet Satsuki right on time. After last night's unexpected misunderstanding, he realized that he had no desire whatsoever to explain it. Their relationship also seemed to have undergone a subtle change because of it.

After that, the entire afternoon quietly passed in training, and nothing happened!

Naruto could feel that his mindset was no longer the same as before, but it was still far too early to say anything now. Besides, Satsuki was the Uchiha clan's young lady. Even if her affection was already close to maxed out, asking her to take the initiative and bring up something so embarrassing would be far too difficult. Thus, although an indescribably subtle atmosphere lingered in the air, everything ultimately proceeded as usual.

In the days that followed, neither of them brought up that night's misunderstanding again. The little resentment Satsuki had initially felt because Naruto ignored the matter gradually faded with time.

Because her mother gently told her that they were both still too young, and some feelings needed time to slowly ferment.

And so, the days passed one after another, calm and natural like a flowing stream. The flowers beside the training ground bloomed and withered, their ninjutsu steadily improved, and that unspoken misunderstanding quietly remained in a corner of their memories.

Whenever their gazes met by chance, Satsuki would immediately turn away to straighten a collar that was not messy at all, while Naruto would suddenly develop an unusual interest in the clouds in the sky.

(Prepare for a major time skip. Please leave good reviews for the new book. This author thanks you on his knees.)

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