A Secret from Years Ago

Naruto has already gone home to rest; to be precise, he was urged to go home by Satsuki.

After things settled down in the Pure Land, Satsuki tugged at his sleeve, looking at him with her bright, dark eyes. She didn't say a word, but her meaning couldn't be clearer: it was time to go home.

So they came back.

At that moment, an enticing aroma wafted from the kitchen. Satsuki stood in front of the stove, wearing an apron, intently preparing the ingredients in the pot. Although Naruto was actually a better cook than her, Satsuki thoroughly enjoyed her duties as a wife.

Preparing dinner for her husband, watching him eat the food she made, and then seeing a satisfied expression on his face—this ordinary happiness was second only to physical contact with Naruto in its preciousness to her.

As for what to eat tonight?

Naruto glanced towards the kitchen, where he could vaguely see plump oysters bobbing up and down in the boiling broth.

Oyster Ramen.

Naruto's lips twitched.

Satsuki's emotions, suppressed for so many years, showed no signs of extinguishing. Rather, the flames burned brighter and brighter, showing a tendency to grow stronger with each battle. After each... Satsuki's complexion improved, becoming radiant and her skin glowing.

And him? Well, he's a little underweight.

His gaze unconsciously drifted towards the bedroom—where several sets of clothes were neatly folded on the bed.

Maid outfits, white wedding dresses, and even the White Bridal Robe she wore on her wedding day.

Naruto's face flushed red. It seemed he was going to be up until midnight again tonight.

He shook his head violently. No, no, no! If I keep thinking about this kind of thing, I'll really fall into depravity!

He wiped away non-existent cold sweat from his forehead and decided to find something to do to distract himself while Satsuki cooked.

So I started wandering around the house.

Since we moved into this little villa before our honeymoon, it's gradually starting to feel like "home." There are cushions Satsuki chose for the sofa in the living room, her favorite fruits are laid out on the coffee table, and their shoes are neatly arranged in the shoe cabinet in the entryway...

Naruto Earth Flow and pushed open a door.

study.

This place isn't used much normally; it's mainly used to store documents, books, and... some miscellaneous old things.

His gaze swept across the room and then stopped on the desk, where a doll sat quietly.

It was a chibi-style white cat dressed in a small Uchiha clan attire, its big black eyes shining brightly as it gazed ahead.

The doll looks a bit old.

The white down had slightly yellowed edges, and a thin layer of dust had settled on the clothes.

Naruto walked over and gently picked up the white cat plushie. Memories flooded back; it had happened several years ago.

Before the Chunin Ninja Exams, Satsuki, in a tsundere yet adorable manner, handed him this doll, which Satsuki had sewn herself.

That doll stayed with him from then on.

He keeps me company while I read, places me by my pillow when I sleep, and I hug and squeeze me when I'm unhappy—those bright black eyes always look at me with a sparkle, much like Satsuki.

Over the years, the doll has gotten a bit old and recently gathered dust, which I haven't had time to wipe clean.

Naruto looked down at the doll in his hand, a warm feeling welling up inside him. Since he had nothing else to do, he might as well give it a thorough cleaning.

He found a pair of scissors in the living room, returned to his study, and carefully began to unravel the stitches along the seam.

The stuffing for the doll is cotton, which needs to be removed, the outer cover washed and dried, and then stuffed back in and sewn up.

Naruto worked very carefully, unraveling the loose threads bit by bit.

Finally, the wire was untied.

He reached into the doll, intending to pull out the cotton—but his fingertips touched something.

That's not the feel of cotton.

Naruto paused. "Hmm?" He reached his hand in even deeper. "What's this?"

"Naruto, dinner is ready."

Uchiha Satsuki carried two steaming Ramen of ramen out of the kitchen and carefully placed them on the dining table.

In the milky white broth, plump oysters floated and sank, emitting an enticing aroma.

She straightened up, hoping that Naruto would come over as usual, finish eating, and then give her a thumbs up and say "delicious."

However, there was no response from the living room. Satsuki frowned slightly and glanced at the empty living room.

The study door was open, and warm yellow light shone from inside, with faint sounds audible from within.

"Naruto?"

Satsuki walked toward the study with a puzzled look in her eyes. She leaned halfway in and then froze. Naruto was standing by the desk, his back to the door, motionless.

On the desk, the little cat doll she had sewn herself, which had been with Naruto for several years, now had its cotton scattered everywhere.

Naruto's hand was reaching inside that skin.

"... Satsuki." Naruto's voice came through, carrying an indescribable complex emotion—like helplessness, or like some tenderness that had been touched.

"You really kept this from me for a long time."

Satsuki's heart skipped a beat.

"But I'm also very careless," Naruto continued, "I didn't discover the secret you hid inside all these years."

He slowly turned around, his deep blue eyes looking at Satsuki. "Indeed, one cannot be fooled by outward cuteness."

"...!!!"

Satsuki's body trembled violently, her consciousness went blank for a moment, and then was suddenly filled with countless terrified thoughts.

Naruto... found out?!

No way?! So many years?! Of all those years?! Now of all years?! At all of all years?!

Her face drained of color at a visible speed, turning as pale as paper.

The cat doll's eyes—those were the eyes she sewed on herself years ago. But no one knows what lies hidden behind those two black eyes.

Camera.

That was something she did when she was in the worst of her yandere state. Back then, all she could think about was Naruto. She wondered what he was doing, what he was thinking, and whether he was thinking about her. So she hid a camera in the eye of the doll she gave to Naruto.

Through those images, she watched Naruto sleep, watched Naruto daydream, watched Naruto hug that doll and talk to himself, watched Naruto confide in the doll as if it were her...

She fantasized that the one being held in Naruto's arms as he fell asleep wasn't the cat, but herself.

Until Naruto's eighteenth birthday, until that night, everything came true.

From then on, she completely cleaned up the computer used for spying, deleting all archives and destroying all evidence. Those past morbid behaviors were buried deep in her memory, never to be mentioned again.

But she didn't address the secret hidden in the doll's eyes.

What to do?!

Satsuki's mind was churning with a storm of thoughts. Would Naruto be disappointed in me?! Would he think I was terrifying?! A monster?!

Will he divorce me because of this?!

That last thought struck her so hard she almost lost her balance.

divorce.

The moment the word popped into her mind, Satsuki felt as if an invisible hand had clenched her heart tightly. That suffocating fear was more terrifying than death to Satsuki!

We have to find a way!

Her brain was working at lightning speed.

Yes! Use Dojutsu! Her eyes— the Six Tomoe Rinnegan, the Nine Tomoe Rinne Sharingan —possess the power to alter concepts, pause time, or reverse time.

If I were to activate my Dojutsu now and reverse time for the entire world—back to before Naruto dismantled the puppets—I could stop it all.

"Satsuki is so cute."

Naruto's voice interrupted the storm of thoughts raging in her mind.

"Haha." He chuckled, a smile devoid of any disgust or fear, only a tender, overwhelming gentleness born of being touched. "But if we expose you now, we won't be able to appreciate Satsuki's shy expression, will we?"

"... Huh?"

Satsuki froze, swallowing back the words that had been rising to her throat—"Please don't divorce me," "I'll do anything for you"—that she had been forced to say.

Cute? Peeping... where's the cuteness in that?

She looked up blankly at Naruto, Naruto was standing there holding something in his hand.

It was a small, chibi-style doll.

Brand new, without a speck of dust, it looked like no one had ever touched it.

Black hair, black eyes, wearing a miniature version of the Uchiha clan attire —a black high-necked top with a Gunbai pattern embroidered on the back.

That was a figment of Satsuki herself, a lifelike doll the size of Satsuki palm.

This is what Naruto found inside the kitten plush toy.

"Back then, Satsuki," Naruto's voice was soft, "Had he already hidden himself here all along?"

He looked down at the little doll in his hand, a smile curving his lips. Inside the cat doll's belly, the cotton had been emptied, replaced by this doll in the shape of Satsuki. It was carefully placed in the deepest part, wrapped in soft cotton.

Back then, every day, Satsuki would watch the footage on the camera and imagine herself falling asleep in Naruto's arms, so she sewed herself into the camera's frame.

He hid himself inside the body of the kitten that kept Naruto company as he slept, staying by Naruto's side day and night.

"The thought that Satsuki imagined back then that it was actually herself by my side..."

Naruto's voice held a wry smile, a touch of emotion, and a hint of unspoken heartache. "I feel like I want to laugh, but also like I want to cry. I guess I should have been the one to take the initiative that day."

"..."

Satsuki stood there, unsure of what to say. Her gaze slowly shifted from Naruto's face to behind him, on the desk, where the disassembled kitten plush toy still had its head intact.

Two black eyes remained sewn there silently, reflecting the warm yellow light of the study; the camera was still mounted where the eyes were.