Ino Yamanaka felt like she was about to lose her mind.
Her hands were trembling, her cheeks were hot enough to fry eggs on, and her mind was a complete mess.
The man before her was nothing like the perennial dead last from her memories, the idiot who used to chase after her shouting "Ino-chan"!
No, damn it, they were practically two different species!
In a fluster, she wrapped up the shop's finest Blue Enchantresses, each bloom seeming to hold the stars of the night sky within it.
Her movements were clumsy, and several times, she nearly pricked her fingers on the roses' thorns.
Out of the corner of her eye, that man simply leaned lazily against the counter, his hands in his pockets, watching her embarrassment as though it were a show.
That gaze was full of aggression and amusement, as though she were not the proud young lady of the Yamanaka Clan, but a little wild cat cornered by a hunter, trembling while still pretending to be fierce.
Too... too infuriating!
Biting her lip, Ino tied the final ribbon and pushed the large bouquet of blue roses, nearly big enough to hide half her body, toward him. Her voice was muffled, filled with stubborn defiance.
"H-Here! It's wrapped!"
She kept her head lowered the entire time, her brilliant blond hair hanging down and hiding her flushed cheeks and green eyes that did not dare meet his.
A wicked curve rose at the corner of Naruto's lips.
Already can't take it?
He reached out and accepted the heavy bouquet.
However, just as Ino thought the transaction was over and she could finally breathe a sigh of relief—
His left hand lowered naturally with the flowers, but his right shot out like a hunting hawk, seizing her fair, slender wrist in a flash!
"!"
Ino's entire body stiffened as though struck by lightning!
An explosive sense of masculine strength spread from her wrist through her whole body in an instant!
His palm was scorching, dry, and filled with irresistible strength, like red-hot iron tongs branding themselves onto her skin!
"W-What are you doing?! Let me go!"
Humiliation and fury surged into her heart. Without thinking, Ino yanked her arm back with all her strength!
Yet it did not move at all!
Naruto's hand seemed to have grown onto her wrist. That strength made her feel as though she were struggling against a mountain, helpless and despairing.
The two onlookers beside them were completely dumbfounded.
The potato chip Choji Akimichi had just put into his mouth fell to the floor with a smack, yet he did not notice at all.
Even Shikamaru Nara's perpetually sleepy face widened its eyes, and he instinctively blurted out two words.
"I... damn~"
That was way too bold!
Flirting with the Yamanaka Clan's young lady in public?
Was this guy really not afraid Ino's father would come charging out of the backyard with a forty-meter blade?!
Under their shocked stares, Naruto suddenly exerted force with his wrist!
"Ah—!"
Ino let out a short cry as an overwhelming force dragged her forward beyond her control!
She crashed headfirst into a firm, burning-hot embrace. Her nose was instantly enveloped by a faint scent of grass mixed with an intensely masculine smell, like sunlight baking down on warm skin!
It was over!
The moment Ino struck that chest as solid as an iron wall, her brain completely crashed!
The distance between them was practically nonexistent.
She could clearly feel the contours of his chest muscles and hear the steady, powerful heartbeat in his chest, like a war drum.
"Thump... thump... thump..."
That sound seemed to possess magic, making her own heart pound wildly as well, almost leaping from her throat!
Naruto lowered his head, ignoring the girl trembling violently in his arms from panic.
His lips slowly moved closer to Ino's small, delicate earlobe, now red enough to bleed.
A scorching breath brushed across the most sensitive curve of her ear, sending a chain of fine shivers through her.
Then, a low, husky, magnetic voice slipped into her ear like an electric current, striking straight into the depths of her soul!
"Seeing you cry just now made me suddenly feel that these flowers... aren't nearly as beautiful as you."
Boom—!!!
It was as though ten thousand bombs had detonated in Ino's mind at once!
W-What kind of outrageous thing was that to say?!
Before she could process the impact of those shameless words, Naruto's lethally alluring voice sounded again. Every word was filled with unquestionable dominance and possessiveness.
"From now on, don't cry over that unromantic, expressionless bastard anymore."
"Become a woman of the Uzumaki Clan, and I'll make you... smile every day."
!!!
Dead silence!
The entire flower shop fell into absolute silence for several long seconds!
Ino's whole body froze. Her green eyes were wide open, filled with stunned disbelief!
B-Become a woman of the Uzumaki Clan?!
What... what was this man saying?!
How dare he?!
She had originally thought Naruto was merely a troublemaking brat who had gotten rich, a nouveau riche who had stumbled into dumb luck.
But at this moment, as that overwhelmingly domineering declaration, the masculine presence making her legs go weak, and the scorching breath at her ear all poured into her mind—
The aloof, cold figure of Sasuke Uchiha, whom she had chased after for six whole years, shattered with a crack into dust that filled the sky!
What was coldness?
Sasuke's distant, icy demeanor had only broken her heart and made her feel like a ridiculous clown.
What was dominance?
The man before her, this blazing magma that gave no room for refusal and threatened to consume and melt her body and soul alike—this was true dominance!
This was... a man!
An unprecedented, unfamiliar emotion mixed with fear, shyness, and extreme excitement burst through all her mental defenses like floodwaters breaching a dam!
[Ding! Target acquired: Ino Yamanaka. Her affection has fluctuated intensely!] [Current affection: 65 (admiration born of contrast)!] [Affection has surpassed the threshold of 60. Congratulations, Host, you have received a bond reward: top-tier spiritual secret art Great Evolution Divine Soul Art!] [Great Evolution Divine Soul Art: Passive effect: the Host's Mental Sea is impregnable, granting complete immunity to all illusion-type and mental attacks. Active effect: can forcibly invade another person's Mental Sea, perform Soul Search and Spirit Seizure, alter memories, and plant a Mental Brand!]
Listening to the string of system notifications in his mind, the amused smile at Naruto's lips grew even deeper.
It worked.
To deal with a proud young lady like Ino, who had lived a smooth life since childhood and never suffered a real setback, he had to use the simplest and most brutal method.
First, use absolute strength and wealth to smash her pitiful pride.
Then, use the most direct and domineering masculine posture to forcibly invade her world and redefine her understanding of what a "man" was!
Showing concern and tenderness?
That would only make her think you were cheap.
Make a huge payment, then finish her with some shameless whispers in her ear!
That was the correct way to win someone over!
Feeling the girl in his arms go soft as a puddle of mud, Naruto knew the timing was about right.
If he held her any longer, this girl would probably faint on the spot.
His target was not this little blond wildcat.
These flowers had been prepared for his future principal wife.
Thinking of that adorable figure who always shyly buried her face in her collar, whose head would practically steam whenever she met his eyes, Naruto's heart softened slightly.
It was time to go see his real woman.
Before you continue