Pure Eyes, Frozen Heart

At Naruto's command, the Pure Byakugan opened at once.

His eyes, once as blue as the sky, instantly turned a flawless, immaculate white. Unlike the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan, no veins bulged around them; instead, they seemed sacred and indifferent.

[Warning: The host's Sage Body has not yet fully adapted to the Pure Byakugan's high-intensity chakra output mode. Continued use will cause mild rejection and accelerate chakra consumption.]

The system's cold prompt sounded in his mind.

"Got it, got it. Stop nagging."

Naruto did not take this little "side effect" seriously at all.

What a joke—he possessed a perfect-grade Uzumaki Sage Body!

His chakra reserves were like those of a small Tailed Beast. This little bit of consumption was nothing!

Absolute strength brought absolute confidence, and... the arrogance that naturally came with it.

Bzzzt—!

His vision underwent a world-shaking transformation in an instant!

A spherical field of vision with no blind spots unfolded in every direction. Layer upon layer of trees, the damp morning mist, insects lurking beneath the soil—everything was stripped of its disguise and presented before his eyes in its most fundamental chakra form.

His gaze was like an indestructible arrow, piercing precisely through five hundred meters and locking firmly onto the direction indicated by the system!

At the other end of the forest, beneath a massive ancient tree.

A figure was quietly crouching there, apparently picking something.

The person wore a slightly oversized pink kimono and a standard Hidden Mist ANBU mask painted with red stripes.

Her figure was somewhat slender, though overall she still looked like an ordinary young boy.

"Huh? This is it? S-rank potential?"

Naruto curled his lip, feeling a little disappointed.

He had thought it would be some three-headed, six-armed monster. In the end, it was just a masked kid gathering herbs.

"But... if the system gave her an S-rank evaluation, she must have something extraordinary, right?"

A playful curve lifted at Naruto's lips. With a thought, he pushed the Byakugan's penetrating vision to its limit.

His gaze first pierced through that cold mask.

An incomparably delicate, pitifully beautiful face came into view.

Her skin was as fair as snow, her brows and eyes were like a painting, and those gentle facial lines were not something a boy could possess.

"So she's a girl."

Naruto understood, but his curiosity did not lessen. Instead, it grew even stronger.

His gaze did not linger on her face or the curves of her body. Instead, it continued deeper without the slightest restraint, like the most precise chakra scanner, directly seeing through to her meridian system!

The next second, the amusement in Naruto's eyes froze, replaced by genuine shock and fervor!

Within that seemingly delicate body, every meridian resembled an ice-blue crystal, glimmering with chilling light.

Two completely different chakra natures fused within her body in an almost perfect form, becoming a new power. It carried an extreme cold that seemed capable of freezing the soul, flowing silently through her meridians while containing the potential to destroy heaven and earth.

"Wind and water... no, this is..."

Naruto's pupils contracted slightly as a term long lost to history exploded in his mind.

"—Ice Release! The Yuki Clan's supreme Kekkei Genkai!"

"Haku..."

Naruto rolled the name across his tongue, and the excitement in his eyes nearly overflowed.

This was the true treasure!

An S-rank genius possessing a lost, supreme Kekkei Genkai!

Prey.

This was the ultimate prey belonging solely to him, Naruto Uzumaki!

The mission?

Tazuna?

Gato?

Get lost!

How could any of that compare to personally uncovering this unpolished, peerless jade?

Naruto instantly closed the Byakugan, and his pure white eyes returned to azure.

He turned toward the wary Kakashi and casually came up with an utterly perfunctory excuse. "I'm going up ahead to take a leak and see if there's anything to eat."

"Huh?"

Sakura looked at him with disgust. "Why are you always causing so much trouble?"

Kakashi's dead-fish eyes narrowed as he gave Naruto a long look. He had keenly sensed that the chakra fluctuation when Naruto opened his Byakugan had been far from ordinary, and the excitement in Naruto's eyes now definitely was not because he needed to use the bathroom.

But in the end, he merely waved his hand helplessly. "Go and come back quickly."

"Got it!"

Naruto answered, his figure flashing. Rather than heading into the bushes, he vanished into the forest's morning mist like a ghost after several swift movements.

Elsewhere.

Haku carefully placed a bloodstopping herb into the basket on her back. Her movements were gentle and focused, as though she were handling a priceless treasure.

This was an herb Zabuza would need after battle.

Suddenly!

Her herb-picking motion abruptly stopped!

An undisguised, intensely aggressive presence was rapidly approaching from nearby!

It was not an elite jonin like Kakashi, nor a rookie genin like Sasuke.

That presence... was domineering and wild, blazing like the sun, as if it would completely evaporate this damp morning mist!

Haku's body instantly tensed. The gentle, tranquil aura she had possessed moments before vanished without a trace, replaced by bone-chilling killing intent!

Her hand silently slid to the ninja tool pouch at her waist, several poisoned senbon already pinched between her fingers.

No matter who the intruder was, as long as they threatened Zabuza's plan, she would kill them without hesitation!

Just as Haku braced herself completely, a blond boy sauntered out of the mist ahead. He hummed an out-of-tune tune, his hands in his pockets, strolling leisurely as if this were not an enemy forest filled with danger, but his own backyard.

It was him?

The boy who had been yawning on the boat the whole time.

A trace of doubt flashed through Haku's heart. Had that powerful presence really come from him?

Naruto stopped several meters in front of Haku. He did not pretend to trip like in the original story, nor did he make any unnecessary movements.

He simply stood there, examining her with interest through those azure eyes, as though appreciating an intriguing work of art.

"You're gathering herbs?"

Naruto spoke first, his voice carrying a lazy magnetism, yet it was like a pebble thrown precisely into the still waters of Haku's heart.

Haku did not answer. Her body merely tightened further, and her gaze behind the mask became increasingly cold.

Naruto paid no attention to her killing intent and continued, "From the way you pick them, you're very gentle, very focused. Are these medicines for saving someone important to you?"

"...!"

Those words were like a spell, instantly striking the softest place in Haku's heart.

Someone important?

That soaring killing intent melted rapidly at that moment, like snow and ice beneath the blazing sun.

In her mind, she could not help but recall that snowy evening, that man's indifferent gaze, and the words: "I need a useful tool."

A tool... could it have someone important?

An unshakable sorrow and confusion quietly crept into her eyes.

Seeing Haku's aura turn desolate in an instant, the smile at Naruto's lips deepened.

He knew he had found the right key.

"That mask is too cold."

Naruto slowly took a step forward. That sun-like presence pressed down upon Haku, making it nearly impossible for her to breathe. "It can't hide the sorrow in your eyes, nor can it conceal your secrets."

Haku's heart trembled violently. Almost on instinct, she forced her voice lower. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Is that so?"

Naruto took another step forward, leaving less than a meter between them.

He stared into the eyeholes of her mask as if he could see through her soul.

"You have beautiful eyes, clear like a lake in winter. Such beautiful eyes shouldn't belong to a 'boy,' much less be hidden behind something like this."

He extended his hand, not to remove her mask, but to pluck a blue wildflower beaded with morning dew from the roadside under her astonished gaze.

"Tools do not feel sorrow."

Naruto's voice became exceptionally gentle, yet it carried an unquestionable piercing force.

"They have no feelings, no confusion, and they would never be shaken by a single sentence. But you would."

Holding that little flower, before Haku could react, he moved with unbelievable gentleness and carefully tucked it beside the ear covered by her mask.

His warm fingertips barely brushed against the cool rim of her ear.

Haku's entire body stiffened, as though struck by an electric current!

"You..." She wanted to retreat, only to find her feet as heavy as lead.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto withdrew his hand, revealing a radiant smile bright enough to sting the eyes. It formed a stark contrast with the words that had just torn through layer after layer of her heart. "Next time we meet, I hope you'll tell me your name."

With that, he did not linger. He turned away with carefree ease, humming that out-of-tune tune as he leisurely departed, as though the heart-stirring psychological clash just now had been nothing more than a casual greeting.

Only Haku remained, standing there in a daze.

She instinctively raised a hand and lightly touched the dew-covered blue wildflower beside her ear, her fingertips feeling its cold, damp texture.

Beneath the mask, the heart that had been frozen for more than a decade began to pound violently for the first time, completely beyond her control.

[Ding! Target 'Haku' Favorability +30! Current Favorability: 30 (Flustered at First Meeting)]