At Naruto's command, the Pure Byakugan opened at once.
His eyes, once as blue as the sky, instantly turned into flawless pure white, without the bulging veins of the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan. Instead, they appeared 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 had a perfect-grade Uzumaki Sage Body!
His chakra reserves were like those of a small Tailed Beast. This amount of consumption was nothing!
Absolute strength brought absolute confidence, and... justified arrogance.
Bzzzt—!
His vision underwent a drastic transformation in an instant!
A 360-degree spherical field of vision with no blind spots spread open. Layer upon layer of trees, the damp morning mist, insects lurking beneath the soil—everything was stripped of its disguise and displayed before his eyes in its most fundamental chakra form.
His gaze became an unstoppable arrow, accurately piercing through five hundred meters and locking firmly onto the location indicated by the system!
At the other end of the forest, beneath a massive ancient tree.
A figure was quietly crouching there, seemingly gathering something.
The person wore a somewhat oversized pink kimono and a standard Hidden Mist ANBU mask painted with red stripes.
Her figure was rather slender, though overall, she still looked like an ordinary young boy.
"Hm? That's 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... since the system gave an S-rank evaluation, there must be something exceptional about her, right?"
A playful curve appeared at the corner of Naruto's lips. With a thought, he pushed the Byakugan's penetrating vision to its limit.
His gaze first passed through that cold mask.
An exquisitely delicate face, beautiful enough to inspire pity, entered his sight.
Her skin was white as snow, her brows and eyes picture-perfect. Those soft facial lines were not something a boy could possess.
"So she's a girl."
Naruto understood at once, but his curiosity did not lessen. Instead, it grew even stronger.
His gaze did not linger on her appearance or the curves of her body. Instead, it continued deeper without 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!
Inside that seemingly delicate body, every meridian resembled an ice-blue crystal, glimmering with chilling light.
Two entirely different chakra natures fused within her body in an almost perfect form, becoming a brand-new power. It carried an icy coldness that seemed capable of freezing the soul, flowing silently through her meridians while containing world-destroying potential.
"Wind and water... no, this is..."
Naruto's pupils shrank slightly as a term long lost to history exploded in his mind.
"—Ice Release! The Yuki Clan's supreme Kekkei Genkai!"
"Haku..."
Naruto savored the name, excitement nearly overflowing from his eyes.
This was the true treasure!
An S-rank genius with a lost supreme Kekkei Genkai!
Prey.
This was top-tier prey belonging solely to him, Naruto Uzumaki!
The mission?
Tazuna?
Gato?
Get lost!
How could any of that compare to personally uncovering an uncut, peerless jade like this?
Naruto instantly withdrew the Byakugan, and his pure white eyes returned to blue.
He turned toward the wary Kakashi and casually made up an utterly perfunctory excuse. "I'm going up ahead to take a leak. I'll also see if there's anything to eat."
"Huh?"
Sakura looked at him with disgust. "Why are you always causing trouble?"
Kakashi's dead-fish eyes narrowed as he gave Naruto a long look. He had keenly sensed that the chakra fluctuation when Naruto activated the Byakugan earlier had been far from ordinary, and the excitement in Naruto's eyes now was definitely not because he needed the bathroom.
But in the end, he could only wave a hand helplessly. "Go and come back quickly."
"Got it!"
Naruto answered, his figure flashing away. Rather than ducking into the bushes, he flickered several times and vanished like a ghost into the forest's morning mist.
Elsewhere.
Haku carefully placed a stalk of bloodstop grass into the medicine basket on her back. Her movements were gentle and focused, as though she were handling a priceless treasure.
These were herbs Lord Zabuza would need after battle.
Suddenly!
Her hand froze in the middle of gathering herbs!
An undisguised presence filled with intense aggression was rapidly approaching from nearby!
It was not an elite jonin like Kakashi, nor was it a rookie Genin like Sasuke.
That presence... was domineering and wild, scorching like the sun, as though it would completely evaporate the damp morning mist!
Haku's body immediately tensed. Her gentle, quiet demeanor vanished without a trace, replaced by cold, piercing killing intent!
Her hand silently slid to the ninja tool pouch at her waist. Several poisoned senbon were already pinched between her fingers.
No matter who it was, as long as they threatened Lord Zabuza's plan, she would not hesitate to kill them!
Just as Haku focused all her attention on guarding against the threat, a blond boy strolled out of the mist ahead. He hummed an off-key tune, his hands tucked into his pockets as he walked leisurely, as though this was not a dangerous forest in enemy territory but his own backyard.
It was him?
That boy who had been yawning the entire time on the boat.
A trace of doubt flashed through Haku's mind. Had that powerful presence truly 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, looking at her with interest through those blue eyes, as though admiring an intriguing work of art.
"Are you gathering herbs?"
Naruto spoke first. His voice carried a lazy magnetism, yet it was like a pebble precisely dropped into Haku's tranquil heart.
Haku did not answer. Her body only tensed further, and the gaze behind her mask turned even colder.
Naruto paid no attention to her killing intent and continued, "Judging from the way you pick them, you're very gentle and focused. Are these herbs for saving someone important to you?"
"...!"
That question was like a spell, instantly striking the softest place in Haku's heart.
Someone important?
The overwhelming killing intent melted away at that moment like snow beneath the blazing sun.
In her mind, an evening of heavy snowfall surfaced uncontrollably, along with that man's indifferent gaze and the words, "I need a useful tool."
Could a tool... have someone important?
An unshakable sadness and confusion quietly crept into her eyes.
Seeing Haku's aura suddenly turn desolate, the smile on 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 toward her, making it nearly impossible for Haku to breathe. "It can't hide the sadness in your eyes, and it can't conceal your secret."
Haku's heart trembled violently. Almost by instinct, she forcibly lowered her voice. "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 though he could see straight through her soul.
"You have beautiful eyes, clear like a winter lake. Eyes that beautiful shouldn't belong to a 'boy,' and they definitely shouldn't be hidden behind something like this."
He reached out, not to remove her mask, but to pluck a blue wildflower covered in morning dew from the roadside under her stunned gaze.
"Tools do not feel sadness."
Naruto's voice became exceptionally gentle, yet it carried an undeniable, penetrating force.
"They have no emotions, no confusion, and they wouldn't be shaken by a single sentence. But you would."
Holding the little flower, Naruto moved before Haku could react. His movements were unbelievably gentle as he carefully tucked it beside the ear covered by her mask.
His warm fingertips lightly 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, but her feet felt as heavy as lead.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki."
Naruto withdrew his hand, a radiant smile bright enough to hurt the eyes appearing on his face. It stood in stark contrast to the words that had just pierced through layer after layer of her heart. "The next time we meet, I hope you'll tell me your name."
With that, he did not linger. He turned away coolly, humming his off-key tune as he leisurely departed, as though the intense psychological clash just now had merely been a casual greeting.
Only Haku remained, standing blankly where she was.
She unconsciously raised a hand and gently touched the dew-covered blue flower by her ear. Her fingertips felt its cold, moist touch.
Beneath the mask, the heart that had been frozen for more than ten years began to beat violently for the first time, beyond her control.
[Ding! Target "Haku" favorability +30! Current favorability: 30 (Flustered upon first meeting)]
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