Hinata pulled back the curtain. The noon sunlight pierced the room, making her squint. She had slept for a whole day and night, and her stomach was completely empty.
The dazzling brightness left her momentarily dazed. She raised a hand to shield her eyes, and her face turned pale for a moment. She swayed on her feet before steadying herself.
"I'll come pick you up. Get ready, I'm almost there." Naruto was still on the phone as he stepped out of the dark alley and lifted his hand to block the glaring sun.
The blood on his hands hadn't dried yet, the sticky red looked particularly harsh. With a flick of annoyance, he wiped it off on the wall, 'Those young people in Konoha were really stupid.'
"Have you eaten yet?" Naruto asked again. He paused for a moment and stepped out into the street.
"Not… not yet." Hinata hesitated before admitting the truth.
"Okay, then let's eat together. I'm almost there." He leapt up onto the rooftops and was about to get a clearer view of the Hyuga Clan's compound when he saw an Anbu staring at him.
He turned his head to look over, and the Anbu quickly averted their gaze. Normally, Shinobi were not allowed to do whatever they wanted on rooftops inside the village.
"Alright. I'll go get changed."
Once the call ended, a faint smile returned to Hinata's face. She walked over to her wardrobe and carefully picked out an outfit for going out, thinking about the best combination.
Outside the Hyuga Clan's compound, Naruto looked up at the Hyuga Clan's gate that was once off-limits to strangers. The heavy door at the entrance had been repaired.
Without hesitation, he stepped inside.
The Hyuga didn't allow outsiders in, but Naruto has proved with his actions that he is not an outsider. Now that their bond had been publicly acknowledged, it won't be long before he can give the Hyuga Clan a little shock as an outsider.
Even though the Hyuga Clan had always prided themselves on bloodline purity and never intermarried with other clans, times had changed, and even the oldest rules couldn't stop a scumbag.
What's more, this scumbag has some skills, and he directly forcibly disintegrated the main family and the branch family's rigid hierarchy just so he could see Hinata without obstruction.
Hinata walked out of the house, tiptoed and looked around. No words could quite capture the elegance in her bearing. She pressed down on the hem of her white dress, and there's a sunhat perched atop her head.
Their eyes met across the distance and they walked toward each other. Hinata could feel Naruto's gaze locked on her, and a warm current rushed through her slightly cold body.
"Why are your hands so cold?" He just took Hinata's hand and suddenly felt a little surprised.
"I'm hungry." She replied with a small shake of her head.
"Then let's get some food first. I know there's a new restaurant that opened. It's all because of that guy Choji." Naruto pulled Hinata along, supporting most of her weight.
At the Akimichi Clan's compound, Choji was wolfing down food when he suddenly shivered.
At the restaurant, Naruto ordered five servings of food as a baseline, and they were all Hinata's favorites. If there had been more space on the table, he would have ordered ten servings.
"What's done is done, let's eat first," He said.
Hearing this, Hinata smiled and nodded gently. Her expression remained gentle, filled with the quiet tolerance only someone in love could show.
Just like how all the food Naruto ordered was what she liked, he hadn't picked a single thing for himself.
"You ordered too much." She whispered.
"I just got carried away. It will be a waste if we can't finish it." Naruto looked like he made a mistake, and then said shamelessly, "Let's try our best to finish it together. We still have a movie to watch in the afternoon."
"Mm."
Being kind to someone with a sensitive heart is like offering them salvation in a grand feast. Hinata wasn't unaware of Naruto's true nature, and she had simply chosen to drown in it willingly.
She also knew that her father was doing it for her own good, but that path wouldn't have brought her happiness.
Unrequited love was like wild grass, growing unnoticed in the forest, withering and blooming year after year. But when the wind she loved blew by, it would revive, tenacious and unyielding.
Now that unrequited love had become reality, even if it was an abyss, she was willing to leap in. Because he is her only antidote. When she is unhappy, she can just take a bite.
In life, one might love many people. Some didn't need to be perfect, or even possess anything at all. As long as they stood there, the sky would take on color.
Hinata didn't want to wait for some distant 'someday', nor did she care about promises of 'forever'.
Whether he was devoted or fickle didn't matter. She just wanted to hold onto her gust of wind.
She didn't wish for him to achieve greatness, only for him to be safe and sound.
…
In the cinema, the flickering light played across her face. Naruto held Hinata's hand, their fingers interlaced. Her heart was gradually surrounded by a warm current, which spread from its very core.
At home, she sometimes smiled too, but those smiles were like sunlight in the winter. While it looks bright, it is hollow and devoid of warmth.
Now, she didn't need to force a smile, and people can already feel her happiness.
The moment the screen darkened, the introverted girl suddenly pulled Naruto's arm down and quickly leaned her body close to his ear.
Amid the deafening explosion effects, she raised her voice and said, "Naruto, I love you."
Naruto was startled by Hinata's action, but he did not struggle. He was slightly stunned by her sudden confession. But he quickly recovered and squeezed her hand as he whispered back, "Me too."
…
Night fell.
After dinner, Naruto walked Hinata home.
They talked endlessly along the way, and Hinata practically glued to Naruto. Naruto indulged her completely, attending to every little detail.
Under normal circumstances, this would've been the perfect moment to deepen their bond, but Naruto gave up the idea because he had important things to do in the evening.
It was more important to focus on the business first, as there would still be many opportunities like this in the future. The winds in the Shinobi World had already started to blow, and once chaos erupted, the stagnant status quo would shatter.
The wind belongs to the sky, but he'd borrowed it to stir the fire of this world.
The Shinobi World is about to change.
…
Amegakure.
Konan's consciousness was fading, her body clinging to its last breath. She was tortured by the immense pain, and her mind was already growing hazy.
On the verge of death, she could no longer think clearly.
Naturally, she didn't notice the Gate of the Underworld silently opening mid-air, and a blond man fell from the sky and landed on the tower.
He had been here last time, to meet Konan and Nagato. Now that Nagato was dead and Konan was on the brink of death, Naruto guessed that Konan would probably return here.
Fortunately, there was no problem with his coordinates.
He glanced over and found Konan slumped by the window, with her head tilted to one side. The vitality of a Shinobi is much stronger than that of an ordinary person, so Konan is not completely dead yet.
Naruto stopped three meters away from Konan, took out a needle of life-extending potion and shook it lightly before stabbing it directly into Konan's neck.
Konan slowly opened her eyes in a daze, but she was still in a bad state. Her muscles twitched from time to time, which undoubtedly showed that she was suffering from the pain of death.
"Do you want to live?" He asked calmly.