Satsuki slowly opened her eyes. It was the familiar ceiling... or rather, the ceiling of the Japanese-style room in her house where she often stayed.
Outside the window, the faint, clear, and pleasant chirping of birds could be heard, characteristic of early morning.
She slowly sat up, and the blanket covering her slipped off. Almost instinctively, with the hazy dependence of just waking up, she unconsciously uttered the name of the person she most wanted to see at that moment.
"Naruto..."
"Oh, you're awake?" The familiar, incredibly reassuring voice immediately came from not far away. "Did you sleep well? Did you have any nightmares?"
Satsuki turned her head at the sound, only to see Naruto sitting cross-legged on the tatami mat nearby, leaning against the wall, engrossed in a thick-looking novel. The title on the book's cover was — "Battle Through the Heavens."
Satsuki vaguely remembered this being one of the books on her father's study bookshelf.
Hearing she was awake, Naruto naturally closed the book, placed it on the tatami beside him, then stood up and walked over.
"Because you fell asleep while walking outside yesterday, I had to carry you back here first."
He explained, "You didn't eat dinner last night, so you must be hungry, right? Get up and wash up first; I have something to show you."
Satsuki then fully woke up, realizing that the room she was in was the Japanese-style room next to the living room where she and Naruto had spent time by the fire, drinking tea, and chatting yesterday afternoon, and not her own bedroom.
This realization made her heart instantly clench again, and a wave of nervousness and panic swept over her. He... he didn't send me back to my own room? Then did he... did he go in? Did he see... that...?
She cautiously raised her eyes, tentatively calling out softly. "Naruto..."
"Hmm? What's wrong?" Naruto stopped, looking at her with a completely natural expression, showing no signs of anything unusual or teasing.
Carefully observing Naruto's unchanged, consistently open expression, Satsuki's suspended heart finally quietly settled back into place, and a feeling of immense relief washed over her.
It seems... he probably didn't go in...
She quickly lowered her head, hiding her momentary lapse, and mumbled softly, "N-nothing..."
While she was still immersed in the daze of just waking up and a hint of guilt, she found Naruto taking her hand without a word, pulling her gently to her feet.
"Alright, stop spacing out, get up!" Naruto had a mischievous smile on his face. "There's a'surprise' waiting for you outside."
Seeing Naruto's expression, which clearly held a secret, Satsuki became even more curious, but she had no thought of pulling away. She simply let Naruto lead her by the hand, step by step, out of the room and towards the living room.
And then —
A voice she thought she would only hear in her dreams for a long time, an incredibly familiar and gentle voice, clearly entered her ears.
"Good morning, Satsuki."
Satsuki's pupils suddenly constricted, her eyes widened sharply, and her entire body froze in place as if under a spell!
This voice... she was far too familiar with it! It was her mother's voice!
She looked disbelievingly towards the dining table in the living room — there, sat two people!
It was none other than her parents, Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Fugaku, whom she had thought were still in a coma in the hospital, even pronounced by doctors as possibly never waking up.
They seemed to be waiting for Satsuki to join them for breakfast. Her father, Fugaku, sat there, his gaze not as sharp as usual, but rather showing fatigue, and his complexion appeared somewhat haggard and pale.
And her mother, Mikoto... though her face held the gentle smile Satsuki knew best, her reddened, even somewhat swollen eyes silently told of the crying she must have endured after waking up.
Satsuki was completely stunned, her brain instantly overloaded, utterly unable to process the information before her that was beyond comprehension.
She instinctively, tightly gripped Naruto's arm beside her, and with extreme uncertainty, quietly sought confirmation from Naruto.
"...Naruto... can you... can you see them?... Is that...?"
"Yes," Naruto responded with an incredibly certain and comforting tone, "Uncle and Auntie are back. Welcome home."
"But... the doctor said yesterday... they... how could this be...?" Satsuki still couldn't believe it, the immense shock making her incoherent.
"Maybe it's a miracle. It seems there isn't... Anyway, let's go over? If you go and confirm it yourself, you'll know if it's an illusion or a dream, right?"
Naruto almost blurted out, "Even without me, you won't be alone anymore." But then, remembering the insane surge in their bond level last night, which even broke the system's upper limit, he swallowed the words back.
Satsuki's mind was a mess. She cautiously, step by step, walked forward.
Seeing her daughter's cautious, fearful expression, as if the scene before her might shatter at a touch, Mikoto's heart ached terribly. She couldn't hold back any longer, reaching out first to tightly grasp Satsuki's cold little hand.
She conveyed a real, warm touch. She didn't say any comforting words, but simply gazed at her daughter with incredibly gentle eyes, silently telling her that it was real, Mom was here, and Dad was here too.
The familiar warmth and strength from her mother's palm, and the incredibly real gentleness in her mother's eyes, though filled with heartache, fatigue, and sorrow, finally completely shattered Satsuki's last uncertainties and fears.
The boulder that had been pressing on her heart, almost suffocating her, crashed to the ground at this moment, shattering without a trace!
In its place was an overwhelming, surging wave of immense joy and the ecstasy of being reunited, instantly sweeping over her entire being!
"...Mom!"
With a choked cry, Satsuki fiercely threw herself into Mikoto's embrace, as if to merge herself into this newfound warmth.
Once again, because of her parents, Satsuki cried out loud again. But this time, her tears were hot, a release filled with immense relief and joy.
She cried so wholeheartedly that even Fugaku, who usually taught her to be strong and to endure, didn't frown in the slightest at this moment. He merely watched his young daughter silently with eyes that were slightly weathered after experiencing immense changes, his gaze full of heartache and guilt.
Watching this reunion scene, Naruto's heart, which had been suspended, finally settled, and his guilt finally dissipated somewhat, replaced by a genuine sense of relief and satisfaction.
This is great... Finally... Even after the Night of the Clan Annihilation, Satsuki can still have her parents' company, and won't have to bear everything alone anymore...
However, just as this warm and touching atmosphere reached its peak — Satsuki, who had been crying loudly in her mother's arms, suddenly stopped crying without any warning.
She abruptly lifted her head from Mikoto's embrace, almost with a panicked, desperate urgency, as if grasping for a lifeline. She sharply turned her head, her gaze quickly sweeping around, and finally, precisely fixed on the figure that had been standing quietly not far away —
She looked at Naruto.
Naruto's relieved smile hadn't even had a chance to fade when he suddenly met Satsuki's gaze.
This look made his body instantly stiffen in place.
Because...
Satsuki's eyes, which had just been filled with the joy and tears of reunion, were now no longer filled with happiness, but with... panic!
What's wrong?
Naruto's heart was filled with confusion and a sudden unease. A pure fear was tightly coiling around Satsuki's heart, even overriding the immense joy of reuniting with her parents just moments ago.
She... is she scared?
Satsuki was indeed scared. When her parents appeared safe and sound before her, and the "uniqueness" that had pushed her to the brink suddenly vanished, a deeper fear gnawed at her heart.
If her parents were back, and everything was "back to normal," then what did her desperate, almost pleading reliance on Naruto yesterday mean? Where was the foundation of the "promise" that had pulled her back from the edge of the abyss?
She was afraid that this sole "foundation" supporting her would be pulled away!
Afraid that after losing the extreme situation of "only you will do," she would also lose the "qualification" and "reason" to naturally stay by Naruto's side and monopolize all his attention.
Under her parents' puzzled and uncomprehending gaze, Satsuki gently pulled away from her mother's embrace. She lowered her head, slowly walking step by step towards Naruto.
Finally, she stopped in front of Naruto, still not daring to look up at him, only mumbling in a voice so faint it was almost inaudible, confused and helpless. "Naruto... you... I... I, what should I do...?"
She slowly raised her hand, tightly gripping the sleeves of Naruto's arms, and then, under her parents' increasingly surprised gaze, she suddenly looked up, her voice breaking with a desperate sob as she cried out.
"Naruto... please... don't leave!"
And when Naruto met her eyes, which had been completely washed by tears and were filled with panic and pleading, he clearly read the unspoken, deeper question.
'Will you still want me? Do I... still have a reason to stay by your side now?'
She was afraid. Afraid that Naruto would feel "mission accomplished," "crisis averted," and thus naturally leave her. She was afraid of losing this unique connection she had just gained, which she cherished as precious.