Chapter 5 Hinata: He actually wants to use Forbidden Jutsu for this?
Late at night, a massive scroll was spread out on the grass. Uzumaki Naruto sat cross-legged beside it, clutching a corner of the scroll with a knowing, mischievous smirk on his face.
Not far from him, the afterimage left by Mizuki seemed to still linger in the air.
"Dumbass."
Naruto curled his lip and unceremoniously flipped the bird at the empty air.
[That idiot Mizuki actually thought he was using me, the Demon Fox, to get revenge on the Village? Hilarious. This is what they call delivering your head on a silver platter—it's the thought that counts. He literally handed me such a massive cheat-code scroll; I'd be doing his whole family a disservice if I didn't take it.]
He patted the scroll, which was marked with a huge character for "Forbidden," his gaze fixed on it, unable to look away.
This was the Scroll of Seals.
Recorded within were the strategic-level cheats that the successive Hokage had sealed away to maintain Konoha's prestige. Things like the Flying Thunder God, Edo Tensei, Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags...
Of course, the current Naruto was very self-aware. With his current Chakra control and theoretical knowledge, looking at those S-rank Forbidden Jutsu was no different from reading a book of gibberish.
He had only one goal—the very first one on the list.
[Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.]
Naruto's fingertips lightly brushed over the technique's formula, the smile on his face growing more suggestive.
[This thing was Naruto's signature in the original series, but those Ninjas who only know how to fight and kill don't understand the true value of this technique.]
[Think about it. Once I learn this, I can create a thousand clones at once. A thousand Narutos! What does that mean?]
Meanwhile, on a towering tree dozens of meters away from the clearing.
A petite figure held her breath, pressed tightly against the rough bark. The veins around Hyuga Hinata's eyes bulged slightly; it wasn't just the Byakugan, but also the sensory enhancement she had previously obtained running at full power.
Ever since seeing Naruto being led away by that Chunin named Mizuki after school, a strange sense of unease had welled up in Hinata's heart. She had even gone as far as to violate family rules, sneaking out and following him all the way to the forbidden grounds.
Hinata had originally been worried that Narutowas being coerced and was preparing to go back and report it, but in the next second, that thing called the ninja world sky screen vibrated in her mind again.
Immediately after, Naruto's bottomless inner thoughts arrived as expected.
[Using it for battle? What a waste. A divine skill like this was clearly born for romancing!]
[For example, I could send a hundred clones to help Sakura weed and do missions, instantly maxing out her gratitude; another hundred to help Ino look after the flower shop, so she wouldn't even have to lift a finger to arrange flowers; and then another hundred... hehe, specifically to practice boxing with Hinata.]
Up in the tree, Hinata suddenly covered her mouth, her heart pounding wildly.
Pract—practice boxing with me?
So... so even at a dangerous time like this, he's still thinking of me?
But before this touching thought could even ferment, the next inner thought plunged her into an abyss of shame.
[After all, the Gentle Fist requires close-quarters combat. Tsk tsk, it doesn't matter if one of my clones gets popped like a sandbag, but if I can use a grappling move to graze Hinata just a little before it pops... or maybe pull off a Kabedon... Oh man, a hundred Narutos surrounding Hinata; no matter which way she dodges, she'll bump into my arms. That kind of scene is practically art!]
[What do you call this? This is called an all-encompassing, zero-blind-spot embrace of love! I'll make it so her world can't fit anyone but me!]
Crack.
A branch under Hinata's foot let out a crisp snap.
She almost fell headfirst from the twenty-meter-high canopy. She hugged the tree trunk tightly, her usually pale little face now so red it looked like it might drip blood.
A hundred Narutos... surrounding her?
Kabedon?
And... zero-blind-spot surrounding?
Just running that scene through her head once was enough to make this pure-hearted young lady, who hadn't even held hands before, suffer an instant CPU overload. How shameless! Who on earth uses a Forbidden Jutsu for something like that?
[But then again, this move is perfect for handling chores. Even after we're married, if I'm busy, I'll just send a few Shadow Clones home to look after the kids and do housework. Even if I'm forced to kneel on a washboard as punishment, I'll let them do it for me. Tsk, my wife only needs to be responsible for being as beautiful as a flower. Of course, when it comes to stuff in bed, it has to be the original body—no compromise on that.]
Boom!
That last sentence was like the final straw that broke the camel's back.
Hinata felt a massive mushroom cloud erupt in her head. Her legs went completely weak, and she slumped onto the branch, burying her face deep between her knees, wishing she could turn into an ostrich and never come out.
Do... do those things?
Bad person! Big pervert! Degenerate!
But why...
Why did she feel a hint of sweetness in her heart when she heard he was willing to take on all the housework to make his future wife's life easier? Even if the motive was so impure, this blueprint for a future where she was cherished in the palm of someone's hand was truly...
Just then, that golden heavenly curtain that only she could see popped up a settlement box again.
[Detected that the host witnessed the target's ambition to learn a Forbidden Jutsu.]
[Mood Feedback: Shame levels off the charts, but deeply moved by the all-encompassing care.]
[Reward Issued: Gentle Fist: Vacuum Palm.]
[Note: Faced with such shameless close-range harassment, sometimes you need a little long-range method to maintain your reserve—or just to hit them from further away.]
A profound realization regarding the external release of Chakra instantly flooded her mind.
Hinata stared blankly at her palm, feeling the surge of Chakra held within, ready to be released.
This is the Vacuum Palm?
An advanced Gentle Fist technique that her father said would take until at least age fifteen to master... she just... learned it, simply because she heard a few perverted fantasies from this bad guy?
Meanwhile, in the clearing.
Completely unaware that he had just flirted with death, Naruto was now eagerly beginning to form hand seals according to the scroll's instructions.
[Ox-Dog-Dragon... No, the most important thing for this technique isn't the hand seals, but the distribution of Chakra! It has to be even! I have to imagine the energy in my body like cutting a cake, slicing it into countless portions!]
"Come... out!"
Naruto gave a low growl, his hands forming the iconic cross seal.
He wasn't just doing it for that so-called harem dream, but also because of the tempting mission reward that the system had just popped up. As long as he learned this, not only would his Chakrabe fully restored, but he could also unlock more advanced romance chapters.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
There was no awkwardness; it was even smoother than Naruto in the original story. Accompanied by the sound of white smoke exploding, the once-silent forest clearing instantly became incredibly crowded.
A hundred? No.
At least five hundred physical clones were packed tightly together, a sea of golden heads and orange tracksuits as far as the eye could see.
"Whoa! So many?"
Even the original Naruto was startled by the scene.
[Hahaha, it worked! This isn't just Shadow Clones; this is my thousand-man harem squad... wait, no, it's my thousand-man wingman squad. With these guys, even if Iruka came charging in right now... wait.]
Naruto's smile suddenly froze on his face.
Five hundred pairs of eyes turned in unison, looking toward the depths of the dark forest nearby.
As the caster, those clones provided him with more than just an extension of vision; they also gave him a strange sensory feedback. He hadn't noticed earlier because he was too excited, but now that his strength had surged, he keenly captured a trace of extremely turbulent Chakra aura coming from over there.
It was a fluctuation caused by someone being extremely emotional.
[That direction... someone's there? And this feeling... so familiar, soft and sweet, like a freshly made dango...]
[Holy crap, it couldn't be Hinata, could it? Has she been watching me this whole time?]
Hinata, up in the tree, was startled. The trace of aura she had leaked earlier because of receiving the reward had actually been detected!
Before she could react, the voice of that heavenly curtain that made her want to die rang out again, carrying an extreme sense of narcissism and teasing:
[Oh man, oh man, those shameful plays I was planning in my head—could this girl have figured them all out? No, wait, I didn't say them out loud... Then was it that move just now that was so cool it charmed her? Tsk tsk, I knew it—a serious man is the most handsome. Since you're watching, I'll give you an eyeful!]
Before the thought finished, those five hundred clones in the clearing suddenly turned at the same time and struck a flashy pose toward that direction—arms crossed, heads tilted, corners of mouths upturned at 45 degrees, and a few clones even shamelessly blew kisses.
"..."
Hinata felt the Vacuum Palm Chakra she had just realized was about to spiral out of control.
In this instant, her sense of shame finally triumphed over everything else.
She couldn't stay there a moment longer.
Just as Naruto was about to control his clones to investigate, a faint but hurried sound of wind rang out, and that petite figure vanished into the night like a startled fawn.
Leaving behind only a single leaf fluttering to the ground.
[Ding!]
The system prompt arrived just in time.
[Detected that the target Hyuga Hinatawitnessed the host's highlight moment of learning a Forbidden Jutsu and retreated in extreme shame.]
[Current Favorability Judgment: This bastard is ridiculously strong, but he's really indecent.]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the reward: Shadow Clone Proficiency MAX.]
[Additional Status: Chakra instantly replenished.]
Naruto chuckled and dispelled the jutsu, feeling the infinite power within his body.
"She sure runs fast."
He slung the scroll back onto his back, brushed the dust off his hands, and turned his gaze toward the other side of the forest.
There, the sound of slightly hurried and angry footsteps was rapidly approaching.
The real "victim," Iruka-sensei, had finally arrived late.
"Alright, time to change the script." The indecency on Naruto's face quickly vanished, instantly switching to that innocent, even slightly foolish expression of a kid trying to gain recognition.
[Mizuki, that experience pack, probably can't hold back much longer either, right? Next, I'll use the results of this night to put a perfect end to this lesson.]
[Get ready, everyone.]