As the first rays of sunlight slipped through the entrance of the hollow and touched Naruto, they slowly tickled him awake.
But he resisted with all his strength, unwilling to let go of the warmth he had only known for a few days—and had wanted for so long.
Watching him, Artoria leaned slightly over and let her long hair gently brush across his nose.
Naruto scrunched up his face in his sleep, mumbled something incomprehensible, and finally woke with a blink.
"Good morning, sunshine," Artoria said with a soft smile. "Today I have good news for you. Something that might motivate you to learn to read even faster."
Naruto rubbed his eyes.
"Good morning, Big Sister. And how are you going to do that?" he asked sleepily. Then he rubbed his stomach. "With more food? I'm still full from yesterday evening."
His little belly was slowly beginning to look the way it should have for a child his age.
A quiet laugh touched Artoria's face.
This little sun was slowly beginning to carve out a permanent place in her heart.
At that moment, the voice of the system sounded.
Good morning, Host. 13 days remain until you complete your mission.
I have a new mission for you.
Show Naruto what true freedom is, and explore the ninja world with him.
Quest Reward: Dokodemo Door
This quest cannot be completed until your current mission has been finished.
Artoria's expression shifted slightly.
Oh… System. That is quite useful. I shall look forward to that.
Then she looked back at Naruto.
With an item like that as an incentive, I really will be able to teach you to read quickly.
Slowly, she drew out the letter.
"This," she said calmly, "is a letter your mother wrote for you shortly before her death. She hid it on purpose so that one day you would find it."
Naruto's blue eyes immediately fixed on the letter in her hand.
For a moment, everything else seemed to go still.
Then he asked quietly:
"Why don't you just read it to me?"
Artoria held the letter a little closer to him, but her voice remained gentle.
"Because what is written in it is meant only for you," she said. "Not for me."
Her gaze grew warmer.
"These are your mother's last words to you."
Naruto lowered his eyes.
Quietly, he reached for a stick and poked at the fire with it.
"I don't know if I can do it," he murmured.
His voice was small. Uncertain. Almost fragile.
"Everyone here hates me… except Big Sister."
He paused.
"I'm probably a disappointment to her."
The first leaves in the clearing were already trying to surrender to autumn.
But they could not.
While the forests outside had long since begun to change color and the grass had accepted the turning of the season, the clearing itself remained in a state that almost still resembled the beginning of summer.
Artoria's aura kept the clearing suspended in that season.
By afternoon, the little bundle of energy sitting in front of her was groaning audibly again while Artoria once more guided him through the basic written characters.
"I can't do this," Naruto complained, hanging his head. "And my body still hurts from all that fūinjutsu stuff you pulled out of me."
Artoria remained calm.
"The seals I removed from your body burdened you for a very long time," she said patiently. "In the coming weeks, you'll notice that learning becomes easier. Your body and your mind must first get used to finally being free."
Naruto pulled a face.
"But this doesn't feel free right now…"
High up in the canopy, three ANBU suddenly became fully alert when they heard his words.
Fūinjutsu removed?
One of them immediately tensed.
"Cat," one of the others whispered. "Inform the Hokage at once that fūinjutsu has been removed from the jinchūriki."
In the next moment, one of the three vanished without a sound.
Artoria breathed in deeply and out again when she heard Naruto's words.
Then she looked at him for a long, calm moment.
"What did I tell you this morning?" she finally asked.
Naruto blinked.
Artoria's voice remained soft, but there was a fine seriousness beneath it.
"That you're not supposed to mention such things once we leave the hollow."
She briefly lifted her gaze to the sky, as though she knew exactly that they were being watched.
"The people observing you cannot properly see you out here, and they cannot hear everything. But if you speak about it so openly, you make it easier for them."
Then her gaze moved over the clearing.
A faint, almost dry smile appeared on her lips.
"Though it was only a matter of time before they noticed that this forest is refusing to turn to autumn."
Naruto looked around.
Only now did he seem to realize how different the clearing looked compared to the rest of the forest.
"…Oh."
Artoria closed her eyes for a moment.
"Yes," she said calmly. "Oh."
Hiruzen's office lay in darkness.
The curtains were drawn, and on his desk already stood three empty coffee cups from the last hour.
Hiruzen sat there in silence, staring into the shadows of the room.
I am too old for this job…
His gaze grew heavy.
Why did my peace have to die for the sake of your love?
I hate you for that, Minato.
Slowly, he closed his eyes.
Is this your revenge?
That you were never truly allowed to choose for yourself… and in the end you simply handed the hat back to me?
You knew Kushina would die.
And then you decided that Hiruzen would have to keep carrying this filth and clean it up himself.
At that exact moment, Cat appeared in front of his desk.
"Lord Hokage," the ANBU said at once, "we have a problem with the jinchūriki. He himself said that his Big Sister removed several fūinjutsu seals from his body."
For one heartbeat, everything was perfectly still.
Then Hiruzen grabbed his coffee cup and hurled it across the desk.
"What?!"
The impact echoed harshly through the room.
Hiruzen rose abruptly.
"I'll go to Naruto at once and assess the situation myself."