11 p.m.
For Hyūga Aoba, this hour had felt like an eternity.
"Haah... Haah..."
Collapsed on the floor, she gasped, hot tears streaming down her cheeks.
Her usually stern white eyes were now dull, almost empty...
Her expression, that of a mistreated girl, could have softened anyone's heart.
But Naruto wore a cruelty... almost childish.
Like a child playing with a butterfly with broken wings, without any mercy.
"Get up."
Towering over the servant on the ground, he ordered in an unwavering tone.
"Mmmh..."
Her body trembled. Slowly, her eyes regained a semblance of life.
"You haven't even finished dressing me, and you collapse? What a professional servant! Huh?"
He gestured toward the neatly folded clothes.
This outfit had been purchased earlier that day.
Of course, it was Hyūga Uzuki who had paid.
"..."
Hyūga Aoba's thin lips slowly tightened as she struggled to push herself up on her arms.
But every movement pulled at her wounds, making her bruised and reddened skin ache.
On her knees, she painfully turned toward Naruto.
Her teeth clenched, enduring the pain, she began to help him put on his new clothes.
And then...
Naruto's secret was revealed to her for the third time.
In the dimly lit room, illuminated only by the faint light filtering through the paper doors...
She clearly saw... *the monster* rise.
Faced with this terrifying apparition, her body, already trembling with pain, shook even more violently.
She suppressed the urge to flee.
Her trembling hands grasped the clothes laid out on the tatami.
But as she slightly turned her head...
A strand of her hair brushed against the hideous creature.
It seemed to excite it.
The monster became fiercer, more terrifying... and hotter.
Hyūga Aoba lowered her eyes, no longer daring to look at Naruto.
She continued blindly, trying her best to dress him.
"Mmmh—!" At one point, she let out a groan of pain—or perhaps surprise.
Naruto ignored her.
He simply admired... *the delicious manjū* of the young Hyūga.
"Haah... Haah..."
Her breathing quickened.
Whether from fear or something else...
Time passed slowly.
Finally, after a thousand efforts, she succeeded in dressing Naruto.
Once the pressure was released, he left her alone.
Naruto looked at himself in the mirror, wearing a navy blue kimono.
He nodded, satisfied.
"Japanese style... yo~shi~..."
Kyūbi: "..."
Not understanding, the Nine-Tailed Fox decided to abandon all attempts at logic.
"This kid always says incomprehensible things…"
What he had just done to this human was worthy of a demon.
The arrogance she once displayed had vanished in an hour and a half.
Naruto looked at his right hand.
Who gives warmth, keeps the scent.
"Not bad..."
His gaze met that of the pretty servant.
The intent he read in her eyes froze her.
She then understood that her hope for forgiveness... would not be so easily granted.
"Next time..."
As he spoke, footsteps echoed in the hallway.
Hinata.
Hyūga Aoba shivered at the words "next time."
But the dice were cast. She could no longer turn back.
She bitterly regretted having provoked the wrong person.
Naruto noticed her expression.
Like all criminals caught in the act, she didn't regret her actions... only being discovered.
Well, I'm looking forward to that "next time"!
Now that he was a benefactor of the Hyūga, he could enjoy it even more.
She could no longer escape him!
A delicate dish is savored slowly...
Knock, knock, knock.
"Naruto-kun~"
Hinata knocked on the door.
---
Midnight, calm and serene.
Outside, snow began to fall.
The white landscape illuminated the Hyūga estate, tinting the world with immaculate purity.
Under the awning, Naruto and Hinata walked side by side on the wooden planks.
Their steps echoed softly as they admired the snow. For Hinata, this moment was perfect.
And then...
"Naruto-kun... is so handsome..."
Dressed in a navy blue kimono, his rebellious golden hair, he radiated.
"Hinata, you're adorable too."
Naruto smiled at her.
"Me, Uzumaki Naruto, I might be cool... but you, Hinata, you're the real heroine!"
"What a lack of effort!"
Kyūbi couldn't help but grumble.
"Put some heart into it!"
"Why does my son have it so easy compared to me?!"
Kyūbi recalled the days when Namikaze Minato risked his life to seduce Kushina.
Once, he had even been pierced by her during a rage-filled moment!
If Tsunade hadn't returned that day, he would have died!
(Well, it was me who enraged her, but still...)
(These humans hate and imprison us... so why not?)
"No~, Kyūbi, you don't understand..."
Naruto began his classic "Kyūbi, you don't understand".
Kyūbi knew he was about to spout more nonsense.
Meanwhile, Hyūga Aoba silently followed the two young people.
The biting cold contrasted with the burn of her wounds.
Hinata, too absorbed by Naruto, noticed nothing.
"What's happening to me...?"
Lost, Hyūga Aoba felt a persistent discomfort as she walked.
As if... she had sweated profusely.
"What's wrong with me?"