darknovel Chapter 228 Trust
Chapter 228 Trust
Hayate Gekko, seeing Naruto appear behind Satsuki without him noticing, understood. This distance… in actual combat, was more than enough to deliver a fatal blow. Did he use a clone to replace his main body the instant Satsuki unleashed his Lightning Bolt?
He glanced at Satsuki, who was panting slightly in the arena, and saw that she had exhausted even the chakra needed to maintain her Sharingan. Her crimson eyes had faded back to their dark color, and she had personally admitted defeat. The outcome was clear.
Naruto looked at Satsuki, who was slightly out of breath, pale from exhaustion despite having no external injuries. Her hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat, and her cheeks were dusty. Seeing her tightly pursed lips and the undisguised resentment in her eyes, Naruto knew he had to comfort her…
He immediately took out a clean handkerchief from his ninja tool pouch and naturally reached out to wipe the sweat and dust from her forehead and cheeks. This slightly intimate gesture immediately made Uchiha Fugaku, sitting on the examiner's seat, twitch slightly.
Zuo Yue was taken aback by the sudden intimacy, but she didn't resist at all. Instead, she subconsciously tilted her head up slightly to cooperate with his actions. Rather, she would have been truly angry if someone had dared to stop her at this moment.
"Well... cough... I declare,"
Moonlight Gale broke the brief silence at just the right moment, his voice carrying its usual weakness, "The winner of the first round is... Naruto Uzumaki."
Upon hearing the announcement, Naruto had just finished wiping himself and put the handkerchief away. He then naturally took Satsuki's hand and said softly, "Let's go to the stands." He then led her towards the spectator area.
Is that... the end? The warmth of his palm spread across the back of her hand, and the resentment Zuo Yue felt from her defeat quickly melted away. However, another emotion quietly arose—a lingering, slightly annoyed sense of loss, like a cat that had been petted a couple of times and then tossed aside, feeling a bit of inexplicable frustration.
As the two arrived at the spectator stands, Naruto turned his head and spoke softly again, "Satsuki was really amazing just now."
Satsuki cast a puzzled look at her, seemingly not understanding why she was being praised when she had clearly lost.
"When he realized he couldn't gain an advantage in a taijutsu exchange, he immediately incorporated hand seals into his taijutsu movements to prepare for the Great Fireball Technique. That adaptability and tactical thinking is truly outstanding," Naruto analyzed meticulously.
Is Naruto... trying to comfort me? Satsuki sensed the underlying meaning in his words. Although it was a compliment, she knew it was also Naruto's way of soothing her potential disappointment.
To be honest, was Satsuki really angry? Was she really that resentful?
Perhaps only a tiny bit. That slight resentment was more like an unconscious emotional reaction after the outcome was decided. But when she looked up again and saw Naruto's gentle blue eyes, that slight resentment vanished instantly. After all, she had initially intended to admit defeat.
Even... if Naruto's action of wiping her cheek hadn't been interrupted by the examiner and could have lasted longer... she probably wouldn't have been disappointed; instead, she might have felt a sense of "gaining something."
"Also, after you were captured by the Adamantine Sealing Chains last time, you specifically researched ways to break it, right?" Naruto continued, "Thinking of using Lightning Release chakra to interfere with the intricate structure of materialized chakra is truly remarkable."
His praise continued, meticulously affirming her every tactical choice.
"That final attack was truly spectacular. Before creating the blinding light with the lightning bullets, they had already cast a genjutsu on me with their Sharingan. If I hadn't had some special resistance to genjutsu, I probably would have been in real danger."
Although that's a bit of an exaggeration... Naruto knew in his heart that if he really used his full strength, he couldn't just activate Six-Tails Mode and use the Great Rasengan to fight in the Chunin Exams, could he?
"However, when we spar together in the future, we can focus on practicing..." Naruto tried to steer the conversation toward their future joint training.
"don't want."
Satsuki suddenly spoke, interrupting him. Seeing Naruto's puzzled expression, she gazed intently at him with her dark eyes and repeated clearly.
"I don't want to fight Naruto."
"..."
Under her undisguised, straightforward, and determined gaze, Naruto felt his cheeks flush slightly, and for a moment he didn't know how to respond.
He shifted his gaze slightly, coughed lightly, and suggested again, "...Then, how about we train together? For example, we could specifically study how to more effectively disrupt the application of Lightning Release to disrupt chakra structures, and also conduct chakra refinement and physical endurance strengthening training."
"Okay." Upon hearing this, Zuo Yue's face immediately lit up with a bright smile, and she nodded vigorously. "Then it's settled."
Her tone lightened: "Losing to you, I'm not actually that sad. But..." She slightly raised her chin, with a familiar hint of arrogance and determination, "Next time, I'll definitely succeed! And Naruto, you must become a Chunin!"
Seeing Satsuki, who showed no anger at all but was genuinely cheering him on, Naruto felt a surge of warmth in his heart. However, because of this pure trust and expectation, he was somewhat afraid to look her in the eye.
In the distance, Fugaku Uchiha witnessed the entire interaction between his daughter and Naruto. Seeing that his daughter, who had just suffered a defeat, showed no sign of frustration but instead seemed so happy after talking to Naruto, his gaze was complex. In the end, he could only let out a barely audible sigh and say nothing.
Kakashi, who was quietly observing the interaction between his two disciples, did not step forward to disturb them. He simply leaned against the wall, his exposed eye curving into a gentle arc, listening to the conversation between Naruto and Sasuke, the corners of his mouth under the mask involuntarily turning up slightly.
It seems... I was worrying too much. That's good.
Just then, the huge electronic screen in the center of the arena began to flash again, and a mechanical voice announced the start of the draw for the next match. Everyone's attention was instantly drawn to it.
When the name on the screen finally settled and appeared clearly, one person in the venue turned deathly pale in an instant, and cold sweat almost instantly seeped from his forehead and slid down his face covered in face paint.
He felt his blood freeze in an instant, and even breathing became difficult.
What...what a joke...! He froze on the spot, feeling as if he had fallen into an ice cave.
Gaara VS Kankuro