62. Hinata

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Nighttime in the Sealed Space.

Naruto sat in front of Kurama, patting his massive paw, and spoke in a low voice, "Big fox, I have an exam tomorrow."

"Yeah," Kurama replied, not particularly interested. He was bored since he couldn't go and brawl with Shukaku.

Naruto continued with a mock-serious tone, "This exam is tough. Can you help me relax?"

Kurama eyed him suspiciously. "What are you planning?" He knew Naruto never had a simple request.

"Hehe, I want to do something thrilling." Naruto grinned mischievously, revealing his true intentions.

But after hearing him out, Kurama declined, "Get lost."

"Just once!" Naruto pleaded.

"How about I help you exit instead?"

"Ah." Your friend Naruto Uzumaki has gone offline.

Naruto exited the sealed space, closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

In the sealed space, Kurama also closed his eyes and settled down for the night.

However, a few hours later, Naruto woke up, sneaked back into the sealed space, saw the sleeping fox, smirked, and started climbing up Kurama's back.

Naruto knew Kurama's sleep schedule was almost identical to his own, mainly because Kurama would get bored if Naruto was asleep.

So, feeling smug, Naruto picked a tail with a suitable angle and slid down it using his "Reverse-Sand-Sliding Technique."

"Wahoo~ Take off~"

At that moment, all other forms of sliding, like sandboarding and grass sledging, paled in comparison to sliding down a fox's tail.

Sliding down from a height of several meters and doing so secretly while Kurama was asleep doubled the thrill!

What Naruto didn't realize, though, was that the moment he started climbing, Kurama had already opened one eye but didn't move.

When Naruto was about to reach the bottom, Kurama flicked the tip of his tail, sending Naruto soaring 100 meters into the air.

Naruto: "!!! What's happening?!"

He looked down to see Kurama staring up at him, grinning.

Naruto felt a chill down his spine and tried to talk his way out of it, "Ahahaha, big fox, you're awake? I was just, you know, slipping, and I happened to touch your tail... believe it or not?"

The last word dragged out because Naruto started to fall faster, "Ahhh~ Big fox, I was wrong!!!"

Naruto's earlier laughter turned into screams.

Kurama ignored him. As Naruto was about to land, Kurama caught him with his tail and then flung him into the air again. "Having fun, are we?" Kurama asked with a menacing grin.

"Ah~~~" Naruto screamed as he rose and fell.

Kurama caught and tossed him again. "You can play, right?"

Naruto continued to contribute to the background noise: "Ah~~~"

"You haven't had enough, have you?"

This time, Kurama stood up, angled his tail, and let Naruto slide down again.

Then, using his other tails, he created a roller-coaster-like track and let Naruto spin around 81 times.

When Kurama finally let him down, Naruto's eyes were swirling.

"Big fox, I think I might have developed a fear of heights," Naruto muttered before passing out.

Kurama caught Naruto with a tail, preventing him from hitting the ground, and gently placed him on his head.

Lying down again, Kurama recalled a prophecy: "In the future, there will be a boy who will call out the name of the Nine-Tailed Beast and play with it..."

"It's him... The old man won't recognize anyone else," Kurama grinned, the happiest he had been in a thousand years.

****

Early the next morning, Naruto finished his breakfast alone. Minato, Kushina, and Kimimaro had already left, leaving a note for Naruto.

It was the first day of the exam, and they had much to do.

Naruto first went to the ninja shop to collect his custom kunai, then headed to the training ground as usual.

His reporting time wasn't until three in the afternoon, and he had agreed to meet his friends there.

Before everyone arrived, Naruto released some shadow clones to apply a sealing technique to the kunai handles.

The clones didn't mess around, as seriousness is in the mood.

When Sasuke and Sakura arrived, Naruto handed them each a kunai.

Sasuke, familiar with Minato's Flying Thunder God technique, had a good idea of what was going on.

Sakura, however, looked curiously at the oddly shaped kunai with a swirling logo on the handle and asked, "What's this?"

"Just hold it and stay still," Naruto said, tossing a kunai. As it flew, Naruto instantly disappeared and reappeared in midair, holding the kunai.

For a moment, Naruto wanted to blurt out, "This is Flying Thunder God Jutsu!" but fortunately, he held back, returning to Sakura.

"That's..." Sakura was speechless with surprise. Even with her current dynamic vision, she could see Sasuke's movements when he practised the Chidori, but she didn't catch Naruto's movements at all.

"This is the Flying Thunder God Jutsu. No matter how far away I am, I can instantly appear wherever this Jutsu is placed, and I can bring others with me."

"That's amazing!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Then, let's practice this technique together. With it, we can improve our tactical coordination."

Five minutes later.

"Ugh—"

"Ugh—"

When Hinata and the others arrived at the training ground, they found Naruto tossing a kunai up and down in boredom while Sasuke and Sakura were leaning against a tree, vomiting.

After dozens of times experiencing intense spatial disorientation, they had contributed their breakfasts to the forest as fertilizer.

Naruto, having experienced this since childhood and played with shadow clones' crazy flashes, was used to it.

Seeing this, Hinata asked with concern, "Naruto-kun, what happened to them?"

"Nothing serious, just ninja aftereffects," Naruto replied, handing Hinata a kunai and explaining the situation.

Hinata accepted the kunai with surprise, realizing that with this, Naruto-kun could visit her at any time.

Hinata blushed at the thought. What if Naruto-kun showed up at an awkward time...? Oh, where should she keep this kunai...?

Naruto noticed Hinata's expression and was puzzled. Where did this trouble come from? He gave her the kunai for protection.

Having finally found a loyal girlfriend after two lifetimes, he had to take precautions. Many eyed her because of her Byakugan.

How could he not provide some form of protection?

Naruto thought a woman's mind is indeed hard to understand & girls' too.'

Everyone focused on their regular training. Since they didn't know the content of the afternoon exam, it was wise not to overexert themselves.

At noon, Hinata shyly took out two bento boxes she had prepared that morning.

Naruto was overjoyed and eagerly dragged Hinata to a spot to eat together.

Meanwhile, Sakura looked frustrated as Sasuke walked away. She angrily thought, 'Why didn't I think to bring Sasuke a bento?!'

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