Chapter 439: You Must Always Be Good to Me
"Ara ara~"
Hanabi interrupted Naruto's thoughts. Her eyes curved into beautiful crescents, and her smile grew even brighter and more radiant.
She reached out with her left hand and proactively grabbed Naruto's hand, which he hadn't yet had time to fully withdraw after rubbing her head. Her small hand was warm and soft, yet it held an indisputable strength.
"I've known for a long time!"
Hanabi looked up with her small face, but the words she spoke caused Naruto's heart to skip a beat.
"I know all about that little 'I want them all' scheme in your heart, Brother Naruto~"
"I can keep helping you! But the condition is that Brother Naruto must promise me that no matter what happens in the future, you must protect me just like you protect Big Sister! And... you have to always be good to me!"
There was a sense of attachment in her tone; Brother Naruto was a very important person in her and her sister's lives, but she also wanted a promise that belonged solely to her.
Did you think Hiashi failed to raise Hinata well but succeeded with Hanabi?
Don't be ridiculous; in terms of behavior, he actually treated both daughters the same way.
Hanabi was only slightly better off compared to Hinata.
Hiashi treated Hanabi with the same extreme strictness in training, and he rarely offered companionship or encouragement in daily life. (In the original work, during the Chunin Exams, Hiashi's strict training requirements for Hanabi were so intense that even Kurenai Yuhi couldn't bear to watch.)
It seemed like Hiashi trusted Naruto and was therefore comfortable letting his two daughters train and play with him later on, but in reality, he just had no other options left.
Especially after Naruto became Hokage, Hiashi had even fewer options.
In the past, making the two daughters train was so they would have the strength to survive after becoming Ninjas; now that the Ninja World was nearing unification, their future partner was the world's number one Ninja who had completely ended the era of chaos.
Safety was simply not an issue.
Both the Hyuga Clan and the Haruno Family were quite typical East Asian households.
Actually, compared to Sakura's mother, Hiashi was still quite decent.
He provided an affluent family background, with the requirement that both daughters train harder to eventually fulfill the obligations brought by their privileges—namely, supporting the Hyuga Clan.
Meanwhile, Sakura's family had an average background while demanding even more.
The conflict between Sakura and her parents was complex.
Both sides undoubtedly loved each other, but their ways of expressing love and their expectations created a massive conflict.
Especially when the mother repeatedly said, "I'm doing this all for you," to rationalize her controlling behavior...
Naruto put himself in her shoes and thought: if he heard someone constantly telling him, "I'm doing this all for you," and using that to interfere with his choices and negate his feelings, how would he react?
Wouldn't he be furious?
Of course he would!
He would even feel extremely repulsed!
Because this was essentially a form of emotional kidnapping and a manifestation of power imbalance.
It stripped the loved one of their agency and right to choose, turning love into a heavy burden and a reason for mandatory obedience.
This is why the seemingly contradictory phenomenon of "the more you 'love' me, the more I hate you" sometimes occurs.
Because when love loses respect as its foundation, and when love becomes an excuse for control and restraint, it no longer brings warmth, but pressure and pain.
It was precisely because she felt uneasy at home that Hanabi was more willing to cling to Naruto's side.
Previously, when Naruto went out on missions, Hanabi would also go to Naruto's house to tidy up the rooms and then spend her after-school time there.
Those after-school hours spent at Naruto's house were, for her, rare moments of breathing room that belonged entirely to herself.
There was no father's lecturing here, no gazes from the clansmen, only Naruto's reassuring presence enveloping her.
If home were a warm harbor, then she wouldn't need to go outside to seek shelter from the rain.
She clung to Naruto not just because she liked him, but because by his side, she could feel that long-lost ease, freedom, and the peace of being completely accepted that belonged to a "home."
"Huh? What kind of silly talk is that."
Naruto withdrew his hand, then grabbed Hanabi's right hand to make a pinky promise with her.
Two golden Chakra arms extended from his back to handle the ingredients on the stove.
Naruto leaned down slightly, bringing his gaze level with Hanabi's white eyes, which were slightly widened in surprise.
"I will definitely always be good to you!"
If a middle-aged man with black hair and white eyes were standing in front of you, you might feel uncomfortable, but when a submissive, cute, black-haired, white-eyed little lol... young girl says: "No matter what happens in the future, you must protect me just like you protect Big Sister! And... you have to always be good to me!"
Not to mention she used to follow you around constantly, calling you Brother and Big Brother.
There was no way Naruto could refuse.
Too cute.
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"Found it."
After a long period of sensory tracking and careful investigation, Ōtsutsuki Toneri finally locked onto an existence that was out of place with its surroundings on the edge of this massive cluster of Lunar Ruins.
It was a two-story wooden house, forming a sharp contrast with the surrounding ruins built of giant stones, covered in grayish-white vines, and filled with the marks of ancient ages.
It stood abruptly on a relatively flat piece of open ground, like a visitor from another world, arrogantly intruding into this space-time that had been silent for thousands of years.
"How arrogant," Toneri's face turned cold, "they've already built a house here? Do they intend to reside here long-term?"
To be able to build such a fully functional house in such a short time, in the desolate environment of the moon which lacked conventional building Materials, there were only two possibilities: either a large group of skilled builders had come here with plenty of prefabricated Materials, or the newcomer was a Ninja who knew special construction Ninjutsu.
Considering the unique and secretive nature of the lunar passage, the latter possibility was clearly more likely.
What puzzled Toneri even more was that as he looked around, he found no traces of any vegetation being cut down.
Plants on the moon were already scarce, and most were grayish-white or dull in color, completely different from the wood used for that house.
"How strange."
Toneri's heart grew even more suspicious, "Then this wood... where did it come from? Could it have been brought from the Ninja World?"
"I must find out their purpose, and... how they found this place."
Toneri quickly came to a decision.
He no longer hesitated and mobilized the power of the giant Tenseigan at the moon's core.
A massive surge of Chakra flowed through his Puppet body, which was made of special Materials capable of bearing the power of the Tenseigan, instantly enhancing its various capabilities.
He controlled this Puppet body that possessed "eyes," approaching that wooden house as silently and swiftly as a ghost under the moonlight.
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