Mikami Yuu froze.
Beside him, Rin went bright red almost instantly after a brief stunned pause. "K-Kushina-nee, what are you saying?! Dating and all that—we're not at that stage yet!"
Kushina laughed and waved it off. "Don't mind me. I only asked because you two are always together, always moving around as a pair. You don't have to answer if you don't want to! But if you ever do meet someone you really like, make sure you go for it. Otherwise, you might regret it later!"
As she said that, Kushina even raised a fist in an encouraging little gesture.
"I-I see…"
Rin stole a glance at Yuu from the corner of her eye, clearly flustered.
Yuu coughed lightly, feeling a bit awkward himself.
Honestly…
He had already noticed how Rin felt, at least a little.
In the original story, the person she liked was Kakashi. But in this version of the world, he and Rin had grown up side by side as next-door neighbors, basically childhood friends. Add in the fact that he looked pretty good and had been fairly popular back at the Ninja Academy, and it wasn't that strange that Rin might have shifted her feelings.
And Yuu, for his part, found it hard to dislike someone as gentle and thoughtful as Rin.
Still, they were both way too young right now.
Sure, kids in the Naruto world tended to mature early, but dating… that should at least wait until they were in their teens, right?
More than anything else, the first priority was surviving this long, drawn-out ninja war by getting stronger.
At last, they said goodbye outside Ichiraku Ramen.
Kushina, escorted by the Anbu, headed home.
Mikami Yuu and Rin walked side by side along Konoha's streets.
By then, it was already getting dark.
Moonlight cast a warm glow over the stone road.
Rin slowed her steps a little, replaying Kushina's teasing words in her head. Her gaze drifted, almost unconsciously, toward the clear, handsome profile of the boy beside her. It felt like a feather had brushed lightly across her heart, stirring a strange warmth and nervous flutter.
"Yuu-kun—"
"—Hm?"
The moment Yuu answered, Rin snapped back to herself.
It wasn't that she'd mind confessing first, as a girl, to someone she liked. But… something like that shouldn't happen now. Not in a moment like this. Not without a proper setting, not without flowers, not under some perfect moonlit atmosphere. Just the tiredness after training and the lingering taste of ramen broth—
It felt way too casual.
So Rin's eyes darted nervously, and she quickly looked down at her pale toes and blurted out a save:
"Um… do you want to go to the training ground for a bit? It feels like we haven't practiced taijutsu together in a long time."
"Right now?"
Yuu pulled his thoughts away from the rune structures Kushina had just explained and glanced at the girl beside him. "Sure. We just ate anyway. Good time to work it off."
"Mm-hm…"
The two of them turned toward the small forest training ground closest to the residential area.
At night, the training ground was especially quiet, filled only with the sounds of insects and rustling leaves.
"I'm coming, Yuu-kun!"
Rin took a deep breath, pushed aside her distracting thoughts, and quickly formed hand seals. "Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu!"
Three identical Rin clones appeared around her, flanking left and right. Together with the real Rin, they surrounded Yuu in a triangular formation. Then the clones rushed in with kunai while Rin's real body opened her mouth and spat out a forceful stream of water.
"Water Style: Wild Water Wave!"
To be fair, Rin really had been working hard these past few months. Whether it was Water Release, medical ninjutsu, basic taijutsu, or shuriken throwing, she practiced everything seriously. She had also gone through Minato's special training.
But because of her bloodline limitations, her level could still only be described as "elite genin."
Yuu didn't bully her by using swordsmanship or Fire Release. After opening distance with a quick Substitution, he brushed both hands across his tool pouch and came away with his fingers full of kunai and shuriken tied to transparent wire, then hurled them out with force.
Amid a series of sharp metallic clinks, some of the kunai and shuriken shattered Rin's water clones, and some were knocked away by the clones or Wild Water Wave, but most of them pinned themselves into the trees around Rin after being dodged. The wires stretched tight and crossed midair, vaguely forming a three-dimensional net.
Then—
"Pull!"
Yuu yanked hard.
Shhk!
The taut steel wire net suddenly contracted inward. Rin's two remaining water clones were quickly sliced apart by the dense web and burst into sprays of water. Her real body didn't escape either—her slim waist and arms were caught by the tightening wires, bringing a sharp sense of restraint.
"Mm!"
Rin cried out. Just before she could be fully bound up like a dumpling, she formed hand seals and activated Substitution.
Pop!
She vanished and reappeared five or six meters away, cheeks flushed and breathing lightly, while the place where she had just stood was left with only a log tightly bound in wire.
"Nice."
Yuu praised her, then kept throwing more weapons.
Rin gathered chakra to her feet and ran up the trunk of a tree, escaping the densest part of the wire trap while also drawing her own kunai and throwing back. Their projectiles collided midair, scattering sparks.
Honestly, while Rin's close-range taijutsu was lacking, her throwing technique was actually pretty good.
Eventually, Rin found an opening. With a smooth sequence of footwork, she closed in on Yuu, then dropped from above and swung her kunai down at him. But Yuu didn't dodge at all—he simply reached out and grabbed for the blade barehanded, making Rin's eyes fly wide open in panic.
"Yuu, watch out—?!"
When the edge of the kunai met his hand, there was no blood—only a burst of bright sparks.
Snake Limb Hardening!
Rin was still frozen in shock when Yuu took the weapon from her, then caught her wrist with his other hand and pulled her straight in. With his hardened right hand, he caught the falling kunai, then set the hilt against her throat.
"It's over."
"As expected of you, Yuu."
Rin stopped resisting, then looked curiously at his right hand. "How did you do that just now? You caught a kunai with your bare hand. Was it some kind of genjutsu?"
"Nothing like that. It's a new jutsu I learned recently. It lets me harden my limbs."
Yuu didn't mention Orochimaru. That kind of thing wasn't something too many people should know about.
Rin nodded, still fascinated. "There's really a jutsu like that? That's amazing… can you harden any part of your body?"
"…?"
~~~
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