Chapter 32: The Gentle Hinata

Hinata's face was pale with fear, tears glimmering in her eyes. As the Hyuga clan's heiress, she should have fought back against their slurs. But her mind went blank, her limbs weak, and she forgot all her training—completely helpless.

"Rude kids deserve punishment!"

Suddenly, a voice made Hinata look up.

She saw a scene she'd never forget:

Three streams of water struck the bullies like whips, leaving them bruised and wailing.

Hinata stared hard, memorizing Natsume's face.

So handsome, she thought.

She'd thought her cousin Neji was good-looking, but Natsume was even better.

"Are you okay?" Natsume asked, noticing her dazed look. Had he scared her?

But then, as if witnessing magic, Hinata's pale face turned red like an apple. She looked down, fiddling nervously with her fingers. In a tiny voice, she said, "Th-thank you."

Natsume was glad he had ninja-level hearing—otherwise he wouldn't have heard her.

[Because of your actions, Hinata Hyuga's fate has changed. You gained 100 fate points.]

That easy?

Natsume almost suspected the fate system was glitching. Hinata was too easy to win over. But thinking it over, it made sense—early on, the heroine is shy and lacks courage. Raising her favor is simple: just save her from bullies. But there's only one chance.

In the original, Naruto did it. Now, Natsume got there first—and he's good-looking, too.

[Because of your actions, Naruto Uzumaki's fate has changed. You gained 39 fate points.]

Naruto didn't contribute many points. Losing Hinata didn't change his fate much. He always seemed tragic: even after becoming Hokage and saving the world, things stayed messy, wars continued. Talk no jutsu only worked because he had the strength to back it up. Jiraiya and others believed not in his words but in his power to bring peace. Sadly, that never happened.

Hinata, not hearing a reply, glanced up to see Natsume's warm smile. She panicked, like a startled rabbit, and looked away.

"What's your name?" Natsume asked, finding her too cute to resist teasing.

The only regret is that she had short hair as a kid—he preferred her long hair.

"Hy—Hyuga… Hinata," she stammered.

"Keeping your head down isn't good for your back," Natsume crouched and patted her back.

Hinata trembled, blush spreading to her ears. She looked up, dazed as if she'd soaked too long in a hot spring.

"Hey?" Natsume caught her as she nearly fainted.

"I-I'm okay," Hinata managed to steady herself.

"Where do you live? I'll take you home," Natsume said, worried she'd pass out. Carrying her to the Hyuga estate would only get him more white-eyed stares.

"I—I…" Hinata was clearly overloaded, as if steam was coming out of her.

Natsume stepped back gently: "No rush, take your time."

After a while, she bowed her head, nervously twisting her clothes, "I—I don't remember the way…"

A hopeless case—she really was a directionless kid. Even with Byakugan, she could get lost. What's worse, no one in the Hyuga clan even noticed the heiress was missing.

Natsume hadn't been to the Hyuga estate, but he knew the general direction. Before he could lead her there, a shadow appeared in front of Hinata.

"Are you alright, young lady?"

The man eyed Natsume warily, but relaxed a little seeing his Konoha forehead protector.

Hinata shook her head.

"If your guard is here, I won't walk you home," Natsume smiled gently. "Don't get lost next time."

He turned and left.

Hinata panicked, instinctively taking a few steps forward. Your name! She wanted to ask, but Natsume was already gone. Hinata looked crestfallen.

"Young lady, let's go home," her guard said, giving Natsume one last look. He'd never seen Natsume, but his words and actions showed he'd just found a lost Hinata, so nothing more needed to be said.

Hinata nodded absentmindedly, but was upset inside.

Who are you?

That question would bother her for a long time.

…

Natsume returned to the Gunma Casino. He was a bit disappointed not to run into Naruto. As the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Naruto was under Hiruzen's personal watch.

Natsume had once asked Tsunade if she could adopt Naruto. Never mind Minato, but Kushina grew up with Tsunade's grandmother Mito, so Tsunade should feel close to her. Adopting her son should be possible emotionally. But it wasn't allowed—Hiruzen wouldn't let anyone else intervene.

Even Kakashi and Jiraiya could only teach Naruto after confirming his Will of Fire. Danzo, of course, had always wanted Naruto in Root. So he and Hiruzen kept repeating their classic lines:

"Hiruzen, you'll regret this!"

"Danzo, I'm the Hokage."

If Natsume wanted to approach Naruto without arousing suspicion, he'd need to pick the right time—preferably a chance meeting.

"Big brother!"

Karin dropped her book and ran over.

"How are your studies? Let me quiz you. What does 'Those who lack strength give up halfway'?"

"It means people weaker than me will get beaten up on the way!" Karin said, little fists clenched, all fierce and cute.