Chapter 192: Gratitude
"Eh... I'll try..."
Naruto sat up from the bed with a conflicted expression, smacking his cheeks a few times to wake himself up.
Then he looked toward Karin.
"You came looking for me?"
"Not me. Him."
"Oh."
Naruto turned toward Hayate.
"Then... you came looking for me?"
Without warning, Hayate suddenly bowed deeply.
"Thank you very much for saving my beloved! I am truly, sincerely grateful!"
The sudden gesture startled both Karin and Naruto.
Naruto frantically waved his hands.
"N-No need for that! Wait, who exactly are you...?"
"Cough, cough. Forgive my manners."
Hayate straightened up.
"My name is Hayate Gekkō."
"I'm a Special Jōnin of Konoha..."
What a surprise.
Both Naruto and Karin had the exact same thought.
This sickly-looking guy is a jōnin?
"Recently..."
Hayate began speaking before instinctively glancing toward Karin.
"It's fine."
Naruto immediately understood.
"She's my friend. You can speak freely."
Friend?
Karin froze.
Naruto-kun already considers me a friend?
Originally, after learning that Hayate was a Konoha jōnin and noticing his apologetic look, Karin had been preparing to excuse herself.
After all, she was just an outsider.
It would be awkward to remain.
The atmosphere had simply been so natural that she'd forgotten to leave.
"...Among the people who were controlled recently was my beloved."
"I visited her yesterday."
Hayate lowered his gaze.
"Like the others, she still hates you intensely."
"She repeatedly told me she hopes I'll come and kill you."
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"Seeing her like that..."
"Cough, cough..."
"It hurt more than I can describe."
"After talking with her, I realized that if you hadn't stopped her repeatedly, she would have committed suicide countless times by now."
Naruto quietly listened.
"People like us..."
Hayate continued softly.
"Members of organizations that operate in the shadows..."
"The missions we carry out are inherently dangerous."
"We've all accepted the possibility of death long ago."
"We're prepared to die for the village."
"But..."
His voice grew heavier.
"That doesn't mean we should be turning our blades against our comrades."
"Fortunately, no irreversible tragedy occurred."
"If she had truly harmed you..."
"Then even after regaining her senses, she would have spent the rest of her life drowning in guilt."
ANBU were shinobi who walked through darkness.
They hunted traitors.
Handled unsavory tasks.
Completed missions others never even knew existed.
Compared to ordinary ninja, they carried tremendous psychological burdens.
Often, only a single conviction kept them moving forward.
For Uzuki Yūgao—
Hayate's lover.
The purple-haired ANBU woman Naruto had saved.
That conviction was protecting the village.
Protecting her comrades.
And protecting the people she loved.
"I can imagine the lengths she'd go to in pursuit of a mission."
"Cough..."
"You must have gone through incredible effort to keep her alive."
"After all, it was a life-and-death battle."
Meanwhile, Karin was completely lost.
What are they even talking about?
It sounded like some encrypted conversation.
"I once promised her..."
Hayate continued.
"That we'd always protect each other."
"Cough..."
"But in that moment, I wasn't by her side."
"I almost lost her forever."
His expression darkened.
"The nature of our organization is special."
"In many cases, even our families don't know what we do."
"They simply think we're ordinary ninja."
"Even if we die during a mission, the truth is often hidden behind another story."
"Sometimes our loved ones never learn why we died."
Hayate lowered his head once more.
"Therefore..."
"Not only on my own behalf."
"But on behalf of the families of all those members..."
"Please allow me to thank you again."
Naruto scratched his head awkwardly.
"Come on."
"We're all comrades of Konoha."
"It's only natural."
"You don't need to be so formal."
This was actually the first time a complete stranger had come specifically to thank him.
The experience left Naruto feeling somewhat embarrassed.
Listening quietly, Karin felt something stir inside her.
She still didn't fully understand what had happened.
But Hayate's repeated gratitude made the reason for his visit clear enough.
Naruto was strong.
Yet from what Karin knew, Naruto was only a chūnin.
And yet here stood a jōnin, lowering his head to him out of gratitude for protecting his loved ones and comrades.
Such a thing would've been unimaginable in Kusagakure.
And Sasuke was also a Konoha ninja.
Over the past few days, Karin had spent time learning about the tragedy of the Uchiha Clan.
She knew Sasuke's life hadn't been easy.
Yet despite that—
He was still kind.
Was Konoha simply different from Kusagakure?
For the first time, that thought surfaced clearly in her mind.
"Oh."
Hayate suddenly remembered something.
"There's one more thing."
"Cough."
"I heard you were also affected by that technique."
"Have you recovered yet?"
Naruto immediately gave a bitter smile.
"Nope."
"Otherwise I wouldn't still be lying around at home doing absolutely nothing."
He gestured helplessly at himself.
"See how lazy I look?"
"That's all because of that stupid technique."
But he quickly forced himself upright.
"Don't worry though."
"I've already got a few ideas."
"Really?"
Hayate's eyes brightened.
"Cough."
"That's wonderful."
"I visited the Medical Division before coming here."
"They said they haven't made any progress."
"Hopefully your experience after breaking the technique can help them as well."
At that moment, Hinata returned carrying freshly brewed tea.
After receiving his cup and thanking her politely, Hayate seemed to recall another matter.
"Right, Naruto-kun."
"You've already heard about the Chūnin Exams, haven't you?"
"Yeah."
Naruto nodded.
"Kakashi-sensei told me before he left."
"Good."
Hayate continued.
"I also have a message from Ibiki-senpai."
"One week from now."
"Ten in the morning."
"All assistant examiners and supervising jōnin assigned to the three exam stages will be holding a meeting."
He glanced toward Naruto.
Who had somehow ended up lying back on the bed again while they were talking.
"Would you like me to come pick you up?"
His tone remained extremely polite.
He also noticed Hinata's completely natural reaction and looked mildly surprised.
But only briefly.
It seemed Naruto had chosen not to tell others about the appointment beforehand.
"No, no."
Naruto immediately refused.
"I'll..."
"I'll figure something out within a week!"
Despite his confident declaration—
His body remained perfectly motionless.
The truth was that Naruto was intentionally allowing the lingering effects of the technique to continue influencing him.
Whenever he stopped actively resisting, his body naturally drifted toward a state of doing absolutely nothing.
Neither Hayate nor the others knew the real reason.
Inside Naruto's seal, Kurama and Minato were currently studying exactly how this mental interference worked.
They were trying to determine whether it could be analyzed and countered through principles similar to sealing techniques.
The goal wasn't only to save the ANBU victims.
More importantly—
They needed a way to counter Kotoamatsukami if Naruto ever faced Shisui again.
For that reason, Naruto had willingly become the perfect test subject.
Allowing the residual effects of Kotoamatsukami to persist as much as possible so the two experts inside him could study it thoroughly.
And Minato had already made some preliminary discoveries.
The only downside was that it left Hinata taking care of him every day.
Otherwise, under Kotoamatsukami's influence, Naruto might genuinely forget to eat for several days straight.
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