If it were any other time, Hinata would probably have already fainted from embarrassment.
But right now, her thoughts were completely focused elsewhere.
She was very worried about the guard’s condition, but Naruto was holding her hand, and she couldn’t break free.
Or rather, she had never even thought about struggling free, so she could only hurriedly bow apologetically toward the guard.
The guard stared blankly at the backs of the two as they walked away.
It wasn’t until their figures completely disappeared into the barbecue restaurant that he finally withdrew his gaze.
Clutching his chest, he struggled to get up, but the moment he moved, his wounds were pulled, causing him to grimace in pain.
For a while, he was unable to stand.
Just then, a hand suddenly appeared in front of the guard.
The guard froze and instinctively looked up.
The person who had come was none other than Kakashi.
“Hatake… Kakashi?”
The guard was somewhat astonished.
He didn’t know why Kakashi would appear at this moment, but he still instinctively reached out his hand.
Kakashi grabbed the guard’s hand and pulled him up from the ground.
Everything seemed so natural, but the guard understood that the other party definitely hadn’t just happened to be passing by.
“Just report this matter truthfully to Mr. Hiashi, but please don’t go around telling everyone about it afterward.”
Kakashi had a smile on his face, but he gave off an invisible pressure.
The guard’s heart trembled, and he subconsciously nodded.
Inside the barbecue restaurant, Naruto ordered an entire tableful of food very generously.
Hinata, however, only tasted a little of each dish, spending most of her time watching Naruto eat.
Naruto, on the other hand, wasn’t polite at all and enjoyed his meal immensely.
After eating their fill, the two said goodbye to each other outside the barbecue restaurant and went their separate ways.
Naruto had originally planned to take Hinata home after eating, but after the conflict with the guard, he abandoned that idea.
Sending her home was certainly the proper thing to do, but today was definitely not a good time.
Humming a song and walking on tiptoe, Naruto returned home.
Once he got there, he happily flopped down onto his bed.
He felt indescribably good.
Today was definitely the happiest day since he had transmigrated here.
He had eaten a good meal, gone out with Hinata, successfully enrolled in school, and even avoided training.
It was simply perfect.
However, at this moment, Hinata was kneeling in the main hall of the Hyuga clan residence.
There was no one else in the entire hall besides her.
Hinata hung her head, looking as though she were reflecting on her mistakes.
But unlike the remorseful expression she usually wore when she had done something wrong, she was currently trying her best to press her lips together, because only by doing so could she prevent an inappropriate smile from appearing on her face.
Hinata had already known that she would definitely be punished when she agreed to go eat barbecue with Naruto.
The rules of the Hyuga clan had always been extremely strict.
As the heir of the main family, Hinata was held to even higher standards in every aspect.
Not going home after school and secretly going out to eat barbecue with a classmate would certainly result in punishment, especially since her own guard had also been injured.
While eating barbecue, Hinata had constantly wondered what would await her.
She had imagined countless possibilities: being harshly scolded, being ordered not to continue interacting with Naruto, being punished by being sent to the clan shrine to face the wall, receiving a lecture from the clan elders, and so on.
But what she hadn’t expected was that after returning home, she was only punished by being made to kneel in the main hall until dinner.
After announcing the punishment, her father hurriedly left.
From beginning to end, he hadn’t scolded her even once.
Compared to the happiness she had gained today, this punishment was simply insignificant.
As soon as Hyuga Hiashi left the house, he headed straight for the Hokage’s office.
In fact, he had received news shortly after the guard was injured, but almost simultaneously with that news came a summons from the Hokage.
Since it wasn’t particularly urgent, he had waited until Hinata returned home before setting out.
Although the news and the summons appeared unrelated on the surface, as the head of a great clan and one of Konoha’s upper-level officials, he immediately realized that there was probably a direct connection between the two.
That was why he hadn’t heavily punished Hinata and had instead hurried out.
The moment Hyuga Hiashi pushed open the door to the Hokage’s office, he saw that Kakashi was there besides the Hokage.
“Hokage-sama, may I ask why you summoned me here?”
Hiashi respectfully bowed to the Third Hokage.
The Third Hokage didn’t dare accept the full courtesy and immediately stood up.
“Hiashi, I’m really sorry for calling you here so late. Actually, Kakashi asked me to call you over. He can explain the specific situation to you.”
As the sun set, Naruto, who had gone to bed early, gradually became sleepy.
He slowly closed his eyes and prepared to sleep.
But the instant he completely closed his eyes, his mind suddenly became hazy.
When he came to his senses again, he was already standing in front of a huge cage.
A large expanse of water covered the ground beneath his feet, and the one imprisoned inside the cage was none other than the Nine-Tails!
However, the Nine-Tails at this moment was very different from the Nine-Tails Naruto had imagined.
In Naruto’s impression, the Nine-Tails should still harbor tremendous hostility toward him.
Although it couldn’t cross the cage to attack him, both its tone and appearance should have been filled with malice.
But the Nine-Tails before him could simply be described as “miserable.”
Inside the cage, the enormous Nine-Tails was bound to a huge black cross by black chains.
An enormous wooden stake had even pierced through the Nine-Tails’ abdomen, firmly pinning it in place.
It looked as though there was absolutely no possibility of escape.
The chakra that should have surged into the heavens had also become incredibly weak because of these restraints.
The Nine-Tails slowly lowered its head and opened its enormous eyes.
Its left eye was still a normal fox eye, while its right eye had become the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Naruto would never forget that pattern.
It was exactly the same Mangekyō that Itachi possessed.
At this moment, Naruto suddenly understood.
He finally knew what Itachi had done to him back then, and he also understood why that chakra had appeared at such a timely moment when he was fighting the guard.
It was probably all because of this.
“You’ve come, brat.”
The Nine-Tails’ tone was extremely unfriendly.
But because the creature had already been firmly pinned down, Naruto was not afraid at all.
Instead, he approached the bars curiously, trying to stick his head through the enormous gap between them.
However, this cage was a product of sealing techniques, so despite the gaps appearing large, he still couldn’t stick his head through.
“Nine-Tails, what happened to you…?”
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that question?! Brat! What exactly did you do?! Why are those eyes here?! Damn it!”
The Nine-Tails had been extremely calm just moments ago, but merely because Naruto asked a question, it suddenly erupted.
Its vicious aura surged dramatically as it wildly twisted its body.
The chains around it rattled loudly as it tried to break free from its restraints, but all of it was futile.
Even the Nine-Tails at its full strength could not shake off the power of Tsukuyomi, let alone the half of the Nine-Tails sealed here.
“Hey, hey, hey, calm down. Why are you getting so worked up? It’s not like I used Tsukuyomi on you. What’s the point of getting angry at me?”