I sat on the edge of the bed in Naruto’s apartment, staring at the quiet system window that still displayed the active quest for Ino. One thing had become clear after the last few days: the system only ever gave one quest at a time. When I ran into Sakura earlier it hadn’t thrown a new mission at me. No sudden "Make Sakura submit" or anything else. As long as the Ino quest was still running, everything else stayed on hold. That was useful information. It meant I could focus without the system constantly piling on more pressure.
The doorbell rang.
I stood, smoothed the black jacket, and opened the door. Ino stood alone in the corridor, looking slightly dressed up for the evening. Her blonde hair was still in that high ponytail, but she had changed into something a little nicer than her usual shop clothes.
"Hi," I said.
"Hi." She gave a small smile. "I think we’re meeting a lot suddenly."
I just smiled back. The observation was true enough. First the flower shop, now this. The system clearly had its own sense of timing.
"The others are waiting downstairs," she said. "We should go."
We walked down the stairs together. The stairwell was narrow and quiet. Halfway down I decided it was time to test the new skill. I focused on the system interface in my mind and selected Mind Bender. A prompt appeared.
[What effect do you want?]
I pressed the option for "horny."
The change hit her almost immediately. Ino’s steps faltered. One of her legs twitched slightly and she stopped for half a second, one hand bracing against the wall. A flush started rising up her neck. Her ears turned a clear shade of red.
I looked at her with careful concern. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," she answered quickly, but her voice was a little tighter than usual. Something inside her had clearly heated up. She started walking again, a fraction slower than before, and I matched her pace without commenting further.
Outside, the rest of the group was waiting near the street. Shikamaru stood with his hands in his pockets, looking bored already. Choji was eating something from a small bag. Sakura had her arms crossed, still carrying residual irritation from earlier. And standing slightly apart from them was someone I had not expected to see at all.
Sasuke.
I stopped for a second. In the timeline I remembered, Sasuke should have already left the village by now and joined Orochimaru. Yet here he was, looking exactly like the version from just before that defection—same dark hair, same closed-off expression, same way of standing like the rest of the world was an inconvenience.
Sasuke noticed my stare and raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong, Naruto?"
Shikamaru cut in before I could answer. "Why did you two take so long to come down? We’re going to be late."
I shrugged it off and joined the group. Ino stayed quiet beside me, still dealing with whatever the skill had done to her body. Sakura’s eyes moved between the two of us with clear suspicion, but she didn’t say anything. I ignored her completely.
We started walking toward the hotel. After a few minutes I moved a little closer to Sasuke.
"When did you get back?" I asked.
Sasuke looked at me like I had grown a second head. "What are you talking about, idiot? Where did I go?"
I kept my face carefully blank. "Maybe the head injury messed up my memory a little."
"Hn." He didn’t push further, but the confusion stayed in his eyes. Sakura, walking a few steps ahead, kept glancing back at us. On any other night Naruto would have been focused entirely on her—trying to make her laugh, trying to get her attention, following her around like a puppy. Tonight I wasn’t even looking in her direction. The difference clearly bothered her. I could almost hear the question forming in her head: *Why is he angry?*
Ino walked near the back of the group, still a little flushed. I slowed my pace until I was beside her again. The others pulled ahead without noticing.
"Are you really okay, Ino?" I asked, keeping my voice low.
She turned her face slightly away, trying to hide the red in her cheeks. "Yes... I’m okay."
I reached out and gently took hold of her arm. The moment my fingers touched her skin she made a small, "Ahhh..." stifled sound—half gasp, half moan—and quickly covered her mouth with her other hand. The skill was still working. Whatever heat it had put into her body had only grown stronger with the physical contact.
I smiled a little and shifted my grip so that I was holding her hand properly. I leaned in just enough that only she could hear me.
"I’m here for you."
Her fingers tightened around mine for a second before she forced them to relax. She still wouldn’t look at me fully, but she didn’t pull her hand away either. Behind us I felt a sharp gaze. When I glanced back, Sakura was staring directly at our joined hands. Her expression had gone from irritated to something colder and more complicated.
I didn’t let go.
The rest of the group continued ahead, talking among themselves, completely unaware of the quiet tension building between the three of us.
I kept walking beside Ino, her hand warm in mine, the evening air cool against my face, and the weight of ninety-seven remaining quests resting quietly on my shoulders.
One step at a time.
Give me power!!!