"Naruto-kun?"
A soft, melodious voice came from the doorway. I jumped about a foot in the air. Standing there was Hinata Hyuga. She was stunning. She wore a light lavender hoodie and dark shorts, her long dark blue hair cascading down her back. Her pearl-white eyes looked at me with deep affection and concern.
"I... I knocked, but the door was open," she said, stepping into the room. "Are you alright? You were screaming about disasters."
I looked at her. My heart raced. This was the future wife. This was the sweetest person in the anime. And I was the one who had to protect her.
"I am fine, Hinata," I said, trying to sound like the confident hero she thought I was. "Just... woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Had a bad dream."
She smiled, walking closer. "I brought you some breakfast. I know you usually just eat instant noodles, so I made some rice balls."
She placed a small basket on the table. My stomach growled loudly, betraying me. I realized I was starving.
"Thank you, Hinata," I said genuinely. "You are the best."
She blushed, her cheeks turning a delightful shade of pink. "It is nothing, Naruto-kun."
Suddenly, a loud barking sound echoed from the hallway outside.
"Yo! Naruto! Are you awake yet?" a loud voice boomed.
I recognized that voice. It was Kiba Inuzuka.
("Oh no,") I thought. ("The System said other men trigger the buff. Kiba is a man. And he has a giant dog.")
Kiba burst into the room, grinning wildly, with Akamaru the giant white dog squeezing in behind him.
"We have a mission briefing in an hour, man! Don't tell me you forgot!" Kiba shouted, slapping me on the back.
The moment Kiba entered the room, I felt a strange vibration in the air. It was invisible, but I knew what it was. The System was activating the 'Rito Effect.'
Hinata turned to greet him. "Good morning, Kiba-kun."
"Hey, Hinata!" Kiba waved. He took a step forward.
Then, everything went wrong in slow motion.
Kiba’s foot landed on one of the empty instant noodle cups I had failed to clean up. The cup flattened, sliding across the wooden floor like a hockey puck on fresh ice. Kiba’s arms flailed wildly as he lost his balance.
"Whoa!" Kiba yelled.
As he fell forward, his hand instinctively reached out to grab something to stabilize himself. The only thing within reach was the edge of the table where Hinata had placed the basket of rice balls.
The table tipped. The basket flew into the air.
"I got it!" Hinata cried out, her ninja reflexes kicking in despite the curse. She lunged forward to catch the rice balls.
Simultaneously, Akamaru, seeing his master fall, barked and lunged forward to catch Kiba.
It was a perfect storm of chaos. Kiba fell forward, Hinata lunged sideways, and Akamaru tackled them both from behind.
There was a loud crash, a yelp, and the sound of fabric tearing.
When the dust settled, the scene was catastrophic. Kiba was lying flat on his back on the floor. Hinata had tripped over Akamaru’s paw and landed directly on top of Kiba. Because of the angle, her face was buried in his chest, and her legs were straddling his waist. To make matters worse, the rice balls had fallen perfectly onto Kiba’s face, making it look like she was feeding him intimately.
Akamaru was sitting on top of both of them, panting happily.
From the doorway, looking in, it looked like Kiba and Hinata were engaging in some very aggressive wrestling or a passionate embrace on my bedroom floor.
The System’s voice rang in my head like a cash register.
"Netorare Situation Detected! High-Quality Misunderstanding! The 'Accidental Embrace' Event triggered."
"Shy Points Gained: Five Hundred."
Kiba’s muffled voice came from under the rice ball. "Mmph! Hinata? Why is the floor so soft?"
Hinata scrambled back, her face exploding into a shade of red that defied the laws of physics. "I... I... I am so sorry! I tripped! I didn't mean to!"
She jumped up, frantically adjusting her clothes, looking between me and Kiba with pure horror in her eyes.
"Naruto-kun! It is not what it looks like!" she squeaked.
I looked at Kiba, who was wiping rice off his face, looking confused but strangely happy about the soft landing. I looked at Hinata, who looked ready to faint from shame. And I looked at the floating text telling me I had just earned five hundred points.
I forced a smile onto my face, though my eyebrow was twitching uncontrollably.
"I know, Hinata," I said, my voice cracking slightly. "I saw the noodle cup. It was just... an accident."
("Just an accident,") I repeated internally. ("This is going to be a very long life.")
"System," I thought. ("Open the shop. What can I buy with five hundred points?")
"You can unlock the 'Tree Climbing Practice' memory experience," the System replied.
("Buy it. Immediately. Before I lose my mind.")
As Kiba laughed awkwardly and Hinata tried to hide behind a curtain, I felt a sudden rush of knowledge flow into my brain. I remembered how to focus chakra into the soles of my feet. It was a tiny step, but it was a start.
I looked at my girlfriend and my best friend, and I sighed.
"Kiba," I said. "Next time, watch where you step."
"Sorry, man!" Kiba laughed. "Your room is a death trap!"
Little did he know, the death trap wasn't the room. It was the girl. And I was the only one who knew the rules of the game.
The silence in my apartment after the "Rice Ball Incident" was heavy enough to crush a diamond. Kiba Inuzuka, displaying the emotional intelligence of a brick, had already bounced out of the window with Akamaru, yelling something about meeting us at the Hokage’s Tower in twenty minutes.