"Focus, Naruto! Don't ignore it, whatever it is. Try to open it. Now!"
The intensity in Sakura's voice was almost a military command. The panic and humiliation from just a few minutes ago had evaporated, replaced by a scientific curiosity so pure and sharp it was almost tangible.
Wow, Naruto thought, looking at her with a new hint of alarm. A minute ago she was crying on my jacket, and now she looks like she's going to dissect me if I don't do what she says. It's a little scary. But… she's right. I have to know what this annoying thing is.
"Alright, alright, don't get worked up," he muttered, shaking his arm free. "I'm on it."
He closed his eyes, making an effort to shut out the sound of the crackling fire and Sakura's nervous presence beside him. He concentrated on the corner of his vision, where the small blue light had been pulsing with an irritating persistence all day. There it was: a tiny icon, beating with a soft rhythm. He focused on it, pouring all his will into a single thought, a mental command as clear as a shout: "Open."
The world dissolved. The familiar blue screen flooded his vision, but this time it was different.
"Okay, okay, it's open," he whispered, turning to describe what he was seeing to Sakura, even though she couldn't see it. "It's… big. And it has a weird title."
Leaning toward her, he read the text in a conspiratorial whisper.
[OVERCOMING SIGNIFICANT ADVERSITIES AS A FAMILY HAS GENERATED HIGH-QUALITY EXCELIA]
"Excelia?" Sakura repeated in a low voice, testing the word. "Sounds strange. What the hell is that?"
"I have no idea," Naruto admitted. "I read it, but I don't know what it is. It goes on to say…"
[HOST'S REWARD PROCESSED. UPDATING STATUS...]
Before he could even form the next question, the screen changed. A new, smaller, more personal interface appeared before him. He felt a tingle, a wave of warm, clean energy that washed over him from head to toe. The exhaustion that had settled into his bones seemed to melt away, replaced by a new, vibrant vitality.
His stats flickered in his mind, the numbers climbing at a speed that left him speechless.
NARUTO UZUMAKISTRENGTH: G-215 -> F-380 (+165)ENDURANCE: G-250 -> E-410 (+160)DEXTERITY: H-160 -> G-260 (+100)AGILITY: H-175 -> G-285 (+110)CHAKRA POTENTIAL: H-100 -> G-245 (+145)
Whoa! I leveled up! Or something like it! My numbers shot through the roof! he thought, almost dizzy from the sudden feeling of power.
[DEVELOPMENT ABILITY UPDATED: LEADER'S BOND -> RANK II][NEW EFFECT: PERCEPTION OF BASIC PHYSICAL STATE (INJURED/TIRED/OPTIMAL) OF FAMILY MEMBERS]
The main screen returned, presenting a question that, this time, he could share with Sakura.
[DISTRIBUTE THE EXCELIA REWARD TO THE REST OF THE FAMILY?][YES / NO]
"Distribute the reward?" Naruto read aloud.
"Yes! Of course, yes!" Sakura hissed with a feverish enthusiasm, squeezing his arm harder. "Hit YES! I want to see what happens! This is incredible! It's like the system recognized that we fought together!"
Naruto, caught up in her excitement, concentrated and mentally selected the "YES" option. He expected to see another screen of stats, to feel another surge of power. Instead, a new message flashed, this time in an alarming shade of red.
[ERROR: TARGETS OUT OF PHYSICAL RANGE.][FOR EVENT EXCELIA TRANSFER, DIRECT PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH THE RECIPIENT'S FALNA SEAL IS REQUIRED.]
Naruto read the sentence aloud. His voice faded as he went on, trailing off into a confused mumble at the end.
A thick, heavy silence fell between them. They looked at each other, the orange light of the fire dancing in their eyes. Naruto was completely lost. Sakura, however, processed the information with lightning speed.
Her face lost all its color, as if the blood had been drained from it in an instant.
"The… the Falna seal," she said, her voice nothing more than a horrified whisper. "It's the mark you drew on my back. Naruto… that means…"
She paused, swallowing hard.
"It means… you have to do it again."
The realization finally hit Naruto with overwhelming force.
"Oh."
"You have to touch all of their backs again," Sakura concluded, her voice barely audible, as if saying the words aloud could make them less true, less humiliating.
Sakura's brain rebooted for the second time that night.
I HAVE TO LET HIM TOUCH MY BACK. AGAIN. HERE. IN THE MIDDLE OF A CAMPSITE. WITH KAKASHI-SENSEI WATCHING FROM SOME TREE, ALWAYS LURKING. WITH KIBA ROAMING AROUND, WHO CAN PROBABLY SMELL THE EMBARRASSMENT FROM FIVE HUNDRED YARDS AWAY. THIS IS A NIGHTMARE AND A SOCIAL DISASTER. BUT... DATA! A FULL LEVEL-UP! A STATUS UPDATE FOR THE WHOLE TEAM! I HAVE TO KNOW!
The relentless curiosity that lived inside her won the battle against the mortified teenager who wanted to dig a hole and hide in it. She leaned toward Naruto, her voice a low, conspiratorial hiss.
"Okay. I have a plan. Listen to me carefully."
Naruto, who was still processing the incredibly awkward mental image of having to repeat the ritual with Hinata and Kurenai, blinked, snapped out of his stupor.
"Kakashi-sensei is on watch, but his attention is on the perimeter, not us," she began, her strategic mind taking full control. "Hinata and Kurenai-sensei are asleep, so we can't tell them anything until they wake up. We can't do it here; it's too open. We'll go to the edge of the camp, near the stream. It's the darkest area."
"What if someone sees us?" Naruto asked, already feeling a cold sweat on the back of his neck.
"No one will see us if we're careful. And if anyone asks," she continued, a sly glint in her eyes, "I was checking my injuries from yesterday's fight and needed help changing a bandage on my back, in a hard-to-reach spot. It's a perfect excuse."
She paused, and a faint grimace of disgust crossed her face.
"It's a weak excuse, I know, but it's the only thing I can think of right now. We'll start with me because I'm fully functional and… this is a controlled environment for the experiment. We need to know exactly what this 'Excelia' does before we risk waking up Hinata or bothering Kurenai-sensei in her condition. Understood?"
Naruto looked at her, amazed by her ability to switch from absolute embarrassment to tactical planning in less than ten seconds. He nodded slowly, feeling like he had no choice but to follow her lead.
"Alright, Sakura-chan. If you say so. You're the boss."
They slipped away from the fire's circle of light, moving with an exaggerated stealth that probably made them look far more suspicious than if they had simply walked. They reached the bank of the stream, where the moonlight barely filtered through and the shadows of the trees were deep and protective. The atmosphere became incredibly tense, the only sounds being the soft murmur of water over stones and the rapid beating of their own hearts.
"Sakura-chan, are you sure about this?" Naruto whispered, casting a nervous glance into the darkness of the forest. "It seems… I don't know, really risky. If Kakashi-sensei sees us…"
"He won't see us," she replied, though her voice didn't sound as confident as her words. "Now, turn around."
"What? Why?"
"Because I'm going to… you know. And I don't want you to watch me. It's embarrassing."
Naruto obeyed, turning his back to her and staring intently at a tree as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. He heard a soft rustle of fabric behind him.
"You can turn around now," she said in a low voice.
He turned. Sakura had her back to him, her shoulders tense. With a quick, resolute movement, she had lifted the back of her shirt just enough to expose the pale skin of her mid-back.
Naruto swallowed.
"Don't worry. I'm a professional."
He placed a whole hand on the exposed skin of her back. He closed his eyes, feigning concentration.
"Okay, I'm meditating. Channeling the energy of the universe for the transfer. Omm…"
Sakura flinched violently at the contact. His hand was warm, almost hot, against the cold night air.
"Is it done yet?" she asked in a rushed whisper, her voice trembling slightly.
"I haven't even started yet," he replied, his voice a playful murmur. "I'm just… concentrating. Your back is too soft and comfortable. I could fall asleep here."
A furious blush crept up Sakura's neck, visible even in the dim light.
"Naruto! Just hurry up! This is incredibly embarrassing!" she hissed.
He chuckled, a genuine laugh that, strangely, made her feel a little less tense.
"Okay, okay, I'm going. Relax."
He removed his hand, and the sudden cold seemed to bite at her skin, making her shiver again. Then, he extended a single finger and, with a delicacy and care that completely contrasted with his earlier joke, placed it on the center of her back.
A blue light, visible only to them in the deep shadow, enveloped the scene for an instant before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. Naruto held his breath as Sakura's screen opened in his mind.
SAKURA HARUNOSTRENGTH: I-45 -> G-265 (+220)ENDURANCE: I-70 -> G-170 (+100)DEXTERITY: H-110 -> F-310 (+200)AGILITY: H-125 -> F-345 (+220)CHAKRA POTENTIAL: G-299 -> E-410 (+111)
Naruto blinked, utterly astonished.
Sakura felt the surge. It was like the first time, but magnified tenfold. It was a flood of pure, clean power that coursed through every fiber of her being, erasing any trace of muscle soreness, exhaustion, or mental fatigue. She felt strong. She felt fast. She felt… whole.
The update finished. The screen faded from Naruto's mind.
Overcome by the pure euphoria of the sensation, Sakura spun around with a laugh of pure, uncontainable joy. Without a second thought, she threw herself into Naruto's arms, hugging him with a strength that surprised him.
"It worked! Naruto, it worked! I feel amazing! It's like I've never been tired in my life!"
He, surprised by the spontaneous hug, staggered back but returned the gesture, laughing with her, infected by her happiness.
"I told you! This is the best jutsu in the world! Definitely!"
Just then, a cold breeze slipped under her still-raised shirt, brushing against the exposed skin of her stomach. The contact snapped her back to reality. She realized what she was doing—hugging Naruto, with her shirt lifted, in the dark, away from the camp—and pulled away from him as if she'd been burned. A violent blush covered her face as she hastily pulled her shirt down, turning her back to him again.
"Uh… yeah. Well. Experiment successfully completed," she stammered, avoiding his gaze at all costs.
Naruto blinked, the smile still on his face as he watched her embarrassed reaction. But then, something caught his attention. Something different about her.
"Sakura-chan…" he said softly, his tone now filled with a genuine fascination. "Your… your hair."
She touched her hair instinctively, panicked. "What? Is it tangled? Do I have a leaf in it or something?"
"No. It's not that. It's just…"
He took a step closer, tilting his head to get a better look at her in the moonlight. The change was subtle, almost imperceptible if you weren't paying very close attention. But he was. Her pink hair, which had always had a slight frizz from the humid air and the rigors of combat, now fell over her shoulders with a perfect, silky smoothness. It seemed to have a healthier shine. And he could have sworn it was an inch or two longer than before.
Without thinking, driven by an almost childish curiosity, he reached out and touched a lock, rubbing it gently between his thumb and forefinger.
"Wow…" he murmured, amazed. "It's… shinier. And it's definitely longer. It feels really soft."
Then he looked up and met her eyes, his honest and slightly goofy smile on his face, completely oblivious to the bomb his next words were about to drop on her mind.
"I've always liked your hair, Sakura-chan. It's a cool color. Very you."
Sakura's brain, which had barely rebooted after the embarrassment, suffered another catastrophic short-circuit.
He's… he's touching my hair. And he's not making fun of me. He's not making a joke. He really thinks it's cool. He says it's… 'very me.' What does that even mean? Pink and sometimes irritating? Probably. Wait. Why… why is my heart beating so fast? It's just Naruto. Naruto the idiot. The one who eats ramen and yells all day. But… his smile… it's not his usual dumb smile. It's… kind. Why is my face so hot? A racing heart isn't an appropriate response to a compliment about hair. Unless… No. Impossible. Absurd.
She pulled away sharply, her heart hammering against her ribs.
"Don't be stupid! And don't touch me without permission!" she snapped, but her voice lacked its usual bite. It sounded… fragile. And then, almost to herself, she added in an inaudible whisper, "...Thanks, Naruto."
They looked at each other in an awkward silence, thick with a strange electricity.
It was Sakura, as always, who broke the silence, reverting to mission mode to hide her own confusing emotional reaction.
"Right," she said in a whisper, her voice regaining some of its firmness. "It worked. The experiment was a success. Now…" her gaze drifted toward the camp, where the sleeping figures were barely visible, "there are two left."
Naruto followed her gaze. They saw Hinata's form, sleeping peacefully near the fire. Then they looked toward where Kurenai was resting against a tree, her breathing a little labored, clearly still in pain from her injuries.
Sakura exhaled, her mind already working on probabilities and contingency plans.
"Okay…" she whispered, her voice now purely conspiratorial. "So how do we do the other two? We can't use the same bandage excuse."
Naruto looked at her, his face showing no sign of the problem's complexity. Only simple, direct confidence.
"It's simple," he replied in an equally low whisper. "We just have to wake them up and explain."