"Come on, I'll treat you to a bath."
Oh my god.
How could he say something like that to a girl??
Itachi was stunned. Completely frozen.
After a long while, he sighed. Maybe this was just Hakken—his friend.
The so-called "Three Taboos of a Ninja" seemed to mean absolutely nothing to him.
Money, alcohol, women.
Aside from money, it seemed he had already broken the other two.
Helplessly following behind, Itachi stared straight at Hakken's back. He couldn't help but wonder—was his friend really going to go through with this?
A bath to ward off the cold.
If it were something said between men, or between women, it wouldn't have been strange.
But between a man and a woman...
This...
Typical of you.
When Hakken actually arrived at the Konoha Hot Springs, holding Yūgao Uzuki's small hand, Itachi couldn't help but raise his thumb in disbelief.
He came.
He actually came.
To invite a girl to bathe.
Thankfully, it wasn't one of those mixed bathing springs. But it seemed this place offered private rooms.
Don't tell me...
With a grave expression, Itachi placed a firm hand on Hakken's shoulder.
"Ken-san, this is wrong! The Ninja's Three Taboos!"
"The Three Taboos!"
"You can't keep going down this path!"
As a friend, Itachi felt it was his duty to warn him.
If one became too entangled with the Ninja's Three Taboos... the consequences were unimaginable!
Konoha had examples—his mother, Mikoto Uchiha, had mentioned them before.
Jiraiya-sama. Tsunade-sama.
They could have become even greater shinobi, but after falling into those taboos, something about them always seemed... off.
Hakken stared speechlessly at Itachi, clearly troubled.
How was he supposed to explain that, at their age, his body was still limited? Or that he had simply brought the girl here out of concern she might catch a cold?
"Let go of me."
Feeling uncomfortable under Itachi's watchful eyes, Yūgao Uzuki blushed, trying to pull her hand free. But the strength in Hakken's grip was far beyond what she could resist.
Helpless, she could only whisper softly.
Being led by the hand—this was a first.
But as a shy girl, she truly didn't have the courage to walk hand in hand into a public bathhouse.
Finally freeing herself from Hakken's grasp, she lifted the canvas curtain shielding the entrance and turned around, her eyes burning with determination.
"I swear, next time, I won't face you without the courage to draw my sword!"
With that, she took quick steps inside the bathhouse.
Itachi, standing at the entrance, was even more stunned.
That girl's gaze was firmer than before!
Was this... Hakken's method?
He had warned Hakken that his approach was a little harsh for a girl.
Yet in the end, he had been overthinking it.
"You always overthink things."
Hakken shook his head, tugging on Itachi's sleeve as the two walked into the bathhouse.
A soak after training always brought a sense of relief.
But something felt oddly off in the men's bath.
"Ken-san, please let go."
"Mmm... Ken-san, not there!"
"Ken-san!!"
"Stop whining. Your turn to scrub me!"
"..."
It was hard to imagine what the man later known as the God Itachi went through in that bathhouse.
Only a passing random bystander happened to see him emerge afterward — with a hollow gaze and a face redder than seemed humanly possible.
Heaven and earth bear witness—the Uchiha Clan possessed its own private hot springs within the clan grounds.
But this overly intimate scrubbing method was something he had truly never experienced before.
"First time ever, and it's like this."
Compared to Itachi Uchiha, Hakken looked almost too comfortable.
Leaning back on a nearby lounge chair, he took a deep swig of sake, his entire body relaxing. It felt as though every ounce of fatigue from training had melted away.
"Ken-san, I haven't been home since school ended. I'm worried Mother might…"
After drying off, Itachi scratched his head awkwardly. Though he really wanted to stay with Hakken a little longer—being around him always felt so easy, so free of worries—he knew he had to go home.
"Understood. Go ahead."
Hakken nodded without another word, simply patting Itachi's shoulder. The weight he applied was light for now, but one day, that shoulder would bear burdens far heavier than it should. Hakken had already decided—he would take on part of that weight himself.
Maybe that was what friendship meant.
Itachi went home.
After resting for a while, Hakken closed his eyes. In the next moment, a projection centered on him unfolded within his mind. Waves of energy began to surge toward it—energy drawn from every soul around him.
When the Zaraki Kenpachi Template reached 5% completion, it meant Hakken had taken another step closer to the Shinigami.
And what the Shinigami were most sensitive to was the fluctuation of souls.
This kind of spiritual perception was a unique sensory ability that existed only within Hakken in the world of Naruto.
"Still soaking, huh? Tch, women."
Snapping his eyes open, Hakken yawned. Just as he was about to leave, his brow lifted slightly—and his figure vanished in an instant.
At that moment, outside the women's bath.
Beyond the wooden panels that blocked the view of the beautiful scene within, a prematurely aged, white-haired man was creeping forward, inch by inch, with suspicious intent.
Just as he was about to reach a small gap in the boards—
A calm but cutting voice broke through the air.
"In my experience, men worthy of being called heroes don't do things like this."
"What do you say, Mr. Pervert — master of booze, bets, and bad decisions?"
The white-haired man turned toward the voice.
A boy stood there—wearing nothing but a simple cloth around his waist, a gourd of sake in hand.
"To be honest, I don't care much for the name 'Mr. Pervert'."
After a brief moment of surprise, the white-haired man straightened up, revealing a strong, determined face.
One of Konoha's Legendary Sannin—
The Gallant Jiraiya!