Naruto: Naruto's Uchiha girlfriend is too arrogant

Chapter 16 Son Inherits Father's Business

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the entire forest red, enveloping the two small figures in a warm, golden-red light. Their clothes were covered in dust and leaves, and their little faces were also covered in dirt, marks left from falling from the trees time and time again.

The two large trees in front of them were covered with marks made by kunai. Each mark recorded their progress, from initially only being able to climb to the middle of the tree to now almost reaching the top.

During repeated practice, Naruto passed on the techniques that Sakura Haruno had mastered in the original work to Satsuki: maintaining a calm mindset and concentrating on the tree. Thanks to this, the two progressed much faster than in the original work, without having to stay up until dawn like the two members of Team 7.

Satsuki stood beneath the tree, her long black hair plastered to her face with sweat. She felt the flow of chakra within her. After many attempts, she finally found that delicate balance.

It's now!

Suppressing her excitement, she tried to calm herself down. She focused her attention entirely on the tree trunk, feeling the subtle sensation of chakra flowing from the soles of her feet.

"Tap, tap, tap."

With a series of light footsteps, Zuo Yue steadily ran up the vertical tree trunk. This time, her chakra control was smoother than ever before, each step perfectly adhering to the bark without any waste.

As she gracefully leaped onto the highest branch, the setting sun's rays bathed her small face. Satsuki looked down excitedly—she had succeeded!

Just then, a rustling sound came from another tree. Zuo Yue turned her head and saw Naruto, who had also run the entire course cleanly and neatly, landing gracefully on an adjacent branch. His golden hair shimmered in the setting sun, and his blue eyes were full of smiles.

Naruto succeeded, but Satsuki thought to herself that she had reached the top of the tree before him, and that this competition was her victory!

"Hey! Naruto!" She turned around, a dazzling smile blooming on her face. "I won this match! How about that? You've seen how powerful the Uchiha are, haven't you?"

Naruto stood on a nearby branch, watching Satsuki's smug expression. Like a proud kitten, Satsuki's bright black eyes and undisguised joy revealed a childlike innocence and happiness.

This kind of smile... is rarely seen on Sasuke's face in the original work... it's a smile that blooms purely from happiness.

Naruto, who had deliberately let the game slide, feigned frustration, saying, "As expected of the Uchiha genius, I lost this match."

Upon hearing this, Zuo Yue's lips curved upwards even further.

"However," Naruto changed the subject, "don't get too cocky, you're only a tiny bit short." He held up his thumb and forefinger to indicate a very small distance, "Just keep working at this pace, and be careful not to let me overtake you."

"Of course! I'll keep working hard! I'm going to surpass my sister! I'll become a ninja that our clan can be proud of!"

Hearing Satsuki's adorable voice, Naruto noticed a detail in her words... "Sister."

What's going on... Has Itachi also been gender-swapped? Naruto remembered that when he first met Sasuke, she did mention that this was her sister's training ground.

Hopefully, there won't be any gender-swapped Kakashi or gender-swapped Konoha 12 characters later on. But if Kakashi were gender-swapped, would he still have those kinds of feelings for Obito? Naruto doesn't really want to see that scene.

Just then, Zuo Yue stood up unsteadily. Her face was pale with exhaustion, and her fingers gripped the tree trunk tightly. She clearly wanted to get down and return to the ground, but after an afternoon of intense training, her legs were already a little weak.

"what!"

A scream suddenly shattered the silence. Satsuki slipped, falling forward. Instinctively, she tried to gather chakra to absorb the tree trunk, but in her panic, she couldn't control it precisely. Satsuki felt the world spin—she was falling!

not good!

Naruto's body moved faster than his mind. He leaped into the air, precisely calculating the angle and speed as he fell, his arms outstretched to catch the falling figure.

Satsuki kept her eyes tightly shut, anticipating the pain that was about to come. But unexpectedly, she felt herself fall into a safe embrace. Opening her eyes, she saw Naruto's deep blue eyes close to hers, filled with worry.

Naruto deftly stepped back and forth on the tree trunk, each contact precisely dissipating the impact of the fall.

"call--"

With a final, light cushion, Naruto landed steadily on the ground, the fallen leaves beneath his feet swirling in the air before gently drifting back down. He looked down at Sasuke in his arms and asked with concern, "That was close! How are you? Are you alright?"

Satsuki's face was almost buried in Naruto's collar, her voice barely audible. "Mmm...mmm..."

Only then did she realize how embarrassing this position was—she curled up in his arms like a frightened kitten.

Satsuki didn't know that this method of saving people didn't have a special name in the ninja world, but in another world, it had a special name—the princess carry.

Naruto was so worried that he didn't realize he had inadvertently replicated his father's classic rescue pose.

Hearing that Zuoyue was not injured, he breathed a sigh of relief and carefully bent down to gently place the girl with red ears on the ground.

"Be careful next time," Naruto patted Satsuki on the shoulder. "If you really get hurt, your family will definitely forbid you from coming to the training ground again."

Zuoyue stumbled slightly as soon as her feet touched the ground, and quickly grabbed the rough tree trunk beside her with her small hands.

She lowered her head, her long, dark hair falling down to cover her flushed cheeks and ears. "Um... thank you..."

Naruto then noticed that something was wrong with Sasuke. Was the child... shy? Thinking back, the rescue action just now was indeed a bit too intimate.

However, in his eyes, Zuo Yue was just a little girl who needed to be taken care of, and he had no other thoughts about her. On the contrary, he sometimes found it quite difficult to get used to his own childlike body.

"…Um! Let's go to the river!" Zuo Yue suddenly exclaimed, as if trying to break the awkward atmosphere. "Now that we've finished our training, it's time to test our results!"

She turned and ran hurriedly towards the river, her long black hair fluttering behind her, her steps still a little unsteady.

Naruto followed with a smile, looking at the small figure ahead.