Chapter 27 - Caught In The Act?

It has been two days since Yuna set up her sealing array. She is still sitting down cross-legged in the middle of it, with her two hands pointing at each other. The only thing different from her initial position was that instead of having two different chakra natures constantly fighting each other between her palms, there was now a small piece of ice that was constantly changing shape. At first, it was changing at a snail's pace, but the more time passed, the faster the progress became until Yuna could easily change its shape in a fraction of a second. After reaching that level, she opened her eyes with a satisfied smile on her face.

'That went reasonably well. I can already control small amounts with ease. A few more weeks of training and I should be able to start with bigger amounts of chakra.'

[You do realize that what you did should literally be impossible, right?]

Yuna only scoffed at that remark.

'It might be impossible for others, but as long it involves ice, I have the confidence to do it. I don't think I can recreate the other Kekkei Genkai like this, but I don't really care about them anyway.'

[You truly are a monster, aren't you?]

'Haha, that's right!'

After finishing her training, Yuna quickly went back home, however, the moment she entered, she heard Hinata's scream.

'What is going on? Is someone using my absence as a chance to attack us? No that is impossible, the defensive seals I put into the flat are still fully functional. Luckily, I still made it back in time.'

After quickly moving through the flat, she reached the living room and saw a rather unexpected scene.

Hinata and Naruto were currently laying on the ground, on top of each other, in the middle of the living room. Yuna quickly scanned the room for enemies and immediately realized what was going. The corner of the carpet in the middle of the room was flipped over.

'Did Naruto trip over the carpet? What kind of shinobi trips over a carpet? However, their current position could easily be misunderstood.'

A mischievous smirk appeared on Yuna's face as she swiftly approached the duo.

"Sorry Hinata, I just tripped over the carpet."

"Don't worry about it, Naruto, I am fine, I ju…"

Hinata, however, stopped talking as she saw Yuna approaching from the side. Hinata saw Yuna's face and immediately paled in horror. Naruto naturally got concerned for Hinata and wanted to ask what was wrong with her. Before he could do so, he saw something approach from the side. Seeing the crimson-red hair from the corner of his eyes, he paled in a similar fashion to Hinata did.

"Oh my~ To think I would find the two of you hugging passionately on the floor the moment I enter the living room.

The duo paled even more after hearing Yuna's teasing while simultaneously thinking the same thing.

'She will use this against us for months, I need to explain the situation quickly!'

"Yuna/Nee-san that's not it, Naruto/I just tripped over the carpet!"

Hinata and Naruto despaired even further after they gave their explanation in sync. They knew they were done for. As they expected, Yuna's grin widened even more.

"Oh my~ You are even talking in sync, truly two lovebirds."

Naruto and Hinata didn't even need to talk with each other to know their situation. They were already done for, no matter what they said, it would be used against them, so they did the only thing they could think of: They got into a fighting stance and attacked Yuna while again having the same thought.

'If I beat her up hard enough, she might forget about it.'

"Haha, good, come at me together and show me the power of your love."

Although this sentence caused both of them to stagger for a moment, they quickly caught themselves and started charging at Yuna even more fiercely.

The fight ended like it did every time. Yuna defeated Naruto and Hinata, but she at least let them get in a few attacks so they could vent some frustration.

After they finished their fight, Yuna told them that she is happy that their relationship has advanced and then went to her own room to leave the two alone with each other. Naturally, she was attacked by them yet again after saying that.

[You really enjoy teasing those two, huh?]

'Haha, of course. Nothing more fun than teasing those you are close to.'

[However, aren't you worried?]

'Worried? About what?'

[About Hinata falling for Naruto.]

'Why would I be worried about that? If she does, then it's fine and if she doesn't, then that's fine as well. She can choose whoever she wants.'

[Huh? Weren't you grooming her to be part of your Harem?]

Yuna almost coughed up some blood after hearing that.

'What the hell? When did you get that impression?'

[When you picked up a random girl, removed the curse seal that was branded her and then started training her unconditionally?]

'… Okay, if you say it like that, it does sound pretty obvious, but I seriously picked her up on a whim.'

[So, you are saying that you don't want her for your harem?]

'Whoa there, let us not say things we might regret later. If she grows up some more and is interested, I wouldn't say no.'

[As expected. Now that I think about it, when we first met, you mentioned multiple times that you want a harem, yet you don't seem to be doing anything to reach that goal. Already changed your plans?]

'As if. There is an order for everything, only the strong can do whatever they want. Before I seek an extravagant life, I need the necessary strength to defend it, after all. Besides, getting an adult woman to trust you enough for her to want a relationship with you isn't exactly easy when you are just 8 years old.'

[That does make sense, I guess.]

'Now, let us discuss what is truly important.'

[Why do I get the feeling that whatever you want to discuss isn't actually "truly important"?]

'*cough* A-anyway, I need to come up with some good pranks to play on those two. There is no way I will let them get out of this without getting some really good prank out of it.'

[As expected… again.]

'Should I just give Naruto a huge box of condoms for Christmas? No, wait, will he even understand what they are for? Probably not, right? If he doesn't understand the implication, then it isn't funny. Maybe I could just give him my book and then make a knowing smile towards Hinata's direction. Maybe pat his back and give him the "I know you can do it" look'

[…]

After plotting a while longer, Yuna quickly fell asleep and when Yuna finally did so, Hinata and Naruto, in their respective rooms, could finally fall asleep as well. They had some idea why they constantly felt shivers going down their spines and really didn't want to think about it too much.

Authors note:

Changed some parts and left some parts unchanged. Overall, I think I like this chapter better like this.