Chapter 36: Hinata's Discovery
After hearing the system's words, Naruto took a breath, and surprise flooded into his eyes.
The rewards from this sign-in were unprecedentedly rich.
Whether it was the Teigu: Pumpkin Romance Fortress or the Mangekyō Sharingan Awakening Card, both had abilities that were top-tier and incredibly powerful. Each reward was enough to rank among the best of all the sign-in rewards Naruto had received so far.
The Teigu: Pumpkin Romance Fortress was Mai's Teigu from Akame ga Kill.
Its ability was that of a gun-shaped Teigu that transformed the user's mental energy into shockwaves.
The stronger the user's spiritual energy, the more terrifying the Teigu's power would become.
Not only that, but this Teigu had a special feature. When the user was in a dangerous situation, the Teigu's power would also be strengthened accordingly. In other words, the higher the user's level of crisis, the more powerful the Romance Fortress would become.
How strong it could ultimately become, no one knew.
Moreover, the Teigu's abilities weren't limited to just that. It had many secrets, including the ability to switch between spear and sword forms. It was very practical and a rare treasure.
And then there was the Mangekyō Sharingan. This was the ultimate dōjutsu of the Uchiha clan—the power obtained after awakening from the Three Tomoe Sharingan. It was several times stronger than the regular Sharingan.
The Mangekyō Sharingan was said to be awakened only by a Sharingan wielder who had experienced immense negative emotions, which produced a special kind of chakra.
After awakening the Mangekyō, not only did one's power greatly increase, far surpassing the Three Tomoe Sharingan, but it also produced abilities that adapted to the user.
Legend had it that those who had awakened the Mangekyō possessed such powerful eyes that they could even control the Nine-Tails.
That alone was enough to illustrate the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
However, such a powerful ability also came with a great risk.
The wielder of the Mangekyō, as they used it more frequently, would gradually find their eyes growing darker—meaning they would go blind.
But Naruto wasn't too worried about that. He had a god-level sign-in system. Sooner or later, he would be able to evolve the Mangekyō Sharingan into the Eternal Mangekyō. And even if he couldn't get it through sign-in, Naruto had other ways to upgrade the Mangekyō.
As for the Byakuya Kuchiki template, its unlock progress had increased by another 3.7%, pushing it past ninety percent to 93.4%. This also brought a huge improvement to Naruto, and his Shinigami skills were strengthened across the board.
Naruto exhaled, enjoying the fruits of his rewards.
Just as Naruto was sorting through the information from his sign-in rewards, a timid and shy voice suddenly sounded, interrupting his thoughts:
"Is… is that Naruto-kun?"
Hearing this voice, Naruto was taken aback and turned his head to look.
Soon, he saw Hinata getting up, rubbing her eyes, still sleepy.
Hinata blinked her beautiful eyes, looked around the room in confusion, and asked, slightly puzzled.
From Hinata's line of sight, Naruto could not be seen.
Because Naruto had used the Kidō Bent Light and White Clothes to hide his form. Even standing right in front of Hinata, she wouldn't be able to find him. And now that Naruto was a bit stronger, his application of Kidō was even more skillful.
But even so, Hinata had still managed to detect Naruto's presence. That truly made Naruto feel incredible.
Naruto didn't rush to reply because he noticed Hinata's confusion. Clearly, Hinata hadn't seen him and wasn't even sure if he was there at all.
After Hinata looked around for a moment, doubt appeared in her little head. She blinked slightly and said in a soft, tender voice:
"How strange… I clearly smell Naruto-kun."
Hearing Hinata's words, Naruto's body trembled. He looked at Hinata with wide eyes, completely amazed.
So Hinata had perceived him through his scent?
That was unbelievable. It completely surprised Naruto.
Remembering a person's scent wasn't that simple. What's more, as far as he could recall, he hadn't had very frequent contact with Hinata. And on top of that, he had completely concealed his presence, including his scent. The only reason any of it had leaked out was that he had been so surprised by the system's reward just now that he accidentally let a little slip.
And yet, in just that one moment, Hinata had still managed to wake up from sleep because she caught the scent of Naruto.
Naruto scratched his head, wondering if he should reveal himself to Hinata or not.
But seeing that Hinata was still looking around, unable to see him, and clearly not wanting to go back to sleep, Naruto exhaled and decided to appear.
With a wave of Naruto's hand, the effect of Bakudō: Bent Light slowly faded, and Naruto's figure became visible.
However, Naruto did not cancel White Clothes' ability. He kept his chakra and presence hidden. He didn't want other members of the Hyuga clan to find him and cause unnecessary trouble.
Seeing Naruto suddenly appear in her line of sight, Hinata was slightly startled. An expression of disbelief appeared in her beautiful eyes.
The scene before her felt like a dream. Naruto had appeared in front of her out of thin air—and in her room, no less.
What's more, she wasn't properly dressed yet. She was only wearing simple, thin pajamas.
Thinking of this, Hinata's face suddenly turned bright red. She lowered her head shyly and quickly covered herself with her blanket.
"Naru… Naruto-kun, why are you in my room?"
Seeing the shy and flustered Hinata stammering, Naruto couldn't help but smile and said:
"It's me, Hinata."
Hinata blinked, looking at Naruto with a mix of confusion and shyness, and asked:
"Naruto-kun, how did you get in here?"
Naruto touched his nose awkwardly. It really was impolite to enter a girl's room in the middle of the night. Then Naruto replied:
"I used some little tricks. Hinata, please don't make any noise. I don't want the other Hyuga members to know I'm here. Don't worry. I didn't come here with any bad intentions. I just had something important to take care of."
As Naruto spoke, he noticed Hinata's figure under the blanket. He suppressed the heat rising within him and continued.
Hinata also noticed Naruto's gaze. She tightened the blanket around herself and nodded shyly.
She trusted Naruto's words completely. She was very obedient and didn't ask Naruto why he had come.
Even though Naruto had said he had something important to do, she didn't know what that important thing was. And since Naruto didn't want to say, she wouldn't ask.
Besides, Naruto hadn't actually done anything wrong.