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Chapter 199 I Trust My Friends
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Naruto stirred as dawn's light crept through the folds of Team 7's tent. His body twitched beneath the thin sleeping mat, and his breath rasped like some creature crawling out of a deep burrow.
Then his eyes opened. Or rather, they peeled open.
A thin translucent membrane slid back across them, vanishing into the corners. For a moment, only that second set of eyelids showed, a glassy film that gave him an almost inhuman look. When it pulled away, his true eyes shone through… blue, bright as sapphires lit from within, but with a thin vertical slit like a serpent's.
He blinked once, slowly, like someone still deciding whether they had really woken up.
Sakura, already sitting cross-legged nearby and brushing out her hair, froze mid-stroke. Her lips twisted into the same look she always made whenever she caught him waking up like that. "Still can't get used to that," she muttered.
Sasuke, sitting with his back to them and a book open in his lap, gave a low grunt that sounded like agreement.
Naruto rubbed at his eyes and sat up. "What time is it?"
"It's morning. You slept through the whole day yesterday." Sakura set her brush down with a sigh.
Naruto groaned, rolling his shoulders. He reached for Oscar, who had spent the night clinging to Naruto's long hair like it was a nest. The little crystal lizard chirped faintly in his sleep until Naruto gave his hair a light shake, making him tumble onto Naruto's lap.
Sakura gave him a look. Not one of anger exactly, more like mild judgment.
"What?"
"It's unfair," Sakura said, voice flat. "I spend so much time on my hair, and you just wake up with that long, shiny, ridiculous mane." Her hand hovered, then she gave in and ran her fingers through his golden strands. The annoyance on her face eased into reluctant admiration. "You still have to take care of it."
"If you want, you can work my hair. I don't know the first thing about taking care of long hair."
"Really?" Sakura's eyes lit up at once. She grabbed her kit before he could change his mind and set to work. The brush slid through his long hair with slow careful strokes, tugging when she hit a knot.
Naruto leaned forward slightly, eyes half-lidded, letting the quiet rhythm of brushing lull him. His shoulders loosened. Every tug hurt a little, but it was the kind of pain that came with comfort afterward. For a boy who had never really had someone take care of him like this, it felt good. Almost too good.
Sasuke turned a page in his book, ignoring them, or at least pretending to.
"What'cha got there?"
"A book."
"I can see that. What's it about?"
"Wouldn't you like to know."
Naruto narrowed his eyes and with a blink of his palmeye, used telekinesis to yank it away. The book floated into his palm and he squinted at the contents. His lips split into a grin. "How to Play the Flute?"
Sakura froze mid-brush. Both she and Naruto stared at Sasuke, who had gone very still. A faint flush crept into his cheeks. He held out his hand stiffly. "Give it here."
"Okay, but why are you interested in the flute all of a sudden?"
"I don't have to tell you anything," Sasuke hissed, eyes narrowing.
"I'm guessing you want to learn the flute so you can frolic through the forest."
Sakura snorted, trying to stifle a laugh. Sasuke's face hardened into something halfway between rage and embarrassment.
"No," he said sharply. "I am learning the flute because Kurenai-sensei used sound as a tool for genjutsu. I was curious if it could be done with a flute."
"So basically… you want to frolic in the forest naked, playing your little flute."
That broke Sakura. She doubled over, laughing so hard her brush nearly slipped from her hands.
Sasuke's jaw tightened. His hand clenched around the book. "Not a word from you, pigtails."
Naruto blinked, confused, until he caught sight of his reflection in Oscar's gem. Sakura had tied his hair into two neat pigtails while he was distracted.
Naruto tilted his head at his reflection and smirked. "I look good," he purred, deliberately tugging on the pigtails. "Admit it, Sasuke. I'm rocking this."
"You look ugly."
"You're just jealous," Naruto shot back, flicking one of the tied locks. "I've got style. You've got a chicken's butt."
"Shut up, dobe."
"So… pigtails?" Sakura asked, brushing the last strand into place as if her work was done.
"Oh no, miss pinky. Don't think you're finished. Get back here and fix my hair properly," Naruto said, pointing dramatically.
"I don't know," Sakura said thoughtfully, turning to Sasuke with mock seriousness. "He actually does look kind of cute like this."
"Hn."
Naruto's face scrunched. "Cute? I am not cute. I am manly! The manliest man!" He grabbed at the ties, fumbling. "Forget this, I'll do it myself."
Sakura slapped his hand away. "Don't touch it! You'll just turn it into a nest. Honestly." She gathered his hair into a ponytail with practiced precision.
Naruto hummed with satisfaction as she worked. But then, out of nowhere, he blurted, "Do you guys still want to go to Lordran?"
The tent went still.
"…What?"
"You heard me," Naruto said, suddenly serious. His lips pressed into a thin line.
"Wasn't it against the rules? You told us Lord Gwyn didn't allow outsiders."
"I mean…" Naruto waved his hand vaguely. "Yes and no."
"Stop dodging," Sasuke said coldly. "You lied to us."
Naruto's shoulders sagged. "Yeah. I did." He let out a heavy breath. "I guess I expected you two to figure it out on your own, but when you asked me the first time, I panicked. I didn't know what to say. So I lied. Said it was against the rules. The truth is… I don't even know if you'd be allowed in. It's complicated. You might be, you might not. But that's not the point."
He stared at the ground. "The point is I lied to my teammates. To my friends. And I hate that. So I want to apologize."
Silence stretched for a beat.
"Apology accepted," Sakura and Sasuke said together.
"…That's it? Just like that?"
Sasuke shut his book with a snap. "What else do you want? Lordran is your domain. Expecting you to hand it over would be unreasonable. Like you asking me for my Sharingan."
Naruto grimaced. "That comparison doesn't even work."
"It works," Sasuke insisted.
"Maybe," Sakura said flatly, rolling her eyes. "But yeah, I get it. And… I owe you an apology too, Naruto."
Naruto looked at her in surprise.
"I pushed you into a corner," she admitted, lowering her gaze. "I wanted to see if Lordran could help me deal with… inner Sakura. I thought maybe there'd be some way to fix what's wrong with me. But I shouldn't have forced that on you. Like Sasuke said, it's your choice."
Naruto's chest tightened. He remembered Solaire's words about true friends respecting his choices. His throat felt tight, but he smiled anyway. "You guys… I love you two. Dattebayo."
The duo felt embarrassed.
Naruto straightened suddenly. "And that's exactly why I'm never taking you into Lordran. End of story. It's too dangerous. One wrong step and you're dead. No retries. No second chances."
"I'm fine with that," Sakura said softly, squeezing his shoulder. "As long as you promise to figure out my problem with her."
Sasuke hummed. His eyes were sharp, thoughtful. Part of him wanted to see what kind of place could make Naruto so cautious, but all he said was, "There are plenty of other summoning realms anyway. I'll stick to those."
Naruto perked up. "Oh yeah? Like what? A cat? You want a cat, don't you?"
Sakura snorted, leaning closer. "He totally wants a cat."
Sasuke glared at her, betrayal written all over his face. "No. Something dangerous."
"Like what?"
"I'll find it in the Uchiha library," Sasuke muttered.
Naruto clapped his hands together, practically bouncing. "Okay, okay, I got it! You give Sakura a summoning contract, she gets her own summon, you get yours, and then all three of us have summons like Oscar that stick around. Imagine it! Team 7 with a whole animal squad!"
"…Animal squad?"
"Yeah!" Naruto said, lifting Oscar like a trophy. "Oscar, plus your summons, plus Sasuke's. Boom! The Team 7 beta squad."
"That's a terrible name," Sasuke said flatly.
"Oscar and his two sidekicks?"
Sakura buried her face in her hands, laughing helplessly. Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose.
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"Come on, you three. Breakfast is ready," Kakashi said as he stepped into the tent, book still in hand.
"Yay, food!" Naruto shouted, bolting out only to skid to a stop. His face fell instantly. "Sensei… why is that thing still here?"
"Be respectful," Kakashi replied smoothly, his single visible eye flicking toward Jiraiya. The older man sat by the fire, humming to himself while scribbling furiously in his red notebook. His expression was one of pure inspiration, as though he were writing the secrets of the universe.
"I'll try. But why is he still here? Isn't he supposed to be some big important ninja?"
"He is," Kakashi said, lowering his voice just enough for only Naruto to hear. "And he still needs to check on your seal. You remember what that means."
Naruto's jaw tightened. Right. The fox. He hadn't thought about the Nine-Tails in months, not since everything that had happened in Lordran. Part of him wanted to know what state the beast was in, what had changed. But part of him also knew this was his chance to make the old pervert work for it.
"What are you two whispering about?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah," Sasuke added, his tone clipped. "You're acting suspicious."
"I'll tell you later," Naruto said quickly, forcing a grin. He slipped past them toward the food.
"That's a big step," Kakashi commented lightly, almost as if to himself.
Naruto glanced back at him, then at his friends, and said, "I trust my friends to know the difference between me and the fox."
Kakashi gave a subtle nod before following them outside.
They settled down at the low table. Jiraiya glanced up from his notebook with a smirk. "Looks like Sleeping Beauty finally decided to join us."
"Don't call me that," Naruto said flatly, stabbing his chopsticks into a bowl of rice.
"Right, right," Jiraiya chuckled, rubbing his hands together as Inari set more dishes down. "Anyway, I'm sure Kakashi already told you. After breakfast, I'll be checking on your seal. Better safe than sorry."
Naruto raised an eyebrow, then glanced at Tsunami, who was quietly moving between tables. "Pervy Sage… did you apologize to Tsunami-san for peeping on her?"
"…Ah. No?"
"Then go apologize," Naruto said simply.
"Why would I do that? She knows I didn't mean any harm."
Naruto set his bowl down slowly. He took a deep breath, his gaze flicking to Kakashi. The jonin didn't even look up from his book. Just turned the page. That told Naruto everything.
"Fine," Naruto said, standing. "Then you're not laying a finger on me until you do. No apology, no seal check."
"Don't be ridiculous, brat."
Naruto crossed his arms. "Try me." He turned on his heel and went to sit beside Sakura and Sasuke, his back stiff with finality.
Jiraiya clenched his jaw, muttering as he grabbed a dumpling. "That brat is just wasting time at this point."
"An apology doesn't seem like a big ask, Jiraiya-sama."
The older man clicked his tongue, then sighed, shoulders sagging. He rose reluctantly and made his way toward Tsunami.
Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi all watched as the civilian woman carried another tray of food across camp. She didn't flinch. Didn't even break her calm smile. But each time Jiraiya drifted near, her steps curved away from him, her body shifting with quiet precision, like a river slipping past a jagged rock.
Once. Twice. A third time.
Even Jiraiya got the message. His mouth opened, then closed again. He slunk back to his seat without a word, notebook clutched tight against his chest.
Naruto didn't even look at him. He just returned to his rice with a satisfied hum.
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By midmorning, just after ten, Naruto found himself walking alongside Shino in the quiet of the forest. Kurenai had asked him to spend some time with her student, though she had not really explained why.
Naruto kept glancing at the jar in Shino's hands as they walked. Inside, a faint rustling echoed from the cluster of insects crawling against the glass.
"You seem uncomfortable."
Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Not uncomfortable. Just… confused." His eyes flicked to the jar again. "You carrying that around isn't helping either."
Shino adjusted his glasses. "I understand. We do not normally spend time together. That in itself is enough to create uncertainty."
"I mean, it's not like I don't want to hang out with you or anything—"
"There is no need to explain, Naruto-san," Shino interrupted calmly. "You are busy. You have your own path. I do not expect you to make time for me."
"Well… I'm here now, right?"
"Indeed. And I am grateful," Shino replied, his face betraying no emotion. He placed a gloved hand on a fallen log. A ripple of motion stirred beneath the bark, and a tide of kikaichū poured out, flowing with mechanical precision into the jar.
"Whoa… that's still creepy, ya know."
Shino tilted his head slightly. "Creepy is a matter of perspective. To me, it is simply natural."
Naruto fished a small notebook out of his pouch, the one Kurenai had given him, and flipped it open. "Okay, so, she told me to help you out. Something about plants, poisons… and bugs."
"Yes." Shino nodded once. "I require poisonous species. My insects will feed on them, digest them, and grow stronger. You may collect what you find."
Naruto brightened. "Alright, leave it to me!" He created half a dozen clones, each darting off into the brush with excited whoops.
An hour later, Shino was regretting his generosity.
"Hey, Shino! What about this one?" A clone came bounding back holding a beetle cupped in its hands.
"That is a stag beetle. Useless."
Another clone appeared, holding a centipede wriggling between its fingers. "This guy any good?"
"No."
Ten minutes later another clone returned, holding a grasshopper. "How about this?"
"No." Shino's voice did not rise, did not falter. He simply repeated himself with cold certainty, each rejection delivered like a gavel strike.
Yet Naruto did not quit. The forest echoed with his endless questions, his simple-minded persistence. And though Shino never smiled, he did not dismiss him either. There was a kind of patience there, even if it was buried under the monotone.
By early afternoon, the jar was heavy with motion. Inside, poisonous beetles, spiders, and wasps crawled over each other, their movements erratic, restless. The sight made Naruto's skin crawl, but Shino's expression never changed.
"Okay," Naruto said, tapping the jar nervously, "so now we just… wait for them to get hungry and eat each other, right?"
Shino shook his head. "Not quite. If we waited for nature, the process would take too long. I have a technique that will accelerate it. It manipulates their instincts, their hunger, their territorial drive."
His hands came together, forming a slow, deliberate seal. Chakra seeped into the jar, faint but precise.
Ninja Art: Hive Frenzy.
The insects inside began to twitch, their movements sharpening. The faint rustle became a hiss, then a chittering chorus. They turned on one another, mandibles tearing, stingers plunging. The sound of clicking legs and snapping carapaces filled the air, a steady grind of survival reduced to its rawest form.
Naruto's eyes went wide. "That's… brutal."
Shino's voice was calm, clinical. "It is efficient. Only the strongest survive, and they carry the venom of all they consumed. That strength is transferred to my kikaichū. What you call brutal, I call refinement."
Naruto scratched his cheek, uneasy. "Man, you say that like you're talking about cooking soup."
"Perhaps it is similar," Shino replied matter-of-factly. He set the jar down on the moss. "Now, we wait. When the frenzy ends, what remains will be useful. What dies will have served its purpose."
Naruto sat back against a tree, watching the jar warily. "You know, you can be really scary sometimes, Shino."
Shino did not look at him. "I hear that often."
Naruto chuckled nervously. "But… it's kinda cool too."
Shino gave no reply. But the faintest tilt of his head suggested he had heard, and perhaps approved.
While the jar hissed and scratched with the sounds of insects devouring one another, Naruto leaned back against the base of a tree. He tilted his head up, watching clouds crawl across the sky. The thought had been nagging at him since they started this whole bug-collecting thing, and he finally let it out.
"Hey, Shino… do your bugs really live inside you?"
"At birth, members of my clan are offered to several special breeds of insects. Our bodies become their nest. They reside beneath the skin, feeding on chakra. In exchange, they obey us, protect us, and grow with us. It is a bond of necessity. It is symbiosis."
Naruto whistled low. He could not help the thought that flashed through his mind: him and the Nine-Tails. A host and a vessel.
"So…" Naruto swallowed before asking, "how does that make you feel?"
"I feel nothing unusual. I was born with this bond. I never lived without it, so I cannot compare my existence to another. To feel burdened by something you have never been free of would be… inefficient."
Naruto frowned. "Do you ever feel like… being the host defines you? Like you're not just Shino, but Shino-the-bug-host?"
"People may see me that way," Shino answered evenly. "But perception does not dictate truth. I am Shino. The insects are part of me. Together, we form a single whole. If others cannot see past that, it is their limitation, not mine."
Naruto felt the weight of that answer settling in his gut. "…Do you hate whoever made you into a host? Like… if you could've lived without the bugs, would you?"
Shino was quiet for a moment. The forest seemed to hum around them. "Hate is an indulgence. The clan does not ask if we wish it. We are born into the contract, as you are born into your village, your family, your destiny. To waste energy resenting what cannot be undone is… illogical. It changes nothing. Acceptance changes everything."
Naruto stared at him, wide-eyed. He was not sure whether to feel impressed or unsettled.
"…Don't you hate that people are always gonna think of you and your bugs together? Like… some people will be scared of you, no matter what. Doesn't that bother you?"
"People already fear what they do not understand. My insects only give that fear a shape. Fear can be useful. It creates distance, and distance creates clarity. I do not need everyone's comfort. I only need their respect."
Naruto blinked, then broke into a grin. "Man… you really are cool, Shino. You gave me a whole new way to think about… you know, being a host. Even if it's not the exact same thing, you get it. Maybe more than anyone else could."
Shino remained still, unreadable behind his glasses, but Naruto thought he caught the faintest flicker of acknowledgment.
"Anytime you wanna hang out," Naruto said brightly, holding out a fist, "just say the word."
Shino regarded him for a moment, then raised his own gloved hand. Their fists met with a quiet bump.
Before Shino could ask what Naruto truly meant by host, the violent buzzing inside the jar cut off. Silence fell. The feeding frenzy was over.
The two of them crouched before the jar. Naruto squinted, lips moving as he counted the number of souls before absorbing them. "… Wait. Something went wrong."
"Indeed," Shino murmured. He lifted the lid. The interior was a graveyard: husks of insects collapsed in heaps, their bodies brittle, their legs twisted. A black haze coiled lazily over the corpses, the smell faintly acrid.
Naruto grimaced and immediately clamped the lid shut. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you added something to the jar."
"Yes," Shino replied without hesitation. "I added a fragment of the toxic dung pie you provided me."
"Yeah… then the toxins of Lordran basically killed everything."
"From my brief observation, the toxins are a form of cytotoxin. They cause necrosis, rapid tissue collapse. Their potency is… considerable."
Naruto nodded, rummaging in his pouch before pulling out a pair of moss clumps. "Alright. If you want to keep experimenting, you're gonna need a lot of this stuff." He set the moss down between them.
"Explain."
"The purple moss clump reduces poison build-up. The blooming one handles toxic. They cure the status outright. You eat them, and… yeah, poison and toxic are gone."
Shino's tone was level, almost clinical. "You claim a simple moss can cleanse venom potent enough to induce cellular collapse. What is its mechanism? Enzymatic? Binding agents? Does it neutralize the toxin in the bloodstream, or does it accelerate metabolic purging? And how reliable is it across different species? Human bodies vary from insect hives."
Naruto blinked, caught off guard. "Uh… yeah, I don't know. I just know it works." He shoved a basket toward him, brimming with moss clumps. "Knock yourself out if you wanna figure it out. Test it, dissect it, whatever. I'm gonna leave you to your mad bug science."
Shino inclined his head slightly. "Very well."
Naruto got to his feet, brushing his hands off. "Anyway, I gotta go check on Kiba. Still need to finish making his meteor hammer. And Hinata wants me to help her with crossbow drills. Plus I got to get some clean clothes for the festival, tonight."
Shino lifted a hand in wordless acknowledgment. Naruto flickered away in a burst of motion, the forest quieting around him.
Left alone, Shino set the jar aside. He was about to begin sorting the moss when a ripple stirred through his body. The kikaichū whispered to him from beneath his skin. Information. A discovery.
He turned slowly, eyes narrowing. His insects had isolated fragments of the dung pie, separating the ordinary rot from the toxic pieces. And inside those toxic clumps…
"Eggs," Shino murmured.
Inside the toxic clumps were tiny shapes, nestled close together. Long, narrow, and fragile-looking, they gleamed faintly with a blood-hued sheen.
"Insects from Lordran… becoming part of my hive."
The corner of his mouth twitched, not quite a smile, but something close. "This should be interesting."
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[ Personal Note: First off, thanks a ton to all of you for sticking with this story. Seriously, you guys are awesome. Now, if you're interested in supporting me on P@treon, let me just say that over there, I post these massive 5k-word chapters. But heads up, if you're jumping to P@treon, you'll need to start from Chapter 92, since that's where this chapter lines up with the content there.
To everyone here just reading along, please don't forget to leave a comment! Honestly, your comments make my day, and they let me know you're as invested in this story as I am. So yeah, thanks again, and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day!