Naruto Uzumaki looked up at Iruka-sensei. His teacher's face, normally stern and lined with frustration during class, now wore a genuine, albeit tired, smile. The scar that crossed the bridge of his nose no longer looked like a war wound, but a wrinkle of pride, a mark that said, "I trusted you, and you didn't fail me."
"Congratulations, Naruto. As of today, you are a shinobi of Konohagakure."
A lump formed in Naruto's throat. A sob, loaded with twelve years of loneliness, of hateful stares, of nights in an empty apartment, fought to escape. He barely held it back, transforming all that accumulated pain into the biggest, most radiant, and absurdly bright smile his face could manage. The smile of a winner.
"Thanks, Iruka-sensei! Believe it! I'm gonna be the greatest ninja ever and become Hokage, you'll see!"
Iruka's laugh was warm, a sound that to Naruto was more comforting than a thousand bowls of ramen.
"I know, Naruto. But first, tie on your headband. You've earned it."
With hands trembling from adrenaline and pure emotion, Naruto tied the headband around his forehead, replacing his old, worn-out goggles. The metal against his skin felt strangely right, like a puzzle piece that had finally found its place. It was real. He was a ninja. The first, and hardest, step of his dream was beneath his feet.
And then, just as his euphoria reached its peak, the world shattered.
Before his eyes, superimposed over the image of a smiling Iruka and the other graduates celebrating with their families, a window appeared. It was a semi-transparent blue, with crisp white text that floated in the air as if it had always been there.
[Soul Synchronization Complete. Welcome.]
Naruto blinked. The window didn't go away. He blinked again, harder, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. It was still there.
[System: Falna Activated.]
"What the...?"
The question died on his lips before it was born. The initial shock gave way to a dizzying confusion. Was this a genjutsu? A prank by some jealous classmate? He looked around. No one else seemed to see it. Iruka was still smiling; Mizuki-sensei watched from a distance with an unreadable expression. Everything was normal. Except for the strange screen that only he could see.
A new wave of text appeared, cold and impersonal, as if he were reading it from one of the scrolls in the library.
[System: Falna.] [Description: A divine blessing bestowed upon a mortal, which inscribes their deeds and growth upon their back—a reflection of the soul—to manifest their true potential. It allows for the development of Abilities, Chakra Manifestations, and Skills that transcend mortal limitations.] [Primary Function: Status Update.]
Naruto reread the description over and over, his twelve-year-old mind struggling to process concepts like "divine blessing" and "transcend mortal limitations." Chakra Manifestations? What was that? Chakra was real. Jutsus were real. But "Chakra Manifestations"?
"Status... update?" he whispered to himself. The word sounded strange, like something out of one of those board games Chōji sometimes brought to the academy.
As if responding to his thought, the blue window updated with a new and alarming amount of information.
[To perform a Status Update on a compatible subject, the host must perform the Falna bestowal ritual.] [Ritual Requirements:] [1. The subject must be a willing and conscious female.] [2. The host must establish direct skin-to-skin contact on the subject's back.] [3. The host must use a drop of their own blood, infused with their chakra, to draw the status on the subject's back.]
Naruto froze.
He read the first requirement. Then he reread it. And a third time, to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.
The subject must be a female.
Then he read the second and third, and the combination of the three sentences set off a bomb in his brain.
Direct contact. Skin-to-skin. On the back. Drawing with his own blood. And only on girls.
He stood paralyzed, his mind trying to process the enormity of what he had just read. The elation of graduation, the joy of his ninja headband... it all evaporated, replaced by a mixture of horror, confusion, and a spark of something else, something a twelve-year-old boy who had spent most of his life isolated and without female friends barely dared to name.
"Naruto? Are you okay?"
Iruka's voice sounded distant, distorted, as if coming from the other end of a tunnel. The world around him had become a blur. The bustle of parents congratulating their children, Akamaru's barking, the murmur of conversations... it all faded away. In his mind, only those three sentences existed.
"I'm... I'm fine!" he managed to gasp, forcing himself to stand up straight. A cold sweat beaded on his forehead, sticking blond strands to his skin. The world spun around him, the colors too bright, the sounds too loud. He needed to think. He needed to be alone.
"Iruka-sensei, I think... I need to go home and rest. It's been a long day."
"Of course, Naruto," Iruka said, placing a hand on his shoulder. The contact grounded him, pulling him out of the whirlwind of his own mind. "Go get some rest. You deserve it."
Naruto nodded, turned, and walked away from the academy courtyard without looking back. He didn't run. He walked with a deliberate slowness, as if afraid that a sudden move might cause the blue window in his vision to shatter into a thousand pieces.
He strayed from the main path. He didn't head to his apartment. Instead, he sought out a secluded spot, a small clearing behind the training grounds that almost no one used. He sat under the shade of an old oak tree, his back resting against the rough trunk.
The blue window was still there, floating patiently.
"Okay... okay... think, Naruto, think," he said to himself, pulling at his blond hair in genuine desperation. "This is a jutsu. It has to be. A super secret, rare jutsu that activated when I graduated. Yeah, that makes sense."
He reread the requirements. Over and over. And the mind of a twelve-year-old boy, who until that moment had only cared about ramen, pranks, and being acknowledged, began to explore the implications.
Only on women.
The first image that popped into his mind was Sakura Haruno. Her pink hair, her green eyes, the way she always looked at him with irritation before turning her attention back to Sasuke.
He imagined the scene.
"Hey, Sakura-chan, congrats on graduating! To celebrate, would you mind taking off your shirt so I can draw on your back with my blood and give you superpowers?"
The response in his imagination was instantaneous and painful: a punch that would send him flying to the Hokage's office, followed by a scream of "PERVERT!" that would be heard throughout the entire village.
Ruled out. Completely ruled out.
His mind ran through the other girls in his class. Ino Yamanaka. Almost as obsessed with Sasuke as Sakura, and much more concerned with her appearance. The probability of her punching him was 100%. The probability of her also telling everyone he was a creep was 200%.
Tenten. She was more practical, yes. But he barely knew her. Approaching her with such a request would be like asking a kunai not to cut you.
The realization hit him with the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face. This power, this "Falna," wasn't just a tool. It was a social and logistical nightmare. To use it, to make people stronger, to do... whatever it did, he had to...
He had to convince the strongest and most promising kunoichi in the world to let him... take off their clothes so he could draw on their bare backs with his blood.
And then, his mind, freed for a moment from the panic and confusion, began to connect the dots in a completely different way. A way that had nothing to do with strategy or survival.
Skin-to-skin. On the back.
A slow, mischievous, and absolutely perverted smile began to form on his lips. The initial horror gave way to a wave of adolescent curiosity.
What would Sakura-chan's back look like? And Ino's?
The thought made him blush violently. He mentally slapped himself. Focus, you idiot! This is serious!
But his mind wouldn't stop. This "jutsu" was the perfect excuse. He wouldn't be a pervert; he'd be "updating their status"! It sounded super technical and official! He could tell them it was a high-level medical ninjutsu, that the skin on the back was the point with the highest concentration of tenketsu for chakra transfer. It sounded believable!
He could become the secret hero of all the girls in Konoha! They would all want him to "update their status"! He imagined a line of kunoichi waiting for their turn, thanking him for their new powers. He pictured himself, with a serious and professional expression, saying things like, "Yes, your agility levels have increased considerably. Excellent work."
The idea was so glorious he almost laughed. The euphoria of graduation was returning, but tinged with a completely new and hormonal hue. This power was incredible!
But then, a darker thought pushed through. What if they didn't believe him? What if they all reacted like he'd imagined Sakura would? They'd brand him a pervert, get him kicked out of the academy he had struggled so hard to pass. His dream of becoming Hokage would go up in smoke.
The smile vanished, replaced by frustration. It was the most incredible power in the world, but its activation method was the stupidest.
It was then, in the midst of his whirlwind of hormonal thoughts and existential doubts, that he saw her.
Hinata Hyuga.
She wasn't there in person. It was a memory, an image floating in his mind from the academy courtyard. She was standing next to her father, Hiashi, whose expression was a mask of icy disapproval. Hinata wasn't looking at her father. She was looking at him, at Naruto. And as soon as their eyes met for a split second, she had flinched, her cheeks turning a deep red, and she had dropped her gaze to the tips of her sandals, fidgeting with her fingers.
The Hinata that Naruto knew was just the weird, shy girl from his class. The one who always stammered and looked like she was about to faint.
But now, in the solitude of his hiding spot, his mind made a brutal and instantaneous connection.
Power to make people stronger. An intimate and extremely embarrassing activation ritual. And the potential candidate: the shyest, most modest girl in the history of Konoha, who, if his instincts weren't wrong, always seemed to look at him in a... different way.
The mental image appeared uninvited: him, Naruto Uzumaki, trying to explain to Hinata that he needed her to take off her shirt so he could save the world (or at least, to test his weird new jutsu). He saw her fainting. Or maybe her father, Hiashi, killing him on the spot with the Gentle Fist. Probably both.
The elation of graduation had completely evaporated again. The joy of receiving his ninja headband felt like a distant memory of a simpler life. Just ten minutes ago, his biggest problem was how he was going to get someone to treat him to a celebratory bowl of ramen.
Now, his problem was how to start a magical empowerment cult through physical contact without being labeled a pervert or getting himself killed.
He put his head in his hands, pulling at his blond hair in genuine desperation.
Meanwhile, not far away, hidden behind a dense hedge, another person had observed the scene in the academy courtyard from a very different perspective.
Hinata Hyuga had felt her heart stop when Iruka-sensei called Naruto-kun's name. And then, she had felt her heart overflow with a joy so pure it almost made her cry when he smiled. His smile. That smile that seemed capable of dispelling the darkest clouds.
He had done it. Despite everything, despite everyone.
She had watched, as always, from a distance, as he tied on the ninja headband. And for an instant, she had felt like the happiest kunoichi in Konoha.
But then, something changed.
She saw Naruto's smile freeze. She saw his face go pale, how an expression of shock and confusion replaced the joy. She saw him stumble, sweat. She saw him talk to Iruka-sensei and then walk away, not with the energy of a winner, but with the heavy gait of a condemned man.
Hinata's heart clenched with worry. What had happened? Was he feeling sick? Had someone said something hurtful to him? The parade of happy parents with their children was always a difficult time for him. Maybe the loneliness, in the moment of his greatest triumph, had become too heavy.
The urge to follow him, to ask him if he was okay, was overwhelming. But fear, her old, faithful companion, paralyzed her. What would she say? How could she approach him without stammering to the point of being incomprehensible?
But then, she saw the direction he took. Not toward the shopping district, not toward Ichiraku, not toward his home. Toward the training grounds. Toward solitude.
And the worry, finally, was stronger than the fear.
Naruto-kun is alone, she thought. And he looks... sad. On the happiest day of his life.
The thought was unbearable. With a determination that surprised even herself, she excused herself from her father with a bow and slipped away. She moved with a stealth her training had taught her, following his chakra trail, a trail that vibrated with an agitation that worried her more and more.
She found him in the clearing. Sitting, his head in his hands, pulling at his own hair. She heard him whispering, shouting under his breath. She saw him go through a whirlwind of emotions: desperation, a strange, blushing smile, and then desperation again.
He was suffering. He was confused. He was alone.
Hinata hid behind a tree, her heart pounding. She had to do something. She had to say something. Her mother's words echoed in her memory: "Kindness is not a weakness, Hinata. It is a strength that can heal."
She gathered her courage. Every step she took out of her hiding place felt like walking on hot coals. Her pulse hammered in her ears.
She saw Naruto lift his head, his blue eyes filled with a cosmic frustration. And she heard him shout that strange, confused question to the sky.
It was now or never.
She took a step into the clearing. The crunch of a dry leaf under her sandal sounded like a thunderclap.
Naruto jumped, spinning around with the speed of a ninja on high alert. His eyes went wide when he saw her.
"H-Hinata? What are you doing here?"
The surprise in his voice made her shrink back. But she couldn't retreat now.
"I-I..." she began, her voice barely an audible thread. She forced herself to breathe. "I saw you... I saw you in the courtyard. You looked... you didn't look happy. I thought that maybe... that maybe you were feeling lonely."
The word "lonely" hung in the air between them.
Naruto's mind, which was still full of thoughts about bare backs and perverted powers, went blank. Lonely? Sad? He was euphoric! And horrified! And confusingly aroused! But not sad!
"Sad? No! I'm great! I graduated, believe it!" he said, his voice a little louder than necessary.
But Hinata shook her head, her pearly eyes fixed on him with an empathy that disarmed him.
"Everyone left with their families to celebrate," she said quietly, and every word was a truth he couldn't deny. "And you... you left alone. No one should be alone on a day like today."
The comment hit him where it hurt most. His absurd thoughts about his new power vanished. Suddenly, he remembered the feeling of being in the courtyard, surrounded by happy families, and the pang of loneliness he always ignored. Hinata was right. Despite his triumph, despite the headband on his forehead, he was still the boy who ate ramen alone.
The forced smile faded from his face, replaced by an expression of genuine, vulnerable confusion.
"I..." he started, but he didn't know what to say.
Hinata, seeing she had struck a nerve, took another timid step.
"You don't have to pretend with me, Naruto-kun," she said. "It's okay to not be okay. Sometimes... sometimes, even in the best moments, that's when we need someone the most."
Naruto looked at her. At the shy girl, the one he had barely ever spoken to. And for the first time, he didn't see her as the "weird girl." He saw her as the only person in the entire world who had noticed that, behind his winner's smile, there was still a lonely kid.
"Thanks, Hinata," he said, and his voice was a whisper.
They sat in silence for a moment, the strange blue window still floating in Naruto's vision, a secret that now felt a little less heavy, simply because he was no longer completely alone to face it.