Hinata's beautiful eyes stayed fixed on Naruto's face at close range, as if she wanted to carve every detail of him into her heart.
Without realizing it, a faint blush quietly appeared on her fair cheeks.
She couldn't help moving her face a little closer, wanting to take a better look at the boy who made her heart race.
However, at that moment, Naruto seemed to notice her slight movement. His closed eyes opened, and he turned his face slightly.
In that instant, Hinata's soft lips landed on Naruto's face without warning.
Naruto's eyes went wide. His whole body froze as if struck by electricity. His mind went blank, completely unable to believe what had just happened.
At the same time, Hinata's face turned red at an astonishing speed.
She let out a short cry.
"Ah..."
Then, like a startled rabbit, she sprang away from Naruto and jumped down from the bed.
"Y-you're awake!"
Hinata lowered her head, not daring to look at Naruto.
Her hands kept twisting the corner of her clothes, and her words came out in stutters.
Although Naruto had only just woken up and the kiss had been an accident, a kiss was still a kiss. Hinata couldn't stop a feeling of embarrassment from rising inside her.
Naruto also looked at a loss. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, and his youthful face had turned slightly red as well.
After all, before this, the most they had done was hold hands. Something as intimate as a kiss had never happened.
"Hinata, I..."
Just as Naruto was hesitating and about to say something,
Kurama suddenly shouted urgently from inside him.
["Naruto, protect Hinata now!"]
The sudden warning left Naruto with no time to ask what had happened.
Relying on the sharp instincts and reflexes he had developed through years of fighting, he stomped the ground without hesitation.
His body shot forward like lightning, charging straight toward Hinata.
At that moment, Hinata was still frozen in place and hadn't recovered her senses.
Then she suddenly noticed a hand appearing beside her out of nowhere, grabbing her shoulder with perfect accuracy.
In an instant, an extremely powerful twisting force descended upon her body.
Although Hinata had no idea who was attacking her, at this critical moment, the power hidden within her was fully drawn out.
Every chakra point in her body seemed to erupt at the same time, releasing a massive amount of chakra outward.
Releasing all the chakra stored in every chakra point at once would cause unbearable pain.
However, that move earned her a precious chance to survive.
At the same time, Naruto was still several meters away from Hinata.
Normally, at that distance, stopping Obito from taking Hinata would have been nearly impossible.
After all, Obito's strange Kamui could take her away in an instant.
Yet something completely unexpected happened.
Just as Obito was preparing to increase his eye power output to ensure he could successfully take Hinata away, a sharp claw shining with golden light suddenly appeared.
With incredible speed, it grabbed Hinata and forcefully pulled her back.
Not only that, but another smaller golden claw split off from the middle of the first one.
Carrying tremendous force, it slammed toward Obito like a mountain.
"What... is that?"
Obito's heart skipped a beat, and a sense of danger he had never felt before surged through him.
Without time to think, his figure blurred as he immediately activated his intangibility to avoid the attack.
The instant Obito entered that state...
Bang!
A terrifying force smashed into the ground.
The spot where Obito had been standing was struck into a huge crater. Dust and broken stones flew everywhere.
"Obito?"
When Naruto saw who it was, his whole body shook.
Without the slightest hesitation, he reached for his waist, pulled out a signal flare, and fired it into the sky.
Whoosh!
A bright streak of light shot upward.
Then a highest-level red signal flare exploded in the sky.
At the same time, a sharp alarm suddenly echoed throughout the entire Forest of Death.
Woooo!
Hearing the alarm, Obito's expression changed repeatedly.
He had never expected this operation to fail.
What shocked him even more was discovering that the power of the Nine-Tails was also surging within Naruto.
Not long ago, he had been beaten into retreat by Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato's Nine-Tails Mode.
Yet now, this seemingly ordinary kid also possessed such terrifying power.
'Could it be that Uzumaki Naruto is a Nine-Tails jinchuriki as well?'
At that thought, greed and excitement suddenly flashed in Obito's eyes.
Only one crazy idea remained in his mind.
'Take Naruto and Hinata together!'
He slammed his foot into the ground and shot toward Naruto like an arrow released from a bow.
At that moment, a giant Nine-Tails claw suddenly flew out from Naruto's body and charged at Obito with unstoppable force.
But that powerful-looking attack passed straight through Obito's body with ease.
Naruto had no intention of showing off his strength.
He knew Obito's abilities were difficult to deal with, and he was also protecting the girl he loved.
The claw he sent out had only been a test.
He had already expected the result, so he didn't even spare Obito another glance.
Without hesitation, he picked up Hinata in his arms, turned around, and ran.
After releasing such a large amount of chakra, Hinata's body was extremely weak and exhausted.
Her whole body felt light, and she could only let Naruto carry her as they fled.
[🎉 Shoutout to Photobug, ZaberZ and Enthessi for joining p@treon. All the support is very welcomed. Thank you very much.🤗]