Naruto: This Uchiha is too innocent.

The beast's mournful howl was as beautiful as a symphony.

Hinata Ame's expression was cold and stern, and a pale blue light flowed in her palm. She struck out with her palm, and a powerful palm wind swept out like a surging wave, blowing her silky hair wildly.

Alongside it, a cheetah with its body bent into a bow shape flew through the air, drawing a clumsy arc.

"Awoo~" With a mournful howl, the last cheetah fell heavily to the ground, its body convulsing violently a few times before it lost all life.

"Hoo~" Hinata Yu slowly withdrew his palm and gently exhaled a breath of turbid air, his indifferent gaze sweeping over the cheetah carcass lying haphazardly beside him.

Dealing with these ravenously hungry cheetahs took a considerable toll on her energy. Fortunately, her Bagua Palm technique was effective in both offense and defense, and although the cheetahs were ferocious, they couldn't harm her in the slightest.

Huhu——

A fierce wind, carrying sand and dust, howled up again. Hinata Yu frowned slightly, a hint of displeasure appearing between her dark brows. She reached out her slender hand and gently tucked her wind-blown hair behind her ear.

She then swiftly swung her palms several times at the sturdy earthen wall beside her. After several muffled thuds, a hole appeared in the earthen wall. She darted inside.

Soon, the sandstorm swept in like a raging tide, and in no time, the carcasses of the dozen or so cheetahs were mercilessly swept away, tumbling and drifting in the gale. Before long, these carcasses would turn into piles of white bones.

Hinata Rain quietly hid inside the cave, patiently waiting for the sandstorm to end.

This deep ravine is strange; every now and then, small storms would rise up. She guessed that the source of these storms must be a narrow valley, where air convection caused the formation of sandstorms.

Suddenly, Hyuga Yu's eyebrows furrowed, and she quickly raised her palm, pale blue chakra rapidly gathering in her palm as she warily gazed at the churning, raging sandstorm.

Soon, a blurry figure appeared and disappeared amidst the swirling yellow sand, slowly approaching. Hyuga Yu narrowed her eyes, locking onto the figure. Suddenly, the chakra she had gathered in her hands dissipated rapidly, and her tense body relaxed.

"This damn sandstorm, it couldn't have come at the worst possible time! It gave me a mouthful of sand, ptooey!" Accompanied by a grumbling, Uchiha Sora's figure emerged clearly from the sandstorm. He spat out the sand in his mouth while muttering unhappily.

"Come here." Hinata Ame spoke calmly and casually, while turning her body slightly to give the other person some space.

Uchiha Sora's eyes lit up, but when he saw the small hole clearly, his face fell instantly. He said with a bitter expression, "The space is so small, I'll just find another place to hide."

"Come here," Hinata Ame repeated.

"Uh..." Uchiha Sora met her unyielding gaze, shrugged helplessly, and muttered to himself, "Fine, it's not like I'm the one who's going to suffer."

Having said that, he turned sideways and squeezed into the small opening. This small opening was originally created by Hyuga Amane to shelter from the sandstorm; she hadn't expected Uchiha Sora to return at this exact moment. Now, the two of them were crammed into this small space, making it feel extremely crowded, and their bodies inevitably touched.

Logically speaking, a man and a woman crammed into such a small space would inevitably feel agitated. Perhaps the woman's subtle fragrance would stir their emotions, or perhaps the man's warm breath would make them blush.

However, Hinata Ame didn't feel grateful. She sniffed, frowned, slowly turned around, looked directly at Uchiha Sora, and stared at the few glaring bloodstains on his face.

"Uh, why are you staring at me like that? It's creepy." Uchiha Sora felt uneasy under her gaze and couldn't help but ask.

"Blood." Hinata Ame uttered only one word.

"Blood? What... Oh, you mean this?" Uchiha Sora finally realized what was going on, and casually wiped the blood off his face with his finger, explaining, "This isn't mine. I just killed a few leopards and accidentally got some on myself."

Upon hearing this, Hinata Ame's gaze softened. "You also encountered a leopard?"

"Hmm. Hmm? You ran into her too?" Uchiha Sora asked in surprise, looking Hyuga Ame up and down. His gaze lingered on a certain spot for a moment before he casually looked away, thinking to himself that this girl had developed a bit too early.

"Why aren't you covered in blood?" he asked, then patted his head. "Oh right, you don't use ninja tools, so it's normal that you're not covered in blood."

Hyuga Ame kills enemies using palm techniques, with chakra similar to internal energy, directly damaging the enemy's body without leaving wounds or getting blood on them.

Uchiha Sora was different; he used the Kusanagi sword, and in this kind of sandstorm, it was perfectly normal for him to get blood on his hands from killing enemies.

"Phew, there are probably quite a few leopards around here."

"I pose no threat to you."

"That's true. With our strength, unless thousands or tens of thousands of leopards appear, we can handle them all."

"Um."

"This sandstorm is likely to continue for some time."

"Um"

Outside, the wind and sand raged, and the two chatted idly. Hyuga Ame's answers were concise, and Uchiha Sora didn't seem to mind.

After a while, Uchiha Sora felt a little uncomfortable because Hyuga Ame had turned around after seeing the blood on his face, so now the two of them were facing each other, and from the outside it looked like they were hugging. He could even feel a kind of softness coming from his chest, and Hyuga Ame didn't seem to know what shyness was, her gaze was always on his face.

He silently repeated "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," then coughed twice.

"Hey, Hinata Ame, it's been about two months since we became partners, right?"

"Um."

"How should I put it? I feel like you're not wary of me, but wary isn't quite right. How should I put it? I'd say it's more like a sense of distance."

Look, there are so many people in the Dark Division, and in the past two months, I haven't seen you take the initiative to talk to anyone. It was the same when I visited Lin's house last time; you hardly participated in any conversations.

You seem to want no one else but me.

In essence, this statement from Uchiha Sora was a direct admission that he felt something was off about Hyuga Amane, as she seemed to be paying most of her attention to him.

For example, she would greet him first, and only greet him. For example, she would invite him to train. For example, she would listen to him very much.

And now, she doesn't reject physical contact with him, which is very abnormal!

The feeling was as if Hinata Ame was an old friend of many years. He thought he could remember most things after he was six years old, but in his memory, there was no one who could match Hinata Ame.

"You are special."

Uchiha Sora was taken aback, then looked down to meet those earnest eyes. The Byakugan was beautiful, like pearls.

"What did you say?"

I said, you are special.

Hinata Yu repeated.