Naruto Immersive Replay, The Curse of the Sharingan

To avoid the invisible swarm of insects' senses, you concealed your presence as much as possible, moving slowly close to a smooth and cold pool wall, using the relatively stagnant water at the edge of the wall to cover your tracks.

Shino's insects seem to have sensed something amiss; they gather around you like guided plankton.

You hold your breath and watch Shino, blindfolded, approach step by step. Just as he reaches out his hand, you dodge to the side.

Shino's hand did not retract as expected, but instead, with the force of the water flow, it brushed against the edge of your exposed collarbone at the neckline of your yukata.

You strongly suspect that he did it on purpose.

Given Shino's precision in controlling insects and his consistently calm, almost rigid, personality, the probability of such a mistake occurring is extremely low.

Even through that blindfold, Shino could clearly feel your gaze.

He immediately stopped all his movements, and after a brief silence, Shino explained earnestly, "...Excuse me, my perception system is experiencing a deviation of about three percent."

This excuse was both fitting for his identity as an oil woman and seemed like a blatant attempt to cover up his true identity.

As you watched him earnestly shift the blame to the bugs, I directly exposed his excuse, saying, "I don't believe your perception is flawed."

Exposed so bluntly, Shino ripped off the blindfold.

His eyes still seemed somewhat unfocused, but he looked directly at you, as if afraid you wouldn't believe him.

They even took a step forward, wanting to take your hand, as if they wanted you to verify it for yourself.

“It’s true.” His tone was unusually solemn, as if he were stating a rigorously verified scientific fact.

"Because whenever I get close to you, my heart rate and hormone levels become completely disordered, exceeding the normal fluctuation range by more than 200 percent."

"This strong physiological interference directly affects the stability and judgment accuracy of the parasite's sensory network, thus leading to sensory bias."

This confession, which combined biology, endocrinology, and the principles of ninjutsu, was delivered with utmost seriousness, even bearing the rigor of a research report.

But the emotions it contains are clumsy yet passionate.

You were completely stunned by Shino's unusual way of expressing his feelings. Looking at the usually taciturn boy in front of you, you didn't know how to respond for a moment.

“You,” you were unusually speechless, “...how come?”

You remember that you didn't interact with Shino very often, far less frequently than with Naruto, Sakura, or even Shikamaru.

This sudden emotion, characterized by an irregular heart rate, takes you by surprise.

Before Shino could speak again, or before you could even gather your thoughts, a wet, golden head suddenly popped out from the middle without warning.

"Shino! What are you doing! Getting so close to Nagi-chan?" Naruto squeezed between you and Shino, his azure eyes glaring at Shino warily, his tone clearly displeased.

As he spoke, he grabbed your hand without hesitation, as if to check something, and gently touched it, muttering, "Are you alright, Nagi-chan? Shino didn't scare you, did he?"

Naruto's sudden intervention and intimate touch made the already chaotic situation even more difficult to manage.

Chapter 345 Summer Festival Dance (19)

The cheerful Tian Tian couldn't stand it anymore and stepped in to smooth things over, saying, "Alright, alright! Time for the next round of the game."

As Yamanaka Ino carefully tied the cloth strip around your neck, her heart began to race uncontrollably.

She could clearly smell the other person's cool and aloof aura, and Ino deliberately stood on tiptoe.

"Don't slip." You firmly supported Ino's waist, helping her maintain her balance.

The cool yet firm touch of her hand through the soaked yukata made Ino's cheeks flush instantly, and her fingers trembled slightly as she tied the cloth strips.

Suspicion begins to creep into your mind; one or two people are behaving strangely...

It seems we need to find time to check the seals within their bodies. Could it be that the power of the seals has been accidentally leaked, affecting their minds?

The cloth strip was tied tight, plunging the world into darkness. In the instant that sight was taken away, the other senses became unusually acute.

The warm pool water envelops your body, and the sounds of breathing around you—some light, some heavy, some rapid, some suppressed—are amplified many times over, reaching your ears clearly.

You can distinguish Naruto's heavy, energetic breathing, Shikamaru's tense breathing, Sasuke's strong presence, and the gazes cast upon you.

You stand in the water, your yukata clinging to your body, your wet black hair plastered to your pale cheeks and neck, highlighting your defined jawline.

Even with her eyes covered and her most distinctive black eyes gone, her aura of unapproachability remained undiminished. Instead, it was a silent challenge that stirred within everyone the urge to break through the icy surface.

"Ten, nine, eight..." you begin to count down.

Unlike the previous rounds where everyone quickly dispersed to find hiding places, this time they did not act quickly.

Some, like Kiba Inuzuka, even stood openly in relatively conspicuous positions, as if silently announcing their existence, carrying the expectation of being discovered.

"Three, two, one..." The countdown ends.

You stand quietly in the water, tilting your head slightly, sensing everything around you.

The scene you perceived left you with a huge question mark in your mind: What's going on?

Do people really look down on you that much? They can't even be bothered to hide anymore? Or is this some new set of rules you can't understand?

Fortunately, your will has already been tempered to an unbreakable level by all sorts of incredible tasks, and it has not been affected by this in any way.

Your goal was clear from the beginning, ignoring those targets that were practically standing still.

Instead, relying on her previous memory of the location and her heightened hearing, she moved without hesitation toward the approximate spot where Sakura Haruno had been.

At this moment, Sakura felt a secret anticipation of being found by you, but also a hint of panic about being ignored.

To make things easier for you, or rather, with a complex mix of dedication and possessiveness, I want to have a more natural connection with you.

Instead, as you approached, she couldn't help but gently stir the water with her hand, making a soft but clear sound as a silent guide.

You followed the sound and walked without stopping. Warm water parted in front of you, and to your side, another figure seemed to have moved slightly, blocking you and Sakura.

His hand reached forward, intending to touch the girl's soft, rounded shoulder.

The expected tactile sensation did not occur.

You pressed your hand against a chest that was clearly male.

Even through the soaking wet yukata, you can clearly feel the taut muscle lines and the pounding heartbeat beneath, exuding a strong sense of aggression.

The moment you feel the touch, you instinctively want to pull your hand back.

Just before his fingertips were about to leave, Sasuke grabbed your wrist.

"Uchiha Sasuke." Your voice instantly plummeted to below freezing. Even with your eyes covered, you still looked precisely in the direction of the obstacle. "Let go."

The tone was commanding, carrying an unquestionable authority.

Sasuke didn't let go. Instead, he used the buoyancy of the water and your instinctive backward movement to pull you forcefully into his arms.

Because your view was completely blocked, your center of gravity was already unstable, and this sudden pull caused you to completely lose your balance.

Uncontrollably, he crashed forward, his forehead slamming heavily against Sasuke's collarbone, his entire upper body embedding seamlessly into the other's burning chest.

“Follow the rules of the game,” Sasuke lowered his head, his burning breath a testament to his long-suppressed anger and obsession. His voice was threatening, each word seemingly squeezed out from between his teeth, “Whoever the ‘demon’ catches, is whoever it is.”

This sudden violent intervention and forceful announcement plunged the entire hot spring pool into a deathly silence.

After the initial dizziness and shock from the impact, you were forcibly pulled around the waist by Sasuke, followed by boundless rage.

Your bodies were pressed tightly together from chest to legs, the soaked fabric almost useless, conveying each other's abnormal temperature and taut muscle lines.

The water rippled violently around him as he moved so violently.

“I said, let go!” you repeated.

Sasuke was thoroughly enraged by your uncompromising resistance. Instead of letting go, he tightened his grip on your waist, completely eliminating the last sliver of space between you.

"You just want to... run into someone else?" Sasuke's jealousy was obvious. He couldn't stand the way you were heading straight for Sakura Haruno just now, and he couldn't stand the possibility that your fingertips might touch anyone other than him.

Even if it's just a brief encounter under the rules of the game!

"Sasuke-kun! Let go of Nagi-chan!" Sakura Haruno snapped out of her initial shock and heartache and saw you being forcibly held in Sasuke's arms.

Her slender waist looked as if it would be strangled at any moment, and her pale face flushed an unnatural red with anger and a feeling of suffocation.

Heartache and a surge of inexplicable courage instantly overwhelmed her timidity. She shouted anxiously, even disregarding Sasuke's terrifying chakra, and reached out to try to pry his arm open.

The solidified chakra acted like an invisible wall, forcefully repelling her hand and preventing her from getting any closer.

"Sasuke! What are you doing, you bastard! Let go of Nagi-chan!" Naruto Uzumaki also reacted, jumping up and down in the water in anger, his golden hair almost standing on end. He clenched his fists, wishing he could rush up and punch Sasuke right away.

Hyuga Neji, who had been silently observing, now had veins bulging around his Byakugan, and for the first time, a clear anger appeared on his usually aloof face.

He took a step forward, exuding the authority of the Hyuga clan's heir, and said, "Uchiha Sasuke, your behavior has gone too far."

"Uchiha Sasuke!"

Your patience has clearly reached its limit. Your chakra is starting to surge uncontrollably, a cold and ancient aura envelops the area, the pool water temperature is dropping, and even fine ice crystals are beginning to condense on the surface.

But Sasuke seemed to have anticipated your reaction. Instead of letting go, he did something that left everyone speechless.

Sasuke buried his face deeper into the crook of your neck, his high, straight nose brushing against your skin, his hot, rapid breath spraying freely onto it.

His movements were filled with possessiveness and a strange attachment. Then, in a voice that could only be heard when they were very close, he whispered aggrievedly, "You've caught me..."

The next words, however, carried a strange tremor of resignation: "...Now, I am yours."

Time seems to stand still at this moment.

Water droplets dripped from the tightly pressed ends of your hair, slid down your equally pale but emotionally dissimilar cheeks, drip, drip, falling into the rippling water.

All your struggles, all your anger, all the power that was about to erupt, came to a complete halt.

It wasn't because of compromise, nor because I was moved by those bizarre words of love.

It was not so much shock as a chilling feeling that ran up my spine.

You felt not only the distorted sense of belonging in his words, but also, in that instant, a resonance with the sealed power within his body emanating from deep within him, close to his own.

This completely illogical turn of events was like a bucket of ice water poured over you from head to toe, leaving you momentarily at a loss for how to react.

Chapter 346 Summer Festival Dance (20)

After the initial shock and eerie resonance that sent chills down your spine, you finally snapped out of your daze.

You didn't use any ninjutsu; you simply gathered chakra in your arms and pushed him away.

Sasuke was still immersed in his twisted resignation when, caught off guard, he staggered back half a step, his arms suddenly empty, leaving only the lingering coolness of your body and the warmth of the pool water.

You quickly raised your hand and ripped off the blindfold.

The moment you regained your sight, you first glanced at your slightly reddened wrist, then coldly looked at Sasuke, whose face was ashen. There was no anger in your eyes, only a scrutinizing detachment and indifference.

"..." You didn't say anything to Sasuke.

Although everyone had more or less guessed that Uchiha Sasuke harbored special feelings for you, no one expected it to erupt in such an intense way.

This goes far beyond the vague feelings between teenagers, carrying a disturbing sense of paranoia and destruction.

For a moment, everyone fell silent, unsure how to handle this awkward and tense situation.

Seeing the atmosphere about to freeze, Yamanaka Ino tried to ease the tension with a lighthearted tone, "Ha, ha...it seems our Nagi truly lives up to her reputation as the festival's most popular girl; her charm is irresistible..."

Her dry laughter sounded particularly jarring in the still pool, and instead of dispelling the solemnity, it made the atmosphere even more subtle and awkward.

Nara Shikamaru frowned, his hands in his yukata pockets, his gaze darting back and forth between your indifferent profile and Sasuke's gloomy figure.

He thought more deeply than others. Sasuke's out-of-control behavior was probably not just about simple liking; the stubbornness and despair it contained made him feel a thorny unease.

Kakashi Hatake, who had been leaning against the pool like a background figure, seemingly leisurely watching "Icha Icha Paradise" but whose attention had been on you the whole time, finally closed the booklet in his hand.

He lazily scratched his silver-white hair, strolled over to you, and spoke as casually as if nothing had happened.

“Oh, speaking of which… I suddenly remembered that there seems to be some urgent business to be handed over to the Dark Division.” As he spoke, he very naturally grabbed your arm, avoiding your wrist which was already red from being squeezed.

His intervention was perfectly timed. You didn't resist and followed Kakashi out of the hot spring, never looking back at anyone again.

Watching you and Kakashi walk away, Rock Lee felt a surge of anger, thinking that Sasuke's actions were a desecration of youth and friendship!

He clenched his fist and shouted at Sasuke, "Uchiha Sasuke! How dare you treat Nagi so rudely! In the name of youth, I demand a fair and square duel with you!"

Sasuke didn't hear Lee's challenge at all. After you left, he left the hot spring area without saying a word, carrying with him lingering resentment and an indescribable sense of dishevelment.

Watching the situation deteriorate so rapidly, Tian Tian couldn't help but sigh and mutter softly, "How could this happen... Everything was fine just a moment ago, how did it suddenly turn out like this..."

Ino looked at her friend with concern and asked cautiously, "Sakura, are you... alright?"

Sakura Haruno stood there, the warm pool water now making her feel a little cold.

She forced a smile, shook her head, and said in a hoarse voice, "I...I'm fine..."