The fire burned low.
Its crackling filled the silence between them, broken only by the rustle of leaves and the occasional hoot of an owl overhead.
Team 7 sat around the camp, their formation still disciplined even off-duty. Kakashi leaned against a tree, half-asleep, one eye open behind his book.
Naruto hadn't spoken for hours.
Not since he froze.
Not since Hyuk shoved him aside like a child too soft for war.
Now, he sat with knees hugged to his chest, eyes wide and distant, his bandaged arm limp at his side.
"Hey, Naruto," Sakura whispered, handing him a bowl of rice. "You need to eat."
He didn't respond.
Sasuke said nothing — just glanced toward him, then turned his attention to the river again.
Hyuk stood further away, back against a tree, facing the mist.
Always watching.
Always waiting.
---
Later, when most of the team had drifted to sleep, Naruto slipped away.
He walked alone into the woods, past the firelight, hands clenched into shaking fists. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes — hot, angry, ashamed.
"How can I become Hokage," he whispered to himself, "if I can't even move?"
He slammed his palm against a tree.
His knuckles bled.
"I didn't run because I was scared… I just didn't know what to do. But he looked at me like I was nothing."
He remembered Hyuk's eyes — dead calm. Cold like winter steel.
"You're not ready to protect anyone."
Naruto gritted his teeth. "You don't know me."
Then a voice answered from the darkness.
"No," Hyuk said quietly, stepping from the shadows. "I know you better than you want me to."
Naruto spun, startled.
Hyuk's hood was down, his pink hair catching moonlight like pale fire. He didn't look angry. Just calm. That was worse.
"I didn't follow you," Hyuk added. "I knew you'd come here. You needed to feel something away from the others."
Naruto clenched his fists harder. "What, you came to say it again? That I'm weak?"
"No." Hyuk stepped closer. "I came to show you something."
He pulled a kunai from his pouch and turned it in his fingers. Then, with no warning, slashed the inside of his own arm — shallow, but enough to draw blood.
Naruto gasped. "What are you—?!"
Hyuk held up the bleeding arm.
"Do you know what this means?" he asked.
Naruto blinked. "That you're crazy?"
Hyuk stared at him flatly. "No. That I'm not afraid to suffer to grow."
He let the blood run for a moment longer, then wrapped the cut with practiced ease.
"You want to be Hokage, but you can't stand the feeling of being insufficient. You think strength means confidence. But confidence means nothing when fear locks your body."
Naruto opened his mouth to respond — then closed it.
Hyuk stepped closer.
"Pain. Fear. Hesitation. You think they make you weak. But they're necessary. What matters is what you do after."
He reached out and poked Naruto in the chest.
"You froze once. Learn from it. The next time, move."
Naruto's voice was barely a whisper. "But how? I don't have your power. Or Sasuke's eyes. I don't even know one decent technique."
Hyuk watched him carefully.
Then… his eyes narrowed.
"Kakashi never taught you anything beyond basics, did he?"
Naruto shook his head.
"Then stop waiting for someone to give you permission to become strong."
---
The next day…
Naruto didn't speak at breakfast.
He trained instead — early, alone.
When the others awoke, they found him covered in dirt, clothes torn, panting hard. His hands were bleeding from rough practice, but his eyes burned with purpose.
Kakashi blinked. "Naruto?"
The boy stood tall. "I want you to teach me something. Something real."
Kakashi stared at him for a moment.
Then, slowly, he nodded.
---
Later that afternoon, as the team approached the edge of a marshy forest, the fog began to creep in.
Cold. Wet. Heavy.
Sakura hugged her arms. "This mist… it's too thick."
Sasuke looked around sharply. "We're being watched."
Hyuk stopped walking.
His pulse quickened — not fear, but instinct.
His hand drifted to his scroll.
Then…
CLANG.
A massive blade spun through the air and embedded into a tree just ahead of them — twice as tall as any of them, its handle wrapped in bandages.
A voice echoed through the mist.
> "Step aside, kids. This doesn't concern you."
From the fog emerged a tall, shirtless man — wrapped in bandages, wearing a hitai-ate with a slash through the Kirigakure symbol.
> "I'm only here for the old man. Give him up, and I won't have to kill you."
Hyuk narrowed his eyes.
Zabuza Momochi.
Kakashi's voice darkened. "Get back."
Naruto trembled — but this time, he didn't move away.
He stepped forward.
Hands shaking.
Eyes steady.
"I'm not running," he muttered.
Zabuza laughed.
"You?"
But Hyuk had already stepped beside Naruto — silent, poised, chakra low and ready.
"No," he said calmly. "He's not running anymore."