Naruto: Naruto's Uchiha girlfriend is too arrogant

Chapter 167 The Disappearance of Pride

"Huh?! You...you...what nonsense are you spouting?! Idiot! I didn't...I didn't have such absurd thoughts!"

Just as Kakashi predicted, Satsuki broke down instantly. She jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, her cheeks turning bright red at a visible speed, and even wisps of white smoke began to rise dramatically from the top of her head.

Her eyes darted around nervously, avoiding Kakashi's gaze, and her voice sounded somewhat incoherent.

"Hey, hey..." Kakashi retorted in his characteristically lazy tone, "If you want to refute someone, at least put on a slightly more convincing expression, right? The way you are now only makes everyone think you're guilty."

"Really...really!"

Satsuki stomped her foot in anger, trying to turn her anger towards Kakashi, "It's clearly because you read those indecent books all day that your head is full of these messy thoughts! Don't assume everyone else is like you!"

"Well, I'm afraid you've misunderstood me a bit," Kakashi said, waving the book "Make-Out Paradise" in his hand. "It's just a regular romance novel, though it does have some... um... artistic embellishments."

"Furthermore, the key issue now isn't what books I read. Please answer my question directly."

"Honestly! I already told you I don't have those kinds of thoughts!" Satsuki was still making a last-ditch effort. "I'm a descendant of the Uchiha clan! I'm the one who has to shoulder the responsibility of reviving the clan! How could I... how could I possibly think about such... such pointless things all day long!"

Her rebuttal sounded aggressive, but Kakashi found it utterly unconvincing.

"What you're doing right now isn't so much fierce opposition as it is more like you're whining," he clearly repeated the core question. "So, admit it, you like Naruto, right?"

"………Um."

A few seconds later, all of Zuo Yue's explanations and pretenses melted away as quickly as ice and snow exposed to sunlight.

In the end, the result was even simpler than Kakashi had anticipated. Satsuki only managed to hold on for an extremely brief moment before instantly transforming from a flustered kitten into a shy young girl.

Looking at the student in front of him who had just been stubbornly defiant but was now adorably honest, Kakashi couldn't help but smile slightly from behind his mask.

This child... seems even more frank than I imagined.

"If you like Naruto, why don't you just go and tell him?" Kakashi's tone softened as he looked at Satsuki, who was practically curled up in a ball. "I think he's been quite considerate of you; maybe he feels the same way?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Satsuki suddenly raised her head, her voice filled with obvious panic. "What if... what if he rejects me? You should understand that, right? If... if I get rejected, we might not even be able to maintain this relationship! If that happens... if that happens..."

She couldn't imagine the awkward distance that would arise between them after Naruto's explicit rejection; just thinking about that possibility made her heart clench with pain.

"So that's what you're afraid of..."

Kakashi seemed thoughtful, then tried to encourage his student, "You could actually have a little more confidence in yourself. I remember you were quite popular in class, weren't you?"

After Kakashi left the Anbu, he would occasionally visit the Ninja Academy to train genin. Naturally, he knew that the beautiful and powerful Uchiha niece was quite popular among the boys, even though she ruthlessly rejected all the boys who tried to get close to her.

"popular?"

Upon hearing this, Satsuki looked puzzled, seemingly not understanding what Kakashi was saying at all.

"Yeah," Kakashi nodded, explaining further, "Besides Naruto, you must have received quite a few other guys' advances, right?"

"Is there?"

Satsuki tilted her head, her confusion even more pronounced, and her expression didn't seem feigned at all.

Kakashi was a little stunned. He carefully observed Satsuki's reaction and suddenly realized a somewhat cruel fact—for Uchiha Satsuki, apart from Uzumaki Naruto, no one else had probably left any trace worth caring about in her heart.

Those so-called "pursuers" were probably no different from pebbles on the roadside in her eyes, so naturally she wouldn't remember them.

"..."

Kakashi was momentarily speechless, so he tried a different approach, "Let's look at it from a different angle. Satsuki, you like Naruto, you've already admitted that. But is your current state, this feeling of being anxious and insecure, only able to watch from afar, really satisfying? Are you really willing to continue like this, in this state of unrequited love?"

"I've already said it! Even if we can't maintain our current relationship, I can't cause Naruto any trouble!"

Satsuki's emotions surged again, her voice trembling with a hint of tears, "The current situation... the current situation isn't so bad, is it? I like this feeling... how can I unilaterally put pressure on others!"

She became more and more agitated as she spoke, trying to persuade Kakashi with reason, "If it's just a feeling of admiration, that kind of impulse won't last! If you really like someone... you have to consider the other person! So... so like now... being able to stay by his side... being able to see him is already good enough... there's nothing wrong with continuing like this..."

However, as she spoke, her voice gradually lowered, and her initially forceful defense became increasingly weak, eventually turning into a choked sob as she muttered to herself.

Tears rolled uncontrollably from her dark eyes, and she hurriedly raised the back of her hand to wipe them away.

"As long as... as long as I can stay by his side... I'm already content... really..."

Finally, she almost sobbed as she uttered this deepest, most humble wish.

"..."

Looking at his disciple who had just been stubbornly arguing but had suddenly burst into tears and revealed his true feelings, Kakashi was utterly speechless. A complex mix of emotions welled up inside him, a mixture of amusement and indescribable sympathy and感慨.

This child's feelings are far more humble than they appear on the surface.