In Naruto, the System Asks Me to Entrust Pokémon

Two days later, in the morning.

Inside Ryo's room at the Pokémon Home.

At this moment, he sat cross-legged on his wooden bed, surrounded by a swirling surge of psychic energy, as if it was about to burst out at any moment.

Beside the bed, Gardevoir watched with concern, using its own psychic power to envelop Ryo in a protective barrier.

Earlier that morning, Ryo had felt himself reaching a breakthrough.

And now, this scene was the result.

Gardevoir had originally intended to wake him up, but seeing his state, it chose to stay and keep an eye on him instead.

Suddenly, with a loud boom, his psychic energy exploded outward, scattering various objects in the room.

Gardevoir's expression tensed as it quickly used its power to neutralize the shockwave, preventing further damage.

"Whew—"

Sitting up in bed, Ryo exhaled and slowly opened his eyes. "Finally, I broke through!"

"Ryo, are you okay?"

Seeing him awaken, Gardevoir moved closer, its voice full of concern.

Ryo wasn't surprised and simply shook his head. "I'm fine. In fact, I feel great."

The increase in psychic energy was overwhelming.

Both in quantity and quality, it had undergone a massive transformation.

Compared to before, Ryo felt like he could take on ten people at once.

Seeing his confidence, Gardevoir relaxed.

"Let's go outside. We don't want everyone to worry," Ryo said as he stood up and walked to the door.

The moment he stepped outside, he heard Naruto's voice.

"Hey, old man! You look familiar. Have we met before?"

"Hmm? Have we? Maybe you've seen me around."

Hearing the conversation, Ryo turned his gaze toward Naruto's direction.

For the past two days, Naruto and his friends had been helping out at the Pokémon Home.

Thanks to them, the shop's operations had finally stabilized.

Of course, Ryo wasn't making them work for free. Not only was he paying them, but Shirona was also personally teaching them how to train their Pokémon.

At night, he even made them watch Pokémon anime to learn more about Pokémon knowledge.

That was the only reason Kakashi allowed them to stay here for a few days, even suspending their missions and training.

…

Looking toward Naruto's conversation partner, Ryo's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

He even rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

There were two people in front of Naruto.

One was a middle-aged man Ryo had no impression of.

The other was a delicate-looking, beautiful young person—someone Ryo definitely recognized.

That was Haku, the one who had followed Zabuza!

Wait a second…

Wasn't Haku supposed to be dead in this timeline?

Why is he here?!

And Haku's personality doesn't seem like someone who'd just travel with a random stranger. Could that middle-aged man actually be Zabuza?

Ryo felt his head start to hurt.

Meanwhile, Naruto had no idea what was going through Ryo's mind.

Scratching his head, he turned back to the beautiful person in front of him and asked, "Anyway, are you two here to catch a Pokémon?"

Haku's lips twitched slightly and said in a flat tone, "I'm a guy."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock.

"No way! How can a guy be that cute?!"

Haku rolled his eyes and decided to ignore him.

"Ahem—"

Beside him, Zabuza cleared his throat twice. "Yes, we're here to capture Pokémon. Could you explain how it works?"

He had to cut the conversation short before Naruto put the pieces together and recognized them.

Not all Konoha ninjas were as easy to fool as the gatekeepers.

Naruto, still in a daze, gave them a quick explanation.

As they walked toward the back mountain, he muttered to himself, "There's no way. Only girls are that cute… right?"

Hearing this, Ryo, who had been approaching, smirked slightly and whispered, "Naruto, it's because he's a guy that he's cute."

Naruto blinked in confusion. "Ryo bro, is that true?"

Ryo nodded seriously. "Absolutely."

Naruto pondered for a moment, then suddenly gasped.

"Wait! That means Sakura is a guy too, right?! That explains why she doesn't like me! It all makes sense now!"

"Cough—"

Ryo, sensing the incoming disaster, quickly turned his head.

Naruto, oblivious to what was happening behind him, frowned and asked, "Ryo bro, are you sick or something?"

Ryo covered his face, unable to respond.

He silently turned around and walked away, unwilling to witness what was about to unfold.

BAM!

"Aaaagh!"

"Sakura! Why'd you hit me?!"

Hearing Naruto's screams, Ryo quickened his pace toward the back mountain.

From a distance, Sasuke, who had been watching the whole thing, simply gave Naruto a pitying look before turning away.

…

At the training area behind the shop, Shirona was focusing on training Diancie.

With Naruto and the others handling customers, she had the morning free to concentrate on her Pokémon.

Arriving at the scene, Ryo saw Shirona standing coldly, giving instructions to Diancie.

Unlike usual, when training Pokémon, Shirona was strict—no exceptions, not even for her beloved Diancie.

Ryo found this quite reassuring. He had worried that Shirona might be too soft on Diancie and neglect proper training.

"Ryo, you're here."

Shirona turned around and greeted him with a nod.

"Bui~"

Before Ryo could even respond, Espeon leaped at him, pouncing into his arms.

He almost lost his balance, his expression exasperated. "Espeon, you're level 60 now. Can't you control yourself a little?"

That's right—Espeon had already reached level 60.

After all, Ryo had drawn another 20 Mystic Fruits, not to mention his Mystic Fruit Tree, which produced five fruits every week.

Even after eating enough to reach level 60, there were still Mystic Fruits left over.

Diancie, standing nearby, had already reached level 15.

It had consumed ten Mystic Fruits to gain ten levels and had trained up another five levels in just two days.

The rapid progress from training alone had shocked Ryo when he first saw it.

Even Shirona had a hard time believing it.

But in the end, both of them happily accepted it, silently cheering: Mythical Pokémon are amazing!

Holding Espeon in his arms, Ryo nodded toward Shirona. "I just came to check in. You can keep going."

Shirona didn't respond, simply turning back to continue training Diancie.