Sakura Haruno

With Tsunade's words set the tone, the meeting came to an end.

Two veteran advisors defected to Tsunade, Danzo remained silent, and the meeting eventually turned to the details of the handover between the Anbu and Root, further confirming the issue of who the Anbu's direct Hokage were.

No one raised the issue of the Nine-Tails, nor did anyone step forward to object. Apart from the two advisors and Danzo, no one was qualified to comment on the ownership of the Anbu.

Danzo remained silent, and neither of the two advisors brought up the matter of the Root Ninja masks again.

In short, nothing came of it.

After the meeting ended, Naruto remained silent and obediently followed Tsunade out. Once they reached the top of the stairs, only Shizune Tsunade, and Naruto remained.

Tsunade, having taken down the Anbu, relaxed, putting her Tsunade around Naruto and squeezing his cheek against her flank.

"Huh? I'm suffocating!"

"Why do you look so gloomy?" Tsunade ignored Naruto's teasing and asked while pinching his cheek, "You didn't get anything, so you're unhappy?"

"No, it's just that I feel this Jinchuriki is getting less and less interesting." Naruto broke free from Tsunade's embrace. "They originally planned to train me into a human weapon, and developing the Perfect Jinchuriki was just an excuse."

"Whether it's perfect or imperfect, it doesn't really matter."

The corridor was brightly lit. Tsunade stopped, while Shizune hurriedly ran into the Hokage's Office to prepare for writing. The two stood outside in the corridor, bathed in the bright Nikko, and Tsunade smiled at him.

"It's not important, but it's important to me that you're not being used as a weapon."

Naruto stopped in front of the Hokage's Office. Seeing Tsunade impatiently waving him away, he immediately frowned and turned to leave.

This woman is truly a complicated story.

The trouble at the High-level Meeting was finally over, and the higher-ups considered Naruto and Tsunade the winners. Tsunade felt guilty, believing she was the biggest beneficiary, which is why she suddenly hugged him and said those things.

But in reality, only he himself knew that there was no beneficiary; everyone was just taking a step back.

After leaving the Hokage Building, Naruto looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was high in the sky. He randomly found a place to eat, but halfway through his meal, he remembered that Ino was still at home.

Startled, I ran away without finishing my meal.

Under the blazing summer sun, my back was soaked with sweat after just a few steps. The Konohagakure girls on the street were dressed fairly normally, their style leaning towards conservative compared to Tsunade.

When it comes to dressing and style, you have to look to the Land of Lightning.

Naruto weaved through the alleyways, flipped over, and landed directly on someone's rooftop, feeling a cool breeze. Jumping and climbing across the rooftops, which seemed to be filled with illegal structures, he returned home, panting, in less than five minutes.

"Ino!"

The door was flung open with a bang, and a cool Natsuhi breeze rushed in.

Naruto stood at the door, sweating profusely, but there was no response from inside. He quickly changed his shoes in the entryway and searched the room thoroughly, but found no trace of Ino.

I opened the refrigerator and saw that the water I had casually filled up in the kitchen had been poured out, so I couldn't help but grin.

He began to regret the half-eaten meal he'd left unfinished; he'd already paid, but he was still hungry. He stood in the living room, his clothes soaked through, and a gust of wind made him shiver.

Thinking that Ino hadn't gone home last night, and that she probably wouldn't come out again now that she had, he simply went into the bathroom naked.

After coming out wrapped in a bath towel, she lay down in her usual spot on the sofa and immediately fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes again, the sun was already setting and casting a golden glow outside the window.

After getting a glass of water from the kitchen, he began to calmly consider his future plans. Yesterday, Ino's interruption had barely earned him a little bit of sympathy from Nine-Tails.

He didn't plan to continue trying to reason with Nine-Tails; doing it too often would make his ulterior motives too obvious. He'd find a spare moment in a couple of days while delivering toys to describe his extremely difficult life.

In any case, the Four Symbols Seal is entirely under Naruto's control, so Nine-Tails) has no sense of what the outside world is like. The Sealing Space has become a completely independent space, unable to receive any outside information.

CPU fox?

Feasible.

Next time, try making up some heart-wrenching scenes like in Korean dramas, and make yourself sound even more miserable. It might make things much easier when you get to the end.

Before that, I need to find a way to see Hinata; the mission is stuck more than halfway through. I don't need to deliberately grind for it, but I at least need to see her.

To be frank, the Hyuga Clan lives a very secluded life.

Naruto wanted to bump into Hinata, and with Team Seven in disarray and the High-level Meeting looming overhead making Naruto anxious, he had no time to think about Hinata.

However, it's possible now.

The best way is to go on missions with Hinata, but the chances of doing missions with Hinata are slim unless you bribe Tsunade.

After finalizing his plan, he went out again.

The number of people on Konohagakure Street increases significantly after nightfall. It's too hot during the day, so nighttime is the best time to go out for a walk and stroll.

Fortunately, there weren't many people around Konoha Hospital. Naruto figured Sakura probably hadn't eaten yet, so he grabbed two Takoyaki from a nearby snack shop and carried them into the hospital.

Nearly ten days have passed since Sasuke's defection; it's time to bring this to a close.

Team Seven will have to keep operating, and maybe someone will come in to replace Sasuke. Anyway, it doesn't matter, as long as we can keep getting by.

"Excuse me, is Sakura Haruno still in the hospital?"

The medical-nin had been stopped looked up at Naruto, his expression turning somewhat strange, and replied.

"In the duty room on the third floor."

"Good."

Naruto, having received a reply, didn't think much of it and carried the two Takoyaki straight up to the third floor. The smell of disinfectant in the hallway was still pungent and somewhat unpleasant.

"Third floor. Duty room."

Following his memory, Naruto slowly searched the third-floor corridor and finally found the duty room in the third-to-last room.

The corridor was brightly lit, and the door to the duty room was ajar—or rather, only half-closed, practically the same as not closing it at all. In this situation, it usually meant you could go in directly.

Without even thinking, Naruto pushed the door open and entered.

The duty room was somewhat messy; although the documents were neatly stacked together, they were piled up like a mountain on the table.

The filing cabinet was crammed full of various files. Sakura sat upright in the chair, looked up from the mountain of documents, and although she didn't smile yet, her eyes were already overflowing with joy.

Why are you here?

"I happened to be passing by, so I thought I'd drop by." Naruto subconsciously sensed something was off, and as he handed over the Takoyaki, he added, "I'm so sorry about Sasuke."

Sakura took the Takoyaki, smiling as she asked a question that sent chills down Naruto's spine.

Who is Sasuke?