External Assignment, Team 3

After lying around doing nothing for two days, Naruto asked Tsunade for a simple C-rank mission, then left Nine-Tails at home and went out of the village to wander around by himself.

"So you finally remembered me?"

Tayuya sat on the roof of the hotel, having changed out of her previous outfit from the Sound Ninja. Now she had long red hair, fair skin, and wore a floral dress.

Like a girl next door, stretching out her fair legs on the rooftop to bask in the sun.

"Ah, after all, I am your only creditor, how could I forget you?" Naruto made no attempt to hide anything. "I just happened to have some free time, so I found an excuse to run away."

"That's incredibly shameless of you!"

Tayuya stood up from the rooftop, somewhat annoyed, and walked up to Naruto. She had intended to use her height advantage to overwhelm him with her presence, but she discovered that the blond-haired guy had actually grown taller.

He'd grown taller than her after just a few months. The red-haired girl, somewhat resentful, gave him a push.

Naruto wasn't angry; he just smiled smugly and asked.

Do you need more money?

"You!!" Tayuya grabbed Naruto's collar. "You tricked me into coming here. I've thought about it over and over again these past few months and finally figured it out. I don't think things are as you said."

"But you've already sold your soul to me."

"Who would care about something like that!" Tayuya said shamelessly. "There's no proof, and it's only a mere 100,000 taels. You're just lying to me!"

"In short, I've changed my mind now."

Hearing this, Naruto found it somewhat amusing. "You can leave whenever you want, so why do you have to wait for me here?"

"Of course I'm not the kind of person who keeps promises, I'm just a little angry." Tayuya and said, "If I just left without a word, someone like you would probably just think that your pet ran away, and you wouldn't feel any regret at all."

"I waited until now to tell you this in person so that you could truly feel that deep regret!"

The autumn wind swept across the rooftops.

Naruto blinked and said, "I really want to feel sorry for you and make you happy, but I just can't do it."

"Even if you run away, I'll only lose 200,000."

"Damn it, two hundred thousand taels is already a lot!" Tayuya was on the verge of collapse, leaning close to Naruto and gritting her teeth as she said, "Why don't you feel any pain?"

Naruto didn't reply, but took out another 200,000 ryo, a neatly stacked pile of money, and presented it directly to Tayuya.

"This is two hundred thousand taels of silver. If you spend all of this money, I might suffer."

"Money??" Tayuya swallowed hard; the visual impact of 200,000 taels was simply too great. "You... you think I'd be tempted by that?"

"Dream!"

"If you don't need it, I'll just have to throw it away," said a blond-haired man, making a gesture as if to scatter the money from the roof.

"Are you crazy!" Tayuya stopped Naruto, knowing he was capable of such a thing. "Who said you don't want it? I mean..."

Inside the room, Tayuya looked at the pile of 200,000 yen with a headache. That person had gone to buy food, looking completely confident of victory!

Hateful!

How can I make him regret it? Like, make him bang his head against a wall!

Tayuya stared at the pile of money, lost in deep thought. She had initially only wanted to wait for that person to come see her again, and then make it clear that she was determined to leave.

Things shouldn't have turned out this way.

The person would likely be in agony, pleading with you not to leave, and you would then mock them and depart gracefully. From then on, you would be free to go wherever you wanted.

But now, things seem to have become more complicated.

Damn, how much money does he have?

Never mind, even if he has a lot of money, I'm going to lay my cards on the table! Of course, I'm definitely going to take the 200,000 taels with me, I'm going to take it with me anyway.

The door creaked open, and Naruto walked in carrying food. Tanzaku Town was exceptionally bustling, with food stalls and shops everywhere downstairs.

Upon entering, Tayuya intended to state her intentions directly, but Naruto spoke first, speaking casually.

"Have something to eat. I'll help you find a place to stay later. Staying here isn't a long-term solution."

Seeing Tayuya in a daze, Naruto looked puzzled.

"What's wrong?"

The prepared explanation got stuck in her throat again. Tayuya stammered for a long time, and in the end, her face turned red but she still couldn't say anything coherent.

". fine."

This time, Naruto specifically accepted a C-rank item-finding mission within the Land of Fire: to collect rare medicinal herbs. The mission had plenty of time, enough for him to make a Tanzaku Town.

Halfway through his meal, Naruto suddenly looked up and asked, "Can I have some of what's in your bowl?"

They were eating the same food, with no difference between them. Tayuya looked up, frowned, and then pushed the bowl away.

Is there any difference?

"It seems there's no difference, so let's forget about it."

"This is ridiculous." Tayuya said coldly, pulling her bowl back, taking a few bites, then stopping and asking, "Am I supposed to stay here forever?"

"Not at all. You can go wherever you want. I just think you need a place to stay." Naruto paused, then continued.

"I also need a place to stay. It's nice to stay in the village, but I sometimes want to come out and get some fresh air."

"Oh, I thought it was just for me." Tayuya poked the char siu in her bowl with her chopsticks. "Turns out I'm going to be with someone like you."

"No, that's not true. If you want a house for one person, I can buy another one next door."

"What a waste!" Tayuya suddenly said angrily.

What does it matter?

"Of course it's related. Although... although it's not my money, ever since I learned how much 100,000 taels can buy, I've just couldn't stand people like you who spend money so extravagantly!"

"Then let's buy one," Naruto readily agreed, then added, "I have a few pretty dresses."

As night fell, we finally bought the house; it was a small two-story house.

After everything was settled, Naruto realized that half of the mission time had passed. He didn't have time to say goodbye, so he left with the words that he would come back in a while.

He then hurriedly left the house and disappeared without a trace into the pitch-black night.

Naruto spent three days in the mountains digging up medicinal herbs. After returning to the village to report, he was immediately summoned by Tsunade.

"Transferred to Team 3?" Naruto narrowed his eyes, sat in the rocking chair in front of the Hokage's desk, poured himself a cup of tea, and complained to Tsunade standing by the window, "I'm completely a temporary worker now!"

"You're being picky about missions? Do you want to get beaten up?" Tsunade mentality was about to explode from being annoyed by work, turned around and glared fiercely at Naruto.

"If you say another word, I'll throw you off this cliff!"

I fell asleep on the bed while coding halfway through. Oh well, I'll continue coding today.