April Is Your Lie

"Gods?" Tsunade was slightly surprised, narrowing her eyes as she stared at Naruto. "Why are you asking this?"

In the Hokage's Office.

Naruto sat in the chair opposite Tsunade, looking somewhat reserved. It wasn't because of the topic of conversation, but simply because the other contestant was wearing black stockings.

Why does it look so familiar? Isn't that the black stockings of the ageless auntie, Shizune?

Did he steal his female apprentice's black stockings?

Is Tsunade that twisted?

"I'm asking you a question, what are you looking at?" A hint of displeasure flashed across Tsunade's face.

"No, nothing." Naruto came back to his senses. "I was just a little curious. During my missions in the Land of Rivers and the Land of Birds, I heard more or less about the Evil God."

"However, since I had never directly encountered heretics Evil Gods, I was just curious at the time and didn't take it to heart. But..."

At this point, Naruto paused, stared intently at Tsunade for a few seconds, and then continued.

"During the Land of Snow mission, I felt the shipwreck wasn't an accident."

Tsunade's casual gaze towards Naruto stopped, and she slightly raised her eyes to look at his face, asking a question.

"What's the meaning?"

"When the ship stopped at the port of the Land of Fire, a strange person appeared, and I kicked him into the sea. But now that I think about it, it seems that person attracted everyone's attention at the time."

Naruto carefully chose his words and asked, "Lord Tsunade, have you heard of the Evil God Festival?"

Tsunade didn't speak, remained silent for a moment, and then asked.

"Are you saying that someone deliberately sabotaged the ship and tried to sink the entire ship at sea? So you suspect that this matter is related to the followers of that Evil God Cult?"

"The shipwreck was too bizarre. The ship inexplicably veered off course and headed into the deep sea, where it encountered a storm and sank," Naruto said.

"I don't believe it was an accident. But this is just speculation. It wasn't aimed at us. We might just have been unlucky and happened to run into them."

"The ship has sunk, and the trail has gone cold." Tsunade slowly rubbed her fingertips on the table, lost in thought. "Let's put that matter aside for now and deal with it when we have a lead later."

"As for the question you asked, I can't really answer it directly."

"Why?" Naruto was a little confused. Existence is existence, non-existence is non-existence. What does it mean that it's not easy to say?

"Why are there so many whys?" Tsunade, somewhat annoyed.

She suddenly remembered the Slug's exact words from that day: fear, as if she were being controlled, his soul was unusually tall, like a mountain.

Spring sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a halo of light on the white walls, and the atmosphere in the Hokage's Office suddenly became somber.

"You should go back first."

Tsunade's voice carried a hint of weariness, "I will give you an answer to your question. I've forgotten most of the details, but I'll tell you when I have time to sort them out."

Naruto sensed something was amiss, but didn't press for details, so he simply agreed.

"Good."

With a click, Naruto closed the door and left.

A moment later, Tsunade stood up from her chair, and the crisp sound of her high heels echoed in the empty office.

She stopped in front of the filing cabinet, squatted down, her shapely figure and wide blue robe touching the ground, and pulled out an old file folder from the bottom cabinet.

Judging from the yellowish tint of the cover, it must have been sealed here at least ten years ago.

After the Third Hokage's death, most of the office belongings were moved out and replaced with office supplies that Tsunade preferred. Only this large filing cabinet remained in a corner, untouched and neglected.

Tsunade had returned to her desk and tore open the top-secret file with a ripping sound. The first signature was Jiraiya's; it was a report Jiraiya had sent back ten years ago about the Land of Hot Water.

"The Land of Hot Water's Evil God follower, this little country really loves creating gods," Tsunade muttered, plopping down in a chair and beginning to flip through the pages.

"The gaze of the gods is eternal, overlooking the human world." Sakura put down her book, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons with laughter. "Why would you buy a scriptbook like this?"

Rooftop of Konoha Hospital.

At noon, the spring sunshine was bright and beautiful.

Surrounded by light green wire mesh, Sakura, dressed in a thin blue and white hospital gown, smiled at him while holding a thin script in her hand.

Behind them is a vast, lush canopy of cherry blossom trees, where cherry blossoms fall silently in early April.

A gentle breeze swept by, outlining the girl's slender figure. A fleeting glimpse of white skin appeared in the blank space stirred by the wind.

"I just suddenly became curious about these things." Naruto looked up and casually put down his reading materials. Four or five thin books were placed on the edge of the concrete railing on the rooftop.

"Shouldn't you be curious about the female body at your age?" Sakura asked.

"Hehe." Naruto chuckled dismissively. "I'm not curious at all. I have important things to do right now. If you're really bored, you can go back to your room."

"I don't want to."

"Please keep quiet. I'll be heading back after visiting Princess Fuun," Naruto said, lowering his head as he flipped through his book.

"I thought you came here specifically to see me, but it turns out you're here to visit Princess Fuun." Sakura's voice carried a hint of resentment.

"I also came to see you, my dearest comrade. Get well soon," Naruto said without looking up, his voice devoid of any sincerity.

"Just companions?"

"Of course, we still have to do missions together, so let's not talk about those weird things anymore," Naruto said absentmindedly, glancing at the pages of the book.

"What does it matter? I don't want to possess you. Isn't it nice to hold hands secretly behind everyone's back?" Sakura tilted her head and asked, enunciating each word clearly, "Naruto-kun?"

"Hmm." Naruto casually replied, running his fingertip over a passage on the page, completely ignoring Sakura's words.

Sakura noticed that Naruto was ignoring her, so she pouted slightly, walked up to him, and leaned halfway over. A troubled expression appeared on her face, and she parted her lips slightly, then read out the obscure and difficult-to-understand words.

"Humans' iron hooks pierced the Evil God's body, tearing out bits of flesh and greedily devouring him. They offered their souls, becoming immortal monsters, but the god did not care."

"What are you looking at?" she asked.

"It's just a folk tale, nothing to be surprised about." Naruto slammed the book shut. "How's your injury healing?"

"Me?" Sakura asked.

"Otherwise what?" Naruto said, staring into her pupils.

"I thought you would ask Princess Fuun first?"

How is she recovering?

"Naruto's words don't make me happy at all," Sakura said. "Although I'm not jealous, I'm still a little sad."

"Come on, she's a protected target. Whether the Land of Snow mission can be restarted depends entirely on that shameless princess." Naruto closed the book and prepared to leave.

"You seem really keen to restart the Land of Snow mission?" Sakura leaned forward slightly, exuding a faint smell of disinfectant.

"I do think about it. If we freeze, the mission is essentially a failure." Naruto said, looking at her. "Get well soon. Next time, Anko- sensei and I will be enough to handle the Land of Snow mission."

"So you really want to be alone with those two, don't you?"

"What nonsense!" Naruto complained. "The mission in the Land of Snow involves another organization, and it won't be restarted until we figure that out."

"There's really no need for Anko to go. We'll see when the time comes. Even Princess Fuun might not need to go. I can go by myself."

The plan to hunt Akatsuki Organization has been put on the agenda, and the fact that he doesn't have the Nine-Tails inside him will be discovered sooner or later. Losing the Nine-Tails is a loss for Konohagakure.

But he didn't care; at worst, he'd just have a showdown with the higher-ups.

There are too many troubles right now: Gaara's struggle for the Kazekage position in Sunagakure, the postponement of the mission in the Land of Snow, the secret beneath the islands of the Land of Whirlpools, the immortal duo of Hidan and Kakuzu, and the Akatsuki organization that's been capturing tailed beasts everywhere.

The village of Konohagakure is not peaceful either; as long as Danzo is alive, he will never have peace of mind.

"Come touch me," Sakura said.

"No." Naruto sighed. "I'm busy and have absolutely no interest in touching my comrades, so please stop."

"But you usually just lie around or stay at home, you're not busy at all."

"Forehead"

Oh no, we've been found out.

Naruto's face flushed slightly; he was indeed a bit lazy.

Whether it's Gaara's affairs, Kakuzu Hidan's, or even the affairs of the Land of Snow, he wasn't in a hurry, since they didn't directly affect his interests.

He just wanted an answer, like he was playing a game.

He didn't care if Gaara got into trouble, nor did he care if the Land of Snow could usher in spring. Even Kakuzu and Hidan were just missions in Naruto's eyes.

Like a level in a game, you're driven by competitiveness to try and beat it, but losing doesn't matter.

"Anyway, Naruto will be doing things with other people anyway," Sakura said with a hint of excitement. "How about you use me as your practice partner?"

"It's okay, just consider it practice beforehand. If it were Naruto, he would be happy no matter how he was treated."

Her expression was incredibly serious, as if she had reached the limit of rationality, and Naruto had no doubt about the truthfulness of her words. It was as if, if he agreed, the next scene to be unlocked would definitely not be as simple as holding hands.

The pink-haired girl, dressed in a blue and white striped hospital gown, spoke highly persuasive words.

On the rooftop, a sudden, fierce gust of wind blew the pages of the books in their hands high into the sky. The thin booklets, carried by the wind, swept past the massive crown of cherry blossom trees.

Naruto looked bored, reached out and pinched Sakura's cheek, and said.

"Don't make jokes like that in a hospital."

"I'm serious."

"Then you should reflect on your flawed ethical values, how despicable!"

"Okay," she nodded, showing no remorse on her face.