The Pen That Fell Behind the Curtain, the Girl's Pale Waist

Naruto looked back, and the atmosphere at the scene froze.

Under the Nikko, the group was scattered, digging in the soil. Ino stood on a hillside, holding a shovel, glanced in Naruto's direction, and silently continued digging.

Hinata, with her Byakugan activated, anxiously checked on the three below. Gaara was unconscious, and Temari and Kankuro seemed to be having increasing difficulty breathing.

Suddenly hearing Kiba Inuzuka call her name, Hinata abruptly looked up. Upon hearing Ino's name, Hinata blushed and lowered her head again. She didn't know how to deal with that situation, so she decided to pretend she hadn't heard anything.

She was timid by nature, and the time she made her stance clear to Ino in the bathroom had almost completely exhausted her courage; she had reached her limit.

No one responded. Shikamaru and Kiba Inuzuka stared at each other in disbelief, realizing something was amiss. Their minds raced, searching for excuses to ease the awkward atmosphere.

Ino, Hinata, and even Naruto didn't feel awkward at all. After all, their relationship with Naruto was only shrouded in a hazy ambiguity; it wasn't so easy to truly define it as a romantic relationship.

They both knew that one was the eldest princess of the Hinata clan, and the other was the only daughter of a Yamanaka Clan. They could fall in love with anyone in the village and have a happy ending, but not with Naruto.

When Tsunade pushed him into the sunlight and revealed her favoritism in front of everyone, everyone understood the Fifth Hokage's intention: to make Hokage Naruto.

Sasuke's defection first made the higher-ups somewhat more restrained. Konohagakure cannot afford to lose any more new generation ninjas, nor can it afford to lose any Jinchuriki.

The powerful figures in Konohagakure observe the unfolding game with detached indifference, ready to make sacrifices and exchanges that align with their own interests when necessary. After all, Hokage and go, but the noble families remain constant. They don't care who Hokage, as long as it benefits them.

The situation was too complicated, and both Ino and Hinata tacitly avoided those thorny issues, since they were young and had plenty of time.

But boys aren't as perceptive. Shikamaru and Kiba Inuzuka naturally assume that if they're in a relationship, they should be together. It'll definitely be the kind of dramatic, earth-shattering love from books, where "you belong only to me, no one can take you away," where two people liking the same person become rivals, leading to a fierce, earth-shattering battle. Or perhaps it'll be tearful scenes where Naruto has to choose between them—in short, as melodramatic as possible, a war for possession.

In fact, neither of the girls was as naive as they imagined; it was Shikamaru and Kiba Inuzuka who didn't understand these things. One was a genius who could deduce high emotional intelligence from high IQ, and the other was a hot-blooded idiot whose goal was to become Hokage so that he could easily establish Konohagakure's Dog Village.

The clash of these two completely mismatched oddballs produced a surprisingly comedic effect. The people involved weren't embarrassed; instead, the two of them were so awkwardly embarrassed they froze for a long time.

"That Ino, let's make some contact with the people below," Shikamaru suggested, trying to salvage the situation.

"Hinata, are they still alive? It feels like we're almost through. Let's reposition it so we don't dig off course," Kiba Inuzuka explained, his voice trembling with tension.

Hearing this, Naruto withdrew his gaze and ignored them. He leaped to the top of the boulder, grabbed Nine-Tails by the scruff of its neck, and lifted it up.

Under the Nikko, the Nine-Tails Fox flapped its limbs, its fiery red fur glistening as if it were about to burst into flames. Tenten Tian glanced up briefly, and caught a glimpse of this scene, momentarily stunned.

"I understand." Ino tossed the shovel aside and muttered, quickly Hand Seals as she tried to call out to the three Sand siblings below.

Hinata heard Kiba Inuzuka's words and hurriedly replied, "Okay." Worried she might not do it well, she looked up at Neji, about to ask a question, when Neji glanced at her and said...

"Come on in."

"Okay." Hinata nodded nervously, her mind suddenly feeling a little confused.

She quickly formed a hand seal and activated her Byakugan, causing the veins around her eyes to bulge and appear somewhat ferocious. Surprisingly, the effect was excellent; she quickly reported the exact location.

"They are about five steps to your left, about eight meters down."

"Alright! Akamaru, let's go!" Kiba Inuzuka shuddered, as if he had finally found a sense of accomplishment in digging, and enthusiastically pulled Akamaru to use Fang Over Fang.

Soon, a large pit appeared before everyone's eyes. Kiba Inuzuka, covered in mud, shook himself off. He picked up a shovel and jumped in. With a thud, the wood made a dull wooden thud.

"We did it!" Kiba Inuzuka exclaimed joyfully.

Rock Lee and Neji jumped in and used a shovel to dig out the white coffin. Kiba Inuzuka fiddled with it for a long time but found that the coffin couldn't be opened at all. He looked up at the people standing outside the pit.

"Tell that guy to stop his Ninjutsu! Damn it!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Kiba Inuzuka squinted and watched a figure slowly walk to the edge of the pit, carrying a dog in its hand. He was immediately annoyed, thinking to himself, "What kind of time is this?"

[Kurotsuchi Raiga's Funeral, Part 1.]

With a thought, Naruto's white coffin vanished, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara tumbled out. Gaara was covered in blood, while Kankuro and Temari were unconscious.

He was too far away to see clearly whether the others were breathing, but judging from Neji's calm demeanor, the three siblings from Sand were most likely still alive, just unconscious.

The person had already been carried up by Lee, Neji, and Kiba. Sakura was about to go forward to rescue the person when Shikamaru stopped her.

"The person is alright. Let's leave here first and retreat back to the Land of Fire."

Sakura nodded, she had no objections; medical-nin were primarily guided by orders. After glancing at the three to confirm that they were alright as Shikamaru had said, she slowly retreated.

It was a mission, not a picnic, so no one objected. Shikamaru was thoughtful and, being the squad leader, everyone followed orders without question, leading the unconscious Sand Village siblings back to the Forest of the Land of Fire.

Footsteps echoed in the empty corridors of Konoha Hospital.

Temari opened her eyes, startled by the lingering smell of disinfectant. Turning her head, she saw clean white curtains and a small pot of blooming yellow flowers on the windowsill.

Nikko reflected off the white walls, casting a soft glow.

Before she could even process what had happened, the footsteps outside the door stopped, and then the door was pushed open. The person who entered seemed to have no concept of safe distance between people, stopping only at the side of the hospital bed.

"Woke up?"

Naruto's voice was soft and his tone was indifferent. He had blond hair and blue eyes, and wore a loose white short-sleeved shirt. His forehead was smooth, and his slightly wavy blond hair almost covered his eyebrows.

Temari a soft "ah," her head turning unconsciously, her gaze drawn back to her hand.

He held a stack of agreements in his hand, a pen between his right fingers, his fingernails slightly translucent. His large knuckles gripped the pen tightly.

After staring at it for a second, Temari felt something was off; her mouth watered due to nervousness. Her face flushed, and she quickly looked away.

She couldn't look anywhere now; she stared down at the white cup. Her pupils dilated, her vision blank, and she could hear his slightly impatient voice beside her.

"Sign this agreement once you wake up." Naruto frowned as he looked at Temari. He didn't want to have any contact with Temari, but Shizune insisted on dragging him over to be her laborer.

It would be more appropriate for him to go, since he is one of the few acquaintances Temari knows in Konohagakure.

Are they close? Not really. They've only had some close contact when necessary. Naruto looked at Temari, who was pretending to be dead with her head down, and inexplicably felt like getting angry.

For some reason, his tone would unconsciously become harsh whenever he saw Temari. It wasn't that he didn't want to be nicer, but every time he saw her, he inexplicably...

That movement, that look, is just too much! What the heck!

"Agreement?" Temari's voice was low, but her expression finally returned to normal as she looked up at him and asked, "What kind of agreement?"

"How should I know? You see for yourself." Naruto threw the agreement onto the hospital bed with a thud. The thick agreement landed on the white blanket, but the pen he was signing rolled inside the curtains due to inertia.

"Okay." Temari hesitated for a moment, then looked at the pen again.

Naruto didn't care; he felt there was no need to pick up the pen. If Temari had any objections to the agreement, he could use that as an excuse to leave and find Shizune to explain.

He hadn't read the agreement from beginning to end, naturally because he didn't care at all, just as he didn't care about the pen that had rolled inside the curtain.

But the scene Naruto had hoped for didn't happen. Temari neither agreed nor refused, and didn't even flip through the agreement. She first glanced at him cautiously, then quickly turned her head to look in the direction where the pen had fallen.

"I dropped my pen," Temari said somewhat fearfully.

"It's gone, so be it. Don't worry about it," Naruto said, standing beside the hospital bed.

"May I pick it up?" she asked.

Naruto felt a little uncomfortable being asked that question. It was just picking up a pen; she could do it whenever she wanted, so why was he being asked? Did he think she wouldn't dare pick it up if he didn't give permission?

"Whatever," he said impatiently.

Annoying, why does this woman look like she's afraid I'll eat her?

"Okay." She nodded, then hesitated for a moment.

Then, Temari quietly got up from the hospital bed, without lifting the blanket, and instead curled up on her stomach. She slowly crawled to the edge of the bed, one hand supporting herself against the wall, and the other hand slowly reaching inside the curtains.

Her slender neck was fair, and the loose blue and white striped hospital gown could not conceal the girl's curves. A gentle breeze blew, revealing her fair waist.

Naruto stared coldly at the tied-up golden braids, a strange emotion welling up inside him. He felt a ticklish urge, a strong desire to reach out and touch them.