Whirlpool Fisherman Busy, Disturbing the Nine-Tails

The Bamboo Forest is quiet and secluded, and spring is fading away.

Hinata had already gone back to get the sake. Naruto leaned against a lush green bamboo, took out his Make-Out Paradise, and patiently waited while looking at it.

I was thinking that time flies by and early summer is just around the corner.

Akatsuki Organization to capture the One-Tail failed, Jiraiya's search for the Child of Prophecy had not yet yielded results, and Kakashi was busy. The investigation mission in the Land of Rain seemed far off, so he could only make some preparations on his own.

Putting everything else aside, the absence of the Akatsuki Organization was crucial to him; this was a destined life-or-death battle. It was either the entire Akatsuki Organization perishing, or he himself.

As for the row of secret treasures beneath the Land of Land of Whirlpools, he didn't have time to deal with them for the time being. The talk of making the Land of Whirlpools great again was ultimately just a way to deceive his ancestors.

Which brainstem-deficient individual would build a harem on a deserted island?

As he was lost in thought, a figure darted out from the Hinata gate. Even in broad daylight, the figure cautiously looked around, as if stealing someone.

Okay, now he's basically certain that Hinata is simply a coward.

"Here, Naruto, is this enough?" She handed him a bottle of sake in a jade bottle, the bottle clearly more expensive than the sake itself. "If it's not enough, I'll get more."

"That's enough, that's enough." Naruto took it, thinking to himself that with this bait, he wouldn't have to worry about Nine-Tails not taking the bait.

"Thank you, Hinata. I'll treat you to a meal next time," he said with a smile. Seeing Hinata blush, he couldn't help but reach out and gently pinch her cheek.

It touched and then left immediately, without making any unnecessary movements.

"I'm happy to be able to help Naruto," Hinata stammered. "It's okay."

"That was a huge help." Naruto put the jade bottle into his Sealing Space, then suddenly remembered Sakura's words and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Hinata, have you been busy lately?"

"Huh?" Hinata was clearly surprised. "I... I'm not busy."

"Aren't there any missions lately?" he asked, somewhat puzzled. It wasn't surprising, as Naruto hadn't participated in many missions recently, practically being kept out of the spotlight by Tsunade.

Kakashi is taking advanced courses, Sakura is also taking advanced courses, Sasuke transferred to Orochimaru and has most likely already betrayed his master. Team Seven is now defunct in name only, and the so-called reorganization has been suppressed.

The village had already begun training ninjas of Konohamaru's generation, investing more teaching resources in the Ninja Academy. He knew this, which is why he taught the Konohamaru trio the Rasengan that day.

"There have been fewer missions lately, after all, I'm almost Jonin," Hinata said softly. "Those who are strong, like Shino, actually get more missions."

"As for me, if Team Eight doesn't have any special missions, I'll probably have to come back and participate in the family's daily affairs."

"They've split up, huh?" Naruto muttered.

"What?"

"It's nothing," he changed the subject, "How did the last training go?"

The bamboo leaves rustle in the wind, a sound that reaches the ears.

The humid air was refreshing, and Hinata subconsciously tucked her hair behind her ear, easing most of her tension. Upon hearing this, her face visibly paled.

"It failed."

"Oh, it's okay, don't be discouraged," Naruto comforted her, glancing at Hinata's Byakugan for a moment, thinking to himself that Hinata must have the bloodline of Otsutsuki Hamura in her body.

"There will be other opportunities in the future. Besides, being powerful also brings a lot of trouble. Look at Lord Tsunade, she's always complaining like a nagging woman, and every time she gets drunk she shouts about retiring."

"In short, those things can't be rushed."

That was truly what he thought. If he had a choice, he wouldn't want to deal with the Akatsuki Organization all the time. What he really wanted to be was someone like Kakashi —powerful but not someone anyone would want to mess with.

If you want to live a comfortable life, then live comfortably for a while. If you don't want to do something, just refuse to do it. True freedom is probably simply not doing what you don't want to do.

But there's no use thinking about it now; let's just take it one step at a time. I just hope Jiraiya can pull through and bring back some fresh intelligence.

His thoughts drifted by, but Hinata's voice pulled him back to reality.

"Okay, I understand." Hinata glanced at him again. "Naruto, do you have time tomorrow? You've been so kind to me, I... I'd like to treat you to a meal."

"Tomorrow?"

"Ah! If you're not free, that's fine. I just..." Hinata seemed flustered, not daring to look up, her hands tightly gripping the hem of her clothes. This was the first time she had taken the initiative to ask Naruto.

She never had the courage before; just speaking normally took all her strength. But Naruto has always been kind to her, and she's growing up so much.

But then she thought about how Ino and Naruto were much closer than she was, and how the three of them used to be very good friends. Perhaps waiting any longer would be better.

"Tomorrow night?" he asked.

Remembering that it was the price for the information exchange at noon, and that he had just agreed to let Sakura have lunch for him, it wouldn't be right to break his promise on the first day. If it were arranged for the evening, then it wouldn't be a problem.

"Okay." Hinata nodded like a chick pecking at rice, then ran off after saying just one sentence, "Then see you at the wall tomorrow night!"

"The wall?" He turned and looked into the distance. Beyond the wall was a blocked old alley, not far from the Hyuga compound, located on the back side of Konohagakure Street.

After crossing that alley and passing the rooftops of several buildings, I arrived at Konoha Street 404. It wasn't a particularly remote location, but it wasn't exactly the center of the village either.

Hinata was long gone. He thought about it for a moment; it was just a meal, so he didn't think much of it. While pondering how to catch the Nine-Tails, he slowly turned and left.

At the Hyuga compound, Hinata peeked out, her face flushed, and watched him leave.

The next second, a familiar voice rang out.

"Sister, what's outside?"

"Ah!" Hinata was startled and turned to see Hanabi Hyuga looking at her with a puzzled expression. Her face immediately turned as red as if it were on fire.

"No, it's nothing!"

"Let me see." Hanabi Hyuga to go out and take a look, but was suddenly stopped by a flustered Hinata.

"It's nothing! Don't look!" Hinata grabbed her younger sister by the neck and pulled her into the Hyuga compound. "Let's go home. I have something to tell you."

"But sister, I need to go out."

"We'll go later." Hinata's heart pounded, and she forcibly dragged Hanabi Hyuga away.

If Hanabi discovers the secret, she might as well die on the spot.

Konoha Street 404.

Naruto changed his shoes in the entryway after returning home and entered the living room, first glancing around discreetly. Nine-Tails, completely drunk, was fast asleep on the sofa.

Fortunately, Nine-Tails is a Tailed Beast, so its energy body won't get dirty or need to pee, otherwise he would definitely have thrown this drunken fox out.

A faint smell of alcohol filled the living room. Naruto silently returned to his room, closed the door, and took out the fine sake from the Hyuga Clan that Hinata had obtained.

Then he took out ten high-end bottles that he had bought from the street from the Sealing Space and arranged them in a row on the ground.

They poured the Hyuga Clan's superior sake from the jade bottle into high-end bottles, and then poured the inferior sake from the Sealing Space into the other nine similar high-end bottles.

After doing all this, he put away all the utensils, opened the door, and swaggered into the living room. He had barely sat down when he brought out the bottle of fine wine.

With a pop, the bottle was opened, and a faint aroma of wine wafted through the air.

The Nine-Tails fox, fast asleep, twitched its nose, jolting itself awake and abruptly opening its eyes. Its gaze was immediately drawn to the impressive-looking wine bottle on the table, almost blinding it!

"Good wine!!!" Nine-Tails stood up and reached out to touch it, but Naruto shoved his hand away.

"What are you doing?!"

"What are you doing?" Naruto resealed the wine, glancing unhurriedly at the hungry Nine-Tails. "I'm using this for an ancestral offering."

"You little brat, what kind of ancestor worship are you offering? I've never seen you offer ancestor worship before. Why don't you just worship me directly! It's a waste to keep you around anyway, so just give me to me."

"What nonsense are you talking about? Do you think money grows on trees?" Naruto showed no mercy. "Kurama, you should contribute something to this family, otherwise why should you drink the ancestral wine?"

"I..." Nine-Tails was speechless.

"Besides, there were only ten bottles of wine for the ancestral worship, so we didn't prepare any more." Naruto calmly took out the other nine identical bottles of inferior wine from the Sealing Space.

"Ten bottles!!! Isn't that enough?" Nine-Tails exclaimed in surprise.

"Can't we have many ancestors?"

"Why are you worshipping your ancestors for no reason?" The Nine-Tails's eyes never left the ten bottles of wine on the table, and it stretched out its claws to reach for them.

"It's no use telling you, you can't help anyway, so don't ask." With that, Naruto put away all ten bottles of alcohol, and after thinking for a moment, he left two ordinary bottles behind.

"I have something to do, I'll be going now."

With the good wine gone, Nine-Tails suddenly lost its appetite, but remembering that guy's penchant for suspenseful fishing, it didn't stop Nine-Tails and let him leave.

With a bang, the door slammed shut, and the living room fell silent once more. A refreshing breeze blew in from the balcony, causing the curtains to flutter gently, Nine-Tails suddenly felt a profound sense of emptiness in her life.

It slumped back onto the sofa, staring at the two ordinary bottles of wine on the table. It instinctively reached for them but found it had no desire to drink. Its eyes were blank, staring at the ceiling in the dimly lit living room.

The ten bottles of fine wine, packaged in their jewel-like gold, resembled ten snow-white-furred, water-eyed female foxes. In its heart, they stirred and tantalized, arousing a strange itch.

Ten seconds later, with a bang, Nine-Tails stood up and said fiercely.

"Damn it! Those fishermen deserve to die!"

The sunset cast a golden hue.

The shadow of the Hokage Building stretched long, towering in the orange twilight.

The office on the fifth floor was pushed open from the outside.

Tsunade leaned back in her chair, her eyes still closed, and said, "Time to go home."

That bastard was the only one in the whole village who never knocked on the door. Tsunade had been working non-stop for almost a month, and she was exhausted like a dog. She finally finished all her work, so naturally she had no time to pay attention to him.

Ino was organizing documents at the filing cabinet, preparing to leave work. Turning her head, she saw Naruto, whom she hadn't seen for several days, come straight here, and immediately became so nervous that she wanted to hide in the filing cabinet.

On an ordinary afternoon at dusk, the windows of the Hokage's Office were wide open.

The setting sun shone unreservedly through the window, bathing the entire office in a soft, orange glow.

Tsunade lay exhausted in the chair, while Ino wore a clean and neat business suit. The white long-sleeved shirt perfectly showcased her slender figure, and she wore a black pencil skirt.

Her long, snow-white legs were exposed in the twilight, and her face looked flustered and hurried.

He stood at the door, dressed entirely in black, impeccably clean, even his hat was black. He wasn't just focused on training to become the Hokage; he occasionally paid attention to his appearance.

His youthful spirit couldn't be hidden beneath his loose clothes, and the outline of his body could be vaguely seen.

With broad shoulders and a gust of wind, the boy's robust physique was outlined. He appeared slender, and when he was silent, his eyes held a deep, unsettling gaze, somewhat different from his usual demeanor.

Ino skipped a beat, as if she had done something wrong. She glanced at Naruto's smooth jawline at the door and then turned away.

"What has Lord Tsunade been up to lately?" Naruto took off his hat, smiled, and strode inside.

The atmosphere finally relaxed a bit. Ino stood silently by the filing cabinet against the wall, continuing to organize the documents, like a primary school student being punished by being made to face the wall for doing something wrong.

"What? You want to share my burdens?" Tsunade Teuchi, revealing her snow-white, firm breasts.

"Forget it, I'm just not cut out for clerical work." Naruto put his hat on the desk and glanced at Ino, who was standing in the corner with her back to him.

He said this while keeping an eye on it.

"If you have any high-risk missions next time, you can come to me. Anyway, I'm lucky. I was born to do this kind of work."

"Keep talking nonsense. We'll talk about it when Jiraiya gets back." Tsunade raised a hand to cover her eyes and said lazily, "Right now, only Neji and Shino have missions to complete."

"This summer, their qualifications should be sufficient to be rated as the first batch of Jonin."

"Jonin, when will I be able to become Jonin?"

"Forget it, you don't care at all," Tsunade said lazily. "Stop pretending. It's time to go home. If you have nothing to do, hurry up and leave. Don't bother me here."

Tsunade had already given him the order to leave; she was too tired to argue with Naruto, so she waved her hand and sent him away.

"So they're off work by now, right?"

"Um."

"Can I take the person with me?"

Upon hearing this, Ino, who was organizing documents in the corner, suddenly froze for a moment, her heart pounding. What had he just said? No way, but...

"Ask yourself, don't ask me." Tsunade changed her position and continued sleeping on her side.

Ino wanted to continue organizing the data, but found her thoughts were already jumbled. Just as she was about to pull herself together and finish up, she suddenly felt her shoulder being grabbed, causing her to shudder. Then she felt him lean closer to her.

This is insane! This is the office, Lord Tsunade is still there! How could he be in a place like this? Ino felt so nervous that her heart was about to jump out of her chest.

He breathed hot air into her ear and quietly turned her shoulders, showing no sign of stopping.

"Sister, I was wrong."

With a bang, Ino's mind went completely blank.

Humbly begging for votes at the end of the month, still have some.