False Relations Between Three People, Maintained by Deceiving Themselves

Naruto had already returned to Konohagakure, landing on the edge of the Konoha Forest. After taking a moment to determine his direction, he turned and headed towards the village.

The village remained largely unchanged. Naruto's return caused little disturbance. However, it greatly excited his friends, who promised to have a good drink together.

In the courtyard in front of the Barbecue restaurant, white sand was piled up to form a fake beach.

Two parasols stood on either side, with a blue stone path running through the middle. Several beach chairs were placed on either side, where a fat man and a thin man lay.

"How long do you plan to stay this time?" Choji glanced at the blond guy next to him. For some reason, his right eyelid had been twitching since earlier.

"I don't know, it won't be too short." Naruto lay comfortably on the beach chair, his eyes slightly closed. "I can't say for sure myself, why are you asking?"

Choji wanted to say that Shikamaru had said it, but then he thought better of it and swallowed it back.

"It seems like you don't really want to stay in the village; you're always out and about. Now that Shikamaru others all have jobs, sometimes I want to find someone to drink with, but I don't know who to ask."

Upon hearing this, Naruto immediately sat up from his chair.

"Choji".

"What's wrong?"

"If you're really bored, go find a job." He patted Choji on the shoulder and said earnestly, "Choji, you're just bored out of your mind."

"You're the one with nothing better to do!" Choji slapped his hand away. "By the way, I felt uneasy all day yesterday. Do you think something's wrong with my health?"

"What's wrong?" Naruto lay back down, not paying much attention to Choji's words.

"I have a feeling that something is watching me, like some kind of bad luck," Choji said worriedly, his chubby face almost scrunched up like a bun.

Naruto paused abruptly upon hearing the sound, turning his head slightly to look at Choji in surprise.

"Cough! Choji, don't think like that. How could such a thing happen? Relax, you should believe in science instead of these superstitious things."

"Oh, oh." Choji confused.

After this incident, Naruto couldn't help but feel a little guilty. He thought to himself, "This ninja world is really a bit outrageous. Could there really be some kind of telepathic connection?"

Uchiha Sasuke secretly gasped as he thought about how he had done so many detrimental things under the name of "Uchiha Sasuke. "Naruto

"As for why I don't like staying in the village, well, there's nothing I don't dislike," Naruto said after a moment's hesitation. "I just don't really like the people in the village."

Choji: "."

"What you're saying is practically the same as saying nothing at all. The people in the village are indeed..." Choji trailed off, unable to finish his sentence, finding the situation too complicated to explain.

Naruto is no longer the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, but the villagers still view him with fear and disgust, though they dare not show it openly.

"Choji, it's true that you love this village, but you can't use moral blackmail. I know how those people have treated me."

Naruto gazed at the azure sky outside the parasol, watching the white clouds drift by.

"I don't hate the village, I just don't like it here. If you weren't all here, I probably would have left long ago and would never have come back."

"If you went through something like that, you probably wouldn't like it here either. My current attitude is already quite good."

"That's true, but..." Choji stammered. What he wanted was to live with his best friends forever, except for Sasuke.

Sasuke and Choji didn't interact much; Choji left the village at a young age. So many years have passed, Choji has almost no feelings for Sasuke anymore, nor does he consider Sasuke still his comrade.

"But... those are things of the past, aren't they?" Choji's brain was as sharp as Shikamaru's; he had spent nearly two days coming up with these words.

"The past? Yes, those things are in the past. But who can say what will happen in the future? What if something happens that requires Jinchuriki to risk their life?"

He pursed his lips and said with slight dissatisfaction.

"When that time comes, what choices will I have? I'll most likely be forced to do things I don't want to do, like being used as a container or a weapon."

"No way! That kind of thing will never happen," Choji said seriously. "The current Sixth Hokage is Kakashi-sensei, right? With Kakashi-sensei around, that kind of thing is definitely impossible."

"Choji, wasn't I clear enough?" Naruto interrupted his friend, turned to look at him quietly, and said seriously.

"I don't want to die."

With a buzzing sound, Choji was dumbfounded. He stared at Naruto for a while before awkwardly Shikai.

"No, I didn't mean that. I just think the village is fine now. How did it get associated with death? That's just too much."

"Good? How so?" Naruto crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Kakashi's personality won't allow him to remain the Sixth Hokage forever. He has no ambition; he's just temporarily filling in for Lord Tsunade. He'll have to step down sooner or later."

"Who will be the next Hokage? What kind of personality will he have? How will he view the Jinchuriki issue? Can you find out?"

I Choji speechless.

"Even if the next Hokage is a good person, who can be sure that Konohagakure won't be attacked? What should I do if I'm stuck in the village then?"

"I clearly don't like this village, and I don't want to risk my life for those people. But staying in the village is the beginning of disaster; they will take it for granted that I am a weapon."

"If the village is attacked, that's my responsibility; if the village loses the battle, that's also my responsibility. Even if I risk my life to protect them, what about the damaged houses? What about the villagers who were accidentally injured?"

Naruto, unusually serious, spoke a long string of honest words to Choji. Choji was momentarily stunned, but upon closer reflection, Naruto's words made increasingly sense.

"This"

"You don't need to answer. I've thought about those things countless times." Naruto waved his hand, then pointed to himself. "The answer is obvious. In the end, it's all my fault."

"From now on, if a dog dies in the village, people will suspect that I killed it in the middle of the night."

"So now you know why I've always acted so recklessly in the village, right? There's no need for me to restrain myself; the more aggressive I am, the safer I am. The more they fear me, the less likely they are to blame me."

Choji fell silent; he hadn't expected the explanation to be so complicated. He had been oversimplifying things, merely hoping that friends could get together often.

But in reality, everyone being safe and sound is the best outcome.

"Does this have to go on forever?" Choji sighed. "If we only come back occasionally, won't we see each other very infrequently?"

"Tsk, Choji, Ino isn't in a hurry, why are you?" Naruto said.

"I was just making a comment. Of course it would be boring to stay in the village all the time," Choji said irritably. "Shikamaru is very busy, even Kiba is getting married soon."

"That guy, getting married?" Naruto was taken aback. "But we'll be apart more often than we're together in the future, we'll get used to it eventually. Staying away from home like the Pervy Sage and Lord Tsunade is the safest way."

"Who told me to be so powerful? Staying in the village would definitely not bring peace, so it's better to travel far away. Whatever happens in the village, it naturally has nothing to do with me."

Choji: "."

The man's words were crude but his reasoning was sound; it just didn't sound very pleasant.

After chatting for a while longer, Choji finally accepted reality with a sense of dejection. The thought of getting together with friends after growing up was simply too much of a luxury.

Finally, Choji asked Naruto a question.

"Didn't they contact you?"

"I looked for them." He held up two fingers. "They both came looking for me when I got back, but I chose to spend time here with you, sunbathing, drinking and chatting."

"How about it? Touched?"

"There's something wrong with you being so moved, there must be a reason!" Choji knew this guy's nature all too well. "I was wondering why you seemed so relaxed."

"Hey, why are you still sitting here? Aren't you going to see them?"

"Yes, I'll be there in a bit."

Naruto calmly took off his sunglasses and grinned at Choji, "I told Hinata and Ino that you needed to see me today, and that I've been busy all day."

"So, you'd better not go out today after you get back. Remember, not for the whole day. Don't let me let it slip."

Upon hearing this, Choji was dumbfounded; his CPU almost overheated.

What exactly do you want?

"It's nothing. I'm going to see Ino later. I'll just say I snuck out to see her." He grinned, revealing a set of white teeth. "Then I'll go see Hinata. That way, I can time it perfectly."

"And you, my friend, all you have to do is stay home and rest all day to make me happy all day. How about that? Perfect, right?"

"You're right, my foot! Naruto, you're really..." Choji started to curse but stopped himself, speechless for the first time in his life, "Couldn't you have met them one by one?"

"Are you stupid?" Naruto rolled his eyes at him. "Isn't it obvious that people have figured it out? Forget it, I can't reason with you. Just go home and stay there."

With that, Naruto got up and pushed Choji out of the store.

"Wait a minute, I don't quite understand." Choji turned around and asked, unwilling to give up, "Ino and Hinata should both know about each other's existence, right? Even we know, so what's the point of you doing this?"

"Stop asking, save your breath." Naruto was too lazy to answer.

Meaning? Does meaning matter? As long as that thin veil isn't broken, the triangular relationship can continue. Ino and Hinata's relationship is no longer as strained as before, and now she needs to be even more careful.

This is indeed self-deception, but what does it matter? Given the current situation, there's no good solution at the moment; we can only maintain the status quo for now.

To be honest, this situation is advantageous for Naruto.

Ino and Hinata's relationship had already thawed; they were now good friends, only they both liked the same person. If they avoided that issue, their relationship could continue.

Even if it's just a false appearance and not the real thing.

But the truth, untainted by any falsehood or deception, is a sharp and swift blade, a fact that both Ino and Hinata are well aware of.

Whoever grabs the knife first, all three will be injured.

Pandora's Box contains lies, love, honesty, and fear, and any one of the three could open it at any time, but none of them did.

Opening it will inevitably result in one party losing both friendship and love.

A false sense of harmony enveloped the three of them from the very beginning. The summer camp at the Ninja Academy six years ago had already reopened a wound.

The two women poured their hearts out to each other in the bathroom, only to be met with six years of silence.

Now, both Ino and Hinata are merely accepting the false peace that Naruto is deliberately maintaining. Lovers and friends are holding hands at the same time.

At the Yamanaka Flower Shop, Ino sat listlessly at the counter.

With a ding-a-ling sound, a noise suddenly came from the doorway, and she subconsciously looked up. She saw a tall figure blocking the shop door, standing there and smiling at her.

He looked just like he did when he was a boy, standing under the Great Green Tree, waving to her.

"Why are you here?" Ino asked in surprise.

"I sneaked out from Choji, you know, that guy's always so bored." Naruto reached out and pinched her cheek. "As soon as he heard I was back, he insisted on dragging me to his place."

"Choji is indeed like that." Ino covered her mouth and laughed, her eyes curving into crescents.

Suddenly, Naruto seemed to remember something. He glanced at the direction of the stairs, then looked at Ino and asked cautiously.

Are your aunt and uncle home?

"No, Father went to work at the Intelligence Department, and Mother went to see a friend," Ino said with a smile. "What? Do you really want to see them?"

"No, I just brought some gifts for your uncle and aunt. This is for you." Naruto skillfully pulled out several boxes of gifts, almost as if it were muscle memory.

Although he initially chose the gifts in bulk to save time and in case of unforeseen circumstances, his feelings were genuine.

"Thank you, let's leave it there for now." She pulled Naruto down to sit, and the two sat close together around the counter. "Was everything alright outside?"

"It's fine, I've been wanting to see you, but things have been holding me back." Naruto smiled at her, their eyes met, and they smiled knowingly.

The two had long since developed a tacit understanding; sometimes, even without speaking, a single glance was enough for the other to understand. Therefore, they could understand and even tolerate each other without any reservations.

Ino's tolerance for Naruto is almost limitless. For example, Hinata never truly made Naruto make a choice. She understands, so she has always been tolerant of Naruto.

She has always been a person with strong boundaries and considerate of others. Therefore, she didn't want to do anything bad before things could be changed.

Hyuga compound.

Hinata sat on the veranda in the backyard, gazing at the treetops beyond the white wall, her expression unusually calm. But her mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts.

Hanabi Hyuga stood behind the shoji gate, curiously watching her older sister, and weakly called out.

"What's wrong?" Hinata turned around and gave a warm smile.

Seeing her sister's smile unchanged, Hanabi felt relieved. She looked at Hinata, who simply shook her head, and asked...

"Sister, were you thinking about something just now?"