The Real Culprit, Such as the Uzumaki

Three days have passed, and Naruto has finally managed to temporarily resolve the matter, Hinata with Ino and Ino every day without mixing up the schedules.

He knew, however, that things would inevitably go wrong if they continued like this. So on the third day, he decisively had Choji find an excuse to get him out of the house, and the group got together.

On one hand, it was to thank the brothers for their efforts over the past few days, and on the other hand, it was to prepare to leave Konohagakure in a couple of days after the gathering to prevent another unexpected battle from breaking out.

This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision; it was something he had planned long ago. He didn't know what the situation was like in the Land of Lightning, and he needed to deal with Iwagakure and Sand first.

Ultimately, no one can remain uninvolved.

"Cheers!"

On a sweltering night, the embers of the stove glowed a scarlet red.

A chubby hand reached out with chopsticks, precisely picking up a piece of greasy roasted meat. The surface was golden brown and dripping with oil, and the chopsticks sank slightly into the meat.

"Choji, you've already eaten ten plates, can you stop for a bit?" Kiba Inuzuka said with a hint of exasperation. "Stop eating and have a drink instead."

Once you've seen the ocean, other waters seem insignificant; barbecue, beer, and chicken legs are the way to go.

Choji viciously stuffed a large piece of meat into his mouth. His gaze lingered on Naruto, who was sending a text message on his communicator.

These things are now generally referred to as mobile phones, but in reality, only a small number of communicators have functions other than making calls and sending text messages. They are like a preview version, and testing has not yet begun.

Furthermore, cell phones within the village can only be used within the village. To ensure that village intelligence does not leak out, all communications and information within the village are monitored by the Intelligence Department.

Currently, Inoichi Yamanaka is still in charge of the Intelligence Department, Ino and her team are responsible for the daily maintenance of the communication system. However, the task of communication oversight is handled by a group of veteran intelligence ninjas.

Choji had heard some things; these seasoned intelligence ninjas had even gone through special training to keep up with the times. The trainer was Ino, and the teaching materials were also written by Ino.

If those seasoned intelligence ninjas were more observant, they could have discerned some clues. For instance, the cell phone belonging to Hanabi Hyuga would frequently send text messages and make phone calls to Hinata Hyuga.

Will sisters living under the same roof frequently adapt to communicating via mobile phone? The old hands in the Intelligence Department have no idea; they were also among the first users of the product.

In other words, they were among the first people in the Hokage Building to be directly impacted by technology. Their current and future work is inextricably linked to emerging technologies, to the point that they have no choice but to keep learning.

If they are skilled enough, they can easily dig out those abnormal accounts from the sea of data records. Including a certain account that was used by Naruto Makoto to steal information, but simply capturing packets is not enough.

He had already bribed Hanabi Hyuga; his thoughtful sister-in-law not only "lent" Naruto a cell phone bought in her name, but she would also happily agree to anything, even if the Intelligence Department dared to come and investigate.

This is the way of the world: plant a tree early, and you can enjoy its shade later.

"You don't understand, Naruto's treating today!" Choji said fiercely. "It's so rare for him to pay the bill, I'm going to have to walk home leaning against the wall!"

After saying that, Choji raised his chubby paws and roared.

"Boss, another twenty plates of barbecue!"

"Yes, sir!" The boss replied with a booming voice from a great distance, as if he had a bug in his ear. He deserved to make money within a ten-mile radius.

"He's paying?" Shikamaru looked at Naruto with some doubt, guessing that Naruto's matter had most likely been resolved smoothly.

"The slow-witted are still asking questions, while the clever ones..." Kiba Inuzuka stood up and shouted towards the shopkeeper, "Boss! Twenty more servings of squid balls, please!"

Neji remained silent, lost in thought. Rock Lee glanced around at the atmosphere, blinked his large, round eyes, and grabbed a pair of chopsticks in each hand.

The owner, beaming, brought over the order on a small cart almost instantly. Choji glanced at it briefly, his gaze suddenly fixed on it.

"We don't think we ordered thirty servings of beef, did we?"

"I ordered it," Neji said unexpectedly.

Naruto's treating everyone to meals is truly one of Konohagakure's ten great miracles. Ever since he became penniless overnight, he almost never pays for his own meals. He usually follows the principle of freeloading whenever possible, taking advantage of whoever he can.

Especially Choji, he's practically drained this glutton dry. He's always charging into battle, constantly uttering warnings like, "You didn't want to either."

He's the one taking the blame, he's the one living in fear, it's unbelievable.

Choji knew that Naruto's unusual generosity was probably due to a happy occasion. He wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to make a good profit.

Shikamaru was equally resentful; he finally understood. Naruto was utterly shameless and had probably been plotting against his brothers for a long time.

If it weren't for the fact that Kiba Inuzuka would only cause trouble, I probably would have dragged him down with me too.

Neji's expression remained calm, though a hint of resentment flickered in his eyes. He had been thoroughly tricked by Naruto this time, who had forced Hinata to go out, leaving him to stay up all night doing a lot of make-up work.

He stared at the expensive beef before him, silently placing plates of it onto the steaming grill. He glanced at Naruto, the sound of his knife and fork slicing through the beef making a crunching sound.

In the brief moment Naruto looked up, he noticed the unusual situation at the dinner table. However, they underestimated the moral bottom line of Naruto's boss, who didn't pay any attention and even smiled at them.

"Thank you all for your hard work. I'd like to say a few words."

He stood up, raised his wine glass, and glanced at Choji, Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba Inuzuka, and Rock Lee sitting in the middle.

There wasn't a single girl. After all, there were four girls in total, and three of them had been connected. What kind of term is that? Besides, this topic is too high-level; calling them girls isn't appropriate.

"Six years ago, we graduated from the Ninja Academy with bright futures ahead of us. All of us brothers were full of ambition, but who knew that Sasuke would become a traitor?"

"The old Toad of Mount Myōboku, who can foresee dreams, says I'm incapable of great responsibility and will accomplish nothing. But I disagree. Must ninjas always be fighting and killing?"

"I don't like being a ninja. I just feel that this profession has no future. The end of a ninja is war. Life is short, like an autumn leaf falling."

"I just want to embrace the person I love for warmth and grow old together in this life."

"Hey, what kind of looks are those?" Naruto said, somewhat annoyed, putting down his glass and retorting, "Is there any law in the Shinobi World?"

"Who says I can only love one person, or have only one wife? The risks are a bit high, but I'm not greedy at all. Is it wrong to pursue love?"

Choji: "."

"Naruto, do you dare repeat what you just said to Ino?" he asked.

"Yeah, you're shameless! Disgusting!" Kiba Inuzuka stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth, took a swig of sake, and mumbled, "Do you dare tell Hinata?"

Upon hearing this, Neji glanced at Naruto, then raised his glass and took a sip without saying a word. He inwardly agreed; the man was indeed despicable.

"Naruto, can't you be normal for once?" Shikamaru said helplessly. "You're not planning to keep this a secret forever, are you?"

"What are you talking about?" Rock Lee asked.

In the brief moment of silence, Neji's two sentences directly resolved Rock Lee's doubts. Rock Lee's eyes widened immediately, and his expression became increasingly exaggerated.

"Naruto, you actually...?"

"What are you saying? What kind of talk is that!" Naruto argued, sticking his neck out. "A ninja's life and death are determined by fate, but love is a matter of mutual consent. What do you mean by shameless?"

"Tch!!" The audience booed loudly.

The reason Naruto can speak so rudely is simply because everyone in the room has some kind of dirt on the other, or people like Shikamaru and Rock Lee who have no dirt on them and don't talk too much.

In the middle of the night, Naruto gathered people to take everyone home, still drunk. (Festival)

The night air was crisp and cool, and a single raindrop pattered down from the sky. Naruto looked up, and the next drop landed directly on his forehead. He paused for a moment, realizing that autumn had arrived.

He knew very well that Konohagakure hardly experienced autumn. From the first autumn rain, Konohagakure would quickly enter winter in less than a month.

Naruto stood there for a while, then took out two communicators from his Sealing Space and sent messages to the two women as he walked home.

He walked along the dark road with his head down, stumbling forward with each step. Busy replying to messages, he didn't even look at the road ahead and plunged headlong into a side path.

"Naruto?"

Hearing the sound, he looked up and saw Tenten, who had originally escorted Rock Lee home, stretching her arms as she walked back. Their homes were in opposite directions; both needed to take a shortcut to get closer.

"Tenten? Didn't you take Rock Lee home?"

"Don't even mention it!" Tenten waved her hand, rubbed her forehead, and said, "Who made Rock Lee drink? Damn it, I didn't know that guy would run around like that when he drinks."

"We had only delivered half of it when the guy suddenly broke free and ran all the way home. He jumped from the first floor to the second floor, lay flat on the floor, and fell asleep."

A light rain was falling from the night sky, leaving a damp mark on Tenten's clothes.

"I have to go now, it's raining, I'm leaving!"

After saying that, Tenten hurriedly ran past Naruto, leaving behind a shout.

"You should also remember to go home early!"

"Okay." Naruto replied, but Tenten probably didn't hear him and had already run quite a distance.

He continued replying to messages, even briefly recalling where they had left off in their conversation. Meanwhile, the lights in Ino and Hinata's rooms were on.

From that day on, Ino was somewhat distracted at work. Fortunately, the work in the Intelligence Department wasn't too tedious today, and she barely managed to avoid making any mistakes.

Fortunately, Naruto contacted her all day, which eased her anxiety. She was still somewhat confused about what had happened in the past few days.

"It's raining outside. I just dropped Rock Lee off at home, and when we were almost there, he suddenly jumped from the first floor to the second floor."

"Hehehehe." Ino lay on the bed, looking at the messages on her phone, and replied quickly with her fingers, "Rock Lee can't touch alcohol, you guys are so mean."

"Choji insisted on making him drink, and I couldn't stop him," Naruto replied.

"No way! I don't believe it!"

"It must have been you who started it. Choji would never do something like that."

Even though Ino thought she knew Naruto very well, she was still sometimes surprised by his shamelessness. He was usually the one who started these bad things and liked to pin the blame on Choji.

Ding-dong!

"How could I do such a thing? Rock Lee is my brother."

"That's you!" Ino turned over, lying on the bed in her thin pajamas, holding her phone in both hands, facing the overhead light.

"I have to go out for a mission." Naruto typed two identical messages and sent them to Ino and Hinata respectively.

Lying in bed, Hinata stared at the latest message, half her face buried in it. She blinked, forgetting her surprise, and quickly replied.

Are we going out again?

"Yeah, are you worried about me? When can you come out? I'll help you tie your hair." Naruto replied quickly; tying hair was already their Hinata code.

Hinata usually wears her hair long and loose, with black bangs framing her forehead. Only on special occasions, at someone's request, will she reluctantly tie it up.

"Huh? I'll think about it," Hinata replied.

Generally speaking, Hinata says she'll think about it, it usually means she's agreed. Her "thinking about it" is essentially the same as "taking a break before agreeing," which is quite easy to understand.

Buzz buzz buzz, another communicator rang, Ino called directly.

"What's wrong?" he answered the phone.

"Will it take a long time?" Ino's voice was a little low, as if she wasn't in a good mood. After all, they had only confirmed their relationship a few days ago and were still in the honeymoon phase.

To make Ino feel the difference between confirming their relationship and before, Naruto trying to make Ino happy. His methods include, but are not limited to, those clichéd routines, but they seem quite fresh in this context.

For example, on a date, he could conjure flowers out of thin air, count stars, and set off fireworks. He could have strangers deliver flowers to her one after another, take her home when she gets caught in the rain, help her dry off, and kiss her by the fireplace.

One clichéd plot after another overwhelmed Ino, leaving her somewhat dazed. Suddenly hearing that he was going on a mission, she immediately tensed up.

The Konoha 12 are now mostly Jonin, and almost all of them are leaders in their clans or departments. At their level, they no longer need to go on missions frequently, and most of their energy is devoted to their lives and work.

Naruto, however, is an exception. He either doesn't go on missions, or he goes on missions for months at a time.

She had just begun to experience the sweetness of love, and the thought of parting soon, not knowing if they would meet again at the New Year Festival, made her realize that the moment was not yet over.

Thinking of this, I suddenly felt a little flustered.

"I don't know, it shouldn't take long," Naruto replied, then glanced at another screen Hinata had already replied.

Come pick me up tomorrow.

"Okay!" Naruto thought for a moment, then added, "Tomorrow morning, I probably won't be in the village this afternoon."

In fact, he knew very well that Hinata would rest when she was tired. The time was scheduled for the morning, so he could react promptly if the situation changed.

"Okay, when are you leaving?" Ino replied, sending a sad emoji.

"Tomorrow night." After thinking for a moment, he decided that it was better to be honest, so he typed quickly, "Sleep in the morning, pack my bags in the afternoon."