No One Understood High-level Meetings Better Than Naruto

After hesitating for a couple of seconds, Shikamaru gave up on thinking about it.

Never mind, the important things come first.

Kakashi was clearly not in a good state; he hadn't said much in the past two days. Shikamaru was worried that his boss would come to blows with those people at tomorrow's High-level Meeting.

He's just a subordinate, only wanting to get the job done; it's really too difficult for him.

Even so, Shikamaru agreed with his wife's words: the more difficult the situation, the more important it is to find the right person. What he saw as troublesome, Naruto might not see it that way.

In other words, this would be a problem for him, but it might not be a problem for Naruto.

Hinata.

Hinata looked at Shikamaru, who had come to visit, with a slight surprise.

"Naruto?"

"Yes."

"Isn't he in the village? I met him three days ago, he should be here," Hinata said blankly. "He said he had something to do and would rest for two days, and would come to have dinner with me in a couple of days."

Upon hearing this, Shikamaru's face twitched.

"Has something happened?" Hinata looked at him with a worried expression.

"I just needed Naruto's help with some work-related matters." Shikamaru stood up, bowed, and took his leave. "In that case, I'll be going now."

"Yes." Hinata also stood up and bowed slightly in return.

Stepping out of Hinata's gate, Shikamaru glanced at the sky; lunch break was almost over. There was no time to look for anyone now; he had work to do that afternoon.

There's only one night left. If Naruto doesn't show up by then, we'll have to try Sakura. After all, she's Kakashi's student, Sakura should be able to handle it.

Night falls.

Shikamaru left work somewhat nervously, glancing back to see Kakashi still sitting at his desk. The light from the window was blocked by the curtains, making the office dimly lit.

"Kakashi-sensei," Shikamaru asked, forcing a smile, "I've finished my work for today, so I'll head back now. You..."

"Oh, you're off work?" Kakashi seemed to just come to his senses, his eyes softened, and he forced a smile. "Thank you for your hard work, Shikamaru."

"You go back first, I'll be leaving in a bit."

"Okay." Shikamaru lowered his eyes slightly and slowly closed the office door.

The office was dark, Kakashi closed his eyes again. After a while, he opened them again, his fingers tracing patterns on a pen, his eyes flickering with uncertainty.

He grew up in Konohagakure and experienced countless wars, large and small; he'd seen it all. While Rin Nohara's resurrection was unbelievable, it wasn't unacceptable.

Furthermore, Rin Nohara has already passed all the checks, so what problems could there be? The answer is definitely no, those higher-ups could find any problems.

He sighed, stood up, and began pacing in the dimly lit office. He happened to walk over to Shikamaru's desk and casually glanced at the cigarette on it.

After hesitating for a moment, Kakashi pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a click. Soon, the Hokage's Office was filled with smoke; he was not good with words and didn't want to create trouble for himself.

Anyway, with Rin Nohara, they can't be touched.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru approached Sakura, hoping she could come up with a solution.

"What can I do?" Sakura smiled. "I'm just a lowly medical-nin, not Lord Tsunade. What can I possibly do?"

"How about we try to persuade Kakashi-sensei?" Shikamaru lit a cigarette and exhaled the smoke naturally. A night breeze swept through the corridor, carrying away all traces of the smoke.

"Why?" Sakura asked in surprise. "Shouldn't you have tried to persuade those higher-ups?"

Shikamaru was stunned, and his hand holding the cigarette trembled slightly.

"That seems to make sense?"

"That's right. This whole thing is the work of the higher-ups. What does it have to do with Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura said. "Besides, I was in charge of Rin Nohara's examination."

"Now that they're saying Rin Nohara has a problem, doesn't that mean she's more professional than me, the Head of Medical Department? I might as well just resign."

Thump, Shikamaru's eyelids twitched suddenly upon hearing this. He noticed that Sakura's expression didn't seem to indicate she was lying. She was telling the truth now; if Kakashi resigned, she would leave too.

If that were the case, the village would be in serious trouble. Putting aside the Hokage for now, the importance of the position of the Head of Medical Department is self-evident. Before Tsunade returned to the village, the Medical Department had been in a state of disarray.

Now that Sakura is holding things together, if Sakura were to leave, Konohagakure would definitely suffer a major blow.

"This isn't a joke, is it?" Shikamaru asked.

"No," Sakura answered very seriously. "Would you believe me if I said I didn't want to do this anymore?"

For some reason, a bizarre thought suddenly popped into Shikamaru's mind. Sakura's tone sounded a bit like Naruto's; could it be that they're all leaving?

He felt uneasy and tried his best to suppress the absurd thought in his mind. He also lost interest in chatting and left after a few hurried words.

This is too ridiculous. If the entire Team Seven quits, Konohagakure will almost come to a standstill.

The Land of Wind.

Snap.

Naruto lay in the rocking chair, watching Baki idly fumble with his lighter again and again, failing each time. Maki seemed a little annoyed, his facial muscles bulging.

A cigarette remained unlit for a long time, and the restless atmosphere seemed to spread throughout the hall, infecting everyone present. There were only five people in the room: Baki, Naruto, and the three siblings from Sand.

Kankuro was somewhat annoyed with Naruto. Even though he only liked playing with puppets, he could roughly tell that the blond guy's relationship with his older sister was unusual.

As the eldest sister, Kankuro like a mother, and he almost looked at Naruto looking at a stepfather.

Naruto ignored him. "What are you looking at, you little kid who only knows how to pick up trash? Look again and I'll give you a good beating!" He had been waiting there all afternoon and was getting impatient.

They couldn't find the supplies for the Evil God follower, so they stayed here with these people to witness the bloodbath against the traitors. From Sand Village nobles to Genin, they hadn't finished killing them all after a whole afternoon.

"Can you please stop fiddling with that broken lighter?" Naruto said impatiently, glancing at the agitated Baki.

"What did you say?"

"Hey--! Can you please stop fiddling with that broken lighter?" Naruto sat up. "If you're worried, go outside and check it out. If all else fails, just grab your sword and join the operation."

"How can this be?" Baki stood up, seemingly speaking to Naruto, but also to himself, "The operation has already been planned. Wouldn't it be a bad thing for me to go out?"

Naruto, too lazy to speak, continued to lie back in his chair. Uzuki Yugao never imagined that the person she most wanted to kill was sitting right in front of Naruto, who had closed his eyes and continued to rest.

Even though he had some connection with Uzuki Yugao, he wasn't in a position to rush to help her get revenge. Since she hadn't spoken up, he hadn't made any move either; it wasn't his business, so he wouldn't get involved.

Besides, it's not his style to create trouble for himself.

Gaara sat upright at one end of the long table, his arms crossed, his expression unchanged throughout. He was waiting for the result, a result with no suspense whatsoever.

Life is so dramatic. Just a few days ago, Temari was worried in front of Naruto that Gaara wouldn't be able to control those raging nobles, but he turned around and slaughtered all the noble forces on the list.

Six years have passed, Gaara has begun to master the weapon known as power.

"Don't worry, everything is going smoothly." Gaara noticed Baki's anxiety and comforted him.

"This is so troublesome, why won't you let me go?" Kankuro said impatiently.

"Kankuro, don't!" Temari couldn't help but speak up, but she was interrupted halfway through by Naruto's even more impatient voice.

"I'm afraid you'll get beaten to a pulp, completely lost, and in the end, even collecting your body will be a hassle. Save your breath, and stop doing stupid things."

"What did you say?!" Kankuro exploded at the slightest provocation.

"Wasn't I clear enough?" Naruto never tolerated anyone's behavior and said slowly, "You're not strong enough, so you'll easily be targeted if you go out."

"You're no good! If you've got the guts, let's have a match!" Kankuro originally wanted to say, but then he thought that would be asking for a beating, so he swallowed his words.

Naruto's eyes were still gleaming as he listened to the last part of Kankuro's words; waiting here was too boring. If he could find some time to beat up Kankuro, it would be a good way to kill time.

Temari: "."

She glanced at Naruto with a hint of resentment. He really had abandoned her that day, and the problem was, things were already halfway done. She shouldn't have mentioned that thing that day; now she felt both angry and regretful.

But the person opposite seemed to have no recollection of the incident and continued to do as they pleased. If it weren't for the inappropriate situation, Temari would have started worrying and overthinking again.

The noble rebellion is a complicated story. Simply put, they think Gaara seems to have normalized and doesn't seem like a madman anymore.

After watching for a while, some ninjas started to wonder if Gaara was past his prime. Fueled by these various speculations, and with the nobles adding fuel to the fire, some ninjas suddenly decided, "Let's take him down!"

Kill him, then drink, eat meat, and throw a lavish party.

The Shinobi World is full of people, and not everyone is normal. Strength doesn't necessarily mean intelligence; perhaps they're used to the law of the jungle, or perhaps they naturally think the three Sand siblings are easy to bully.

In short, the largest rebellion in the history of Sand has begun.

At first, only one or two people took to the streets, but then more and more ninjas took control of the village's main roads, and the crowds approached the Kazekage Building like ants.

Originally, if only the ninjas from the Land of Wind had participated in the operation, it would have been just a rebellion. But later, for some unknown reason, a nobleman from the Land of Wind lost his mind and sought help from wandering ninjas.

Now things have completely changed.

At first, the group was extremely excited and rushed straight to the vicinity of the Kazekage Building, already planning what kind of wine to drink and what kind of flowers to admire at the victory celebration banquet.

With a bang, more ninjas suddenly appeared from all directions, and strings of torches lit up the Sunagakure. The Kakkō turned half the village a fiery red, and the villagers were dumbfounded.

What followed was fierce fighting. At first, the forces were evenly matched, but as time went on, the allied noble army couldn't keep up. They had advanced too quickly and too easily, stretching their battle lines too long, and were forcibly divided.

Having played their cards this far, that small group of reckless nobles have reached their limit; defeat is only a matter of time. Originally, at worst it would have been a rebellion, but now it's also treason.

Everything was in perfect order and arranged perfectly.

That's why the scene just now happened. Naruto was getting a little bored and was preparing to leave after watching the whole thing; Gaara had already promised to help him find a suitable replacement.

He wasn't telling the truth, of course; the term "consumables of Evil God follower" sounded too awful. How about embellishing it a bit and calling it "the pride of the Allied Nation's youth"?

His words sounded much better, Gaara assumed he was representing the Sixth Hokage, Kakashi, so he nodded in agreement.

He just needs to handle a small matter, and then he will give him a specific answer.

Naruto stayed there partly to reciprocate Temari's kindness, and partly because he couldn't resist Temari tearful pleas. Since he was already there, he figured he might as well stay a little longer.

Although I knew Gaara a shoo-in and there wouldn't be any surprises, I still didn't expect it to be this boring. The group sat in the solemn and empty conference hall for the entire afternoon.

Even when he and Kankuro were arguing, their voices echoed.

Especially after Kankuro fell silent whenever he mentioned fighting, Naruto became even more bored, looking at Kankuro with disdain the whole time.

That guy was shameless; he simply stopped looking up, making Naruto roll his eyes.

Naruto returned to Konohagakure late at night using the Gate of Hades. In the past seven or eight days Hinata, he even took some time to go back to Konohagakure and go shopping with Ino, and had a meal with Ino.

Even so, he still manages to get ten hours of sleep every day, truly a master of time management.

He got home, turned on the lights, and hadn't even had time to wash up. Yawning, he was about to rummage through the refrigerator for something to eat when he was suddenly startled by a series of urgent knocks on the door.

Who would be knocking on the door in the middle of the night?

He opened the door and saw Shikamaru's bloodshot eyes, and involuntarily took a step back.

"Shikamaru? What's wrong?"

"Naruto, you're finally back!" Shikamaru exhaled, somewhat dazed. "I've been looking for you for so long!"

"Forehead"

On the sofa.

After Shikamaru finished explaining the whole story, Naruto was somewhat taken aback, thinking it was something important. But... that's it? Well, maybe he'd just watched a major rebellion and was already a bit tired of the high-level brawls that were supposed to happen tomorrow.

In comparison, that's far too mild; it's practically children playing house.

"Why don't we just let Kakashi talk back?" he said.

Shikamaru: "... It's not that simple."

"Otherwise what?" Naruto shrugged and asked, "Unless Kakashi doesn't want to do it anymore, who can remove him from the position of Hokage?"

"But Kakashi-sensei doesn't think so. He seems to be a bit..." Shikamaru stopped mid-sentence.

"Then the problem is most likely with Rin Nohara. Just tell her the whole story," Naruto suggested directly. "It'll be more effective to talk to her than to me. Kakashi hates me the most."

"Alright then." Shikamaru had thought about it too, but he hadn't dared to do it. "So, will you go and tell them?"

"Okay." Naruto knew that if he didn't give in, this guy wouldn't leave.

"What about tomorrow's High-level Meeting? Even if we inform Rin Nohara, there still won't be enough time," Shikamaru said, frowning with worry.

"High-level Meeting?" Naruto yawned. "Forget it, I'll just make the trip again tomorrow. I'm so fed up, why do they have to call me for this kind of thing?"

Upon hearing this, Shikamaru smiled.

"Then you can make your own arrangements. It's getting late, I'll head back now."

Shikamaru felt relieved that he could finally get a good night's sleep. It was true that tricky situations should be handled by the right people; no one knew how to deal with those higher-ups better than Naruto.