Take two steps. Stand up and take two steps. Are you crippled?

Seeing that Rin Nohara was stunned for a long time, Kakashi also looked away somewhat uncomfortably. Just as he was wondering what was wrong, Rin Nohara suddenly spoke.

"Kakashi."

"Um."

Is that really what you think?

"What?"

Rin Nohara took a deep breath, smiled, and said nothing.

"Why aren't they moving?" Naruto asked, craning his neck from the rooftop.

Ino: "."

"Stop looking, let's go." She dragged Naruto away without any hesitation. "With Kakashi-sensei like that, there's basically no hope."

"Hey, let me watch it a little longer."

Naruto ultimately didn't see what happened next; he only knew that he was busy until 11 p. m. that night, Ino said she was sleepy and fell asleep.

When the two woke up, it was already early morning. Ino opened her eyes and realized something was wrong. She was so tired from all the activity last night that she forgot to go home. She suddenly remembered and her legs went weak.

"Still sleeping!" Ino gave Naruto a hard shove.

"What's wrong? I'll take you home now." Naruto sat up abruptly, also stunned. "Ino, why is the moon so bright tonight?"

"Idiot! What moon? I overslept!" Ino was getting a little frantic. "Oh no, oh no, Father and Mother were both home last night. If I don't get back tonight, they'll beat me to death!"

He wouldn't be killed, but Naruto's reputation with the Yamanaka couple is almost completely depleted. His name is a taboo word in the Ino family; it's forbidden to mention it.

"I'll take you home first. If your uncle is angry, I'll explain to him." Naruto quickly calmed down, realizing that this was a test.

Naruto's words were ultimately useless; it was clearly a bad idea. If he went to Ino's place to explain, wouldn't that be like inadvertently admitting guilt?

Is this a serious matter? Not really. Ino can just tell a lie. She might get caught, or she might manage to cover it up; the probabilities are about equal.

But even if Ino could do that, Naruto couldn't let her do it willingly.

It didn't matter what Inoichi Yamanaka thought of him; his opinion wouldn't be too good anyway, and even a worse one wouldn't matter. What mattered most Ino's attitude; she wanted to hear what he had to say.

If Naruto doesn't take it seriously now, or lets her find an excuse, he'll definitely get angry. At this moment, Ino hopes Naruto can take responsibility.

Even if this responsibility is just virtual, Naruto would be happy if Ino accepted it.

Sure enough, Ino gently patted him and scolded him playfully.

"Hey! What nonsense are you talking about? Do you think it's all over if you just go and explain?"

Although her tone was complaining, Ino's expression was happy. After saying this, she carefully picked up the communicator from the table, glanced at it, and then closed her eyes again.

"Oh no, I've made so many phone calls."

Naruto didn't say anything at this moment, but quickly dressed and took Ino's dried clothes. He couldn't say too much, or he would seem too deliberate.

What I just said was that we need to act now. He knew that Ino didn't need to make a foolish move right now, but rather to arrange everything for her while she tried to come up with a solution.

He quickly dressed her, combed and tied her hair, and then squeezed toothpaste onto her toothbrush. In a brief lull in the activity, Naruto added a comment.

"Ino, don't worry. If your uncle asks, just be upfront. Let's get married soon. You're not too busy with work lately."

"If you have another child, your parents won't have any more complaints about us."

Naruto hadn't planned on getting married so early; he was still putting it off, waiting for the right opportunity. At this moment, he brought up marriage as a ploy, seemingly casually mentioning work.

Besides her family and Naruto, Ino's most important things are her work, which is the career she has built through hard work, and she would never let it interfere with her work at this time.

The first phase of the communications infrastructure project in the Land of Fire's Capital City has been completed, but there's still a lot of work to be done, estimated to take another year or so. Ino's free time lately is purely due to waiting for the necessary procedures.

After a while, Ino, as the prospective head of the Intelligence Department, will be busy again.

"No!" Ino refused almost instinctively, but her tone softened quickly. "I want to get married too, but not right now."

"Work will get busy soon, and I'll have to do many things myself."

A look of guilt suddenly appeared on her face. She grabbed Naruto's hand and shook it pleadingly.

"I know this is very unfair to you, but can we wait a little longer? Once I'm done with this busy period, I'll take you to meet my parents and confront them about the situation!"

Upon hearing this, Naruto's face instantly showed a troubled expression, yet he forced a smile. He stroked Ino's hair and sighed softly.

"All right."

Naruto is still the Naruto, but thankfully he knows that too much of anything is bad, and his over-the-top antics can easily backfire. He simply replied with an "okay," and then fell silent.

Later, Ino returned the call and told a lie that she was at a friend's house. Whether Inoichi Yamanaka believed her or not was their problem.

After watching Ino leave for work, Naruto leisurely returned home to catch up on his sleep.

The world is going to explode and I'm going to sleep. Why the hell isn't the world going to explode yet? Oh, I've already killed Obito Uchiha. I wonder if Jackie Chan can handle the rest.

Naruto, dressed like Ge You, lay on the sofa, looking utterly exasperated by life. He stared at the ceiling and muttered to himself.

"Where can I find three more supplies?"

The third system task requires him to gather ten Evil God follower: two from Hydrangea and Yakumo Kurama, and three from the three sisters of Kumogakure. This would already complete half of the task.

Kurotsuchi plus one, Konan one.

"Is the Fourth Raikage really that good-natured? Why did he retire?" Naruto muttered to himself, already eyeing the power of Kumogakure.

If Yugito Nii become Raikage in the future, he'll have them constantly pick fights with those idiots in Konohagakure Yugito. Ideally, they should team up with Kurotsuchi to torment them to death—a bunch of idiots.

We don't need to worry about Sunagakure, even though Gaara Gaara his own ideas. But Naruto can be his brother-in-law, so we should listen to our own people, right?

Furthermore, the Kage of both Sand and Iwagakure are hereditary, so once they secure their positions, they're guaranteed to be Kazekage for life. Aside from Hidden Mist, he can't control that much; he'll definitely be in control of half of the Five Great Shinobi Villages in the future.

Damn it, if I succeed in the future, I'll definitely torment those idiots in Konohagakure to death. He thought to himself, silently noting this down in his notebook.

This person truly holds a grudge; if they say they'll take revenge, they will, and it will never fade with time.

The next day.

After his usual teasing of Naruto headed out, covering vast distances in a single Hinata, directly to the Land of Earth. Kurotsuchi sensed his arrival immediately and gritted her teeth in fury.

However, bound by the contract with the Evil God follower, she couldn't do anything to harm Naruto. Only through Naruto's deliberate guidance could she find a secluded place to meet him.

"Hiss, what are you doing?" He looked Kurotsuchi up and down, surprised. "Why are you acting like you're going to eat me? I didn't do anything to you."

"You lied to me!" Kurotsuchi gritted his teeth. "You tricked me into signing this lousy agreement, what exactly did you do to me?"

"Nothing happened, relax." Naruto patted his hand down, a smile appearing on his face. "Now that things have come to this, what do you want?"

"Shout for help? Go ahead and shout, no one will come to save you even if you shout until you're hoarse."

Suddenly, looking at Naruto's kind smile, Kurotsuchi felt a chill run down her spine. She realized he was right; she was now Tenten helpless.

Bound by the Evil God Contract, she couldn't reveal Naruto's existence to anyone, nor could she leak any information. She couldn't make any small moves; the idea was immediately rejected in her mind.

"You deserve to die! Naruto Uzumaki, I never thought you were this kind of person!" Kurotsuchi's eyes were slightly red, and her teeth seemed about to break.

"Hey! That's just the kind of person I am." He smiled. "Don't struggle anymore. You've probably already tried. All the struggles are in vain."

"You!"

"Forget about you, I have something important to discuss with you this time." Naruto's smile faded as he looked down at her. "As for the contract, if you obey, it's as if it doesn't exist."

"As long as you complete the tasks I assign you, I won't make things difficult for you. You can do whatever you want. But if you insist on being stubborn, then I'll have to resort to some methods, and in the end you'll still have to do it."

"By then, putting aside whether I can treat you well or not, the contract will be almost the same as a slave contract. You definitely won't be able to stand it then, so it's best not to make things unpleasant for everyone."

Naruto was already quite adept at making threats. It wasn't the first time he'd threatened someone; he was even more ruthless when he threatened the Kumogakure Village members.

What do you want to do?

Kurotsuchi forcibly suppressed her anger, wanting to hear what this scoundrel had to say. If it involved the interests of people she cared about or the village, she would rather die than agree.

"No rush, sit down and let's talk." Naruto's tone softened a bit. He glanced at Kurotsuchi's long legs. "It's almost winter, aren't you going to wear long johns?"

"What?"

"It's nothing, you wouldn't understand anyway," he muttered indistinctly.

Kurotsuchi wasn't too concerned; what she cared about was what outrageous demands Naruto would make next. Either he wanted her to do something humiliating, or he was after the village.

Just as she was lost in thought, Naruto suddenly spoke up.

Do you have a dream?

"Huh???" Kurotsuchi was completely bewildered. She had considered many possibilities, and she wouldn't be surprised if Naruto ordered her to take off her clothes with a lewd expression.

A dream? What a bizarre turn of events!

For a moment, Kurotsuchi was at a loss for words. "Do you have a dream?" Was this some kind of code, or some special hint, hmm?

"I don't understand what you mean." She even took a step back.

"Okay, to put it another way, what do you think of Iwagakure?" Naruto covered his face, then asked in a serious tone.

"The village is fine." Kurotsuchi Tu looked at him warily, maintaining a good posture, but having not been through the harsh realities of society, his eyes were filled with innocent naiveté.

"Is it good? Not at all!" He suddenly raised his voice, startling the already tense Kurotsuchi.

"Wh-what?"

"That's not important. Even I, an outsider, know that Iwagakure is facing a talent shortage. You're saying your village is doing pretty well?" He smiled dismissively.

"What does that have to do with you!" Kurotsuchi's face darkened.

"It's really none of my business, but your grandfather Ōnoki is already very old, how many more years can he last?" Naruto said. "The position of Tsuchikage will be yours sooner or later, so don't you want to think about the village?"

"Even if that's the case, it's none of your business," Kurotsuchi retorted stubbornly.

Naruto, however, didn't care. This greenhorn was nothing but a piece of trash in front of his Talk no Jutsu- jutsu. All bark and no bite; he'd be begging for mercy after a few more words.

"Is that so?" he continued. "Ōnoki will never be able to revitalize the village in his lifetime. Don't you want to do it and make him happy?"

Hei Tu Kurotsuchi silent. Although she disliked the old man, he was, after all, her grandfather.

Ōnoki was indeed powerful, protecting the village's interests single-handedly. But even the strong cannot defy the passage of time, and the old man's health was not what it used to be.

The man's words made some sense; the old man had also said that the position of Tsuchikage would be passed on to him. Kurotsuchi pursed her lips, still unwilling to bow her head in front of Naruto.

"What exactly are you trying to say? It's none of your business as an outsider to interfere in village affairs."

Naruto inwardly gasped, a surge of anger rising within him. He thought to himself, "Why is this girl so hot-tempered? Does she need some discipline?"

He came with important business, so he could only suppress his anger and speak in a gentle tone.

"Hmph, don't push your luck and force me to beat you until you cry. I'm not here to argue with you, but to give you a chance, a chance for Iwagakure to turn things around."

"Opportunity? What opportunity?" Kurotsuchi's voice lowered; she was too intimidated by Naruto to speak loudly.

Putting everything else aside, she believed that the scoundrel on the other end would really make a move, and more importantly, she genuinely couldn't beat him. It was humiliating; if she tried, she'd be utterly crushed.

"Iwagakure has been developing for so many years, and it's understandable that they've been thinking about preparing for war all the time, since the Shinobi World is not peaceful," Naruto said slowly.

"Wasting all our energy on this kind of thing is a dead end. How about I get Kumogakure and Sand to settle down and cooperate on technological development?"

"Wait, what did you say?" Kurotsuchi frowned at Naruto. "Are you kidding me? Our village doesn't need any technology, and we certainly won't cooperate with the enemy."

"Is that so?" Naruto couldn't contain his anger any longer and stood up abruptly. "You're going to refuse a polite offer and then drink a forfeit, aren't you? I already said, this isn't asking for your opinion."

"Besides, are you deaf? I can get Kumogakure and Sand to join forces, and I can also handle other villages."

He took a deep breath, his expression stern.

"So you mean we're going to fight! How long do you think that old Ōnoki can hold out? Believe me, the next time you want to see him, you'll only be able to see the stars in the sky!"

Kurotsuchi was terrified; his mind was buzzing.