An Overnight, Konohagakure's First Snow

It's clearly a movie about three people, Obito Uchiha doesn't even deserve a mention.

Naruto looked at Anko's silly face and wanted to pinch her again, but he stopped when he saw Kakashi and Rin Nohara coming from afar. He then whispered to Anko.

"Let's have tea tonight."

This was their secret code: drinking tea meant going all out. Anko was happy to oblige, her eyes crinkling with laughter.

"Good."

"What are you talking about?" Kakashi scratched his head, then glanced subconsciously at Rin Nohara beside him. "Naruto, you're late, aren't you?"

"I talked to her about losing weight, but she always forgets," Naruto said with a smile, his eyes darting between the two of them, making Kakashi a little embarrassed.

Rin Nohara laughed generously and said, "Anko is quite thin; there's not an ounce of fat on her waist."

"Maybe she inhaled and pulled in her stomach," Naruto added.

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Anko rolled her eyes at him, finally realizing that saying too much would be bad and easily expose her, so she simply made an excuse and left.

Although Naruto always called her stupid, if she were truly stupid, she wouldn't have been able to reach the level of a Jonin. Even after her master betrayed her, she single-handedly Elite Jonin and didn't die on the battlefield.

It's true that she was unlucky, but her stupidity was purely a matter of life's lapses. If she were truly serious, which of those who survived the battlefield wasn't quick-witted?

She just didn't want to drag Naruto down with her. Although it was her first time too, and she'd never even been in a relationship before being tricked by that bastard, it was consensual, and she was the one who wanted it.

Even if you asked her to get married, she wouldn't be interested. Having experienced so much hardship, Anko simply couldn't imagine a happy life as defined by ordinary people.

Naruto's relationship with her is, at this stage, the most relaxed and pleasant one. No one talks about love, nor does anyone express any affection.

It was simply a close relationship, without any burdens. She wouldn't cause Naruto any trouble, and Naruto wouldn't criticize or judge her.

The two of them are relaxed when they're together, and they can refuse whenever they want. Anko will refuse Naruto's visit because she wants to drink alone, and Naruto will not visit her for two months because he has too much to do.

Nobody thought it was wrong. Anyway, it's just fine as it is. Not a point more or less would be acceptable.

After seeing Anko leave, Kakashi turned his attention to Naruto. After hesitating for a moment, he told Naruto about the news he had learned about the Capital City of the Land of Fire the day before.

"Ah?"

"What? Such a thing exists?"

The former was Rin Nohara's exclamation, and the latter was Naruto's slightly exaggerated performance, but Naruto wasn't embarrassed at all and continued to speak in an exaggerated manner.

"Sasuke is going too far! How could he let the Daimyo live!"

Upon hearing the first sentence, Kakashi was still somewhat puzzled, wondering if these kids might be involved in this matter. But upon hearing the second sentence, his eyes immediately turned into dead fish eyes.

As expected, it's still Naruto, always so wicked. But this guy is reckless and fearless, so Kakashi is genuinely worried that this kid might cause trouble for the Daimyo.

It's not that I'm worried about the Daimyo's safety or anything, I just hope Naruto won't do these things during my term. Once I get rid of this hot potato of a Hokage, then whatever Naruto does will be none of my business.

Those nobles are much more troublesome than the higher-ups; there's a mountain of problems that are impossible to explain. He's getting along well with Rin Nohara now, and he's even starting to get annoyed with the village affairs.

Kakashi was never one to be diligent in tedious administrative matters, otherwise he wouldn't have been at the forefront of Konohagakure for so many years.

Now his thoughts are exactly the same as Tsunade's: Damn it, I don't want to do this anymore.

Having such a disciple actually made him even more withdrawn, but Rin Nohara was always standing by his side, which made him feel... Wait, what did I just say?

Hehehe.

Naruto was in a good mood; his Sealing Space still contained a large amount of gold and silver treasures. He gave half of it to Konan to handle, and allocated the proceeds to the laboratory and the construction of Amegakure.

He couldn't possibly rely solely on the Land of Land of Snow for refuge; that would be far too remote. Amegakure itself had a geographical advantage, bordering the Three Great Nations.

In Hanzo of the Salamander's hands, this would have been a disadvantage, but in Naruto's hands, it became an advantage. Because Hanzo of the Salamander couldn't subdue the Three Great Nations, but Naruto could.

In this way, Amegakure not only eliminates all its disadvantages, but also gains many advantages.

Now that the funding for the lab's establishment is in place, and the reconstruction funds for Amegakure are also available, he no longer needs to worry about the rest. In fact, he has a large sum of money left in his pocket, just in case.

Feeling great.

Asuma, having a moment to spare, walked over to the three of them and casually mentioned the news he had just learned about the Daimyo's abduction.

"Is that so?" Naruto was shocked once again.

Kakashi: "."

Rin Nohara: "."

Even Rin Nohara understood; every single hair on that blond-haired guy's head looked utterly disheveled. She never imagined someone could act out a shock a second time, but there was nothing she could do about it.

She didn't care about the Daimyo; these nobles had been doing nothing for a long time.

"Come on over, the First Meal Ceremony is about to start." Asuma said with a smile, and he had some more guesses about Naruto's performance, thinking to himself, "Could it be that this kid did it?"

The Sarutobi clan has territory within the capital of the Land of Fire, but they have little connection with the daimyo. Their relationship with the daimyo is merely superficial and cannot be considered a serious one.

Even after hearing about it, he only found it unbelievable. But thinking back to what Naruto had asked him about a couple of days ago, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

Finding a moment of respite, Asuma pulled Naruto aside and asked with a frown.

"The incident in the Capital City of the Land of Fire... you weren't the one who did it, were you?"

"Hey, you can't just say things like that. It was clearly Sasuke Uchiha did it." Naruto quickly waved his hand. "Teacher Asuma, aren't you just making baseless accusations?"

"So many people saw it, that's the real Sasuke, he even had that purple Chakra Armor. It can't be faked, it must be Sasuke."

The logic seemed to be correct, but Asuma always felt that Naruto was involved in this matter.

The banquet ended quickly.

Naruto went home as usual, turning into a small alley and winding his way to Anko's house. The two sat there drinking and chatting, but didn't do anything else.

"Why haven't I seen you looking for Hinata lately?" Anko asked.

"If you could see me looking for Hinata, how am I supposed to live? What kind of talk is that?" Naruto retorted without any politeness. "Even a stupid woman like you could find out, Ino already knew, didn't she?"

"You're such a mean person," Anko said irritably. "I just asked casually, and you keep calling me stupid. You're the stupid one!"

"I've heard that if a mother is stupid, her whole family will be stupid."

"Go to hell, Naruto Uzumaki!" Anko sat cross-legged on the sofa and slammed a cushion into his face. "You're the stupid one! Besides, I'll only have one child at most!"

"Anyway, I won't be lonely with someone by my side, and it wouldn't be very interesting to have more than that."

"What? Can't get used to this carefree life?" Naruto asked with a smile, tossing the cushion behind him.

"What carefree life? It's just getting used to being alone." Anko took a sip of wine and put it down again. "I used to not understand why my life turned out this way."

"I wouldn't say I was exceptionally talented, but I was certainly lucky. I was taken in as a disciple by Orochimaru Legendary Sannin. He taught me all the Ninjutsu except for the experimental ones, but before I could fully master them, he betrayed me."

"My ambition immediately deflated. Someone like me should have achieved something, at least an Elite Jonin. But now I'm still like this, stuck in the middle, just drifting through life in the village."

"So now? Have you figured it out yet?" Naruto asked.

"No." Anko lay down on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling. "How could I possibly understand? But it's been too long. Even if I did understand, it would still be the same thing."

"Anyway, once I figure it out, I'll just be an ordinary person, and nothing will change much. I'm just not thinking about it now."

"Why think so much?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Look at me, with great power comes great responsibility, and I'm always avoiding my father-in-law."

"What kind of Tenten is this?!"

Anko:"."

Seeing his smug look made me want to punch him, but thankfully Anko held back. She threw her coat on the sofa and said through gritted teeth.

"I don't want to think about those things now, I just want a child."

It was already past midnight when we finished.

Naruto skillfully rummaged through Anko's refrigerator, stir-fried a plate of noodles in the kitchen, and then took out two cans of ice-cold beer from the refrigerator and carried them into the room.

Anko sat on the small table, propping her elbows on the surface and resting her chin on her hand as she looked at Naruto.

"So tired."

"How can this not be tiring? Besides, I'm doing this for your own good, to get some exercise."

"Besides, how can you blame me?" Naruto chuckled as he opened a can of ice-cold beer and handed it to her. "I gave you a chance, but you didn't do it right. Have you been working hard all this time? Has your salary increased?"

"Tch, the salaries at the Ninja Academy are fixed." Anko curled her lip, blew away the foam on her beer, took a sip, and felt much better.

"It won't be like that soon. There's no reason for the price to stay the same forever," he said as he sat down.

"What do you mean?" Anko gave him a deep look. Others might be hypocritical, but this guy was really wicked. He had just been trying to trick her into exercising to lose weight.

Lying there without moving is quite relaxing.

A person like that wouldn't talk nonsense; everything they say must be based on evidence. Sure enough, Naruto glanced at her, then suddenly smiled and said mysteriously.

"You don't know yet?"

"Know what?"

So Naruto recounted the story of the Daimyo's Land of Fire the Capital City of the Land of Fire. It was quite a different feeling to have your own dirty laundry thrown on someone else.

Especially now that he's saying it himself, without batting an eye.

"How could this happen? Sasuke Uchiha gave the Daimyo..." Anko was initially surprised, then realized what was going on, "What does this have to do with my salary?"

"Of course it's related. The world has become chaotic. Normally, the salaries at the Ninja Academy are fixed, but they will definitely change during special times."

Naruto said with a smile, "But you don't need to worry. Anyway, he's a teacher at the Ninja Academy, so it's not your place to worry about him. Konohagakure isn't that heartless; they won't be short of people to go to the battlefield."

"You can just stay in the village. Don't you want to have a baby anyway?"

"Then why did you tell me so much? It has nothing to do with me anyway." Anko picked up a beer can and took a sip. "I'm just going to wash up and go to bed. I'm bored."

Naruto chuckled. If he didn't say anything, this silly woman might stay depressed for a while longer. He wasn't good at comforting others, and he was too lazy to do such a thing.

Unless it's someone close to him, he's too lazy to bother with them.

Before dawn, Naruto quietly left Anko's house. He returned home and slept until noon. When he woke up and squinted, he saw that it was snowing outside.

Fine snowflakes drifted outside the window; just yesterday it was a crisp, clear autumn day, and overnight winter had arrived. Winter in Konohagakure is always long, lasting until early spring.

Naruto crawled out of bed wearing only shorts, his skin crawling with cold. He quickly jumped off the bed barefoot; the carpet wasn't laid out yet, and the floor tiles were even more freezing.

He gasped and jumped up as if he'd stepped on hot coals. He rushed into the bathroom, turned on the hot water, and took a relaxing bath.

After washing up, he changed into some thicker clothes. He strolled downstairs, found Ichiraku Ramen, and had a meal. While he was digesting his food outside, he suddenly remembered that Ino seemed to have gone on a mission.

So they changed their Hyuga Clan's territory, without looking for Hinata, because they knew Hinata definitely wouldn't be there. At the First Meal Ceremony for Kurenai Yuhi's daughter, none of Team Eight were present; they were most likely on a group mission.

Asuma had previously assured him that Ino would never meet Hinata.

He came to find Neji, but since the last time Neji had been focused on managing the Hyuga Clan's affairs. He had put aside his missions long ago and had basically stayed within the village.

"Is it snowing outside?" Neji asked without looking up. He recognized Naruto from the way he walked, which were swaying and gaited with a powerful stride.

Besides him, who else walks around so arrogantly? They would get beaten eight times a day.

"It's raining a little. Winter has arrived before we were prepared. I'll come over and have some hot tea." Naruto took out a tea canister from the cabinet and started boiling water to make tea.

"Hinata isn't here. She must be on a group mission. I didn't ask when it would end," Neji said, placing an official document on the side of the table and looking up.

"I know the situation is tense lately, and there's probably going to be another war." Naruto watched the hot water slowly steaming. "If a war really breaks out, life in the village will be tough."

Neji stopped writing upon hearing this and looked at him with amusement.

"Why are you worrying about something like this? It's not like you."

"How can I not worry? If a fight breaks out, you'll have to go to the battlefield. Hinata Ino? What about Ino?" Naruto poured himself a cup of tea and then filled Neji.

"You've gone too far. Mentioning Hinata and Ino in front of me, you really don't shy away. I'm Hinata's older brother, after all." Neji laughed.