New Year (Please Subscribe)

Autumn gave way to winter, and in the blink of an eye, New Year's Eve had arrived.

The evening of December 31, Konoha 56.

After Hanfu, Gekko Hoshino, Keiko, the little brat, and Karin had enjoyed a sumptuous dinner, the family split up in neat formation.

The little brat went to see Uzuki Yugao. Karin dragged Hinata, the girl next door, to the Uchiha Clan to find the haughty young Sasuke. Keiko and Gekko Hoshino strolled hand in hand, flaunting their affection.

Hanfu refused to be outdone. He smuggled several dozen pounds of crayfish and some sake out of the Gekko Izakaya, then swayed off to find Mei Terumi for a drink.

After months of effort, Hanfu had successfully rekindled his friendship with Mei Terumi as a drinking buddy. They had become close friends who could talk about anything.

Of course, Hanfu had never believed that men and women could have a purely platonic friendship. He'd put himself on the line and tried to make a move several times after drinking, but each time, someone had managed to interrupt them halfway, leaving him helpless.

When he reached the back courtyard of Ichigo Hot Spring, just as expected, Mei Terumi was sitting alone on the roof, drinking and gazing at the stars.

She had been in Konoha for half a year, but she still hadn't completed the task Elder Genji had given her. She could tell that Konoha wanted to quietly put the Fourth Mizukage's death and Three-Tails Isobu's disappearance behind them, so she had written to Genji to express her wish to return to Kirigakure. But Genji refused, continually writing back to reassure and encourage her. Mei Terumi was caught between a rock and a hard place, and it weighed heavily on her.

Just then, her drinking buddy Hanfu came