Dangerous Creatures...!

Inoichi was furious.

As a quintessential daughter-obsessed father, though he rarely showed it on the surface, the fact that he compared his daughter to bush clover and constantly reminded her that its flower language was "eternal, immortal love" was enough to show his doting affection... as well as his repressed desire for his daughter's attention.

In his heart, his daughter should be revolving around her father every single day.

He would shield his daughter from all the storms, only letting a little bit of rain in at the right time so she could grow, and once she had grown, he would continue to shield her from all the storms... What? You ask what the point of the daughter's growth is then? You bastard, my daughter didn't grow up just to face the storms! Let those bullshit meanings and storms go talk to my Fist of Fatherly Love!

As the head of the Konoha Intelligence Division, patriarch of the Yamanaka Clan, a Jonin, and one of the few intelligence ninjas capable of holding his own in hand-to-hand combat against enemies, Inoichi certainly had the qualifications to say such things, and more than enough ability to turn his words into reality.

Ever since Ino was born, from the moment he saw that ugly little thing wailing in his arms, Inoichi had made up his mind: he would protect his daughter forever, and nothing but death could stop him.

However, Inoichi had forgotten one thing at the time.

That aside from death, there existed in this world a particularly dangerous creature that threatened daughters. This creature possessed the ability to bewitch hearts, was highly skilled at evading parental surveillance, and loved nothing more than to root around in the vegetable patch. Those among them sporting yellow hair were the most dangerous of all... In fact, he, Inoichi, had once been one of these creatures himself.

Heh! And what a coincidence, he happened to be the "Pig" in the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

Inoichi almost laughed at himself out of anger.

"Father..."

Looking at her expressionless father, Ino swallowed hard, feigning composure, and smiled stiffly: "Why did you suddenly come here?"

As she spoke, she moved forward nonchalantly, trying to draw her father's attention to herself to create an opportunity for Xin to hide the paper with the writing on it.

It must be said that Xin was truly a good friend; even without any verbal or visual communication, he knew deep down that chat logs between best friends were never meant to be shown to others. As Ino stepped forward, he began to retreat quietly, preparing to withdraw.

Then, Inoichi's hand reached over Ino's head, extending straight toward Xin, palm open:

"Don't move. Let me see."

The expressions of both Xin and Ino froze. Seeing Xin stop in his tracks, Inoichi's gaze swept toward Ino, and he continued: "If I didn't come here, how would I find you?"

"Do you know how worried your mother and I were because you haven't been home for so long?"

"I..." Ino only then realized she had forgotten to tell her family she would be home late. Feeling guilty, she could only say weakly: "I forgot to tell you..."

"Then how did you know I was here, Dad?" Ino asked, confused.

"I was just about to go out to look for you when that classmate of yours, Aoki, suddenly came to the house and said you had been dragged here by a man..." Inoichi's tone grew colder as he spoke, "So I rushed straight over."

Aoki!

Ino gritted her teeth instantly. Now that he had said this much, how could she not realize what had happened? That guy Aoki must have been holding a grudge over what she said today, so he specifically went to her house to tattle.

Although she didn't know how he found out she was here with Uzumaki Naruto, he had definitely omitted Uzumaki Naruto's name on purpose, describing it as a man dragging her away just to cause trouble for Uzumaki Naruto!

"It's not like that—"

"Hand it over."

Ino wanted to explain, but Inoichi had lost his patience. He stepped past Ino and gestured toward Xin with his palm again.

To his surprise, although Xin was trembling with fear, he remained loyal and refused to hand over the chat log. He shoved the paper into his clothes, then closed his eyes, as if to say, "Do what you want with me!"

Inoichi was truly amused by this.

At this moment, the owner, having heard the commotion in the hallway, walked out. Seeing the scene, though he didn't know what was happening, he hurriedly put on a smile and approached quickly: "Oh my, when did Mr. Yamanaka arrive? I didn't even notice. My fault, my fault. Come in and sit down, let me brew you a cup of tea?"

Inoichi glanced at Daigo Tono, thinking it would be a miracle if you had noticed me; I used the Body Flicker Technique the whole way here after hearing the news!

"I came uninvited," Inoichi said. "No need for tea, I'm just here to find someone."

With that, he walked straight into the room.

It didn't matter that Xin refused to hand over the chat log; he had already seen the most critical part and understood everything.

Damn it, he never expected this dangerous creature to appear so early. His daughter had only just graduated from the Ninja Academy!

A beast!

And today, he, Inoichi, would put his foot down!

Regardless of which little wild boar was sitting inside, even if it were the Hokage's son, he would have to teach the other party a profound lesson!

Daring to root in my vegetable patch... this kunai of Inoichi is still sharp!

Ino couldn't stop him in time, her face turning pale with shock. The shopkeeper only had time to frantically signal Xin with his eyes, "What's going on?!", to which Xin, on the verge of tears, used sign language: [Caught in the act].

Caught in the act???

The shopkeeper's face also turned pale.

So that kid wasn't some big shot, but was actually having an affair with the young lady of the Yamanaka Clan? Was he really that bold? No wonder he looked down on the garden landscape I arranged; he was just a reckless fool! It all made sense now!

The three of them hurriedly followed, but Daigo Tono grabbed Xin after a few steps to slow down, terrified that a fight would break out the moment they entered. Neither of them were ninjas!

Holding their breath for a few seconds, they found that it was surprisingly quiet inside. Daigo Tono then shielded Xin behind him and cautiously peeked in.

Then he saw that Inoichi, who had been so aggressive just a moment ago, was now frozen in place. Ino was beside him, constantly explaining things like "He didn't drag me here, I dragged him here" and "Aoki is just taking revenge," but the observant shopkeeper could clearly see that Inoichi hadn't stopped because of these words, nor was his attention on them.

"Is he... looking at that boy? Uzumaki Naruto?"

But why...

Why was Inoichi's expression so complicated?

Surprise, nostalgia, sorrow... and even respect?! The only thing that had completely vanished was the initial anger.

The shopkeeper, having noticed this, was struck by inexplicable astonishment. His previous conjectures were overturned once more, yet he could not fathom how this kid named Uzumaki Naruto could possibly warrant such treatment from the head of the Yamanaka Clan.

Naruto, meanwhile, had naturally regained his composure. Looking at the group that had suddenly entered the shop and hearing what Ino had said, he understood the identity of the man who had appeared, and the ins and outs of the situation became clear to him.

He stood up and walked toward Inoichi.

Seeing Naruto drawing closer and closer to her father, Ino could only tug on Inoichi's sleeve with a hint of pleading:

"Dad..."

Inoichi also snapped back to reality, casting a somewhat bewildered glance between his daughter and Naruto.

Truly...

He sighed inwardly, his original fury having long since dissipated into thin air.

"Although I said that even the Hokage's son would have to face the consequences... I never expected that he would actually be... the Hokage's son..."