The Efforts of the Boys and Girls

Of course, Tsunade still needed to give some thought to the candidates.

It wasn't that she couldn't find suitable people.

Rather, Tsunade had another goal she wanted to achieve. She also had to consider Danzo's wishes, because the old man had made it quite clear that Root members had to be included in the delegation. Their purpose was to gather better intelligence on the Snow Ninja Village and Namikaze Naruto. Tsunade was annoyed, but she was unexpectedly relieved deep down. As long as Danzo didn't scheme behind her back and stated his demands openly, that was actually the easiest way to handle things. Naturally, she would still be wary where she needed to be. But as far as this matter went, Tsunade thought it unlikely that Danzo would try anything underhanded. That meant her main concern was the makeup of the delegation, especially deciding who would serve as its chief and deputy.

And so, while Tsunade considered the makeup of the delegation,

in Konohagakure,

in an open area near the Ninja Academy,

around the time the Snow Ninja Village had won a great victory over Kirigakure,

and Naruto was about to announce to the whole world that he had assumed the position of First Snow Shadow,

his former companions—

the Konoha 12 from the original story, excluding Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji, who had already left Konoha—had learned the news and promptly agreed to meet up with one another.

By the time they arrived,

everyone, including the usually cheerful and optimistic Kiba, Choji, and Lee, wore solemn expressions.

The four girls—Sakura, Tenten, Ino, and Hinata—wore particularly complicated expressions, tinged with dejection, happiness, sadness, regret, and more.

Whether it was inevitable or mere chance, Shikamaru had become the leader of their little group. He stood in the middle, leaning against a concrete