As Asuma held Kurenai's hand and walked down the street with a feigned composure, bracing himself for the collective gaze of the entire village, the voice that made his scalp crawl the most came from behind.
"Oh, oh! Isn't this Asuma, who is about to become a father?"
Kakashi materialized from out of nowhere, his curved, smiling eyes brimming with teasing intent. "You move fast, truly congratulations."
Almost simultaneously, Asuma's shoulder was trapped by a strong arm. Might Guy was moved to tears, pulling him into a tight embrace:
"Asuma! This is youth! This is the extreme of the passionate heritage! Come on, to welcome the birth of little Mirai, let's do five hundred laps of handstand running around Konoha as a celebratory gift!"
"You two, stop at that!" Amidst Asuma's roar lay an unmaskable embarrassment and a trace of hidden happiness.
The next day, the Canopy Screen began broadcasting once again.
[On the deck, a sudden, heavy fog instantly caused Anya, Klee, and Himawari to panic.]
[Everything around them grew blurry and unfamiliar, and Mirai Sarutobi, who had just been responsible for protecting them, along with Kabuto Yakushi, who had been accompanying Anya on the side, had all vanished into this gray-white labyrinth.]
["Big Sister Mirai?"]
["Father?"]
["Where did everyone go?"]
[The three little girls pressed closely together, looking around uneasily.]
[Right at that moment, Anya's mind-reading ability captured the inner monologue of a gentlemanly man wearing glasses who was passing by not far away.]
[Hmph, those idiots who only knew how to swing blades dared to attempt a direct assassination of the Hokage's wife?]
[If an elite Jonin of Konoha could be dealt with so easily, Konoha would have been wiped out by others long before the Fourth Shinobi World War. What a waste of time.]
[It doesn't