A few minutes later, Nawaki came flying in with continuous vomiting, and the moment he got off the plane, he stumbled dizzily into an unsuspecting Gerissen.
"It's Uncle Geri! Thank you so much!"
"Shh," Gerissen, who steadied him, raised one finger to his lips.
Nawaki, whose condition had somewhat improved, vaguely noticed a certain indescribable aura surrounding his two teammates.
The seemingly next-door-girl Hyuga Nayou and the extremely domineering Shen made him feel like someone had forcibly pried open his mouth and stuffed it full of lemons.
"I promise I'll turn over a new leaf from now on and only be friends with you, Nayou." Shen declared this while raising three fingers toward the sky.
"Mm, let's not have a next time." Nayou smiled and chose to forgive.
Nawaki, his heart souring with envy, inwardly roared: "What exactly happened between them while I was away?!!!"
The whole incident started a few minutes earlier.
Shen, whose plea for forgiveness only earned a Cold Snort, quickly began formulating a countermeasure.
"I get it—you're a 'tsundere ice queen'!"
Realizing this, Shen suddenly became serious and focused.
He walked toward the coldest presence in the room.
"Hyuga Nayou, you are my first friend." Shen reached out and removed Nayou's sunglasses, staring directly into her round moon-like eyes. "That's why I don't want to lose you as a friend."
"Gulp." The Kusagakure Leader, who had been watching eagerly, silently gave a thumbs-up upon hearing such straightforward words.
Nayou, slightly evading his gaze, stretched out her hand trying to snatch back the glasses.
"Look me in the eyes and tell me again if you're still angry?"
"Um—" Nayou, seeing him like this for the first time, helplessly turned her face sideways.
Both Mamba and Angel's eyes sparkled brightly—they believed the following developments would definitely get more exciting.
However, what Shen did next shattered everyone's expectations.
"Don't avoid the topic." Half-squatting down, Shen kept pressing forward relentlessly.
Startled by the sudden close-up face, Nayou's heart beat uncontrollably fast.
Gradually, she lowered her head: "I... I wasn't actually mad at all..."
Internally delighted, Shen took one step back. "So it was a misunderstanding from my side. Sorry."
"Eh... there's no need to apologize..." Nayou mumbled apologetically, already forgetting her previous behavior.
Sure enough, despite pretending not to care, she clearly cared deeply inside.
"I must apologize. It was my fault causing you distress."
"No, actually... actually, I was partly at fault too..." After this combination move, Nayou had already begun reflecting on her own issues.
She felt like she might have exaggerated things just a bit.
Calling her 'Onee-san' really wasn't a big deal—back in Konoha, plenty of guys used this term to respectfully address older girls.
You can have countless 'big sisters,' but there's only one person who can be your very first friend.
Mission accomplished, Shen wasted no time making heartfelt promises, slowly melting Nayou's icy exterior into warmth.
Unfortunately, Nawaki—a total oblivious blockhead—just so happened to witness this heart-wrenching scene.
The five of them—actually, the three excluding Mamba and Angel—were convinced that the two in the center must have had something more than just friendship.
But the couple, who understood things better, knew their relationship was only slightly above friendship but not quite romantic yet.
Moreover, these two experienced people believed it would be extremely difficult for the pair to ever develop a romantic bond.
A girl with a chilly temper and icy aura was never an easy person to be around. Yet she'd found her match in a boy who clearly saw through her but still insisted they were "just friends."
They were too close to each other to want to be the first to say what they really felt.
Mamba and Angel had even commented that unless the two truly felt what it meant to lose one another, there wouldn't be any significant change in their relationship.
I know exactly what you're thinking, but I'll pretend not to. And while you know I'm pretending not to know, you choose to play along—it was a perfect summary of Shen and Nayou's current situation.
"Nayou, let's go have a private hotpot dinner," Shen said.
"Mm, I want that spicy broth," she replied.
"Uh... okay then."
"Just teasing, something mild works too."
As the two walked further away, all that remained behind was fake couple drama—or "fake fluff," as they called it—scattered across the floor.
"Hey! You guys—" Nawaki, whose sense had been clouded by too much false fluff, was immediately silenced by Gerissen covering his mouth.
"Little Nawaki, we mustn't interrupt them."
"Yeah, totally agreed." The Kusagakure Leader patted his slightly full belly.
Although they saw through everything, Mamba and Angel chose not to reveal the truth.
In their opinion, perhaps this sweet sort of everyday development was the most beautiful of all?
(Writer-san, don't bring your sword. They're still just kids.)
After finishing a delicious intimate hotpot meal for two at a small inn in Kusagakure, Shen and Nayou planned to head out looking for the others.
Just as they stepped outside the inn, they saw Nawaki running down the street, his face unusually pale.
"? ? ? " x2
They hadn't even finished feeling puzzled for three seconds when they saw Gerissen fly past like the wind.
"Big Uncle, really, I'm full!"
"Come on, Little Nawaki, don't hold back. Don't worry about saving ingredients for me. This time I brought enough supplies equivalent to over a dozen scrolls."
These two chasing one after another became a lively and heartwarming sight within Kusagakure, where everyone else had prepared for war.
War could never give you the freedom to just be yourself like that.
"Peace doesn't come easy—that's exactly why we hold onto it so tight," Shen thought, recalling the happy childhood he'd had in this new life.
Nayou looked at Shen's thoughtful expression, memories flooding back, secretly relieved that she hadn't continued fighting him back then.
In stark contrast to the peaceful Kusagakure, Yugakure lacked such joyfulness.
Almost half the village's shinobi had either died or been injured, causing immense worries for the Yugakure leader.
Someone inexperienced in warfare himself, he felt great concern toward those fresh Yugakure shinobi rotating back from the front lines.
"The Konoha reinforcements should arrive tomorrow."
Most of the stronger Yugakure ninja had already fallen or been severely wounded, and the replacements sent afterward were far weaker—by no means comparable to the original ones.
On the front lines of the Hot Water Country, aside from a force of over six hundred Konoha ninja, there were only a thousand Yugakure shinobi who were clearly very weak.
What troubled the leader of Yugakure most was whether the front line could make it through tonight safely.
The Kumogakure commander was no fool. If he replaced a unit of Yugakure shinobi, he was sure to notice something was off.
Given the huge disparity in strength even with equal numbers, the Yugakure leader naturally hoped Kumo wouldn't take advantage and launch a surprise attack.
"This is going to be a long night," he murmured, staring at the sunset beyond his window and silently hoping for safety until morning.
Yet, this wish of his would likely remain unfulfilled.
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