"Brat, suddenly gained two fiancées, do you feel any pressure?", Tsunade smiled and patted Aoba's shoulder.
"Hehe, it's alright."
'Where's the pressure coming from, you have no idea.'
"Is that so?", Tsunade nodded in satisfaction, "Since it's alright, then you can come back to work at the Hokage building the day after tomorrow."
Today she had handled some Hokage work after a long while, and it really made her whole body uncomfortable.
Aoba: "..."
'So I'm basically your tool for slacking off, huh?'
Aoba didn't want to continue on that topic, so he switched to some more casual household talk, chatted for a while until most people had arrived.
Then Tsunade formally announced to everyone the marriage alliance between Konoha and the two villages of Sunagakure and Kirigakure.
The parties of this alliance were Aoba, Temari, and Terumi Mei.
However, Hinata, Yakumo, and Hanabi didn't show up, it looked like it really had been agreed on in advance.
No one questioned the fact that Aoba was engaged to two girls at once.
Since the girls involved had no problem with it, naturally they weren't about to act like they had no emotional intelligence.
Besides, with this connection and Aoba's strength, maybe the shinobi world could enjoy a period of extended peace.
That was something everyone was happy about.
Nobody liked war.
Afterward, the engagement ceremony turned into a gathering among shinobi.
The venue had enough drinks and food arranged.
The shinobi who came mostly gathered in twos and threes with their friends.
Eating while chatting.
As for Aoba, one of the central figures of the banquet, he was sitting at a more out-of-the-way spot.
Shizune was at another table, keeping an eye on Tsunade drinking, in case she got too drunk.
Honestly, the fact that Tenten and the others didn't come really saved him a lot of trouble.
"Aoba, you really are quite the lady's man, huh," Anko dragged Kurenai over, looking at the two fiancée young ladies on either side of him, unable to hold back from teasing.
"...", Aoba remained silent.
"Yesterday I still thought you only had one fiancee, but turns out it's actually two," A cunning look appeared on Anko's face, and she slung an arm around Aoba's neck, whispering in his ear, "Since they're both fiancees, who do you plan to… do it with first… mmph!"
Already knowing Anko's nature, Aoba directly picked up a meatball and stuffed it into her mouth.
Blocked the words that might've sparked a war.
"Mm… huh? Delicious," With a meatball stuffed in her mouth, Anko's eyes instantly lit up.
She completely forgot what she had meant to say.
Kurenai couldn't help facepalming, feeling a bit embarrassed for her bestie's behavior.
She pushed Anko aside, lifted her wine glass, and said to Aoba, "Aoba, congratulations."
"Thank you, Kurenai-nee."
Since Aoba still can't drink, he raised a glass of juice and clinked it with Kurenai's wine glass.
Kurenai's mood was actually pretty complicated.
Back when Aoba was younger, she had wanted to guide his thinking, prevent him from becoming a scumbag in the future.
Now he'd gone and gotten engaged to two girls.
Really, the world is unpredictable.
"Mm, then you guys keep chatting. We'll leave first," After finishing the wine in her glass, as a gesture of congratulations, Kurenai tried to pull Anko to leave.
But after tugging, she found she couldn't move her.
"Anko, you…", She looked toward Anko and saw the girl was using a skewer to eat the meatballs in Aoba's bowl.
"Kurenai, I feel like the meatballs here taste a bit better. Why don't we just sit here and eat?", Anko looked full of expectation.
Kurenai was stunned for a moment.
'This woman… there are meatballs on the table, why insist on eating from Aoba's bowl?'
'Could it be…'
An absurd thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
Her gaze instantly became sharp, and the strength in her hands grew noticeably.
"You come with me, I've got something to ask you!"
"Eh?", Anko let out a startled cry, and then was forcibly dragged away by Kurenai.
The others looked at each other as they watched the two leave.
"Aoba, seems like Anko might have some special feelings for you too," Yugao said with a half-smile.
"Come to think of it, yesterday that same Anko was full of hostility toward me," Temari added a line.
"Just wondering what you think about it, Aoba."
Suddenly, Aoba was facing the deadly stares of three girls.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Just as Aoba was sweating bullets, wondering how to answer, behind him came a series of cheerful footsteps.
He turned his head and saw it was Kurotsuchi.
Only, today Kurotsuchi was also dressed quite formally, wearing an evening dress, which surprised Aoba a bit.
"Aoba!", Kurotsuchi looked to be in a great mood.
"Kurotsuchi, long time no see," Aoba smiled at her.
Kurotsuchi sat down confidently across from him.
"It's great you're alright. When you were fighting that big raccoon, I wanted to go help you, but got knocked out by my dad," As she said this, the cheerful Kurotsuchi immediately puffed up her cheeks like a pufferfish.
That really was typical Kurotsuchi.
Aoba smiled and said, "That's normal. After all, you're from Iwagakure, different sides."
"But I still want to thank you."
"Thank me for what? I didn't help at all."
Kurotsuchi looked a bit annoyed. By the time she woke up from being knocked out, everything was already over.
"Regardless, just the fact that you were willing to come help me despite the danger is worth my thanks."
Aoba poured Kurotsuchi a cup of juice.
"Well, we are good friends after all. But…", Kurotsuchi said with great righteousness, and in the next second, her expression became a little strange. Her gaze kept shifting between Aoba and Temari, "Didn't expect you two would actually end up engaged."
"Hehe, quite a lot happened," Aoba just smiled and didn't explain much.
Temari did look a bit awkward.
In this matter, Sunagakure was indeed the one in the wrong.
"Speaking of which…", Kurotsuchi seemed to suddenly remember something, and half-jokingly said, "My dad even asked me yesterday if I wanted to do a marriage alliance."
"Hmm?" ×5
Instantly, everyone's gaze turned to her.
Feeling the change in atmosphere, Kurotsuchi also realized she might've said something wrong, and hurriedly explained.
"He just mentioned it casually. But that's totally impossible anyway, because…"
"My grandpa is super stubborn."
———
[Iwagakure, Inside the Tsuchikage Building]
A small old man with a big nose was sitting in the Tsuchikage seat, reading the intelligence just sent back from Konoha.
After a long silence, he muttered to himself.
"The Wood Human Technique, huh…"
But what he was thinking about in his heart… was a giant blue figure.
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