"Why hasn't Ino come back yet after so long?"
Sakura, who was honestly working at her desk, glanced at the clock on the wall that was almost pointing to quitting time, and couldn't help feeling confused.
Earlier, Ino said she saw a commission related to Aoba, then ran out excitedly.
But now it was almost noon break, and she still hadn't come back.
———
Time quickly reached the afternoon.
Aoba went to the Daimyo's residence again. After checking the work progress, he left.
He appeared at Konoha's main gate.
At this time, Ino was already fully prepared and ready to set off at any moment.
For some reason, though, she was hiding behind a tree, peeking around sneakily, looking very suspicious.
Only after she saw Aoba appear did she happily run toward him.
"Aoba!"
"What were you doing hiding behind that tree just now?", Aoba asked in confusion.
"Well…"
Ino looked embarrassed, but still gave an awkward smile and explained, "Actually, Sakura saw that I hadn't gone back for a long time, so she asked Shizune-nee. After she found out what was going on, she's been looking for me all over the village…"
"I told you we should've called Sakura to come along."
Aoba found it a little funny.
"That won't do. It's been a long time since I went out alone with you, Aoba."
Ino pouted, then directly wrapped her arms around his arm, her smile returning, "Anyway, let's hurry and set off!"
"Alright."
Seeing her like this, Aoba didn't know what else to say.
But since he was going out alone with Ino today, he'd have to make it up to Sakura and the others later.
He had always treated everyone fairly.
With that in mind, he directly pulled Ino, whose body now seemed small and delicate compared to his, into his arms.
The two of them vanished from the spot.
———
The Land of Demons lies between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth. It's not close. Under normal circumstances, it would take nearly two days to reach.
But Aoba clearly wasn't under normal circumstances.
With Ino in his arms, he flashed and appeared within the Land of Earth, at the Flying Thunder God mark he had previously set up closest to the Land of Demons.
Then, still holding Ino, he sped toward the Land of Demons like a streak of light.
Ino held tightly onto Aoba as well, pressing her small face against his chest.
But in fact, Aoba had already used chakra to block the rushing airflow caused by their rapid movement.
So even at such high speed, not only was there no cold wind, not even a single strand of their hair was disturbed.
"Aoba, when I went back to prepare at noon, my dad told me that the shrine maidens of the Land of Demons usually have the ability to foresee the future. Is that true?", Ino asked curiously.
"Yeah, more or less. In a certain sense, it's quite accurate," Aoba nodded.
It wasn't strange that Yamanaka Inoichi knew this information. After all, he had long been in charge of Konoha's intelligence department.
Knowing the general abilities of the Land of Demons' shrine maidens was normal.
But clearly, he didn't know too much.
"It's actually true?"
Ino exclaimed in surprise, her eyes rolling thoughtfully.
"You're not thinking of asking her to give you a prediction, are you?"
Aoba guessed her thoughts the moment he saw her eyes move.
Ino's cheeks turned slightly red, "Is there a problem with that?"
She wanted the shrine maiden to predict which one of them would be the first to marry Aoba.
"Well… predictions aren't absolutely accurate. And that shrine maiden's ability might disappoint you."
Aoba still had some impression of her ability.
"Eh? Why?", Ino asked, puzzled.
To avoid Ino really going to ask for a prediction and causing unpleasantness, Aoba didn't hide anything.
"Because as far as I know, that shrine maiden can only foresee the deaths of others. So she actually dislikes this ability."
But that wasn't really her fault.
If Aoba remembered correctly, the current shrine maiden, Shion, was born with power that was too strong for her to control. So her mother sealed most of it away.
It would only be released when fighting Moryo, to protect her from death.
And because of that, her prophetic ability became uncontrollable. What she could see were only scenes of others dying.
"Ah? Isn't that just like a curse?"
Ino hadn't expected it to be like this. Thankfully she asked Aoba first. Otherwise, if she had gone to request a prediction, she would've hit right at someone's sore spot.
"Pretty much."
It had to be said, flying was indeed faster than running.
In just two hours, Aoba and Ino could already see the outline of the shrine maiden's residence in the Land of Demons.
As a religious nation, unlike other countries, the Land of Demons had no daimyo. Or rather, the daimyo was the shrine maiden Shion.
So the shrine maiden's residence was easy to recognize.
It was a massive shrine built on top of a mountain, like a castle.
Aoba brought Ino down quickly, landing beneath a huge torii gate in front of the shrine.
Because the demon was about to break free, a large number of densely packed samurai were already patrolling outside the shrine.
So when Aoba and Ino landed, many samurai immediately rushed toward them.
"I am the Hokage of Konoha."
Aoba had no interest in pretending to be weak. He directly stated his identity.
The guards who had been rushing over immediately stopped in place.
At the same time, Ino took out the commission letter that Shion had sent.
"Lord Hokage, hello. I am the captain of the guards, Ashikaga."
At this moment, a young guard walked over, took the commission letter, confirmed it was correct, and bowed again.
"Greetings, Lord Hokage. I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly. Please forgive any lack of courtesy."
"No need to mind."
Aoba waved his hand casually. According to the agreed time in the commission, he had indeed arrived early.
After all, using Flying Thunder God combined with swift movement, a journey of nearly two days had been reduced to two hours.
"Then I will take you to meet Lady Shion."
Seeing how approachable this Hokage was, Ashikaga relaxed, then quickly led the way.
Some time ago, Shion suddenly insisted on finding this Hokage. He had thought something serious had happened.
Only after asking did he learn that the Hokage might be the key to resolving this crisis.
With a respectful attitude, Ashikaga led the two into the shrine. Soon, in the center of a simple and ancient hall, they saw the shrine maiden.
"Lady Shion."
After bowing slightly, Ashikaga said, "The Hokage of Konoha has arrived."
Aoba and Ino also looked at Shion seated in the center.
There was obvious surprise in Ino's eyes.
'Beige-white hair, and those unusual eyes. Why does this shrine maiden look a bit like a white-haired version of Hinata?'
At this moment, Shion, who had been staring blankly at the bell in her hand, snapped back to her senses.
"You arrived so quickly?"
But when she clearly saw who had come, her body trembled almost imperceptibly.
She suddenly felt like crying.
It was one thing that Aoba had come.
But why had the girl who had overlapped with her in that dream also come?
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