"Danzo, want to walk around the village with me?"
At the Shimura compound, the door of Danzo's house was knocked upon, and as soon as he opened it, he was warmly invited out by Renya.
In Danzo's eyes flashed a storm of complex emotions—shock, confusion, astonishment, fear, disbelief...
All of these tangled together, leaving him frozen in place for a moment, unable to respond immediately.
Renya actually invited him to go out and play!
What on earth was wrong with him today?
Danzo had thought Renya came to find him for a mission, but instead it was to stroll through the streets...
Thinking that, he raised his head toward the blazing sun in the sky.
What was up with Renya?
After spending years together with Renya, their daily life had always been either going on missions or being on the way to missions.
That led Danzo, upon seeing him, to instinctively assume it must be another mission.
It had been this way for years, and the habit had already settled deep in his bones.
But today Renya broke the routine.
Instead of calling him for a mission, he wanted to wander around the village...
Danzo felt this was truly unbelievable. Was this still the same mission-crazed maniac he knew?
Where there's abnormality, there's trouble!
Countless thoughts flashed across Danzo's mind in an instant. He even thought of the outrageous possibility that Renya wanted to trick him into being used as an experimental subject.
Maybe it was even possible—to trick him over and use him as a guinea pig for testing drugs.
Otherwise, how else could Renya's behavior be explained...?
Renya watched Danzo staring silently at the sun, and a giant question mark practically popped up above his head.
What was this guy doing, staring so intently at the sun?
Didn't he know that hurts the eyes?
He didn't really understand, but decided to respect it.
So he stood there quietly, curious to see how long Danzo could stare at the sun.
Until the stinging pain reached Danzo's eyes, snapping him out of his wild thoughts.
He rubbed his sore eyes instinctively, the vision before him clouded by a dark blur.
"Danzo, why are you staring at the sun?" Renya asked curiously.
Danzo: "..."
Renya's behavior today was just too unusual, making him feel like something secretive was being plotted.
If Renya knew what Danzo was thinking, he would definitely be speechless.
This guy was simply overthinking it.
He had only been considering Senju Tobirama's words: one couldn't just stay home every day, it was necessary to go out sometimes.
A little leisure would refresh both body and mind.
Renya felt that since he was going out anyway, he should call a few friends to come along.
Danzo was the first he came to find.
But hearing the word "shopping," Danzo's behavior became so strange that Renya couldn't figure him out at all.
"What are you planning to do, calling me out?" Danzo asked cautiously.
His hands rested silently on the door. The moment he sensed something wrong, he was ready to slam it shut.
No way was Renya going to trick him into being a lab rat!
"Do what? Of course, just go shopping." Renya truly didn't understand why Danzo was asking such a stupid question.
To anyone else, it would almost sound like he was scheming something sinister.
He had no interest in women, true, but that didn't mean he had any interest in men either...
Even if he starved half to death, he wouldn't make a move on Danzo!
This guy was over the top—was it really necessary to be so wary of him?
"What are you afraid of? I'm not going to eat you," Renya said with an exasperated glance, baffled by his sudden paranoia.
But Danzo still didn't easily believe him, asking again with suspicion:
"Just shopping? Only the two of us? You're not lying to me, right?"
These three questions followed one after the other, each one pressing.
Shopping alone was fine—but if it wasn't, then something was wrong.
And if it was only the two of them going shopping, then there was definitely a problem!
There was no way he dared go alone with Renya. Who knew what could happen?
He looked like a cautious maiden afraid of being lured away by bad men...
But really, you couldn't blame Danzo for overthinking—it was Renya's odd behavior that triggered it.
Hearing him invite him out for a stroll was as shocking as hearing Danzo say he didn't want to be Hokage.
...
One question after another made Renya's face instantly darken.
This guy really had way too many issues.
But he forced himself to answer patiently, one by one:
"Just shopping. There will be other people. I didn't lie to you."
If Danzo kept this up, Renya really would resort to violence.
It was rare enough for him to invite them out to play once, and this was the reaction he got!
Maybe noticing Renya's darkening expression, or maybe just because he'd run out of questions, this time Danzo didn't press further.
"Alright, I'll go shopping with you."
As long as Renya didn't have any improper thoughts or plan to use him as an experimental subject, it was fine.
Seeing Danzo stop arguing, Renya led him to the homes of the others.
When Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others heard Renya's invitation to go shopping, their expressions mirrored Danzo's exactly.
Sheer disbelief!
...
Konoha's commercial street.
After the war, the village had grown livelier. Shops lined both sides of the street, hawkers called out, and the noise of bargaining and laughter filled the air.
People bustled to and fro. Children darted through the crowds, playing.
The sweet smell of grilled dumplings and three-colored dango drifted through the air.
"It really brings back memories..." Uchiha Kagami said softly, his gaze falling on a newly opened sweets shop. "When was the last time we walked around so leisurely like this?"
There was even a new dango shop—he had to try it.
"At least two years ago?" Mitokado Homura adjusted his glasses. "Ever since the war began, we haven't done this."
Renya caught the sweet aroma in the air, his eyes instinctively drawn to the new dango shop.
But then he quickly looked away, afraid Danzo at his side would notice.
He didn't like sweets—he just thought the smell was nice and was curious about what was being sold.
Yes, exactly, just that!
"Hey, a new shop just opened over there!" Koharu Utatane pointed at the sweets shop, eyes bright.
"It smells so good, let's go try it."
"Haha, I was just thinking the same thing!" Uchiha Kagami agreed.
"Then let's go take a look," Sarutobi Hiruzen said, already walking toward the shop.
The others hurried after him, all wanting to see how it tasted.
Renya and Danzo walked at the back of the group.
Renya glanced at the ones ahead, curling his lip in disdain, and turned to Danzo.
"Only children like sweets. Don't you agree, Danzo?"
Danzo: "..."
In his mind came the memory of Nara Motoha bringing them three-colored dango once.
If he recalled correctly, Renya had eaten faster than anyone else.
Danzo's gaze toward him filled with a hint of scorn.
Renya instantly bristled.
"Danzo, what kind of look is that?!"
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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