Tsunade said she'd leave tomorrow, and she really left early in the morning, without even saying goodbye.
When Natsume woke up, he noticed the person beside him was gone.
Such a heartless woman.
Not only is her heart hard, her mouth is hard too.
He'd have to check someday just how hard.
Natsume sniffed; he could still catch a faint fragrance.
He got up and changed his clothes.
Since Tsunade had left, he needed to find a way to go to Kirigakure.
As a ninja, there are only two reasons to leave Konoha.
One, the Hokage approves you for a mission.
Two, you run away as a rogue ninja.
After more than three years, Shizune was now a special jōnin.
But Natsume and Kabuto Yakushi were still chūnin.
Because they were lazy and didn't complete enough missions.
Normally, to be promoted to jōnin, strength alone wasn't enough.
The hard requirement was the number of missions.
The soft requirement was loyalty to the Hokage or Konoha.
But for Natsume, it was easy—he could just have Gunma Company issue a mission.
As long as Konoha got their commission, they didn't care what you did outside, unless you defected.
…
At the ninja academy.
Natsume went to say goodbye to Naruto.
Now, Naruto was about to turn seven, but his strength had improved vastly compared to the original.
It was said he was at special jōnin level.
But his control still needed work.
Otherwise, with his chakra, he'd be jōnin level.
But his situation didn't improve.
Because the villagers' fear of him only deepened.
Before, he was a brat. Now, he was a ninja, which was a much bigger threat.
Many people were also afraid he'd seek revenge.
But at school, it was okay.
Naruto had made quite a few friends.
For example, Sasuke, Rock Lee, Neji Hyuga, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi.
At the same time, Sakura Haruno was chasing after Sasuke.
But Naruto wasn't interested in her, because Sasuke's attention was entirely on him.
The two competed fiercely.
Women would only get in the way of their fight.
Besides Sasuke, Neji and Lee were also close with Naruto.
Whether they were friends was hard to say.
Speaking of Sasuke, you had to mention the Uchiha clan.
They'd been pretty quiet these years.
In the original, because of Shisui's death, the rebellion was postponed by two years.
Now, with an extra mysterious ninja, and Uchiha Fugaku knowing about Kotoamatsukami, the threat from outside made them temporarily put aside their conflict with Konoha. Everyone's looking for Shisui and the mysterious strong ninja.
Sarutobi Hiruzen did do something, though.
Because Danzo Shimura's Wood Release was exposed, Orochimaru was also implicated.
But Orochimaru quickly handed over the Hashirama cell transplant technology, so Hiruzen forgave him.
The process didn't matter; what mattered was that Konoha now had several Wood Release users.
Natsume knew this because Tsunade told him.
Since it involved Hashirama cells, and Sarutobi Hiruzen wanted her to be his successor, he didn't keep it from her.
Tsunade didn't say anything either.
Because Konoha had done Wood Release experiments early on.
This completely cleared Natsume of suspicion.
The Konoha higher-ups unanimously believed the mysterious ninja had stolen Orochimaru and Danzo's research.
Otherwise, it couldn't be explained.
And that guess was actually correct.
After saying goodbye to Naruto, Natsume headed to the Hyuga residence.
Something just felt… strange.
Isn't this also a kind of… cough, cough.
In his previous life, many people thought Naruto didn't really like Hinata, just as Sasuke didn't really like Sakura.
The former was out of being moved, the latter for the duty of carrying on the bloodline.
Natsume's appearance surprised Hinata.
Because he rarely came during the day—it was usually at night to feed her.
"N-Natsume-nii…"
Hinata's personality hadn't changed much, and when she saw him, she was a little flustered.
"Morning."
Natsume smiled and asked, "Are you hungry?"
Hinata blushed and nodded.
"Just as well, I picked up a lot of ramen on the way."
Natsume opened ten lunchboxes and said, "Eat up. After you're done, I have something to tell you."
"Mm."
Hinata shyly picked up her chopsticks.
Natsume sat across from her, watching, then started looking at her Byakugan.
Unlike the Sharingan, it stayed white even when inactive, not like normal eyes.
"That's… not a good place to look."
Hinata felt his gaze and hurriedly said.
As the saying goes, being unique can cause dislike.
Especially in Japan's distorted world.
Hinata was bullied as a child because her Byakugan was unique.
Many villagers thought it was ominous.
Just like the demon fox rumor about Naruto.
"It's pretty cute."
Natsume smiled, patted her head, and said, "You are too."
"Eep~"
Hinata instantly turned into a steam-powered waifu, her head dizzy.
"Eat up."
Natsume didn't tease her further.
Because if he kept going, breakfast would turn into dinner.
And soon, Hinata would have to go to training.
But the intensity was much lower now.
Because of Hinata's younger sister, Hanabi, had been born as the hope of the main family.
If nothing went wrong, someone would be branded with the Caged Bird Seal.
Unless Natsume or Naruto became Hokage.
"I'm done."
Hinata maintained her elegance, put down her chopsticks, and asked.
"I have to go on a mission. It'll take a while—a few months."
Natsume got down to business. "So I may not be able to bring you food every day."
Hinata's eyes widened. She wanted to say something, but didn't know what.
She was reluctant but couldn't stop him.
Because going on missions was a ninja's duty.
In the end, Hinata said a bit sadly, "Please be careful."
"I will."
Natsume couldn't help but pinch her cheek and said, "Don't be sad. I'll come back when I can."
He meant using Slug Sage.
The Reverse Summoning Jutsu ignores distance, no matter how far.
He was just being careful.
At night, he might not be able to come due to other matters.
It was better to mention it in advance.
"Alright, see you next time."
Natsume was about to leave when Hinata beat him to it, ran up, and hugged him. Her face was as red as an apple.
Her expression was confused, like she'd faint at any moment.
The Hyuga heiress really wanted to keep him.
Natsume hadn't expected this.
Given her personality, this was an act of great courage, a once-in-a-millennium event.
After a moment, Hinata seemed to realize what she'd done.
She ran off, dove into bed, and covered herself up, leaving only her shoes sticking out and wiggling nervously.
Natsume chuckled. So cute. He said, "I'll be going then."
He performed the Reverse Summoning Jutsu.
A puff of smoke, and he appeared in the Konoha orphanage.
But he wasn't there to see Kabuto—he was there for Shisui.