"Naruto, do you dare to repeat what you just said to Ino?" Choji asked.
"Yeah, you're way too shameless! Disgusting!" Kiba stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth, took a sip of the booze, and mumbled, "Do you dare to say that to Hinata?"
Hearing this, Neji glanced at Naruto, raised his glass and took a sip without saying a word. He silently agreed with the others, as this guy was truly despicable.
"Naruto, just be a decent person for once, okay? Can't you act normal?" Shikamaru said helplessly, "You are not planning to keep it a secret for the rest of your life, are you?"
"What are you all talking about?" Lee asked in confusion.
In the brief silence, Neji solved Lee's doubts with two sentences. Lee's eyes widened in shock and his expression became more and more exaggerated.
"Naruto, you actually...?"
"What kind of talk is that? What kind of talk!" Naruto argued stubbornly, puffing out his chest, "The life and death of a Shinobi is determined by fate. Love is a matter of mutual consent. How can you call it shameless?"
"Boo!!" The group erupted in jeers.
The reason why Naruto could spout such nonsense so freely was that everyone present had some dirt on each other, or they are people like Shikamaru and Lee, who were either too clean or too tight-lipped to spill anything.
In the second half of the night, Naruto called for help to send the drunk group home.
The night breeze was cool, and a drop of rain fell from the sky. Naruto looked up, only for the next drop to land right on his forehead. He was stunned for a while, and realized that autumn had arrived.
Konoha barely had an autumn, he knew it very well. From the first autumn rain, it would take less than a month for the village to plunge into winter.
Naruto stood there and watched for a while, then pulled out two communicators from his sealed space. As he walked home, he replied to messages from both girls.
With his head lowered, he walked along the night road, stepping unevenly as he focused on his messages instead of the path ahead. He turned into a narrow alley without thinking.
"Naruto?"
Hearing the voice, he looked up and saw Tenten, who was supposed to be escorting Lee home, stretching her arms as she walked back. The directions of their homes were exactly opposite, and taking the shortcut was faster for both.
"Tenten? Weren't you taking Lee home?"
"Don't even mention it!" Tenten waved her hand and rubbed her forehead, saying, "Who gave Lee alcohol? Ugh, don't they know he goes wild when he drinks?"
"We were halfway there when he suddenly broke free, sprinted all the way home, jumped from the first floor to the second, and just collapsed on the floor, fast asleep."
Light rain drizzled from the night sky, leaving damp patches on Tenten's clothes.
"Anyway, I won't keep you. It's raining. I'm leaving now!"
After saying that, Tenten hurriedly ran past Naruto, calling over her shoulder, "Remember to go back early too!"
"Got it." Naruto replied, but Tenten probably didn't hear him because she had already run a long distance away.
He went back to replying to messages, even trying to recall where he'd left off earlier.
Meanwhile, the lights were still on in both Ino and Hinata's rooms.
Ever since that day, Ino had been distracted at work. Fortunately, the Intelligence Division's tasks weren't too demanding today, so she managed to barely avoid making mistakes.
Thankfully, Naruto had been in touch with her all day, which eased her anxiety. Still, thinking back to the events of the past few days left her feeling dazed.
"It's raining outside. Just took Lee home. When we were almost at his house, that guy suddenly jumped from the first floor to the second floor."
"Pffft…" Ino lay on the bed, looking at the message on her phone with a giggle, her fingers quickly replying, "Lee can't handle alcohol. You guys are too mean."
"Choji was the one forcing drinks on him. I couldn't even stop him." Naruto responded.
"Yeah, right! I don't believe it!"
"You must be the ringleader. Choji would never do something like that."
Even though Ino prided herself on knowing Naruto well, his shamelessness still managed to surprise her sometimes. He was usually the instigator of such mischief, but he's always pinning the blame on Choji.
Ding!
"How could I do such a thing? Lee is my brother."
"Then it was definitely you!" Ino rolled onto her back, clad in thin pajamas, holding her phone up toward the ceiling light.
"I have to go out for a while. There's a mission." Naruto typed two identical messages and sent them to Ino and Hinata respectively.
Hinata looked at the latest message in bed, half of her face covered. She blinked, not caring about being surprised, and quickly replied to the message, "You're leaving again?"
"Yeah, are you worried about me? Then when can you come out? I'll tie your hair for you." Naruto replied quickly. 'Tying hair' has become a secret code between him and Hinata.
Hinata usually wore her long hair loose with straight bangs, and only under very specific circumstances would she reluctantly agree to tie it up at his request.
"Huh? I-I'll think about it." Hinata replied.
Generally speaking, if Hinata says she'll think about it, it was as good as a yes. Her 'think about it' is similar to 'take it slow at the start', which is very easy to understand.
Buzz buzz buzz.
The other communicator vibrated, as Ino called directly.
"What's up?" He answered the phone.
"Will you be gone long?" Ino's voice was soft, and she seemed to be in a bad mood. After all, they had just confirmed their relationship a few days ago, and they were still in the honeymoon phase.
In order to make Ino feel the difference between the confirmed relationship and the previous one, Naruto spent a lot of effort to make her happy these two days.
His methods included, but weren't limited to, every cliché romantic trope, though in this world, they still felt fresh.
Flowers appearing out of nowhere during dates, counting stars, and set off fireworks on a date. Letting strangers send bouquets one after another, taking her home when it rained, help her dry her body, and kissing her by the fireplace.
One cheesy move after another left Ino overwhelmed, her heart thoroughly flustered. So when she heard he was leaving for a mission, she immediately became nervous.
The former Konoha 12 are now basically all Jonin, and almost all of them are the leaders of their clans or departments. At their level, they don't need to go on missions frequently, and most of their time was spent on work and daily life.
Naruto is an exception. He either didn't go on missions at all, or he'd be gone for months.
She had just tasted the sweetness of love, and the thought of being separated so soon, not knowing if they'd even meet again before the New Year's festival, made her heart race with unease.
"I don't know, but it shouldn't take long." Naruto responded, then glanced at the other screen and saw that Hinata had already replied.
[Come pick me up tomorrow.]
"Got it!"
Naruto thought for a moment, then added, "Morning works. I won't be in the village by afternoon."
In fact, he knew very well that Hinata would rest if she got tired. Scheduling it for the morning gave him flexibility in case plans changed.
"Alright. When are you leaving?" Ino replied with an aggrieved emoticon.
"Tomorrow night." After thinking for a moment, he decided that people should be honest, so he typed quickly, "Sleeping in the morning, packing in the afternoon."