When Moegi was young, her hairstyle had looked like a steamed bun, and now that she grew up, her hairstyle resembled a peach.
Even Naruto was a little speechless, so he looked at her hairstyle for a few more seconds.
"What are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked, leaning against the training ground's chain-link fence.
Konohamaru looked happy and answered excitedly.
"We just finished a mission and happened to be passing by, Naruto-niichan! Let me tell you, we have all learned the Rasengan that you taught us last time, and we even used it on a mission!"
"Rasengan?" Naruto paused for a second before remembering he had indeed taught them the technique once, though he'd never expected them to actually learn it.
After all, at that time, he'd just been brushing them off.
"Ohhh, the Rasengan. Good job, I guess. Not like it's anything special, though."
"It's amazing!" Moegi protested.
"Really? I haven't used it for a long time." Naruto's hand drooped on the wire mesh, and he pretended to show off, "After all, the Rasengan is way too weak, I mostly use Forbidden Techniques these days."
"Wooow!!" The three gasped in unison, their eyes sparkling with admiration.
Naruto soaked it in, smiling as he basked in their worship. With a practiced motion, he raised a hand to quiet them down.
Under the blazing sun, Choji squinted at Naruto bragging to Konohamaru and the others, irritation bubbling up inside him.
His body felt like it was weighed down by two boulders, and he still had half a month of this torture to endure.
"That bastard Naruto deserves to die!"
"What the hell is he even talking about for so long? Just get rid of them already. If this keeps up, I'll collapse from heatstroke before I even finish betraying my ancestors."
By the fence, Konohamaru suddenly blurted out, "We also want to learn Forbidden Techniques, Naruto-niichan!"
"Yeah! Yeah, we also want to learn them." Udon echoed from the side. He completely believed what Naruto said.
After all, there was no one in this village who was more powerful than Naruto.
While there were people who were more powerful than Naruto in the past, they either left or died.
Two of the Konoha's F4 died, and the remaining two had also retired. Kakashi's recent iron-fisted leadership had given him a temporary popularity boost, but other than that, Konoha had no rising stars.
"Dream on. I don't have time to teach you brats." Naruto reached through the fence and flicked each of them on the forehead, "Hurry up and leave, don't interrupt my important business."
"Ouch!" Konohamaru failed to dodge.
"It hurts!" Moegi clutched her head.
"Ooww!" Udon took the hit without protest.
"Ah! How can you do this!" Konohamaru whined, but it was no use. Naruto was already shooing them away.
"Go away, you little brats!" He turned his back on them and walked off. "If I turn around and you're still here, don't blame me for what happens next!"
With that warning, the three stuck out their tongues and scurried off like frightened mice.
Once they'd put a safe distance between themselves and Training Ground 5, Konohamaru glanced around and finally relaxed.
"Fortunately, Naruto-niichan didn't catch up."
"But, what are Naruto-niichan and the other guy doing back there?" Udon asked, still somewhat confused.
"Who knows? I think I saw Choji-niichan, and he seemed injured." ohamaru scratched his head as he tried to recall.
"They're still training even when injured?" Udon was a little shocked. "The niichan are already amazing Jonin, right? Even so, they're pushing themselves this hard while hurt?"
"Of course! How else do you think they became such amazing shinobi?" Moegi said with certainty, her eyes sparkling, "I wonder when we'll get that strong!"
"Well..." Udon lowered his gaze to the ground.
"If only I could learn Forbidden Techniques… Naruto-niichan is so heartless and stingy!" Konohamaru grumbled casually, "I should've pestered him more earlier."
Hearing that, Moegi looked up, her eyes suddenly brightening.
"Aaa-Achoo!" Naruto, who is standing in Training Ground 5, rubbed his nose, "Oi, Choji, were you just bad-mouthing me?"
"Like I'd waste my breath on you!" Choji muttered under his breath, sounding a little guilty.
"Whatever, let's take a break before continuing." Naruto walked over to a shaded spot and sat down on the dry ground. Choji also limped over.
"Hey, do you think the Multi-Size Technique works on any body part?" Naruto suddenly asked.
Choji looked him up and down, "What are you planning?"
"Nothing, hehe." Naruto grinned, his gaze drifting off into the distance.
"Don't do anything stupid, it's easy to get into trouble." Choji was a little worried, so he turned his head and warned, "The Multi-Size Technique is not stable unless you fully master it."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Naruto replied dismissively.
A lone cloud drifted across the sky, and the two of them fell into silence, sitting side by side in the shade, lost in thought.
…
"Are you really going to resign?" Kakashi held the resignation letter in his hand and looked up at Sakura again.
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"I can't do it anymore." Sakura shrugged nonchalantly, "The workload's too heavy, and the higher-ups don't trust me. Honestly, I've wanted to quit for a while, it's just that I've never had a good reason until now."
"Have you thought it through?" Kakashi looked through Sakura's handover documents and asked slowly.
"I have thought it through, very clearly!" She nodded firmly.
"What do you plan to do after resigning?" Kakashi asked casually, "Do you want to work in the Hokage Tower? Or do you have something else in mind?"
"I'll stay home for a while first. I'm done with work for now." Sakura replied, "I'll figure things out later and come to you if I have any ideas."
"Alright." Kakashi straightened the papers on his desk, tapping them neatly into place, and then said, "I've approved it, and the higher-ups just needs to go through the procedures."
"Then you go back for now. Take some time to rest at home."
"Okay, thank you, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura's eyes curved into crescents as she turned and walked downstairs.
After leaving the Hokage Tower, Sakura turned into a small alley not far away, where Naruto was squatting on the wall, waiting boredly for her.
"Did he agree?"
"All settled." Sakura stood beneath the wall, put her hands behind her back, and smiled ambiguously. "Do you have anything going on today?"
"Let me check." Naruto pulled out a small notebook and skimmed through it, "Training in the morning… Eat breakfast... met up with Choji."
"Hmm... nothing else for now. Why?"
"No reason. Do you want to come to my house and sit for a while?" She tilted her head and asked, "Maybe have some fruit... like peaches?"
"Thanks, but I don't really like fruits." Naruto curled his lips and didn't take the bait.
"Well, I've got a rocking horse at home. Do you want to try?" Sakura's smile didn't waver as she licked her lips, "You can rock me, or I'll rock myself."
"I'm not a kid. Rocking horses are lame... I prefer human catapults. Do you have any of those?" Naruto glanced down at her.
Sakura was stunned for a moment, and after a moment, she seemed to catch his meaning, and her smile widened. She beckoned him down from the wall and said, ""Human catapults, huh? Yeah, I've got those. You're coming?"
"Eh, I guess. Just so we're clear, I'm only going to check it out." Naruto jumped down from the top of the wall, "Let's go. Now that you're free from work, no more distractions."
As it turned out, human catapults required extreme flexibility. Without proper acrobatic skills, pulling off a flawless performance was impossible.
…
Late at night, when Choji went out to buy some sake, he saw a rocking horse at the entrance of a convenience store and stopped to look at it for a while.
"Ah, childhood... brings back memories."