A few days later.
In the park.
Hinata was snuggling in Naruto's arms.
After confirming their relationship, the park had become their regular dating spot.
Of course, since Naruto really loved Ichiraku Ramen, the Ichiraku Ramen stand counted as one too.
"Hinata, Hanabi has been coming to my house a lot lately to bring me things. Did you put her up to it?" Naruto asked.
Hinata looked confused, indicating she knew absolutely nothing about this.
Naruto was incredibly surprised: (꒪⌓꒪)
"If you didn't ask her to come, why does she come over every day eagerly bringing me stuff? ◝₍ᴑ̑ДO͝₎◞"
Speaking of this, Naruto suddenly figured it out: "Could it be that she... How can that be okay! (ꈍᴗꈍ)"
Looking at Naruto's expression, Hinata knew this guy was overthinking it!
"Come to think of it, Hanabi has been asking me about Shinju a lot lately. Maybe she keeps bringing you things as an excuse to see Shinju? (꒪⌓꒪)"
Hinata, worthy of being Hanabi's older sister, quickly figured out the crux of the matter!
Hearing that Hanabi didn't have feelings for him, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief:
"Hanabi is five years younger than you, she just turned twelve this year, right..."
"Shinju is really courting jail time..."
Hinata: "We have to think of a way..."
...
Hokage Office.
As the Hokage's assistant, Sasuke brought over another pile of documents:
"Naruto has been getting more and more slack since he started dating. He hasn't been studying or coming over to help these past two days. →_→"
Shinju said nonchalantly: "It's fine, the honeymoon phase is always like this. He'll be fine in a couple of days. ┐(´-｀)┌"
Saying that, he picked up a document and started browsing the contents.
"Ino says a regular customer at the flower shop hasn't been by lately. She suspects there are missing persons cases in the village..."
Hearing Shinju's words, Sasuke spread his hands and said:
"Maybe business has just been bad at the flower shop these past two days. Does this kind of thing need to be reported..."
Shinju shook his head: "Ino isn't that kind of person. If it wasn't truly abnormal, why would she report it here..."
"Maybe she just wants to see you?" Sasuke said as a matter of fact.
Ino's feelings for Shinju were known to the whole village.
"No, no, no, Ino isn't the type to mess around. I'll go see her after work today," Shinju said, shaking his head.
Half a second later, he changed his mind: "Forget it, I'll send a clone to see her right now."
Soon, Shinju jumped out the window and ran off.
Sasuke stood in the Hokage Office holding the files, looking helpless:
"Such a rush, those two definitely have something going on. (ﾉ∇︎〃 )"
...
Ino's Flower Shop.
After the Fourth Great Ninja War ended, Konohagakure was peaceful and harmonious thanks to Shinju's presence.
Ino had changed out of her tight ninja outfit today and put on a small dress.
At this moment, Ino was earnestly spraying water on the flowers in the shop...
"I don't know why, but there have been fewer and fewer customers these past two days. Several regulars haven't come... it's like they've disappeared..."
Ino muttered to herself.
The next moment, Shinju's voice rang out at the shop entrance: "Tell me the details."
Ino: "Shinju, why are you here? Is it because of the file I submitted? ( ˝ᗢ̈˝ )"
Shinju nodded: "About the missing persons, tell me the details."
Ino nodded: "It's like this. Yamamoto-san is a merchant who opened a store in Konohagakure. He often comes to my flower shop to buy flowers, but he hasn't been here once in the last week. I even went to check the entrance of his shop specifically and found the doors tight shut..."
Shinju frowned upon hearing this: "Is that so..."
"Is it possible he moved?"
Ino shook her head: "Since we interact often, Yamamoto-san is familiar with my family. If he were moving suddenly, he would at least say goodbye..."
Shinju nodded: "I understand. Where is the shop Yamamoto-san opened? Take me there."
Hearing Shinju say this, and thinking that Shinju wanted to investigate the case with her, Ino was incredibly excited: "Okay! I'll close up right now! (ﾉ∇︎〃 )"
Just then, several screams suddenly rang out on the street!
"What happened?" Shinju grabbed a person and asked in confusion.
That person said anxiously: "Sixth-sama, several strange people have arrived at the village entrance. They walk like monsters! \( ö )/"
As soon as the voice fell!
"Bang!!!"
The sound of an explosion came from the village entrance. Shinju frowned and accelerated towards the village entrance:
"Who has a death wish, daring to bring bad luck to Konohagakure?! (ꐦ ಠ 皿 ಠ)"
A few seconds later, Shinju ran to the village entrance and finally saw the strange people the passerby mentioned.
There were seven or eight of them, throwing themselves against Konoha's closed gates. Even though they were blocked, their feet were still shuffling forward relentlessly!
Even more bizarre was that these people's pupils were crimson red!
Just as Shinju was about to ask where these people came from, the late-arriving Ino pointed at one of them and said in surprise: "Yamamoto-san!"
The next moment, the middle-aged man she pointed at turned his head, grabbed a small knife in his hand, and slashed it across his own neck!
"Whoosh—"
The sharp weapon cut through flesh, and fresh blood sprayed out!!
Immediately after, a mass of purple-black substance squeezed out of his wound, slowly wrapping around his body!!
Finally, it formed a purple-black sphere!!
"Boom—!!"
The purple-black sphere exploded, and a gap was blown into the Konohagakure gate!
"What kind of jutsu is this? Controlling others to act as human bombs?"
Shinju narrowed his eyes slightly, and the Mangekyō Sharingan opened instantly!
"Genjutsu: Kai!"
Because of the human bomb just now, six of the eight puppets were killed by the explosion. Shinju only saved two.
After identification by the Konohagakure villagers, these were all people from Konohagakure!!
Shinju didn't waste time; he directly used the Rinnegan to perform Aoki-no-Mikoto!
Then, he collected the flesh and blood of the deceased and used his wooden clone to perform the Edo Tensei.
Subsequently, the Aoki-no-Mikoto clone used Rinne Tensei to bestow true life upon these Edo Tensei individuals!!
After this set of operations, the family members who had just been crying to the heavens were stunned!!
He was just a pile of minced meat a moment ago, and now he's alive?? (≖╻≖;)
"As expected of the Sixth Hokage!"
"Sixth is the best!! ୧⍢⃝୨"
"We love you, Sixth!!"
Later, Shinju asked the people who had exploded and died, discovering that they knew absolutely nothing about becoming human bombs!
"The clues end here. This is hard to investigate..." Shinju murmured.
Shikamaru spoke up in confusion from the side: "There's no record of this kind of ninjutsu in the books either..."
At this moment, Sasuke suddenly suggested: "Maybe we can ask Orochimaru?"
Shikamaru nodded upon hearing this: "I think that's feasible. Orochimaru has been a rogue ninja outside of Konoha for so many years and has contacted all sorts of people. He might know."
"The problem is that guy is rebellious to the bone. Will he really be willing to tell us the truth..."
Neji immediately suggested: "Going to the bounty station to buy intel works too, as long as we have money..."
Hearing about spending money to buy intel, Shinju immediately refused:
"No need for that trouble. Orochimaru will agree to help us work on this. I'll handle it! ( ´▽ )"