Very soon, it was time for Shizuka and Shinju to part ways. Shinju suddenly asked,
"Right—does that guy with glasses often send puppets to fight you?"
Shizuka blinked and nodded.
"Ever since I left the village, he's been tailing me constantly. We've fought almost a hundred times by now…"
Shinju nodded. "I see. Every time he fights you, he leaves a bit of his chakra inside your body. Once that chakra builds up enough, you'll end up becoming his puppet…"
As he spoke, Shinju gently tapped Shizuka's shoulder, dispersing the leftover chakra.
Shizuka's expression brightened in realization, and she kept thanking him.
Shinju smiled. "We'll meet again out there someday. ╭︎( ˙º˙)╯︎"
After Shinju left, Shizuka stared toward the direction he disappeared, unable to pull her gaze away for a long time.
Her attendant chuckled. "He really is a good man…"
Shizuka replied, "I look forward to seeing him again next time. (´つヮ⊂︎)"
...
After this little episode, Shinju and Naruto continued searching for the game console's creator, and finally found him in a large city within the Land of Fire.
Shinju fulfilled every request the creator made, bought the patent outright, and even brought the man under his command to help with development…
Two days later, after having their fun, Shinju and Naruto returned to Konoha.
The moment they stepped into the Hokage's office, Shinju saw a clone who looked absolutely wrecked by day-to-day life.
Clone Shinju said, "The Ninja Alliance meetings, multiple disappearance cases, and all those confession letters from girls… (*꒦ິ⌓꒦ີ)"
"These past two days have been ridiculous. I haven't even had time to rest. You finally came back… T_T"
With dark panda eyes, the clone spoke weakly.
As soon as he finished, he poofed out of existence.
At the same time, all the clone's memories from these past few days surged into Shinju's mind.
Shinju: ㅍ_ㅍ
"Even though I technically did nothing, I still feel exhausted."
"I seriously need to hurry and step down. Being Hokage is not a job for humans…(´⌒`｡)"
Just as Shinju finished grumbling, the Hokage office door opened again. Shikamaru—whom they hadn't seen in a while—walked in carrying a stack of documents.
"Hokage is a position many dream of but never obtain. You're lucky, Shinju." Shikamaru joked lightly.
Shinju, looking miserable, replied, "You want this luck instead? (´;︵;`)"
Shikamaru quickly waved his hands.
"I'm good. Work in the archives is troublesome enough as it is. Σ( ° △ °|||)︴"
After the Fourth Great Ninja War, Shinju became the Sixth Hokage, and his peers entered the village's leadership as well.
Shikamaru was now working in the Konoha archives.
Deep down, Shinju actually appreciated him. This guy hated trouble since childhood, yet voluntarily dealt with piles of complicated paperwork just to support Shinju and Naruto…
"These past six months, thanks for everything. If you hadn't helped with the archives, I'd be even more exhausted." Shinju said sincerely.
Shikamaru smirked, pretending to act casual.
"Why're you suddenly being so serious? I'm doing this for the village too. (＾ワ＾)"
"Good thing you're Hokage right now—everything's easy. When Naruto takes over, that's when the real trouble begins…"
Shinju laughed. "Haha, that kid Naruto's been working his butt off these past six months. At this rate, I can dump the job on him within half a year! ◝︎(⁰▿︎⁰)◜︎"
Shikamaru: "…"
"Oh, right. The mission volume for the Ninja Alliance has been dropping sharply these past two days. Did you know?"
Shinju nodded. "It's not just a day or two. For half a year now, every hidden village has been receiving fewer and fewer missions… It's just the price of peace."
"Peace is hard-earned…" Shikamaru sighed.
Just then, a messenger hawk flew in through the window.
Shinju reached out, grabbed the bird's leg, took the letter, and complained,
"Phones already exist—why are we still using hawks?"
Shikamaru chuckled. "Probably from Ōnoki, that old fossil. He hates new technology. ´◡`"
Shinju unfolded the letter. After reading through it, his expression tightened.
Standing beside him, Shikamaru asked curiously,
"What's wrong? What kind of problem makes the brilliant and mighty Sixth Hokage frown? (•̀⌄•́)"
Shinju said, "The Tsuchikage found the cause behind the sudden drop in mission requests for the Ninja Alliance these days… Here, see for yourself."
He handed the letter to Shikamaru.
After reading it, Shikamaru also frowned. "Land of Silence, the Curtain Village… People are giving their mission requests to this new village instead…"
"The Land of Silence is a tiny, unknown nation. How does it suddenly have the means to compete with the Five Great Hidden Villages for contracts…?"
Shinju said, "Send people to investigate! If they're competing fairly, fine. But if I find out they used dirty tricks…"
"Stealing missions from hidden villages is the same as stealing money. Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents! (ꐦ ಠ 皿 ಠ)"
Very soon, Shinju dispatched a squad of ANBU led by Sai to head for the Land of Silence.
Before departure, Sai declared confidently, "I will not fail the Hokage's trust!"
Shinju said, "Make it quick."
...
Three days later.
Having just finished a pile of documents, Shinju sat alone in the Hokage office in a daze.
"It's already been three days. Why hasn't Sai sent any message back? Weird… Super Beast Imitating Drawing makes communication so easy…"
Naruto said, "Relax. Sai's pretty strong now."
Shinju clearly had no sense of what Naruto meant by "strong." "Sai… strong? ◝₍ᴑ̑ДO͝₎◞"
"He likes painting. He's obviously an artist."
Naruto: "…"
"Sasuke also hasn't come back. Aren't you worried about him?"
"That guy has the Six Paths Yin Power and the Rinnegan. In today's ninja world, he's top tier. Why would I worry? ┐(´-｀)┌"
Shinju shrugged. But after a moment, he still felt uneasy.
"No, something's off. I sent so many ANBU, and not a single message has come back. Too strange—I'm going there myself! (ㅎ‸ㅎ)"
Naruto said, "Okay! I'll go with you! ୧⍢⃝୨"
Shinju stopped him. "No! Stay here and study properly! And don't even think about sneaking out to play!"
Naruto said, "I'm worried you can't handle it alone…"
Shinju replied, "You becoming Hokage sooner is the biggest help you can give me!"
...
Half an hour later, outside the Curtain Village in the Land of Silence.
Shinju crouched in a bush, observing the shinobi entering and leaving the village.
"Judging from their chakra signatures, this village has ninjas from all sorts of hidden villages. And there are a lot of them…"
"Did all the other hidden villages send scouts? But this number is way too big…"
Just as Shinju was trying to figure it out, he spotted a rogue ninja!
"An Iwagakure rogue… bounty three million. And he's one of the people inside this village… (≖╻≖;)"
With that information, Shinju finally guessed what kind of "village" this was.
A place made up of homeless wandering shinobi… and rogue ninja from various hidden villages!