While Sasuke was filling in for him these past few days, Shinju enjoyed himself to the fullest.
...
A week later, Naruto, Hinata, and the others returned from the Land of Snow, bringing back a sample of chakra armor.
...
Shinju's house.
Shinju took the sample from Naruto's hands without even lifting his head, already preparing to head upstairs to study it properly.
Who knew that before he could even take a step, Naruto rushed up and wrapped him in a bear hug, speaking gratefully:
"Shinju! Thank you so much! ꒦ິ^꒦ິ"
Shinju was completely confused.
"What are you talking about?"
Naruto said, "Thanks for creating the opportunity for Hinata and me to go on a date! These past few days, our relationship deepened even more! I even managed to hold Hinata's hand—none of that would've happened without your assist!! (⌯︎¤̴̶̷̀ω¤̴̶̷́)✧︎"
Shinju felt like his brain had short-circuited.
"Wait! You and Hinata have been dating for months, and you're only at the hand-holding stage now?! (꒪⌓꒪)"
"Don't go around telling people you know me. (ー_ー)!!"
"And what do you mean by 'assist' just now?"
Naruto fell silent.
"As soon as the mission was finished, your clone dispersed, and you didn't use Flying Thunder God to bring everyone back. Wasn't that you deliberately leaving time for Hinata and me to go on a date?"
After saying that, Naruto put on an expression like he really knew his stuff and patted Shinju on the shoulder.
"No need to deny it. I understand your good intentions. ( ˝ᗢ̈˝ )"
Shinju: (≖╻≖;)
In truth, Shinju's clone hadn't thought that far ahead at all. When it dispersed, it genuinely hadn't considered Naruto or Kakashi…
But since Naruto was happy to think that way, Shinju figured it was better not to explain. ꉂ(ˊᗜˋ*)
"Yeah, yeah. But you only managed to hold Hinata's hand—what a waste of all my careful planning! (′д｀σ)σ"
With that, Shinju couldn't be bothered to keep arguing with Naruto and went upstairs to do his research.
Downstairs, Naruto scratched his head, his mind full of question marks.
"Isn't that considered fast progress already…?"
"Eh, whatever. Shinju's never been in a relationship anyway. (´∇ﾉ｀*)ノ"
"Time to go have dinner with Hinata~"
...
Hokage's office.
It was 6:30 in the evening. The sun had already set.
Poor Sasuke, stuck filling in, was still processing documents.
Even with four clones helping, there was still a large pile of paperwork left.
"There's too much, way too much… (*꒦ິ⌓꒦ີ)"
Two more hours passed before Sasuke finally finished everything and dragged his exhausted body home…
Naruto, who had just returned from his date, froze when he saw how thin Sasuke had become. (´°Δ°`)
"Sasuke, I was gone for less than half a month—how did you lose so much weight…? Σ( ° △ °|||)︴"
Sasuke replied weakly, "Water…"
...
Upstairs, under the lamplight, Shinju carefully examined the chakra armor.
Not only did this armor provide protection, it also amplified ninjutsu and granted the ability to fly. Its applications were endless. If ninjas could be equipped with it on a large scale, their overall strength would leap to an entirely new level…
More importantly, if mass production could be achieved, he would definitely make a fortune! (⌯︎¤̴̶̷̀ω¤̴̶̷́)✧︎
"In Doto's memories, the development of chakra armor once ran into a long bottleneck. Back then, the armor couldn't amplify ninjutsu at all. To achieve decent defense, it even had to absorb huge amounts of chakra. It was only after a mysterious person provided technical support that the problem was solved…"
As he spoke, Shinju removed the core from the chest of the chakra armor and carefully observed the internal circuitry…
A few hours later, realization dawned on him.
"So that's it. An activation device and a chakra storage unit are installed inside the armor core. Chakra is stored during normal times, then activated during use to draw on the stored chakra and achieve amplification… interesting…"
Shinju's research continued through the night…
That night, he fully analyzed everything about the chakra armor, including its overall structure, materials, and—most importantly—the armor core itself…
"Whoosh—!"
He pulled open the curtains, letting the morning sunlight flood the room.
Shinju stretched his sore shoulders, his neck and shoulders cracking audibly.
"Knock, knock, knock…"
At that moment, someone knocked on the door.
Sasuke's voice came from outside.
"Shinju, I've got something to talk to you about."
Shinju opened the door. Seeing Sasuke standing there with lifeless eyes, he more or less guessed what he was going to say.
"I've covered for you for this many days. That should be enough…"
Seeing how exhausted Sasuke was, Shinju really couldn't bring himself to squeeze him any further. He nodded.
"Alright. I'll go over myself today."
As he spoke, Shinju took out the chakra armor sample and the blueprints he had drawn.
"Take these to Raimon and see if he can make a prototype first."
Hearing that he wouldn't have to keep dealing with official duties, Sasuke happily accepted the items and agreed without hesitation.
"Got it! ✧(◍˃̶ᗜ˂̶◍)✩"
Before leaving, Sasuke even advised him,
"By the way, Shinju, after being Hokage for these past few days, I finally understand how heavy your workload is every day… You don't need to personally handle everything in the future. You're already Hokage—when something needs doing, just delegate it… ❛‿˂̵✧"
...
Hokage's office.
A Shinju clone was processing documents while dozing off at the same time.
Shikamaru: (||๐_๐)
"Didn't you rest for a whole week? How are you already nodding off the moment you're back at work…?"
Shinju replied, "Naruto brought back that chakra armor from the Land of Snow. I did a bit of research on it last night. --003d_--003d"
Shikamaru immediately asked with interest, "So? Did you figure anything out?"
Shinju nodded. "Of course. The blueprints are already done. Now we just need to wait for Raimon to help me make a prototype."
At the side, Shikamaru twitched the corner of his mouth.
People always said the Nara clan had high intelligence, but in his opinion, Shinju's brain was probably the best in the entire world.
He grasped ninjutsu instantly. Sealing techniques and genjutsu were second nature to him. What was even more outrageous was that he was also incredibly proficient in chakra technology!
"Shinju, where did you even learn all this stuff in your head?" Shikamaru asked curiously.
Shinju yawned. "Learn it…? Do you even need to learn this kind of thing? (~￣△￣)~"
Shikamaru: "…"
"Oh, right, one more thing. About that old flame of yours in Iwagakure—Ōnoki seems to be planning to groom her as the Fourth Tsuchikage…"
Shinju froze. "What old flame of mine…?"
Shikamaru immediately grinned.
"Don't try to fool me. At your succession ceremony, the way Kurotsuchi looked at you—her gaze was practically melting…"
Black lines appeared on Shinju's forehead.
"Where are you even learning these awful expressions? -_-||"
"Wait, Kurotsuchi as the Fourth Tsuchikage? Has Ōnoki gone senile? (⊙o⊙)"
"Isn't her father more suitable than she is?"
Shikamaru shrugged. "Who knows. Ōnoki probably has his own plans. ~_~"
After a while, Shinju's gaze landed on a certain ninja commission.
"A mine disappearance case… Send some jonin to check it out…"
"Alright…"