Chapter 472: The Talisman to Save Naruto
"Ahhh—!"
Team 8 had just come back to their senses when they heard a scream from a distance.
They saw that the entire wall of the Hokage Building's window side had been shattered. Naruto had been blasted straight out from inside and was now freely soaring through the sky.
Just one minute earlier, Naruto had found Tsunade, who, rarely, was actually handling paperwork in the Hokage office.
Of course, Tsunade wasn't really the one doing the work. She had summoned Shizune, Sakura, and Ino to handle it for her.
Shizune, of course, was already used to this.
As for Sakura and Ino, Tsunade framed it as training their broader perspective and administrative abilities, laying the foundation for them to become independent Jonin in the future.
And she herself simply sat there waiting.
It was said that an envoy from a small country would arrive today to present special yokan sweets for the Hokage.
Yokan, in another world, originated from China and was introduced to Japan. Originally, as the name suggests, it was made with mutton.
However, the Zen monks who transmitted the recipe were strict vegetarians, so it was changed into a vegetarian version.
In the shinobi world, yokan was naturally also a sweet, meatless dessert.
The only question was: were those monks really so stubborn? If you remove the "mutton" from mutton jelly, how is that different from removing potatoes from French fries?
Then why call it yokan at all? You might as well call it bean jelly.
In any case, it was considered a high-class confection.
Even if no one really understood what made it "high-class."
But Tsunade liked it, so she specially came to the Hokage building today just to receive it first, so no one else could "accidentally take it."
However…
After waiting a long time, she didn't get the envoy. Instead, she got Naruto.
Naruto didn't immediately explain why he came. Instead, he first said he had prepared gifts for the three of them.
You don't hit a smiling face, so since Naruto brought gifts, no matter how they felt about him, they had to acknowledge it.
But then, in order to look cool, Naruto copied a "Three-sword Liu Zoro" movie poster he had just seen and pulled off a three-sword style stunt.
He tore open the wrapping, tossed it into the air, caught one in each hand, and held one in his mouth.
He struck a very flashy pose.
If what he was holding had actually been swords.
At this point, Tsunade and the others still hadn't clearly seen what Naruto was holding. If he had run away now, he still could have made it.
But Naruto didn't run. Instead, still posing coolly, he walked up to Sakura and brought the pink item he was holding in his mouth right in front of her.
Sakura finally saw it clearly.
So did Tsunade and Ino.
And then, what happened just now occurred.
Naruto was blasted through a wall.
"Shino!"
"Got it!"
Shino waved his hand, and countless insects poured out like a black cloud, catching Naruto and gently lowering him in front of the three.
"Ah!?"
Hinata let out a cry upon seeing Naruto's condition and immediately fainted.
"Ugh."
Kiba was also shocked, though he could only sigh helplessly at his teammate passing out.
"Shino, take Hinata aside first. I'll treat Naruto."
Kiba took out the talisman Jiraiya had given him earlier.
Naruto now had several indentations on his body where Tsunade and the others' enraged attacks had embedded the "gifts" into him.
Kiba sighed and had no choice but to pull the items out first and throw them aside.
"By the way, how do you even use this thing? Just stick it on?"
Kiba pinched the talisman and carefully walked up to Naruto. After hesitating for a moment, he suddenly reached out and slapped Naruto hard across the face.
"Hmm?"
Naruto slowly woke up in confusion and saw Kiba.
"Kiba… Jiraiya-sama gave me this talisman and said it was to save you. Do you know how to use it?"
Kiba quickly asked as Naruto regained consciousness.
"Mm-mm-mm."
Naruto shook his head.
"No choice then. We'll have to try our luck."
Kiba stuck the talisman directly onto Naruto's forehead, like putting a seal on a zombie, then quickly stepped back, afraid something terrifying would happen.
Like it being an explosive tag or something.
And then…
"Woof! Woof!"
While Kiba was staring intently at Naruto, Akamaru suddenly ran forward barking. Before Kiba could react, Akamaru swallowed the "talisman" off Naruto's forehead in one bite.
"Akamaru, what are you doing?! That's the talisman to save Naruto! Spit it out!"
Kiba was stunned and rushed forward to grab Akamaru, trying to make him vomit it back up.
Even though Kiba and Naruto usually didn't get along, he still cared about him.
After all, in certain circles, the Naruto–Kiba pairing was surprisingly popular too.
"Whimper…"
Akamaru struggled as Kiba forced his mouth open, but couldn't say anything. In the end, Kiba actually managed to pull out a bit of residue.
Kiba ran back to Naruto holding the residue, only to find Naruto had already fallen unconscious again.
Sticking the talisman to his forehead hadn't worked. And now that Akamaru had swallowed it, only this tiny bit remained.
What now?
"Woof…"
Akamaru weakly barked after being forced to vomit.
Kiba instinctively turned back and noticed something strange, the color of Akamaru's fur was changing.
It was exactly like when members of the Inuzuka clan take their special red military ration pills.
What was going on?
Could it be that the real way to use this talisman was to eat it?
Kiba quickly pried open Naruto's mouth and poured the remaining fragments inside.
But Naruto was unconscious and couldn't swallow, leaving it stuck in his mouth, which made Kiba anxious.
Just as Kiba was debating whether he should sacrifice his own dignity to save Naruto, Shino acted.
Shino released a swarm of insects that poured into Naruto's mouth, pushed the talisman fragments down into his stomach, and then crawled back out through his nose and mouth.
"Thanks, Shino."
Kiba wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat down in relief.
It actually worked.
Naruto soon woke up again, sitting up, and even able to speak.
"Kiba? You saved me? How did you do it?"
Naruto asked while checking his body in confusion.
"It was Jiraiya-sama's talisman. Akamaru accidentally swallowed it. I reacted quickly and fished out some of it and shoved it into your mouth."
Kiba explained.
"…Ugh."
Naruto's mouth twitched, and he felt like throwing up.
He had actually eaten something that came out of a dog.
At lunchtime, could they please not talk about something so disgusting?!
"Woof woof."
Akamaru barked behind Kiba.
"What? That wasn't a talisman at all, it tasted like poop?"
Kiba translated Akamaru's words, shocked.
"?"
Naruto, who had been holding back his nausea, finally couldn't take it anymore. He rushed to the side, grabbed a wall, and started vomiting.
"Akamaru, Akamaru, what's wrong? Naruto, come here quickly!"
While Naruto was still vomiting, he suddenly heard Kiba shouting over there.
(End of this chapter)