"Is this Charmander? It looks really cute."
Mikoto suddenly stood up and walked over to sit in front of Hayato Ren, looking at Charmander as she spoke.
"You and Charmander should get along well, since you're the first one who remembered its name. Everyone else just calls it a Summoning Beast."
Hayato Ren reached out to stroke Charmander's face as he responded.
"Then can you tell me how you met Charmander? If you don't want to talk about it, just pretend I never asked."
Although Mikoto and Hayato Ren were teammates, for shinobi, many things were considered highly confidential.
Take Hanzo, who was called the Demigod - if information about his Summoning Beast, the salamander, were to leak out, his combat effectiveness would be greatly diminished.
However, Hayato Ren clearly had no intention of keeping secrets, since Charmander was the only Pokémon in the entire Shinobi World anyway.
"This guy's origin is quite mysterious. One night during a full moon, I was sleeping when I suddenly heard a loud noise coming from the yard. When I went out to check, I found that something had smashed a huge crater in the center of the yard."
"At first I thought it was something like a meteorite, but inside was something that looked like an egg. Then I brought that egg home, and it eventually hatched into Charmander."
After listening to Hayato Ren's story, Mikoto looked at his face with some skepticism. After all, everything sounded a bit too fantastical.
But when she thought about Charmander's incredible abilities, this origin story seemed like it could be true.
At that moment, Hayato Ren suddenly shifted the topic to Mikoto.
"As an exchange, why don't you tell me about yourself? If my former classmates knew I was keeping night watch with the school beauty, they'd be dying of envy."
Hearing this, a faint blush appeared on Mikoto's face as she responded somewhat shyly.
"The school beauty thing is just nonsense spread by bored people. And my past is quite boring too - before meeting you and Kushina, I didn't have any friends I could truly confide in."
Hayato Ren glanced sideways at Mikoto, showing a somewhat surprised expression.
"That can't be right. You're so popular and have such a good personality - how could you not have friends?"
Mikoto buried her head in her knees, and only after a long while did she respond in a muffled voice.
"Those people either wanted my family background or were attracted to my looks - they weren't really here to be friends with me. And some people act very attentive to your face, but who knows what they say about you behind your back. You know? I've always envied the close relationship between you and Kushina."
Seeing Mikoto so downcast, Hayato Ren didn't know how to comfort her. After all, Kushina wasn't exactly the most sensitive person.
After a long silence, Hayato Ren finally managed to say something to console her.
"It's alright, aren't Kushina and I your friends now? And Tsunade-sensei is quite nice too, just remember not to lend her any money."
Mikoto looked up, her face filled with confusion as she asked.
"But isn't Tsunade-sensei highly respected within the Senju clan? How could she possibly borrow money from us?"
"Heh, you're overestimating a gambler's self-discipline. Especially one who keeps losing but never gives up, even being called the 'Big Fat Sheep' by casino staff. If the First Hokage knew what his granddaughter had become, I wonder what he'd think..."
Just then, an object suddenly whizzed through the air and hit Hayato Ren on the head, interrupting his eloquent speech.
When he got up from the ground and took a closer look, the object that had "attacked" him turned out to be a shoe.
Judging by the shoe's trajectory and size, it wasn't hard to guess who it belonged to.
Sure enough, Tsunade's voice came from inside the tent.
"You brat have no respect for your teacher at all, gossiping about me like that. If there's a next time, it won't be my shoe hitting your head."
Hayato Ren shook his head and gave Mikoto a helpless expression, then picked up the shoe and returned it to Tsunade's tent.
To be honest, if Mikoto hadn't been watching, Hayato Ren might have performed an epic act of disrespect.
However, this unfortunate incident successfully cheered up the somewhat depressed Mikoto, bringing a bright smile to her face.
After returning the shoe, Hayato Ren happened to see Mikoto's smile and blurted out without thinking.
"You look really beautiful when you smile. If it were up to me, I'd definitely choose you as the school belle."
"Aren't you afraid Kushina will be unhappy hearing you say that?"
Hayato Ren patted his pants and sat back in his original position before responding.
"Kushina's easy to understand. Just keep praising her as the future Hokage and she'll be fine."
The night passed in casual conversation, and soon it was late into the night.
However, before changing shifts, Tsunade left a large bump on Hayato Ren's head as a reward for his "impudent remarks."
Seeing Hayato Ren's pitiful state, Mikoto couldn't help but let out a series of silver-bell-like, delightful laughter.
The newly awakened Kushina looked completely clueless about what had happened, even reaching out to poke the bump and exclaiming in surprise.
"Wow, Ren, you've grown a horn on your head. That's amazing!"
Hearing this, even Tsunade nearby couldn't help but be amused.
Indeed, smiles don't disappear - they just transfer to someone else.
Thus, Hayato Ren could only return to his tent with a dark expression.
After using Medical Ninjutsu to heal the bump on his head, Hayato Ren finally remembered that his lottery draws had been refreshed.
His continuous chatting with Mikoto had made him forget about this. Women really do affect his rate of getting stronger.
As the lottery wheel kept spinning, a blue light suddenly appeared before Hayato Ren's eyes.
This was the first time Hayato Ren had drawn a blue item. While it didn't seem as good as gold, it was certainly much better than the usual white items.
Upon seeing this reward, Hayato Ren couldn't help but grin.
The Dark Gold Dice would increase his luck value for one hour based on the number rolled, with higher numbers granting greater luck.
This was an item related to something as elusive as luck, yet it held immense significance for Hayato Ren.
If he could roll a six before his next draw, the probability of getting a valuable item would be greatly enhanced.
Although it was merely a blue-tier item, Hayato Ren was quite satisfied with it.