In Konoha, Naruto lies down

"No."

"Huh? What is that? Is it telling me not to ******?" Sakura asked with her head tilted.

"Ahem, haven't you changed yet?"

"It's okay, only Naruto-kun can hear it." Her eyes curved into an arc, "If it's Naruto-kun, you can do it anytime!"

Hearing this, Naruto still lazily leaned back in his chair, his expression distracted. His eyes showed no emotion at all, and he just stared at her coldly.

Sakura couldn't stand being stared at anymore, so she sighed as if giving in and begged.

"I was wrong."

"What's wrong?"

He slowly picked up his chopsticks and plunged them into the hot pot, letting the steam roll in. Without even looking at Sakura, he glanced at her with his eyelids closed the moment he lifted his chopsticks.

"I shouldn't say that..." She didn't dare to be naughty anymore and stopped talking.

Sakura was a little nervous. According to her assumption, Naruto would also fall into the abyss of Hinata and Ino. She could feel no burden if he fell anyway...

At worst, she could do it secretly. She wasn't completely focused on love anyway. In fact, she had no concept of love at all, practically equating the word with an immoral RPG with Naruto.

Besides that, she also had other things to do to pass the time, so her life wasn't boring. And she knew that if she didn't practice hard, she might be disliked.

In this way, a year passed by unknowingly.

Although she occasionally had the crazy thought of wanting to be Naruto's lover, even just once, she quickly convinced herself that it didn't matter.

Even if it's not glorious, as long as it's exciting, it's fine.

But things were not what she imagined. Ever since that incident, Naruto no longer avoided her. He didn't react much to her various tactics, and would only occasionally pay attention to her.

But every time Sakura was stared at by him with such cold eyes, she couldn't help but give in first.

"That's not what I'm talking about. You seem to have forgotten something." Naruto said nonchalantly, "I've never thought you were troublesome, and there's no need to deliberately change the subject."

"Sasuke's situation is indeed troublesome. There is no reason for me to spend so much effort to help her, but I can help you."

Sakura was stunned for a moment, the smile on her face disappeared, and she frowned and said.

"You didn't have to do that, I was just joking."

"Anyway, Sasuke has disappeared. As long as he doesn't appear in front of her, she won't wake up. Besides, didn't you say last time that Sasuke doesn't recognize his relatives?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "We'll run into each other sooner or later. Besides, I can't just leave you like that."

"Do you have any good ideas now?" Sakura asked.

"No," he said honestly, "Not yet, but there's still plenty of time, and I should be able to find a solution in the future."

"No need to wait until later." Sakura stood up and moved from the seat opposite Naruto to his side, whispering in his ear, "I have a good idea now."

"What can I do?" He felt his ears itchy.

"Replace." She whispered, almost leaning against Naruto through her thick cotton jacket.

"Replace? Replace what?"

"Of course it's to replace Sasuke's obsession in her heart." Sakura let go of Naruto with a smile in her eyes, "I like Naruto-kun very much."

"Oh."

"The reaction is still really cold." Sakura curled her lips and said with some dissatisfaction.

"Go on," he said. "How do you replace it?"

Chapter 262: After the New Year Festival, the Price of Growth

"Just apply a little stimulation, and then the main personality will wake up briefly." Sakura looked around and spoke in a low voice while covering her mouth with her hands.

Naruto was speechless. "If you lower your voice and wrap your hands around it, will others not hear you?" The problem is, this posture is even more suspicious, right?

He reached across the table and pulled her hand down. "Stop talking nonsense. Do you want me to be kicked out of Konoha by Lady Tsunade and become a traitor like Sasuke?"

"how is this possible?"

"You have no self-awareness at all!" Naruto sighed, "Hokage-sama's disciple has been ****ed, just wait and see me get beaten to death by Tsunade-sama with one punch."

"Oh." Sakura stuck out her tongue, "I think I'll be spared, right?"

"Stop gloating over Sakura's misfortune." He stretched out his hand to hit Sakura on the head, extending his bent palm, but Sakura dodged it the next second.

"Anyway, I'll think of other ways. I can't really go back on your suggestion."

"What are you...doing?"

Before he could retract his hand, Sakura suddenly stood up and bit down two of his fingers, swallowing them whole. She glanced up and gave him a cautious look.

She left in a second, as if she had succeeded in her revenge, and looked at him with a smug look on her face.

"Punishment," Sakura said.

"You're sick." Naruto withdrew his hand, glanced at her with his dead fish eyes, and took out a tissue to wipe his hands.

The dual personality issue had to be resolved sooner or later, and it would be nice if he could summon Sakura's main personality to discuss it. But even if he knew this, he wouldn't bring it up.

If the main personality is summoned, how will Sakura in front of him deal with it?

He already had a plan, he just didn't say it. For now, dragging it out was the best solution. Wait until there was no other way... then we'll talk about it.

"Anyway, you asked me out just to eat?" Naruto asked after putting down his chopsticks.

"is it not OK?"

"Of course, I'm happy that you invited me to dinner."

"Really? You don't look happy at all." Sakura glanced at him and said resentfully, "If you were really happy to see me, why didn't you come to see me?"

"I'm busy and the timings don't match." Naruto lowered his head and ate.

The two of them ate while chatting about meaningless topics. Although the topics were not very nutritious, they were part of their daily routine.

"You are so free."

"Aren't you free too?"

Sakura's speech became more and more casual, and she no longer called Naruto-kun "Naruto-kun" every day. However, this made him feel more at ease, otherwise he would always feel that she had some ulterior motives.

"Okay! You have to try your best and eat three bowls today!"

"What are you talking about! Who... who eats three bowls!" Sakura's defenses were instantly broken, and her cheeks flushed in the rolling white mist. "You... why are you so annoying?"

"It's normal for female ninjas to eat more. After all, training consumes physical energy." He said with his hands spread out.

"Oh, stop it!"

Before leaving, Naruto gave Sakura a gift he had prepared long ago: a bracelet that was not very expensive, which he placed in a gift box and handed to her.

"new Year's gift."

.........

One day after Sakura's dinner date, Ino hurried to Naruto's house. Mainly to return the gift, she also explained why she hadn't had time to return the gift in the past few days.

"It's so troublesome. My mother suddenly took me to meet and have dinner with my uncles and aunts from our family." Ino sat on the sofa and kept complaining.

"Maybe you're old enough, so I'm going to familiarize you with clan affairs." He took a glass of water and leaned against the door frame and said, "This is a good thing. Don't you always say your father is busy?"

"You'll be able to help in the future, and Master Yamanaka won't have to work so hard."

"Yeah." Ino thought what he said made sense, but then she thought, wouldn't that mean she would have even less time for herself in the future?

She was wearing a thick, tight-fitting sweater that perfectly showed off her extraordinary figure, but now she was not happy at all.

I suddenly realized that growing up wasn't all that fun after all. Time was like a pile of loose sand, slipping away without me noticing. Even though we were getting closer, the time we spent together was getting shorter and shorter.

Thinking about it this way, it's not as good as the past few years, with endless time to spend and endless conversations. Although there are no thrilling stories, there will never be such a long summer again.

The chirping of cicadas cannot block the scorching sun.

You can lie in the shade, sit on the balcony, or under a green tree, chatting and eating with the person you like. You can share a popsicle and swing your white and tender feet.

After Ino left, Sakura went to eat with Naruto for three consecutive days. After three days, she returned to the Hokage Building with a dejected look on her face.

After the New Year's Festival, everything returned to normal.

I only gave out two of the prepared gifts, but later I thought there was no need to give them any more. After all, the New Year's Festival seemed like a heavy burden for them.

Besides, the time has passed and it would be useless even if I gave it as a gift.

During this period, he hadn't taken the initiative to look for Hinata. He could tell what the Hyuga clan was doing during the New Year's Festival just by looking at his feet. The rich and powerful were troublesome.

After staying in the village for half a month, Naruto, who was bored, always walked around the Hokage Building whenever he went out for a walk. He was afraid that he would be caught and forced to do hard labor, as if there was an ominous person living inside.

In the spring of February, Naruto lost a bet to the Nine-Tails and had to go out to buy takoyaki for the Nine-Tails.

It was an unlucky year as I was pestered by three children at the stall.

"Brother Naruto!" Konohamaru rushed over, missing a tooth and looking not very smart.

Following behind him were two children, the grumpy Moe and the runny-nosed Udon. But now they seemed to have grown up a bit and didn't look so childish anymore.

"Don't bother me." Naruto patted Konohamaru's head with a dead look in his eyes, turned around and continued to wait for the takoyaki.

"What's the matter, Brother Naruto? We haven't seen each other for so long, don't be so cold!" Konohamaru tugged at Naruto's clothes, only to get a slap on the head.

"Annoying little brat, what's wrong?" He had already taken the takoyaki and was about to go home to feed the dog.

An hour ago, he had made a bet with the Nine-Tails on how long it would take for it to dazzle a bottle of wine, and Naruto lost, so he was forced to run errands. His mood at the moment was really not very good, and Konohamaru was really noisy.

Even if he wanted to remain calm, he couldn't do it now.

"Brother Naruto, please teach me some powerful ninjutsu! I want to become Hokage!!" Konoha said this, circling around Naruto like a moth.

"Yes! I want to learn too!" Menghuang looked very positive and also pulled Naruto's clothes.

The sky became dark and the weather changed suddenly, and it seemed that it was going to rain soon.

Hearing this, Naruto was slightly stunned and turned to look at the three children who suddenly appeared from nowhere. Although he was indeed bored, it seemed that he had no ninjutsu to teach him.

For some reason, the evil art of Impure World Reincarnation suddenly appeared in his mind, which immediately woke him up.

"Stop it, I'm not your teacher." He forced himself to take a step forward, but the two children still refused to let go.

"No!" Meng Huang pulled his clothes and started to be unreasonable.

Naruto glanced at her, and she let go of him in fear. During the summer camp mission, Naruto still had some authority as a teacher in Meng Huang's heart.

"Brother Naruto, it was... it was Hokage who asked us to come find you." Udon added awkwardly.

"Hmm?" He turned to look at Udon, "Don't you have a mentoring jonin?"

"Teacher Ebisu is out on a mission, so...Hokage asked us to come find you. She said...she said as long as you agree." Udon hesitated.

"Damn it." Naruto's eyelids twitched. This was indeed Tsunade's style. It sounded like something that woman would say.

but......

From the fact that everyone in the Hokage Building was working overtime during the New Year's Festival, to now that even an elite teacher like Ebisu has to complete missions, something big must have happened in Konoha.

After thinking for a while, Naruto gave up. Tsunade was still in the mood to push the task of teaching the child to him, which meant that the matter was not yet that critical.

Besides, what does the important affairs of the village have to do with him?

"Brother Naruto......."

"Okay, okay, go to the training ground and wait for me." Naruto said this and left.

"Yeah!!" Konohamaru cheered.

"Konohamaru." Moehuang tugged at Konohamaru's clothes.

"what happened?"

"Naruto-sama didn't say which training ground it was!"

"Hey!! That's too shameless! Damn it!"

Meanwhile, Naruto had returned home feeling completely guilt-free. He didn't want to waste time playing house with the kids, and he had no ninjutsu to teach them.

Ebisu must have taught them the Three Body Techniques, but he acquired the rest of the ninjutsu through the system. He could use it but couldn't teach it because he himself had never learned it.

Except for the Rasengan, but that can't be taught in one day.

Rather than teaching, he wanted to find Tsunade to ask about the situation. If he had known earlier, he would have gone to see her during the New Year Festival. She was with Shizune anyway.