Chapter 281: Homecoming

After more than a year of separation, Konoha Village has changed a lot, the damage caused by Orochimaru's invasion of Konoha Village has been repaired, and it is no longer possible to see the devastation left by the war, but compared to the newly completed buildings, the most eye-catching thing is that it is carved to the end of the village, the heads of the Hokages of the past dynasties, the heads of the five generations of Hokage Senju Tsunade have been completed, lifelike, and seem to be looking into the distance.

Naruto Uzumaki stood in the middle of the avenue with his hands crossed on his hips, looking around like a first-time visitor to Konoha and occasionally letting out a sigh or two of admiration, making passers-by look at him from time to time. People's likes and dislikes of their hometown often depend on their memories, but more important is the perception of things, a person who can only see the bad side of everything, no matter how beautiful the environment his hometown gives him, he will not be satisfied, Naruto Uzumaki even if he experienced the white eyes and indifference of the villagers when he was a child, but when he returns to his hometown after a long absence, he will still feel satisfied and happy.

"You can't eat too much at once...... Naruto Uzumaki was squinting at Tsunade's statue, and a somewhat familiar voice came into his ears, he was slightly stunned, and quickly looked in the direction of the voice behind him, a young man with short black hair was facing away from Naruto, patiently comforting a ninja dog who looked a little depressed.

"Tooth and ......, Akamaru!?" Naruto Uzumaki let out a cry of uncertainty, Inuzuka grew a lot taller, but in comparison, it was Akamaru who changed the most, and when he squatted on the ground, he could reach the height of Inuzuka's waist, and it was difficult to lie on Inuzuka's head or shoulders as before. Although before leaving, Naruto remembered that Akamaru had indeed reached the point where his body had grown insanely, but he didn't expect that after more than a year of not seeing him, Akamaru's body shape had changed so amazingly.

Hearing someone shouting his name, Inuzuka quickly turned around, and immediately saw Naruto Uzumaki with a smirk on his face, and then came back to his senses after being slightly stunned, and said in surprise and joy: "Naruto, when did you come back?" ”

"I just came back from the lecherous fairy, and when he returned to the village, he left me and ran away." Naruto Uzumaki quickly stepped forward and greeted Inuzuka, "How are you doing?" What about Shino and Hinata? ”

"We're all fine, we're already in the middle of the country." Inuzuka said as if he didn't care, but there was inevitably a hint of pride in his tone.

“…… It's amazing. Naruto Uzumaki laughed dryly, he left Konoha and had no chance to take the middle ninja exam at all, and he still had a lower ninja, and when he heard that Inuzuka and the others were already middle ninjas, he was inevitably a little depressed, and quickly changed the topic and said, "What about the others?" How is Sakura-chan doing? ”

Inuzuka's expression changed slightly when he heard this, his castle was not deep, and a little thought was written on his face, Naruto Uzumaki noticed the abnormality for the first time, and seeing that Inuzuka looked a little hesitant, his heart tightened, thinking that something had happened to Sakura Haruno, and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong with Sakura-chan?" ”

Seeing Naruto Uzumaki's anxious expression, Inuzuka quickly lowered his voice and said, "Shikamaru returned to the village not long ago, and left the village with Sakura, Ino, Dingji, Ningji, and Xiaoli. ”

"Shikamaru!?" Naruto Uzumaki's eyes shrank and asked dumbfounded, "He's not ......." ”

"I know, Shikamaru still has a wanted warrant on his back." Inuzuka's expression was a little gloomy, and he pulled Naruto Uzumaki to the corner of the street, and said in a low voice, "It's just that he even killed Orochimaru, and when he returned to the village, I also saw him ......, and it seems that he obviously didn't take this matter seriously." ”

"What does this have to do with Sakura!?" Naruto Uzumaki's eyebrows furrowed, the good mood when he returned to Konoha was gone, Haruno Sakura was involved with Shikamaru who had now defected, making his thoughts a mess, and Jiraiya was suddenly asked by Tsunade to return to Konoha Village, although he didn't say it explicitly, but some clues also appeared to be related to Shikamaru, when Shikamaru participated in the mission of the Land of Water, he was still in Konoha Village, and in the process of leaving the village to practice later, he has always been able to hear about Shikamaru from outsiders, even Jiraiya, and now Haruno Sakura may be involved, It really made Naruto unable to calm down.

"Shikamaru said that if you want to rebuild Otoshinobi Village, you need help." Inuzuka recalled what Shikamaru had said at the time, and said, "As soon as Orochimaru dies, the dragons of the sound ninja village will be leaderless, if those ninjas run into a chaotic place, it will cause great harm, he needs some reliable people to help him take the ninja village in his hands as soon as possible, you can rest assured, the village has not yet characterized Sakura and them, and now they are not considered rebellious." ”

Even Sasuke Uchiha didn't have a wanted warrant on his back, not to mention that Sakura Haruno and the others hadn't done anything to endanger Konoha Village, so naturally it was impossible to be characterized, and they were forced to the opposite side of Konoha that Ding Ci and Ino's father were both ninja patriarchs.

"Otoshinobi Village......," Naruto Uzumaki sighed exaggeratedly, calming his restlessness somewhat with this action, and asked Inuzuka in a calmest voice as much as possible, "Does he have any news of Sasuke?" ”

Uchiha Sasuke has not been seen for a while, and there are rumors that he has been killed by Nara Shikamaru, known as "Kamichi", or imprisoned, but Naruto Uzumaki is skeptical of this statement.

"No, Sakura asked that." Inuzuka shook his head and said, Sakura Haruno was worried that Sasuke Uchiha's mood was no less than Naruto's, and Shikamaru asked the same question when he appeared, "Shikamaru said that Sasuke should still be alive and has fled the country of Tano, but he doesn't know the specific whereabouts." ”

"Then why did Sakura go with Shikamaru!" Naruto Uzumaki wanted to question Inuzuka's words, but he understood that it was useless to say it to Inuzuka, he had been practicing outside for more than a year, and he had not only taught him the knowledge of ninjutsu, but also had an important part of his experience in dealing with people and dealing with things, Naruto was much more mature than before, in fact, when Jiraiya also saw Shikamaru's performance in the land of water, he was much stricter about Naruto's personality, although he himself was an old and disrespectful character, but he didn't want Naruto to be like this.

After all, Naruto is the son of Bo Feng Shuimon, as a nine-tailed pillar force, and he is still the "savior" and "son of prophecy" in the mouth of the toad immortal, and he never thinks that anyone in the younger generation is more qualified to inherit the Hokage than him, even if it is Shikamaru before the rebellion against the village.

…………

There is also one person in Konoha Village who is as sad as Naruto Uzumaki, and that is the fifth generation Hokage Senju Tsunade.

"Tsunade." Since Tsunade entered the office, he looked at a map of the ninja world in silence, and he had been silent in thought, looking a little worried. ”

Tsunade's face was gloomy, and he sighed and said, "Shikamaru killed a team of dark ninjas. ”

Jiraiya, who was moving a chair and preparing to sit down, stiffened, and hurriedly asked, "What's the matter!" ”

Shimura Danzou secretly ordered Sato to mobilize the secret team privately, but he could only hide it from Tsunade for a while, and when Tsunade, who was known as the "princess", understood the situation, he was shocked and angry.

As a combat unit directly under the Hokage, an important armed force, the Shadow Department can be silently mobilized by outsiders, which shows that Tsunade's control over the Shadow Department is limited. As for the ninja who can have influence and can secretly control the shadows to act in defiance of the Hokage's orders, Tsunade doesn't need to think twice to determine who it is - only Shimura Danzo in Konoha Village is capable of doing it.

And when Tsunade tracked down the whereabouts of the dark team, he recalled Jiraiya for the first time, and after the dark team entered the country of Tian, there has been no news so far, thinking of the words that the other party once spread in the ninja world, those dark people are probably more than lucky.

This has always made Tsunade a little worried, after Shikamaru killed Orochimaru, his reputation in the ninja world is in full swing, and it is rumored that he made a big fuss in Yunyin Village not long ago, and then retreated, so that now he is between the three major countries of fire, earth, and thunder, and he has released wild words, and there has never been a ninja village to declare war with him.

If Shikamaru misunderstands that the dark part was ordered by Tsunade, the consequences will be unimaginable.

The time that Tsunade spent with Shikamaru may not be as good as Asma, but he also knows his temperament, and the boy who is only fifteen years old this year in his memory is simply a natural ninja, and Tsunade, who is crawling in the ninja world, has also had a low ebb and fragile period of will and heart, and Jiraiya and Orochimaru at the same time as Tsunade, and even many famous people in the ninja world, have also experienced a lot of tempering, and only then can they have a prominent reputation and amazing will, but Shikamaru has just come out of the ninja school, and he dares to face the ruthless character of Momochi again, So much so that the achievements he has made in just a few years after entering the ninja world have left the vast majority of ninjas in the dust.

Shikamaru's actions in the land of water don't make Tsunade feel much at ease, and if you think about it, being able to take the initiative to sever ties with Konoha Village, where she has lived since childhood, and the connection with family and friends, has already proved from the side that Shikamaru's mental determination is far from comparable, and Shikamaru's recent movements also make Tsunade unable to guess his thoughts.

Outside the village, after the war with Sand Hidden Village, the alliance between the two countries has been in jeopardy, although the alliance between the water country and the thunder country has been disintegrated, but the military strength of the Yunyin Village of the martial arts faction is no less than that of Konoha, and relying on the other party's military spending year after year, it still slowly increases, surpassing Konoha Village does not seem to be out of reach. There are also Takishinobi Village, who wants to regain their status at any time, Iwakuin Village, who has an ambiguous attitude, the "Akatsuki" organization that tries to seize the Nine-Tails, and the Shikamaru ...... whose intentions are unknown, these forces are more or less threatening the safety of Konoha, even if there is no war caused by the masked man and "Akatsuki", the fragile balance of the ninja world can be broken at any time, thus triggering a war that spreads throughout the country.

In this case, there is still a Shimura group in Konoha Village who covets the Hokage throne, and in order to become the Hokage, even if he pries the corner of Shinobi Village, he will not hesitate to pry into the corner of Shinobi Village.

Tsunade can no longer guarantee her own strength to be able to safely protect the safety of Konoha Village, she needs the help of Jiraiya, who is also a "three ninja", to suppress Shimura Danzo who can be suppressed internally, and to deter the villages from provoking at will, testing the attitude of Konoha Village, and even when Shikamaru really dares to return to the village, Jiraiya can also fight with Tsunade and defeat him.

Tsunade told Jiraiya his thoughts that for the current form, even if Naruto Uzumaki's cultivation is suspended, it must ensure Konoha's high-end force.

"Will this matter spread?" Jiraiya suddenly asked.

"No, it won't." Tsunade shook his head, the dark department is secretive, and there are not many people who know the movements of this team, if Shimura Danzo spreads, it shows his connection to this incident, he will not do it yet, Tsunade as the Hokage, occupies the position of righteousness, not his first elder, and there has been no news of the dark team in Shikamaru's country.

"That's good." Jiraiya pressed his eyebrows and whispered.

Tsunade understands what Jiraiya means, if this matter is made public, Tsunade will have no way out, admitting that it is not good for the dark side to control will greatly reduce his reputation, and on the contrary, it may attract Shikamaru's hatred, and even push Shikamaru completely to the opposite side of Konoha.

This may be a blessing in the midst of misfortune, Tsunade thought to himself.