“There are more than 600 thank-you letters piled up. Are you really not going to meet them? Ryosuke.”
In the courtyard of Hyuga,
Ryosuke stood in the middle of the open space with his strong naked body.
The dazzling warm sun sprinkled on his golden-proportioned body, and beads of sweat shone crystal, sliding with the amplitude and dripping on the ground.
And with every breath, every muscle of his seemed to come alive.
Sometimes it was as hard as a steel plate or iron block, reflecting the light blue metallic luster, and sometimes it was like soft mud, like an ordinary person who had not undergone any exercise.
“…See you.”
After adjusting his breathing and the tight activity of his muscles, Ryosuke casually replied with two words.
He is now completely focused on feeling the changes in his body.
On the other side, Hinata sat on the aisle, dangling her feet in the air, pouting and dissatisfied: “But you can’t always hide from them.”
“The people in the village are easy to deal with. They dare not step through the gate of the tribe, so they can only ask someone to send a letter.”
“But the tribesmen in the tribe are not easy to stop. They all want to see you and thank you in person.”
“It is said that you don’t hit a smiling person. My father and I have spent a lot of time to help you stop them.”
As she said, she swung her feet again, waiting for Ryosuke to reply.
However, Ryosuke didn’t reply to her for a long time.
Slowly moving, Ryosuke tried to adapt his body to this new way of exercise as the muscles, nerves and blood flow of his body changed.
This process is not easy, and it is not something that can be mastered by speed.
Some things can be learned by the brain and the techniques can be used, but it is not easy to let the body learn and integrate them into instinct.
After a long time, he finally had some time to speak again, “…I know.”
Although this is a bit impolite, Ryosuke really can’t spare the energy to say too much now.
“…”
Faced with Ryosuke’s seriousness, Hinata didn’t interrupt him again, just quietly watching his movements.
Although she couldn’t understand, this peaceful atmosphere was still quite comfortable for her.
The sound of summer cicadas, the rustling of leaves, the breathing of fat cats, the breathing and movement of Ryosuke, these sounds intertwined together like a weird little song, rising in Hinata’s ears.
Easy and comfortable.
Time passed little by little, she just sat in the aisle, watching this completely incomprehensible practice method for a whole afternoon.
Hinata looked very leisurely, because she gave herself half a day off today.
Based on what happened in the village recently, the ninja school was temporarily suspended.
Students were on vacation at home, so they could only rely on their families and their own self-control to study.
Hinata is not the kind of person who would be lazy. After being established as the successor of the clan leader, she worked very hard to improve her strength, so Hyuga Hiashi did not deliberately restrict her.
Ryosuke did not make any training plans for her, so she arranged everything by herself.
“Ryo…”
A voice sounded abruptly.
A figure appeared at the door of the courtyard. It was Ryosuke’s confidant who came to deliver the message.
“Shh…”
Hinata raised her arm to stop the person from speaking.
Jumping off the wooden walkway and landing on the ground, she walked towards the door of the courtyard, “You can tell me if you have anything.”
“Miss Hinata… After a while, the village plans to reward the ninjas who have made contributions in this turmoil. Lord Hokage sent someone to deliver the news, hoping that Lord Ryosuke can also attend.”
First, he secretly glanced at Ryosuke, and the person who came to deliver the letter proudly took out a letter and handed it to Hinata.
Reaching out to take the envelope, Hinata glanced at the seal on the paper, and nodded after confirming the authenticity of the letter, “I will tell him about this matter when he is done.”
“Then I’ll trouble Miss Hinata. I’ll take my leave first. I dare not disturb Master Ryosuke’s practice.”
Resisting his reluctance, the messenger bowed silently in the direction of Ryosuke and left quickly.
But his respectful attitude made Hinata feel a little jealous.
She is obviously the future head of the Hyuga family…
But this emotion did not last too long, and Hinata sat back in the corridor.
Now it has been a week since the invasion of the Hidden Mist Village, and the collective funeral for the ninjas who died in this turmoil has been held by the village.
Now, most people in the village have temporarily avoided sadness and are busy rebuilding the periphery of Konoha.
If the end of the war has no purpose, and the beginning and process are not related to practical interests, it will only result in a situation where both sides suffer losses in the end.
A sudden invasion destroyed almost 95% of the buildings in the outer area of Konoha. In addition to the casualties in combat, the village’s financial losses were completely unpredictable.
Even though they were the victorious party, they also suffered heavy losses.
As the defeated party, Kirigakure’s losses were greater than their Konoha Village, but they were only limited to the number of captives.
As the future heir to the Hyuga clan leader, Hinata was also qualified to consult the clan’s intelligence chain like Ryosuke.
As for the explanation of this invasion and turmoil, the Hidden Mist Village has not given Konoha any answer so far, as if it has given up these thousands of ninja prisoners.
There must be a deeper reason for the thousands of ninjas being lost, which Hinata can be sure of.
But Hyuga’s intelligence chain is not omniscient and omnipotent, not to mention that this kind of cross-border intelligence is even more difficult to explore and convey, so she has no way to learn too much.
“I won’t go to the commendation meeting.”
While Hinata was thinking about what happened recently, a gentle voice interrupted her thoughts.
When she came to her senses, she saw that Ryosuke had finally finished his training today and was walking towards him with a large white towel.
“You have worked hard recently. I know that this kind of human relations is the most difficult to deal with, but I really don’t have time to deal with them.”
The helpless voice sounded in her ears, and Hinata stared at Ryosuke who sat beside her, her nose full of the hot breath coming from him.
Unconsciously, she felt that the already hot summer environment seemed to have increased by a few degrees. This heat made her move her butt away in panic, “It stinks, why don’t you go take a shower quickly.” Although she said so, Hinata’s face did not show any disgust, but her little face was flushed and full of shyness. “Right away.” After finishing the training, Ryosuke no longer had to focus all his energy on feeling the changes in his body. He picked up the letter that had just been delivered and opened it to read. The content inside was written by Jiraiya to him. It seemed that he knew that Ryosuke didn’t want to be disturbed. He didn’t force Ryosuke to participate, but asked him in an inquiring tone to confirm whether he wanted to participate. “Senior Jiraiya had expected my refusal. This matter doesn’t need to spend too much thought to consider his face as a Hokage.” Ryosuke nodded with satisfaction. This was good. Instead of wasting time to receive awards and give speeches in front of a lot of people, he wanted to stay at home and complete the incomplete training plan. What does it feel like to be a hero?
Ryosuke had never felt this before, but it didn’t stop him from thinking it was troublesome.
“I still think you should show up, at least this once…”
Hinata hesitated for a moment, “Will they misunderstand you if you hide like this, and give people the impression that you are arrogant?”
“After all, if you don’t get a response, even an iron man may not be able to persist. At that time, their minds may change. If they speculate in a bad direction…”
She thought of the history of Konoha in the past.
Konoha was obviously established by Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama. As founders, their contributions are much greater than Ryosuke’s now.
But because the people of the Senju clan are better at business, they quickly gathered a group of loyal families.
On the contrary, the Uchiha clan has nothing but strength, so they can only be used as a tool to attack the enemy country, and even be excluded.
“Maybe.”
Faced with her concerns, Ryosuke thought for a moment and casually replied, “But what does this have to do with me?”
After a pause, he explained, “I don’t really care what other people in Konoha think. As for the thoughts of the clan members, with you and father taking care of them, there will naturally be no rejection.”
He could understand what Hinata meant.
It was nothing more than wanting to take this opportunity to show his face in Konoha Village, leave a good impression on everyone, and improve his reputation.
But this was unnecessary.
It’s not that Ryosuke himself would not do these things, nor that he disdained to do them, but that he was afraid of trouble.
If there was really a need, he had many ways to manage his reputation, but for the time being, it was not necessary.
After hesitating for a while, Ryosuke decided to tell his wife the truth, “In the next period of time, various major events may happen again and again in the ninja world.”
“What you just worried about, in fact, not many people will think about these things in the face of major events related to the ninja world.”
“Big events?”
Hinata didn’t understand, “Did you… see anything?”
She was referring to Ryosuke’s so-called predictive ability.
“… Just like making a wish, it won’t work if you say it out loud.”
Because it was complicated to explain, Ryosuke didn’t say much, and stood up with an excuse, “Some things I need some time to verify, when the time is right, I will tell you and father.”
As for the crossing of the other world, or… the invasion, he himself didn’t figure it out, so naturally he didn’t have the ability to explain it to others.
“Okay…”
Ryosuke didn’t explain much, and Hinata didn’t ask more questions. This was the way they had always communicated. Although it was a bit mysterious, it didn’t affect their trust in each other.
Standing up, she took a step forward and got closer to Ryosuke.
The shy feeling just now had long left her heart with this more serious topic.
Holding Ryosuke’s hand, Hinata said seriously: “In short, no matter where you go in the future, I will always stand firmly behind you with my family.”
After a moment’s pause, it was Ryosuke who didn’t react to her sudden seriousness.
But soon, he nodded with satisfaction and held her hand in reverse, “Yeah, you have to stay with me and watch me run forward…”
The news that Ryosuke refused to attend the commendation meeting was passed to the Hokage building.
The next morning, while Ryosuke and his family were still eating breakfast, Jiraiya, the fifth Hokage, came to visit in person.
Compared to the last sudden visit, this time, Hyuga Hiashi was at home.
But he did not participate in the conversation between the two. After breakfast, he said goodbye to Jiraiya and left the house.
He knew that Jiraiya’s main purpose was Ryosuke, and he knew that Ryosuke could handle things well, so he was relieved to leave room for them to talk.
Hanabi and Hinata also left home and carried out the training plan they had set for themselves after the suspension of school.
Suddenly, Ryosuke was the only owner left at home.
“This scene is really a bit nostalgic. Unknowingly, a year has passed…”
In the living room, Jiraiya and Ryosuke sat opposite each other.
There were all kinds of fruits and tea on the table.
“Yes, I still remember that the last time Jiraiya visited, you were not the fifth Hokage.”
Ryosuke also felt that time passed so quickly.
“It’s the same as last time. I won’t say any more polite nonsense.”
Still very direct and straightforward, Jiraiya looked serious and stated the purpose of his visit, “Some Konoha ninjas noticed that you flew directly over the battlefield in the air at the beginning of the war, but did not provide any assistance to them.”
“There are a few voices in the village who are somewhat puzzled as to why you didn’t provide them with assistance in the first place to avoid greater losses to the village. Of course, these voices have been suppressed by me for the time being, but I still need an explanation, an explanation that can convince the villagers.”
After a pause, he added: “I believe that you, Ryosuke, will not be invading other villages. “You were standing by and watching, you must have had more important things to do, right?” Jiraiya said in a very affirmative tone, “From passing by the battlefield to reappearing, you disappeared for nearly half an hour, and there were very obvious traces of fighting in the dense forest outside Konoha Village.” “You were… probably fighting with a more powerful opponent behind the scenes of Kirigakure, and this is why the Kirigakure ninjas gathered there when they evacuated. They knew there was a force there that would allow them to evacuate smoothly, but they didn’t expect that force to have been solved by you first.” After saying his guess in a very affirmative tone, Jiraiya calmed down and waited for Ryosuke’s reply. Compared with the occasional ease and comfort during the last exchange, his performance this time was more calm and serious. Of course, part of the reason was that his position was different, and he could no longer act recklessly like a literary giant who traveled the ninja world. And the whole incident was analyzed by Jiraiya or the think tank behind him, and Ryosuke, who was sitting opposite him, was a little speechless. You have finished talking, so what else can I say. He wanted to say this, but when the words came to his lips, they became bland again.
“Yes.”
Ryosuke admitted that their analysis was correct.
And for his answer, Jiraiya’s serious expression became more solemn.
Suddenly, he stood up and bowed deeply in Ryosuke’s puzzled eyes.
“From the traces of the battle, it must be an extremely difficult opponent, otherwise it would not have delayed you for half an hour.”
“If it weren’t for you, Ryosuke, perhaps the loss of Konoha Village would be greater, and it is likely to affect the inner area of the village.”
“So as a Hokage, as a member who grew up in Konoha Village, I would like to express my gratitude to you on behalf of the village.”
Very responsible and courageous.
There was no ambiguity or pretense when it came to expressing gratitude.
Although he was a Hokage, Jiraiya did not show even the slightest contempt for Ryosuke, a meritorious minister, and for him, a young man.
“Thank you, Hokage. I just did what I should do.”
Since Jiraiya said Ryosuke was so noble, he certainly wouldn’t point it out, nor would he explain that he just wanted to fight a stronger guy first, so he just passed the battlefield.
Jiraiya didn’t exchange pleasantries with him for his modesty. After sitting down again, he spoke directly, “In fact, just for this matter, if you want, I can definitely include you in the candidate list for the next Hokage.”
“As long as you complete the assessment as a Hokage, you will be the sixth Hokage.”
