On the night of the Nine-Tails, I shattered the Tailed Beast Ball with a single punch.

Nonou: (；一_一)

From then on, Nono knew that Nagasawa couldn't live without sugar.

"Dumplings..." Kabuto felt this was a good idea; it was cheap and affordable, and it also hit the nail on the head regarding what Nagasawa liked.

Having solved the gift problem for Kabuto, Nonou was now facing a dilemma.

If she hadn't discussed these things with Kabuto, she would most likely have been the one making the dumplings, because although she received funding from the village, she no longer accepted funding from the Root organization.

So at the moment, she can only say that she has enough money, not that she is rich, and she can't possibly use Konoha's subsidies to buy gifts.

But now that Dou is giving out dumplings, it feels a bit awkward for her to give out dumplings too.

What if it tastes even better than Dou's? Wouldn't that be even more embarrassing?

It's fine if they don't try it on the spot, but if Nagasawa eats it on the spot and then gives his opinion, Nono thinks Kabuto might be sad.

Kabuto happily went back to continue reviewing his ninja academy textbooks, while another person under the tree was troubled by the gift.

At that moment, Nagasawa, who had just entered the orphanage, saw Nono squatting under a tree in a daze and walked over with some curiosity.

Nagasawa squatted down, brought his face close, and carefully examined Nono. Then he waved his palm up and down in front of Nono's delicate face twice and asked with a smile, "What are you thinking about so intently?"

Hearing the familiar voice, Nonou came back to her senses. The face that suddenly appeared in front of her made her subconsciously lean back, but unfortunately there was a tree behind her, so she only took a little step back.

At this distance, Nono could even feel the heat from Nagasawa's breath.

Seeing that Nono's face was starting to turn slightly red, Nagasawa smiled, stood up, and sat down next to Nono.

Nagasawa's action relieved Nono, and her mind cleared up a bit. She replied, "I'm thinking about what you might like."

Nono had no intention of hiding it and giving a surprise.

Aside from celebrating the birthdays of the children at the orphanage, she didn't even have the energy to celebrate her own birthday, so she wouldn't play with those flowers.

"Something you like?" Nagasawa repeated, then smiled and said, "Is it because of my birthday? Don't worry about it, just give me anything, or you don't have to give me anything at all."

Nono shook her head and said, "After all, you've helped me and the kids so much. I feel a little bad if I don't give you a gift for your birthday."

Nagasawa's help in getting the orphanage registered as an official Konoha orphanage really solved her big problem; she no longer had to worry about what to do if Root stopped paying her.

"How about you take some photos of yourself in a shrine maiden outfit as a gift?" Nagasawa said jokingly.

He remembered that Nonou also had a nickname, "Walking Shrine Maiden," which certainly had nothing to do with shrine maiden attire, but he thought Nonou would look good in one.

Because good-looking people look good in anything.

Chapter 46 The Gold Organization

"A shrine maiden outfit? A photo?" Nono looked at Nagasawa with a hint of doubt.

It was obvious that she hadn't grasped what Nagasawa had said.

Yongze laughed and said, "It's alright, just pretend I was rambling."

Nonou felt a slight sense of relief. She felt ashamed to receive a photo of herself as a gift; wasn't that the same as giving herself away?

After chatting with Nonou about the orphanage, Nagasawa went to find Kabuto to see how far he had progressed in his studies.

……

……

The afternoon before Nagasawa's birthday.

Konoha's Anbu base.

Minato Namikaze, who was about to leave after finishing his business, suddenly remembered the five fake Iwa ninja that Nagasawa had mentioned to him, so he headed towards the interrogation department.

So much time has passed, the information that should have been extracted should have been extracted by now. Even if it wasn't extracted, the Yamanaka family's secret techniques are not just for show.

Upon seeing Minato Namikaze approach, the ninjas from the interrogation department greeted and bowed to him.

"Yondaime-sama."

Minato Namikaze smiled gently and asked, "Have you gotten any results from interrogating those five Iwa ninja dressed as they were sent over a while ago?"

Morino Urasawa said in a deep voice, "The interrogation has yielded results. After compiling the information, it will be sent to you, Fourth Hokage."

Minato Namikaze, intrigued, asked, "Which side sent these ninjas?"

He now has a guess that it probably can't be Iwagakure.

The Hidden Stone Village had just been defeated by the Hidden Leaf Village, suffering heavy losses with a large number of ninja killed. It was impossible for them to bite the bullet and take the initiative to cause trouble for the Hidden Leaf Village again; otherwise, they would not have signed the peace treaty.

It's unlikely that the other three major ninja villages will also be included, as they are all in similar situations and need to recuperate.

Therefore, Minato guessed that it was done by some ninja organizations or small ninja villages, such as the Grass Ninja Village that tried to intercept the Peace Data last time.

“They are ninjas from the black market,” Morino Urasawa said.

Minato Namikaze frowned. The ninjas in the black market were a bunch of people who would risk their lives for money.

If that's the case, then it will be a bit difficult, because the ninjas who carry out the mission may not know who the employer is, making the investigation more challenging.

"Those people in the black market actually dare to accept missions like this. Aren't they afraid of being wiped out?" Minato said angrily.

If you put a bounty on someone on the black market, even if that person is a shadow, nobody cares. If you can kill them, you're considered awesome.

But Minato couldn't quite understand why you would dare accept such a mission during such a sensitive time. Was you really that reckless? Did you think the title of Konoha's number one ninja village was just for show?

“This wasn’t a mission openly posted on the black market; someone contacted them privately,” Morino Urasawa added.

Minato's expression softened slightly, and he nodded, which was normal.

Otherwise, he'd have to consider cleaning up that inconsiderate black market.

“They were hired by the Gold Organization,” Morino Urasawa continued.

"The Gold Organization, I remember their ninja tools are quite good, and they have a decent reputation in the ninja world. I didn't expect them to have such an evil idea of ​​starting a war?" Minato Namikaze realized that he actually had some impression of this organization.

"After all, their main business is selling all kinds of kunai and shuriken ninja tools. If it were peacetime, their business would probably be greatly reduced," Morino Urasawa analyzed.

He had ordered torture tools from the Gold Organization, and they were indeed of very high quality, comparable to those from the Craftsman Village.

"Is there any other important information?" Minato asked.

He had already sentenced the Kim organization to death in his heart. The Kim organization just happened to walk right into his trap. Yongze told him to be more assertive, so this time he would be assertive.

This will remind those ninja organizations of the terror of being dominated by Konoha. How dare a mere ninja organization try to take over a ninja village?

“No.” Morino Urasawa shook his head. “These people don’t know much.”

Minato nodded and then left the Anbu.

He didn't go to the Hokage Building, but went straight home because it was time to get off work and he had finished his work.

Upon returning home, Minato changed out of his Hokage robes and went straight to the dining table to sit down.

It feels so good to have a freshly cooked hot meal waiting for you when you get off work. Minato felt it was necessary to share this wonderful feeling with Nagasawa.

Kushina, who had just come out of the kitchen, also took off her apron and sat down at the dining table.

"You've worked so hard, and the food today is delicious." Minato said gently to Kushina with a smile.

To Minato's surprise, Kushina wasn't as happy as usual. Instead, she seemed distracted as she picked up food, not even noticing when she dropped it.

"Kushina, what's wrong? If you're not feeling well, I'll take you to the Konoha Hospital now," Minato asked with concern.

Kushina then realized what was happening and waved her hand, saying, "It's nothing, it's nothing."

Then he patted his chest and said confidently, "With my constitution, how could I possibly get sick? You might get sick, but I won't."

"Then why are you so distracted? Is something on your mind?"

"Well..."

Kushina's face showed a hint of difficulty.

She felt she had discovered something extraordinary: Kakashi and her clanswoman, Hana Rin, seemed to have a special relationship.

Hana's gaze towards Kakashi was different from that towards everyone else, and Kushina could sense it.

Kakashi also seemed to care about Karin quite a bit, and often went to her house to see her.

Kushina often ran into Kakashi when she went to Hana's house.

Even though she was Kakashi's teacher's wife, she had no right to interfere in Kakashi's private life.

However, the age difference between the two is too great. Kakashi is only thirteen years old this year, while Hana is the same age as him, twenty-three...

It's almost half again as big...

Such an age gap left Kushina somewhat at a loss; she felt that this difference could easily lead to trouble.

Because the relationship between the two men and her was not ordinary.

Kakashi is her husband's disciple, and they have a good relationship. Hana is her only clansman in Konoha, and the two get along very well.

If their relationship falls apart because of such a ridiculous reason, she'll be in a difficult position.

So Kushina was considering whether to pretend she hadn't seen it or to have a proper talk with Kakashi and Karin.

The two are still in the budding stage of mutual attraction, which is relatively easy to handle.

After thinking for a while, Kushina ultimately decided not to tell Minato about it, and casually made up an excuse:

"I'm thinking about what to make for you tomorrow. How about trying Yongze's red bean rice bowl?"

Minato shook his head with a wry smile and said, "I'd better not. I can't get used to that. Nagasawa's taste is really... really unique."

In the end, Minato could only describe Nagasawa's taste as unique; otherwise, he wouldn't know how else to describe it.

Kushina breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that she had gotten away with it.

She thought, "Let nature take its course."

Maybe the two of them don't actually have those feelings for each other; they're just good friends.

Chapter 47: The Wonderful Daily Life Temporarily Ends

In the early morning, due to his biological clock, Nagasawa woke up, but instead of getting up early as usual, he created two shadow clones and went back to sleep.

Normally, he would get up early to help Kakashi and the others train.