"Hey, you finally remembered my name." Terumi said with a smile.
"What's the purpose of your visit to the Land of Waves?" Shintaro changed the topic and asked casually.
Terumi replied, "Although I'm beautiful, I'm not stupid. If I reveal something like that, I'll be punished by the village."
"It seems you have nothing to do with it." Shintaro lamented.
"Don't worry about the details." Terumi said, shaking her head.
Shintaro then took a closer look at her appearance and found that Terumi was indeed beautiful. Her looks and beauty were different, but comparable to Kurenai.
"The next time we meet might be on the battlefield."
Although Shintaro did not know what Kirigakure was specifically planning, he could deduce that it must have something to do with the ongoing war in the ninja world.
"In that case, the next time we meet, I won't hide from you. You need to be careful."
Shintaro said, "Don't worry, you can't hurt me."
Terumi was slightly uncertain, but since she was still tied up by him, she could only endure it.
After a moment, she sighed again, "This war is too cruel. It even forces me and a handsome guy to kill each other."
"Let's go quickly, I don't want anything to happen to my friend." Shintaro changed the topic again.
Terumi looked at him deeply, then sighed and said, "That girl is really lucky. Forget it, just untie me. I'll follow you. You can tie me up again when we get there."
Shintaro agreed after hearing this and thanked her softly.
"No need to thank me, I'm the cause of all this." Terumi said lightly.
❀❀❀
In a natural bay in the Land of Waves, a group of people faced each other.
Shikaku and Asuma stood together, in front of them were many Kirigakure ninjas.
"Kirigakure ninjas kidnapped a Konoha ninja without reason. Do you want to start a war?"
As soon as Shikaku opened his mouth, he used the provocation of war to pressurize the opponent and gain momentum.
Ao looked at the tied-up Kurenai and asked the Kirigakure ninjas, "What happened?"
The Kirigakure ninja replied, "Miss Terumi's request. She thought something was wrong with the Konoha ninja, so we captured one and brought her back for interrogation."
Ao sighed, then said to Shikaku, "We didn't intend to provoke a war, but the ninja from your village must have done something to interfere with our mission, so our ninjas were forced to do this."
"Forced? I think you're quite proactive. We just arrived in the Land of Waves and something like this happened on the first day." Shikaku became angry. "What mission requires your village to gather troops in another country? Are you really going to launch a surprise attack?"
Ao denied, "There's no such thing at all, but the mission is confidential, so I have no comment."
Just as negotiations reached a stalemate, Shintaro arrived with Terumi tied up.
"Kirigakure ninjas! Your people are in our hands now! If you didn't intentionally provoke a war, then we will exchange hostages so we can live in peace! If not, don't blame me for being ruthless!" Shintaro said, pressing the kunai hard against Terumi's neck, even causing a bleeding mark.
"Sorry, please be patient." He said softly from behind Terumi.
Terumi nodded slightly, then started shouting, "Help me!"
Several of Terumi's family members among the Kirigakure ninjas immediately panicked. If Terumi died, they wouldn't need to return to Kirigakure and it would be easier to jump into the sea.
They quickly asked Ao to exchange hostages.
Ao had no choice but to say, "Exchange at the same time and never retreat."
Shintaro swore, "Exchange at the same time."
Then he walked forward with Terumi and faced the Kirigakure ninja carrying the still-unconscious Kurenai wrapped in a blanket.
"Goodbye."
After saying this, Shintaro pushed Terumi to the Kirigakure ninja side, and the Kirigakure ninja threw Kurenai to Shintaro.
Shintaro caught Kurenai and held her.
Kurenai opened her eyes sleepily, "Hmm...? It's Shintaro, I dreamed of you again... Hmm..."
She then closed her eyes again.
Holding Kurenai in his arms, Shintaro felt calm.
Ao said to Shikaku, "There must be a misunderstanding this time. Konoha and Kirigakure live in peace and would never do anything to harm each other."
Shikaku also said, "Yes, we believe Kirigakure, as one of the five great ninja villages, wouldn't do anything disgraceful like that."
His smile and words always brought a strange feeling. However, it wasn't easy for Ao to do anything to Shikaku, both countries were in a special period, and certain actions could easily escalate conflicts.
At least for now, Kirigakure wasn't ready for war.
Therefore, although Kirigakure had an absolute numerical advantage, they could only let Shintaro and the others go.
At the same time, Ao sent people to take a boat back to Kirigakure to report the situation, "Just say that Konoha has learned our deployment and ask for instructions for the next step."
Ao sighed. He originally came to the Land of Waves to verify the feasibility of the Water Country's strategy to use the route to attack the Fire Country, but something like this happened.
He didn't know how the senior management of Kirigakure would react to this.
❀❀❀
At the hotel, Shintaro apologized to the receptionist for the trouble he had caused. The receptionist didn't dare accept his apology at all.
Shikaku took out a stack of banknotes and said, "This is compensation for the hotel."
It seemed the receptionist hadn't seen that much money in a long time. His eyes lit up and he momentarily forgot his fear.
Shintaro opened a new room for Kurenai, then entered carrying her and laid her on the bed.
While helping Kurenai spread the blanket, Shintaro heard her say in a very soft voice, "Shintaro... Where are you going..."
Shintaro leaned down and kissed Kurenai's cheek gently, whispering, "I'm not going anywhere, I'm here."
Kurenai nodded slightly, then made no further movement.
Shintaro leaned against the bed and slept like that all night.
❀❀❀
The next morning, Kurenai opened her eyes sleepily. She suddenly remembered that she seemed to have been attacked, so she sat up with a start.
She found herself still lying in the hotel room, thinking that the hazy memories of yesterday were just a dream.
But then she saw Shintaro asleep leaning against the bed. Kurenai immediately confirmed that everything that happened yesterday wasn't a dream.
Including her room being suddenly broken into, being forcibly knocked unconscious, Shintaro's dazed look, and... the kiss on the cheek and the words, "I'm not going anywhere, I'm here."
Her eyes became wet for some reason, and tears fell, so she quickly wiped them away.
What Kurenai didn't know was that Shintaro was already awake. He maintained his original posture with a smile on his lips.
After Kurenai calmed her emotions, Shintaro pretended to wake up, looked at her, and asked, "Kurenai, are you crying?"
Kurenai frantically tried to wipe away her tears, but found that her tears had already dried, but her eyes were a little red. "I'm not crying!"