Late at night, Naruto walked home along the brightly lit streets of Konoha. The village was still bustling, with the streets glowing like ribbons of light. Even though night had fallen, more and more people were gathering outside, creating a lively and noisy atmosphere.
Naruto casually enjoyed his grilled eel as he walked, but Tsunade's words kept echoing in his mind.
She had told him that now, with her as his support, he didn't have to endure hardships anymore. From now on, his path would be smoother, and he would always be at the forefront, surrounded by others.
And so it seemed. Ever since Tsunade had dragged him to her inauguration ceremony and made him stand beside her in a close and familiar manner in front of everyone, no one in the village had shown him any hostility anymore.
However, who could predict what the future held? Naruto didn't dwell too much on it. After all, Tsunade was not omnipotent, and he still had his own responsibilities to take care of.
As he walked along the main street, he stopped at a corner and bought some takoyaki.
While waiting for his order, a familiar figure in the crowd not far away caught his attention. After taking a quick look, Naruto was instantly stunned.
'Why is it her?'
A bad feeling welled up inside him, and his instincts told him to get out of here quickly. He looked at the takoyaki on the stall and urged, "Boss, can you make the takoyaki faster?"
"Huh? Burned? No, no, you must be mistaken, dear customer."
The skinny boss with gray hair seemed to have bad hearing. However, his hands were quick, the oil sizzled, and the smell coming from the brightly lit stall was mouthwatering.
"Forget it, I don't want it anymore." Naruto said, unable to wait any longer. He quickly walked away.
"Customer." The old man showed a puzzled expression, but he could no longer find the customer.
Without even turning his head, Naruto quickened his pace, silently cursing his luck. After blending into the bustling crowd, he finally felt somewhat relieved.
Turning his head slightly, Naruto confirmed that the figure had not caught up with him, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
'What a close call. How could there be such a coincidence? If I ran into her now, it would be really awkward.'
'I'd better go home quickly, it's too dangerous outside.'
"Um… I…"
A familiar voice suddenly sounded in his ears, and Naruto turned around suddenly and gasped.
Temari suddenly appeared, with her giant fan strapped to her back, and she stood beside him with a flushed face. Her face was flushed, her eyes were unfocused, and she bit her moist lower lip, looking like she wanted to say something but couldn't.
The dim streetlight illuminated her face, making her seem as if she had been bullied by someone.
"Fancy running into you here," Naruto said with an awkward smile, his eyes scanning the surroundings, ready to bolt at any moment.
The incident of returning the fan last time was really beyond his expectations. Initially, he just wanted to vent his frustration for his superior by scaring Temari a bit.
But as a result, things escalated, he became murderous as he was talking and accidentally frightened her to tears, ending the situation in a rather messy way.
Lately, Konoha and Sunagakure had grown closer. After blocking off the Land of Earth, only the Lands of Fire and Wind remained as the superpowers in the inland region.
It just so happened that both sides had lost their Kage and were tricked by Orochimaru, which left them in a weakened state. So, the two sides simply decided to reconcile. In order to curb the increasingly close relationship between the Lands of Lightning and Lands of Water, the two great powers quickly formed an alliance.
Naruto originally thought it would be best not to meet Temari again in the future, but he didn't expect the awkward meeting to come so quickly.
'It had only been two days since our last encounter, how awkward.'
"Yeah, fancy," Temari muttered, her usual strong demeanor absent. She quickly looked down, her face turning even redder.
"Well, since it's such a coincidence, let's reward ourselves by never seeing each other again." Naruto said with a nervous laugh and started to walk away.
"Wait, please!"
Naruto felt a tug on the corner of his clothes, and instinctively turned around to frown at Temari.
"Let go."
Temari gasped softly and immediately released her grip, her face showing a look of fear that made it seem like she was about to burst into tears.
'There were a lot of people on the street right now. If someone saw me making the eldest princess of Sunagakure cry, there was no doubt Tsunade would drag me back to her office for a beating.'
'Damn it.'
Naruto gritted his teeth and, just before Temari's tears could spill over, he leaned in and harshly whispered, "Don't cry!"
"Wuwu." Temari's tears welled up in her eyes, her eyelashes fluttering rapidly as she bit down on her lower lip, her face flushed red. She looked like she was trying hard to endure the shame.
For some reason, Naruto seemed to catch a glimpse of a strange emotion in Temari's eyes at that moment.
'It doesn't seem like anger.'
'There are so many weird people these days.'
"Hey, don't cry here!" Naruto's gaze turned cold as he covered Temari's mouth with his hand, "Don't make a sound."
Seeing that no one around them was paying attention, he roughly dragged Temari toward a more secluded area away from the crowd, gripping her wrist with no gentleness.
"Mmph." Temari's face suddenly grew hot, and she followed Naruto obediently without saying a word.
In the dark alley…
With a thud, Temari was pressed against the wall by Naruto, who asked her with a fierce look in his eyes, "Why are you following me?"
"… I'm sorry." Temari averted her gaze, and the tears she had been holding back finally began to fall.
"What's wrong with you?" Naruto rubbed his forehead, the dim light of the alley making his frustration evident, "Why are you apologizing out of nowhere? Didn't I tell you not to cry?"
"I…" Temari couldn't get any words out through her sobs.
'This is ridiculous.'
Suddenly, footsteps were heard at the entrance of the alley, accompanied by voices asking if anyone had heard crying. This scared Naruto so much that he quickly clamped his hand over Temari's mouth.
He pressed his body against hers, holding his breath.
They were only about two meters away from the lighted alley entrance, with their bodies pressed together, hidden in the shadows. Naruto's head was turned away from Temari's, making them look like a couple embracing.
He could feel Temari's heart pounding wildly and her tears streaming down uncontrollably as his warm breath brushed against her ear.
"I just heard someone crying, how come the voice suddenly disappeared?"
A few footsteps approached, and several young men walked past the entrance of the dark alley.
"You must've heard wrong."
"Could they be inside the alley?"
There was a brief silence before one of them spoke up, "Then why don't you go in and check?"
"Screw you, it's so dark in there. You'd probably play a prank on me. No way I will go!"
Amid a chorus of boos, the group's footsteps gradually faded away.
Naruto let go of Temari and pulled her out of the alley, back into the light. He glanced at Temari, whose lips were smeared with saliva, and then down at his hand, which was wet with her saliva.
Without hesitation, he wiped his hand on Temari's clothes, his face full of impatience as he said coldly, "I'm leaving now. If you keep following me, I won't be so nice."
Naruto originally thought that Temari would be angry or lash out at him, but he didn't expect Temari to freeze up instead. She reached out as if to grab his clothes again but then quickly pulled back as if she'd been electrocuted.
Her eyes were red and swollen, her face pale, and as she opened her mouth to speak, tears began to fall once more, "Don't chase me away, I'll be good…"
Ding!
…