Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Kurenai, the Protector of Pure Love
'Can't wait any longer, I must immediately start arranging the upcoming Chunin Exams,' Sarutobi Hiruzen suppressed his excited heart, then calmly turned the secret letter in his hand into shreds with a Wind Style technique.
"Jiraiya, how many years has it been since the ninja army of Konoha was last rebuilt?"
"Sensei, what exactly are you trying to do?"
'First Orochimaru, and now the army?'
Even if Jiraiya is usually carefree, he now realizes that his sensei is acting a bit abnormal.
'And what exactly was written in that secret letter just now?'
"Don't worry, it's not that Konoha is planning to invade others, it's just a precautionary measure."
Reorganizing the ninja army is something only Jiraiya can do for now, and only then will Sarutobi Hiruzen feel at ease.
"You better be,"
Jiraiya couldn't help but recall the words Orochimaru used to reprimand Sarutobi Hiruzen before. Even though he knew Orochimaru was just making baseless accusations, he couldn't help but feel some dissatisfaction towards the Third Hokage.
Over the years, he has had many grievances against the Third Hokage.
But for the sake of Konoha, he still intends to follow Sarutobi Hiruzen's orders.
"However, if war really is unavoidable, it might be best to recall Tsunade first," Jiraiya thought for a moment and then suggested.
"I'll consider it, you go and make preparations first,"
Mentioning Tsunade also gave Sarutobi Hiruzen a headache.
'One after another, they were all such adorable disciples when they were young, but after growing up, they all…'
'Now even Jiraiya dares to talk back to me.'
'Really…'
But for the grand plan of Konoha, to fulfill the dying wish of his sensei Tobirama, Sarutobi Hiruzen can endure anything.
———
"Kage!"
The leisurely Team 8 had just come out of the Hokage building when they ran into Team 10 led by Sarutobi Asuma.
Then Uchiha Kage was hugged by a warm and delicate body.
"Haven't seen you in days, have you missed me?", The one hugging Uchiha Kage and not letting go was naturally Yamanaka Ino, who had grown a little during this time.
"Didn't we go to the flower shop yesterday?"
Yesterday was the memorial day of the Uchiha clan, and Uchiha Kage helped Sasuke buy flowers.
"That's different, my mom was at the flower shop!"
Yamanaka Ino's parents both didn't want their daughter to get involved with the Uchiha clan.
Habitually hugging Uchiha Kage's arm, Ino rubbed her blonde hair against his chest, then greedily sniffed the warmth of the boy's embrace.
The village missions are so boring, and not being able to see Uchiha Kage for so long has really made her anxious.
"Little girl, we have to go on a mission, could you please let go of my student first? You can chat next time when you have time?"
Yuhi Kurenai looked somewhat surprised at the blonde girl who suddenly hugged Uchiha Kage, then glanced at Hinata beside her who hadn't dared to say a word from the beginning.
'What's going on?'
'Isn't this guy supposed to be with Hinata?'
'How did a blonde girl pop up, and why do they look so intimate?'
No… as a supporter of pure love, Yuhi Kurenai felt she must interrogate this seemingly unfaithful male student later.
"Um, Kurenai…", Asuma on the side also didn't expect that the girl from their team liked a boy from Yuhi Kurenai's team.
'Isn't this a coincidence?'
"Do you want to have dinner together tonight?"
"No time, we've taken an out-of-village mission, it'll be a while before we return."
Yuhi Kurenai was still guessing about the complicated emotional relationships between her students and had no time to deal with this childhood friend who had disappeared for over a decade and then came back.
"Out-of-village mission?", Asuma was somewhat surprised.
"It's been a month, your team should be taking on higher-level missions now, right?"
It's not wartime now, only out-of-village missions can let young ninjas understand the cruelty of the ninja world.
Yuhi Kurenai didn't think Asuma wouldn't understand this.
"I-I plan to let them go to a neighboring village to exterminate wild boars first, it's also a kind of training," Asuma scratched his head, he really couldn't be strict with his students.
"Protecting your students too much is not good."
"Kurenai-sensei is right, we really should take on out-of-village missions," Ino reluctantly let go of Uchiha Kage's arm, then eagerly grabbed Yuhi Kurenai's sleeve.
"Sensei, you're so beautiful, with such a good figure and skin, how do you maintain it?"
"I…", Yuhi Kurenai had never seen such tactics before; usually, her mission companions would only talk about boring ninjutsu and anecdotes, never about women's fashion.
But she also knew that this blonde girl was just "loving the house for the crow," trying to get close to her to better approach Uchiha Kage.
Hmph, too bad, she's Hinata's teacher, naturally on Hinata's side, she wouldn't—
'Ahhh, why is she smiling at me again, such an enthusiastic good girl…'
Yuhi Kurenai found herself somewhat unable to refuse the blonde girl's closeness.
So she could only cast a "help" glance at her female student.
'Hinata, Hinata, say something, help your teacher get rid of her.'
But unfortunately, Hinata not only didn't speak up to intervene, but also slightly lowered her head to greet Ino, as if she, the 'master', had already surrendered before the battle even began.
"No matter how much you flatter teacher, it's useless. Even if we also take on out-of-village missions, we can't go with them," Luckily, Shikamaru's words made Ino put away her smile.
"Tch,"
Ino clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction.
'Why is Team 10 full of such unromantic men, so boring.'
"Goodbye, sensei, next time you come to the flower shop, I'll have my mom give you a discount," But the gloomy expression was only momentary, the girl quickly returned to her smiling face and continued to look at the female teacher in front of her.
"Thank you… you're such a sweet-talking girl, but sensei is really busy now, gotta go," Yuhi Kurenai finally found an opportunity to break free from the other's grasp.
"Wait, Kurenai…", Asuma wanted to continue to arrange a time with Yuhi Kurenai, but by the time he spoke, Yuhi Kurenai and her team were already far away.
He could only sigh at the air.
"What a useless teacher, can't even pick up a female teacher," Seeing Asuma's uselessness, Ino couldn't help but mock from the side.
"Don't talk about the teacher like that, and it's not what you think between me and Kurenai,"
Having his thoughts exposed by his student, Asuma was quite embarrassed.
"Then you don't like Kurenai-sensei?"
"I… it's not that I don't…",
Due to his machismo, Asuma didn't want to admit such personal matters in front of his students.
"Sigh! Asuma-sensei is definitely going to be henpecked in the future."
'Not only incapable, but also too cowardly to admit who he likes, far worse than Kage.'
'But then again, Asuma-sensei and Kage are not even comparable, what am I thinking,' Ino shook her head, deciding to have a good date with Uchiha Kage after the mission was over.
"I don't think you're much better than Asuma-sensei,"
Choji, who had been eating chips and watching the show, suddenly spoke up to be fair.
"What did you say, you big…"
"Alright, let's go take on a mission, or we'll waste the whole day arguing,"
After stopping Ino from saying the forbidden words to Choji, Shikamaru breathed a sigh of relief and urged Asuma.
"Shikamaru, am I really that useless?", However, Asuma had fallen into a depressed state because of Ino's words.
"No, sensei is very useful, like becoming a jonin, I think that's quite impressive."
"I-Is that so?"
'Although Shikamaru seemed to be complimenting me, why did it sound like he was being sarcastic?', Sarutobi Asuma thought for a while but couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking about it.
———
[Outside the gates of Konoha Village]
"Didn't the Land of Whirlpools perish long ago? Could there really be treasures waiting for us to find in its ruins?", Even Aburame Shino was somewhat excited about his first out-of-village mission.
Therefore, he spoke more than usual.
"Sensei isn't sure either, but the intelligence says many villages are eyeing that place now, even people from Kumogakure have set off… maybe there really are treasures."
Yuhi Kurenai was also somewhat interested.
She has taken on many missions, but a treasure-hunting mission like this is a first for her.
"I heard that the Land of Whirlpools initially had good relations with the Land of Fire, specifically with Konoha, I don't know how it perished," Uchiha Kage remembered that during his time, the Land of Whirlpools and Uzushiogakure were still around.
"That's because the other countries feared the powerful sealing techniques of the Land of Whirlpools, so they…"
'Wait, almost forgot to talk about the main thing!'
Yuhi Kurenai really wanted to ask her most favorable student, 'Which side are you on? Choosing Hinata or that blonde girl?'
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