Chapter 416

"Hinata-nee, you're back? Dinner is almost ready, so just rest today."

Hanabi stepped out of the kitchen, speaking to Hinata while secretly glancing at her sister's face. Seeing no sign of anger, she sighed in relief—things seemed fine.

"Hanabi."

"Nee-san, I'm sorry for today! It's all my fault!"

Before Hinata could even say anything, Hanabi, still holding a spatula, rushed forward and hugged her tightly, refusing to let go. She pleaded in a soft, coquettish voice, "Please don't tell Father about this, onegai, nee-san."

"I won't say anything. Now let me go first," Hinata whispered back.

After Hanabi reluctantly let go, Hinata looked at her younger sister's expression, which resembled a little squirrel begging for forgiveness. She found herself unable to scold her.

Oh well, as an older sister, it's her responsibility to protect her younger sibling. Hinata thought to herself and decided to keep this matter a secret.

"Let's eat first, Hanabi. Has Naruto-kun not come back yet?"

"He's probably still busy. Things in the village have quieted down a lot recently, and there are fewer missions. But even before, brother-in-law was always busy, so this is normal."

After explaining, Hanabi glanced at Hinata's face again. Hesitating for a moment, she asked, "Nee-san, why did you come home so late today?"

"They needed some extra footage, so the production team held me up for a while."

Hinata felt a pang of guilt, but for the sake of her family, she decided to keep the truth hidden—that she had once again been with Yoichi. She even used the excuse that he had prepared for her.

More filming?

Hanabi found it odd. As far as she knew, her sister had already completed most of her scenes. The only remaining one was the final intimate scene, but Hinata was the most reluctant about such things… Could it be that she went through with it to make up for her?

"Nee-san, aren't we waiting for brother-in-law?"

"No need. Naruto-kun might not come back on time. We'll just leave him some food."

Hinata quickly dismissed the thought and led Boruto and Himawari to the table for dinner. Recently, things at the ninja academy had been uneventful. Some time ago, Boruto had foiled the remnants of Root's conspiracy, but after that, there hadn't been any major incidents for him to gain experience from.

Now, Boruto's days at the academy consisted of studying and ninja training—something he found incredibly boring. Every day, he longed for something exciting to happen.

Having already taken down the remnants of Root, Boruto now felt that even ninja missions were nothing special. As long as he put in a little effort, he could handle things that even the village struggled with.

If Yoichi knew what Boruto was thinking, he would simply comment: His ambitions are sky-high.

Since the failed Kara operation, the ninja world had enjoyed a few months of peace.

However, during this time, a strange beast from the Land of Earth had made its way toward the ninja world. Fortunately, Naruto and Sasuke had arrived in time and managed to slay the beast after an intense battle.

Not long after, Yoichi arrived at the scene. Using his mental powers, he searched through the remnants of the beast's soul and managed to trace its origins.

The Great Ruler…

Or rather, the higher plane of the Battle Through the Heavens world. This beast seemed to be a wounded celestial beast that had attempted to regain its strength by consuming human flesh.

However, it had been discovered by ninjas from the Land of Earth and was ultimately slain by Sasuke and Naruto.

The beast's body contained many valuable materials, and it had even brought a treasure with it. Unfortunately, even it couldn't open the mysterious gourd it carried.

Using his Kamui clone, Yoichi retrieved the treasure. Upon inspecting it, he found that it was covered with a powerful seal.

Forcing it open was possible—the seal itself wasn't too strong—but it was highly unstable. A reckless attempt could destroy whatever was inside.

Even through the seal, Yoichi could sense a tremendous energy contained within the gourd.

After securing both the gourd and the celestial beast's corpse, Yoichi made a deal—exchanging some secret medicines with Konoha and Iwagakure.

The celestial beast's corpse was of little use to the villages. Even Orochimaru would have trouble fully analyzing it. At best, he could extract certain abilities or create powerful new summons from its remains.

Yoichi, however, was different. Anything Orochimaru could do, he could as well. On top of that, he could use the celestial beast's remains to refine powerful elixirs.

Although he had given away some secret medicines to Konoha and Iwagakure, his own gains far outweighed the losses.

...

"Sasuke, you're leaving already? You just got back."

Naruto scratched his head helplessly before continuing, "I get that you're happy about finding more leads on Kara, but aren't you pushing yourself too hard? This isn't something you have to handle alone—we're all in this together."

"I can only rest in Konoha once I've taken care of our enemies. Now that all this information has surfaced, we can't afford to waste this opportunity."

Sasuke glanced at Naruto and added, "Besides, I feel reassured knowing you're in the village."

"Come on, even if Konoha is fine, don't you want to see Sakura and Sarada?"

"…"

Sasuke fell silent before sighing, "Fine, I'll leave tomorrow."

Naruto grinned, "That's more like it. You need to take a break every now and then."

"It's been over a month."

Sakura felt a sense of panic. She suddenly realized that her body seemed… off. She hadn't had her usual cycle for a while now, and she had been experiencing bouts of nausea lately. As a medical ninja, she was well aware of what these symptoms meant.

"No way… It can't be…"

A wave of anxiety swept over her as she thought back to the last time. There had been no precautions taken. At that time, Ino had been with her, so she hadn't been able to buy anything to prevent this. Then, with all the traveling, she had completely missed her chance.

A terrible premonition formed in her mind. Wasting no time, Sakura discreetly bought a pregnancy test and nervously took it to her office to check.

Her heart pounded as she waited, silently praying that she had just made a mistake—that the worst hadn't happened.

But when she looked at the result, she froze, pressing a hand to her forehead in shock.

She was pregnant.

(End of Chapter)

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