Chapter 435 Contaminated

"Tsunade-sama…" When Shizune heard this, beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.

The battle at Tanzaku Town had left a deep impression on her, after all, the legendary Sannin had reunited there. But at that time, Shizune was so worried about Tsunade's fear of blood that she didn't pay close attention to the battle between Naruto and Kabuto.

Thinking about it carefully, she only remembered that Naruto had only said a few casual insults at that time. They weren't particularly offensive, but Kabuto's reaction had been surprisingly intense.

However, Tsunade had described it as chilling enough to make her back go cold, so those few words must have had quite the impact on Kabuto. The more Shizune thought about it, the more curious she became.

"No matter how shameless he is, he can't just attack verbally, right?"

"How would I know? He didn't say." Tsunade replied, her body relaxing as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She sighed, leaning back in her chair.

"I didn't want him involved in this at first, but after thinking it over for a long time, I realized there was no one more suited to the task than him. Danzo has been acting more and more cautiously recently, and it's becoming harder to find any evidence against him."

"Both sides are fully prepared. At this moment, whoever makes the first misstep will lose."

"But... Tsunade-sama, is it really worth it?" Shizune asked, concern evident in her voice, "Those old folks won't cause any trouble if left alone… As long as we deal with Danzo…"

Tsunade didn't answer directly, but instead took the initiative to talk about another topic.

"That boy has tangled with both the little girls from the Hyuga Clan and the Yamanaka Clan. Who do you think he'll choose in the end?"

"Huh?" Shizune didn't know why Tsunade suddenly started gossiping. After thinking for a moment, she said, "It's probably Ino. After all, he came to you to ask for help on her behalf."

"They probably spend more time together, so her chance of winning is naturally greater. If I were Naruto, I would definitely favor Ino, after all, the relationship is deeper."

As she spoke, Shizune became more convinced of her own reasoning.

"Haha, you're underestimating himtoo muchTsunade chuckled, then quickly dropped the smile. She analyzed with narrowed eyes, "He does care deeply, but he's also cruel."

"The little girl from the Hyuga Clan is gentle and soft-spoken, but a bit reserved. Ino, on the other hand, is more outgoing and romantic. Naruto spends more time with Ino, but he occasionally teases Hinata too."

"Those two little girls don't understand anything, though… they haven't spoken much in six years."

Tsunade smiled as she reached for a cup of sake, but since they were in Shizune's office, there were no sake cups.

Noticing this, Shizune sighed and reluctantly fetched a sake cup from the cabinet and poured a drink for her. As she handed it to Tsunade, she muttered something about it being the last time.

Though her words seemed disapproving, her actions spoke otherwise, as she eagerly awaited Tsunade's. Women are like this, they say no, but still want to hear it in their hearts.

Even women in positions of power couldn't escape the allure of juicy tidbits.

"And then?" Shizune urged.

"And then what?" Tsunade asked with a smile, squinting her eyes as she drank, "I thought you didn't like hearing this kind of stuff."

"I don't." Shizune blushed for once and said a little proudly, "I'm just trying to understand Uzumaki Naruto better. After all, it is related to your plan, Tsunade-sama."

"Hehe." Tsunade was too lazy to care about Shizune's rare tsundere moment, "Naruto was a man who dared to pull out the Biju in his body without a second thought. He was cruel enough to himself."

"There's nothing a man like him wouldn't dare to do. Those two girls are in his hands, and after all these years, he's still playing dumb."

"He's not going to choose between them. He plans to have both Hinata and Ino. He understands their personalities all too well and is intentionally playing them off against each other."

"No way…" Shizune was taken aback. She usually didn't concern herself with romantic affairs, aside from occasionally teasing Kurenai.

In her opinion, the ideal love story was one like Asuma and Kurenai's: childhood friends who fell in love, got married, and had children.

People like Guy and Kakashi, in her eyes, were exceptions… one knew nothing about love, while the other only knew about romance from his dirty books.

But Naruto was a whole new level, and she finally understood what Tsunade meant.

"Is he really that bold? Is he not afraid of getting into trouble? What is he thinking? Obviously, both of them are so good. How could he not just pick one?"

Shizune was getting flustered, as her simple worldview was completely shattered.

Tsunade chuckled softly, picked up the sake cup and took a sip, "That's because you don't understand Naruto. He may seem lazy and laid-back, never in a rush, but he's not someone who can be swayed by emotions."

"So, do you understand now why he's the most suitable person for this task?" Tsunade asked.

Shizune swallowed nervously and stammered her reply, "He's cruel... and shameless."

Hearing this, Tsunade chuckled lightly, her fingers tapping rhythmically on the desk.

"There's one more thing… he holds grudges."

…

"Go out for a walk? Where to?"

Kurama was lounging on the spacious balcony wearing small sunglasses. Upon turning his head, he pulled the sunglasses off with his paw, revealing his clear but somewhat dumbfounded eyes.

"Nowhere in particular, just wandering around." Naruto replied casually as he busied himself with the system panel, selecting one of the rewards from the list.

"The public security in Konoha seems to be not very good recently… crime is sprouting up everywhere." He added.

"Huh? Everything's fine. What crime?" Kurama was a little confused, " You must be mistaken. The security here has always been good. I mean, no one even stopped me when I stole some dango."

Naruto paused what he was doing and stared at Kurama, "I thought you didn't like sweet things?"

"Well…" Kurama scratched his head with his paw, "They didn't look sweet at first, so I only found out after taking a bite."

"Ah, stealing, huh? No sake for three days." Naruto said offhandedly.

"What!!!" Kurama nearly choked, "That was so long ago! How was I supposed to know you humans use money at that time?"

"Ignorance is not a crime. You're such a dog, using a trap for law enforcement!!"

Kurama had picked up a lot of strange words from Naruto over time. From this outburst, he was just one word away from saying 'f*ck'.

"I'm not listening." Naruto dismissed him. He had already selected a reward. But after clicking on it, he frowned.

[Jashin's Avatar: Shinobi God (created), the reward has changed!! Warning: The reward has been contaminated! Speech is restricted.]

'Ugh, bad nickname choice, and now I've been muted.' Naruto thought, irritated.

'Is there something wrong with this Jashin guy? It would be great if they could turn into a legal loli with blonde hair and blue eyes, about 1.5 meters tall. I could've had some fun disciplining her.'

'But looking at Shinigami's appearance, I guess this Jashin wouldn't be much better. If I'm not careful, they will become an indescribable tentacle girl. Hiss… even the mere thought of it is giving me goosebumps.'

Shaking his head, Naruto pushed aside those ridiculous thoughts.