Naruto: I'm really not an evil scientist!

Kabuto didn't understand Orochimaru's actions, but he still carried out the order.

The land of fields was weakened by internal strife among the nobles, and although it has now calmed down, the winters are still difficult to endure.

Several villages were accidentally buried completely by the white disaster.

Kabuto did his best and only managed to save a few children, but thankfully that was enough to fulfill Orochimaru's request.

"Come here." Orochimaru pointed at a timid girl, his cold face revealing no emotion.

What's your name?

“Ta...Tayuya…” the girl answered timidly.

"Yes, from now on, you are my children... Only I will love you, everyone else will only eat you up, understand?"

"Yes, yes..." The girl dared not say or do anything.

She would give a difficult reply to each of Orochimaru's sentences.

Fortunately, Orochimaru did not force them. He simply pulled each child in front of him, told them to follow him from now on, and then let them leave.

Soon after, Orochimaru lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

In the 51st year of Konoha, only a few hours remain.

Hiruko, who was serving as the Hokage's assistant, finally relaxed for once.

This is the New Year holiday. Although Konoha, which is constantly at war, does not have this tradition, Hiruko has now made it a rule.

Thus, Konoha began to have a New Year holiday.

Except for a few ninjas who had to be on duty, most ninjas were on leave.

Even the elders didn't have much of an opinion. After all, it's a new era now, and the five great ninja villages don't want to fight anymore. There's no need to be on high alert all the time like before.

Even if some minor factions really went mad, Konoha's regular security forces would be sufficient.

It's the end of the year, and a bunch of Shadows are hibernating in Konoha. Anyone who's not afraid of death, come on over.

As for the Akatsuki, Nagato just captured Sasori.

Hiruko has already confirmed with Orochimaru and Kakuzu that they shouldn't be making any major moves before the end of the New Year.

Damn it, if being a ninja requires working overtime, does that mean being a rogue ninja also requires working overtime?

In this tranquility, Hiruko took a rare break from his work.

In the dark room, Hiruko, who had spent the whole night studying Konoha Fluid Techniques with Rumi Uzumaki, was enjoying a rare moment of peace.

Since he couldn't think of anything, he simply stopped thinking about it.

He wriggled like a maggot, then buried his face in Rumi Uzumaki's arms.

Misunderstanding Char, understanding Char, becoming Char.

At this moment, he was no longer the Hokage's assistant, but a child who was three years and a few months old.

“Honey, you really are…”

"Sigh..." Rumi Uzumaki muttered, but still gently sang a song from the Land of Water, soothing the man's tired body and mind.

It's been a year; it's time to take a good rest.

There is no light in the darkness, yet it brings a sense of endless peace.

Until... the door was kicked open from the outside.

"Xiangling, come out here!"

"Lots of kids have come outside, let's play hide-and-seek together!"

Temari, wearing an adorable little cotton dress, stood with her hands on her hips, looking as proud as a princess, breaking the tranquility.

……

Indeed, slacking off is a pipe dream.

Hiruko wanted to lie down a little longer, but now that the children from the orphanage had arrived, he had no choice but to pull himself together and deal with them.

The parents of these orphanage children are mostly Konoha ninjas. They sacrificed their lives for Konoha, which is already very pitiful.

It's a rare opportunity to get together and have fun, so we can't let them down too much.

So Hiruko used a Hell's Eye Technique on himself, and instantly regained his energy.

He called for Xiangling and Rumi to get up, and then he saw dozens of Konoha orphans who had come with Nono.

There were naturally more than just a few orphans in the orphanage, but Nono had clearly already selected some of the most obedient ones; otherwise, the old house of Hiruko would certainly not have been saved today.

"Lord Beiliuhu!"

"Lord Beiliuhu!"

Being called upon by a group of little dumplings was indeed a pleasant feeling. Hiruko smiled and agreed, then handed out candy to each of them.

Even though it's not Halloween, giving out candy is always a good idea.

The children happily accepted the candy, called out to each other again, and then dispersed laughing.

At Temari's invitation, a large group of children gathered together, chattered for a while, and finally decided to play Eagle Catches Chicks.

Fortunately, the old house of Beiliuhu was big enough to accommodate their commotion.

"Isn't this a bit too outrageous...?"

After the children left, Hiruko shamelessly grabbed Nono's hand. Nono blushed and felt flustered, but she couldn't just shake him off. She could only glare at him with teary eyes, saying, "It's not good for children to have no manners..."

"It's alright, Temari is lonely too, she doesn't have many friends, so it's good that we can all play together." Temari is destined to be an unfortunate child, and Kazekage is definitely not a qualified father.

Now that she spends most of her time in Konoha, her relationship with her two younger brothers is certainly not as close as it was in the original story.

She was still young, but she was already the Hokage's fiancée. Apart from her sister, Xiangling, the only people who could enter her social circle were the ladies and young ladies of a few prominent families.

Her social circle was pitifully small, even worse than Kushina's.

Kushina is still an adult, and she has Mikoto as her true best friend.

Children this age may not realize it yet, but in a few years, they should be aware of the problem.

In essence, Konoha is an authoritarian system with a strong military atmosphere.

If you, Chao Ying, were to take on an entire village, there's no way you wouldn't be authoritarian.

Before the thick barrier was fully formed, all Hiruko could do was let her play as much as possible.

"Temari-san, you are so kind."

"Ha, rotten people like us are destined for the deepest hell."

"No, the gods and Buddhas will know, everyone will know."

Everyone knows the good deeds you've done...they will bless you.

Maybe it's just that beauty is in the eye of the beholder; no matter what bastard he did, Nono would forgive him. Anyway, let's not talk about this on such a happy day.

Hiruko immediately became happy and brought Nonou into the farce.

The children laughed and played together, overjoyed. This was probably the happiest moment of the year for them.

Hiruko felt the atmosphere was good, so he started giving out red envelopes.

This was something he excelled at. As he was handing out the money, he secretly slipped a gold-plated red envelope that he had prepared beforehand into Temari's hand.

After Temari took it apart, she laughed and jumped for joy.

Xiangling also received her own red envelope, which contained a wish coupon hand-drawn by Hiruko.

What can a "mini wish ticket" do?

"Just give me your wish coupon, and I can do something for you."

"Hey? Can I hug you?"

Perhaps it was because the memories of his past hardships were too vivid, that Xiangling was particularly attached to him.

So Hiruko immediately gave her a hug.

Xiangling wanted to return the wish coupon to Hiruko, but Hiruko refused to accept it.

"If it were you, you wouldn't need a wish ticket for this kind of wish."

Xiangling looked somewhat bewildered, yet also happy. She solemnly stuffed the wish ticket into her bosom.

Just then, the children started playing around Temari.

Even a child knows that a gold shop contract is very valuable; it should be enough to buy a lot of ice cream cones, right?

So a group of children jokingly asked her to treat them, and the generous princess waved her little hand and led the children out.

Nonou quickly told them to slow down. The masked members of the ANBU quietly followed.

After the children had made a ruckus for a while, the old house of Beiliuhu quieted down for a bit.

But soon, all sorts of people started coming to their door.

In Konoha, on big occasions like the New Year, all sorts of clans, big and small, would have no reason not to visit him, the Hokage's assistant.

In fact, it's not just Konoha; even the senior advisors from Konoha in the Land of Fire need someone to come and build rapport.

As the leader of the Grass Ninja, Desai couldn't leave for the time being, but he still had to send someone over to deliver a gift.

There were also many friends from large enterprises and big capital, making the entire old house in Beiliuhu extremely lively for a time.

When a group of people get together, they have so much to talk about.

Fortunately, everyone was quite sensible and didn't talk about serious matters. As they chatted, Jiraiya suggested that they all play a little mahjong together.

So everyone gathered in the flower hall and started playing mahjong.

Hiruko, Orochimaru, Hyuga Hiashi, and Jiraiya were at the same table.

Unfortunately, he was quickly kicked out because he won thirteen consecutive "Peerless Hero" titles, leading them to seriously suspect him of cheating.

Cheating my foot! You guys have Sharingan, Byakugan, and a level 10 taijutsu. Who can cheat in front of you?

Even Tianjiangyi would lose his underwear if he came here! Can't I have a stroke of luck just this once?!

That said, ever since the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, he seems to have never lost a card game.