In Konoha, Naruto lies down

He had used this trick before when he was too busy to handle everything. Before going to the Hyuga clan's residence to find Hinata, he found seven or eight people and tricked them into going somewhere.

Then he guided them to repeat it inadvertently in front of Ino, and the Naruto who had not existed originally appeared.

Choji was skeptical, but he saw Naruto put him on the ground and then left.

"Hey! Come back!"

"Naruto! What are you doing? Come back and help me up?"

~~

Short book street.

"When did you come back?" Nohara Nao smiled and opened the door. "It's been a long time. Half a year, you haven't come to see us?"

"Have you completely forgotten about us?"

"No, Konoha also participated in the recent war between the five major powers." Naruto's face did not reveal any flaws at all, "I have to at least put in some effort, so..."

"Oh, that war? I heard about it too." Nohara Nao was as lively as ever. "So what was the outcome of the war? Did we win?"

Nao Nohara is a very likable person, smart and bold, and her words make people feel comfortable. Once she sets her mind to a goal, she will go forward without looking back.

If she had paid attention to the war, she would have known that it was won.

But she didn't say that. Instead, she asked Naruto about the outcome of the war. As a participant in it, knowing the result from his mouth made the two of them quickly become close.

This is a tactic Naruto often uses, and Nao Nohara has learned and put it into practice.

"We won, but the war is not completely over." Naruto said while lying on the sofa, looking up with a relaxed look on his face, "The five major countries have not yet agreed on how to distribute the benefits. We may have to fight again."

"Then do you still want to join the war?" she asked worriedly.

"Of course I don't need it. Why should I care about the civil war among the five major countries? It's too boring." Naruto pulled her over and his hand naturally reached to his waist.

"By the way, Sarah said she wanted to learn some ninjutsu. What do you think?" Nao Nohara asked casually in a very relaxed manner.

"She's already an adult, right? She has absolutely no ninjutsu foundation. Learning ninjutsu wouldn't be of any use, right?" Naruto hesitated. "Why would she want to learn ninjutsu?"

"Maybe it's just to kill time, I can't say for sure." Nohara Nao said, "From the time we traveled through the dragon vein to now, twenty years have passed, and Loulan has completely disappeared."

"If she continues like this and can't find a purpose in life, she'll probably be drowned in the pain of her nation's destruction."

"That's true. There's no need to learn ninjutsu, right?" Naruto looked towards the second floor. "Isn't she at home? Let's hear what she has to say. If she insists on learning, I'll think of a way."

"He's not here. He's out buying groceries."

"Is there a way to do this?" Nohara Nao was stunned for a moment. "I think we can only learn some simple ninjutsu, such as the Three Body Technique."

"That's not necessarily true. It depends on her own wishes. If she wants to restore her country, there is actually no need to learn ninjutsu." Naruto said.

"If you just want to kill time, then you can choose some practical ninjutsu that doesn't require much talent."

"Is there really such a ninjutsu?" Nohara Nao looked at Naruto and said with a hint of jealousy, "Then I want to learn it too. I want to learn it together."

Naruto smiled upon hearing this and thought to himself that she was really smart.

"Let's ask her first. She's not here right now."

"Then...will you stay today?" Nohara Nao blinked and asked, looking at Naruto with hope on her face. "It's been a long time since we last met. Can you stay a few more days?"

"I've been a bit busy these days, so I'm afraid I won't be able to make it for a few days." Naruto said hesitantly. It was impossible for him to lose contact for several days in a row. "But I can come back to see you in a few days."

He said this very cleverly. "How many days is a few days?" was entirely up to him. He agreed first, and he said it depended on her.

The detail lies in the statement that she is the only one. Naruto and Sara did not actually have much contact, which is why he said it so clearly.

Consider her feelings more, and the other party will not be able to refuse his refusal. These details have become Naruto's instinctive reaction after endless tempering.

"Okay, what about tonight? You can always stay, right?"

"Well... well, I can't be here this afternoon. Sorry, I..." Naruto was indeed a bit busy. Even though he could actually squeeze out some time, he could still squeeze out two days.

But he was used to not saying too much, so he only offered one afternoon and the rest would depend on the situation. If Nohara Nao was feeling down, he would suddenly appear at night to give her a wake-up call.

This back-and-forth provides far more emotional value than simply agreeing to spend the night. The principle is the same: no one values ​​something that can be easily obtained.

Sure enough, when Nohara Nao heard what Naruto said, she felt a little disappointed. Naruto raised the corner of his mouth slightly, but did not say anything.

Suddenly, Nao Nohara leaned close to his ear and whispered.

"If you don't leave tonight, I'll give you a surprise!"

"What surprise?" Naruto looked at her in confusion, thinking that it might be a maid outfit or a black and white silk nurse uniform? He had already seen these, and they were actually just that.

"Well... I have an idea. Actually, I have discussed it with Sarah..." She lowered her voice and whispered in Naruto's ear, as if she was afraid of being heard.

In fact, the upper and lower floors of the house are very spacious. Even if Nao Nohara shouts loudly in the living room, there is no need to worry about the neighbors hearing her. On the contrary, speaking in a low voice creates a more secretive atmosphere.

"Is this true?" Naruto swallowed and looked at her doubtfully, "This... don't test me, Sarah and I really have nothing to do with each other."

"I know," she said.

"No, you don't know. Are you still testing me?" Although Naruto was almost persuaded by her, he still defended himself. "Sara and I haven't talked much, but Queen Loulan did help me."

"I really didn't test you. I swear, everything I said just now is true." Nohara Nao said seriously, "I really talked to Sarah..."

Nao Nohara had indeed talked to Sarah a long time ago. She knew that the two of them, who did not belong to this world, could only rely on Naruto to survive from the moment they traveled through time.

Rather than waiting for something that will inevitably happen, it's better to take the initiative. If you really drag it out, by the time things have passed, both of you will be in a different situation.

Sarah wasn't a pedantic person. After more than a year in this world, she gradually accepted the reality of her country's demise. She was now a princess of a fallen nation, and knew nothing.

Although she did not give up hope in her heart, she also understood that she had to rely on Naruto to achieve many things, so she reached a consensus with Nao Nohara very smoothly.

"Stop joking. You said you weren't testing me!" Naruto tickled her, but Nohara Nao dodged with a smile, and her voice changed as she played around.

The living room was surrounded by rhythmic and soothing music. After an hour, when the music was almost inaudible, Nao Nohara grabbed him.

"Take a break."

"If it's okay, it's okay. If it's not okay, it's not okay. What's the big deal about taking a break?" Naruto asked with a smile.

"No, you really are here to take my life, right?"

Nao Nohara stood up unsteadily from the sofa, staggered a few times, and finally touched the edge of the sand, steadying her body. She took a deep breath and said.

"I'm going to take a shower first. Remember Sarah to open the door later. She doesn't seem to have her key with her."

"Okay." Naruto responded.

After she entered the bathroom, Naruto turned around and casually pulled a comic book from the bookshelf on the left to read. He felt a little bored, and this was almost like a task for him.

But the point is, I don't know what's going on with this body. Everything seems normal, but it seems a bit too forced. He was just warming up, and the other player had already taken the initiative to leave the court.

It was like a race where the other runners had already forfeited before he even reached the finish line. While the run was enjoyable in the middle, winning without reaching the finish line didn't seem very meaningful.

Almost instinctively, the words Nohara Nao had said before came to his mind, and he couldn't help but be moved.

Although I don't know whether what she said is true or not, it seems that if one opponent is not enough on the sports field, adding another athlete can keep the game going.

Naruto had no rivals in the ten-kilometer race, while Nohara Nao's limit was three kilometers, sometimes only two. She herself admitted her weakness and suggested hiring a relay runner.

In other words, because Naruto's physical strength is so good, running ten kilometers is more than enough for him. So every time he fights with Nohara Nao, he wins too easily.

If this continued, the competition would lose its meaning, so Nohara Nao proposed a new relay race format. The only difference was that Naruto would still run the entire distance, while she would invite an outsider to take over and complete the race.

The foreign aid was Sarah, and since Sarah was a novice, in order to make the competition more fair, Nohara Nao proposed that in the first five kilometers, she run three kilometers and Sarah run two kilometers.

She ran the last five kilometers with Sara, but Naruto had to slow down and not deliberately target the two.

Naruto didn't agree to the competition without knowing if it was legitimate. He told him to think about it first. He wanted to hear Sarah's opinion and fulfill her wish first.

About ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

Naruto went to open the door consciously. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Sarah standing outside the door with a basket of vegetables, her ears red and her head lowered, not daring to look at Naruto at all.

"Are you back from shopping?"

"Yeah." Sarah nodded hurriedly. "I...I'll go to the kitchen to wash the vegetables first. Do you...do you want some new tea? I'll boil some water for you."

"Okay." Naruto was much calmer than her, "Don't worry about me, I can find something to do myself."

"Okay." Sarah hurried into the kitchen.

Half an hour later, Nao Nohara came out of the bathroom wiping her wet hair. Seeing the vegetable basket hanging there, she couldn't help but ask a question.

"Is Sarah back?"

"Yeah, in the kitchen." Naruto read the comics while drinking the new tea.

Nao Nohara ignored Naruto and went into the kitchen while wiping her wet hair. Soon, the sound of playfulness could be heard from the kitchen. It seemed that Sarah let out a low cry, followed by Nao Nohara's laughter.

At noon, the three of them sat around the dining table and ate, no one spoke.

After dinner, the two women cleaned up the dishes together.

In the afternoon, the three of them went out for a stroll around Duance Street. Even though the two girls were very familiar with Duance Street, they still chattered excitedly along the way and bought a lot of things.

The money Naruto left them from the beginning was enough for them to live for decades, so they didn't have to worry about not having enough money. The two also bought Naruto new slippers.

Even though they already had several pairs of new slippers at home, they still decided to buy them.

At sunset, the group returned to the house and rested for a while before buying some food and beer instead of cooking. It wasn't until the sky gradually darkened that they put the food and drinks on the table.

Nao Nohara got a pack of red candles from somewhere, and all the curtains in the living room were drawn. There was no light in the house, only a few candles lit on the dining table.

There is also one by the sofa, one in the bedroom and one in the bathroom.

Naruto also began to find it interesting. The moment the curtains were drawn and the candles were lit, a dim and ambiguous atmosphere emerged. The distance that had been there for a long time suddenly became blurred, and even Sarah became more talkative.

"cheers!"

The three glasses clinked together, and Nohara Nao's eyes narrowed into crescents. The firelight danced on the three people's faces. Sarah blushed and sipped her wine in small sips.

"Sarah, why do you want to learn ninjutsu?" Naruto realized the time was right and brought up the topic. "Don't be shy, can you tell me?"

He didn't use words like "Can you tell me?", but used a tone that guided her to share, subconsciously making Sarah accept the fact that the three of them were a group.

"I... okay." Sarah seemed a little drunk. She wanted to take another sip to give herself courage, but Naruto took it away.

Chapter 554 Loulan will be restored and will welcome two queens

Naruto took Sarah's wine glass very naturally and stopped her from drinking any more so as not to get too drunk, but he didn't say anything.

He just stared at Sarah, motioning her to keep going and not stop.

Sarah seemed a little nervous and glanced at Naruto and Nohara Nao. Fortunately, the surrounding light was dim. The dim light of the red candle blurred the boundaries between people and lowered her inner defenses.

Perhaps it's because you can't see facial expressions when you look up, you can only hear the voice, so there's no need to read people's expressions or worry about whether what you say is appropriate.

"I want to restore my country and go home." After she said that, she lowered her head and closed her eyes tightly.

Her breathing became rapid, and she didn't dare look up at Naruto or Nohara Nao. This thought had been in her mind for a long time, but she didn't want to cause trouble for others.

After all, the cost of realizing this wish was too huge. Restoring the country was impossible for her to accomplish alone. Even if someone helped her, it would still be impossible.

That's why she decided to learn ninjutsu. If the road to restoration was long, and she couldn't reach it even if she spent her entire life, she at least hoped to keep on walking.

It's better than staying where she is and suffering every day. Living aimlessly every day has made her feel a little breathless.

But Sarah also knew that without Naruto, without Nohara Nao's company, she wouldn't even have the chance to suffer now. This hope of life was given to her by her mother with her life and by Naruto.

She can't be willful, and she shouldn't be willful.

She had never dared to speak her mind before, fearing that it would cause trouble for Nohara Nao. But now that she had spoken out under the influence of alcohol, she couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

Restoring Loulan was a bit unrealistic, and it was too rash to say it out loud. Ultimately, it was a personal matter. There was no need to bring trouble to others by saying it out loud.

"I can't go back home. Twenty years ago... after all, the dragon vein has been closed." Naruto said after thinking for a while, "It's very troublesome to open it by force. It's likely damaged."

Hearing this, Sarah couldn't help but lower her head and whispered.

"I know, I just want to... I know I can't go back, and there's no hope of restoring my country. But I want to do something on my own, even if I can't restore my country in this lifetime."

"So I want to learn some ninjutsu so that I can go back to Loulan in the future. At least I can go out and see if there are any surviving people in Loulan."

"I won't run around. I just want to learn some ninjutsu. When the war is over, I..."

Naruto interrupted her, "It's true that we can't go back to twenty years ago, but it's not difficult to restore the country. Loulan is just a small country anyway. We can just find some Loulan people and then take a piece of land to restore the country."

"Ah?" Sarah was stunned. "But restoring the country requires a lot of people and a lot of money. I don't understand business or politics. I just want to see Loulan again."

"It's indeed quite complicated, but compared to learning ninjutsu, those are obviously simpler." Naruto said, "So, will you choose to learn ninjutsu, or will you choose to restore your country?"

Sara was stunned for a moment, and it took her a while to realize what Naruto had just said.