Chapter 114 (Patreon)

As absurd as the idea sounded, Kaorui couldn't shake the feeling that it might be true.

Chiyuki's control over Ice Release had also improved, allowing her to begin learning some basic ninjutsu that used it.

With nothing else to do, Roy stayed with Kaorui and helped her watch the children.

There wasn't much for them to do beyond keeping an eye on things. Haku was old enough to look after the younger Naruto and Karin on his own.

If she hadn't been worried about outsiders noticing something strange, Kaorui would have happily rested her head on Roy's shoulder and enjoyed the peaceful scene before them.

After finishing work for the day, Nonō Yakushi went to find Roy and report on the trial lessons for the Academy's older students.

If the trial went smoothly, the new curriculum would be introduced throughout the Academy next term.

But when she arrived, she quickly noticed something unexpected.

Chiyuki, the woman she had brought back to Konoha, seemed to have already been accepted. She could even see Roy now.

More tellingly, Roy's scent lingered on Chiyuki, and hers lingered on him. They had clearly gone beyond simply admitting their feelings.

Nonō felt crushed.

She had hinted at her feelings so many times, yet nothing had happened. How had Chiyuki managed to get ahead of her?

Was it because she had to work at the Academy and couldn't stay by his side every day?

Or was there another reason...?

As an experienced intelligence operative, Nonō began examining every possibility.

Eventually, she settled on one difference between herself and Kushina, Kaorui, and Chiyuki.

Children.

Chiyuki had a child, just like the other two. And now she, too, had been welcomed into the same relationship.

Nonō had no children. Was that why all her hints had gotten her nowhere?

Did Roy-kun only like women who already had children? If she had a child first, then perhaps...

She remembered the experiments on human subjects she had witnessed in Root. With her medical knowledge, she should be able to make it work, provided she gathered the right materials.

That way, she could become the sort of woman Roy preferred without having to sleep with anyone else.

“Nonō-san? What's on your mind? Go on, eat before your food gets cold.”

Kushina looked at her curiously. Nonō had been sitting there with her chopsticks in hand, lost in thought.

“It's nothing, Kushina-sama. I was just thinking about the Academy.”

“Really? Are you sure you weren't thinking about someone?”

Kushina casually glanced at the seat beside her, which appeared empty to Yugito.

“You like someone, Nonō-san? Is he handsome?”

Until then, Yugito had been entirely absorbed in her dinner. Now she set down her chopsticks, forgetting even her favorite fish as she turned toward Nonō with bright, curious eyes.

Nonō glanced up at Roy, then quickly lowered her gaze again.

To Yugito, who had no idea he was there, that reaction could only mean one thing: Nonō was shy about the man she liked.

So there really was someone.

A colleague at the Academy, perhaps? And judging by her reaction, it was probably still an unrequited crush.

As Yugito worked through her own theories, she even tried to draw the Two-Tails into the conversation.

The tailed beast had no interest whatsoever in human romance. It would much rather curl up and sleep.

Despite her enthusiasm, Yugito couldn't coax an answer out of Nonō.

Nonō was far too embarrassed to praise Roy while he was sitting right there, especially with an outsider like Yugito listening.

Besides, she still believed she wasn't the kind of woman he preferred. If she confessed now and he turned her down, things would become awkward for both of them.

She would wait until her experiment succeeded and she had a child of her own. Then she could tell him how she felt.

Yugito, meanwhile, was left with only half the story. Her curiosity was so strong that she doubted she'd be able to sleep that night.

Kushina took one look at her increasingly strained expression and chuckled.

“You've met him too, Yugito-san.”

“Who?”

Yugito immediately turned toward Kushina, eager for an answer.

At the same time, she began going over the men she had met in Konoha.

Aside from the ordinary shopkeepers around the village, the people she encountered most often were masked ANBU shinobi.

As for the village's other male shinobi, they were usually away on missions, leaving for missions, or busy at the training grounds. She rarely crossed paths with them.

Roy wanted to stop Kushina, but it was already too late.

He couldn't simply reach over and cover her mouth, either. To Yugito, it would look as though Kushina's lips had suddenly been pressed out of shape by nothing at all.

That would be a rather frightening sight.

“That handsome young man who came to our house with an intelligence report last time.”

A face immediately came to Yugito's mind.

The house was surrounded by a barrier, so outsiders couldn't enter freely. There was only one man she could think of: the one who had entered her inner world using the Spirit Transformation Technique.

“Oh, him. You have good taste, Nonō-san.”

Yugito rested her chin on her hand and nodded approvingly.

Now it was Nonō's turn to be confused.

“You've met Roy-kun?”

“So his name is Roy? He really is very handsome.”

Bewildered, Nonō looked toward Roy.

Yugito had clearly seen him before. Then why couldn't she see him sitting right across from her now?

Had they met inside her mind? Perhaps Yugito had never been allowed to touch his Zanpakutō because she belonged to another village.

To be fair, Yugito was beautiful, and she had a wonderful figure. As far as Nonō was concerned, though, she had two things working against her: she came from another village, and she had no children.

Which meant she wasn't a threat!

Roy shot Kushina a reproachful look.

He wasn't going to argue about being handsome, but sitting there while people praised his looks to his face was still embarrassing.

With her curiosity finally satisfied, Yugito returned to her room in a good mood.

Nonō was also preparing to leave. She wanted to visit the hospital, gather the materials she needed, and begin her plan.

But just as she was about to get up, Kushina spoke.

“Nonō-san, since you're already here, why don't you stay tonight? Someone has kept you waiting long enough. It's about time he made it up to you.”

Nonō could hardly believe what she had heard.

Had she imagined it?

She looked from Kushina to Roy, her eyes wide behind her glasses.

“Stay,” Roy said. “You've worked hard all this time.”

In truth, even if Nonō hadn't come to report that day, he would have gone to find her himself.

He had known how she felt for a long time. He had only held back because there were still things about his Zanpakutō he needed to understand.

Now he had his answers. And with Chiyuki having become his lover before Nonō, he could hardly justify leaving her waiting any longer. He owed her an explanation.

“Roy-kun... Kushina-sama...”

Nonō pushed up her glasses, caught between excitement, nervousness, and a little embarrassment.

But she wasn't embarrassed about what might happen later.

She was embarrassed about the ridiculous conclusion she had reached earlier.

She had nearly misunderstood Roy's preferences completely. It was fortunate she no longer worked as a spy. A mistake that serious in an intelligence assessment could have caused enormous losses.

Before long, three months had passed.

The third round of the Uchiha's Sharingan awakening training had also come to an end. Thirty-seven people had taken part, and twenty had successfully awakened their Sharingan.

With little left to gain from training the Uchiha, Roy turned his attention to the other shinobi clans.

The Ino–Shika–Chō clans had been waiting impatiently for their turn. As soon as they heard that he would be opening a class for them, they paid the full training fee without hesitation.