Chapter 182 Takoyaki

Sakura stopped in front of him, slightly leaning forward, and began to smile.

"Naruto, did you hear about the trouble in the Land of Wind?"

"No, I haven't." Naruto shook his head honestly. He had reconciled with Sakura, so there was no need to avoid her intentionally, "What could possibly happen in the Land of Wind?"

"I heard that Gaara is in a bit of a difficult situation right now. Some of the ruling Elders want to kill him."

"Oh, and that has nothing to do with us, right?" Naruto asked.

"Well, not now. But it'll have something to do with us soon." Sakura suddenly reached out and pinched Naruto's cheek, mimicking Tsunade's earlier actions, but her touch was much gentler.

"Team 7 is about to be reorganized. Can you guess who the higher-ups will send to the Land of Wind?"

'Oh no, I'm in for it!' Naruto thought to himself.

"Team 7 won't be reorganized so soon, right? There's still no sign of it happening yet." Naruto muttered, brushing off Sakura's cold hand.

"It won't take too long. Tsunade-sama has already transferred me out of Konoha Hospital." Sakura said, trying to reach for his face again, but Naruto dodged.

"So... an office maid?" Naruto asked.

"That's about right. Shizune-sama is also in charge of the Medical Division, so she doesn't have that much time to stay in the Hokage's Office." Sakura replied with a smile, reluctantly withdrawing her hand.

"Ino will also be transferred to the Hokage's Office in a few days. I have never been involved in secretarial work before, so I can't handle it all by myself."

"Well, I bet the reorganization of Team 7 won't happen that quickly." Standing in the hallway, Naruto sighed, "Then, I'll be leaving first. Good luck with your work, Sakura."

"Do you have anything else planned for today?" Sakura suddenly asked.

"Uh… does lying around at home count?"

"Nope. Come and do me a small favor."

Archives Room.

"The small favor you mean is moving data? Cough cough cough!" Naruto pushed open the door to the archives room and was immediately choked by the dusty air. He instinctively stepped aside to avoid the dust cloud.

Looking around, he saw rows upon rows of filing cabinets, with tiny windows that resembled prison cells. Even the sunlight filtering through from outside seemed dust-covered, casting a grayish hue over everything.

"When was the last time this place was cleaned? It's so dusty."

"Hardly ever. I just got the key a little while ago."

Sakura stepped inside first and began searching through the shelves, "These are the personal details of some Chunins. Tsunade-sama has instructed me to collect them and sent them over to her as soon as possible."

"Chunin?" Naruto stood aside and couldn't help but stroked his chin and said, "I have seen plenty of Anbu, but I haven't seen Chunin for a long time. What a mysterious group."

"Most of the Chunin are on missions outside the village, so it's hard to see them." Sakura replied while flipping through the files, not even turning her head, "The sentry posts in the Konoha Forest and the Land of Fire's forest are manned by Chunin."

Naruto leaned casually against the door frame, watching Sakura seriously search through the documents, 'It felt oddly surreal. Dark Sakura seemed to be genuinely working hard, even though the tasks seemed pointless.'

Naruto couldn't help but wonder, 'If I was the second personality and accidentally took control of the body, what would I do?'

'Giving up my identity as a Shinobi seemed unrealistic. Would I just wander around, indulging myself?'

Unable to come up with an answer, he decided to ask directly.

"Sakura, is there anywhere you want to go?"

"No." Sakura reached up, pulled down a file, and placed it on the small cart, then glanced at Naruto, "There are many things I don't understand, and there's no place I want to go."

"I had originally planned to spend all her savings, but when I saw that there wasn't much left, I gave up." She answered as she continued her task.

"Anyway, I don't have anything in particular I want. I'll buy whatever I want when I think of it."

Hearing this, Naruto crossed his arms and interjected, "You don't have anything now, but maybe you will in the future."

Sakura pursed her lips and didn't respond, as she was unsure of what to say.

'In the future? I probably won't have a future.'

After taking control of the body, everything was unfamiliar. Once she finally got used to it, when the main personality woke up, she would disappear again.

Living in the real world for a few years, then vanishing without a trace.

Just like that, with no further story.

Naruto left the Hokage Tower and stood in the deep winter sun, watching his shadow shrink under his feet.

He remained silent for a moment, not knowing what to say.

'It was a happy thing that Sakura showed no abnormal behavior, but... never mind, let's just take it one step at a time.' Naruto thought.

When Naruto returned home, he plopped onto the couch with a thud.

Kurama sauntered over, still clutching a bottle of sake, taking his usual Tom-like steps. He stopped beside Naruto and poked his slightly swollen face with the bottom of the bottle, asking bluntly, "Can we get takoyaki today?"

"No." Naruto said unhappily, "If you want to go, go yourself. I just got back."

With that, he shifted positions on the couch, turning away and ignoring Kurama.

Kurama, still holding the bottle, wasn't ready to give up and tapped Naruto's back again, "If you're not going, then I'm going to start bothering you right now, and you can forget about getting any sleep."

"Are you serious?" Naruto turned around while hugging the pillow and said with a displeased look on his face.

Kurama thought about it for a moment and nodded.

Left with no choice, Naruto reluctantly got up and headed out with Kurama. However, Kurama didn't want to walk on all fours, so Naruto carried him like a handbag as they left the apartment. Kurama didn't mind as long as he didn't have to walk.