I'm Proud of You

Moments later, hell broke loose in Konoha, as genin, chunin, and even jonin tried to reach the top of the Hokage Monument due to Tsunade's order.

Naturally, she didn't simply order them to charge blindly into whatever Yuna and Naruto had prepared but told them what they would have to expect, explained that it wasn't mandatory to participate, and even made sure to dangle a nice reward in front of their faces, so more people would be willing to sacrif... *cough* join in the mission.

Additionally, she trick... *cough* persuaded quite a few genin by telling them that this will be excellent training to simulate an actual combat situation. Naturally, she conveniently forgot to mention that it will probably simulate the horrors of war as well. Well, Tsunade decided that experiencing that kind of thing at an early age without actually being in danger should be a good thing.

So, Tsunade was currently spectating most of her shinobi forces running up the Hokage Monument just to be mercilessly slapped into the face with either a cake or a pie.

Naturally, those weren't the only traps laid all over the wall. For example, one of the traps was a seal that, after activation, would glue the person's boots to the mountain wall, forcing the corresponding shinobi to step out of them. That resulted in dozens of pairs of boots being stuck to the wall right now.

One might question why every single one of them decided to run up the wall instead of going around it and walking through the forest, but the two ANBU who were sitting on the ground next to Tsunade while lightly swaying back and forth made that rather obvious. Whatever was going on in that forest, no one dared to find out.

After a few minutes of "combat", someone finally snapped and began preparing an earth jutsu, but before he could finish it, he was hit by an especially nasty smelling liquid while being catapulted away from the mountain at high speed, making the message relatively straightforward: No jutsu allowed.

When Tsunade noticed that someone actually wanted to use a big earth jutsu on the Hokage Monument and was stopped before he could do so, she sighed in relief. She already committed that person to memory, so she could give him a firm warning not to shoot any big jutsu at Konoha's most significant monument.

Coincidently, Hinata, Anko, Karin, Ino, and Haku were all on a different mission throughout the Elemental Nations. When Tsunade realized this "coincidence", she gritted her teeth so hard that they almost shattered. Additionally, she made a mental note to pay more attention to which of those five are out on missions while ensuring it's not all five of them simultaneously.

Although Tsunade doubted that Anko or Karin would be the voice of reason in their relationship with Yuna, she still had some hope for Hinata. At the same time, she was confident that Ino and Haku could restrain Naruto at least to some degree.

Frankly, when Yuna and Naruto started this "event", she had very little hope that anybody would succeed and that most people would give up rather quickly due to frustration or trauma, but morale was boosted from a surprising side.

"Haha, awesome, this is so much fun, you know!"

"As expected of Yuna-sama and Naruto-sama, these seals are fantastic, you know!"

"Damn straight! I feel like just experiencing this improves my skills with seals, you know!"

"Just a pity they aren't using ramen for this, you know."

"Fool! Wouldn't that spill all the ramen, you know!"

Tsunade had no idea how and why, but somehow, the Uzumaki clan was having a blast.

For some reason, they didn't see the seal array Yuna and Naruto created as a merciless trap of humiliation and degradation, but a masterful piece of art they could marvel at and use as inspiration to improve themselves.

Frankly, Tsunade was currently absolutely terrified of them but decided not to comment on their abnormal behavior since their excellent mood seemed to improve the spirit of the other shinobi as well.

Meanwhile, Yuna and Naruto were sitting cross-legged on top of their respective changed monument heads, while dozens of screens and thousands of seals were floating around.

A wide smile appeared on Naruto's face when he heard his clansmen praising the duo's seals, while he nodded his head in approval at the scolding one of them received for suggesting to use ramen instead.

"Very good, it seems as that guy gets it, you know."

A wry smile appeared on Yuna's face when she heard Naruto's words.

"Did they infect you with their verbal tick, Naruto?"

Naruto blushed a little before a small chuckle escaped his mouth.

"Hehe, what can I say? I'm in a really great mood right now. Seeing everyone having fun together makes me realize how far we have come since it was just us two."

Yuna gave the shinobis, who were cursing up a storm due to walking into prank seals, another glance. Then, she looked at the Uzumaki clan members who were telling everyone who didn't want to hear about it how ingenious those prank seals were and chuckled in amusement.

"Well, I feel like not all of them are having fun, but whatever. We have indeed come quite far since then."

Naruto eagerly nodded his head and adjusted a few seals to counter a new strategy the Uzumaki clan people had just come up with, while Yuna swiped her hands over a few screens to adjust the view before she resumed talking.

"Well, considering the experience from my past life, it really is no surprise that I reached where I am now, but that is different for you, Naruto. Your growth since you started training is remarkable. No matter the challenge, you pushed through it and never gave up. You made many friends and defeated powerful enemies, and now you have a lot of people adoring you for what you can do."

A light blush appeared on Naruto's face when he heard Yuna's words while awkwardly scratching his head without knowing what to say. However, Yuna ignored Naruto's current state of mind and continued talking.

"I'm proud of you, Naruto."

Naruto couldn't help but choke a little when he heard Yuna's words while frantically trying to suppress tears from flowing out of his eyes.

It's not like Yuna never praised him before, but it felt significantly more severe than usual this time.

While Naruto was still trying to get his emotions under control, a deep sigh escaped Yuna while she theatrically held her head.

"*Sigh* If you were only more ambitious about the size of your harem, nee-san has failed in her teachings."

Naruto almost fell of the Hokage Monument when he heard Yuna's follow-up and immediately started glaring at her.

"That was such a nice moment; was it really necessary to destroy it like that?"

Yuna wiped a single, nonexistent tear of regret out of her eye before she answered Naruto's inquiry.

"Yes."