Inside the Hokage's office, Ino paced around in a panic.
"What does 'understand' even mean?!"
"Does this mean I'm about to succeed?! Σ( ° △ °|||)︴"
"Happiness came way too suddenly!"
"Wait! Maybe it's because Shikamaru was just here, and Shinju didn't want to turn me down…"
"Very possible—Shinju has always been a gentle person!"
"Then doesn't that mean I'm going to be rejected!"
"If I get rejected this time, does that mean there'll never be a chance for us again? (*꒦ິ⌓꒦ີ)"
"What am I supposed to do!"
...
Outside the Hokage's office.
Shinju's face was serious. Shikamaru wore a strange expression.
"So… have you figured out how you're going to talk to Ino?"
Shinju said nothing.
Shikamaru: "Why aren't you saying anything?"
Shinju vanished.
Shikamaru: "…"
...
Outside Konoha.
Ao, who had fitted on mechanical prosthetics, met with a man in a black cloak in the forest.
"Didn't think someone like me, just an outer formation member, would actually get the chance to make contact with a higher-up of the inner formation," Ao said with self-mockery.
"This isn't the time for jokes. I came to find you because the organization has a mission to entrust to you…" The cloaked man spoke as he pulled out a scroll…
"To be safe, anyone who's been near the airship—leave no one behind."
...
Border of the Land of Fire.
Because he didn't know the exact location, Shinju used Ultralight-Weight Rock Technique and flew high in the sky.
Before long, he saw a point of fire somewhere in the forest.
Thick black smoke rose from that spot!
With a booming sound, Shinju's body dropped straight down, slamming into the ground and leaving a deep crater!
Then Shinju lifted his head, looking over the crashed flying object before him.
"Judging from the shape, this looks like an airship… (≖╻≖;) "
Very soon, Shinju spotted the Victor Technologies company logo on the airship's surface!
"Didn't that guy Victor already die?"
Puzzled, Shinju muttered to himself, "Could it be Kara?"
Once he guessed that, Shinju prepared to head into the airship and search carefully for useful information.
However, just as his foot stepped onto the airship—
"Clack—"
Behind him came the sound of gears grinding and metal colliding!
Shinju turned back in confusion and saw dozens of "cloak-wearers" appear around the airship!
"No, not people—machines!"
Once Shinju clearly saw the faces hidden beneath those cloaks, he realized it.
"This is a mechanical squad… Someone in the shinobi world actually commands technology like this…"
Thinking of this advanced tech, Shinju recalled the dark silhouette he'd seen within Doto's memories…
"Come to think of it, the mysterious person who helped Kazahana Doto and gave the Byakuya Gang that chakra-jamming device—could they be from Kara?! (⊙o⊙)"
Just as Shinju was murmuring to himself—
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!"
The robot squad launched an attack on Shinju!
For ordinary shinobi, dealing with these monsters—bodies of solid metal, no pain, moving only by programmed orders—would be extremely difficult!
But Shinju was different. With a casual swing of his chakra blade, he could easily slice through their mechanical bodies!
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!"
The chakra blade flashed repeatedly!
In just a few breaths, the mechanical puppets were reduced to scattered parts all over the ground!
Of course, Shinju didn't destroy their cores. These could be taken back to Konoha for research.
After finishing, Shinju walked into the interior of the airship…
Because of the crash and the fire, the inside of the airship was badly warped, smoke billowing everywhere, with the few remaining documents burned to ash.
After searching the entire airship, a question popped into Shinju's mind: "Why isn't there a single person in here?"
"Even if it was a cargo airship, there should've been some guards. At the very least, a pilot…" Shinju frowned, standing in the smoke-filled cockpit.
He made another round through the airship and saw only a high-tech container that had been opened—whatever important cargo was supposed to be inside was already gone…
"Looks like someone got here before me."
With that, Shinju took the entire airship and used Flying Thunder God to return to Konoha!
...
Konoha.
Shinju Park.
After leaving with Shinju, Shikamaru happened to see Temari, who had come to Konoha on a mission.
So the two found a spot in the park and chatted for a while.
Just as the conversation was getting lively, a massive object suddenly appeared in the park!
Sharp-eyed Shikamaru froze when he saw Shinju pinned beneath the giant object. ⊙▽⊙
"You're…"
Shinju pointed at the enormous airship he was supporting.
"This airship is probably a product of Kara. I brought it back so the research division can study it properly."
After speaking, Shinju didn't forget to greet Temari beside Shikamaru. "Hey."
Temari folded her arms and gave a cool nod—that counted as a greeting.
Shikamaru: "…"
After Shinju left, Temari gently nudged Shikamaru with her elbow.
"Shinju really lives up to being the former commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces who took charge at a critical moment—a savior who turned the tide! (´◊ω◊｀)"
Shikamaru: "He sure has two sides to him. ┐(´-｀)┌"
"Then why were you so cold when you were just talking to him? (||๐_๐)"
Temari: Are you kidding me? Right now the two of us are boyfriend and girlfriend. No matter how great some other guy is, I wouldn't give him a second glance.
Shikamaru blushed!
They were still in the ambiguous stage and hadn't confirmed their relationship yet! He never expected Temari to be this forward!
Is Sunagakure really this open about things like this?
No wonder Shinju likes hanging around Gaara!
The two had only chatted a bit when Shinju suddenly turned back.
"Uh, sorry to interrupt, Shikamaru, I've got something I need to ask you to handle…"
...
Border of the Land of Fire.
The airship crash site.
Ao pushed through the vast, thick jungle and, after countless hardships, finally reached this place.
"This… isn't what he said at all!"
"Where's the airship?"
...
A different space.
The Kara leader found Amado in the middle of an experiment: "Amado, the vessel-transporting ship malfunctioned and crashed at the border of the Land of Fire. You'd better give me a good explanation!"
In response, Amado spread his hands. "The program I set on the airship was absolutely correct—someone else tampered with it!"
"You should know that in my original configuration, the flight path didn't include the Land of Fire at all."
"And don't worry too much; the moment I got word, I sent Koji Kashin over there…"
After Amado finished, the leader shrouded in a black cloak fell silent.
"The airship has already been taken back to Konoha by the Sixth Hokage, but fortunately the vessel didn't fall into their hands."
"Amado, if what you're saying is true, then there's a mole in the organization!"
Amado nodded. "Exactly… In a few days, I'll use 'maintenance on their bodies' as the reason and give everyone a thorough check."
Training room.
A curly-haired beauty and a red-haired man huddled together, discussing the vessel transport incident.
"Code, what do you think caused the problem this time?"
"A mole! Victor and Deepa are both dead now… I think the one most likely to have done this is Boro!"
"I think your suspicion makes some sense."
...
Hokage's office.
Ino was still anxiously waiting for Shinju to return.
Even if she would be rejected, she still wanted to hear the answer from Shinju directly.
After a while, Shikamaru, head lowered, pushed open the door of the Hokage's office.
Seeing this, Ino's heart sank.
"Shikamaru, what's wrong?"
Shikamaru, in charge of passing along the message, said, "Shinju asked you to go to Shinju Park."
----------------
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