Chapter 202 Naruto Returns to the Village

A yellow figure came to the market outside Konoha. He was very curious about Konoha, which had changed a lot.

"Hey, hey, lecherous sage, when did Konoha become like this? What are those tall black towers?"

A young man with fox whiskers on his cheeks pointed and said.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto helplessly. As soon as they returned to the village, Naruto became extremely excited and kept asking him questions. How could he, an 18+ novelist, know what this was all about?

Perhaps knowing that Jiraiya was unreliable, Naruto didn't even wait for Jiraiya to answer and ran to another small stall. He just saw a lot of people buying things there, so the food must be very good.

"Boss, give me two!"

Naruto said carelessly while staring at the woman setting up the stall.

The woman setting up the stall looked at the forehead protector on Naruto's forehead with some fear and nodded. This boy looked familiar and she thought he was not a bad person.

He specially put two extra servings of minced meat in the burrito and handed it to Naruto as soon as it came out of the oven.

Naruto couldn't wait to take two bites, but he felt strange as soon as it entered his mouth. It was not as delicious as he had imagined. However, Naruto, who was used to living a poor life, didn't care about it and did not waste food.

"Naruto?"

A familiar voice sounded, and Naruto turned around and saw that it was Ino who was at the barbecue stall.

"Are you the Well Boar?"

Naruto looked at Ino, who had changed drastically, and couldn't help but say Ino's nickname.

"Fool!"

Ino, who was originally somewhat happy, suddenly became annoyed and threw the plate in her hand directly at Naruto's head. Fortunately, it was made of stainless steel produced by the factory, so it was intact after hitting Naruto.

Naruto knew that he had said the wrong thing and didn't dare to fight back. He just hugged his head in an exaggerated manner.

"Don't be so violent right from the start? Why are you becoming like Sakura?"

Ino snorted when she heard Naruto comparing herself to her bestie and entered the barbecue stall.

Seeing an acquaintance, Naruto shamelessly followed Ino in, and met Shikamaru here again, and joked with a smile.

"Haha, how did you become like this? And you became... a lot plumper."

After learning the lesson just now, Naruto became more talkative and did not mention the word "fat".

"Naruto, you're back! You've grown a lot taller! I'll treat you to barbecue now that you're back!"

Choji was very satisfied with his meeting with Naruto, and said as he brought out the barbecue.

"Meow~"

Hearing that there was barbecue to eat, a cat suddenly appeared with a meow and quickly snatched a piece of barbecue from Shikamaru's plate.

"It's you again, little thief! You come running here every time!"

Shikamaru was a little crazy. It was as if this black cat had stayed at the barbecue stall. He could see it every time he wasn't paying attention.

"Ha, since you're here, where's Shikamaru? Isn't he with you?"

Naruto smiled awkwardly. As usual, Choji would fight with anyone who tried to snatch his food from him. He asked Ino in a friendly manner.

"Shikamaru, that guy is busy. Did you see those factories when you returned to the village?"

Ino's mood also calmed down a little. How could she take the jokes between her companions seriously?

Seeing Naruto nod, Ino continued.

"Shikamaru is now the person in charge of the entire factory in Konoha. He is very powerful now. In addition to two patrolling ninja squads, he also has an Anbu team under him."

Speaking of Shikamaru's current achievements, Ino felt somewhat proud. Strictly speaking, Asuma is now considered Shikamaru's subordinate. Among their peers in the village, Shikamaru has the highest achievements.

"Has Shikamaru become so powerful now? Can he manage so many people?"

Naruto was a little surprised this time. He had seen the excitement here when he came here and he couldn't believe that Shikamaru, who was just a leader, could do this.

"That's because Shikamaru has become a jonin now. He is an excellent jonin even among the jonin."

Ino sighed.

"Jounin, isn't that the same as Sasuke? Shikamaru also ran ahead of me, damn it!"

From the information Naruto received, he only knew that Sasuke became a Jonin, and this was told by Jiraiya in order to put pressure on him.

Ino looked at Naruto in surprise. Only now did she realize that Naruto didn't know about Sasuke.

Looking at Jiraiya who had just entered the barbecue stall, he shook his head at her and his meaning could not be more obvious.

Ino laughed and said.

"That's right. Shikamaru and Neji both became jonin, and everyone except you became chunin. All of us passed the chunin exam!"

"Then does that mean I'm the only one still a genin?"

Naruto pointed at himself, somewhat unbelievingly.

"Bingo, I got the answer right, but unfortunately there is no reward!"

Ino, who had recovered, stuck out her tongue playfully.

"Damn it! How can I hold my head up in front of Sakura? I've been training hard, too!"

Naruto said while grabbing his messy hair.

"Naruto!"

At this time Shikamaru came here, and as soon as he came in, he saw Jiraiya and Naruto who had already returned to the village, but now he looked a little tired. It seemed that the work of managing the factory was more difficult than he had imagined.

"Hey, Shikamaru, you're here too."

Naruto came back to his senses and began to greet Shikamaru.

Shikamaru nodded expressionlessly and sighed at Naruto's unchanged personality.

"Come with me to report to the Hokage first. I have something to tell you."

"Oh, I understand that the first thing a ninja who returns to the village should do is go to Granny Tsunade!"

He didn't understand why before and just followed Kakashi. Later, Jiraiya gave him some basic knowledge of ninja, and then he realized the necessity of doing so.

Naruto, who followed Shikamaru all the way, observed the surrounding environment curiously from time to time. The changes on the edge of the village made him feel a lot of novelty. The most important thing was that he felt that the people here were not like the people in the previous village who had deep malice towards him.

Naruto felt that the previous burrito stand owner was just a little afraid of him, without any ill will towards him.

"Naruto?"

"Sakura? Who is this? The red hair looks weird!"

Naruto, who had just entered the village, happened to meet Sakura, but she was accompanied by a red-haired girl wearing glasses whom he had never seen before.

"Who are you calling weird? You little brat!"

When Karin saw Naruto calling her like that, she got furious and swung her fist at Naruto in the face. She didn't hold back any power in this punch and knocked Naruto to the ground in an instant.

"Remember, my name is Uzumaki Karin, and I'm not a weird person!"

After saying that, he left without caring about Naruto's half-dead look.

"You guys really don't have a long memory!"

Ino and Sakura, who were following along, talked about what had just happened. Sakura covered her mouth and laughed secretly, which was really Naruto's style.

"Why are they all violent girls? It hasn't been long since I left the village, how come it has become like this?"

Naruto rubbed his slightly swollen chin and said bitterly.

"Who are you calling a violent woman?"

Sakura and Ino rolled up their sleeves at the same time and looked at Naruto.

Naruto shuddered and chuckled, "By the way, where's Sasuke? Why don't I see him? Is he still in the Anbu?"

Naruto used his intelligence and the two of them would definitely calm down when Sasuke was mentioned.

Unexpectedly, both Sakura and Ino's expressions suddenly became lonely, making Naruto feel a little at a loss.

Feeling somewhat reluctant, Shikamaru finally told the truth.

"Naruto, actually Sasuke..."