Chapter 325: Asuma's Wedding
Just as Ino's thoughts were running wild, flying farther and farther away, when she was contemplating whether Himawari Yamanaka should have Konohamaru or Moegi as her supervising Jounin when she grew up, Hinata walked out with a large plate of peaches.
Ino was dumbfounded. Covering her cheeks, she felt a slight toothache. "This… this is the water honey peach you were talking about?"
Hinata nodded with a matter-of-fact expression. "Yes, water honey peaches are delicious. They nourish yin and blood, suitable for people with dry mouths and eyes."
As she spoke, she even observed Ino's eyes and lips up close, nodding with a concerned expression. They are indeed very dry.
"Come on, this peach is for you. I've washed them all! They're delicious," Hinata persuaded earnestly.
Ino was very frustrated.
Her dry eyes were because she had been suppressing her ocular power and hadn't awakened her eyes yet. As for her dry mouth, that was purely due to nervousness. Unfortunately, these things couldn't be explained. Nothing to be said, just eat the peaches!
But it had to be said, these water honey peaches were indeed delicious. Hinata was starving herself every day yet still shared her food; she really didn't see her as an outsider…
The Shinigami's eighty-one living piles were not easy to find. The world was full of evil people, but finding those who were purely evil to the extreme was a bit difficult.
Ino frequently left the village.
She changed into Deidara's attire and went around the Land of Fire like a sieve, serving justice. When she saw an evil person, regardless of the circumstances, she would charge over and unleash a barrage of clay bombs, then offer the leading villains alive to the Shinigami.
All in all, she had only collected thirty-five living piles. Among them were wealthy merchants, bandits, and leaders of various strange cults.
There were many evil people, but there weren't many who met the Shinigami's requirements.
Ino had gone on several killing sprees, and now ordinary petty villains didn't dare to show their faces. The happiness index of the Land of Fire's residents had been forcefully raised by her.
This mission was very tedious, but the objective was clear. With some time, she could definitely "farm" them. Eighty living piles wouldn't be a big problem; it was just a matter of time. The key was the last main pile. The Shinigami wanted an extremely evil person as the main pile.
Ordinary people were limited by their vision and abilities, making it difficult to reach the level of extreme evil. As for ninjas? The only one she could think of was Danzo.
Sacrificing Danzo to the Shinigami and having him make bricks and play with mud with the Third Hokage in "that place" would actually be nice, but Ino was quite wary of Danzo's Reverse Four Symbols Seal. This great villain was really not easy to deal with for the time being.
The living piles weren't all collected, but her exploits as Deidara had earned her quite a few "blame points."
She received a total of eight blame points. She used four to raise her "Yang Release" to lv5, meeting the upgrade conditions for Wood Release, and then began to add to Wood Release.
With two blame points added, she retained all her Flower Art abilities and it became genuine Wood Release, lv3.
The remaining two points were not enough to upgrade Wood Release to lv4. To speed up her learning of the Flying Thunder God, she added the blame points to "Body," raising it from 7 to 8.
Her final stats were: Ninjutsu 10, Taijutsu 8, Genjutsu 7, Intelligence 8, Strength 6, Speed 8, Stamina 10, Hand Seals 9. Total: 66.
In terms of elemental releases: Water lv5, Earth lv5, Wind lv4, Fire lv3, Yang lv5, Yin lv4, Wood lv3.
For the first time, Yang Release surpassed Yin Release. In the eyes of familiar people like Rino, Hinata, and Tsunade, it was as if Ino's temperament was gradually shedding its gloominess and becoming sunnier. Hinata believed it was the credit of her water honey peaches, Rino agreed, and Tsunade also thought that little Hinata had done a good job, urging her to continue her efforts to bring back Ino's "underworld" temperament.
Konoha ninjas were hunting for "Deidara" everywhere. Ino didn't dare to cause any more trouble. She laid low and returned to the village to live an honest life.
Two months passed quickly.
Nothing major happened in these two months. The Daimyo of the Land of Fire and Konoha Village were on good terms again, and various resources were continuously transported over. The morale of the ninjas was visibly rising.
The villagers didn't know, but the Jounin all had their own intelligence channels. The major hidden villages were not having an easy time either; they were fraught with conflicts, both internal and external. What was the best way to resolve conflicts? For ninjas who had little culture and only knew how to kill and burn, the best way to resolve conflicts was war!
Now, the five great hidden villages were rubbing their hands together, all secretly preparing for war. Before, there was still Konoha, which tried to mediate conflicts. Now, Konoha was also preparing for war. If a spark ignited, a small matter could completely trigger the Fourth Great Ninja War.
With a great war imminent, it was at this time that Asuma and Kurenai held their wedding.
There were no wedding rings, no best man or bridesmaids, just a very traditional Japanese-style wedding.
Ino, Hinata, and the others attended as guests to celebrate.
The wedding was solemn and dignified. Strictly speaking, it was a kind of Shinto wedding. Asuma, wearing a kimono with the Sarutobi clan crest, and Kurenai, wearing a traditional white shiromuku, were united as husband and wife under the witness of the Sarutobi clan elders.
Both of their parents had passed away, so the clan elders could only serve as witnesses to their marriage. Next, Jiraiya, in full Hokage attire, acted as their parents, saying some words to wish them a happy marriage.
From then on, Kurenai Yūhi was officially renamed Kurenai Sarutobi, becoming a member of the Sarutobi family.
"Looking at your expression, you're very envious?" Ino quietly asked Hinata.
Hinata was an honest child and subconsciously nodded, then felt it was wrong and quickly shook her head.
Ino chuckled. She could see, and in fact, many people could see, that Kurenai didn't want to get married so early. Once married, various constraints like etiquette, family rules, and clan rules would come. Before, she was a one-woman household, living so comfortably.
Now, she couldn't.
She was pregnant and couldn't go to the battlefield with a big belly. Getting married at this time, then following the Sarutobi clan rules, being a housewife at home, taking care of her husband, and later her children, was an inevitable choice.
Fortunately, this choice was not bad, much happier than in the original timeline.
Kurenai retired from the front line to focus on her pregnancy at home. The missions she hadn't completed had to be handed over.
To whom? Out of sentiment, reason, and even according to the karmic threads of fate, they were to be handed over to the newly promoted Jounin, Ino.
The previous Kurenai Yūhi was a workaholic, always trying to prove that she was no less than a man. She had a huge backlog of missions.
Before the wedding, Ino had been doing mission handovers with her, from A-rank to D-rank missions.
Asuma and Kurenai had solemnly entrusted them to her. What could she do? She could only take them all.
At the wedding, Ino was thinking about all sorts of miscellaneous things. Hinata clapped with great sincerity, secretly sending her blessings to Teacher Kurenai, hoping she would have a happy marriage.
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