In the spring of Konoha's 64th year, the nine little Rookies began their respective graduation exams.
On this day, just like the family and relatives of many children, Nojuro Ryun came outside the school to wait for the exam results.
"Isn't this young Nojuro? Long time no see. Our Ino has been under your care."
Yamanaka Inoichi noticed Ryun and proactively went over to greet him.
At this time, his attitude towards Ryun no longer held the previous dissatisfaction of a daughter being stolen away by some punk.
Due to Ryun's manipulations, a certain fact had formed in Inoichi's mind.
Yamanaka Fuu had attacked Ryun, and Ryun had been saved by Yūhi Kurenai. Although this was merely his daughter's inference, Fuu subsequently cutting ties with the clan and joining Root basically proved this point.
After being attacked, Ryun didn't make a big deal out of it. Instead, he spent a considerable sum himself to hire Kurenai as his bodyguard, ensuring the book signing could proceed smoothly.
This was a far cry from Ryun's forceful counterattack after being bullied by Shimura Taiji before. Inoichi didn't think the Yamanaka clan's influence could compare to the Shimura clan's, so there could only be one reason for Ryun's actions—he had shouldered everything himself for the sake of his friendship with Ino.
With this understanding, Inoichi came to see young Ryun as a top-tier talent, whether in bearing, life approach, or personal literary cultivation. For his daughter to be friends with someone like this wasn't a loss.
"No, actually, Ino has been the one looking after me. Without her, I probably couldn't have written novels that earned people's approval."
"I heard you've been working on a new book lately. Did Lord Third entrust you with it?"
"It's not really an entrustment. Lord Third just gave me a suggestion, to write the story of the First Hokage to lift people's spirits."
As the two were chatting warmly, to Ryun's surprise, Hyūga Hiashi noticed them and also came over.
Although the Hyūga clan was also a faction supporting the Hokage, they didn't typically interact with the three Ino–Shika–Chō clans. So, Hiashi could only be coming over for Ryun.
"Nojuro, what are you doing here too? Is there someone you care about graduating?"
Coming over was one thing, but he directly broke the harmonious atmosphere, and even Inoichi's expression shifted slightly.
The fact that Ryun had many good female friends wasn't a secret in Konoha.
However, Ryun himself was quite outstanding and not too old, plus Sasuke and Naruto were often with him, so it hadn't caused much discussion.
But as Ino's father, Inoichi couldn't ignore this point.
If Ryun and Ino were just friends, that was one thing. He could even accept them developing into lovers. But he absolutely could not accept his good daughter being toyed with by some brat.
Yet, as if he hadn't noticed Inoichi's change in expression, Ryun smiled and said, "Yeah, almost all of my best friends are graduating today. Naturally, I have to come and see how they did, although I'm very confident in them."
Ryun lightly steered the topic in another direction. He didn't believe Hiashi could ask who Ryun cared about most out loud.
Sure enough, Hiashi fell silent.
But Hyūga Hanabi spoke up.
"So, are you here waiting for my sister, or are you waiting for Ino and Sakura?"
As she spoke, a hint of a smile curled at the corner of Hanabi's mouth, clearly still feeling indignant for her sister.
In her view, her sister had been forced to accept that Ryun wouldn't like just one girl. After all, even her father had spoken up for Ryun, so what choice did her sister have?
Therefore, as the little sister who had to protect her older sister, she absolutely had to fight for a chance for her.
Unfortunately, she still underestimated the thickness of Ryun's skin at this moment.
"Of course, I'm waiting for your sister, but I'm also waiting for Ino and Sakura, and even waiting for news about Sasuke and Naruto. You don't think I would play favorites, do you?"
Ryun pulled out a stack of vouchers and said, "Today, no matter who passes the exam, they can eat barbecue at my place for free for a whole week in the future. Isn't that enough to show my sincerity?"
Hanabi wanted to say something more, but a couple walked over.
Ryun looked at them with slight surprise, because they were Sakura's parents.
Hearing Ryun repeatedly mention Sakura's name, they naturally came over to see what was happening.
Upon seeing it was Ryun, the light in their eyes was almost impossible to hide. They pulled him aside and began a warm conversation.
On the other side, Hiashi and Inoichi, who had their own concerns, were immediately outshone. As jōnin and clan heads, they couldn't lower themselves to join the commotion, and Ryun's immediate crisis was temporarily resolved.
But Ryun knew his bigger crisis was yet to come.
After all, he dared to stand here today.
Soon, students began running out of the Ninja Academy one by one, most with joy on their faces.
Because today's graduation exam was the Clone Technique, the most basic of basics.
If you couldn't learn the Three Basic Techniques after several years at the Academy, it only meant you truly lacked the talent to be a ninja.
"Dad! Mom!"
Sakura was the first to rush out, enthusiastically throwing herself into her parents' arms, and then she noticed Ryun standing beside them.
Sakura's mind went completely blank for a moment as she stared blankly at Ryun.
Could it be that Ryun had come specifically to see her?
"What are you standing there for? Say hello!"
Sakura's mother nudged her daughter's shoulder, almost pushing her into Ryun's arms.
Only then did Sakura blush, saying angrily to her mother, "Mom, you're too strong!"
"Ah, sorry, did I hurt you?"
Sakura's mother immediately looked embarrassed. Seeing that Sakura was about to say something more, Ryun gave her a light chop on the forehead with his hand.
"Ah, that hurts!"
Sakura looked at Ryun questioningly, not understanding why he would hit her.
Ryun said, "Don't get angry at your parents over such a small thing. Today is a day for everyone to be happy, isn't it?"
"Here, congratulations on graduating."
Ryun took out the vouchers and even gave one to Sakura's parents.
This kind of practical, good thing immediately made them beam with smiles. Sakura, on the other hand, felt a faint dissatisfaction: "Why give food at a time like this? Shouldn't you give..."
Seeing her parents engrossed in reading the voucher details, Sakura leaned close to Ryun's ear and whispered, "Shouldn't you give something more romantic?"
"I actually did prepare something—but it'll have to wait until tonight." Ryun winked at Sakura, hinting that there was more to the barbecue vouchers than met the eye.
Sakura was stunned again, staring at Ryun's face so close to hers, fantasizing about what might happen tonight.
Was it... was it too late for her to go buy that决胜内衣 now?
"Hey, Sakura, why did you run out without waiting for me?—Ah, you spotted Ryun, didn't you?!"
Ino also rushed out, bypassing her own father, and came straight to Ryun's side, grabbing Sakura and starting a best-friend argument.
This made Inoichi feel a bit better; at least Ino wasn't heading straight for Ryun.
But how could he know that his daughter, upon seeing Sakura almost kiss Ryun, felt like her heart was about to explode from anger?
On a graduation occasion like this, wasn't it the perfect time to create romantic memories? Couldn't this forehead-girl just disappear from Konoha right now!
Seeing that they showed no signs of stopping their argument, Ryun handed several vouchers directly to Inoichi.
The Yamanaka family had many members, and Ryun couldn't be bothered to count exactly how many, so he'd let the head of the household handle the distribution.
At that moment, seeing his chance, Hiashi spoke up, "You can forget about us. You know Hinata's appetite. A week of free vouchers would be too much for your barbecue shop."
"Father!"
Hinata almost shrieked as she rushed over. How could he talk about her appetite so openly like this?
Even now, when Hinata let herself go, she only showed her appetite in front of Ryun, her family, and her friends.
But there were so many people here! What if the whole of Konoha found out she could eat a lot?
Her surname wasn't Akimichi!
Seeing Hinata actually talk back to him, Hiashi was momentarily stunned.
Besides, wasn't he just thinking of Ryun's business? Why was Hinata getting angry?
Seeing this, Ryun could only think that although Hiashi loved his daughter, he was accustomed to a patriarchal way of thinking and could never understand things from his daughters' perspective.
But it wasn't entirely his fault. Inoichi, standing nearby, was on the same level as Hiashi in this regard, even though he was the head of the Yamanaka clan, supposedly best at reading people's hearts.
Ryun stepped in to mediate, and Hinata's expression immediately brightened.
"Please rest assured, Lord Hiashi. Even taijutsu-specialist ninja couldn't eat my shop out of business. After all, I even dare to treat Choji."
Ryun waved to Choji and Shikamaru, who had just walked out. The moment he saw the free barbecue vouchers, Choji rushed over and picked Ryun up, almost tossing him in the air in celebration.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 Like the story? Read 120 chapters ahead!
🔗 patreon.com/atomelectron
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━