In Konoha, This Naruto Has Decided To Take It Easy

"Gathering intelligence is also a very important part of the mission. Don't underestimate these details." Jiraiya tidied himself up, smiling as he prepared to head out.

"Just go ahead. I'm too lazy to bother." Naruto muttered as he lay on their room's sofa, looking listless. He had already gathered enough information.

"You're no fun at all." Jiraiya said, shutting the door behind him.

As the light from the hallway disappeared, the corner of the sofa was swallowed by darkness. Naruto covered his eyes with his hand and lay there for about ten minutes before reaching towards his waist.

A soft rustling sound came from the sofa as Naruto pulled out a small, crude communication device, about half the size of a palm.

It was a simple gadget, an unpolished box concealing its electronic components. Red and green wires protruded, messily connected in every direction, completely lacking any aesthetic appeal.

Even so, Naruto handled it carefully, pressing the only red button on it. A small red light on the device's surface began to flash rhythmically, like it was breathing.

In the dark living room, the red light blinked continuously for several minutes. Naruto stared at the red light motionlessly, and time passed slowly, with each minute feeling as long as a century.

Then, after five minutes, the red light suddenly froze and quickly turned green. A raspy electric noise crackled through the empty living room, echoing for a full thirty seconds before abruptly falling silent again.

In the now-quiet room, the sound of Naruto's breathing was clearly audible. His jawline was sharp, his chest rising and falling gently with each breath.

According to Jiraiya's evaluation of him, when Naruto is silent, he looks like a handsome blonde guy. Of course, the premise is that he is not even one thousandth as handsome as the Mount Myoboku's Sage in his youth.

It was April, and the small town was humid. Moisture gathered on the walls of the finely tiled hotel, forming droplets that trickled down, leaving thin streams of water behind.

On the red sofa in the middle of the living room, the lean and clean young man held an extremely simple little device. He opened his mouth slightly, cleared his throat and spoke, "Ino?"

A brief crackle of static was followed by silence. Naruto waited patiently, wondering if the device had broken down when, finally, another burst of static came through. Then, a clear yet cautious voice responded, "Yeah, it's me."

Ino was at home by herself, sitting upstairs in her room. The lights in the living room were off, and she was curled up in her space, surrounded by scattered electronic components. Under the light of her desk lamp, she was sketching and working on her projects.

Her father was busy with work and had been even busier lately. Her mother was also preoccupied with the flower shop and sometimes joined her father at the intelligence department, leaving Ino feeling like the odd one out.

In a family of three, it always seemed like she didn't have a place.

In her eyes, her parents are busy but loving. Her father never chose to work overtime willingly, and from her mother's occasional remarks, she knew that even when he did, it was always for the family's sake.

After her leave ended, In basically stayed in the Hokage's Office. Most of the time, she didn't have to go to work, and she definitely couldn't go back to the Intelligence Department, so she focused her energy on developing new technology at home.

Entering this new field wasn't as difficult as she had imagined, and after some effort, she had achieved significant progress.

Among her inventions was the crude communication device she had given to Naruto, which used Chakra technology to maintain communication, albeit with about a ten-second delay.

Ino had just finished her bath and was sitting down to study with her hair still damp when she noticed the communicator placed in the most conspicuous position on the desk light up.

Her breath quickened, and she carefully pressed the button. Then, after a long wait, a voice finally came from the other side amid the crackle of static.

"Ino?"

'Ah! So soft!' Ino thought, 'Can a guy's voice really change just from going on a trip?'

In fact, Naruto's voice hadn't changed at all, neither had his tone. Naruto was just being cautious because he wasn't sure whether the 'piece of junk' Ino had made would actually work, so even his speech was measured.

It felt like if he spoke too loudly, the crude contraption would shatter into pieces. But in reality, this thing was much stronger than an old man's wheelchair.

Just from hearing his voice, Ino could already picture what Naruto looked like at the moment. Knowing him well enough, she could imagine him as someone who would lie down whenever he could avoid standing.

'At this moment, he should be wearing loose-fitting clothes, lying comfortably somewhere, in a small space where he was alone, and pressed the button on the communicator.'

'His head rested against something, his jawline sharp, and his Adam's apple, that I once bit, was prominent. His gaze seemed indifferent, unfocused, giving off a cold and aloof vibe.'

With just one sentence, Ino could vividly picture Naruto's posture as he spoke, as if the other party was sitting right across from her, separated by only a thin veil.

"Can you hear me?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, I can."

"I'm in a small town and will be on a mission soon, but I can't feel at ease without hearing your voice first."

"Huh?" Ino, who had been trying to think of something to talk about, was caught off guard by his directness. The words she had prepared in her head completely fell apart, and her mind went blank with panic.

"I-I don't know what to say." She regretted the moment the words left her mouth.

'Why did my words become so clumsy at times like this? Ain't I usually very talkative and so good at making conversation? I am always polite to every customer who came to buy flowers, and no matter how quiet they were, I could still engage with them.'

But now, as the words reached her lips, Ino realized that some people just had a special place in her heart. The moment she heard Naruto's voice, even the smallest thought could make her lose her composure.

"Then let's start with the simple ones."

His voice on the other end became lazy and unhurried, with a hint of a smile in it.

"Okay." Ino clutched the communicator tightly, her heart racing. This was something she and Naruto had agreed on, to test the stability of the communicator.

It was something they'd planned more than half a month ago. Naruto asked her to concentrate on making the communicator and not worry about higher-ups, as he will help her test it.

The two had agreed that Naruto would contact her using the communicator from a distant location, far from Konoha, to test whether the communicator's functions were complete or if there were any flaws.

"Can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Alright, I'll start."

"Mm."

"Do you miss me?"

"… Huh?" Ino's heart skipped a beat, and a thin layer of sweat formed in her palms.

From that moment on, she knew that she could never win against him.

Jiraiya returned in the middle of the night, smelling faintly of alcohol. Without making a fuss, he quickly washed up and collapsed onto the bed, sleeping straight through until noon the next day.

…

The next day.

When Jiraiya energetically informed Naruto about all the intel he had gathered about the Land of Rain, he noticed that Naruto was looking at him with indifference and contempt.

"What's with that look?"

"Pervy Sage, is this all the intel you have obtained?"

"And what brilliant insight do you have, Naruto-sama?" Jiraiya's face twitched. He was tempted to hang Naruto up and give him a beating.

"The rain in the Land of Rain cannot be touched. It would be best if we could come up with a sensory-blocking Ninjutsu." Naruto said, "The leader of the Akatsuki is called Pain."

"Pain's Six Paths each have different abilities."

"Oh, by the way, I heard it only stops raining in the Land of Rain on Sundays. So if you don't have any means of blocking their surveillance, it's best to enter the Land of Rain on a Sunday."

"You…" Jiraiya was stunned. After all, the level of detail in Naruto's intel didn't seem like something he could just make up.

"You've already investigated all this?"

"More or less." Naruto neither confirmed nor denied it. He looked like an experienced fisherman sitting on the fishing platform, with a smile on his face, "I've got even more detailed information."

He refrained from revealing anything about the Rinnegan or Nagato, just waiting for Jiraiya to take the bait.

Jiraiya had a vague feeling that there was something wrong, but he still couldn't help but ask.

"Naruto, what's the intel?"

"Hmm?"

"Naruto-sama."

"Hmm."