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In the evening.
As promised, Kuroto came to the Izakaya; where Asuma had booked a private room for the night.
Because it was still a little early, so only Asuma and Kakashi who were forcibly dragged here were present. When Kuroto walked into the private room… he noticed that Kakashi and Asuma were discussing something with a very serious expression.
Taking a seat next to Asuma, Kuroto asked casually, “What are you two talking about with such serious expression?”
Asuma answered with a distracted tone, “Kakashi is giving me advice on how to make Kurenai fall in love with me.”
Kuroto snickered, “He, himself is a single dog… how can he give you advice?”
Asuma’s face changed all of a sudden, and it was at this moment, he realized, “Yeah, no wonder the tricks he taught me didn’t work at all!”
Kakashi said with a rare serious expression, “You can’t say that Kuroto… my advice is sure to work… after all, they are all taken from a legendary book.”
“What book?” asked Kuroto with a confused expression as picked up a bottle of sake.
Kakashi quickly fumbled through his Shinobi bag and took out a small book with an orange cover, and showed it to Kuroto and Asuma, “This book!”
The Orange cover of the book had illustrations of a woman and a man drawn on it, and its title was written in, conspicuous red characters which read as Icha Icha Paradise.
Puff…
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Kuroto, who had just taken a sip of Sake suddenly sprayed it out as soon as he realized what book Kakashi was talking about.
Cough-cough…
After controlling his coughs… and wiping away the corners of his mouth, Kuroto can’t help but think in amazement, ‘What is this scenario? A book written by an old single dog was regarded as a treasure by a young single dog, and then passed on to another single dog?’
Kuroto doesn’t know if Kakashi knows who the author of Icha Icha Paradise is, but Kuroto knows well enough… Icha Icha Paradise is authorized by a lifelong old single dog Jiraiya, a fool who has pursued Tsunade-hime for most of his life but has never succeeded in winning her heart.
Kakashi looked at Kuroto with a strange expression, and asked: “Why is your reaction too big?”
Asuma snatched Kakashi’s Icha Icha Paradise, and while looking through it, he muttered, “I have heard of this book… it is said that the sales are very good.”
Kakashi nodded repeatedly and said in a deep tone, “Of course, it’s the legendary Icha Icha Paradise… and the sales of this book are off the charts… I was barely able to buy it after spending three whole days in line!”
Kuroto sighed shook his head in disdain and said nothing more.
Asuma saw Kuroto’s disapproving expression, closed the book, and asked, “Kuroto, do you have a good way to make a girl fall in love with me?”
Kuroto said with a smirk, “Heh, I am sorry Asuma, I don’t understand the troubles of you single dogs.”
Seeing the smirk on Kuroto’s face, Asuma’s face turned dark, “Yeah, how can I ever forget…? This bastard has always made all of us single dogs burn in envy since the academy days… I don’t know why but I suddenly have a very strong urge to beat you up.”
“Yes, me too!” – Kakashi also nodded in agreement with Asuma.
“Cut, weakling.” Snorted Kuroto in a mocking tone… then completely ignored the two and took a sip of Sake… but Asuma kept staring at him and didn’t mean to turn away even if Kuroto ignored him… after a while of silence and a few sips of sake Kuroto could no longer bear the begging look of Asuma and sighed, “Alright fine… don’t go gloomy… I will give you some advice.”
With that Kuroto became the Date Doctor and started to give some advice to Asuma. Of course, he didn’t mean to go overboard like Will Smith lest Asuma starts coming to him for all the things and problems he is facing.
While Kuroto was talking, Asuma and Kakashi were listening intently, Hayate opened the door and walked in, greeted the three people in the private room, and consciously sat on the side and listened to the conversation of the three seniors.
In actuality, Hayate is a few years younger than Asuma, Kakashi, and Kuroto, but because of the outbreak of the third great shinobi war, he had to graduate early, so he can barely be regarded as a shinobi of the same generation… moreover, Hayate is still Kuroto’s subordinate.
But Hayate has always treated Kuroto and the others as Seniors and has always maintained a respectful attitude towards them.
This is also the reason why he generally uses the suffix ‘-senpai’ or ‘-san’ when referring to Kuroto, Kakashi, and others.
After a while of advising, Kuroto casually asked Asuma, “By the way, what did Kakashi teach you today?”
Asuma replied, “Kakashi told me that I should invite Kurenai on a hot-spring trip… I even have the coupons ready, what do you think of this idea?”
“Ahem.” After a light cough to attract Kuroto and Asuma’s attention to himself, Kakashi said with particular emphasis, “According to Icha Icha Paradise, this trick is referred to as ‘Nirvana’ and has a hundred percent success rate!”
“A Hot Spring Trip huh?” Kuroto muttered and started to think of something, ‘It’s been a while since I have been on a hot spring trip with Yui, maybe I should consider taking her on one.
Asuma asked eagerly, “Do you think inviting Kurenai on a hot spring trip would work?”
Listening to the discussion between Asuma, Kakashi, and Kuroto, Hayate was a bit dumbfounded, he raised his hand weakly and said, “Asuma-san… have you confessed to Kurenai-senpai? And are you two already dating?”
Asuma shook his head, and said, “I haven’t confessed yet, I want to take Kurenai on a few dates, then confess to her.”
Hayate suddenly became speechless, and said, “You two aren’t even dating yet? Then I suggest that you don’t invite Kurenai-senpai to go on a hot spring trip straight off the bat… It would be very rude and disrespectful toward her.
If it is with a lot of people of both genders then the trip could be taken as fun, enjoyment, and relaxation but with just you and Kurenai-senpai alone, she would definitely feel uncomfortable. Even if she trusts you as a friend and comrade it doesn’t mean she would be willing to go so far just based on that trust.”
Asuma quickly asked Hayate, “Then what should I do?”
Hayate groaned for a moment, then said, “Kurenai-senpai has a strong personality and she is an independent woman… Moreover, she is an orphan and has nobody but herself to depend upon… True we are her friends and would be willing to help her wherever we can, but there is always a wall between people that can not be broken with just pure friendship and camaraderie, and nobody but ourselves knows what kind of people we truly are at our core…
As far as I know, people with such a background are generally vulnerable in their hearts and try to cover their inner weaknesses and fears with a strong outer shell, to hide their true selves from others… Kurenai-senpai is no different…
So, if you want to make her fall in love with you then you have to at least give her a sense of security, you have to make her feel that you are someone she can truly depend on, you have to make her believe that no matter what her inner self is like you won’t judge her and treat her as herself so that she can open up her true inner self to you…”
Kakashi looked at Hayate with pure admiration, his gaze clearly indicated he is in the presence of a God.
Even Kuroto can’t help but nod at what Hayate said… because he was somewhat correct indeed, and can’t help but think, ‘No wonder Yugao is in love with him, he is more of a Date Doctor than I am. Of course, I am not much bad either… at least, I would like to believe that I am not bad when compared to Hayate.’
Asuma on the other hand looked at Hayate as if he has found his new best friend… he got up from his own seat, sat next to Hayate, tossed his arm around Hayate’s shoulder, and asked, “And how do I do that?”
Hayate blushed a little at how he suddenly became the center of all attention… but seriously thought about Asuma’s question, then said, “Well the fastest way to give someone a sense of security is to be very strong than them. If you become strong enough to make Kurenai-senpai admire you… she will obviously feel a sense of security in your presence… that sense of security will slowly grow into trust… and at that time if you treat Kurenai-senpai as an equal, don’t judge her for her flaws, help her in the areas you feel the need to… but also give her enough space to not make her feel overwhelmed in your presence, be honest with her and don’t hide your own vulnerabilities from her… then that admiration will slowly and steadily become love. At least, that’s what I think.”
“Strong huh?” Asuma started to think, and muttered, “But it’s a bit difficult.”
If it comes to overall strength, Asuma is obviously stronger than Kurenai… but Kurenai is an expert in Genjutsu, and her Genjutsu proficiency is very high… after months of discussions with Uchiha Itachi, her mastery and understanding of Genjutsu have increased sharply. Additionally, she has also started to learn Fuinjutsu… So, even a bit of negligence may as well result in Asuma’s defeat.
True, Asuma may have a greater chance of winning if the two were to fight, but his strength is nowhere near enough to reach the level that Kurenai would admire him.
Hayate nodded, “It is indeed difficult.”
Asuma sighed, “You mean I don’t have a chance?”
Hayate shrugged, “If Asuma-san is willing to work hard in training… and not give up on Kurenai-senpai, then perhaps you may have a chance.”
While Asuma was distressed, the others also started to arrive in groups of one and two… Yugao, Kurenai… then Guy… later Anko… Ebisu… Ibiki… Umemiya… along with the others…
A few minutes later, the gate was pushed open, and this time, two more Kunoichi hurriedly walked in… which quieted down the entire room.
As soon as she walked in, Shizune asked, “We aren’t late, right?”
Asuma said, “Well, just in time…”
Shizune nodded, “Huh, that’s good then… it’s a rare holiday Tsunade-sama gave us… if we had gotten late, then I would have really regretted it.”
Yui who was standing just behind Shizune said, “I told you Shizune we aren’t late… and yet you made me run all the way.”
Shizune immediately said, “I was just a little excited.”
Yui sighed and looked around for Kuroto… of course, she didn’t have to search too much as Kuroto was already waving his hands.
As soon as she saw Kuroto, Yui beamed a smile and walked towards him.
Guy who was sitting next to Kuroto consciously stood up, “Here you go.”
Yui nodded with a grateful smile, “Thank you Guy-san.” Then sat next to Kuroto and started talking about a lot of things.
Guy nodded with a knowing smile and walked towards the seat next to Kakashi and sat down.
Shizune also found herself a seat and sat.
As more and more people gathered, the room became lively… And because almost everyone is from the same generation; has spent their academy life together, performed a lot of missions, and fought many enemies together so everyone was quite casual with each other and chatted quite casually.
While everyone was discussing something or the other, Asuma approached Kurenai, and asked, “The old man didn’t embarrass you today, right?”
Kurenai shook her head and said with a smile, “Hokage-sama just read the report, asked me a few questions casually, then instructed me to rest properly in order to recover as soon as possible.”
Kakashi frowned when he heard Kurenai’s words, “Hokage-sama didn’t ask in detail?”
This incident concerned not only Orochimaru an S-Class missing-nin, who was able to summon Shodaime Hokage-sama and Nidaime Hokage-sama but also Amatsukami. In Kakashi’s view, Hokage-sama shouldn’t be negligent about such a matter.
Seeing that Kurenai was unwilling to mention this matter more, Asuma quickly changed the subject, “Oyaji has indeed been a bit strange lately, most of the time he would be absent-minded… it has also started to worry me as of late.”
Woon Woon Woon Woon Woon
Suddenly, there was a sharp alarm resounding outside the window.
Everyone in the room just looked out of the window without much tension on their face, because the village has already announced that there will be an evacuation drill in the eastern part of the village this evening.
Yugao whispered lightly, “This is the third time already, right? How come the evacuation drills are being held so frequently these days?”
Umemiya said, “Maybe it is to prepare the villagers’ reaction to a sudden emergency, and make them aware of what paths to take so that the casualty count decreases.”
Shizune asked in a wondering tone, “But what emergency can there be at such a time? And that too in the Village!”
Kuroto said lightly, “Perhaps Akatsuki’s revenge.”
As soon as Kuroto’s words fell, a solemn silence dawned in the room, everyone stopped whatever they were doing and everyone’s breath was held for a moment Kuroto could feel Yui’s hand tighten around the cuff of his sleeve indicating that she is worried about his safety.
‘This girl.’ Sighed Kuroto, then rubbed the backside of Yui’s hand in silence to reassure her that nothing would happen to him.
The silence brought by Kuroto’s words continued until the evacuation drill was completed.
In fact, Kuroto can see that everyone present here has more or less noticed some things. After all, everyone is either a Jonin, Tokubetsu Jonin, or an Anbu. The people in this room make up the elite forces of Konoha and are the future backbone of the village. So how can such people not notice these things?
However, the one who knows the most is probably Kuroto, because no one in this room other than him knows that four of the five Kage have already gathered in Konoha, and the only remaining Tsuchikage is also on his way.
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