Naruto: I Have a Gravity Training Room-Chapter 458 - 456

Time was like the planets the Ōtsutsuki destroyed: one after another, withering away in the cosmos without end.

Before anyone realized it, more than half a year had passed.

Konoha's ninja had become absurdly busy, especially the higher-ups, who were practically dying from it. Overtime had become the norm.

It couldn't be helped. There was simply too much to do.

Most of it was League business. Requests for aid kept coming in from small countries and minor villages. Trade disputes and negotiations with the major nations and great villages never stopped. They also had to plan the first Ninjutsu Tournament, scheduled for next year. The workload was as endless as White Zetsu.

Senju Tobirama and Minato had it even worse. Because the League mattered so much, they had to use Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God) to blink across nations for talks from time to time.

It wasn't like they hadn't considered setting up a central League headquarters, with each village dispatching representatives to handle League affairs. But some matters were too significant, and only the Kage of each village could make the call. When that happened, they would still have to send messages back and forth to notify everyone, which would waste even more time.

So they simply didn't build a headquarters.

Or rather, they treated Konoha as the League's temporary headquarters.

If any League member had a problem, they could send it straight to Konoha. After all, Konoha had multiple people who could use Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God). Coordinating with other villages was effortless. They could even pull everyone into a group discussion at any time. If something came up, it could be debated immediately.

Which meant Konoha's leadership suffered.

And they couldn't exactly complain. With great power came great responsibility. Konoha had four Six Paths-level powerhouses and four Hokage. Their strength was ridiculous. Everyone acknowledged Konoha as the strongest village in the shinobi world, and everyone trusted Konoha enough to set the League's hub here. So Konoha could only sign off and shoulder the burden.

Of course, the League wasn't something Konoha handled alone. Some matters had to be distributed to the other great nations and major villages, or Konoha would go insane.

In short: the Way could be spoken, but it wasn't the eternal Way. Busy could be described, but it wasn't busy enough.

To the point that even the Military Police's two division captains got drafted as extra hands.

Village security was important, sure, but having two Six Paths-level monsters handle it was like using an ox cleaver to kill a chicken. More importantly, both of them were Hokage candidates, so the police work was handed off to others.

Get to the office and start doing paperwork.

As for the village's miscellaneous administrative junk, Tsunade got mad, then got mad again. In the end, she packed it all up and dumped it on Naruto.

Naruto wanted to be Hokage, right? After a period of studying, he should be able to handle plenty of village affairs now. Even if Kakashi wasn't around, he ought to manage. If he ran into something he didn't understand, he could ask.

So Naruto accepted the assignment with tears in his eyes, and got so busy he barely touched the ground.

Natsuki was deeply dissatisfied with this level of busyness. He didn't even have time to accompany his wife.

But he didn't dare complain. The Great League had been his idea. If everyone was swamped because of him and he still complained, he would be torn apart by the group.

Besides, what else could he do? The Ōtsutsuki threat hung over their heads like a nuclear bomb. If the shinobi world wanted to protect itself, how could it not form an alliance?

Thankfully, Natsuki also knew how to slack off.

He simply sent three Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clones) to sit in the office, and then went to the hospital to stay with Tenten.

Tenten's belly was getting bigger by the day. Moving around was becoming inconvenient, and for safety's sake she was staying at the hospital. Natsuki was too busy to take care of her regularly, after all.

Her dad was worried sick too. For his daughter, and for the grandchild, he couldn't sleep at night.

So he hired two injured, disabled ninja to help watch the shop, while he ran to the hospital every day to keep his daughter company.

At first he thought his son-in-law was too busy to spend time with Tenten. Then he discovered that Natsuki was using Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clones) to work while his real body kept flashing over to the hospital. Even after Tsunade chewed him out a few times, he never changed. Every day, at the very least, he was at the hospital during meals. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

He was putting his heart into it.

Both her dad and Tenten tried to tell Natsuki he didn't need to do so much, that the thought was enough.

Natsuki would nod while listening.

And then he'd do the exact same thing anyway.

It left people helpless, and touched.

After that, everyone in the office started copying him. They threw out a bunch of Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clones) to handle work, while their real bodies tried to slack off as much as possible. Even if the clones dispelled later and the fatigue hit like a truck, that was later.

First, slack. Then suffer.

Of course, Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji still hadn't started slacking.

Naruto didn't dare. He took responsibility seriously and focused on finishing his work. His Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clones) were only there to assist him, because his processing speed was still slow.

Sasuke and Neji, on the other hand, were competing for the Hokage seat. So they were competing over who worked hardest, and who was most efficient.

For now, the two of them were neck-and-neck.

But the praise for the two Hokage candidates only grew. No matter who won in the future, wouldn't it be a great thing for Konoha?

That day, Tsunade punched Natsuki's three clones so hard they went brain-dead on the spot.

Not because she was angry.

She just wanted his real body to come to the meeting, so she blew up the clones as a message.

It was an absurd method.

Natsuki had been discussing baby names with Tenten and his father-in-law when he got "summoned" like that, so he was obviously annoyed.

Tenten could only coax him. "All right, all right. Go already. Don't keep Lady Tsunade and the others waiting. If you don't go, then I'm going with you."

Natsuki sighed. "Fine. Then stop clinging to me."

He leaned in and kissed Tenten on the forehead, then flashed away.

In the next instant, he was in the Hokage's office. Two shadow clones were still working. Natsuki sat down at the conference table, his expression still sour.

Tsunade couldn't help laughing as she scolded, "What are you pouting about? This is a routine meeting, you know."

Natsuki snorted. "Don't worry about it. I'm annoyed, that's all. I'm still here, aren't I?"

Everyone burst into laughter. They all knew he'd been having a good time talking with Tenten and got interrupted, so of course he was irritated. But nobody criticized him. After all, the work his clones handled was always completed properly. He never delayed a single thing, and still managed to keep slacking.

That was a high level of slacking.

If you had the skill, you could learn.

The problem was, most people couldn't learn it without also messing things up.

Tsunade immediately shifted the topic back to business. "Ahem. Several reconnaissance squads just sent back new reports. Everyone, take a look."

The intel scrolls were passed around, one after another.

That was the daily meeting: the scouting squads from every village had already been scattered across the shinobi world, mainly to investigate anomalies. Any intel they found had to be sent back immediately, so the leadership could analyze and discuss it, and determine whether there was any sign of an Ōtsutsuki threat.

And the villages had to exchange intel frequently as well, to make sure there were no gaps.

The reason Kakashi wasn't present was because he was personally leading recon missions.

He had even assigned a lot of Hyūga, Inuzuka, and Aburame ninja, pushing the villages' best scouting clans to scour every corner of the world.

Even Jiraiya had already departed, planning to investigate in his own way.

(End of Chapter)

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