"So, what exactly is going on here?"
Being stared at by several Karins at the same time, all blushing, gave Aoba an indescribably strange feeling.
Which made him even more curious about what was happening.
Although Karin was usually lively and unpredictable, taking the initiative to massage people's legs and shoulders like this was still pretty rare.
There had to be some ulterior motive.
And thinking about it again, there was a ninety percent chance those little ones had already found out about what happened with Ino today.
A guess had already formed in his mind.
"I-it's nothing really…"
Of course Karin wouldn't admit it. After hearing Aoba's question, all the Karins lowered their heads again and stammered out an excuse they had just thought of.
"I… I just saw that Yugao-nee and Konan-nee work so hard every day and must be really tired, so… so I wanted to help them relax a bit."
"… "
Aoba looked curiously toward Yugao and Konan.
"Well now, Aoba, do you really want to know?"
When Yugao saw him looking over, she glanced at Karin's original body, who was lowering her head, and a meaningful smile appeared on her face.
"Well…"
That made Aoba hesitate.
Although he really wanted to know right now, if it was the same as his guess, then maybe it would actually be better not to know.
Fortunately, before he had to answer, Karin reacted.
"Yugao-nee…"
One of the Karins who had been shyly lowering her head suddenly threw herself into Yugao's arms and spoke pitifully.
"You promised you wouldn't tell Aoba-nii!"
"Aoba-nii, please don't ask. Anyway… anyway you'll find out later."
Meanwhile Karin's original body grabbed Aoba's hand and used her usual coquettish tactics.
"… "
At this point she had basically already exposed herself.
Seeing Karin like this, Aoba suddenly felt like teasing her a little.
"Why do I have to wait until later to find out? Can't Karin tell me now?"
"B-because… because… this is a surprise I carefully prepared for Aoba-nii. If I say it ahead of time… then it won't be a surprise anymore."
The blush on Karin's pretty face had already spread down her pale neck and disappeared beneath her collar.
Although she was usually quite bold and always wanted to go further with Aoba, when it came to something like this, saying it out loud directly still made her feel extremely embarrassed.
"… "
"Alright, Aoba, stop teasing Karin. She really can't handle being teased by you."
Although Konan found the scene amusing, she still spoke up to interrupt.
Karin usually acted like she understood everything and even occasionally joked with them adults. Who would have thought that when the moment actually came, she would behave no better than Temari and Kotone.
Sure enough, a young girl was still a young girl.
However, looking at Karin like this also reminded Konan of her own first time.
A first time always left a deep impression, especially a first time like that.
So even now, she still remembered it vividly.
Back then she had been wearing pajamas and used the excuse of eating a late-night snack to go to Aoba's room, and then directly…
At that time she wasn't young compared to Karin anymore, having already experienced all kinds of life and death separations, yet she had still needed great determination before making that decision.
As she recalled it, a faint cherry-pink color appeared on Konan's face.
It just wasn't very noticeable, so no one paid attention to it.
"… "
After hearing Konan's words, Aoba smiled and stopped teasing Karin. Instead he rubbed her head.
"Then I'll start looking forward to Karin's surprise later."
"Mhm!"
Karin nodded happily and immediately threw herself into Aoba's arms to continue acting spoiled.
Seeing Karin so happy, the large group of women sitting in the living room all revealed smiles of varying depth.
Uzumaki Kasui looked at her daughter, who had finally made up her mind completely. Her expression was pleased, yet also somewhat complicated.
She was happy for Karin, yet also felt a strange sense of melancholy.
After so many years, Karin was finally about to gain the happiness that truly belonged to her.
Only Uchiha Hikari and Fuu, who were sitting together in the corner of the sofa eating snacks, didn't quite understand what was going on.
However, just as Karin's cheerful mood had begun, it suddenly didn't last long before she felt several small hands land on her body.
"Eh?"
Karin froze, then let out a cry as those hands pulled her backward.
By the time she fell onto the sofa, she realized the ones who had pulled her were actually her own clones.
"Aoba-nii, can you pat my head too?"
"Aoba-nii, later on can I join as well?"
"Me too, me too! I can help…"
At this moment Aoba had already been completely surrounded by a crowd of Karins.
"?"
Seeing this scene, even Karin's original body widened her eyes.
'Just a bunch of shadow clones actually dare to rebel against the original?'
"Damn it! I'm the original body! You shadow clones are way too outrageous!"
Karin's original body became furious. For a moment she completely forgot the nature of shadow clones and rushed forward, joining the fight with those clones to compete.
"… "
The women who had originally been smiling couldn't help twitching their lips when they saw this scene.
Even Aoba couldn't help laughing helplessly.
After all this time, he had once again seen someone start fighting with their own shadow clones.
The last one had been Sara.
Amid the chaos, Aoba patted each Karin's head one by one before finally calming them all down.
Then the Karins went back to doing what they had originally been doing.
Which was helping Yugao and Konan massage their shoulders and legs.
Aoba felt both amused and helpless, but he didn't say anything. From the looks of it, Karin had taken the initiative herself.
After the farce ended, Aoba walked over and sat down directly beside Tsunade.
Their bodies squeezed together, compressing the originally plump flesh of Tsunade's thigh until it deformed slightly.
Tsunade: "…"
"You brat, there's so much space next to you. Do you really have to squeeze in beside me?"
Tsunade clenched both fists and began grinding them against the sides of his temples.
"Sensei, go easy, it hurts…"
Aoba hurriedly begged for mercy.
"Heh! Then why do you insist on squeezing in next to me?"
Tsunade snorted, the strength in her hands actually increasing a little.
She knew this guy was pretending. He didn't even feel pain when someone bit him hard, so how could something like this hurt?
"I just saw that Teacher seemed to be in a bad mood, so I came over to ask what's going on."
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