| TANGLED |

{23} Finally Home!

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto groaned in despair as he held on tightly to his backpack, "How long till we arrive?!"

The silver-haired male sighed. He continued walking while he answered with a hint of annoyance laced in his tone, "Naruto, this is the fourth time you've asked me in the past ten minutes."

The blond male sighed before he whined, "That's your fault Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto pointed at his crush— I mean, at (Y/N) who walked far ahead and was currently chatting with Sakura. "You're not allowing me to talk to (Y/N)-chan! It's not fair! I didn't do anything!" He continued to whine.

Kakashi bonked Naruto's head, making him shut up from the pain, yet compared to Sakura's punches, this was practically nothing.

"This is what you get Naruto for fighting with Sasuke the whole trip here," the silver-haired male sighed before he placed his hands in his pockets, "Now stay quiet. I told you before, when we arrive at Konoha, then you can talk to her but for now, not a word."

Naruto let out a whine yet he stayed quiet. The blonde let Kakashi walk past him and once he was far ahead, Naruto mumbled, "Stupid Kakashi-sensei."

Not a second later, without turning his head, the silver-haired male replied, "The whole day."

Naruto let out a sound of surprise before he began begging, "Wahhhhh please Kakashi-sensei! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

———

It was quiet in the Hokage's office, with only three people inside, the other two being Asuma and Kurenai. The two jounins glanced at each other and just as Asuma was about to speak, his father interrupted him.

"I've been thinking of a place to hide the scroll," the Hokage began, intertwining his fingers as he propped his elbows on the desk. "And I don't think it should be here."

Kurenai furrowed her eyebrows before she replied, "Why not Hokage-sama? Your office has the best security, no one would dare break in and steal it."

The old man let out a long sigh before he shook his head. "We have to take into consideration that (Y/N) might also try to steal it," he eyed the two jounins, "and she has been here quite a lot and will continue to visit this office."

Asuma crossed his arms over his chest before he admitted, "I still don't agree with this; there's no way my (Y/N) would do something like that."

The Hokage sighed before he explained, "That's true Asuma, (Y/N) would never steal a scroll." He eyed his son with a particular look in his eyes, "But as I've said before, it's not (Y/N) wanting the scroll, rather the scroll wanting her, and who knows in what ways will it try to reach her?"

Asuma grew quiet, thinking about his father's words. '(Y/N),' he thought back to his daughter— I mean, the girl he takes care of, 'I won't let anyone hurt you ever again. I promise.'

Meanwhile, Kurenai suggested, "What about my apartment? (Y/N) stays with Asuma and she rarely visits."

The Hokage let out a hum of disapproval. "There's no guarantee she'll never visit your appartement, we need someplace which has a low possibility of her finding."

Asuma, who had been quiet for the past few minutes, muttered lowly, "What about *******?"

The black-haired woman glanced at her boyfriend— I mean, her friend before she replied, "That place? But it's filled with people and extremely low guarded?!"

The Hokage countered, "But unexpected. No one would ever think of searching that place." He turned to Kurenai before he continued, "We could always have some of our ninjas guard the place from the shadows."