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Tenten was dressed in loose-fitting sleepwear that outlined her delicate figure. Pulling the blanket tightly around herself, her porcelain-white arms clutched the fabric as she bit her lower lip, her pale, slender face looking a bit conflicted.

"Hey... Tenten, can please you stop acting like that?" Naruto sighed, rubbing his forehead, "If you don’t want to come, just say so. There’s no need for this kind of drama."

"Luckily, there's no one else here. If they saw you like this, they would have thought that I did something to you."

Tenten lay on her side, bundled up like a cocoon. After nightfall, the island's temperature dropped sharply. Water left outside the tent would develop a thin layer of ice by midnight.

Tenten’s small face peeked out from the thick blanket. Hearing Naruto's words, her eyes darted mischievously as she let out a soft giggle, "What could you possibly do to me? No matter what, I can’t let you go off on your own."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Naruto muttered with a sigh.

He knew that Tenten didn’t want to take this risk, and she wanted to dissuade him from taking risks. But he would still say, since he was here, how can he turn back empty-handed?

He couldn't tell Tenten that the underground network beneath the Land of Whirlpools was complex and treacherous. It was impossible to sneak down to see it secretly, and it would not be cost-effective to come back next time.

Who knows when the next time will be? Is it really certain that there will be the next time?

Two years ago, the Snow Country mission required going out to sea.

Two years ago, during the mission to the Land of Snow, things had gone south. Anko, Sakura, and Naruto had been sent to escort Koyuki back to film her movie.

Their ship wrecked en route, leaving the four of them stranded at sea for over a month on a makeshift raft until they washed up on the island of the Land of Whirlpools.

While waiting for Konoha’s rescue, Naruto and Anko had stumbled upon a cave filled with twenty-seven stone statues resembling gods.

Deeper inside, Naruto had found a crevice, but since they’re pressed for time and Naruto was not sure that he could escape from the unknown danger, he’d reluctantly left it unexplored.

But now, after two years, the current Naruto had the skill, the experience, and, most importantly, the guts to see it through.

One of his goals was to find out the secrets buried under the island of the Land of Whirlpools.

Secondly, there might be the door he wanted hidden underneath.

It was a coincidence that he’d learned that Jiraiya and his companions were safe, so Naruto simply took this opportunity to finish the unfinished business.

Because of their special relationship, Anko naturally kept the island's affairs secret from him. But now… Naruto looked at Tenten and fell into deep thought.

"…What?" Tenten saw that Naruto didn't say anything, just stared at her.

"Can you keep this a secret for me?" Naruto asked seriously.

"Secret?"

"Yeah. About where I’m going tomorrow… I don’t want anyone else finding out." Naruto said, "The original inhabitants of the Land of Whirlpools are the Uzumaki Clan, so..."

"The Uzumaki Clan was once feared by all parties. Although it has become a thing of the past, there are still some things I don't want too many people to know."

"Oh, I see." Tenten nodded to show her understanding.

The fact that Naruto trusted her enough to share this made her chest feel warm, so she immediately promised that she would never tell anyone what she had seen.

Hearing this, Naruto was relieved, ‘Tenten was innocent and kind, and since she had promised, she definitely would not break it. ‘

So in a good mood, Naruto simply took a bath.

But as soon as he stepped into the tent, the atmosphere suddenly became weird.

Tenten’s eyes tracked him as he stepped inside, making him glance down at himself. The look in her eyes made Naruto lose confidence. If he hadn't seen that he was still wearing all his clothes, Naruto would have thought he came out naked.

"…Why are you staring at me?"

"I just wanted to ask you something." Tenten said, sitting up with her blanket draped around her like a makeshift fortress.

"Uh, sure." Naruto responded and lit the fire with a click.

Then, he opened a gap in the corner of the tent to allow ventilation, so as to avoid being poisoned directly when sleeping at night. Finally, he walked towards Tenten and sat next to her, "What's wrong?"

"I… I was wondering…" Tenten looked so conflicted that it made Naruto's teeth ache.

"Tenten, if you have anything to say, just tell me directly. Watching you struggle like that’s giving me a headache." Naruto took out a dry towel and said while tilting his head to wipe his hair.

"Okay, I'll tell you then." Tenten hesitated for a moment before looking up and asking, "Naruto, you are close to the Hyuga Clan, right? So, do you know the person Neji married?"

"Neji?" Naruto looked Tenten up and down, making her feel a little uncomfortable.

"W-What are you looking at me like that for?!” She asked, her face slightly red, part post-bath warmth, part something else.

"Tenten, you’re not planning to crash the wedding, are you?" He asked with a strange look on his face.

"What do you mean by crash the wedding? That's all nonsense. What are you talking about?!" Tenten’s face went crimson as she retorted, "I'm just asking casually, out of curiosity!"

"Neji and I are companions, and he got married without saying a word. It's no big deal to be curious, right?"

"Well… that's a reasonable reason." Naruto put the towel away and glanced at Tenten again, "I don’t know her personally, I just met her once."

So, Naruto simply recounted what had happened to the Hyuga Clan recently. Of course, he was very clever in completely removing himself from the story.

"So, you're saying that Neji got married in order to stabilize the Hyuga Clan?" Tenten was a little dumbfounded.

"Not exactly, but yeah… part of it’s about stabilizing the clan. Since he was gonna get married sooner or later anyway, it’s better to pick someone from within the Hyuga Clan’s main family for alliance reasons." Naruto shrugged. "That’s just how these things go.”

"But… does Neji even like her?" Tenten asked again.

"That… It's hard to comment, but that person is pretty." Naruto scratched his head and said, "I don't know if Neji likes her, but he shouldn't hate her."

"Besides, the Hyuga Clan’s main family also needs some reassurance. They’ve never been able to fully read Neji, and now, the Caged Bird has been removed, and the branch family has more people than the main family."

"If this goes on for a long time, I'm sure they won't be able to sleep well. So it’s also good news for them that Neji is willing to marry the girl from the main family."

After he finished speaking, there was silence in the tent for a while.

Tenten lowered her head, not knowing what to say for a moment. A variety of emotions surged within her, and she looked up at Naruto, tears welling in her eyes.

"Naruto... it just hurts so much."

"Alas, stuff like this... You gotta try and let it go." Although Naruto is not a good person, he is still very sincere to his friends. He patted Tenten’s quilt, and said, "In the Shinobi World, feelings aren’t always something you get to control."

"Nonsense! You’re obviously not trapped by circumstances at all!" Tenten suddenly retorted, catching Naruto off guard.

"Huh?" Naruto was stunned.

"You’ve got Ino, and… and Hinata… and…" Tenten stopped talking halfway, her face flushed red, as if she would burn red if he continued.

"Well, the most important thing is that we both agreed. And it’s not like I’m married or anything." Naruto shrugged, "Emotions can be complicated, and sometimes, you just can’t choose."

"I mean, I’ve been there… liking two people at once is painful. So I decided not to choose. No one’s getting hurt that way, right?"

He vaguely recalled something someone once said: As long as you don’t sign any paperwork, having eighteen weddings isn’t illegal.

‘Yeah... that’s probably not the best philosophy to quote aloud.’