Kurenai's condition meant she couldn't go to the battlefield, the two of them couldn't fight side by side, which actually put Asuma's mind at ease a bit:
"But what exactly should I explain?"
Sarutobi Asuma, like his nephew Sarutobi Laifu, went home scratching his head.
...
At the Akimichi Clan, the previous generation of Ino-Shika-Cho gathered together, with Shikaku also bringing Shikamaru.
The three uncles drank small cups of wine, while Choji sat beside Choza, stuffing his face, and Shikamaru propped his cheek, picking at the food listlessly.
Shikamaru picked up a drink and took a sip, asking, "Choji, there's no need to rush so much when eating at your own house, right?"
"The dinner table is the battlefield!" Choji said with a mouthful of food, his words unclear, then he covered his neck with both hands—he was choking.
Shikamaru sighed, picked up Choji's cup, refilled it with a drink, and placed it in front of him: "I told you to slow down."
"Glug glug~ ha~" Choji gulped down the drink, patted his stomach, and said happily, "Thanks, Shikamaru, it's rare to have a barbecue at home, it's just that the Barbecue Restaurant has been packed lately, and I haven't been able to eat so happily in a long time."
Shikamaru, of course, knew the reason: "Ah... it's all because of the war, it's really troublesome."
The three uncles next to them chatted and eventually got onto the topic of their respective children.
Shikaku looked at Choji and said, "Your Choji is really exactly like you, Choza!"
Choza swept his chopsticks, and five slices of grilled meat went into his bowl, and another sweep, and five more slices went into Choji's bowl, this was an essential skill for the Akimichi Clan.
Using short chopsticks to pick up five slices of meat at the same time, with each slice precisely covering half of the previous one, so that whether they were placed in the bowl or in the mouth, they were neatly arranged.
It was said that this not only maintained the best taste of each slice of meat but also gave people a double sense of enjoyment with every bite, and that the seasoning on the overlapping parts would explode with flavor at the last moment, this way of eating was their favorite ultimate enjoyment.
"Your Shikamaru is just like you too." Choza casually pulled Shikaku into the conversation and began to enjoy the fruits of his labor.
Shikaku glanced at Shikamaru, unable to refute this, Shikamaru was just like him in terms of intelligence and personality, and even more so when it came to lacking motivation.
Thinking of this, Shikaku took a swig of wine, just because the father and son were too alike, at home his wife would nag him and then drag in his son, nag his son and then drag in him, it was simply double the torture, melancholic.
"Hahaha~" Inoichi was probably a little drunk, laughing very freely, "That's why it's better to have a daughter, look at my daughter, beautiful, sensible, and obedient, completely without flaws, just like me!"
Shikaku asked, "Speaking of which, why didn't you bring Ino along? It would be interesting for our two generations of Ino-Shika-Cho to gather together!"
Inoichi replied with a chuckle, "Ino is at home watching the shop, because business has been very busy these days."
"Leaving your daughter at home to work while you come out to drink, what a terrible Old Dad." Choza complained about Inoichi between bites of food.
Choza said this because he had always been very fond of Choji, giving him food if he liked to eat, and comforting him if he couldn't make friends, completely in the style of a loving father.
But Inoichi was different from Choza, he was overly concerned about Ino, almost doting on her to the point that Ino found it difficult to accept.
When he first heard that Ino wanted to learn Medical Ninjutsu, he even went to Tsunade to act cute, begging Tsunade to take extra care of her, fearing that his daughter would be discouraged or disappointed because she couldn't learn it.
So Inoichi didn't care at all about Choza's evaluation, he believed that everything he did was for his daughter's good: "It's just watching the shop, Ino likes flowers anyway, and I'm usually very good to her."
Shikamaru picked at his ear, he and Choji had heard Ino complain that Uncle Inoichi would enter her room without knocking, and when she was disobedient, he would use the Mind Disorder Technique to control her to do housework...
The Mind Disorder Technique is different from the Mind Body Switch Technique, it uses one's own spirit to disturb the other's spirit and actions, even if the other party is conscious, they can be made to do things they don't want to do.
That's why Ino desperately practiced her family's Ninjutsu for a while, not seeking revenge, but just hoping not to be easily tricked again.
Shikamaru glanced at the tipsy Inoichi and decided not to expose him. Doing so wouldn't resolve Ino's embarrassment and would only earn him Ino's resentment. Either way, it was too much trouble.
"Ino isn't a child anymore; she'll express her dissatisfaction if she has any," Shikaku said. Unlike his two old friends, he seemed to know his son had a high IQ, so he only offered guidance when necessary and let him think for himself.
He usually didn't interfere, or perhaps he was just too lazy to bother, figuring as long as Shikamaru didn't go astray, it was fine.
Shikaku took another drink, saying with a mix of sadness and relief, "In the blink of an eye, the kids have grown up and are even ready to go to war."
"Yeah, they're all Chunin capable of holding their own now," Choza said with a hint of regret. "I actually thought we Ino-Shika-Cho would team up again, but Shikaku became the chief strategist, and Inoichi became the leader of the communication unit."
"We can still team up if we want to!" Inoichi slammed his glass on the table, his emotions suddenly surging. "Let's try that again after all this time!"
"Alright!" Shikaku put down his glass.
"No problem!" Choza set down his rice bowl.
Inoichi half-squatted on the ground, making the aiming gesture of the Mind Body Switch Technique with his hands, and shouted, "Formation! Ino!"
Shikaku stood beside Inoichi with his legs apart, forming the hand seals for the Shadow Imitation Technique, and shouted, "Shika!"
Choza half-squatted on the other side of Shikaku, using the Partial Multi-Size Technique, with one large hand protecting his two old friends, and shouted, "Cho!"
"Formation complete! Hahahaha..." The three old boys burst into boisterous laughter.
Sometimes, a man's happiness is really simple.
A man's worries are also simple. For example, Shikamaru saw at a glance that his Old Dad was drunk. He facepalmed, advising with little hope, "Old Dad, drink less!"
Shikaku's clever brain worked for a moment and said, "I see, you're worried that if I get drunk, it'll be a hassle to carry me back! Don't worry, this little bit of alcohol is nothing! Besides, we can ask Choji to help you. Choji, you wouldn't abandon your uncle, would you?"
Choji was an honest child and immediately nodded, "Yeah, yeah! I'll help."
"He's definitely drunk..." Shikamaru had a headache. If it were his usual Old Dad, he would have realized that he wasn't just too lazy to carry him back, but that if he carried him back, he would have to face Old Mom's nagging alone.
Shikamaru looked up at the sky, "What a drag..."
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