Chapter 136: A Goddess in Public, But Behind the Scenes...
"Yo, we meet again, Tobi!" the man said, waving his hand casually in greeting.
"Shino, what are you doing here?" Haruno Sakura felt the corner of her mouth twitch.
And there was another female ninja.
She gently flicked her long hair, lifted her mask, tilted her head, and said with a bright smile, "So my new teammate is you."
It was the woman Sakura had met in the changing room.
This was also the first time Sakura had seen her radiant, smiling face, which was even more outstanding than her slender figure.
What a coincidence!
"Shino, aren't you a proctor?" Sakura asked with a confused look on her face.
She lifted her mask to the top of her head, revealing her own face. These two people had already seen her in person.
"Besides being a proctor, I also go out on field missions," Shino said, also taking off his mask and revealing a big smile. "But I just found out that the new teammate Lady Tsunade has arranged for me is you!"
"I am the captain, Shino. You all know me. Let me introduce you. This Anbu's codename is Tobi, her real name is Haruno Sakura, a Chunin, and the disciple of the Fifth Hokage. She officially joins the Anbu today."
He pointed at Sakura and said to the beautiful woman beside him.
He then took a few steps forward and pointed at the tall female Anbu member to introduce her to the girl. "This is Xi. Her real name is Yūgao Uzuki, a Jonin, and she has been serving in the Anbu for several years."
"I know you, Haruno Sakura. Please take good care of me in the future," Yūgao Uzuki said, walking forward and smiling as she shook the girl's hand.
This was the first time Sakura had met an older-sister type of this level.
And a Jonin at that!
She couldn't help but size the other person up carefully.
At first glance, from the perspective of admiring a beautiful scene, her steps were graceful, her handshake was as warm and soft as jade, her eyes were like a clear spring, and her smile was like a flower, a truly refreshing sight.
Then, observing from the standpoint of a ninja.
Every step she took was the same distance. There were thin calluses on her fingertips and palm. Her chakra texture was clear and sharp, its keenness restrained, and her temperament was as dignified as a sword. One could feel the immense power contained within her body, held but not released.
As bright as the autumn moon, her sword intent assailed people.
Two completely different auras were harmoniously present in this woman at the same time.
Sakura, standing in front of her and looking up at the Anbu senior, felt waves of heroic spirit coming at her.
"Hello, senpai. Please take good care of me!" Sakura was stunned for a moment, then quickly put on a smile.
Yūgao's handshake posture was tiger's mouth to tiger's mouth, appearing very poised, unlike many girls who would hold fingertips to fingertips. Sakura could feel the strength in her handshake.
This woman shouldn't be difficult to get along with.
Thinking this, the nervousness Sakura felt about her new teammates was instantly reduced a lot.
Shino clapped his hands hard on the side and announced seriously, "Well then, our Squad 14 is all here! We'll officially start our missions tomorrow. The meeting place is right here!"
The two girls nodded together.
"So, how about we go for a meal now? As a celebration of the new member's arrival and to get to know each other better!" Shino said with a smile, looking at the two girls, one big and one small.
"Is the captain treating?" Sakura said, teasing Shino. When Kakashi encountered this kind of situation, he would always push it off as much as possible before finally treating once.
The latter, however, agreed without batting an eye. "Of course. How about we go to Yakiniku Q?"
"If the captain is treating, then of course the captain decides where to go," Yūgao said with a faint smile, her voice as clear as a gurgling stream.
Everything about the new team was very harmonious.
Her new teammates, Shino and Yūgao, seemed... pretty nice.
Haruno Sakura breathed a sigh of relief in her heart. She hoped that Squad 14 could be as harmonious as Team 7.
At this time, the setting sun was already approaching the horizon. Haruno Sakura turned her head to look. The golden sunlight shone on the figures of the three on the rooftop, as if draping them in a layer of golden gauze.
The sunlight still had a bit of residual warmth, which made her face feel warm.
This feeling... was nice.
And then, during the meal at Yakiniku Q, she discovered that she had thought things were too simple.
What harmonious coexistence within the team? It was all a deceptive illusion!
—No matter where it was, bullying and teasing the tender new recruit seemed to be a common practice.
So Sakura felt that she had been bullied by Shino and Yūgao working together.
Perhaps it was because she had acted too harmless and didn't know how to refuse her seniors' requests.
And so she was made to drink several glasses of alcohol for various reasons, from a cup to welcome her to Anbu Squad 14, to a toast for her ninjutsu, to a toast to celebrate her being able to control herself from wetting the bed...
Ah, pfft, what kind of reason was that last one!
But with big sister Yūgao smiling and holding up a glass to toast, even if the reason for the toast was terrible, there was no way not to drink, right...?
The facts proved that the only way to not be forced to drink at a drinking table was to insist from the very beginning that you couldn't drink.
No matter how others persuaded you, no matter if the person persuading you was a beautiful young lady!
If you can't even resist that kind of terrible toast, then congratulations, you won't be leaving the table on your own two feet tonight. Haruno Sakura was deeply feeling this at the moment.
She had never tasted the feeling of being drunk. In her entire previous life, she had never drunk alcohol due to health reasons. As Sakura, it was actually at Naruto's farewell party a few days ago that she had tasted alcohol for the first time.
How to put it... she had never tasted horse urine, but the beer was indeed a bit bitter and not very good. It was barely more palatable than plain water. As for sake and baijiu, they were even more choking.
So to this day, she still didn't understand why people had to drink at any gathering with a little special meaning, let alone why some people were addicted to alcohol as if their lives depended on it.
When they had toasted her, she had drunk along with them purely out of politeness, out of respect for her seniors.
Shino and Yūgao drank quite a lot.
Speaking of which, to drink when there was a mission the next day was actually very unprofessional behavior. Alcohol would numb the nerves and lower one's reaction speed, which was very dangerous for a ninja.
However, with the existence of chakra, ninja could quickly eliminate the side effects of alcohol. It sounded a bit like using internal energy to force out the alcohol in martial arts novels to stay sober. Sakura knew that this was actually a small trick of medical ninjutsu. It was not easy to perform, and many ninja didn't know how, so they could only stay away from alcoholic beverages.
The two masters among ninja, Yūgao and Shino, obviously knew this trick, so they had fewer reservations when they drank.
When Yūgao drank, her face would turn red. Her flawless face, slightly flushed, was particularly charming. Especially when she smiled and looked at others with her sparkling eyes, her peerless smile could make people fall for her at a glance.
Besides her face turning red, her emotions would also become much higher than usual. When they first met in the afternoon, she had been quite the cool beauty, with the sharp feeling of a swordswoman. But after drinking, it was a different story...
After getting familiar with each other, she had started to get handsy with the girl, pinching her cheeks, patting her head, holding her hand... and copping a feel.
Truly a goddess in public, and a female hooligan behind the scenes.
Sakura was too embarrassed to retaliate.
The girl didn't know that Yūgao had been asking her to drink because she found the little expression she made when she drank with a frown to be very interesting and wanted to see it a few more times...
This woman had the potential to become a queen!
After drinking a few more cups, Sakura began to cleverly pretend to be unable to hold her liquor. For the girl who had mastered medical ninjutsu, this was not a difficult task. The external signs of drunkenness could be completely simulated with ninjutsu.
In fact, she didn't feel drunk at all. This body's alcohol tolerance was not bad. That night at Naruto's farewell party, she had drunk beer almost like water and was only slightly tipsy...
Seeing that the blush on the underage girl's face had already spread to below her ears, looking like a red apple, Yūgao finally let her off the hook.
Sakura secretly let out a huge sigh of relief.
As a junior participating in this kind of purely interpersonal social activity, she was really not very good at it... In her peer group, she was the queen, okay!
It had always been her teasing Hinata, Ino, and Haku... As for Sasuke and Naruto, they also followed her lead.
Or, as a junior, she would be treated by Kakashi or others—although that guy was a terrible cheapskate and had only treated her that many times. In any case, Kakashi wouldn't force her to drink.
What goes around comes around. Karma always comes back to you!
And Sakura had thought things were too simple. Hehehehe...
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