Chinatsu lay peacefully asleep in her cozy little bed, completely immersed in a state of total mental shutdown.
Not even a single dream disturbed her.
She didn't even need the people outside to remain completely silent. In her current state, unless someone physically touched her and deliberately tried to wake her, Chinatsu probably wouldn't open her eyes.
The pressure she had endured over the past few months had been enormous.
Because of that, she wouldn't wake up for at least two or three days.
Unfortunately, Kaguya was in a similar state.
She was sleeping peacefully on the sofa outside Chinatsu's room.
And with both of them completely knocked out, Naruto and Sasuke's statue-building project had lost its only two potential judges.
The result?
The abstractness of the statue skyrocketed.
Then it continued rising.
And eventually…
It plunged straight into the abyss.
Konan watched everything from the sidelines, occasionally lending a hand while silently observing the process.
She couldn't really help much.
Not because she lacked ability.
Rather, she simply felt that she and these increasingly insane companions belonged to completely different worlds.
Following the decision they had made that morning, Naruto immediately rushed from the Land of Whirlpools to the Land of Earth.
He went directly to Iwagakure and requested a gigantic boulder.
However, when Naruto saw the massive rock in front of him, he fell silent, resting his chin on his hand.
If he had been able to find a gemstone of this size, he would have loved to use one.
Unfortunately, there was no gemstone anywhere near this size.
So…
"Oh well. This one will do."
"........."
The TsuChinatsuge was speechless.
But there wasn't much he could do.
When Naruto had arrived in a flash of golden light, Iwagakure had immediately gone on high alert.
The TsuChinatsuge had even wondered if the village was about to face some kind of disaster.
Fortunately, Naruto had only come for a boulder.
And to Iwagakure, a high-quality boulder wasn't exactly a precious resource.
"Would you like us to deliver it to you?" the TsuChinatsuge asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Deliver it?"
Naruto shook his head.
"That won't be necessary. I'll take it myself."
With that, Naruto closed his eyes.
He entered his mental space and communicated with the Nine-Tails inside him.
After a brief exchange
The Nine-Tails emerged from Naruto's body and materialized in the physical world.
The enormous fox was even larger than the boulder.
It stretched out its massive paws and grabbed the rock.
Then
BOOM!
The Nine-Tails bent its legs and launched itself into the air.
Everyone below gradually raised their heads.
Higher.
And higher.
Until the Nine-Tails carrying the gigantic boulder disappeared into the sky.
The TsuChinatsuge stared blankly upward.
"…I really thought something terrible was about to happen."
Meanwhile, Naruto returned to the Land of Whirlpools with the enormous boulder.
Naturally, such a gigantic object attracted the attention of ordinary people.
Fortunately, Sasuke and the Akatsuki members had already prepared everything beforehand, preventing the curious crowd from interfering.
Sasuke looked at everyone seriously.
"When we start carving, be careful."
"My sister is still sleeping, so we can't use the same force we'd normally use when carving a statue."
He paused.
"But we don't have much time either."
"We need to seize every second and finish before she wakes up!"
Everyone's expressions became serious.
Hidan silently put away his hoe.
Then he pulled out his signature scythe.
Konan sighed inwardly.
Here we go…
"Konan!"
Hearing her name, Konan immediately stepped forward.
She took out the hand-drawn illustration of Chinatsu she had prepared earlier and displayed it before everyone.
"Hmm…"
Sasuke carefully examined the drawing.
"Not bad."
"Although it doesn't completely capture my sister's beauty and coolness…"
He nodded approvingly.
"We can work with this."
"Konan, you did a great job."
Konan smiled awkwardly.
"Haha… It's good enough as a reference."
She looked at the enormous boulder.
"Anyway, I'll help refine the details."
Everyone stared at the massive stone.
Their eyes gradually filled with fighting spirit.
Konan, however, remained silent.
For some reason…
She had a very bad feeling about this.
"Let's get to work!"
Naruto, Sasuke, and the Akatsuki members immediately began.
Hidan's scythe flashed across the surface of the boulder.
Sasuke activated his Complete Body Susanoo, carefully cutting away at the massive stone with its enormous blades.
Naruto summoned the Nine-Tails.
One after another, attacks capable of easily destroying mountains were brought out.
And all of them were now being used…
To carve a statue.
It was basically the equivalent of using a cannon to kill a mosquito.
They had to be incredibly careful.
One mistake…
And the entire boulder would become dust.
Time passed.
Eventually, Konan's original blueprint had been transformed into something resembling a finished sculpture.
Everyone stopped.
They stared at their masterpiece.
Then they looked at one another.
"Something feels… off."
Everyone rested their chins on their hands, tilting their heads from side to side as they examined the statue.
Konan quietly sighed and patted her chest.
You finally noticed something was wrong?
There's still hope…
"I know!"
One of them suddenly shouted.
"Something's missing!"
"I know too!"
"Hahaha!"
Another person suddenly laughed.
"That's it!!!"
The group immediately rushed forward again.
And so…
The second round of modifications began.
Konan remained silent.
She had already given up.
72 hours later.
A full three days had passed.
From waking up in the morning to going to bed in the morning.
Truly…
Early to bed and early to rise.
Chinatsu slowly climbed out of her bed.
She stretched lazily and released a long, comfortable sigh.
"Ahhh…"
"It's been so long since I've slept this well~"
She stretched again, her entire body feeling refreshed.
"The whole world feels wonderful~"
This was a completely worry-free sleep.
No nightmares.
No anxiety.
No responsibilities.
She had simply slept until her body naturally woke her up.
Chinatsu hummed a cheerful tune as she walked out of her room.
There was no one inside the house.
Only a faint commotion could be heard from outside.
"What are they doing?"
Chinatsu tilted her head curiously.
She walked toward the door.
Perhaps because she was still enjoying the aftereffects of her long sleep, her footsteps were light and slightly unsteady.
She looked almost like someone who had just learned how to walk.
Click.
The door opened.
Chinatsu stepped outside.
Then she froze.
A gigantic object immediately entered her field of vision.
Her footsteps faltered.
Her body almost leaned backward and fell onto the ground.
"…"
Before Chinatsu could react, everyone surrounding the area suddenly pulled out confetti cannons.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Colorful confetti exploded into the air.
Some even landed directly on Chinatsu's hair.
"SURPRISE!!!"
Chinatsu's expression remained completely blank.
She desperately wanted to force a smile.
She really did.
But she couldn't.
She couldn't betray her conscience like that.
Because the enormous stone sculpture standing before her was unmistakably…
Her.
At least, there was no doubt about that.
And that was precisely the problem.
Because since she could recognize herself…
She could also recognize everything that was wrong with it.
This statue was a complete hodgepodge of bizarre ideas.
It was filled with all sorts of…
Creative interpretations.
For example
Why does this outfit look exactly like the clothes I wore on the night of the Uchiha massacre?
Huh?
Why did they sculpt my eyes like that?
Am I really that fierce?
The expression made her look like someone owed her an enormous amount of money and had been avoiding repayment for decades.
And then there was the hand.
One of the statue's hands had been raised high into the air.
In it was a massive torch.
A torch!
It looked almost exactly like the Statue of Liberty.
Except…
There wasn't even a Statue of Liberty in this world.
To come up with such an idea…
Chinatsu could only say one thing.
You're fucking geniuses.
"Sister! What do you think of our statue?!"
"Young Miss! See that torch? That was my idea!"
"Hahaha! This is our masterpiece!"
Everyone excitedly surrounded Chinatsu, proudly explaining their contributions.
Chinatsu remained expressionless.
She didn't want to get angry.
After all, they had genuinely put a lot of effort into this.
And there were so many ordinary people watching.
She had to give them some face.
But…
You people really slapped my face hard.
Her barely concealed anger immediately fell into Konan's eyes.
Konan's expression stiffened.
She unconsciously took half a step backward.
Then she swallowed.
It's over.
Once the ordinary people left…
This group was absolutely doomed.
Konan silently mourned for Naruto, Sasuke, Hidan, and everyone else involved.
Meanwhile, Chinatsu took a deep breath.
She forced herself to calm down.
Then she slowly raised her head and looked at the blue sky and white clouds above.
The world was beautiful.
Very beautiful.
But…
People were another matter entirely.
Chinatsu closed her eyes.
Sure enough.
Her laid-back daily life wasn't boring at all.
In fact…
It seemed like trouble had simply learned how to find her even when she wasn't looking for it.