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In the living room, Hinata sat with her head lowered, barely managing to stay conscious.
“I’m sorry, Karin,” Hinata apologized to Karin. This was indeed her fault, and Hinata felt terrible about it.
Karin felt a bit frustrated too, but she didn’t blame Hinata. Sigh, now that Icha Icha Paradise is gone…
Though no one realized it, Karin was actually mourning the loss of the book Mikoto had burned.
“Shin, buying that kind of book—You’re despicable.” Tsunade looked at Shin with disdain.
“I only bought it out of curiosity, okay? It’s Jiraiya’s book; I just wanted to see how he wrote.”
“Honestly, Jiraiya’s writing isn’t even that good. If I wrote it, it would be a hundred times better.”
Shin struck a confident pose. This wasn’t blind arrogance; he had the confidence born from experiencing countless works in his previous life.
“Really, Shin-sama? Then have you considered writing one?” Karin asked, her eyes sparkling.
“Karin, what kind of attitude is that? Show some remorse!” Shin scolded her sternly.
“Don’t lecture Karin. What about you? Are you proud of yourself?” Tsunade smacked Shin, exasperated.
Right now, both Shin and Karin were culprits, but in the eyes of the women, Shin’s offense was far more serious, practically warranting a trial.
“By the way, you said that Jiraiya wrote this?” Tsunade suddenly focused on that point. If Jiraiya really wrote it… it wasn’t entirely impossible. Knowing him, he was capable of such things.
“Yes, Jiraiya wrote it. And it sells quite well in the Shinobi world.”
“Then Shin-sama, have you considered writing a book to make money? If you do, I’ll definitely be your loyal fan!” Karin suggested to Shin.
After the initial embarrassment, Karin seemed to have let go of her inhibitions, not feeling shy at all. She even seemed eager for Shin to write something similar.
‘If he writes a story with a male protagonist based on Shin-sama, and a female protagonist based on me… that would be wonderful,’ Karin thought dreamily.
“Don’t think about such inappropriate things at your age.” Kushina tapped Karin’s head, causing Karin to crouch down in pain.
“This is all your fault,” Kushina said pointedly to Shin.
Shin looked at Karin, feeling a headache coming on.
Karin already had a bit of a fangirl personality; after reading Icha Icha Paradise, would she turn into a full-blown fujoshi or something?
Shin felt he needed to properly guide Karin in the future.
“Alright, alright, it’s all my fault. I admit it. How do you plan to punish me?”
“Hmph. From now on, you’re in charge of cleaning the house. And you’ll do the laundry too,” Kushina declared.
“Fine, I accept.” Shin shrugged nonchalantly. Cleaning was easy; he could use Shadow Clones to finish in an instant. It was no big deal.
“Cleaning, I accept. But doing your laundry? Forget it.”
“You’re bargaining now?” Mei Terumī glanced at Shin.
“Of course I’m bargaining. It’s settled then. I’ll do the cleaning.”
Shin waved his hand dismissively, then pulled Konan away towards his room.
———
“Shin-nii, why are you pulling me?” Konan asked nervously. Her intuition told her nothing good was about to happen.
“If you hadn’t mentioned I bought the book, I might have gotten away with it. So, Konan, you need a little punishment too.”
Shin smiled at Konan, but Konan didn’t find his smile friendly at all.
Konan shot Kushina and the others a pleading look, but they pretended not to see. Only Mikoto gave her a sympathetic glance.
“Karin, stop looking around! Reflect on your actions!” Kushina ordered Karin.
“Oh… but I’ve already reflected,” Karin muttered softly.
“Karin, you don’t seem honest at all. Are you perhaps—truly interested in learning about those kinds of things?” Mei Terumī asked with a sly smile.
WHACK!
Mei Terumī suddenly received a chop to the back of her neck and fainted.
“Hmph. Trying to corrupt a child?” Kushina snorted, retracting her hand.
“Uh, is she alright?” Mikoto asked, looking at Mei Terumī slumped unconscious on the sofa.
“Don’t worry, I controlled my strength. She’ll just be out for half an hour,” Kushina said, dusting off her hands.
“So violent.” Karin shrank back, muttering silently. She didn’t want to end up like Mei Terumī.
“Karin, go reflect properly. And write me a self-criticism report,” Kushina ordered, putting on her best teacher voice. She remembered writing those reports back in the Konoha Academy; how could she not let others experience the joy?
“Oh.” Karin nodded meekly, not daring to refuse.
Karin returned to her room to write the report. Not long after, Hinata pushed open Karin’s door and entered.
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“Karin, I’m really sorry.” Hinata looked extremely guilty. She had come specifically to apologize to Karin. She hadn’t expected her curiosity to cause such a chain reaction.
“It’s okay, Hinata. You don’t need to feel so guilty.” Karin adjusted her glasses and smiled at Hinata. Karin had a good attitude; though initially frustrated, she wasn’t particularly bothered anymore.
“By the way, Hinata, you’ve gotten much bolder. Did you happen to read any of the contents?” Karin teased Hinata.
“N-no! I didn’t!” Hinata frantically waved her hands, worried Karin wouldn’t believe her.
“I believe you, Hinata.” Karin truly believed Hinata hadn’t read it. Hinata was too shy; she probably fainted before even seeing the contents.
Seeing Karin believed her, Hinata finally relaxed, though she still felt guilty facing Karin.
Karin could see Hinata was still bothered, so she started chatting with her, trying to comfort her.
“Hinata, how about you help me write this self-criticism report?” Karin suddenly asked Hinata. Honestly, Karin had no idea how to write one and wanted Hinata’s help.
Hinata’s mind went blank. She lowered her head and mumbled, “I… I don’t know how either.” She’d never written one before.
“That’s okay. We can figure it out together.” Karin figured thinking together would be better than struggling alone.
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