Chapter 48: New Mission: 02

Returning to her cluttered, chaotic excuse for an apartment, Naruto shoved the door open with her usual stiff, robotic precision. She stood there, her blank, expressionless gaze sweeping across the room like a high-powered scanner. The smell of instant ramen and some kind of half-hearted cleaning product hung in the air, swirling together in a strange, vaguely unsettling fragrance that could only be described as "Naruto's signature scent." Yet, despite Karin's sworn allegiance to the sacred art of tidying up, the apartment looked exactly like it had the day before: a complete disaster.

On the couch—Naruto's couch, mind you—Karin lay sprawled out like she owned the place, legs kicked up, nose buried in a bright, glossy manga. She looked up lazily, giving Naruto a grin that was somewhere between amused and downright mocking.

"Oh, you're back!" she chirped, far too cheerful for someone who was supposed to be, at the very least, a little intimidated by the apartment's stoic robot-in-residence.

Naruto blinked, her face blank, like an emotionless doll. "Dattebayo."

She blinked again. Then, after a calculated pause, she narrowed her eyes, fixing Karin with an unnerving stare that could only be described as… robotic suspicion. "Report on… cleaning status."

Karin rolled her eyes and scoffed, turning her attention back to her manga with a dismissive little wave of her hand. "Ha."

Naruto's blank expression didn't waver. If anything, her eyes narrowed even more, like she was attempting to drill into Karin's soul with pure, unnerving focus. "Plants?" she asked, her voice a deadpan monotone.

Karin shrugged, barely looking up. "Watered. They didn't die. Yet."

Naruto's gaze drifted to the corner where her single cactus leaned sideways, looking like it was two sad days away from quitting on life. She tilted her head, clearly registering this as "satisfactory," then turned her eyes back to Karin. "Toilet?" she asked, her voice carrying the weight of an interrogation.

"Sparklin' like a gem," Karin replied dryly, still lost in her manga. "Could eat Ramen there."

Naruto gave a robotic nod of approval. "And… the rare ramen soup I had hidden… behind the cabinet?"

Karin smirked without even looking up. "Yup. Collected every last drop."

Naruto squinted slightly, like she was calculating whether this counted as theft or merely acceptable resource gathering. "Good," she said finally, moving closer and fixing her gaze on the manga in Karin's hands. Her expression shifted from robotic disinterest to… a slightly more focused robotic disinterest.

"What… are you reading?" she asked, her voice flat as an ironing board.

"Oh, this?" Karin flipped the manga cover around like she was showing off some treasured possession. "It's called Rent-a-Girlfriend."

Naruto tilted her head, blinking as though processing this absurd title was the hardest thing she'd done all week. "Explain… plot," she demanded in that flat, almost eerie tone.

Karin rolled her eyes, sighing dramatically. "It's about this guy who's so pathetically desperate that he rents a girlfriend. And then, you know, things get… complicated."

Naruto stared at her, utterly unimpressed. "Why… would anyone do that?" she asked in a tone that suggested she genuinely believed this was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard. "Sounds… inefficient."

Karin chuckled, glancing at her with a smirk. "Well, not everyone's got that robotic charm like you, Naruto."

Naruto tilted her head again, processing this in a way that made it clear she took it as a compliment. "Dattebayo." Then, with an almost mechanical shift in her eyes, she leaned forward slightly. "Where did… you get the money… for this?"

Karin's expression changed instantly, her body tensing up. "Well, since you don't exactly give me an allowance, I decided to, you know, work. At the hospital."

Naruto's blank face held steady, but her eyes narrowed slightly, like she was considering some vast philosophical question. "Oh," she said flatly. Then, with a slow, deliberate nod, she added, "Should I… charge you rent… now?"

Karin's eyes widened, and she quickly held out the manga, practically shoving it in Naruto's face. "Here! Why don't you read this? It's… it's hilarious!"

Naruto blinked, staring at the book as though it were some kind of exotic, dangerous artifact. "No," she stated flatly, stepping back with a stiffness that could only belong to her. But Karin was relentless, waving the book in front of her until Naruto finally gave in with a resigned, "Fine. Dattebayo."

Gingerly, she took the manga, holding it as though it might explode at any second. She flipped open to the first page with all the enthusiasm of someone inspecting suspicious paperwork. Her blank expression grew progressively blanker as she skimmed the pages, her face starting to flush—not with emotion, but with pure, unadulterated confusion. It was almost like the ink itself was short-circuiting her system.

Karin tilted her head, watching her intently. "Wait… you can't read Kanji letters, can you?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

Naruto's face immediately froze, her eyes darting around as though looking for a quick escape. "U-uh…" she stammered, followed by an awkward, flat, "Dattebayo."

Karin's grin widened, like a predator who'd just cornered its prey. "Ohhh, I knew it! You can't read, can you?"

Naruto's eyes darted around again as she struggled to keep her robotic cool. "Can too," she replied, trying to sound calm but failing miserably. "I… just don't feel like it. Dattebayo."

Karin laughed, shaking her head with an exasperated grin. "Sure, Robot Queen. I'll teach you, but…" She leaned closer, her grin turning sly. "It'll cost you a tuition fee."

Naruto's blank stare remained steady, but you could almost hear her brain protesting from the effort of processing this. "Ninjas… don't need to read," she said, her tone an odd mix of arrogance and robotic monotony. "Words are… inefficient. Dattebayo."

Karin rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "Oh really? And what're you gonna do when they dump a stack of mission reports in front of you, huh? You think the Hokage can be illiterate?"

Naruto sighed, the sound so mechanical it almost seemed rehearsed. "Fine," she muttered, visibly deflated. "But… only 100 ryo per month. Dattebayo."

Karin snorted, crossing her arms and tilting her head with a smirk. "A hundred? Pfft, yeah right. Make it 6,000."

Naruto's eye twitched, her expression momentarily slipping as she stared at Karin like she'd just suggested trading her soul. "Unreasonable," she replied stiffly. "200."

"5,000," Karin countered, her grin widening.

"300. Final offer," Naruto said, her voice still completely monotone but somehow managing to convey an air of robotic arrogance.

Karin chuckled, leaning forward. "3,000. And I'll even make you flashcards."

Naruto fell silent, her stare becoming a bit too intense, as if calculating the exact market value of flashcards in ryo. After a painstakingly long silence, she nodded robotically. "Agreed. 3,000 ryo… per month. But… if I do not improve in two months, I am eligible for… full refund. Dattebayo."

Karin laughed, extending her hand with a grin. "Deal, Robot Queen."

Naruto shook her hand with a stiff nod, her robotic pride dented but somehow still intact. As they stood there, sealing this ridiculous contract, you could almost hear the gears in Naruto's head whirring, trying to comprehend how she'd just been swindled by the person who was supposed to be cleaning her apartment.

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