In no time at all, Kurotsuchi had almost inched her way to the spring.
The pool was so clear she could see the smooth pebbles on the bottom, polished round by running water.
Even the chill of it seemed to drift through the air in thin threads.
To Kurotsuchi, in her current state, it was an irresistible temptation.
And yet…
Without even turning around, she could feel Teizawa's gaze on her back.
It felt scorching.
Like it could pierce her clothes and land directly on her skin.
Kurotsuchi wasn't stupid. She knew exactly what that look meant.
"You… disgusting pervert."
She forced the words out through clenched teeth, cheeks heating with humiliation and nerves.
No.
She wasn't going to let him get what he wanted.
Her eyes darted around fast.
Aside from a few shrubs, the spring was completely exposed.
Stripping naked under an enemy's stare?
She'd have to be out of her mind.
Kurotsuchi bit down hard and made her choice.
Stiffly, she bent at the waist.
Her fingers trembled as she undid the buckles on her blood-smeared combat boots.
She tugged them off and tossed them onto the bank.
Her pale, soft feet pressed into the dirt.
Then, still wearing her torn combat uniform, she sucked in a breath.
Splash!
She stepped straight into the water.
The icy spring wrapped around her instantly, making her shiver hard.
Her clothes drank in water and went heavy, clinging to her and outlining a miserable, bedraggled shape.
But at least she wasn't naked.
She turned her back to the shore and sank quickly, submerging her whole body.
Only her head and a small length of neck stayed above the surface.
As if that tiny barrier of water could make her feel safe.
Then she began scrubbing through the fabric, washing her arms, neck, and face.
Her movements were stiff and fast.
The sensation of wet cloth rubbing against skin felt wrong.
But it was better than exposing herself in front of him.
"I mean…" Teizawa's voice came from the bank, teasing. "Where's the basic trust between people?"
Kurotsuchi's scrubbing stopped dead.
Her whole body went tight beneath the water.
She barely dared to breathe.
Teizawa watched the girl who'd reduced herself to a floating head.
A restlessness stirred in him.
Right then, the system prompt arrived on schedule:
[Ding! The Iwa Princess is bathing right in front of you. You can still hold back? Are you a ninja turtle or what?]
[You have two choices now...]
[1. Stay on the shore and protect Kurotsuchi. Be a gentleman. Reward: "Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall)"]
[2. Start a wild underwater battle. Reward: "Doton: Gōreisiki no Jutsu"]
Damn it.
System, your timing is impeccable.
Cursing under his breath, Teizawa weighed it for a moment.
Both rewards were defensive techniques, but Doryūheki didn't even belong in the same sentence as the other one.
That second technique could manifest a massive stone giant for defense.
It could even block Uchiha Madara's Yasaka Magatama, which said everything about its durability.
Besides…
Only kids made choices.
He wasn't some saint.
With that thought, Teizawa started walking toward the water.
For Kurotsuchi, the sound of footsteps behind her was like a blade at her throat.
Unhurried. Steady. Coming straight toward the pool.
Her heart hammered.
He's coming over?
Kurotsuchi whipped her head around.
Only half her face broke the surface. Her eyes were wide, locked on Teizawa as he approached.
"Y-you! What are you trying to do?!"
Ripples spread across the water.
Teizawa reached the edge and looked down at her, at the girl with wet hair and nothing visible but a pair of alarmed eyes.
Do what?
He thought, obviously you.
So he answered with calm certainty, "You."
"What?"
Kurotsuchi didn't understand what that single word meant. She only felt his naked stare push her toward the edge of breaking.
Teizawa didn't bother explaining.
He just shook his head.
Then, under her horrified gaze, he lifted a hand and started undoing the ties at his waist.
The dark robe sash loosened with a tug.
Then the buttons of his inner layer, one by one.
"One. Two…"
"W-why are you taking your clothes off?!"
Kurotsuchi's voice jumped an octave.
She shrank instinctively, submerging until only her eyes and forehead remained above the surface.
Teizawa didn't even look at her as he kept going.
"You're washing. Am I supposed to stay filthy?"
He tossed the outer robe onto a clean rock on the shore.
His upper body was lean and hard, the sunlight tracing clean lines of muscle with no softness anywhere, all of it coiled and ready like a drawn bow.
The kind of body forged by strict training and too many real fights.
"I've been moving all night, eating wind and sand," he went on, reaching for his belt. "I'm covered in grit too."
"C-can't you wait until I'm done?!"
Kurotsuchi's voice cracked. Her face was blazing, whether from anger or shame she couldn't tell.
Teizawa finally flicked his eyes toward her, like she'd asked the dumbest question in the world.
"We're shinobi. Out in the field, what haven't you seen? What are you embarrassed about?"
As he spoke, the last of his gear came off and joined the pile of clothes on the bank.
Kurotsuchi's mind went white with mortification.
"You…"
She was shaking, furious, but completely out of words.
She'd never had to face anything like this.
"Shut up."
Teizawa's voice turned cold in an instant, slicing her off.
"If you keep whining, I'll kill you."
"…!"
Every word in Kurotsuchi's throat died.
Because he could.
He could decide her life or death with a whim.
The fear of dying crushed everything else.
She bit her lip so hard she nearly drew blood.
And she didn't dare make another sound.
She only stared at him with eyes that looked like they might spit fire.
Teizawa ignored it.
He stepped into the pool with long, casual strides.
Cool spring water climbed his legs.
Kurotsuchi turned away the instant he entered the water, curling into herself and pressing toward the rocks at the edge as if she could crawl into a crack and disappear.
Then Teizawa's voice slid close to her ear, low and unpleasantly intimate.
"Don't move."
He paused.
His breath brushed the wet edge of her ear.
"If you move… I'll kill you."
No yelling. No theatrics.
Just a calm statement of fact.
Kurotsuchi shuddered.
Every hair on her body rose.
All resistance stopped, forced down by terror.
She went rigid in his hold, like a puppet whose strings had been yanked tight.
Only her chest still moved, rising and falling in hard, uneven breaths, whether from exhaustion or fear she couldn't tell.
She could feel it.
He really would kill her.
Teizawa exhaled, warm breath against her skin, and his tone softened into something even worse.
"That's better. Cleaned up, you even smell nice."
The filthy, ash-covered Kurotsuchi from before, rinsed by the water, looked soft again.
Too soft.
Too young-looking in the cruel morning light.
"L-let go of me!"
Kurotsuchi grabbed at his hands, voice shaking. "Don't touch me!"
"Let go?" Teizawa scoffed. "Keep dreaming."
"If you touch me, the Third Tsuchikage will never forgive you. Stop, your hands, ah…"
Teizawa's answer was cold and self-assured, like he was talking about the weather.
"Once you're carrying my child, what do you think Ōnoki can do to me?"
"Bastard! I'm not having your child!"
"That's not up to you."
"Y-you… don't pull at my clothes…"
"Shut up. You're annoying."
"N-no… please… please, let me go…"
The arrogance that had kept her upright in Iwagakure cracked apart completely.
When her bravado was ripped away, what was left was only helpless sobbing and pleading.
And unfortunately for her, the man she'd met was the kind who treated everything like a game, unrestrained and merciless.
Her cries vanished into the wind and the quiet trickle of the spring.
The world narrowed to cold water, shaking breath, and the suffocating certainty that no one was coming.
Soon after, the scene blurred into silence.
Only the palm leaves kept whispering.
Only the spring kept running.
And Kurotsuchi's hope, piece by piece, drained away with the water.
All she could do was cling to one thought, frantic and burning.
Live.
Just live long enough to get back.
Long enough to tell Grandpa.
Long enough to bring the Land of Earth down on Sunagakure before this monster could grow any further.
(End of Chapter)
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