WEEKLY POWER GOALS 💎🔥 30→2ch | 60→5ch | 100→8ch | 200→15ch | 400→25ch⏰ Resets Monday!
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"Lady Tsunade, is there something you need?" Chiba asked, snapping out of his daze.
"Mmm, there is. Follow me." Tsunade tilted her head, signaling for him to follow.
They walked in silence, eventually arriving at one of Konoha's training grounds.
Chiba glanced around, puzzled. "Lady Tsunade, why did you bring me he—"
WHAM!
Before he could finish, Tsunade spun around. The air screamed as her fist rocketed toward his face.
Chiba: "?!!"
His pupils contracted to pinpricks. Every hair on his body stood on end.
Instinct screamed: If that lands, you die.
"Shadow Dance Step!"
Chiba pushed off with his toes, his body lifting like a leaf. He drifted back, the fist grazing past him, and landed lightly a few paces away.
"Lady Tsunade, what are you doing?!" he demanded, using the brief opening.
Had she found out? About that night? About him… watching?
BOOM!
Tsunade ignored him. She took a single step, her body launching forward like a cannonball.
"Haah!"
She twisted in mid-air, knee rising, and let out a sharp cry. A whip-like leg sliced toward the side of his head.
Shadow Dance Step!
Against Tsunade's monstrous strength, blocking was suicide. Chiba twisted away again. Her leg whistled past his shoulder, the wind pressure alone stinging his skin like needles.
"Holy hell, Lady Tsunade! Why is everything aimed at my face?!" he yelped. Her freakish strength was terrifying. One graze, and he'd be done.
SWISH!
Tsunade's kick missed. Using the momentum, she spun fully in the air, her other leg rising high like a battle-axe before chopping down toward his skull.
"Again?!"
Chiba's eye twitched. He threw himself sideways.
CRUNCH!
Her leg hammered into the training ground's solid earth. A crater erupted. Spiderweb cracks spread outward with a sickening creak.
Chiba: (*꒪꒫꒪)!!
Beneath Tsunade's storm of attacks, Chiba was a leaf in a typhoon, tossed and battered. Without the combined agility from his Senju blood and the Shadow Dance Step—far beyond any ordinary Chunin—he'd already be a bloody smear on the ground.
Is Lady Tsunade… testing my combat skills? The realization dawned on him.
"If that's the case…"
After dodging another blow, Chiba shot backward. One hand flew to the pouch on his back.
「Sand's Secret: One Hundred Poisons」 hadn't just made him a master of toxins; it had honed his skills with all manner of thrown weapons. In preparation for the coming war, he'd equipped himself properly.
Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!
Chiba drew several shuriken in a fluid motion. A flick of his wrist, and they became blurs of cold light shooting toward Tsunade.
A closer look would reveal fine purple powder clinging to the shadowed underside of each blade.
"Oh? Interesting." Tsunade's brows lifted. She stomped.
The stone tiles beneath her foot shattered. A spray of dirt and rock shards flew up, perfectly intercepting every incoming shuriken.
Chiba: "…"
Okay. The difficulty level here was a bit unfair.
Tsunade didn't press the attack. She casually plucked a shuriken from the ground, rubbed the purple powder between her fingers, and nodded in approval.
"Not bad. On anyone else, that might have actually worked."
"Hah… hah…" Chiba panted, offering a strained smile. "Lady Tsunade, you really scared me back there."
"Hahaha! The best way to test your battlefield reactions is with the unexpected!" Tsunade laughed. "Seeing you can protect yourself puts me at ease. On the battlefield, if you're careful, even a typical Jonin might not be able to keep you."
She smoothed down her slightly disheveled robe, her expression turning serious. "I couldn't talk Nawaki out of it. The brat insists on going to the front. I'm planning to put you two in the same squad. Watch each other's backs. Can you do that?"
Pairing Chiba with Nawaki was also her first experiment with the new medic-nin reforms. She had high hopes for Chiba.
"Of course, Lady Tsunade." Chiba agreed with a nod.
He was going to the front either way. Being with Nawaki might actually be safer. And they were good friends.
"Don't call me 'Lady Tsunade' anymore. It's too formal."
Seeing his agreement, Tsunade's smile returned. "We're not that far apart in age. Just call me by my name."
"Huh?" Chiba blinked.
Logically, even if he changed how he addressed her, he should follow Nawaki's lead and call her 'sis.' Calling her directly by her name? That messed up the hierarchy!
But if Tsunade insisted… "O-okay… Tsunade."
"There, good boy." Tsunade swooped in, wrapping an arm around his shoulders with a grin. "I just gave you a special training session. Aren't you going to invite me over for dinner? Nawaki says you're a great cook. I want to try. Can I?"
"Y-yes, of course." Chiba didn't dare refuse. He nodded rapidly.
"Hahahaha!" Tsunade laughed heartily, looking at the flustered boy in her grasp.
She was starting to think having a 'little brother' was pretty great. You could tease them openly, and they looked so cute when they got shy.
Chiba's apartment.
"Hmm?!"
The moment Tsunade stepped inside, her nose twitched. Her face instantly darkened, sending a chill down Chiba's spine.
"W-what's wrong, Tsunade?" he asked, voice trembling.
"There's a woman's perfume in here!" she gritted out through clenched teeth. "This scent… that bitch, Mitokado Tsuki!"
(òwó?)! What?!
Chiba was stunned. They said women were scary, but female ninja were on another level! She could actually identify who the perfume belonged to?!
"Lady Tsunade, it's like this…"
Terrified she might punch him into paste in a fit of rage, Chiba hurriedly explained everything that had happened earlier.
"Tch. That bitch Tsuki has some nerve, plotting like that." Tsunade snorted coldly after hearing him out. "Don't worry about it, Chiba. If she gives you money, take it. I'll handle the rest."
"Okay!" Chiba nodded firmly. His nose stung with a sudden, stupid prickling. This feeling… having someone in your corner… it was really nice.
As thanks, he was going to cook Tsunade the best damn meal he could!
Half an hour later, Chiba had laid out a full table of dishes. Simple ingredients, but each one was a feast for the eyes and nose.
He was, after all, a man from the Heavenly Dynasty. Who didn't have a few signature dishes up their sleeve?
"Wow, that smells amazing!" Tsunade's eyes sparkled as she sat waiting at the table. She scooped up a piece of braised potato and popped it in her mouth—only to clamp her hands over her lips, doing an impromptu Konoha Hip-Hop performance as the heat hit. "Hah… haah… ooh!"
Once she swallowed, she eagerly dove for the other dishes, stuffing her cheeks until they bulged like a chipmunk's.
"Mmmph! Mmm-mmm!"
"Lady Tsunade, slow down! You're going to choke!" Chiba said helplessly.
If Chiba were bound to a romance system, he'd be seeing a constant stream of 「Affection +1」 pop-ups above Tsunade's head right now.
By the end of the meal, the look in Tsunade's eyes when she gazed at Chiba had grown even more… complicated.
"Kid, let's gamble."
As Chiba was clearing the dishes, Tsunade spoke up on a whim. "My luck's terrible. I lose every single bet. So I'll bet that you won't ret—"
CLATTER!
Before she could finish, the bowls and chopsticks in Chiba's hands crashed to the floor. He stood there, mouth agape.
Lady Tsunade, if you want me dead, you could just say so! No need to go to all this trouble!
Chiba looked down at the crystal necklace hanging against his chest, then back at her, a wave of tragic indignation washing over him.
Are you stacking death buffs on me right now?!
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