Jiraiya was walking leisurely through the forest, muttering non-stop.
“Hmph, so what if he’s first in the Ninja Academy…
what’s so great about that?”
He looked left and right, his brain actually working for once.
Two bells.
One on Hiruzen-sensei, one hidden in the forest.
Steal the one from the teacher?
He wasn’t brain-damaged.
Going head-to-head with the Third Hokage Hokage was just asking for a beating.
But the one in the forest was different.
It was a test of search ability and luck.
And classmate Jiraiya firmly believed—his luck was definitely better than Kitahara Kaede’s.
“Once I find the bell, let’s see how Tsunade can refuse.” He thought about it and felt great.
“Yakiniku…
Tsunade must be pretty cute when she eats yakiniku…”
He grinned foolishly for two seconds, then shook his head violently.
“No, find it first!”
He quickened his pace and hurried through the forest.
Three minutes later, he stopped.
About twenty meters ahead, at the base of a large tree, half a red string peeked out from under the fallen leaves.
A bell hung at the end of the red string.
Sunlight filtered through the tree canopy, hitting the bell.
Jiraiya froze for a second, then was ecstatic.
“Hahahaha!
Heaven helps me!”
He slapped his thigh, his voice loud enough for the whole forest to hear.
“What’s the use of running so fast?
I’m the one who found it first!”
Jiraiya dashed forward.
His feet tightened.
“Whoosh—”
The snare sprang up from under the leaves, tightly gripping his ankle, the other end connected to a branch above—he was launched and hung upside down.
“Ahhhhhh—!”
Jiraiya hung upside down in mid-air, his white hair dangling, his face flushed red.
He twisted his body desperately, like a fish on a hook.
His hands couldn’t reach the rope on his feet, and his abs couldn’t support a crunch, so he just swung back and forth in the air for a long time.
“Damn it—what kind of crappy trap is this—”
The bell lay at the base of the tree, less than three meters away from him.
He could see it, but couldn’t reach it.
Jiraiya panted, gritted his teeth, and tried again.
This time he didn’t struggle blindly—his right hand felt for the Ninja tool pouch at his waist, drew a Kunai, and cut towards the rope binding his ankle.
The angle was too awkward, he was upside down, and even with his arm stretched to the limit, only the tip of the Kunai grazed the outer skin of the rope.
He strained with a flushed face, and the edge of the Kunai finally caught the edge of the rope.
Just as he was halfway through—
“You’ve got energy.”
The voice came from above.
Jiraiya’s hand trembled, and he almost dropped the Kunai.
He looked up—or rather, looked down, since he was upside down.
Kitahara Kaede was squatting on the branch that was hanging him, his hands resting on his knees, looking down at him.
Jiraiya’s face turned even redder.
Not because of the blood rushing to his head—though that was a reason too—but because he had been so close to cutting the rope.
So close.
“I found the bell first!” Jiraiya yelled, “You have to respect first come, first served!”
Kitahara Kaede didn’t answer.
Let you down?
Let you take the bell to go on a date with Tsunade?
Sorry, buddy, I don’t have that kind of weird fetish.
He dropped from the branch, scanned the ground around the bell, and casually tossed a stone over.
Confirming there were no other traps, he bent down and picked up the bell.
The bell chimed in his palm, a crisp sound.
“You—” Jiraiya’s voice cracked, “Hagoromo Kaede, you bastard!
I found that first!
You’re shameless!”
The cursing echoed in the forest, startling a few birds.
Kitahara Kaede gripped the bell and looked up at him.
Jiraiya’s face was turning purple, he was still clutching the Kunai, and the rope had been cut a little bit.
Give him another twenty seconds, and he really could have cut it.
Jiraiya didn’t know that his twenty seconds were lost because of his mouth.
When he shouted “Heaven helps me,” half the forest heard it, including Kitahara Kaede.
About a minute later, the bushes rustled, and Tsunade emerged from the side.
There were two leaves caught in her ponytail, she was clutching a Kunai, and her expression was vigilant.
“What’s that noise? This chapter is updated first at g.com.
I heard Jirai—”
She saw it.
Jiraiya was hanging upside down from the tree, his face bright red, still holding a Kunai.
Kitahara Kaede stood under the tree, holding the bell.
Tsunade’s expression shifted from vigilant to indescribable.
“…So this guy stepped into a trap.”
“Yeah.”
Tsunade didn’t say much more.
Kitahara Kaede handed the bell over.
“Here.”
Tsunade was clearly stunned by his words.
She stared at his face.
He was giving the bell to her?
What Jiraiya had said earlier was still in her ears—”Get the bell and go on a date with Tsunade”.
He had heard it.
So he ran so fast, it was to—
Tsunade’s ears burned.
She quickly cut off her train of thought, not letting it continue.
“Take it.” Kitahara Kaede shook the bell.
Tsunade was still looking at him.
Kitahara Kaede frowned and waved his hand in front of her.
“Tsunade?”
Tsunade snapped back to reality.
Realizing she had been staring at Kaede for several seconds, her face suddenly flushed hot.
“O-Okay.”
She snatched the bell, her movements so rushed she almost dropped it.
Her voice was half a pitch higher than usual.
She felt it sounded wrong even to herself, so she quickly lowered her head to look at the bell, avoiding his gaze.
Kitahara Kaede stared at her for a second.
Her ears were flushed, her eyes were darting around, and she even stuttered.
She was a completely different person from the usual Tsunade who crossed her arms and looked at people sideways.
In this moment, he thought Tsunade was kind of cute.
His hand almost reached out, wanting to pet her.
“The other bell is on Hiruzen-sensei.
I have an idea that requires your cooperation—”
Tsunade didn’t respond.
Kitahara Kaede looked over.
She was staring at his face again.
“…What exactly are you looking at?”
“Nothing!” Tsunade turned her head away abruptly, “Tell me, what’s the plan.”
Her voice was still higher than usual.
Jiraiya, up in the tree, saw all of this clearly.
Tsunade’s ears were red.
Tsunade’s voice was flustered.
And Tsunade’s eyes.
Sparkling, with a hint of bewilderment.
She had never shown that expression to him.
Not even once.
Jiraiya’s nose suddenly itched.
It felt like something red was about to come out.
“Hey—don’t just chat—let me down first—”
No one paid him any attention.
…
Half an hour later.
In front of three wooden posts.
Hiruzen stood there with his pipe in his mouth, the bell at his waist was gone.
He looked at Kitahara Kaede and Tsunade in front of him, with something more in his gaze.
“The two of you working together…
exceeded my expectations.”
He exhaled a puff of smoke.
“Kaede, your tactical awareness and on-the-spot judgment are already beyond the level of a Genin.”
He paused.
“Tsunade, your Chakra control and physical explosive power are top-notch among your peers.”
Tsunade’s chin rose slightly.
She suppressed a smile, but the pride in her eyes couldn’t be hidden.
Hiruzen tapped his pipe and put it away.
“Both bells have been obtained.
The test is over.”
“Oh right.” Tsunade suddenly remembered, “Sensei, where’s Jiraiya?”
Hiruzen pointed behind him.
On the middle wooden post, Jiraiya was tied up tightly with ropes.
“Although he got himself down, I used a clone to tie him up.” Hiruzen said calmly, “However, given that he is a Ninja but keeps stepping into such obvious traps, I think leaving him tied up a while longer has more educational value.”
Tsunade walked up to the wooden post.
She held up the bell in her hand and shook it in front of Jiraiya.
Ding.
“Jiraiya—I won the bet.”
She smiled with her eyes curved.
“As expected, you’re the one who’s out.”
Jiraiya’s face twitched.
Then he exploded.
“Cut the chatter!
You flat-chested!
You ironing board Tsunade!”
Silence for a second.
A whole second.
Tsunade’s smile froze on her face.
Then it disappeared bit by bit.
Replaced by an expression that made the surrounding temperature drop by three degrees.
“What—did—you—say?”
“You damn pervert!!”
Her fist slammed into the wooden post.
The wooden post cracked.
Jiraiya jumped, along with the post and rope, almost getting uprooted.
Hiruzen sighed behind them.
“Alright, alright, stop arguing.”
He rubbed his temples.
“Kaede, Tsunade, you two go back first.
Jiraiya…
stay here and reflect.”
Tsunade glared fiercely at Jiraiya and turned to leave.
After walking two steps, she turned back and waved at Jiraiya on the wooden post.
The gesture’s meaning was clear—goodbye, idiot.
Kitahara Kaede followed.
The two walked side by side on the way home.
Tsunade walked a while and suddenly stopped talking.
Kitahara Kaede glanced over and saw her with her head down, her gaze falling on her own chest.
She wasn’t looking at him.
She was looking at herself.
Tsunade stared at her flat chest for two seconds.
Her brows knitted together.
She walked a few more steps.
There was a fruit stall on the side of the road, with several baskets of fruit piled up, big and small.
Tsunade’s footsteps paused.
Then she suddenly spoke.
“Kaede.”
“Yeah.”
“When buying fruit, do you like picking the big ones or the small ones?”
Kitahara Kaede didn’t even think about it.
“The big ones.”
Tsunade’s footsteps stopped.
Kitahara Kaede walked two more steps before realizing she hadn’t followed.
He turned to look at her.
Tsunade stood there, the expression on her face very complex.
Angry, aggrieved, wanting to hit someone.
Three emotions layered together, finally turning into a stomp.
“Jerk!”
She turned and left, striding away, the direction completely opposite to the way home.
Kitahara Kaede stood in the middle of the road.
He looked at the fruit stall, then at Tsunade’s retreating back.
—Why wouldn’t you pick the big ones when buying fruit?
He thought for three seconds.
Then he thought of what Jiraiya had shouted earlier.
Flat-chested, ironing board.
Then he thought of the two seconds Tsunade spent looking down at her own chest.
Then he thought of “big or small”.
A very rare expression appeared on Kitahara Kaede’s face.
A mix of confusion and sudden realization, and with that realization, a hint of guilt.
He reached out and rubbed the back of his head.
“…She wasn’t asking about fruit?”
In the distance, Tsunade’s retreating figure turned the corner and disappeared.
The tips of her ears were red as if they were bleeding.