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The meeting ended.
The clan heads filtered out of the main hall in twos and threes, trading farewells with clasped hands.
Hashirama walked at the back, making small talk while he worked the buttons at his collar loose.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the Hagoromo Clan Head starting to take his leave and called out to him without really thinking.
“Hagoromo Clan Head, doesn’t your family have a boy?
Did he come today?”
The Hagoromo Clan Head turned.
“Kaede?
He did.
I had him wait in the courtyard.”
“The courtyard?” Hashirama thought for a moment.
“Little Tsunade was over there not long ago.”
He rubbed his chin.
A faint, unreadable expression crossed his face.
“How old is your son?”
“Four.”
“Then he’s probably getting roughed up.” Hashirama said it without any particular concern.
“That granddaughter of mine wants to fight everyone she meets.
Last time she had a seven-year-old brat pinned down and was wailing on him.
The kid’s father showed up to complain, and I had to give him three boxes of pastries.”
The Hagoromo Clan Head laughed and said, “Children, you know,” but his feet picked up their pace without him noticing.
No matter how clever Kaede was, he was still only four.
Against the First Hokage’s granddaughter, who could say what might happen?
The two of them crossed the corridor and rounded a low wall.
The scene inside the pavilion made Hashirama’s stride slow by half a beat.
The little terror who “pinned a seven-year-old down and beat him up” was sitting on the steps, straight as a board.
Short legs pressed neatly together.
Back perfectly upright.
A dice cup on the ground in front of her.
Beside her sat the four-year-old boy, Hagoromo Kaede.
He reached over and adjusted Tsunade’s wrist.
“Too tight.
Loosen up.”
“Like this?”
“When you spin it, lead from here.”
“Oh.”
Tsunade looked down and did as she was told.
The dice knocked inside the cup, muffled and solid.
Much steadier than before.
“That’s it.”
The corner of Tsunade’s mouth pulled up.
She pushed it back down and kept practicing.
Hashirama stood behind the low wall and watched for a few seconds.
He said nothing.
The Hagoromo Clan Head stole a glance at Hashirama’s face.
The smile was still there.
But his eyes had narrowed.
The Hagoromo Clan Head knew that expression well.
Every time someone said something they shouldn’t at a high-level meeting, Hashirama wore exactly that look.
Hashirama walked forward, his footsteps measured, not quiet, not loud.
Both children looked up at the same time.
Tsunade saw him and opened her mouth to shout, then whipped the dice cup behind her back like she was afraid it would be confiscated.
“Grandpa!
You finished the meeting?”
Her voice was bright.
Her backside didn’t move an inch.
Hashirama crouched down.
His gaze went to Tsunade’s face first.
He reached out and brushed her cheek.
“You’ve been crying?”
There were tear stains she hadn’t wiped away.
Tsunade tilted her head out of reach.
“No, I haven’t.”
Hashirama didn’t push it.
His gaze moved to Kitahara Kaede.
A four-year-old child.
Sitting straight.
Expression calm.
No flattery, no nerves, no carefully performed respect.
He just sat there like it was the most natural thing in the world, as if the person crouching across from him wasn’t the First Hokage.
“Lord Hashirama.”
Not “Lord Hokage.” Lord Hashirama.
His name.
Not his title.
Hashirama’s eyebrow shifted slightly.
He didn’t comment on it.
He glanced at the small mountain of candy heaped in the pavilion, then at the dice cup still hidden behind Tsunade’s back.
“You taught her?”
“She wanted to learn.”
Tsunade cut in.
“I made him teach me!”
Hashirama didn’t take the bait.
He picked up a die, spun it once on his fingertip, and set it back down.
“Four years old, and already using dice control technique.”
The words were light.
Like praise.
Like he was taking stock.
Kitahara Kaede neither denied it nor bothered with false modesty.
Hashirama looked at him for a moment, then laughed, just once, low and quiet.
He dragged the dice cup over and settled it in front of himself.
“Play a round with me.”
The First Hokage, challenging a four-year-old to dice.
That look on Hashirama’s face when he saw Tsunade sitting there obediently following instructions, any grandfather would know exactly what it meant.
How long have you even been here?
A few hours?
I’ve been raising her for three years.
She fights with everyone she meets.
But you say something, and she listens.
Kitahara Kaede didn’t answer immediately.
He tilted his head toward Tsunade instead.
“Let her play?”
Hashirama paused.
Kitahara Kaede didn’t wait on his reaction.
“She just learned.
Good time to try it out.”
He looked down at Tsunade.
“You remember what I showed you?”
“…Yeah.” Tsunade gripped the dice cup.
“Then that’s enough.”
A short pause.
“Win on your own.”
Three words.
Tsunade understood every one of them.
She bit her lip.
Then she slammed the dice cup down on the ground.
“Come on then!”
Hashirama looked at the little girl across from him, fire blazing in her eyes, and felt something he couldn’t quite name.
His granddaughter.
The one he’d raised from the start.
She’d thrown fits in front of him, demanded things, cried her eyes out, but she’d never looked at him like this.
Hashirama picked up the dice cup and gave it a casual shake.
He had intended to play seriously.
But watching Tsunade clutch the cup with both hands, her small face set with absolute concentration, something in him pulled back out of habit.
Not throwing the game.
Just not going all out.
He controlled it to a four and a five.
Nine points.
Right in the middle.
Tsunade’s turn.
She copied Kitahara Kaede’s grip, closed her hand around the cup, rotated her wrist inward.
The motion was rough, range too wide, a slight stutter at the end, but the dice stayed where they were supposed to.
She slammed it down.
Drew a breath.
Lifted the cup.
A six and a five.
Eleven points.
Tsunade stared at it.
Kitahara Kaede nudged her shoulder.
“You won.”
It clicked.
She shot to her feet, her topknot swinging,
“I won!”
She ran straight to Hashirama.
“Grandpa!
This time it’s real!
You didn’t let me!”
Hashirama sat where he was.
He’d rolled nine.
That wasn’t low.
There weren’t many people who could casually shake past ten.
Three years old, and she picked it up in no time.
His gaze drifted past Tsunade and settled on Kitahara Kaede.
The kid sat quietly in his spot.
No look of accomplishment on his face.
No “see how well I taught her” anywhere in his expression.
Just sitting there.
Still and quiet.
Hashirama was silent for two seconds.
“Boy.”
Kitahara Kaede looked up.
“Feel free to come by and play with little Tsunade whenever you like.”
Tsunade’s ears pricked up.
Her eyes went bright in an instant.
“Really?!”
“Really.”
She spun to look at Kitahara Kaede, chin lifting.
Her entire face said it: Well?
Heard that?
Kitahara Kaede stood and gave a small bow.
“Thank you, Lord Hashirama.”
Hashirama nodded, took Tsunade’s hand, and started back.
Two steps later, Tsunade yanked her hand free, turned around, and jogged back.
“Hey!”
Kitahara Kaede looked over.
“What’s your name?”
They’d been at this for most of the afternoon, and she’d never once asked.
“Hagoromo Kaede.”
Tsunade’s lips moved, repeating it silently.
“Kaede — bring more candy next time you come.
You still owe me.”
“Didn’t I already pay that back?”
“That was you giving it to me.
That’s completely different from what you owe me.
You still owe double!”
Kitahara Kaede opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Hashirama stood off to the side, listening.
The four-year-old who hadn’t so much as flinched in front of him minutes ago was now being chased down for a debt by his granddaughter, and had absolutely nothing to say for himself.
Hashirama let out a short hum.
His mood improved.
Just a little.
Just a little.
…
On the walk home.
The Hagoromo Clan Head went a long stretch without speaking.
He started to say something a few times and stopped himself each time.
Finally, he couldn’t hold it anymore.
“Kaede…
Lord First said you should come by to play with Princess Tsunade whenever you like.”
“Mm.”
He wanted to say more.
He looked at his son’s profile — utterly untroubled — and swallowed it back down.
Kitahara Kaede walked behind him, gaze forward, expression level.
In his mind, the light screen blinked open.
[Side Mission: First Meeting, Complete.]
[Final Evaluation: S-Rank.]
[Evaluation Notes: You have successfully left a lasting first impression on the target.
You have earned the target’s goodwill and trust, and secured the approval of key figure Senju Hashirama.
The dual identity of “genius” and “reliable companion” has been established.]
[Reward Settlement: Chakra Extraction Efficiency permanently +5%.]
[Note: This is a percentage-based bonus.
It scales in tandem with the host’s total chakra reserves.]
Kitahara Kaede’s eyes stopped on the word “percentage-based.”
Not a fixed number.
Right now, 5% was barely noticeable.
But when his chakra reserves grew ten times, a hundred times over,
That 5% would grow with them.
…
➤ Next: School Starts — Into the Unknown