~ Every 100 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter!
Your votes keep this climbing.
Thanks!
[Timeline Jump,]
[Your connection with Tsunade Senju began with dice, and gradually seeped into every corner of her life.]
[You taught her to control dice; she dragged you into betting copper coins.
You won her candy; she won your pocket money.
Back and forth, the debt between you grew more tangled by the day.
She got a little notebook just for keeping accounts, crookedly writing “Kaede owes me: Dango ×3, Candy ×17.” You flipped to the next page and found she’d blacked out the part where she owed you with a solid blob of ink.]
[You trained with her on chakra extraction.
The first time Tsunade guided chakra to her palm, a leaf pressed flat against her skin and held.
She thrust her hand up to show you, grin stretching ear to ear, then, 2 seconds later, the leaf drifted off.
She turned and glared at you like it was your fault.]
[Gradually, every visit to the Senju Mansion meant two servings of tea and snacks instead of one.
The maid stopped asking “What would Miss Tsunade’s guest like to drink?” and simply placed your cup in the same spot every time.]
[During this period, something major happened.
Hashirama Senju passed away.]
[It snowed in Konohagakure for three days.
Each of those three days, you went to the Senju Mansion, said nothing, and sat outside her bedroom door.]
[On the evening of the third day, the door cracked open.
A hand reached through and clutched the hem of your clothes.
It held on for a long time.]
[You didn’t move.
You didn’t look back.
You just let her hold on.]
[By the time her grip loosened, the sky had gone completely dark.
A piece of paper slipped through the gap in the door.
Two stick figures drawn on it, one taller, one shorter.
Next to the shorter one, in crooked handwriting: “Idiot.”]
[You folded the paper carefully and put it in your pocket.]
[After that, she stopped wearing her topknot.]
[In your spare time, you trained.
You worked on the speed of instantaneous chakra extraction, sharpened the precision of your control.
Taijutsu never stopped.
These things became your daily routine.]
[Tsunade turned six.
You turned seven.
The Ninja Academy opened its first official enrollment.
The curtain rose on a legend.]
[The second chapter begins.]
…
Konoha Ninja Academy.
The school gate was packed.
Parents led their children inside, some striding in with chests puffed out, others shuffling along with their heads down.
Anyone who could send a kid here in the very first enrollment class had connections of some kind.
Kaede Kitahara stood at the entrance and took stock of his surroundings.
In his seven-year-old body, his chakra meridians had already been refined to a remarkable degree.
A Talent Stat of 10 wasn’t for nothing.
While his peers were still figuring out how to extract chakra at all, he could already do it in an instant, with precise control.
He wore ordinary dark blue clothes.
Relaxed posture.
Flat expression.
“Kaede!”
The voice came from behind.
Tsunade pushed through the crowd, a faint sheen of sweat on her forehead.
She’d clearly run.
Six years old.
Blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail, light green short-sleeved shirt, open-toed ninja sandals.
Without the topknot, her whole look was sharper.
Cleaner.
“What are you standing here for?
Come on.”
She grabbed his sleeve and hauled him toward the gate.
Kaede let himself be dragged.
He didn’t pull free.
“You weren’t late today.”
“Obviously.
Being late on the first day of school?” Tsunade didn’t look back.
“That’s embarrassing.
Besides, I’m betting someone’s going to make a complete fool of themselves today.
I want a good seat.”
“What are you betting?”
“Betting you’ll treat me to Dango.”
“You bet that every time.”
“Because you lose every time.”
Kaede didn’t argue.
He really did lose every time.
Part of it was intentional, he was supposed to be her White Moonlight, and letting her win kept the Affection Points climbing.
But the bigger part?
That was just what a Luck stat of 0 did to a person.
They’d barely made it through the gate.
“Hey!”
A white shape charged in from the side and planted itself directly in front of Tsunade.
The white-haired boy put both hands on his hips, flashed a wide grin, and showed off a full set of very white teeth.
Jiraiya.
Spiky white hair, white clothes, two red lines painted across his face in something or other.
His gaze snapped straight to Tsunade, eyes lit up like he’d just found something remarkable.
“My name is Jiraiya!
I’m going to become the greatest ninja who ever lived!”
Loud enough that half the people near the gate heard it.
A few passing parents glanced over, then quietly steered their children in the other direction.
Tsunade stopped walking.
“So?”
“So —” Jiraiya puffed his chest out, sounding far too confident for a kid his age, “if you want to write me a love letter, you can hand it over next time.
Don’t be shy.”
One second of silence.
Tsunade looked at him.
Kaede knew that look.
Not anger.
Not embarrassment.
Pure confusion.
The kind that came from genuinely not understanding where someone got that level of confidence.
“Is something wrong with your brain?”
Tsunade pulled Kaede around him and kept walking without breaking stride.
As smooth as stepping around a utility pole.
Jiraiya stood there for half a second, then chased after them.
“Hey, hey, hey!
Did you hear me?
I’m Jiraiya!
The future greatest ninja!
You have to at least remember my name!”
“I remember.” Tsunade still didn’t turn around.
“The one with something wrong with his brain.”
“You —”
Jiraiya jogged ahead and turned to walk backwards, jabbing a finger at Kaede.
“Who’s this?
Your brother?”
“None of your business.”
“You don’t even look alike — don’t tell me he’s your boyfriend?”
Tsunade stopped.
Kaede took a quiet half-step to the side.
Not to get out of the way.
To give her room to swing.
Sure enough,
One punch.
Straight to the stomach.
Jiraiya folded like a shrimp and dropped into a squat, mouth hanging open, completely unable to breathe.
Tsunade pulled her fist back and shook out her fingers.
“I’ll say it again: none of your business.”
“That really hurt…” He wheezed through short, sharp gasps, but the corner of his mouth was already creeping upward.
“You’re so strong…
that’s incredible…”
Tsunade glanced at Kaede, her expression asking: is this guy actually serious?
Kaede returned a perfectly blank look.
His meaning was clear enough: don’t ask me.
He didn’t have any real hostility toward Jiraiya.
In the original story, this guy chased Tsunade his whole life and never got anywhere.
He died in Amegakure, and they didn’t even bring his body back.
When it came to “White Moonlight” status, Jiraiya wasn’t actually far behind.
The difference was that Jiraiya ran on genuine feeling.
Kaede ran on a script.
They weren’t the same kind of person at all.
Tsunade dragged him forward, leaving Jiraiya crouched on the ground behind them.
A few steps later, something else caught Kaede’s attention.
Under the large tree to the left of the gate.
A black-haired boy stood quietly in the shade.
Pale skin.
Features fine enough to be almost delicate.
Golden, slit-pupil eyes.
Orochimaru.
He wasn’t talking to anyone.
He didn’t look like he wanted to.
He simply stood there, his gaze moving slowly across the stream of new students passing by.
When it reached Kaede, it stopped.
Kaede looked back.
Across the crowd shifting between them, they held eye contact for a single moment.
The corner of Orochimaru’s mouth moved, just slightly.
Not a smile.
Something more like confirmation, that there was, in fact, one person in this crowd worth a second look.
Then he turned and walked through the gate.
Alone.
His silhouette slight.
Kaede looked away.
Orochimaru.
Pure talent.
No bloodline limit.
No clan behind him.
He crushed his peers on raw ability alone.
“Kaede!
What are you staring at?”
Tsunade’s voice snapped him back.
She was standing at the hallway entrance, hands on her hips, visibly impatient.
“Classroom’s this way.
Are you coming or not?”
“Coming.”
Kaede followed.
From behind came the sound of Jiraiya finally hauling himself back to his feet.
“Hey, wait for me!
We’re classmates, aren’t we?
Classmates are supposed to look out for each other!”
Tsunade didn’t even glance back.
“Who said you’re my classmate?”
“We enrolled together!
You can’t just deny that!”
“Follow us again and I’ll hit you.”
…
➤ Next: Self-Introductions — Words Unspoken