Time drifted by amid the fragrance of sake and a gentle drunken haze.
“Shizune…
Shizune…” Tsunade called twice.
No response.
She turned to look and couldn’t help but laugh.
Shizune had fallen asleep at some point, hugging an empty sake bottle.
Her face was flushed as red as a boiled shrimp, a satisfied smile lingering at the corner of her mouth.
She clutched the bottle tightly in her arms, as if afraid someone might take it away.
On the chair beside her, Tonton had also toppled over, all four legs in the air, revealing his round, pink-white belly.
Soft snores escaped his tiny snout.
A smear of sake stained the corner of his mouth.
Apparently, the little fellow had secretly helped himself to some sake.
“This girl…” Tsunade shook her head, her tone carrying a mix of helplessness and fondness.
“Can’t hold her liquor, but she insists on drinking with me.” She took off her own haori and draped it over Shizune, her movements so light they seemed impossible for Lady Tsunade, who could shatter rock with a single palm.
After that, she sat back down, picked up her cup, and her gaze drifted unconsciously to the boy across from her.
Yamada Souji remained in his previous posture, his hands resting one atop the other, his breathing calm and even.
Chakra circulated within him.
The black cloth over his eyes hid those extraordinary eyes, leaving only the sharp lines of his jaw and his slightly pursed lips visible.
He was training seriously.
So seriously…
it was as if he had become someone else.
Tsunade’s gaze suddenly blurred.
Warm golden light spilled down from above, gilding the boy’s silver-white hair with a soft glow.
That still-youthful face, his focused expression, that stubborn determination to grow stronger regardless of everything around him.
In that instant, that face transformed.
It became someone else.
Short black hair, the same focused gaze, a kunai in his hand, practicing the most basic thrust over and over.
He was only twelve or thirteen then, training until his hands were covered in blood, yet never complaining.
He would simply look up at her with those bright eyes.
“Sis, I’m definitely going to become Hokage!
Just as strong as Grandpa, and then I’ll end this war!” Nawaki.
Her little brother.
That child who had been too well protected, too innocent to be a real shinobi, always believing he could become Hokage like their grandfather and change the entire shinobi world.
Yet he had died coldly before her eyes, torn apart by an Explosive Tag.
Tsunade’s cup paused at her lips.
The lamplight seemed to waver before her eyes.
That silver-haired boy seemed to overlap with the figure in her memory.
He was just as young and earnest, driven by the same relentless desire to grow stronger.
But this boy was colder than Nawaki, more composed, more like a true shinobi.
And yet…
“Tsunade-sama?” A clear voice pulled her back to reality.
Tsunade snapped out of it, realizing that Souji had stopped training at some point and was quietly watching her, his head tilted slightly beneath the blindfold, as though waiting for something.
“Is there something wrong with my training?” he asked.
Tsunade blinked, then realized she had been staring at him.
She hastily averted her gaze, took a large gulp of sake, and choked on it.
“N-no…
nothing…” She set down the cup, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, her voice sounding slightly unnatural.
“Just…
just that you’re training very diligently.
Good job.” She poured herself another drink and lowered her head, no longer looking at him.
Warm, dim lamplight filled the tavern.
Outside, the distant cry of the night watchman drifted through the air, accompanied by a few barking dogs.
All the other patrons had already paid and left.
Only their table remained illuminated.
Souji didn’t press the matter any further.
He simply watched the woman across from him in silence.
Tsunade kept her head lowered, her blonde hair cascading down to conceal most of her face.
Her hand gripped the cup, her knuckles faintly pale.
Her haori had already been draped over Shizune.
Now she wore only a thin short kimono, its collar hanging wide open, revealing her deep cleavage, delicate collarbones, and a stretch of fair neck.
Warm golden lamplight washed over her, gilding her skin with a soft honeyed glow.
The sharpness and commanding aura she normally carried seemed to have melted away beneath the alcohol and the quiet night, leaving behind only an indescribable gentleness.
It was a strange feeling.
He had seen many sides of Tsunade: her boldness at the gambling table, her sternness while guiding his training, her lazy demeanor when drinking, and the strict expression she wore whenever she scolded Shizune.
But at this moment, she was different.
Her eyelashes drooped slightly, casting a small shadow across her eyelids.
A trace of sake lingered at the corner of her lips, glistening softly in the warm light.
Her shoulders sagged ever so slightly, as though she had finally laid down some crushing burden, or perhaps as though that burden had weighed her down for far too long.
A faint halo of fragility seemed to surround her.
Beautiful women.
He had seen countless beautiful women.
In his previous life, while delivering food, he had traveled through the streets and alleys of bustling cities, encountering every kind of face imaginable.
In this life, wandering across different countries, he had also seen countless women in casinos, taverns, and marketplaces.
Beauty had never been in short supply, no matter the world.
Souji had never been someone who lingered on such things.
Yet the Tsunade before him was different.
It wasn’t her beauty.
It was…
That unique softness only the truly powerful possessed.
Like a towering mountain that, for the briefest moment, revealed a hidden fissure deep within its heart, allowing others a glimpse of something that had never been shown before.
Within that fissure there was no magma.
No blazing fire.
Only cold, quiet sorrow, sealed away by the passage of time.
Souji suddenly realized he had been staring.
It wasn’t the kind of seeing his Six Eyes granted him, but a different kind of seeing altogether.
His gaze passed through the black cloth covering his eyes, through the drifting dust motes suspended in the air, and settled on the blonde woman with her head lowered.
Her eyelashes trembled slightly.
Souji lowered his gaze, picked up the cup of tea that had long gone cold, and took a sip.
The tea tasted bitter.
“Tsunade-sama,” he said softly.
Tsunade raised her head.
Her golden eyes met his, a faint trace of distraction still lingering within them.
“Thank you for tonight’s hospitality.
Even though you ordered the drinks, I’ll pay the bill.” “Heh…” Tsunade froze for a moment before letting out a soft chuckle.
The confusion and vulnerability hidden within that laugh quietly faded away, replaced once more by her familiar lazy confidence and dismissive attitude.
“Obviously you’re paying.
You think I can afford it after losing everything?” She grabbed the sake bottle, only to discover it was empty again.
She gave it an irritated shake.
“Boss!
Another hot one!” The owner answered at once and quickly brought over another bottle of hot sake.
Tsunade poured herself another cup.
Amid the billowing steam, her face gradually became indistinct once again.
“Kid,” she suddenly said.
“Hm?” “Training is fine, but don’t push yourself too hard.
Your life is your own.
If you end up ruining your body, nobody’s going to compensate you.” Souji nodded faintly.
“Understood.” Tsunade said nothing more.
She simply lifted her cup and drank slowly.
Through the billowing steam, her face once again became blurred, as though hidden behind a thin veil.
Outside, the night had grown deep.
In the distance, the faint sound of waves drifted over.
They came from the Eastern Sea, passing over the rooftops of Kinzawa City, slipping through the tavern’s noren curtain, and reaching the two who sat lost in their own unspoken thoughts.
Shizune remained fast asleep, her breathing slow and even.
Tonton still lay on his back with all four legs in the air, his round little belly rising and falling rhythmically.
Souji picked up the cup of tea that had long gone cold and drained it in one gulp.
Bitter, yet the lingering sweetness seemed to last longer than usual.