Chương 91: Chapter 91: Oonoki's Indecision and the Stolen Strawberry

Faced with his question, Hanako complained: "She stole the strawberry from my cake! Can you believe it? I mean, I said she could have a piece – in exchange for me getting a piece of her chocolate cake, but who in their right mind takes someone else's cake strawberry?"

"What, she really did that?" Tanaka showed genuine surprise.

"Yes, isn't it unbelievable?" Hanako, seeing his reaction, emphasized, raising her voice and slamming both hands on the table.

"Yes, it's really unbelievable." He agreed and then added, "But, Hanako-chan, you must know she didn't mean any harm, right? As the good girl you are, you'll forgive her, won't you?"

"I know, but, but..." She pouted.

Patting her head, Tanaka said, "Alright, alright, you're a good girl, Hanako-chan, and you'll forgive your older sister, right?"

Still pouting, she nodded with a barely audible voice that soon rose as she exclaimed, "Okay, but only this time!"

[10+5=XV]

The ground was scorched and leveled. There was no sign of trees or rocks in this area. Above it hovered a middle-aged man and a young man with scarlet red hair.

"Have you made your decision, Third Tsuchikage?" Tanaka asked.

Closing his eyes, Oonoki could feel the vibrations in the air from the intensity of the battle between Mito Uzumaki, the Third Kazekage, and the Third Mizukage.

'What are the chances of them winning against her?' Oonoki thought. 'And what about the Raikage, is he gaining an advantage against the boy who became the Fourth Hokage?'

He needed information. Only then could he make a decision.

The worst-case scenario would be if he retreated and they ended up winning against Konoha. That would be a punch to the gut for him.

However, he understood that if he withdrew, it would further decrease the chances of the alliance he made with them winning, after all, he knew very well that the boy before him was a little monster who could easily change the course of this war.

"Boy, I'll retreat for now and consider your proposal, how about that?" Oonoki proposed.

Obviously, he wanted to gather information, but he didn't want to do it in front of this boy and lose the advantage if the information his people gathered turned out to be bad.

Tanaka raised an eyebrow but quickly smiled: "Sure, that's fine with me~"

[5-5=0]

The news that the battle between Tanaka and Oonoki ended with both of them retreating quickly spread. In moments, almost everyone on the battlefield knew about it.

Mostly, rumors that Oonoki fled the battlefield were the talk of the town. In their words, Oonoki felt he was going to lose and didn't hesitate to flee from a boy under 18 years old.

Of course, this reached Oonoki, who was already back at his village base in the Land of Fire.

"Those scoundrels who don't know anything and say whatever they want…!" He felt growing anger. Feeling humiliated like this was not his style. But the reality proved that with his current strength, winning in a direct battle was out of the question.

'Should I try to ambush him?' Oonoki pondered. But before that, he continued to read the information gathered about the Kages' battle.

[23x3=69]

Seeing Tanaka arrive, Shiori sighed in relief when she saw he seemed fine.

"How are you, hurt anywhere?" she asked with a touch of concern.

Smiling, Tanaka descended from the sky, standing before her, and responded, "I'm perfectly fine, just a little tired. But, zero injuries."

"Really?" She seemed surprised.

And why wouldn't she be? After all, he had been up against the Third Tsuchikage. Just the fact that he managed to fight and survive was a great feat, not to mention coming out unscathed...

Instead of letting the focus remain on him, Tanaka gave her a good look from head to toe: "And you, Shiori-san, you're not hurt? If you're injured anywhere, let me know, you know how good I am at healing people."

Feeling his gaze, Shiori blushed slightly but quickly composed herself and answered, "Mm, I'm fine. I'm not hurt, see?"

She spun around.

Smiling, Tanaka let out a sigh, "I'm glad to hear that."

Shiori, hearing and seeing his expression, thought with a racing heart: 'As I suspected, does he like me?'

Unaware of Shiori's thoughts, Tanaka looked at the ninjas around him and quickly realized that, upon seeing him arrive, they all began to flee without looking back.

"You've become quite the repellent, kid." Tsunade, who wasn't far off, approached, wrapping her arm around Tanaka's neck and pulling his head against the hard armor around her chest.

Tanaka mentally complained about the hardness but knew what he should and shouldn't say. He just struggled to free himself from Tsunade's grasp and shrugged: "What can I do? I'm so kind, but they seem to treat me like a monster~"

"Kind, you?" Jiraiya, who looked at him enviously, retorted, "Though the fatalities caused by you are minimal, on the other hand, the number of ninjas from other villages who've had an arm or leg broken has surpassed three digits."

"And isn't that being kind?" Tanaka raised an eyebrow at him, "As long as there's life, there's hope for a better future. On the other hand, in death, there's nothing to hope for but eternal darkness in the Pure Land."

"How do you know what it's like in the Pure Land?" Orochimaru asked with great interest, coming up behind Jiraiya.

"How should I know?" Tanaka opened his hands in response, "But I don't think it's any different. At least it shouldn't be paradise, or else death wouldn't be so unpleasant, and not everyone would fear dying."

A silence fell after Tanaka's words.

"Okay, okay, enough talk about such a depressing subject." Tsunade scratched her head in frustration. Then, she asked him, "Tanaka, how did things go with Oonoki? Is he going to retreat?"

"I don't know," Tanaka replied. "I gave him the choice to take his people and retreat from the war, or else we'd continue. In return, he wanted me to join his village. If I did that, he'd retreat." Seeing the worried look on Shiori's face, he added, "Obviously, I refused. Then he asked me to return Han to him, but I refused again since I negotiated Han with the Revolutionary Army."

Tanaka had no intention of hiding the fact that he knew the Revolutionary Army. In fact, as long as they didn't think he was part of the organization, but rather had some sort of friendship or alliance with them, it was advantageous for him, especially considering his future plan to use the Revolutionary Army to create a barrier around Uzushiogakure.