章節 300: Chapter 300 Chatting By The Fire
"Good. As long as you understand." Tsunade tilted her head back and took a sip of her sake, leaning against the bamboo partition. Through the mist, her imposing figure loomed large, "I thought you would be angry and feel that it's unfair."
"I didn't think that much about it. If I really calculate everything carefully, nothing will ever add up." Naruto sighed and said unusually contemplative, "Some people shine brightly, while others are covered in rust."
"In the final analysis, you still have to fight for it yourself. Fairness is something you punch your way to. You've treated me well enough, Tsunade-sama. I'd feel guilty if I were to hold a grudge."
"You don't owe me anything, and you don't need to feel guilty. And when I need you, I won't be polite about it."
"You said a lot, but none of them were what I wanted to hear." Tsunade rubbed her temples, "You said it well, but don't say those empty guilty sentiments next time."
With that, Naruto heard the sound of her gulping down more sake. Tsunade enjoyed drinking, and a little alcohol didn't harm her, and it actually helped her relax and rejuvenate.
However, she never smoked. Smoking makes people age quickly, and once the organs are damaged, it is difficult to reverse the damage. Even if Tsunade is proficient in Medical Ninjutsu, it is impossible for her to purify herself.
Naruto had once seen Jiraiya smoke, though he rarely did so in front of others, and that time was just an accident. He saw Jiraiya squatting on the stone steps where the light from the store could not reach, with flickering lights dotted in the darkness.
When Jiraiya smoked, he was silent, and his whole being seemed to have aged. It was as if the weight of the shinobi world's fate rested on his shoulders. His life had always been about fulfilling the Great Toad Sage's prophecy, and he never really lived for himself.
When he was young, he trained disciples, only for them to die, and his comrade, Orochimaru, defected from the village. After wandering the world for half his life, his teacher also died, at the hands of his most talented student, Orochimaru.
From now on, Jiraiya would continue living according to the Great Toad Sage's prophecy. According to the prophecy, Jiraiya's future has changed, and he would eventually settle in a lively place, surrounded by the noise of people.
As his thoughts drifted away, Naruto felt that this ending was good for Jiraiya. For Jiraiya, his mission was to find a way to bring peace to the Shinobi World and find the Child of Prophecy.
His love was for the greater good. First the peace of the Shinobi World, then Konoha, and finally, himself, who was often powerless to control his own fate.
After a period of silence, the sound of water splashing suddenly came from the other end, breaking the silence.
"That necklace I gave you, are you still wearing it?" Tsunade asked softly.
"Yeah, it's still on me." Naruto replied, touching the necklace hanging from his chest. Then, he couldn't help but think to himself, 'It seems that curse, which had claimed lives before me, didn't seem to work on me. Could it be that I really am invincible?'
"Wear it well, don't lose it."
"Got it, I won't lose it."
After soaking for half an hour, Naruto left, dressed, and sat by the curtain at the entrance, quietly waiting for Tsunade to finish.
About ten minutes later, Tsunade came out, looking slightly surprised to see Naruto waiting for her. Her wet golden hair draped over one side, dampening the collar of her clothes.
As she reached into her chest to adjust her innerwear, she asked.
"Waiting for me?"
"Yes, we can warm up by the fire downstairs." He said as he skillfully handed over a towel for wiping hair to Tsunade. This simple inn naturally didn't provide these, so he had prepared them himself.
The advantage of having a seal space immediately became apparent, as he didn't even need to carry a sealing scroll.
Tsunade took the towel without a word, wrapped her hair, and headed downstairs with crisp steps. The innkeeper had disappeared, and a kettle of water was boiling in the middle of the room, with firewood stacked nearby.
Firewood was free. You had to add it yourself if you wanted to warm up. The fire pit wasn't showing any flames anymore, so Naruto sat down first and skillfully arranged the wood to start a small fire.
Seeing Naruto blew on the kindling, trying to make the fire grow little and little, Tsunade was speechless. After a moment, she couldn't help but commented, "Can't you just use Ninjutsu?"
"It's almost there." Naruto replied without raising his head and continued to blow on the fire.
Hearing this, Tsunade rolled her eyes at him, sat there waiting while hugging her chest with her wet hair hanging down. Sure enough, the fire soon crackled to life, and its warmth began to spread.
Sitting by the fire, Tsunade let her hair dry slowly. The light from the flames illuminated her snow-white skin, casting a soft glow on her figure.
Naruto glanced at her once but quickly looked away, feeling the heat rise to his face, 'When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back.'
He set up a grill over the fire and began quietly preparing dinner. The inn offered meals, but they charged 300 ryo for a set of dishes. If the guests didn't mind, they could eat whatever the inn had, but they had to eat before it was too late.
When they had arrived, it was already late, so Naruto figured they'd have to fend for themselves. The innkeeper had come out earlier to warn them not to go out at night.
"It's not safe around the village lately. Some strange folks have shown up, and it's dangerous to go out at night." He said and left quickly after the warning.
Naruto looked at Tsunade and blinked. The latter calmly took out the unfinished sake and slowly heated it by the fire, showing no curiosity about the situation.
"Tsunade-sama, you sure have great self-control." Naruto praised.
"Are you curious?" Tsunade gave him a sidelong glance, her unconsciously sultry look laced with slight annoyance.
"No, no, not at all. We're leaving tomorrow anyway." He chuckled awkwardly. "Even if something strange is going on, we won't find out until we reach one of the towns in the Land of Iron. This place is too desolate, and there's nothing interesting."
"Good." She took the sake back comfortably, frowned and took a sip to test the temperature, "When traveling, don't be too curious."
"Got it." He replied, and then folded the meat slices and pushed them over to Tsunade in a very servile manner.
Tsunade, despite her words, accepted Naruto's offering without complaint. She sat by the fire, savoring the warmth and the food, then asked, "Do you want to know about the necklace?"
"I..." Naruto wanted to refuse, but seeing that Tsunade seemed like she wanted to talk about it, he nodded, "I do."
Tsunade paused for a moment, took another swig of sake, and then slowly began telling the story behind the necklace. She talked about the story of the Shodaime Hokage, moving on to the childhood of the Sannin, and then eventually spoke of her younger brother, Nawaki.
Naruto responded in a disjointed manner. He was indeed a good listener. He neither made Tsunade feel that he was perfunctory nor did he make anyone feel that he was listening very seriously. It was as if he was playing the role of a stranger.
The feeling of being able to tell a stranger about your past without holding back is somewhat irresistible, even addictive.
Then, her story gradually reached the part about Kato Dan.
創作者的想法 
Iampoorguy
Iampoorguy Support me at Pat reon
https://www.pat*reon.com/IamPoorGuyToo
remove the *
章節 301: Chapter 301 That Armor Looked Cool
Tsunade recounted her story absentmindedly, while Naruto only half-listened. He flipped the sizzling meat over the fire, occasionally pouring hot tea from the kettle he'd set to boil.
Her words went in one ear and out the other, the soft murmurs blending with the crackling of the campfire. Naruto appeared to be daydreaming, though Tsunade hadn't intended to divulge more than necessary, as she only meant to explain the necklace's originsce.
But before she knew it, she had shared more than she originally planned.
The necklace passed from Shodaime Hokage to her, then to those she considered most important, and now it rested in Naruto's hands. That was all there was to it.
"So, this necklace is cursed." She concluded her story this way.
Naruto remained calm and methodically divided the grilled meat into plates and poured the tea into cups. He set everything aside before looking up and nonchalantly replying, "I'm immune to all curses."
The firelight flickered over the two of them, casting shadows. In many ways, Naruto and Tsunade were alike, as both looked nonchalant and seemingly indifferent. Yet, Tsunade had a clear path and guiding light within her.
On that path stood the Shodaime Hokage, the Nidaime Hokage, her deceased brother, Nawaki, and the fallen, Kato Dan. Their legacy guided her to walk the path of the Hokage, whether completed or unfinished.
Naruto's casual attitude, on the other hand, was more about enjoying the moment. He is different from Tsunade.
He didn't wallow in self-pity nor give up on anything. He never finds anything troublesome, and as long as he likes it, he will still get involved no matter how troublesome the matter is.
Inside his heart, a flame flickered, bright one moment, dim the next, reaching toward the horizon.
Tsunade understood that Naruto had his own ideas, so she never forced him to become the Hokage. With his personality, Naruto was not suitable to be Hokage, as he wasn't the type to dwell on such responsibilities.
"You'll be fine. I'm just letting you know about the curse." Tsunade glanced at him calmly. "I'm just afraid that after you learned about it, you'll keep thinking about it all the time."
He smiled, "Tsunade-sama, you're pretty kind."
"Heh."
The fire in the inn's main hall crackled brightly as the wood continued to burn.
Tsunade's hair had dried by now, and she casually tied it up, leisurely sipping her drink while chatting idly with Naruto. Before long, they both finished their meals, tidied up, and went to their rooms for the night. The fire pit gradually died out.
…
The next day.
The window on the second floor of the inn creaked open, and Naruto glanced at the non-stop snow and wind outside and frowned.
'Traveling in such weather was not a good choice.'
Soon after, the window in the adjacent room also opened.
Tsunade, draped in a white robe, looked half-asleep, a hint of drool still at the corner of her mouth. She glanced lazily at Naruto next door and wiped her mouth nonchalantly.
"We can't leave." She yawned.
"Let's wait a bit. The snowstorm shouldn't last long." Naruto replied. Not far away, a red wall stood stark against the white snow, eye-catching and conspicuous.
Breakfast was meat porridge, bubbling over the fire. Tsunade wasn't particularly hungry and instinctively reached for her sake, only for Naruto to snatch it away.
"No drinking first thing in the morning." He said, and tossed the sake directly into the seal space.
Tsunade glared at him for a few moments, pretending to be shocked and taking a deep breath in mock surprise, "Shizune said the same thing to me before. Are you two secretly plotting behind my back?"
Naruto didn't bother responding, merely humming in acknowledgment. While ladling out porridge, he said perfunctorily, "In a few years, I will take Shizune-san away, and then no one will nag you anymore."
Hearing this, she chuckled coldly, "Shizune will never leave me."
After breakfast, the snowstorm had indeed stopped. The inn's door creaked open, and the two of them, dressed in white robes, trudged through the snow.
The winter sun hung high in the sky, but it offered no warmth.
There were only two days left until the summit. Naruto calculated the time and realized they'd just barely make it. He glanced back at Tsunade, who was taking her time walking, and shook his head helplessly.
"It's just the two of us. Can we really handle all those people? Even if Kakashi-sensei couldn't make it, we could've at least brought Guy-sensei." Naruto grumbled while standing on the side of the road.
"Guy?" Tsunade hesitated for a moment, "We're traveling in secret. Do you want everyone to know our route? He's Konoha's Green Beast!"
"This…" Naruto thought about it and realized she had a point, so he dropped the subject.
"Don't worry. If necessary, you can always call over that Princess of Sunagakure, and then there will be three of us here." Tsunade said as she passed by him.
Naruto rolled his eyes. He had never thought of provoking Temari, that was purely an accident. However, when Tsunade mentioned Temari, Naruto immediately thought of the slim waist on the other side of the curtain.
'A slim, soft, pale waist, free of any excess fat.'
He recalled it briefly but didn't linger on the thought. He glanced far ahead and continued on his way with his head down.
…
Two days later.
In the midst of a snowstorm, Naruto spotted a line of iron-clad samurai standing like statues in the snow. Their entire bodies were encased in armor, their faces masked, with glowing red eyes reflecting the gleam of steel.
The loyalty was written large on their faces, as if they were ready to serve the Emperor's will from a Warhammer game at any moment.
'What the hell!' Naruto averted his gaze, then sucked in a sharp breath.
"What's wrong?" Tsunade teased him, "Never seen a country of iron-clad Samurai before?"
"No, I just thought that armor looked cool. I'd like to try it on sometime." Naruto said in a low voice, "But it's too ordinary. It would be better if there was an enhanced version with Chakra Armor."
"Maybe in the future." Tsunade said offhandedly.
"Maybe."
Naruto didn't linger and continued walking alongside Tsunade. The leader of the Land of Iron, Mifune, stood with two bodyguards, braving the wind and snow as they waited for the pair, his expression solemn.
"We've been expecting you, Hokage-dono." Mifune greeted them formally.
"It's freezing out here. Let's talk inside." Tsunade said with a smile, pointing to the massive meeting tower behind them.
"Indeed, both of you, please come this way." Mifune said, and just as he turned halfway, he added, "Did Hokage-dono only bring one guard this time?"
"Yeah, it's not like anything serious will happen at this Five Kage Summit. One guard is enough." She replied with a smile.
Hearing this, Mifune blinked in surprise.
After all, this Five Kage Summit was initiated by Raikage, with the Land of Iron serving as host, to address the issue of the Nibi's Jinchuriki, Nii Yugito, being kidnapped by Uchiha Sasuke.
But from Tsunade's tone, it seemed that she was somewhat dissatisfied with the Raikage's tendency to initiate the Five Kage Summit at the drop of a hat.
The Five Kage Summit hadn't even started yet, and the tension was already palpable. Each of the Kage had arrived with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. Aside from Gaara and the Mizukage being more easygoing, the others were not as simple to deal with.
After all, right now, the only one that has lost its Jinchuriki is Kumogakure, while other countries are doing fine and have not lost their Biju yet.
創作者的想法
Iampoorguy
Iampoorguy
Support me at Pat reon
https://www.pat*reon.com/IamPoorGuyToo
remove the *
每周推薦票狀態
200+ 推薦票
榜單 
21 推薦票 
段落評論