61 Chapter 61 - An Unexpected Tavern Visit

Inside a local tavern, several people crowded around a large table jeering, laughing, and drinking their socks off. A few people sat on wooden chairs around the table. Stacks of tokens created a veritable city of towers made from coins.

Only one person in the crowd did not engage in the tomfoolery: a girl no older than twenty with short black hair and black eyes. With a bored look on her face, she quietly stood behind a rowdy blonde woman who was casting bets on the dice and losing money every round. The black-haired girl inwardly sighed at the snickers of the other gamblers.

"Alright! I'm calling all 1's and going all in!" The blonde woman exclaimed while slamming a sake bottle down on the table and shoving the rest of her money forward.

Everyone else at the table smirked and called her bet with varying guesses. However, when the cup was raised to reveal the dice… all the dice showed singular dots on their topmost sides.

"Wha-?!"

"Impossible!"

"Are you kidding me?!"

Ignoring the stunned reactions of the crowd, the blonde woman stopped laughing. Her merry attitude extinguished itself like a match thrown in a lake.

"Shizune," The woman said in an anxious tone.

"Yes, Lady Tsunade?"

Tsunade stood up, causing her massive chest to bounce in a way that all the men tried not to ogle. Then, she gathered up her winnings and said, "We are leaving."

"Eh? But you just won! Please stay!" One of the gamblers pleaded.

Tsunade briefly glanced at the man, but then ignored him and walked away. The crowd parted to make way for her even though they all wanted her to stay and give them more free money. The moment Tsunade and Shizune left the building, they encountered a purple-haired young man and a blue-haired young woman.

"If you didn't know where anything was, you could have just told me. I don't mind asking people for directions," The purple-haired young man said, lips curling upward slightly.

In response, the woman, whose blue hair was currently untied and ended in curls near her shoulderblades, only turned her head away slightly.

At first, Tsunade ignored the two, but upon seeing her, both of them widened their eyes as though they recognized her. Of course, people recognized her all over the place, but this was different. It was the reaction of a person seeing somebody they personally knew in a place they least expected. Because of that, she took a second look at the two. Instantly, Tsunade felt some familiarity toward the blue-haired girl.

"You are… that girl from Ame."

Konan flinched in response. She started raising her arms to form hand signs, but Jin's hand quickly grabbed her wrist to stop her. This action did not escape Tsunade's eyes, causing her to study the pair more closely. Although she did not practice as a shinobi for a long time, she could see a hesitant hostility in the blue-haired girl.

The purple-haired young man, on the other hand, looked at her with a slightly conflicted expression. Despite glancing at her breasts for a moment as any other man she had encountered did, he only raised a brow. Mainly, his face betrayed that he knew her well even though she knew she had never met a young man like him before… unless he was one of the other two Amegakure kids Jiraiya trained and was using a Transformation Jutsu. That did not seem likely, though.

"We're here to eat, so let's just do that," The purple-haired young man said to the blue-haired young woman before dragging her toward the tavern door.

"Wait," Tsunade said, stopping them from entering.

"Do you need something?" Jin asked.

"...Your name was… Konan, right?"

In response, Konan's eyes narrowed to slits. Body tense as though ready to fight at any moment, she slowly nodded.

"Are you… doing okay?" Tsunade stumbled over her words as though struggling with how to ask such a thing.

"I'm not sure you have the right to ask such a thing," The purple-haired young man commented, dragging Konan into the tavern by her wrist.

Tsunade froze. Her heart skipped a beat, but not in a good way. Frowning, she clicked her tongue and stormed off down the road. Shizune ran after her with her brows creased in confusion.

…

...

...…

Jin and Konan sat down at a table furthest away from the bummed out crowd of gamblers. While Jin rested his hand on his palm, Konan stared holes through his face.

"What?"

"...Why did you do that?"

"Which part?"

"What you told her."

A thoughtful expression on his face, Jin asked in return, "Hm… Well, you know how I've mentioned knowing about all of your worlds, right?"

Konan nodded.

"Because of that, I know about many of the most influential people in your respective worlds. Tsunade is one of the people I know the most about. I used to like her a lot, but after living as a soldier for a long time, I have very conflicted feelings about her. Does that answer your question?"

"Mm… no."

Jin shrugged.

"You were a soldier?" Konan asked, showing curiosity toward him for the first time since they met.

"Yes," Jin said, eyes unfocused as though glimpsing into the past. "It was a long time ago, but I fought in a war for a couple decades and somehow lived until the end even though it ruined most of the world. I might have lost everyone I cared about at that time, but now I've got people I care about again."

"..."

Lips curling upward, Jin continued, "Heh. I don't really look back on that time often for a reason. My current life is quite enjoyable, so I just remember the lessons that experience taught me so that I can live this life with fewer regrets. Especially after connecting with all of you from the Chat Group."

"...I see," Konan mumbled, lowering her gaze and folding her fingers together.

A few moments later, a man arrived to ask what the two wanted to eat. They both just ordered some dumplings, fried rice, and water. Overall, it ended up as a quiet but tasty meal.

~~~~~~~~~

(A/N: For those who might have missed it, pic of Konan from my p@treon. Also, I hit the 100k word mark. Cool.)