Chapter 39: Fated Encounter!

In a traditional-looking inn, a tall man with red markings on the right side of his face and a turban-like headgear tied with his forehead protector was running across the tatami-matted floor from one room to another.

"Not here..."

He seemed to be in a rush as he went to another room, growing increasingly frustrated, "He's not here either!?"

"Fuck!"

The man cursed as he quickly headed toward the communal room, bursting the door open.

"Huh?"

"Baki-sensei?"

Baki's sudden entrance startled the two teenagers in the room. He looked at the sandy blonde-haired teenager with four pigtails and gritted his teeth, "Temari, I told you, didn't I?"

"And you..."

He turned to the dark-attired teenager with his face covered in makeup and scolded, "Kankuro, you fool!"

"What happened?"

Temari asked Baki with a frown, clearly dissatisfied with being scolded out of nowhere.

"I told you to keep your eyes on Gaara, you idiots!"

Baki's words made both of them widen their eyes in shock.

Temari and Kankuro looked at each other and then frantically started to run toward the rooms.

"I've checked every single one," Baki interrupted, shaking his head.

"He's not here. Let's go outside. We can't let him get into trouble, or Kazekage-sama will kill me!"

"...Yes, sir!"

All three of them vanished, setting out to find Gaara before he caused any trouble he wasn't supposed to be causing...

...yet.

Meanwhile...

"Phew..."

Tsuna took a deep breath, feeling as light as a feather without those weights on.

He was heading toward the public onsen outside the village, which was why he took the weights off to clean himself.

It had been a few days since he received those weights, and every time he trained, it put him on the verge of losing consciousness.

"...I can't lose to that one crazy motherfucker," he muttered to himself.

That one crazy motherfucker who could run for days despite his legs being broken—Tsuna refused to lose against that guy, which was why he always persisted.

However...

Every time he took the weights off, he felt significantly lighter, and in just a few days, he could feel his strength increasing exponentially, which made him satisfied.

And to top it off, the person who had been secretly following him had finally left, as he hadn't sensed the guy around since this morning.

This made him wonder, "I guess they found out I wasn't much of a threat, huh?"

"Although it leaves a bad taste in my mouth being underestimated, this might be for the best..."

Now that the guy had stopped following him, Tsuna could freely train his earthbending and metalbending.

"Let's relax my muscles a bit," Tsuna muttered to himself as he saw the onsen just around the corner.

He entered the onsen, took off his clothes, and made his way to the men's section.

However...

"Huh? What the hell?"

The second he entered the onsen, he saw a naked guy with white hair, squatting in the corner with a lewd expression, peering over the wall separating the men's and women's sections.

"Hehehe, such big mountains..."

The guy muttered to himself, drooling badly.

"...I knew we'd eventually meet somehow, but I guess this could be one of those possibilities, huh?"

It's the Pervy Sage, Jiraiya!

Tsuna facepalmed and sighed, then started cleaning himself, trying to ignore Jiraiya.

"S-such a massive garden!? Damn, I'll be your gardener for free, hehe..."

Jiraiya kept muttering stupidly indirect ways to describe the beautiful scenes he saw on the other side, which slowly got on Tsuna's nerves.

"..."

Tsuna felt his veins bulge on his forehead as Jiraiya continued his nonsense.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "I know you're down bad, but could you please tone it down a little?"

"Hmm?"

Jiraiya blinked and turned his head slightly, giving Tsuna a sheepish grin, "Oh, come on, kid! You gotta appreciate the beauty of life!"

"I know, I understand, but it's unsettling to hear a grown-ass man saying that stuff like a virgin."

"Huh?"

Jiraiya would usually shrug off and ignore anyone who told him to stop.

However, being called a virgin was unforgivable!

"What did you say? A virgin? Me?"

"You can go ahead and continue peeking to the other side..."

Tsuna submerged himself into the hot spring and let out a satisfied sigh before turning to Jiraiya, "Just don't make any sounds this time. It's so weird hearing a dude letting out such a strange noise. Most would have thought you were jerking off..."

"...You don't want me to stop?"

Jiraiya blinked in surprise.

This kid piqued his interest.

Most people would have tried to be a hero and told him to stop being weird.

Seeing Tsuna's nonchalant expression, Jiraiya could tell that he genuinely didn't care about what he was doing.

Approaching Tsuna, Jiraiya's expression suddenly turned serious. "You..."

"Huh?"

Tsuna turned to see Jiraiya looking at him with a serious expression. His lips twitched as he asked, "Yeah, what's up?"

Jiraiya crossed his arms and lowered his tone, "What kind of women do you like?"

"...What kind of women?"

Tsuna was now utterly speechless.

"Yes, just answer my question."

However, he still couldn't help but fall into a thoughtful silence as he considered the question.

After a moment, his expression eased up and his eyes narrowed sharply. He turned to Jiraiya and slowly opened his mouth, "....A thicc one!"

"A... t-thicc one!?"

Jiraiya gasped at the answer, swallowing his shock as he looked at Tsuna with a hint of expectation, "A younger one, or an older one?"

"The mature one!"

"T-the... m-mature one!?"

Jiraiya's eyes widened in shock as he fell on his butt, staring at Tsuna's stony expression in disbelief, "You're so young yet have such wisdom..."

"To think that I'd meet you here..."

He felt touched, almost tearing up.

Jiraiya finally felt like he met someone who could speak the same language, his expression also turning stony as he sighed, "To think that I could finally meet someone like you in my life. I, Jiraiya, am truly blessed."

"What's your name, comrade?"

Both of them then became good friends. Jiraiya even asked for input on his novel, Icha-Icha Paradise.

Equipped with his extensive knowledge of Japanese animal videos (JAV), Tsuna offered Jiraiya absolutely mind-blowing insights.

If he hadn't known Tsuna's age, he would have called him master right then and there.

That day, the future best-selling Icha-Icha series was born.

A masterpiece, the best of the best!

"To think that the culture here is quite underdeveloped..."

Tsuna mused to himself, feeling somewhat disappointed at this world's backwardness. Hopefully, his knowledge had been useful for Jiraiya.

He smiled before refocusing, "Right, let's focus on working on my ramen first..."

He had completed the first half, learning the art of ramen from Teuchi himself after working with the kind old man for the past couple of days.

However, to complete the mission, Tsuna had to develop a recipe for his own restaurant based on what he had learned so far.

He was currently walking through a secret alleyway, which provided a faster route to the ramen shop.

The place was usually quiet, with few people passing through the alleyway.

However, Tsuna noticed a person walking toward him from the opposite side and blinked, "Someone actually walked through this alley?"

"Hmm? That guy..."

His gaze fell upon a red-haired teenager carrying a sand gourd as his eyes lit up in recognition, "Gaara, huh?"

The sun cast shadows over the boy's face, covering his expression.

Tsuna continued walking casually despite recognizing the teenager in front of him.

"...!?"

But then, a sudden jolt of alarm shot through him.

Gaara's expression seemed off as the teen suddenly clutched his head before narrowing his eyes on Tsuna as he raised his hand, "Sabaku!"

[Sand Manipulation: Sand Waterfall!]

"What the hell? Out of nowhere?"

Tsuna cursed under his breath as a torrent of sand surged toward him.

With lightning reflexes, he bent the earth beneath him, propelling himself away from the attack.

Clatter!

The ground trembled as the sand crashed into the alleyway wall, sending debris flying.

"Sigh..."

Tsuna sighed as he landed on the ground a bit far away from Gaara, whose eyes locked on him.

He muttered, "How annoying.... Now, I'm sure that guy will be tailing me again."

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