Ch393. A little fun between the matches

But no matter the anger Raikage felt, he couldn't just attack. This was not his village and he was practically surrounded by enemy ninjas. Not to mention, there were numerous important guests in the audience.

He retaliated in the only way he could. Verbally.

"She is passable." Raikage gruffly grunted. "Maybe one day she will succeed you and get her ass handed down to her while receiving a cool nickname out of it too."

"Heh, you wish. You are nowhere near Hanzo's level, kid." Tsunade derisively snorted, reminding him of his younger age compared to her. "Neither are you on the level of your father, for that matter."

As she said that, she gleefully watched Raikage stiffening. Thanks to Konan, she knew the biggest weakness of Raikage was his deeply ingrained need to surpass his father, the Third Raikage. Considering the guy could fight Hachibi to draw and the only wound he received from it was self-inflicted... that was quite a tall order.

"May I offer you some refreshments?" Shikaku quickly butted in, forcing a smile on his face as he gave Tsunade a brief and subtle pleading look while also discreetly signaling the ANBU hidden nearby to bring some drinks.

The ANBU didn't really want to. Presenting something to these legendary ninjas would mean getting near them when they are somewhat pissed off. Unfortunately, his Kage ordered him...

Tsunade and A stared at each other for a few long seconds, and Shikaku started to think his distraction failed when Tsunade turned towards him, completely disregarding Raikage who continued to attempt setting her on fire with his glare.

"Sake would be nice, thank you." She pleasantly spoke, causing Shikaku's lips to twitch at the one-eighty she did on the moment's notice.

Even Ringo, who mostly broodily sat in her chair and boredly waited for this useless event to end, couldn't help but smile at the display.

"I will have water." Pakura spoke with a smile, despite knowing Shikaku was simply wanting to break the conflict between the two.

"Mmm, can I have some dango?" Orochimaru asked with an amused smile, his eyes hovering over Tsunade with curious glint as if he was trying to solve a complicated puzzle.

At any other time, he would like nothing else more than the conflict to escalate to blows but now was not the time. His plans depended on timing and if Raikage decided to just go 'yolo' at Tsunade, everything would have instantly gone to hell.

Orochimaru had no desire to make all these months of planning and preparation go to waste because of one lightning-clad muscle-head with anger issues. Nor did he appreciate his former teammate being her usual dickish spoiled self.

Tsunade was an acquired taste that tasted sour or bitter even after acquiring, depending on if she wanted to tease or straight up piss you off.

He was not a fan…

There was a reason why he never approached her after his defection even though he knew she would not really fight him for Konoha. Her expertise would have been invaluable for his experiments but Tsunade was one of the rare few people who could piss him off on a daily basis because of how well she knew his tells. There was no way Orochimaru was recruiting her unless he had no other choice.

"As expected, Konoha's hospitality is as always questionable. And here I had my hopes up from the earlier showing during the procession." Tsuchikage spoke, looking at Tsunade with contempt. "At least when the monkey ruled, there was order. Kids these days..." He feigned a sigh with fake disappointment lacing his tone.

"Zip it. This is a talk between grown-ups, midget. Be a good boy and return to your fence-sitting until you at least reach our shoulders." Tsunade clicked her tongue at him.

Tsuchikage alongside with other Kages were momentarily stunned by how direct and blunt Tsunade was. Her insult to Raikage was at least veiled but this...

It took a few moments for Tsuchikage's mind to reboot before he went beep red. He did not represent only himself but also his entire village. Insulting him meant insulting the entirety of Iwa! Veiled insults were one thing but this could not be tolerated.

"How dare y-" He started but Tsunade promptly interrupted him.

"No, how dare you speak to a Daimyo like that?" She dryly asked in a firm tone that left no room for defiance.

That shut Onoki up as he gritted his teeth upon realizing that Tsunade was not just some two-bit high-ranking ninja anymore. She was bonafide Daimyo and that meant she was officially higher on the proverbial social ladder than him. It was so easy to forget this fact when Shikaku was the Hokage.

Of course, no Daimyo was stupid enough to act high and mighty in front of a Kage but Tsunade apparently couldn't care less for the unspoken usual social dynamics.

"Don't speak out of your station like the bull-headed overrated light-bulb next to you." She nonchalantly added but her eyes stared straight into Raikage's and her lips stretched into a smirk when the man stayed silent.

With her superiority established, she took it as her win.

Shikaku, on the other hand, did not like how quiet the usually boisterous man was. It felt too much like a quietness before a volcano erupted. He decided to act, if only to prevent a disaster.

But his attempt was futile and not needed. Despite the usual image the man portrayed, A was Raikage and that meant he had enough patience for the job.

In fact, Shikaku's pathetic attempt insulted him more than Tsunade's jabs.

"Do you think such a pathetic attempt would have stopped me if I wanted to attack her?" Raikage asked, looking condescendingly at Shikaku, signaling that he noticed the subtle Kagemane no Jutsu discreetly spreading through the interconnected shadows of their chairs, connecting with his feet.

"Probably not for more than a second or two but it wouldn't hurt to try." Shikaku lazily said with a sardonic smile and an expression screaming how bothersome he found this entire situation. "Would you mind calming down, please? We wouldn't want to cause a scene in front of all these important people, now, would we?"

Before Raikage could react, Shikaku turned towards Tsunade. He knew how to defuse the situation. No matter how one looked at it, Tsunade started it so he had to end it with her in a manner that would satisfy all parties and offend no one. Diplomacy was such a drag...

"Could you please stop teasing our guests, Lady Tsunade?" Shikaku politely asked, a great deal of annoyance present in his tone. 'This is why spoiled brats should not be in leadership positions...' Shikaku thought, his half-lidded eyes sluggishly trailing from Tsunade to Raikage and back.

Tsunade pouted in response, knowing her fun was over since making things any more difficult for Shikaku than this would have been a dick move, while Raikage scoffed at the lighthearted reprimand.

Teasing, his ass! She was blatantly insulting him and they all knew it.

But... causing a scene in front of so many Daimyos and important merchants from all over the Elemental Nations wouldn't do. Not yet.

He could only let it go. For now.

Shikaku resignedly sighed as Tsunade shunshined away and he was left with two indifferent and two disgruntled Kages. Oh, and there was also the clearly irritated but curious Orochimaru too.

Sometimes, his life sucked. But recently, it was always because of Tsunade...

Deciding to forego that trail of thoughts since there was nothing he could do about it anyway, he looked into the arena... and groaned as a realization hit him.

'So she was not here to be a pain in my ass. She just came and insulted Raikage and Tsuchikage because she was bored and had time to kill during the ten minutes break between the matches.' He dryly realized as he saw Hayate about to announce the second match.