Chapter 99

During the Second Ninja World War, Tatsuya entertained the notion of engaging in some mischief in the camp with Tsunade. However, Tsunade, with a firm stance on this, adopted an attitude of "If you dare, be prepared to face the consequences."

Tatsuya claimed to be a gentleman who held great respect for women, but after nearly two years living apart.

"Do you want to meet your death?" Tsunade warned, "I advise you not to act shamelessly, or you'll find yourself in a tight spot!"

In the night, a certain Senju princess gritted her teeth within the female ninja camp.

"Keep it down. Remember, we are surrounded by all-female ninjas. I'm telling you, not even the Sage of Six Paths could stop me now!"

Similar to Tatsuya's deployment in the north, the residences of male and female ninjas were segregated into two halves. While it wasn't as meticulously organized as a village, attention needed to be paid to this aspect.

Despite the smaller proportion of female ninjas, they were all arranged in the corner of the stronghold. At any other time, some might dare to come here but with the formidable Tsunade reigning. No one dared to risk crossing the line without the fear of imminent fist of death.

Jiraiya, in his youth, once attempted to peek at Tsunade but was discovered by Tsunade, narrowly avoiding a trip to shinigami. Jiraiya later described it as the closest brush with death he ever had except fighting a berserk nine-tails.

"Red, what are you doing there?"

After setting up the tent she shared with Terumi Mei, Rin noticed Kurenai crouching near another camp tent. Kurenai, visibly startled, gestured for silence and whispered, "Shhh~"

"Keep it down." While saying this, Kurenai waved her hand and added, "Come and join the fun."

"What?"

Seeing Kurenai's reaction, Rin cautiously leaned forward. At this moment, Tsunade's voice sounded again: "We are surrounded by kunoichi. And you still dare to, you're too shameless!"

"Don't worry, no one will hear, and if they do they'll think it's a cat." Tatsuya's assured voice followed.

Kurenai and Rin exchanged astonished looks, both exclaiming, "Wow!"

After a while, the sounds of a scuffle gradually reached the ears of the two young women. Even outside the tent, it was evident that Tsunade was attempting to restrain herself from shouting too loudly.

"Red we shouldn't..."

Rin's face turned almost blood-red as she whispered this to Kurenai.

"Stop pretending, Rin. Do you dare say that during the time you trained under Tsunade-sama before graduation, you didn't overhear it?"

The blush deepened, signifying that everyone was on the same page.

"How do you know?" Rin mumbled, wishing she could find a hole to disappear into.

Kurenai chuckled, "Rin, you're not as discreet as you think."

"What are you two doing?"

After a while alone in the camp, Terumi Mei noticed Rin hadn't come back for quite a while and decided to look for her.

Within a few steps, she discovered Rin and Kurenai, two girls who didn't particularly get along, sticking close to another tent. The two girls were so absorbed in their conversation that they didn't even notice Mei's arrival.

Then, the group expanded once again. The three girls didn't recall how they made their way back later.

The next morning, Shizune, sharing the same tent, noticed that the three of them seemed a bit sluggish.

"Shizune, why are you alone? Where are Kurenai and Rin?"

Despite her radiant face, Tsunade felt a near-paralyzing fatigue in her bones as she frowned upon seeing Shizune alone.

"I couldn't wake them up, so I came first."

Shizune scratched her head in confusion. She had gone to bed early the night before and was unaware of what she might have missed.

"Forget it; maybe they are too tired to train from traveling."

"Today's practice is canceled, and I'll catch some sleep too," Tsunade said, expressing her exhaustion.

Tatsuya didn't grant himself any special treatment and shared a tent with Jiraiya. However, since yesterday, Jiraiya hadn't seen a trace of Tatsuya in the tent. Everyone knew what this guy was up to last night.

"Jiraiya, good morning~"

Tatsuya absentmindedly ruffled his slightly messy white hair and greeted Jiraiya.

Jiraiya's eyebrows twitched twice, and though he wouldn't admit it, envy lingered. 

Jiraiya tried to change the subject to lighten the mood. "In this war, the old man made plenty of mistakes." 

While Tatsuya and Tsunade hadn't explicitly stated their intentions in front of Jiraiya, he wasn't foolish either. He sensed a problem when he learned that these two had willingly headed to the battlefield.

Although Jiraiya joined the battle almost halfway through, during that time, he had learned quite much from his apprentice, Minato. Even a political novice could see it. The third Hokage had to step down after the war.

"The only regret is that none of the four died in battle," Tatsuya remarked with a smirk.

Jiraiya's expression grew more serious, and he said solemnly, "So... are you planning to take action?"

Jiraiya's loyalty had always been to Konoha itself, not to any individual at the top, even if it were his sensei, Sarutobi Hiruzen. This was evident when he chose to observe rather than intervene during Orochimaru's life-and-death battle with Sarutobi Hiruzen during the chunnin exams.

Facing Tsunade, he had said, "If you aid Orochimaru in destroying Konoha, I will kill you." However, it seemed that he grappled with the decision to ignore Sarutobi Hiruzen's death.

But that's the Jiraya of the future. At the moment, he still held a certain affection for his Sensei. If Tatsuya or Tsunade decided to act, he didn't know what to do yet...

He was torn.

However, there was still some emotional conflict when considering the plight of the Senju clan and the current situation of Tsunade and Nawaki. Jiraiya felt he lacked the motivation to stop Tsunade, Nawaki, and Tatsuya.

"Live for yourself."

Tatsuya offered this brief response before turning and leaving. It appeared that Jiraiya, the most carefree of the Sannin, was carrying the heaviest burden. His entire life had been guided by the so-called prophecy of Great Toad Sage Gamamaru.

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