The next evening.
Teizawa finally returned to Konoha.
The light in the inn room was still on.
He pushed the door open, then abruptly stopped.
Something was off.
A board sat on the table, black and white stones crisscrossing across it.
Two people sat facing each other.
They were playing with great focus.
One was his Sand Clone.
It had one leg crossed over the other and held a white stone between its fingers.
That signature annoying smile was plastered across its face.
The other was Tsunade.
Her blond hair hung loose, and her coat had been taken off and draped over the back of the chair.
She wore only a thin shirt, the sleeves rolled to her elbows, revealing her fair forearms.
She held a black stone in her hand.
Her brow was slightly furrowed, as if she was thinking about Danzo's miserable state.
The corner of Teizawa's mouth twitched.
Gomoku?
His clone was playing Gomoku with the Hokage.
What kind of bizarre scene was this?
"Hey..."
At that moment, the Sand Clone raised its head and waved at him with that infuriating look.
Its expression was exactly the same as his own.
"You're back?"
Tsunade set down her stone and turned around.
Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him.
The relaxed look she had while playing vanished from her face.
In its place was a scrutinizing expression, carrying a faint hint of danger.
"Explain yourself."
Her voice was slow and steady. "You haven't been at the inn for two nights in a row. Where did you go?"
The instant Tsunade first saw Teizawa's clone, she had confirmed it was only a clone.
Even though she could not find any flaw in it.
Because if it had been the real body, there was no way he would have endured for two whole days without touching her.
Hearing that, Teizawa looked helpless.
This clone had actually let Tsunade wait in the room without notifying him?
But on second thought, with his personality, as long as Tsunade was not a threat, there was naturally no need to do anything unnecessary.
He waved his hand, and the Sand Clone turned into a cloud of sand that scattered into the air.
The stones on the board clattered all over the floor.
"Why are you here?"
Teizawa walked to the table and sat across from Tsunade.
Why was she here?
Tsunade's face suddenly turned a little unnatural.
A faint blush even rose over it.
She turned her face away, her voice trembling slightly.
"I... I just came by to take a look."
Teizawa looked at her clearly evasive expression.
Then he suddenly understood.
Back then, Tsunade had promised to spend a night with him.
So she had come to keep the appointment?
The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. He picked up the teacup on the table.
It was the one Tsunade had just used.
He drank from the rim.
Tsunade's lips moved.
She wanted to say something, but could not get it out.
"You still haven't told me..."
She stiffly changed the subject, though the blush on her face deepened.
"Where did you go?"
"Guess."
Teizawa set down the cup and leaned back in the chair.
His gaze fell on her face.
"I'm not guessing."
Tsunade glared at him.
"You disappeared on my Konoha's territory. Who knows whether you were off doing something bad?"
"I... I have to ask clearly."
Teizawa smiled. There was a careless ease in that smile.
"I went to kill Danzo."
"What?"
Tsunade shot to her feet.
The motion was so violent that the chair behind her toppled over and crashed to the floor with a loud bang.
Her chest rose and fell sharply.
The startling curves beneath her thin shirt swayed dangerously.
She crossed the distance to Teizawa in two steps.
Then she grabbed his arm and examined him from head to toe.
"Are you hurt?"
Teizawa lowered his gaze to the hand gripping his arm.
Then he raised his head and met those eyes filled with worry.
"I'm fine."
Tsunade let out a long breath.
She released his arm and patted her chest.
"As long as you're fine. Danzo is cunning, and he has plenty of Anbu members around him. If he got away, then he got away..."
Her voice softened. "As long as you're all right."
Teizawa's expression turned a little strange.
"You were worried about me?"
"Who was worried about you?"
Tsunade's eyes flickered.
She turned her face away, and her voice returned to that cold tone.
"Danzo is still one of Konoha's veteran figures. His strength reached Kage level long ago."
"Even my teacher, the Third, wouldn't dare say he could definitely beat Danzo."
"You're still young. If you weren't his match, that would be understandable."
She knew Danzo's history.
Precisely because she knew it, she understood how terrifying that old bastard was.
He had lived through the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars, clawing his way through the darkness for decades.
He held countless trump cards in his hands.
An old fox like that...
Forget killing him.
Being able to return alive from his hands was already a miracle.
Teizawa was still too young.
Perhaps in the future, he could contend with Danzo. But right now...
"Danzo is dead."
Teizawa's voice was very calm, as if he were talking about the weather.
"I killed him."
The air suddenly went still.
Tsunade's expression froze on her face.
Her mouth opened, but she did not close it for a long time.
Her eyes were filled with disbelief.
And with a deep, indescribable shock.
Danzo, who had lived through the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars.
Danzo, who had survived in the darkness for so many years.
The leader of Root, a man even the Second Hokage had regarded with caution...
Dead?
Dead at the hands of a young man?
Her lips moved, and her voice was rough as though filled with sand.
"You... what did you say?"
Teizawa waved his hand, took a sealing scroll from his clothes, and gently unfurled it.
The light of chakra flickered at his fingertips.
A mangled corpse appeared out of thin air on the floor.
The severed stump of the neck was ragged and uneven.
The right arm had been cut cleanly from the shoulder, and not a single finger remained on the left hand.
Chest, abdomen, thighs: deep wounds that reached the bone covered the body.
The blood had already dried.
It had crusted into dark red shells over the skin.
The entire corpse looked like a rag that had been crushed and barely pieced back together.
Tsunade shot to her feet.
The chair toppled backward and hit the floor with a dull sound.
Her pupils contracted violently, and her breathing became rapid.
Her chest rose and fell sharply.
Even though the corpse was badly mangled, even though its arms were ruined, even though the head was gone...
She still recognized him.
That familiar back.
That figure she had seen rise and fall countless times in the shadows of Konoha's politics.
And that Anbu uniform soaked through with blood.
It was Danzo.
That old fox who had lived in Konoha's shadows for decades.
The leader of Root, the man even her teacher the Third had feared to some degree.
The person she had hated for so many years, yet had never been able to touch.
He was dead.
Truly dead.
She turned and looked at Teizawa in disbelief. Her lips moved, and her voice was rough.
"You really... killed him?"
Teizawa closed the scroll, and the corpse was sealed back into the enclosed space.
He looked at Tsunade, his gaze lingering where Danzo had slowly disappeared.
"He dared to threaten you..."
His voice was soft, yet every word landed with weight.
"He dared to make you unhappy, so I killed him for you."
Tsunade's expression suddenly froze.
For me?
Those two words echoed over and over in her mind.
Like a stone falling into a still lake, sending out ripple after ripple.
Her expression became complicated.
There was shock. There was emotion.
And a kind of heart-trembling feeling she could not describe.
She had lived for so many years.
People had respected her, feared her, used her...
But no one had ever done something like this for her.
Killing one of Konoha's elders and bringing the corpse back for her to handle...
This was far beyond helping.
This was clearly placing his own leverage directly into her hands.
Watching Tsunade's reaction, Teizawa knew his sweet attack had worked.
For Tsunade?
If it had been anyone else, they would certainly suspect him of harboring ulterior motives.
But Tsunade was different.
A woman in love was the easiest to overwhelm.
Their relationship had already changed subtly through their many deep exchanges.
Tsunade simply refused to admit it.
"Here."
Teizawa handed the sealing scroll to her.
"His corpse. You handle it."
Tsunade lowered her head and looked at the scroll, but did not take it.
Her fingers trembled slightly, and her eyes were somewhat red.
Teizawa looked at her, the corner of his mouth curving into a smile.
He pushed the scroll into her hand, then took hold of her hand in the same motion.
"What's wrong?"
His voice was impossibly gentle.
"Why did you suddenly go quiet?"
Tsunade gave a bitter smile.
There was helplessness in that smile, self-mockery, and a trace of emotion even she herself could not explain.
"Why are you being so good to me?"
Her voice was a little rough.
"I'm still..."
(End of Chapter)
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