Late at night, silhouettes flickered across the dense jungle and vast plains.
Under the cold radiance of the moon, as Saiki and his unit moved at high speeds, the distant mountains looked like ancient beasts crouching upon the earth, rushing into the distance behind them.
As they ran, Saiki sensed a gaze fixed on him from time to time. He finally couldn't help but ask, "What is it? Do you have something to say?"
Inoichi Yamanaka, who was only in his early twenties and not yet the mature patriarch he would become—still possessing a bit of a youthful spirit—couldn't resist asking, "Why are you running like that? Isn't it exhausting?"
Hearing this, Saiki shot Inoichi a look that clearly suggested he was an idiot, and retorted, "Your ninja-style running is what's actually exhausting. Arms are meant to balance the body, yet you all keep them pinned behind your backs. What is this, a skiing competition?"
Due to his performance in the Chunin Exams, Inoichi had a very deep impression of Saiki, which led him to pay more attention to the boy.
Among the traveling ninja, every single one was performing the standard "ninja run" with hands held back, while only Saiki was running like a normal person in a marathon. Inoichi was naturally curious.
However, Saiki was in a foul mood and had no intention of responding politely.
Knowing the future plot, Saiki held very little affection for Konoha, and thus, he possessed zero sense of belonging.
One could call Saiki an ungrateful "white-eyed wolf," but the truth was he owed Konoha nothing. The only person he felt indebted to was Tsunade. Since Tsunade had already abandoned the village, the fact that he still had to risk his life for Konoha—and march through the dead of night to boot—meant his mood was understandably abysmal.
Inoichi Yamanaka was the acting commander of this unit, and seeing Saiki show such blatant disrespect, Shinku Yuhi felt a flash of embarrassment. He couldn't understand how a usually well-mannered boy had suddenly become so irritable.
But to maintain Inoichi's authority as the leader, Shinku, acting as Saiki's temporary squad captain, scolded him, "Saiki! How dare you speak to Commander Inoichi like that!"
Faced with Shinku Yuhi's reprimand, Saiki only held back because the man was Kurenai's father. Otherwise, he would have ignored him entirely.
Frustrated, he chose to remain silent.
Saiki was protected by his internal Pre-natal Qi; the Yamanaka clan's Mind Transfer Jutsu was useless against him. Attempting to swap souls with Saiki was essentially a suicide mission.
However, this didn't stop Inoichi from being socially adept. He realized Saiki was just a child heading to the battlefield for the first time, and the grueling night march would naturally sour anyone's temperament.
Inoichi smiled and smoothed things over. "Don't worry about it. This mission is urgent. It's only natural for Saiki to feel tense and frustrated."
Saiki didn't want to make unnecessary enemies, and since Inoichi had given him an out, he forced out a dry apology. "My apologies."
"It's fine, it's fine," Inoichi replied with a smile, not taking it to heart.
The group fell into silence once more, the only sounds being the rhythmic thud of boots hitting the ground and the whistling of the wind past their ears. Although he knew Saiki was powerful, Shinku Yuhi remained worried about the boy's mental state.
In reality, it was just a bit of petty emotion that would vanish by morning.
Saiki figured that if a few enemies showed up for him to slaughter right now, his mood would probably improve much faster.
As they ran, Inoichi turned to his adjutant and ordered, "Pass the word down: maintain speed, but pace yourselves. We rest in one hour."
While Saiki and the others were racing toward the front lines, Tsunade was also wide awake.
Still wearing her sleeveless top that exposed her pale, slender arms, Tsunade sat by the window, staring up at the moon. She held a sake flask and a cup, draining a shot every few minutes.
The news was slightly delayed, but tonight she had finally secured intelligence from the black market regarding Konoha's thousand-man deployment to the front.
Although she had technically left the village, her heart remained tied to Konoha and Saiki. She was currently lingering within the borders of the Land of Fire; if a true catastrophe occurred, she intended to intervene immediately.
Tsunade loathed the Konoha high command for sending her clansmen to their deaths until the Senju name was erased, leaving her as the sole survivor without even a surname to claim.
But Konoha was the village her grandfathers had built—the home her family had bled and died to protect. Severing those ties was not so simple.
She worried for the village, facing the combined assault of the other Great Nations. Where would Konoha go from here?
What was the current state of the battlefield? Among the reinforcements, she knew without a doubt that Saiki was included. Where was he now?
She hated to admit she cared about that little bastard, but every time his face crossed her mind, her heart hammered against her ribs, filled with dread for his safety.
Late into the night, the advance unit finally stopped to rest. Saiki wasn't physically exhausted, but a non-stop sprint in the dark was a mental drain.
He moved away from the crowd, leaning against a tree to drift into sleep.
...
"Wait... Saiki?"
Looking at a completely naked Saiki standing before her, Tsunade looked down to find herself in the exact same state of total nudity. She instinctively crossed her arms, trying to shield her two massive, oversized breasts.
She looked up to find Saiki staring intensely at her lower half, as if he were trying to sear every microscopic detail of her body into his soul.
While she was busy covering her top, Saiki's gaze shifted down to the pale, plump mound of her hairless "white tiger" crotch. Only then did Tsunade realize her lower half was completely exposed.
"Ah!" With a sharp cry, she jerked one hand down to cover her crotch, but this only caused her massive breasts to spill out into the open again.
Those twin mounds were so impossibly full and heavy that a single arm couldn't hope to conceal them. Her forearm only managed to hide her stiff, pink nipples and the dark areolas surrounding them.
Realizing she couldn't hide herself, Tsunade hissed with embarrassed rage, "Stop looking! If you keep staring, I'll pluck your eyes out!"
Facing her threat, the dream-Saiki only wore a wicked, predatory smirk. "Lady Tsunade, what are you so shy about? Is there a single inch of your body I haven't seen yet?"
Before she could process his words, she was violently pinned to the bed by him.
Faced with Saiki on top of her, his hot, pulsating "gear-shifter" was currently buried against her soft, flat stomach. He pinned her wrists to the mattress beside her head, staring down at her with a gaze so hungry it looked as if he wanted to devour her alive.
Tsunade tried to struggle, but Saiki's strength was astronomical. Even with her legendary Monstrous Strength, she couldn't move him an inch.
Seeing her resistance, Saiki whispered, "Lady Tsunade, you were the one who proactively sought dual cultivation with me. Why struggle now? Just let me love you properly."
He lowered his head, his lips millimeters from hers.
Panicked, Tsunade thrashed beneath him, screaming, "Saiki, let me go! No! Stop!"
"Lady Tsunade! Lady Tsunade!"
Shizune's voice pulled Tsunade from the abyss. Her eyes snapped open as she bolted upright in bed.