Chapter 213: A Sannin's Jealousy
Tsunade, her hand still on the door, finally came back to her senses.
Her mind, which had been reeling from the shock of her own disastrous cooking attempt, was now forced to process the scene before her.
Kurenai... her subordinate, the woman she had come to challenge...
...was standing behind the Hokage's desk.
...in an intimate pose.
...massaging his temples.
...like a lover.
An unknown, volcanic fire instantly shot up from the bottom of her heart.
"Oh?"
Tsunade's voice was no longer the flustered shout from the kitchen. It was low, cold, and dripping with sarcasm.
"Hokage-sama is in high spirits!"
She said it in a biting, sarcastic tone, her gaze fixed, not on Akira, but on Kurenai.
"In broad daylight... in the Hokage's office... being so intimate. Aren't you afraid of the bad impression it makes?"
Kurenai, who was not a Sannin and not a Senju, immediately felt the crushing weight of Tsunade's alpha-kunoichi presence.
She felt incredibly uncomfortable under Tsunade's laser-focused, judgmental gaze. She quickly pulled her hands back, lowering her head, not daring to speak.
"This is my private matter, Tsunade," Akira said, his voice level. "It's not your place to comment."
"Private matter?"
Tsunade sneered. The sound was harsh in the quiet office.
"You are the Hokage of Konoha now! Your every move, your every action, represents the face of this village!"
Her voice rose, her legendary temper finally taking over.
"Engaging in such... scandalous behavior in the office... what do you take Konoha for? Your personal harem?!"
Tsunade's words, sharp and cruel, became increasingly harsh.
Kurenai's face instantly turned pale. She felt a deep, cutting shame.
"Lady Tsunade!" she tried to defend herself, "You've misunderstood, I'm just..."
"Shut up!"
Tsunade sharply, and brutally, cut her off.
"You have no right to speak here! This is between me and the Hokage!"
"Tsunade!"
Uchiha Akira's voice, which had been calm, also turned completely cold.
A terrifying aura, cold and suffocating, burst forth from his body.
It was not a wave of chakra, but pure, unadulterated killing intent.
Invisible pressure, like a mountain, heavily pressed down on Tsunade, forcing the air from her lungs.
"Watch your words."
Tsunade's breath hitched. Her face, which had been red with rage, instantly changed.
The sheer weight of his pressure was staggering.
But... more than that...
He...
Uchiha Akira... he actually treated her like this? He actually used his full pressure... on her...
...for Kurenai?
Tsunade immediately felt a profound, stinging sense of... wrong. She felt... wronged!
But she was, after all, Senju Hashirama's granddaughter. And she was Tsunade.
The pride in her bones, a pride that had never broken, made her stick out her neck. She met Akira's cold, dark gaze without showing any weakness, even as her heart hammered.
"What? Did I hit a nerve?" she spat, gritting her teeth. "Are you angry from embarrassment?"
"Uchiha Akira... I really, really misjudged you before!"
After speaking, Tsunade, in a fit of pure, blind rage, threw the documents in her hand with all her strength.
She slammed them heavily onto the desk.
CRASH!
The thick stack of budget documents exploded, scattering across the desk, onto the floor. White papers flew everywhere, like a snowstorm of her fury.
"This budget! Approve it or not, I don't care!"
"This old woman," she said, her voice shaking with rage, "isn't serving you anymore!"
Tsunade threw down these words, abruptly turned, and rushed out of the office without looking back.
BANG!
The office door was slammed shut by Tsunade with such force that it emitted a deafening sound.
The entire doorframe trembled.
A crack appeared in the wood.
Silence.
Kurenai stood, her hands trembling, looking at the cracked, vibrating door.
Then she looked at Uchiha Akira, whose face was as dark as water.
Her eyes filled with worry and self-reproach.
"Akira... I'm sorry..." she whispered, her voice shaking. "It's... it's all my fault... I shouldn't have..."
The terrifying aura on Akira slowly receded.
He let out a long breath, his shoulders slumping just a fraction.
He rubbed his brow, his face showing no emotion.
"It's not your fault."
"It's Tsunade. She is being... unreasonable."
Kurenai, her heart aching for him, for the stress she had caused, once again walked behind Akira.
She extended her delicate, trembling hands, and gently, carefully, began to massage his temples again.
Kurenai's movements were gentle, with a hint of carefulness, as if trying to soothe a god.
After a moment of silence...
Kurenai suddenly chuckled. It was a soft, quiet sound.
Her voice carried a hint of... slyness.
"Akira."
"Hmm?" Akira murmured, his eyes closed, enjoying her service.
"You think... Lady Tsunade... is she, perhaps, jealous?"
Akira's movements—his very breathing—suddenly paused.
He turned his head in slight surprise, looking at Kurenai behind him.
He saw her tilting her head, her beautiful red eyes sparkling with a knowing, clever, female light.
A mischievous, knowing smile was on her lips.
"Jealous?"
A hint of pure absurdity flashed through Akira's mind.
"Tsunade? That... violent, gambling, sake-chugging woman?"
"...Jealous?"
Uchiha Akira carefully, and clinically, recalled Tsunade's reaction just now.
The rage. The personal attacks. The shouting. The... scandalous... harem...
That furious, unrestrained appearance...
It indeed didn't seem to be merely about work. Or propriety.
It was...
It was more like… a wife who had just discovered her husband was cheating?
Seeing the peculiar, dawning expression on Akira's face, Kurenai's smile grew wider.
She leaned down, her red lips close to his ear, her breath like orchids.
"A woman's intuition is very accurate, you know," she whispered.
"The way Lady Tsunade looked at me just now... it was as if she wanted to devour me whole. That wasn't professional anger, Akira."
The warm, soft breath made Akira's ear itch a little.
And just like that... the anger in his heart, which had been caused by Tsunade, instantly vanished.
It was replaced by... a strange, profound sense of... amusement.
He grabbed Kurenai's wrist, the one that was massaging him, and gently pulled.
"Ah!"
Kurenai exclaimed, losing her balance. She fell into his arms again, though this time in a different position—sideways, across his lap, facing him.
"You're so clever," Akira said, his voice now holding a hint of indulgence. He pinched her smooth, tender cheek.
Kurenai's cheeks once again flushed a deep red, but she met his gaze boldly, without the slightest evasion.
"Because... I understand better than anyone how great your charm is, Akira."
Her voice was soft, but firm.
"Although Lady Tsunade will never, ever admit it... her heart has probably already been conquered by you. She just hasn't realized it yet. Or maybe... today was the day she did."
Uchiha Akira shook his head with a wry smile.
Tsunade? Conquered? By me?
After Kurenai's analysis, he actually felt that Tsunade's exasperated, furious, door-slamming demeanor just now...
...seemed, in a strange, terrifying way...
...a little cute?
"She is truly," Akira sighed, "a troublesome woman."
However... this trouble, he had to resolve.
He was the Hokage.
The Medical Department, managed by Tsunade, concerned the future of the entire Konoha. He couldn't act on impulse, and he couldn't let her just... quit.
Moreover... it wasn't his style to let a woman who... might... have feelings for him leave with such resentment.
Uchiha Akira lowered his head and gently kissed Kurenai's smooth forehead.
"Wait for me here. I'll be back."
"Mm," Kurenai nodded obediently, her heart soaring.
Inside Konoha Village, in an inconspicuous, working-class izakaya.
[Inorin's Note: An izakaya (居酒屋) is a type of informal Japanese bar that serves alcoholic drinks and snacks.]
Tsunade was sitting alone in a dark corner, her face a mask of thunder.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
She was gulping down high-proof sake, glass after glass.
Several large, empty sake bottles lay haphazardly in front of her.
But Tsunade seemed completely sober. Her eyes, on the contrary, grew clearer and colder with every drink.
The surrounding patrons—Chūnin and off-duty workers—were intimidated by the terrifying aura of 'do not approach me or I will kill you' emanating from her.
They dared not come close, giving her a very, very wide berth.
The owner of the izakaya looked at the growing mountain of expensive sake bottles on Tsunade's table. His face twisted into a bitter gourd, his expression uglier than crying.
This esteemed guest... surely she wasn't planning to run up a tab again?
Or... smash the place?
Just then, the noren (curtain) of the izakaya was pushed open from the outside.
A tall, slender figure walked in, silhouetted against the bright afternoon light.
The noisy, rowdy izakaya instantly fell silent for a moment.
Every shinobi in the room recognized that chakra. That silhouette.
Godaime Hokage. Lord Uchiha Akira.
Seeing Akira, everyone in the bar—even the owner—bowed in greeting.
Uchiha Akira nodded, his eyes scanning the room.
His gaze quickly settled on the corner, on the one person not bowing.
On Tsunade, who was drowning her sorrows in alcohol.
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