Birthday Cocktail Party

The last rays of sunset streamed into Utsusemi's room. After a full day of training, she dragged her exhausted body back to her villa and collapsed into a soft beanbag chair.

The rigorous training led by the Senju brothers three times a week had drained much of her energy.

Hashirama was gentle, but he never took training lightly, teaching her with kindness and patience.

Tobirama was even stricter, demanding perfection in every movement and harshly criticizing her for the slightest mistake.

All Utsusemi wanted now was to go back to being a carefree couch potato and live out her days in lazy peace.

Itama, who had just finished his Ninjutsu training for the day, sat cross-legged on the couch, playing an online game with her.

The young ninja's obsession with video games made him no different from a modern-day child.

What deserved praise was his remarkable self-control. If he agreed to play only one round, he would never wheedle or pester for more.

A sudden system notification broke the peaceful mood: "Ding! Today is the player's nineteenth birthday..."

Utsusemi's pupils trembled as birthday effects burst across the screen. She stared at the scrolling, flashing line of well-wishes.

Images of cakes, fireworks, and party hats flickered across the screen.

"Birthday?" Itama suddenly poked his head out from behind the screen, his eyes shining as though filled with stars. "It's your nineteenth birthday, Sister Utsusemi?!"

"We have to throw a birthday party and get a three-tiered cream cake, right? And gift boxes tied with bows too?"

He counted excitedly on his fingers. The modern birthdays Utsusemi had experienced or attended in her memories had always filled him with longing.

Towers of cakes covered in frosting, colorful presents piled into little mountains.

Overlapping voices offering blessings and cheerful laughter and chatter stood in stark contrast to his own lonely bowl of longevity noodles.

Utsusemi turned the tablet facedown on her skirt. "My birthday..." She gazed at the fallen leaves drifting past the window. "It was a long time ago."

The friends who had clamored to give her a surprise were blurrier than faded old photographs, and even the candlelight in her memories had taken on a cold hue.

In the tower where time stood still, system time had long since fallen into disorder.

The Spacetime Tower's calendar system was still in disarray, but that did not stop Itama from opening the calendar interface.

September 24 was marked as Libra, and the page also promoted desserts exclusive to Libras and fortune-telling services.

Itama's eyes lit up. "Big Brother's birthday is October 23! He's a Libra too!"

Utsusemi looked at the overly enthusiastic boy. His animated gestures reminded her of her roommate, who had always loved making a fuss before she transmigrated.

When Itama raised a strawberry daifuku high and excitedly announced that they should celebrate a "spacetime displacement anniversary,"

A glimmer appeared in Utsusemi's eyes, and her tightly pressed lips finally relaxed. "Then... let's have a birthday party."

She took the strawberry daifuku Itama offered her. "It's too late to prepare a dinner party now, so how about a birthday cocktail party?"

The clamor of people in the Senju Clan Compound drifted in through the window. Utsusemi moved her chair farther into the room; she had always maintained a subtle distance from this world.

But Itama was earnestly writing something down, and Utsusemi thought that perhaps she could accept his clumsy birthday celebration plan.

Itama Senju led his two older brothers into the living room, and Hashirama's clear voice was the first to ring out through the warm light. "Happy birthday!"

The ever-cheerful ninja held out a gift box tied with a bow in both hands. When their palms touched, they instinctively looked up and met each other's eyes.

Hashirama Senju scratched his head shyly. "Happy nineteenth birthday!"

Tobirama, usually a man of few words, pushed an exquisitely wrapped gift box toward Utsusemi. "Happy birthday, Utsusemi."

Itama bounded forward with a bouquet that nearly engulfed his upper body. "Happy birthday, Sister! I picked these flowers out especially for you!"

Under the bar's warm yellow light, Utsusemi's fingers flew, the clink of ice and the swish of liquor forming a pleasant harmony.

Itama stood on tiptoe at the kitchen counter, holding a knife in his small, childish hand as he sliced strawberries into neat crescents.

Utsusemi, Hashirama, and Tobirama sat on stools by the walnut bar, sipping their drinks and chatting.

Although Itama did not join the adults' conversation, each fruit platter he finished earned him encouraging praise and pats on the head from his brothers.

"The error rate of the spacetime coordinates..." Tobirama's voice was lower and huskier than usual. "The dimensional folding phenomenon you described matches the theory behind the Flying Thunder God perfectly."

"Move, Brother." Without waiting for an answer, he shoved Hashirama aside from the seat in the middle, and his discussion with Utsusemi gradually grew more animated.

Hashirama Senju held his glass and watched the academic fervor burning in his younger brother's eyes. That look of concentration surprised and gratified him.

As the discussion grew so heated, Tobirama frowned and pointed at Hashirama, who sat between them. "Brother, you're blocking my view!"

Hashirama Senju looked awkwardly at the scroll and raised his voice. "Tobirama! This sealing diagram is so finely drawn!"

Utsusemi could not help laughing. She patted the barstool beside her and said with a smile, "Hashirama, why don't you sit here and watch?"

She pointed to the empty seat on her other side, gesturing for Hashirama to move over.

Hashirama looked at the seat Utsusemi was patting, then at his younger brother's intent expression. He had no choice but to rub his nose and move to the corner.

Utsusemi watched Tobirama's focused profile as he demonstrated the principles of the Flying Thunder God. Even the neck of the usually aloof ninja was now faintly flushed with excitement.

When Tobirama placed his hand over her wrist to adjust the angle of her Hand Seals, Hashirama accidentally knocked over his glass and watched their joined wrists with a subtle expression.

"Utsusemi, join my research." Tobirama's voice was gentle, yet it stirred a thunderous heartbeat in her chest. The moment she nodded in agreement,

Hashirama Senju gave a tipsy cheer, spread his arms, and pulled them both into an embrace.

"I'm so happy!" he shouted, heavily intoxicated. His alcohol-laced breath brushed Utsusemi's ear and reached her ribs through their bodies pressed together.

The steady, tolerant ninja was like a child who had recovered a precious treasure, his fingers sinking deep into their clothes. "My little brother, who disappeared ten years ago, came home... and he brought a new friend with him!"

Utsusemi's face struck Tobirama's taut chest, and the tremor of the muscles beneath his clothes made her stiffen at once.

His body, accustomed to treading the line between life and death for years, reacted before conscious thought.

The explosive tremor of the muscles beneath his clothes sent a jolt through her spine.

The palm of the silver-haired ninja, who liked to keep a safe distance, was scorching hot against the back of her head as he protected it.

The tremor in his knuckles as he held himself back betrayed the struggle within him.

The heat against her back was just as impossible to ignore. The high temperature of a Sage Body was like lava surging beneath the skin.

She tried to break free, but the solid bodies of two grown men held her completely captive. Like a little cookie caught in a sandwich, even her hands were pinned by Tobirama's forearm muscles, leaving her unable to form Hand Seals.