Reunion with Tsunade at Midnight in the Deep Forest

Unlike his usual casual search, Naruto spent three or four days searching this time, going from the Land of Tea to the Land of Bears.

The hardships involved are beyond what outsiders can understand, but each Space-Time Ninjutsu made Naruto feel like he was looking for a needle in a haystack, which made him quite annoyed.

At first, I had a good mindset, then I became irritable, and finally I became overly serious.

"Where could Tsunade be hiding? How could we not find her!" Naruto scratched his messy black hair, looking somewhat haggard from three days of running around.

"I'll look for another day. If I still can't find it, then I'll give up," he said defiantly. He couldn't leave Konohagakure for too long; Hinata, Hinata, Ino the others would worry.

"If you can't find it, just feed this Return to Youth potion to the dogs, send it!"

Despite saying that, after complaining, Naruto continued his arduous search for information, stumbling along the steep path. The forest was dense and dark; he really wanted to slap himself.

This is just asking for trouble. Is there even anyone in this godforsaken place? Forget Tsunade, it's not easy for even a living person to run out of this deep mountain forest. Let's just leave.

The moonlight is deep and dark, and the night birds are chirping.

He stood atop the treetops, glancing back. The moonlight was dim, and a wisp of smoke drifted in the distance. He couldn't see clearly, but it certainly wasn't the work of some wild animal.

Is anyone there?

Naruto hesitated for a moment, thinking to himself that it was impossible for Tsunade to have actually gone into the old forest, right? Even if there were people there, they were likely local natives, not the real Tsunade.

There's no need to waste time looking elsewhere.

Thinking this, he Teuchi the Gate of Hades, but hesitated before leaving. In the end, he sighed helplessly and walked towards the direction from which the white smoke was drifting out, cursing under his breath.

I've been looking for it for three days already, so a little longer won't make a difference.

He followed the white smoke, traversed the jungle, and casually killed a python with his bare hands. He finally reached the end of the smoke, only to find a campfire.

"Huh? Nobody here?" Naruto was dumbfounded; he ran over and there wasn't a soul in sight.

However, the blazing campfire in front of him was clearly not something that any wild animal could have made, so after thinking for a moment, he walked toward the campfire.

The next second, several rustling sounds of wind breaking through the air rang out.

Naruto dodged to the side, and several Steel Needle plunged into the ground with a loud bang, instantly kicking up a cloud of dirt and flying grass clippings. Even more astonishingly, the Steel Needle were poisoned.

He glanced at it and felt that the Steel Needle looked familiar. After thinking for a while, he slapped his forehead. He had seen these Steel Needle before; Shizune always carried a set of the exact same ones with her.

After a two-second pause, Naruto was immediately overjoyed, thankful he hadn't left immediately.

The Steel Needle seemed to be a trap; the person was probably still nearby, or would likely return. Naruto decided to wait here. He sat down by the campfire, but after a while, he started to get bored.

So he took out kerosene and charcoal from his Sealing Space, set them up, and gave himself a barbecue in the wild.

As soon as the seasoning was applied and the aroma wafted out, there was a commotion around us.

A ball of Kakkō slowly moved from a distance, finally parting the bushes and stopping in front of Naruto. Shizune held a torch, and Tsunade followed behind, glancing at Naruto.

Tsunade was wearing that blue robe, with a white background and a black circle around the back bearing the character for "gambler"; judging by the material, it was a custom-made new outfit. Even after a year or two, she looked exactly the same.

"Barbecuing in this deep mountain forest, Naruto Uzumaki, are you tired of living?" Tsunade asked.

"I went out for a stroll, what are you all doing here?" Naruto started talking nonsense.

"Have you traveled tens of thousands of miles?" Shizune couldn't help but complain. "How did you find your way here? There's not a soul in sight!"

"I don't know, they might be lost." Naruto continued to ramble on. "Speaking of which, since things are like this, why don't you guys sit down and eat something?"

"Alright, sit down," Tsunade said.

Shizune first put away the Steel Needle trap, then sat down next to Tsunade. At that moment, Naruto handed her a cup of warm sake. She hesitated for a moment, then said thank you.

Did Naruto change his ways?

As she downed a sip of warm sake, Shizune grew increasingly uneasy. She knew Naruto's character all too well. While he was generally a good person, there was something strange about him.

Something's wrong, absolutely wrong. Lord Tsunade seems completely unprepared.

"You little brat, you have such a convenient function?" Tsunade picked up a piece of barbecue, took a bite, and couldn't help but be a little surprised. Then she took a sip of warm wine.

"It seems much more convenient to have you by my side than to Shizune."

Shizune was struck dumbfounded. She turned around and stared blankly at Tsunade, clutching her robes and wailing.

"Lord Tsunade, you can't do this!"

"Just kidding, just kidding!" Tsunade impatiently, forcefully pulling her clothes back up. "If you keep pulling, your breasts will be showing!"

Upon hearing this, Shizune abruptly released her grip, somewhat embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, Lord Tsunade."

While straightening her clothes, Tsunade glanced at Naruto and asked.

"Looking at you, how many days have you been without rest?"

"I searched all the way here," Naruto replied.

Tsunade was holding a wine cup, about to drink, when she heard this and paused for a moment. The Kakkō flickered on her face, making her look somewhat delicate.

"Has something happened in the village?"

"Everything is fine in the village. Kakashi is a qualified Hokage," Naruto said calmly, reaching for the sake bottle that was warming over the fire.

In the clearing in the woods, where there was originally only one campfire, Naruto expanded it several times over. He set up a barbecue grill directly on the ground, with boxes of fresh ingredients placed there.

There was even a brazier on the ground, with charcoal burning inside and an iron mesh placed on top to warm the wine, the flames glowing red and hot.

Tsunade was in excellent spirits, showing no signs of fatigue. Shizune likely possessed some kind of Space Scroll or similar artifact, allowing them to maintain a basic standard of living even deep in the mountains.

The temperature difference between day and night in the forest is extremely large, and ordinary people simply cannot endure it. Shizune couldn't help but huddle up, eating barbecue and warming herself with hot wine.

"I'm married," he said.

The charcoal glowed red-hot, and the wood in the campfire, unable to withstand the high temperature, burst open with a crack, shooting out a spark.

Tsunade lowered her eyes, stared at the flames, and hummed in response. Her eyes were long and narrow, classic beauty eyes, and her face appeared somewhat cold when she looked down.

The atmosphere seemed to freeze. Shizune held the warm metal wine glass in both hands, her palms slightly burning, and her heart skipped a beat. She didn't dare look directly at Tsunade, only daring to glance at her out of the corner of her eye.

Fortunately, Tsunade broke the silence after ten seconds.

"When did this happen?" she asked.

"Last month," Naruto, "It was a last-minute decision. The unrest on Kabuto's side hadn't been dealt with properly, and we were afraid that things might get complicated and war would break out again."

"I wanted to inform Lord Tsunade, but I couldn't find you."

"Last month, Shizune and I were probably looking for medicinal herbs. It's normal that you couldn't find them either. The Shinobi World is so big, and we were only going to some remote places," Tsunade said.

It's both a response and a response.

"Whom will you marry?" she asked again.

"Ino, and Hinata."

"Cough cough cough!!!" Shizune couldn't hold back and almost spat out her drink. She looked up abruptly, staring at Naruto in disbelief.

Tsunade remained unusually calm, as if she had expected this all along.

"That's fine too."

"It's pretty good," he said.