Tsunade!?

Jiang Feng met Hiruzen Sarutobi at the Sarutobi residence.

Before he had crossed over, Jiang Feng had read many Naruto fanfictions. Some of them portrayed the Sarutobi Clan as a massive family with an army of three thousand or even six thousand shinobi, and cited all sorts of evidence to explain how that could be.

Was that the truth?

Jiang Feng had no way of knowing. He only knew that in the Ninja World he had crossed over to, the Sarutobi Clan didn't have that many members.

Including the clan members who were no different from ordinary civilians, the Sarutobi Clan had around a thousand people. Only two hundred of them were shinobi. All those people lived together in what could only be called a village within a village: the "Sarutobi residence."

The Uchiha were much the same. Their total population and number of shinobi were about equal to the Sarutobi Clan's. Their clan grounds were also vast, and, like the Sarutobi residence, lay in the heart of Konoha.

In fact, the Uchiha and the Sarutobi Clan were neighbors.

Not long after Jiang Feng arrived at Hiruzen Sarutobi's house, the Third Generation's wife, Biwako Sarutobi, made an excuse to show everyone around the Sarutobi Clan grounds. She took Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma, and Kurenai with her, leaving Jiang Feng alone with Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Come on, come on. Play a game of Go with me. My skills have improved a lot lately. This time, I'm sure I'll finally wipe away the shame of my past defeats!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't put on any Hokage airs. Without another word, he took out a Go board and invited Jiang Feng to play. Jiang Feng sat down across from Hiruzen with no fuss, letting the old man play black and move first.

The Third Generation was also Jiang Feng's friend—a friend from a different generation.

After using a standard opening to finish setting up the board, Hiruzen Sarutobi began to play more slowly. Jiang Feng was excellent at Go. There were all kinds of unusual people in the world, and among the more than fifty masters whose skills he could draw on, several excelled at music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

"How have things been between you and that girl from the Yuhi Clan lately?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked casually.

"Just the same as before."

"So, you're almost boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"Mm." Jiang Feng nodded.

The term "almost boyfriend and girlfriend" meant that Kurenai Yuhi thought Jiang Feng was her boyfriend, so the two of them were in an almost-relationship. Once Jiang Feng decided that she was his girlfriend too, they could drop the "almost."

Hiruzen Sarutobi grew curious. "Do you think Kurenai isn't pretty enough?"

"She's very pretty."

"Do you think she has a bad personality?"

"She has a great personality."

"You just don't like her?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked.

It was possible to think someone was wonderful and still not like them. Hiruzen Sarutobi was well-traveled and had seen a few cases like that.

"No, I like her quite a bit." Jiang Feng shook his head.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was completely baffled. "Then why are you still only almost boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Yeah, why?

Because Kurenai Yuhi was three years younger than Uchiha Jiang Feng. Now thirteen, Kurenai had only just entered puberty and was still a delicate little girl. Jiang Feng, whose own adolescence was nearly over, already looked like an adult.

Kurenai didn't think there was anything wrong with dating someone three years older than her. Jiang Feng, however, had some reservations.

That was what Jiang Feng thought, but he wouldn't say it out loud. It wasn't cool enough. Jiang Feng was almost obsessively devoted to looking cool, as though he'd stepped out of a Gu Long novel or a Wong Kar-wai film. Acting cool had become second nature to him.

Uchiha Jiang Feng placed a stone on the board. "Because I know that what you can't have is always best. So until the time is right, I absolutely won't tell her how much I like her."

Don't ask. The time wasn't right yet.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed with feeling. "No wonder everyone says you know just how to handle young, pretty women."

Strong and handsome, and even using the strategy of playing hard to get—how could his foolish son Asuma possibly compete?

"People have misunderstood me terribly. The truth is exactly the opposite: I'm utterly helpless around young, pretty women."

They said that the best topic of conversation between men was always women. Whenever the subject came up, even Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was getting on in years, seemed to perk up.

"What do you mean?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked eagerly.

"There are men who normally act respectable and proper, but the moment they see a young, pretty woman, their knees go weak. They'd give her their life if she asked for it."

"Jiraiya! You must be talking about Jiraiya!" Hiruzen Sarutobi would never admit that he was that kind of dirty old man.

Jiang Feng shook his head. "No, I'm talking about myself."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was astonished. How could that be?

"Women who like you could line up all the way from Konoha to the capital of the Land of Fire, yet you look down on most of them."

"That's right, because they're not pretty enough."

"You have just as many friends. They could line up from Konoha to the capital of the Land of Fire, too. And whenever any one of them asks you for help, you never refuse."

"It's not that I never refuse. I just do my best to help when I can."

"And your friends are the same way. If you asked them to lend you money, they'd do it even if you couldn't give them a reason or tell them exactly when you'd pay it back—even if you asked for a hundred million yen."

"Most of my friends are broke. I doubt many of them could lend me a hundred million yen."

"Then why do you say you're a lecher who loses his head whenever he sees a pretty woman?" Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't make head or tail of it.

"People always say that men put women before their friends. Clearly, most people think that you can't have both, and that the two are always in conflict."

Uchiha Jiang Feng sighed. "That's why I act that way: so no one will find out that I actually lose my head whenever I see a pretty woman.

"At least then, no one will think I put women before my friends. As long as I don't do that, it won't matter if I occasionally lose my composure around a pretty woman."

When he was done, Jiang Feng and Hiruzen Sarutobi both laughed heartily, filling the living room with a cheerful atmosphere.

There was a kind of wind that could ruffle the calm surface of a lake, or smooth the wrinkles from a person's face. Whenever Hiruzen Sarutobi talked with Jiang Feng, he felt happy, as if he were still young and hadn't yet lost the youth he missed so dearly.

At the same time, Hiruzen Sarutobi was finally certain that the young man across from him really did know how to handle young, pretty women.

Young, handsome, and good with words—of course women liked a man like that.

"Since you put it that way, I'll have to see for myself just how distracted you get when you meet a young, pretty woman."

"How will you do that?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi set down his Go stone and picked up the old pipe beside the board, taking a puff. "As it happens, I know a woman who's both young and pretty."

"Who?"

"Tsunade."

"Oh, Tsunade... Tsunade!?"

Uchiha Jiang Feng was stunned. He was amazed that Hiruzen Sarutobi could bring up Tsunade in the middle of this atmosphere, in the middle of this conversation.

It felt like two veterinarians were seriously discussing the topic of "postpartum care for sows," and then one of them suddenly said, "Nobody can match Ruri Tachibana's riding skills."