Hurrying Along, Midway Through the Journey

There was a saying: a person's appearance reflected their inner self.

But with Tsunade, it was the other way around.

The reason Tsunade learned the Yin Seal was largely due to a woman's natural love of beauty; she did not want her appearance to be bound by age.

With her appearance remaining forever youthful, some of her habits unconsciously gravitated toward those of young people as well.

In the original story, if no one mentioned that Tsunade came from the same generation as Jiraiya, almost nobody could have guessed her age.

Like a certain purple-haired old hag and another purple old hag, she was eternally eighteen.

Jiraiya had good reason to see Uchiha Mai as a formidable rival.

After pursuing Tsunade for so many years, why had Jiraiya still failed to win the beauty's heart?

The biggest reason, of course, was that Jiraiya was too unserious and too lecherous, and his methods of courtship were far too clumsy.

Of course, Jiraiya would never admit that, nor did he realize it himself.

Jiraiya believed that the greatest obstacle between himself and Tsunade was that Tsunade had yet to emerge from the shadow of Nawaki and Dan Katō's deaths.

Tsunade's psychological trauma would need at least another ten years to heal.

Uchiha Mai was nine this year. He could use his young age to grow closer to Tsunade, subtly and imperceptibly.

Ten years later, once Tsunade had stepped out of the shadows and was ready to try a new relationship, she would turn around and—well, look at that—there would be a strapping young man in his twenties right beside her.

Strong, handsome, always interested in her, and not someone she disliked.

What was that called?

That was looking back suddenly, only to find the one you sought amid the fading lights. That