Only Invited You

"Careful."

Watanabe didn't expect to be able to take Tsunade down, so he quickly grabbed her. To his surprise, Tsunade dragged him down with her, and they both heavily fell to the ground.

"Thump."

A few fallen leaves fluttered up.

"Hiss!"

Tsunade gasped in pain.

Watanabe didn't feel any pain; he only felt something soft beneath him.

He squeezed, but there was nothing.

"Do you want to die?!"

Tsunade's voice, filled with shame and anger, rang out.

Watanabe looked up and finally saw where his hand had landed.

"Sorry."

Watanabe was extremely embarrassed. His first instinct was to apologize and stand up, pushing himself up with force.

Tsunade: "..."

Watanabe: "..."

"You!"

A trembling voice appeared.

"I'm sorry, this was completely an accident!" Watanabe broke out in a sweat, quickly explaining. He truly had no intention of taking advantage of Tsunade.

Tsunade glared at him, puffing out her cheeks, and tidied her disheveled skirt.

If it were anyone else who had touched her like that, even unintentionally, Tsunade would have "unintentionally" blown off their head. But looking at Watanabe, whose face was full of apology, she couldn't bring herself to do it.

After thinking for a moment, Tsunade snorted and turned to leave, her two golden ponytails swinging up and down behind her.

She's flustered?

She's angry?

Watanabe felt increasingly ashamed. Tsunade had kindly helped him improve his strength, but he had inexplicably taken advantage of her. It was truly ungentlemanly.

He quickly hurried after her, but he had already said what he needed to say. He didn't know how to appease Tsunade now, so he remained silent until he could think of something to say.

Tsunade saw Watanabe sticking to her like a piece of gum. Although he didn't speak, she could clearly feel his uneasy mood, and her anger gradually subsided.

Forget it, he didn't do it on purpose anyway. I don't need to be so petty.

Tsunade thought to herself, having already forgiven Watanabe's recklessness.

Then, she remembered Watanabe's reckless fighting style where he exchanged blows with her, and she couldn't help but be secretly amazed.

At first, Watanabe couldn't even withstand a single move under her, but in such a short time, he could actually trade blows with her head-on, and she had actually been defeated by him!

This speed of improvement was incredible, even in Tsunade's eyes.

"I was careless just now," Tsunade suddenly said.

Watanabe, who was racking his brain for words of appeasement, was startled.

Tsunade continued, "I didn't expect you to be so durable. If I had gotten serious, you wouldn't even have been able to touch my clothes!"

Her tone was full of tsundere.

Watanabe's heart stirred, and he became eager to try: "Do you want to spar again?"

His strength had already improved significantly, and his Blood Essence had reached 442. He was finally qualified to fight Tsunade head-on, and he hadn't had enough of a match with her yet.

Tsunade almost choked upon hearing this and rolled her eyes impatiently.

"After all that trouble with you, I'm tired and hungry. I don't have time to spar with you anymore."

She was tired just from hitting him, while Watanabe was still full of energy. Tsunade could only attribute it to Watanabe's extraordinarily tenacious willpower.

Watanabe couldn't hide his disappointment.

He had indeed angered Tsunade, and he didn't know if he would have another chance to spar with her in the future.

Tsunade glanced at his expression and said calmly, "We'll spar again tomorrow. I'm hungry now and need to eat."

This sentence was like heavenly music to Watanabe.

As long as Tsunade was still willing to spar with him, he had nothing to worry about.

"Come to my place, I'll cook for you," Watanabe immediately offered.

"No need," Tsunade shook her head. "It's getting late, and I need to get home soon, or Grandma will worry."

Although Watanabe's cooking was delicious, it took too much time, and she was afraid she wouldn't be able to explain to Mito if she returned too late.

"Let's just eat something on the street. I think that ramen place looks good," Tsunade said, looking at Ichiraku Ramen on the street. "Do you want to come?"

Eating was the best way to deepen relationships, so Watanabe naturally wouldn't refuse.

The two arrived at the shop, where a young apprentice named Teuchi was diligently wiping down the tables.

"What can I get for you two?" the owner greeted with a smile.

Tsunade looked at the menu for a moment and ordered two bowls of their signature ramen.

"Can you make ramen too?" Tsunade asked Watanabe casually while they waited for their food.

Watanabe thought for a moment and replied, "No, I haven't learned that. But if you like it, I can learn."

He didn't mean anything by it; he just genuinely wanted to get closer to Tsunade.

The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener took it to heart. The words sounded a bit strange to Tsunade's ears.

What do you mean, 'if I like it, you'll learn'?

It sounds like we're... you know.

Although, the words were quite pleasant to hear.

"You should focus on learning ninjutsu first. Your foundation in ninjutsu is probably the worst in the class," Tsunade said, adopting a lecturing tone.

Watanabe disagreed. His current chakra level was 153, and while it wasn't comparable to Tsunade's, he certainly wasn't at the bottom of the class.

"The school only teaches the basic Three Body Techniques, which I already know. I don't even have a place to learn other, more advanced ninjutsu," Watanabe said regretfully.

"You want to learn advanced ninjutsu..."

Tsunade mused. She had plenty of that kind of thing at home.

All the ninjutsu her great-grandfather had developed were left to her as inheritance.

"Green Maru, slow down!"

On the street, Inuzuka Kiba was chasing after a playful puppy, a scene that drew curious glances from passersby. It was hard to tell if the person was walking the dog or the dog was walking the person.

After chasing for a while, a familiar figure suddenly flashed before Inuzuka Kiba's eyes.

"Huh? Is that Tsunade?"

Inuzuka Kiba froze. Through the occasionally lifting curtain of the ramen shop, he saw two beautiful blonde ponytails. The back of the ponytail owner was slender and graceful.

Then, Inuzuka Kiba's gaze fell on the young man next to Tsunade.

"Watanabe??"

Inuzuka Kiba recognized Watanabe's profile at a glance; they were classmates, after all.

"Why is Tsunade hanging out with Watanabe!"

Inuzuka Kiba couldn't understand. When school ended, he had invited Tsunade to his house to see the puppies, but she had refused. He hadn't expected her to end up with Watanabe after turning him down.

Although Watanabe's popularity among the girls in class had soared in the past few days due to his fight with Tsunade, Inuzuka Kiba still saw him as the same old dead-last, orphaned commoner with no parents.

His own situation was far superior to Watanabe's. If even he couldn't get close to Tsunade, why could Watanabe?

Inuzuka Kiba suddenly felt jealous. He stopped chasing his dog and squatted by the roadside, silently observing the two.

"That'll be one hundred Ryo."

The young apprentice Teuchi said earnestly to the two.

Just as Tsunade was about to pay, Watanabe beat her to it and handed over one hundred Ryo.

Tsunade found it amusing how skillfully he snatched the opportunity. "Do you often treat people to meals?"

"No," Watanabe shook his head seriously. "I've only ever treated you in my life."

His financial situation didn't allow him to treat anyone, except for Tsunade, as he needed her help.

A strange feeling stirred within Tsunade.

She had asked the question jokingly, but she received an answer that made her heart flutter.