"Is your sister home, Nawaki?" Watanabe called out to the little boy.
His original intention had been to ask Nawaki to call Tsunade out, then leave as soon as he delivered the cake. After all, so many shinobi clans had come to Tsunade's home as guests that he would only feel uncomfortable barging in as an unknown nobody.
But he never expected Nawaki to show a panicked expression the moment he saw him, turn around, and dash toward the main entrance, shouting at the top of his lungs:
"Big Sis! Watanabe—Watanabe came to propose!"
Watanabe: "..."
Holy crap!
He was completely dumbfounded. Tsunade's little brother had to be an idiot.
I came to deliver a birthday present, not propose!
The noisy, boisterous sounds inside the estate instantly fell silent. Watanabe could already imagine the bewildered looks on the faces of the various shinobi clans.
For a moment, Watanabe genuinely wanted to turn around and leave. Nawaki was an absolute disaster.
After hesitating briefly, Watanabe gritted his teeth and crossed the threshold with a stiff upper lip.
When he entered the courtyard, hundreds and thousands of eyes immediately swept toward him. Even though Watanabe had always possessed excellent mental fortitude, he still felt so embarrassed that he wished he could dig a three-bedroom apartment into the ground with his toes.
"Watanabe..."
Dan Katō's expression was extraordinarily complicated. Watanabe's audacity far exceeded his imagination. To come to Tsunade's birthday and make such a grand entrance to propose marriage was absolutely not something a normal person would do.
"So that's how it is."
Danzo fell into thought.
No wonder Mito had confronted him over Watanabe's affairs. It turned out that Watanabe and Tsunade had this kind of relationship. In that case, he really had committed a taboo.
"Have Tsunade and he gotten together?"
The thought arose in Hiruzen, Koharu, and the various clan heads' minds alike. This was the first time Watanabe had entered the Konoha High Command's field of vision, and he had done so in an utterly unexpected way.
"How could this guy do this!"
Tsunade's heart raced with delighted excitement. She had never been this nervous before. At a loss, she looked toward Mito. Although Mito maintained a serene smile on her face, she was actually feeling quite troubled as well.
Showing up to propose with a giant gift box in his arms was even more brash and reckless than Hashirama had been in his youth.
Mito did not care about Watanabe's commoner status. If Tsunade and Watanabe truly loved each other, she would not oppose them being together. The problem was that she had not observed Watanabe yet and knew nothing about his morals or character. How could she feel at ease entrusting her granddaughter to him?
"Tsunade, your little brother has caused me no end of trouble!"
Watanabe desperately wanted to beat Nawaki up. He had never felt so humiliated in his life.
There was nothing he could do. The arrow was already nocked, and he had no choice but to release it. Watanabe forced himself to remain calm on the surface and walked toward Tsunade under everyone's gaze.
The atmosphere was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. Everyone was watching him. With every step he took, Tsunade's heartbeat quickened, while Nawaki assumed the posture of someone facing a great enemy, warning Watanabe with his eyes: "Don't come over!"
"Heh heh heh."
Watanabe put on a relaxed smile.
"Tsunade, your little brother is really humorous. Here's your birthday present."
"Huh?"
Nawaki froze and asked suspiciously, "Wasn't that the betrothal gift?"
"..."
Betrothal gift for your sister!
Watanabe decided that Tsunade's relationship with her little brother must usually be terrible. Otherwise, Nawaki would not be thinking about marrying her off.
A sister had to start beating her little brother from a young age, especially when it came to a little brother like Nawaki. It was understandable.
"No, this is just a birthday present." Watanabe explained amiably.
"Oh, oh." Nawaki suddenly understood and breathed a sigh of relief. "My sister waited for you so long... Mmph!"
Tsunade clapped a hand over her idiot little brother's mouth, stopping him from spouting nonsense.
Seeing this, Mito understood everything. It turned out that her grandson had caused the misunderstanding just now. Watanabe had merely come to attend the birthday banquet; he had not come to propose. The truly reckless one was Nawaki.
He really had inherited Hashirama's genes.
After sealing Nawaki's mouth, Tsunade took the gift box and asked curiously, "What's inside?"
Watanabe replied, "A birthday cake. You can open it and eat it now."
Tsunade quickly opened the gift box, revealing an enormous cake before everyone's eyes. A cartoon portrait of Tsunade with a brilliant smile had been drawn on its surface in cream. It looked incredibly adorable.
"It's beautiful."
Mito smiled warmly. "A cake this large must have needed to be ordered several days in advance, right?"
She had prepared a cake for Tsunade as well, but Watanabe's cake was clearly more thoughtful.
"It didn't need to be ordered." Watanabe rubbed his nose, a little embarrassed. "I made it myself. It can't compare to the professional bakers at the cake shops..."
Mito and Tsunade were both stunned.
Neither of them had expected the giant cake to have been made by Watanabe himself. The thought behind it was extraordinary.
The next moment, Mito's gaze toward Watanabe softened, and her favorable impression of him increased dramatically.
She knew Watanabe's family situation all too well. If Watanabe had pretended to be wealthier than he was and forcibly given Tsunade an expensive gift, she would instead have been disappointed. But Watanabe's performance at that moment pleased her greatly. She felt that he was both down-to-earth and reliable.
Tsunade's reaction was different from Mito's. As she looked at the cartoon portrait of herself on the cake, her heart felt sweet and numb, as though honeyed water were flowing through it.
She had only told Watanabe about her birthday last night. It went without saying that Watanabe must have spent the entire day working on the cake. No wonder he had arrived so late.
At that thought, all her displeasure over Watanabe's lateness vanished, replaced by warmth and emotion.
"Thank you," Tsunade said calmly, but the softness in her beautiful eyes could not be concealed.
This was the first time Watanabe had heard her thank him, and he was actually a little unused to it.
Compared with all the help Tsunade had given him, the cake he had made was completely insignificant.
"No need to thank me. I'm happy as long as you like it."
"I really like this gift."
This time, Tsunade did not act tsundere. She was speaking honestly. Of all the birthday presents she had received that evening, this was the one she liked best.
"Watanabe's pretty amazing!" Nawaki exclaimed in admiration. "Big Sis, cut me a piece quickly. I want to see how good his cooking is."
Mito smiled as well. "Put the cake on the main table. Anyone who wants some can take it themselves."
Tsunade hesitated briefly. She actually could not bear to destroy the cartoon portrait of herself, but then she thought that Watanabe was here anyway. If she wanted more cake in the future, she could simply have him make as much as she wanted.
"Nawaki, take Watanabe over to the clan's table. The banquet is about to begin." Mito continued giving instructions.
"Okay! Watanabe, come with me!"
Nawaki was full of enthusiasm, eager to spend more time with his future brother-in-law.
Watanabe had been psychologically scarred by being set up by him, and he was afraid that this guy would pull another stunt that left him unable to save face.
"Watanabe, this is the Senju Clan's First Elder, Grandpa Munehiko. This is the Second Elder..."
After bringing Watanabe to the Senju Clan members' main table, Nawaki enthusiastically introduced him to the various senior figures of the Senju Clan.
The Senju elders were quite surprised. After all, everyone seated at their table was a member of the Senju Clan itself. Even Hiruzen Sarutobi was not allowed to sit there.
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