Fear × Grudge

Nara Dan saw this and made no move to comfort her. There was no point trying to persuade someone whose heart was already dead.

When it came to adults, Nara Dan never tried to change their minds, either.

After all, he wasn't Ashura's reincarnation. He didn't have the power of Talk no Jutsu.

It was easy to defeat someone, but getting them to accept your ideals? That was much harder.

Nara Dan still preferred the former.

Just as Nara Dan was about to send her on her way, a clear, melodious voice suddenly rang out.

"Dan!"

A red-clad figure with black hair appeared in his field of vision.

It was Kurenai Yuhi.

Kurenai Yuhi was wearing a tight-fitting ninja outfit as she walked toward them.

The snug Konoha-standard ninja uniform showed off her tall, slender figure.

Her red eyes were filled with delight, and the slight sheen of sweat on her neck showed that she had just returned from a mission and hurried over to see Nara Dan.

"Lady Tsunade?!"

Kurenai Yuhi looked at Tsunade beside Nara Dan in surprise. Of course she recognized the idol of every female ninja in Konoha.

But why was Tsunade here?

Clearly, Kurenai Yuhi had the same doubts and wariness any woman would feel.

If nothing was going on, that was fine. But if there was...

Kurenai Yuhi's gaze traveled down from Tsunade's golden hair.

That size...

Deep wariness surfaced in the depths of her red eyes.

Naturally, these changes in emotion couldn't escape Nara Dan, who had already unified his Essence, Energy, and Spirit and attained God-Seeing Indestructibility.

But Nara Dan hadn't expected that Tsunade, being a woman herself, would notice them just as easily.

"Kurenai, she—"

Before Nara Dan could finish, Tsunade cut him off.

"Dan!"

"Thanks again for last night!"

Tsunade's tone was as green as her clothes.

Not only that, she deliberately looped her arm through Nara Dan's and leaned against him.

A visible swell of softness pressed against Nara Dan.

Even a powerful man who had attained God-Seeing Indestructibility lost his wits for a moment.

"If it weren't for you, I'd probably have been homeless last night!"

Nara Dan looked at Tsunade awkwardly and tried to pull his hand free.

But Tsunade had no intention of letting him go.

She even used her Strength of a Hundred, making it impossible for Nara Dan to break free without hurting her.

He could only watch awkwardly as Tsunade finished her performance.

All the while, he failed to notice Kurenai Yuhi's face darkening beside them.

"Anyway, thanks again."

After saying that, Tsunade used the Body Flicker Technique and vanished from the scene at lightning speed.

All she left Nara Dan with was Kurenai Yuhi, whose face had gone dark,

and the lingering aftermath.

By the time Nara Dan came to his senses and saw Kurenai Yuhi looking at him accusingly, all he could do was smile wryly.

Sure enough, women really were not to be trifled with.

The more beautiful the woman, the more dangerous she was.

Mother Zhang had told no lies!

"So that's what happened."

After much effort, Nara Dan finally explained the earlier disagreement between him and Tsunade, as well as how Tsunade had gotten drunk at the tavern the night before.

"Oh..."

Kurenai Yuhi's eyes widened, surprise flickering in her red pupils.

"Lady Tsunade wanted to take you as her student?"

"But I'd never heard about that."

Women loved gossip. If anything like that had happened, women were likely to be the first to hear about it.

"That's right."

Nara Dan nodded and continued.

"It wasn't exactly something to be proud of."

"And it also slighted Lady Tsunade's standing as one of the Sannin."

"So the story has only really circulated among the Konoha High Command."

"They won't make it public."

Kurenai Yuhi nodded in understanding.

That made sense. Her own Yuhi Clan might count as a shinobi clan, but compared with great clans like the Nara and Senju, it wasn't much different from an ordinary family of ninja.

At best, they were commoners with a little inherited tradition.

It was only natural that she wouldn't know the secrets of the great clans.

Seeing that he'd explained enough, Nara Dan quickly changed the subject to keep Kurenai Yuhi from thinking about Tsunade again.

"Didn't you go on a mission?"

"How come you're back so soon?"

Generally speaking, a mission ranked B or higher lasted at least half a month.

The higher the rank, the longer it usually took.

It was hardly unusual for an S-Rank mission to last a year or more.

But it had only been a little over a week.

"The mission was pretty easy."

Kurenai Yuhi shrugged.

"We were just patrolling around Konoha."

"But I don't know what's going on lately. There really have been a lot more spies from other villages around Konoha."

Nara Dan nodded at that.

Indeed, the clouds of war had already settled over Konoha without the slightest attempt to hide them.

"By the way, I heard Asuma applied to become one of the Daimyo's Guardian Ninja."

Kurenai Yuhi suddenly brought it up.

"I always thought he was narrow-minded. He smoked all day and acted so mature."

"I never thought he'd really run away when the time came to fight."

"And he's the Hokage's son, too."

Nara Dan smiled at that but didn't respond.

He could roughly guess why Asuma had volunteered to become a Guardian Ninja.

Like Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma despised running away at the last moment and refusing to fight for the village.

After all, they'd both grown up hearing about the Will of Fire.

But love could be cruel like that.

What was one person's honey could be another's poison.

"Lord Hokage has a hard enough time as it is. We don't need to discuss his family."

Nara Dan offered a mild, fair-minded remark. If he were in the Hokage's shoes, he wouldn't let his child go to the battlefield lightly, either.

After all, no matter how carefully you protected someone on the battlefield, accidents still happened. That was beyond even the Hokage's control.

What's more, the Hokage's son wasn't just an ordinary ninja.

If properly directed in wartime, he could easily play a strategic role.

But with war approaching, it was time to set many plans in motion.

Thinking this, Nara Dan called over a servant and said,

"Bring over the things I exchanged for from the Third yesterday."

Kurenai Yuhi blinked curiously.

"What things?"

Nara Dan smiled mysteriously.

"A gift for you."

"You're about to be promoted to Elite Chunin, aren't you?"

"I imagine you've accumulated enough merit after this mission."

"Consider it an early celebration."

"Once the war starts, it'll be too late."

Kurenai Yuhi's face lit up with excitement. For her, becoming an Elite Chunin meant taking another step toward becoming a Jonin.

Her father, Shinku Yuhi, had always been the person she looked up to most.

She didn't doubt that Nara Dan was telling the truth.

Though she didn't know the full extent of Nara Dan's abilities or standing, she'd heard his teammates discussing him during missions.

She knew he held a remarkable position in Konoha, one even higher than that of most Jonin.

"Really?!"

"I'm going to be promoted to Elite Chunin?!"

Nara Dan nodded.

"The Third said so himself."

Thanks to the huge tip from "The Handsome Guy Upstairs"!

You're too generous, boss!