Forty-one: When the Second Shinobi World War ends, let's get married

Late at night, Tsunade walked out of the laboratory, stifling a yawn.

It had to be said that the old auntie Chiyo from Sunagakure was truly formidable. Her medical ninjutsu, rooted in puppetry, had opened Tsunade's eyes, and likewise, Tsunade's own medical ninjutsu, based on exquisite chakra control, had greatly benefited Chiyo.

Both were masters deeply immersed in the medical arts, and through their exchanges, their skills had surged even further.

It was a pity that she had only returned for a single day; time was not exactly abundant. They hadn't even had the chance to begin analyzing the Salamander toxin they had obtained from Amegakure. However, Tsunade was confident that with their combined understanding of medicine, they would absolutely be able to crack the Salamander toxin within three months.

"Judging by your expression, I take it you got along quite well with that Chiyo from Sunagakure today?"

Hearing a familiar voice, Tsunade's expression brightened. She looked up to see Sakuya leaning against the tree trunk beside the laboratory entrance.

"Sorry, have you been waiting long?"

Tsunade asked with a hint of apology.

It was eleven o'clock at night, already very late. By the time they got home, washed up, and went to bed, it would likely be past one.

"Researching the toxin is important."

Sakuya handed a bag to Tsunade: "Here, dango from Kanurigami. You haven't eaten all day, have you?"

"Thank you!"

Tsunade took it happily, pulled out a skewer, and popped it into her mouth, her eyes narrowing in satisfaction: "Mmm~! So delicious!"

"Let's go back. I'll walk you to the Senju compound."

"Mm-hmm."

Tsunade nodded instinctively, then suddenly felt a pang of regret.

Wait, just walking her home?

Was he not going to say anything else to her?

Ever since they left Amegakure, they had been busy returning to the village, and upon arrival, they were busy with the toxin. Now that they finally had a little free time to be alone, was he really not going to say a word?

Watching Sakuya's back as he walked ahead, Tsunade suddenly felt the dango she was chewing lose its sweetness.

"Um... that..."

Seeing they were getting closer to home, Tsunade suddenly plucked up her courage, speaking with a stutter.

"Hm?"

Sakuya turned his head.

Looking at his handsome profile, the shame and annoyance in Tsunade's heart dissipated quite a bit against her will. She gazed at Sakuya's face, took a deep breath, and stammered out:

"...What... what exactly is our relationship now?"

Hearing this, Sakuya looked surprised. He turned around to face Tsunade, whose face was so red it seemed as if she had exhausted all her strength just by saying those words.

"Relationship, huh..."

Sakuya rubbed his chin and suddenly chuckled: "Hey, Tsunade-onee-chan, I'm only fourteen."

"Eh?"

Caught off guard by this unexpected answer, Tsunade froze.

"What does that mean?"

"If you want me to marry you, you'll have to wait at least another four years, right?"

Sakuya laughed.

"Ma-ma-ma-ma-marry..."

Tsunade instinctively took several steps back, her face turning even redder than the Uchiha's Sharingan.

She felt Sakuya's gaze fixed upon her, and her whole body stiffened. His eyes felt like invisible hands, wandering over her without restraint.

"You... don't misunderstand!"

Her head heated up, and she instinctively turned her face away: "Who... who wants you to marry me? I was just, just..."

"Silly."

Seeing her still being so stubborn, Sakuya chuckled softly: "Let's talk about these things after the Second Shinobi World War ends."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"How about this: when the war ends and we return to the village, we get married?"

Sakuya planted a flag for her.

"...Mm, yeah... I'll wait until you're an adult, hehe."

Tsunade lowered her head, a smile she couldn't suppress appearing on her face.

Watching Sakuya walk ahead, she gathered her courage, quickened her pace to his side, and reached out to take his hand.

"But, we... we have a deal, okay? Four years from now, no backing out!"

Tsunade said.

"Mhm, it's a deal."

Sakuya glanced at her, responding with a faint smile.

The Second Shinobi World War had erupted in full swing.

The three major forces of Amegakure, the Small Nations Alliance, and the Land of Earth had joined hands to face the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire.

The good news was that the remaining two great nations, the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water, were watching from the sidelines, temporarily refraining from joining this brawl on the Western Continent.

"Pop."

Deep in the forest, Sakuya flitted by as gracefully as a swallow. The moment his feet touched a falling leaf in mid-air, he used it as a stepping stone to vault forward, landing silently on the branch of a towering tree.

His Three-Tomoe Sharingan rotated constantly within his eyes, scrutinizing every detail of his surroundings to ensure he left no traces behind.

He moved away rapidly, and for every mile he covered, he lightly marked a tree with a kunai coated in a special pigment.

As one of the top combatants for Konoha in the Second Shinobi World War, his duty was not to fight in the meat grinder of large-scale battlefields like an ordinary chunin or genin.

Instead, he needed to act as a razor-sharp blade, piercing deep into the enemy's defensive lines.

Securing routes, raiding their logistics, assassinating their high-ranking officials, and cutting off their supply lines...

These were Sakuya's missions.

"Thirty-eight miles to the east, area confirmed safe."

After carefully checking the surroundings once more, Sakuya breathed a slight sigh of relief.

He took out a scroll, wrote the intelligence into it, and simultaneously patted a white mark on his left leg.

It was a white snake.

Awakened by his touch, the white snake opened its eyes, crawled out from his calf, and slithered into Sakuya's palm.

Sakuya fed the scroll into the white snake's mouth, and once it had swallowed it, he spoke: "Deliver this to Orochimaru as quickly as possible."

"Hiss, hiss."

The white snake gulped down the scroll, flicked its tongue, flipped over, and burrowed into the ground, vanishing from sight.

Sakuya waited on the spot for half an hour until the white snake emerged from the ground once more. It opened its mouth and spat out a new scroll.

"Good work, get some rest."

Sakuya coiled it back around his calf, then opened the scroll and scanned the message inside.

Every operative working in the field had one of these white snakes bound to their calf; it was one of Orochimaru's summoning techniques.

In war, intelligence was undoubtedly the most vital tool.

Knowing information one step ahead of the enemy could play a massive role on the battlefield.

In this Shinobi World War, Orochimaru had been appointed as the commander of the main battlefield by Hiruzen Sarutobi precisely because of this White Snake Communication Technique.

However, it was a pity that this communication method relied on the white snakes; transmission required waiting for over half an hour, and the snakes could not communicate continuously, needing a full day of rest after each use. Overall, it was quite cumbersome.

Later, during the Third Shinobi World War, Konoha would have Minato Namikaze. His Flying Thunder God technique could traverse various battlefields in an instant, shortening the time for intelligence transmission to mere minutes. Its efficiency far surpassed Orochimaru's White Snake Technique, so it was naturally replaced by it.