Kato Shizune

"Lady Tsunade..."

"Call me Sister!"

Uchiha Hikari had barely uttered the title before Tsunade cut her off. Calling her "Lady" felt far too distant; "Sister" sounded much more pleasant to the ear.

As his older sister, how could she not see the relationship between her own brother and the young girl standing before her?

Furthermore, as the strongest medical ninja in the Ninja World, it was a simple matter for her to roughly assess the girl's bloodline.

So what if she was an Uchiha? It might be a bit troublesome, but who did they think Tsunade was?

One of the Sannin of Konoha, the Princess of Konoha, the strongest medical ninja—if she wanted to, she wouldn't even give the Feudal Lord face, let alone fear a mere Uchiha.

Besides, the girl clearly had feelings for her brother, only suppressing them due to physical reasons and other circumstances.

Still, this brat of a brother—gone for twenty years, and the moment he returns, he brings back a young girl, and an Uchiha at that. She could only say, as expected of her brother.

She approved of this sister-in-law. Even if that old geezer the Third Hokage came to stop her, he wouldn't be able to—she said so!

Hearing Tsunade's words, Uchiha Hikari's face flushed, but she still whispered, "Tsunade... Sister."

Hearing this, Tsunade's eyes crinkled into slits, her mood soaring.

She reached out and patted Uchiha Hikari's head, saying, "There, don't be shy. Sister here likes you very much, little one."

Her brother, whom she had long assumed dead, had returned, and he had brought back such a lovely girl.

Tsunade's mood was currently excellent; she felt she could eat two extra bowls of rice and drink two extra bottles of sake tonight.

Uchiha Hikari felt a sudden warmth in her heart, and sensing the sincerity in the other woman's words, her eyes turned slightly red.

She did not want to hide anything from this big sister.

So she said, "Tsunade... Sister, I don't want to hide anything from you. Actually, I am..."

Before Uchiha Hikari could finish, Tsunade reached out to interrupt her.

"No need to say it. I don't care about that. Instead of telling me all that, why don't you tell me what you and my brother have been through all these years?"

Hearing this, Uchiha Hikari was stunned, then began to recount her time with Tokiju in the sealing space.

She spoke of the peculiar nature of the sealing space and why Tokiju had never grown up.

She told of how Tokiju had painstakingly studied sealing techniques, nearly pulling his hair out in his efforts to crack the space's sealing runes.

She also complained about how, if Tokiju unleashed all his sealing techniques, she was no match for him at all.

Tsunade listened in a daze, feeling as if she were reading a power-fantasy novel titled Twenty Years of Hard Study in the Sealing Space: Breaking the Seal in One Move, Invincible Under Heaven.

This also explained why she hadn't sensed any chakra fluctuations from Tokiju when they were on the street earlier.

Tsunade knew that before Tokiju disappeared, he had swiped a large scroll of sealing techniques from their grandmother.

After twenty years of bitter training, she didn't even dare to imagine the level of his mastery now.

Moreover, according to Uchiha Hikari, Tokiju had developed many sealing techniques specifically targeting the Uchiha Clan, using them against her during their sparring sessions.

Hearing this, Tsunade helplessly covered her face and sighed, shocked by the boy's methods.

Hey, hey, hey! Isn't this the person you like? Who taught you to bully her like that?

Meanwhile, leaning against the wall outside the room, Tokiju listened with an awkward expression, feeling as if his toes were about to curl enough to dig out a three-bedroom apartment.

Though embarrassed, Tokiju didn't push the door open to interrupt the chat between the old and the young (the "old" referring to Uchiha Hikari, and the "young" to Tsunade).

Just as Tokiju was listening with a wry smile, the sound of footsteps echoed from the end of the hallway.

Tokiju looked up and saw a black-haired girl in a black kimono, holding a pink pet pig, walking toward them.

Upon seeing her, Tokiju recognized her immediately.

Shizune, the niece of Tsunade's lover, Dan Katō. Shortly after her uncle's passing, she had been taken out of Konoha by Tsunade.

They had wandered between nations together until the end of Orochimaru's Konoha Crush plan, at which point they returned to the village.

Then, when Tsunade took over as the Fifth Hokage, Shizune became her secretary, rising to the top in one leap.

As Tokiju watched her, she was also observing him.

She had expected today to be an ordinary day, spent dodging creditors and taking care of Lady Tsunade.

But today, while waiting on the street for Lady Tsunade to finish avoiding a creditor, she had accidentally heard some news...

A curvaceous blonde woman had been crying for a long time on the street while holding a child.

The moment she heard this, she immediately confirmed that the blonde woman must be Lady Tsunade.

She just didn't know what Lady Tsunade was up to, or why she would be crying while holding a child.

Unable to figure it out, Shizune had started searching the streets for Tsunade.

It was precisely because she couldn't find her that she decided to return to the inn to check.

And upon returning, she saw a somewhat familiar-looking little boy, silently leaning against the wall outside Lady Tsunade's room.

As for why he looked familiar, she couldn't quite put her finger on it; she just felt like she had seen him somewhere before.

Just as she was about to ask, she saw him knock on the door and call out, "Big Sis, someone's here. I think they're looking for you!"

Hearing Tokiju's shout, the idle chatter inside the room ceased immediately.

Soon, the door was pushed open, and Tsunade walked out looking rather annoyed; she and Uchiha Hikari had been in the middle of a lively conversation.

"Oh, it's Shizune. Come on in!"

Seeing that the person outside was Shizune, Tsunade said this offhandedly before turning back into the room.

Seeing this, Tokiju shrugged and followed Tsunade straight inside.

Shizune, meanwhile, was still a bit dazed, wondering what kind of relationship this child had with Lady Tsunade. Could he be an illegitimate son?

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, she shook her head, hurriedly casting the disrespectful notion aside.

Whoever this child was, Lady Tsunade would surely explain it to her once she entered the room.

With that in mind, Shizune stepped inside as well.

Upon entering, Shizune was stunned once more—why was there another person in the room? And a young girl at that.

Seeing the bewildered look on Shizune's face, Tsunade cleared her throat and pointed at Tokiju. "Ahem, Shizune, this is my younger brother, Tokiju. You should have seen him in photos."

Hearing this, Shizune finally had a moment of realization. So, he was Lady Tsunade's brother; no wonder she felt like she had seen him somewhere before.

Just as Shizune was thinking "so that's it," she suddenly realized something didn't quite add up.

As fellow younger brothers of Lady Tsunade, Tokiju and Nawaki should be the same age.

That being the case, Tokiju should be in his twenties or thirties by now, yet the child before her looked nothing like a man of that age.