Is It Serious?

"Is my condition really serious?"

Uchiha Nagi looked at Tsunade's grave expression, and his heart sank again.

Uzumaki Kushina sensed the heavy atmosphere too, and couldn't help growing nervous.

Tsunade also realized she had been thinking for too long, making both children anxious.

"I'm not sure what's wrong with you. Physically, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong."

Uchiha Nagi frowned at that. "Even Lady Tsunade can't find the problem?"

Tsunade's face showed a hint of guilt. Did he really trust her that much?

After gathering herself, Tsunade continued, "The doctor who examined you before was probably right. The problem may be psychological, and with current medical technology, there's no effective way to diagnose or treat it."

"I see. Then there's nothing we can do." Uchiha Nagi sighed, but also felt relieved.

Seeing Tsunade's grave expression, he'd thought something was seriously wrong with him. Although they still hadn't found anything, at least that was something.

There's a saying...

If you don't know whether someone's alive or dead, then they're dead.

So if they couldn't find a problem, then there wasn't one!

Tsunade suddenly thought of something. "While I was examining you, I could feel that your body was rather tense. Why was that?"

She'd assumed he was embarrassed for some reason, so she hadn't brought it up before. But now, she didn't want to overlook any possible cause.

Uchiha Nagi was silent for a moment.

"Because with my current condition, if I relax completely, I'll probably fall asleep again."

"I see." Tsunade understood, then spoke again.

"Don't tense up anymore. If you're sleepy, go ahead and sleep. I'll examine you again." Tsunade wasn't ready to give up.

"Okay..." Uchiha Nagi didn't get to finish the word. The moment he spoke, he let his mind relax.

And, just as expected, he fell asleep.

Tsunade was startled. She'd known about this from his description, but seeing him speak clearly one moment and fall into a deep sleep the next was a very different experience.

"Sleepyhead has done this before, Big Sis Tsunade." Seeing the familiar sight again, Uzumaki Kushina looked worried.

No matter how you looked at it, this state was far too abnormal.

Tsunade nodded too. After seeing it with her own eyes, she could tell his problem really was serious.

Then Tsunade examined Uchiha Nagi again.

Unfortunately, the results were basically the same as before.

"You still can't figure out why Sleepyhead's like this?" Uzumaki Kushina could tell from Tsunade's expression.

Tsunade nodded and looked at Kushina apologetically. "I'm sorry, Kushina. It seems I can't help with your request."

Kushina shook her head. "It's not your fault, Big Sis. Maybe Sleepyhead isn't sick at all and just hasn't been getting enough rest. Maybe he'll recover once he's had a good rest."

"I hope so." Tsunade nodded, then looked at Kushina and asked, "Kushina, are you close to Uchiha Nagi?"

Kushina paused, unsure how to answer. After a long moment, she said, "I guess... we're friends. Yeah, friends."

After all, in their class, she was only close to Uchiha Nagi and Namikaze Minato, that somewhat effeminate boy.

Her hesitation had been because she was trying to figure out whether they really counted as friends.

"Friends..." Tsunade fell silent for a moment, and ultimately said nothing more.

She knew the state of her grandmother's health, and why Kushina had come here.

From that perspective, it certainly wouldn't do for Kushina to get too close to this boy from the Uchiha Clan. The higher-ups would never approve of someone from the Uchiha Clan getting too close to the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

But as an older sister, she couldn't use matters concerning the village's leadership to force Kushina to do something she didn't want to do.

Still, where would this path lead in the end?

Tsunade sighed. All she could do was let things take their course and take it one step at a time.

Maybe things wouldn't turn out as badly as she feared.

"Big Sis Tsunade, should we wake Sleepyhead now?" Kushina asked, looking at Uchiha Nagi, who was still asleep.

"Let him sleep. Let's see how long he can sleep without anyone disturbing him."

"Oh."

By the time Uchiha Nagi woke up, it was already dark.

"You finally woke up, kid. If you'd slept any longer, Kushina and I would've had to wake you." Tsunade hadn't expected Uchiha Nagi to sleep for so long.

Uchiha Nagi was silent for a moment. He'd slept for so long that his head was foggy. It took him a while to remember what had happened.

Then he rubbed his stomach, which had started growling.

Tsunade gave him a strange look. "So you didn't wake up because you'd slept enough. You woke up because you were hungry?"

Uchiha Nagi's face turned a little red. He scratched his head, then nodded. That was exactly it.

Tsunade and Uzumaki Kushina exchanged a glance, then laughed.

"From what we can tell, we still don't know what's wrong with you, but since you can wake up from hunger, you probably won't die in your sleep."

Tsunade felt a little relieved. At least things hadn't reached the worst-case scenario.

"Still, that doesn't mean your condition won't get worse later, so it'd be best to have your family keep an eye on you."

Uchiha Nagi fell silent. He thought of Uchiha Eri, who was already working herself ragged to earn money.

He was sure that if he told her about all this, she'd stop taking missions so she could watch over him.

But... that was exactly what he didn't want.

"I understand."

Uchiha Nagi nodded. He didn't intend to follow Tsunade's advice, but he had to say the right thing.

Tsunade stretched, showing off her voluptuous figure to its fullest.

Uchiha Nagi couldn't help glancing at her. His mood had been low, but suddenly it wasn't quite so low anymore.

"Come on, it's late. Big Sis will take you two to dinner."

"I'll pay. I've taken up so much of Lady Tsunade and Kushina's time."

Uchiha Nagi had just started to say something when he suddenly sensed a palm strike coming. Instinctively, he tried to dodge.

"Slap!"

"Your reflexes are pretty good, but not quite good enough."

Tsunade looked at her hand, which had nearly missed, then at Uchiha Nagi, who was clutching his head, and couldn't hide her surprise.

"With Big Sis here, do you really think I'd let a little guy like you pay?"