"You came up with this plan? It feels like it lines up with some of the ideas I've had in mind." Tsunade looked at the pages, surprised. She'd never brought up these theories, but she'd arrived at the same concepts herself.
Bai Lin smiled. Of course it lined up. He'd written it based on her ideas in the first place.
He took Tsunade's hand and said with complete seriousness, "You know, when I saw you yesterday, an idea came to me: I wanted to make you mine."
"The reason I acted so terribly yesterday was that I didn't want you to treat me like a child or like your student."
"You can reject my feelings, but I won't give up. As for the third gift..."
Bai Lin picked up the last item from the table. It was a cheap necklace, one he'd bought at the market for a thousand ryo after finding one that looked relatively nice.
He didn't have much money to begin with. After buying the Shuriken for the exam, he had only a thousand ryo left.
The pendant was a small cherry blossom. It was made of ordinary materials and had no gemstones, and it looked cheap, but it was clear that it really hadn't cost much.
"I spent everything I had on this necklace. They say it can protect the wearer, keeping them safe and bringing them good fortune."
Who said that, exactly? That didn't matter. Once he passed the story along, it would become something "they said."
Bai Lin spoke with such sincerity that he didn't seem to be lying at all. After all, he really had spent everything he had on it.
"Keeping you safe and bringing you good fortune... Why does that sound familiar, too? I just can't remember where I've heard it." Tsunade touched her neck. Seeing how sincere Bai Lin looked, she couldn't help feeling flustered.
"You little brat..." She opened her mouth, as if to say something, then settled on, "You're unbelievably arrogant."
"Brother Lin, you like Big Sister Tsunade, but what about me?" Kushina's eyes reddened, and her voice caught with hurt. "Brother Lin, you only have eyes for Big Sister Tsunade. What about me? I like you. Don't you like me?"
Kushina had been watching for a while. First the mahjong, then the medical plan—she'd thought he was just trying to get closer to Big Sister Tsunade. She'd even been about to help Bai Lin make his case.
But then, in the next moment, he'd confessed his feelings to Tsunade and given her a gift. He hadn't given Kushina anything. He must not like her.
Waaah!
Kushina covered her eyes and started to leave.
Bai Lin hurriedly handed the cheap necklace to Tsunade, then turned and chased after Kushina. He vanished from the spot in an instant. "Kushina, don't go!"
He grabbed the girl by the wrist and pulled her straight into his arms.
Kushina covered her face, her shoulders shaking violently as tears streamed through her fingers. Sobbing, she said, "Let go of me... You don't even like me, so why are you keeping me here? You've never even given me a present..."
"Kushina, hear me out—no, let me explain. I have my reasons." Bai Lin stroked her smooth red hair.
"I won't listen, I won't listen. Let go of me!" Kushina struggled fiercely in his arms. Her tears fell like beads from a broken string, soaking his clothes, and her voice was nearly incoherent with sobs.
"I've already thought of a gift for you. The time just isn't right yet. When it is, I promise it'll make you happy." Bai Lin spoke earnestly.
"No gift could make me forgive your womanizing! You're scum. I'm never going to like you again." Kushina kept struggling, undeterred by his explanation.
"Really? If I told you that besides you, there are other members of the Uzumaki Clan still alive, would you still hate me?"
Kushina's struggles stopped abruptly. Tears still slid between her fingers, but she couldn't help lifting her reddened eyes to look at him. "R-really? You're not lying to me...?"
Her voice was thick with tears, her eyes full of hurt and a faint, unmistakable hope.
Bai Lin wiped her tears away and said helplessly, "Kushina, you can ask around about my reputation in Konoha. I swear by the Will of Fire that I never lie."
"There really are other members of the Uzumaki Clan still alive. The reason I'm not telling you now is that I'm afraid I might change some things in reality and cause an accident. I was planning to bring them back to Konoha as your gift the next time I passed through there."
"If something really does go wrong and I break my promise, I don't think I could forgive myself for lying to you."
Kushina went completely still. Tears clung to her lashes, but she forgot to let them fall.
She stared at Bai Lin, her hurt replaced by stunned disbelief. Her voice trembled, hoarse with emotion. "Y-you're telling the truth? There are... there are members of my clan still alive?"
"Absolutely! And it's true, I am a womanizer. I don't want to hurt you, so you'd be better off staying away from me, Kushina." Bai Lin looked heartbroken as he continued:
"Whether it's for Konoha's ally, Uzushio Village, or for your sake, I swear by my Will of Fire that I'll bring those surviving members of the Uzumaki Clan back to Konoha."
Bai Lin pushed Kushina away, seeming to want to cut ties with her so he wouldn't hurt her.
"Brother Lin, as long as you're not lying to me and there really are members of the Uzumaki Clan still alive, I'll forgive you—even if all I get to see are their corpses."
Seeing that Bai Lin was trying to cut ties with her, Kushina panicked again and hurriedly grabbed his sleeve.
The Uzumaki Clan had been reduced to just her and Grandma Mito. She knew Grandma Mito wouldn't be with her much longer. Then she really would be the only member of the Uzumaki Clan left in the world.
Now that she'd heard some of her clan members were still alive, Kushina clutched Bai Lin's sleeve even tighter.
"I'm a womanizer. Please stay away from me," Bai Lin said flatly.
"No. I won't."
"I don't want to hurt you!" "No!"
"Kushina!" "Brother Lin!"
Kushina happily threw herself into Bai Lin's arms, overwhelmed by the feeling of having found something she thought she'd lost.
Tsunade watched from the side without expression, her clenched fist betraying how unsettled she felt.
It seemed she'd run into someone even worse than Jiraiya and his lecherous ways.
The other girl, with black hair and dark eyes, watched Bai Lin and Kushina embrace. A tear silently rolled down her cheek as her black pupils began to split apart, gradually forming three Tomoe.
"Lin, it looks like I showed up at the wrong time!" The girl was Uchiha Mikoto.
To strengthen Bai Lin's belief in the Will of Fire, Hiruzen Sarutobi had looked into some of his relationships.
He'd unexpectedly discovered that Bai Lin was close to Uchiha Mikoto of the Uchiha Clan.
The Will of Fire's central principle was the bonds between people. As long as people had bonds, they had something they wanted to protect. That was Konoha's true strength.
So, in an unprecedented move, Hiruzen Sarutobi broke up Uchiha Mikoto's original squad and assigned her to Tsunade's team.