I'll Take Care of You

Shin, Cloud, and Mountain all wore expressions of astonishment beneath their masks.

In their eyes, Senju Genma was hardly the type to go around dispensing random acts of kindness.

Senju Genma turned around and held out his hand toward them.

"What are you doing?"

"Hand over your dry rations, too!"

"I haven't even taken a single bite yet!"

"Isn't having your military rations enough? You haven't even touched those yet, have you!"

"But the dry rations taste better!"

"If military rations tasted good, I wouldn't be asking you for your dry rations!"

Helpless, Senju Genma picked up Konan, who was gnawing on a piece of dry bread like a hamster, and placed her in front of them.

"Look at how hungry this child is. If nothing else, I'll treat you all to barbecue once we get back to the village, alright?"

The three of them had no choice but to begrudgingly produce their dry rations.

"Damn it, here. But you'd better treat us to barbecue when we get back."

Konan was truly famished; she grabbed the dry rations in front of her and shoved them into her mouth all at once.

Under the watchful eyes of the group, Konan finished the bread quickly and let out a satisfied burp.

She looked at Senju Genma's face, as if remembering something, and reached into her clothes to fumble around.

Seeing this, Shin's expression shifted drastically. He immediately prepared to strike, but Senju Genma grabbed his wrist.

Shin looked back at Senju Genma, who didn't speak, merely shaking his head.

Konan pulled a yellow paper flower from behind her back, wore a smile, and said in a soft voice, "Thank you. This is a return gift."

Konan held the paper flower with both hands and started to ask, "Are you ninjas from Konoha?"

The group felt a jolt of alarm. After a moment of thought, Shin stepped forward and asked, "Should we kill this child?"

"I've seen plenty of war orphans, and their ends are always miserable. It might be better to just kill her here; for these children, it might actually be..."

Hearing this, Konan immediately took a fearful step back.

Senju Genma raised his hand, stopping Shin from continuing.

"I will take care of this little one!"

"Squad leader, how can you do that? Anything can happen on the battlefield. This child might even be a spy trained by the Land of Rain."

Mountain spoke up hurriedly. This was a battlefield where things changed in an instant; they couldn't afford to be careless.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on her. Have you forgotten my ability?"

Senju Genma extended his hand, and a Wood Release seed appeared in his palm.

Cloud and Mountain remained uneasy.

"Once we finish clearing the Rain Ninja out of this town, we'll take the child back with us," Shin said after a long silence, choosing to trust Senju Genma. "But you'll have to take care of her yourself, Genma-sama. We aren't going to deal with it."

"No problem!"

Senju Genma nodded, not blaming the three of them.

After all, even though he had lived two lives, he still appeared to be a young child, and he understood that their concerns came from a place of genuine care.

Senju Genma turned back to look at Konan and offered a warm smile. "I'll be the one taking care of you from now on. How does that sound? It's fine even if you don't agree!"

Konan remained silent for a long time before slowly nodding.

At this moment, Konan was yearning for a bright future, unaware that the gears of fate had already begun to turn.

Inside the Konoha camp in the Land of Rain.

Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade sat in a circle, staring at the two people in their midst in silence.

"Since it's already a done deal, we can't just throw the child out, can we?" Tsunade pinched Senju Genma's cheek and said crossly, "Let her stay! I'll help Genma look after her."

"Hey, hey! Tsunade, don't spoil Genma too much. If he dares to bring a girl back today, who's to say he won't bring back a wife tomorrow?" Jiraiya, however, didn't offer any kind words to give Tsunade an out.

He rubbed his chest.

He hadn't even peeked at her bathing, so why was she so furious?

I'm going to remember these six broken ribs for the rest of my life!

"What do you know? Our Genma is kind-hearted," Tsunade retorted, raising an eyebrow. "If you don't agree, then tell me what we should do instead?"

Tsunade's words made Senju Genma feel embarrassed.

He swore to himself that he wasn't actually that kind. If he hadn't run into Konan, but rather some ordinary child, he would have only given them some food and walked away.

Jiraiya fell silent. In truth, he didn't have the heart to send the girl away either; he had just suddenly developed a contrarian personality and was arguing with Tsunade for the sake of it.

Looking at Konan's pitiful appearance, he now wished he could give himself two slaps in the face.

Orochimaru looked at the two of them and sighed.

He knew his two teammates all too well and understood that their hearts had softened.

"It seems the result is already clear. From now on, this girl will be under the care of Genma and Tsunade."

"Nawaki, let's go!"

After saying this, Orochimaru stood up and left, with Nawaki trailing behind him like a little shadow.

Having received permission from the troop commander, Orochimaru, both Genma and Konan were overjoyed, skipping and hopping their way toward the medical ninja camp.

Being with Konan, it seemed as though he had truly become a child himself.

That night, after finishing her duties, Tsunade entered her tent to find the two little ones sitting on her bed.

Genma was in the middle of feeding Konan.

"Big Sister Tsunade!" Upon seeing her return, Genma and Konan both called out in unison, sounding perfectly well-behaved.

"You brat, you only ever know how to cause me trouble!" Tsunade, however, looked quite displeased. She pulled Genma into her arms and began to ruffle his hair vigorously, muttering under her breath, "You're never this sweet to me!"

Senju Genma had a sudden realization: she was jealous!

The three of them ate dinner together, after which Tsunade left the tent, only to return shortly after; she had secured a tent for Konan to live in.

As one of the field commanders, Tsunade's tent was large enough that there was plenty of extra space even with Genma staying with her, so housing three people would have been no problem at all. Still, it would have been somewhat inconvenient for all three to live together.

Given Tsunade's status, getting a separate tent for Konan was no trouble at all.

Once they had the tent, Genma and Tsunade helped Konan get settled and held a simple welcome ceremony for her. Being on the battlefield, a grand ceremony was out of the question.

"Alright, go inside and get some sleep!" Tsunade patted Konan's little bottom and sent her into the small tent, which stood just a wall away from her own.

Senju Genma sat on the bed, rubbing his chin, and said with a tone of uncertainty, "Did I see that wrong? Why did the clothes Konan was wearing look so much like the ones I wore when I was little?"

Tsunade scratched her head, feeling guilty, and replied with an unnatural tone, "You must have remembered wrong! Why would I have any use for your clothes?"

"Get some sleep. We have a mission tomorrow."