A Contract to Repay with Her Body

The inn on Tanzaku Street was even more respectable than Chiba had expected.

It was a three-story standalone building, with two carp-shaped lanterns hanging at the entrance. The moment the clerk at the front desk saw the denomination on Chiba's banknote, he bent so low his waist nearly touched the floor, then hurriedly led the three of them to a luxurious suite on the top floor.

When the door opened, Shizune's mouth hung open for a long while before she could close it.

There was a separate living room, two bedrooms, and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the lights of all Tanzaku Street. A fruit platter and two warmed flasks of sake sat on the coffee table. The sofa was upholstered in soft leather imported from the Land of Water; one could sink half their body into it with a single sit.

"How much does one night here cost?" Shizune asked weakly, holding Tonton in her arms.

"Eighty thousand ryo," Chiba answered casually.

Shizune's legs went limp, and she nearly collapsed to the floor. Eighty thousand ryo was enough to feed her and Tsunade for three months.

Tsunade, on the other hand, showed no restraint at all. She kicked off her shoes and sprawled across the sofa, her whole body sinking into the soft leather backrest. The alcohol had not quite worn off yet, and a faint flush spread across her cheeks. Her golden ponytail had come loose and draped over her shoulders, while her gray-green coat slid down to her elbows, exposing the fair skin of her forearms.

She picked up the sake flask from the coffee table and poured herself a cup.

"Go on, Senju Chiba." Holding her cup, Tsunade pointed at the armchair across from her with its rim. "Sit there. Stop standing around and swaying."

"You didn't throw down twenty million ryo just to come recognize some relatives. If your parents were still alive, they wouldn't have taught you to mortgage the Senju ancestral home to pay off a strange woman's debts."

She took a sip, her golden eyes half-lidded. There was thirty percent scrutiny and seventy percent impatience in her voice. "Explain yourself. What exactly are you after?"

Chiba did not sit in that armchair.

He walked around the coffee table and sat on the two-person sofa opposite Tsunade. The distance between them was neither too close nor too far; if he stretched out a hand, he could touch Tsunade's knee.

"What am I after?" Chiba pulled a stack of papers from his robe, thick as a dictionary, and slapped it onto the coffee table.

"Take a look at this first."

Tsunade set down her cup, picked up the papers, and flipped through a couple of pages. A vein twitched at her temple.

"What is this?"

"Your detailed debt statement." Chiba crossed one leg over the other, sounding as relaxed as if he were reporting the weather forecast. "Thirteen million seven hundred twenty thousand ryo from the Tanzaku Street casino, six million ryo in accumulated old debts, plus one million two hundred eighty thousand ryo in miscellaneous expenses and handling fees that I advanced."

"That comes to exactly twenty million ryo. Interest is calculated at an annual rate of eight percent."

"Isn't that loan sharking?" Shizune peeked over from the side, and her face turned green.

"It's the normal market interest rate." Chiba smiled and pulled a second document from his sleeve. It was only two thin pages, with four words written on the cover.

Debt Cooperation Contract.

Tsunade tossed the debt statement back onto the coffee table, leaned into the sofa, and folded her arms across her chest. That posture pulled her collar tighter, and the folds in the fabric formed a deep shadow beneath her collarbone.

"What do you want me to sign?"

Chiba unfolded the contract, pointed to the first clause, and slid it toward Tsunade.

"Very simple. First, as a direct descendant of the Senju main family, you will assist me in reviving the Senju Clan. This includes, but is not limited to, teaching medical ninjutsu, providing guidance in cultivating the Senju bloodline, and, when necessary, publicly backing me as an elder in the ninja world."

"Second, the debt will be repaid through labor. The specific arrangement will be long-term accompanying cooperation until the debt is fully repaid."

"Third."

Chiba paused and looked up at Tsunade.

"The Senju Clan is nearly extinct, Lady Tsunade. As your creditor, and as the last living member of a Senju branch family, I require you to lead by example and participate in the Senju bloodline continuation plan."

The room went silent for three seconds.

Shizune's face changed from green to red, then from red to tomato-red. Her lips trembled for a long time before she managed to force out a word. "Y-you, you, you..."

Tsunade did not explode immediately.

She stared at Chiba for five full seconds. The alcohol had diffused through her eyes, but the sharpness in those golden pupils had not diminished in the slightest.

"A bloodline continuation plan?"

"That's right."

"You're a fifteen-year-old brat, and you want to talk to me about continuing the bloodline?"

Chiba's smile did not change, but he leaned forward slightly, his elbows resting on his knees and his chin raised just enough to meet Tsunade's gaze at eye level as she lounged on the sofa.

"The Senju Clan's affairs should naturally be handled by the Senju. Lady Tsunade, you are the only direct descendant of the main family, and I am the only descendant of a branch family. Besides us, who else is there?"

"'Lead by example.'" Tsunade knocked her cup against the coffee table. Her strength was controlled perfectly, leaving only a faint round dent beneath the base of the cup. "Who taught you to talk like that?"

"I taught myself. Children from poor families grow up early. Orphans need to learn how to negotiate even more."

Tsunade's hand had already clenched the edge of the sofa's armrest. The tightening of her knuckles showed that her patience was nearly at its limit.

"Brat." She stood up.

The height difference between the boy, who stood a little over five feet, and one of the Sannin, who stood over five feet seven, became especially obvious at that moment. Tsunade looked down at Chiba. Her right hand had already shot out, fingers spread, straight for his collar.

"If you don't make yourself clear today, I'll snap your neck, then spit back every last one of those twenty million ryo."

Chiba did not retreat.

Tsunade's hand seized his collar, but at the exact moment her grip tightened, Chiba raised his right hand and clasped Tsunade's wrist with all five fingers.

Tsunade stopped moving.

Not because she wanted to. She had discovered that her wrist was restrained by an unexpected force. It was not particularly great, but it was unsettlingly steady, like an iron band slowly and firmly locking around her joints.

Chiba stood up.

He was half a head shorter than Tsunade, looking up into her eyes. The strength in his grip neither loosened nor increased. The distance between them narrowed to less than a fist's width. The lingering scent of sake on Tsunade's coat mixed with the sweetness of the fruit platter in the inn room and flooded Chiba's nose.

"Lady Tsunade." Chiba lowered his voice, his breath brushing against Tsunade's chin. "You can hit me. You can send me flying out of Tanzaku Street with one punch if you want."

"But what happens after that?"

"You'll still owe twenty million ryo. The Senju Clan will still only have the two of us left. Konoha's higher-ups will still be waiting for us to die out."

"Which of those problems can beating me up solve?"

Tsunade's breathing stopped for half a beat.

Chiba's fingers moved lightly against her wrist, the pad of his thumb brushing the spot where her pulse throbbed. It was scorching hot.

"Sign the contract, Lady Tsunade. You won't lose out. Working to repay a debt is only natural."

Chiba released her hand, stepped back, and smiled again as he held the contract and pen out before Tsunade.

"Or are you saying that one of the legendary Sannin wants to skip out on her debt?"