Villagers See Him Off

After several days of shamelessly secluded living, the green vines sealing the doors and windows quickly withered, turning into specks of chakra light that dissipated into the air. The iron door of the underground equipment room was slowly pulled open from within.

Chenshu Senju finally walked out of the room. He rubbed his aching lower back, and his steps were unusually unsteady. Tsunade and Sakura lay inside, deeply asleep with flushed faces. Several torn coats were scattered messily across the floor, and an intensely suggestive warmth still lingered in the air. He did not make a sound to wake them, merely grabbed a clean blanket and gently covered them both before pulling the iron door shut behind him. Inwardly, he cursed that the past few days had been more exhausting than fighting ten Madara Uchihas.

He lowered his head to inspect the Kusanagi Sword hanging at his lower back. Only after confirming that he had not forgotten anything did he start walking slowly up the underground passage.

He had barely taken two steps when a system notification bordered in gold popped up in his mind.

[System: The seed-bearing mission has been completed. The forced bond restriction is being lifted.]

[System: Spatial passage recalibration in progress. Full unlock expected in one hour.]

Chenshu Senju stared at the messages, his eyelids twitching twice. This damn system really did what it said. It showed no mercy at all.

This was probably the biggest silent loss he had suffered since crossing into this world. Two women had actually trapped him in a room by using the system's forced restriction as an excuse.

The wall lamps in the passage lit up one after another with his footsteps. The vast Senju Manor was still strangely quiet. The ANBU, to whom he had handed command,