Beneath the Bells

Jiraiya strolled leisurely through the forest, muttering nonstop.

"Hmph, so what if I was top of the Ninja Academy... What's so great about that?"

He glanced around, and for once, actually gave it some thought.

There were two bells.

One was on Teacher Hiruzen, and the other was hidden in the forest.

Go for the one on the teacher?

He wasn't an idiot.

Taking on the Third head-on was just asking for a beating.

But the one in the forest was different.

It came down to search skills and luck.

And Jiraiya firmly believed his luck was definitely better than Kitahara Kaede's.

"Once I find the bell, let's see how Tsunade can refuse me." The more he thought about it, the better it sounded. "Barbecue... Tsunade must look pretty cute eating barbecue..."

He grinned foolishly for two seconds, then abruptly shook his head.

"No, first I have to find it!"

He picked up the pace and weaved through the trees.

Three minutes later, he stopped.

About twenty meters ahead, at the base of a large tree, half a red cord peeked out from beneath the fallen leaves.

A bell dangled from its end.

Sunlight slipped through a gap in the canopy and fell right on the bell.

Jiraiya froze for a second, then burst with joy.

"Ha ha ha ha! The heavens are on my side!"

He slapped his thigh, his voice loud enough to carry through the whole forest.

"What good is running so fast? I still found it first!"

Jiraiya took off running.

Something tightened around his foot.

"Whoosh—"

A snare sprang up from beneath the leaves and cinched around his ankle. Its other end was tied to a branch overhead, and he was flung up into the air, left hanging upside down.

"AAAHHHHHH—!"

Jiraiya dangled headfirst, his white hair hanging down and his face turning bright red.

He twisted and thrashed like a fish on a hook.

He couldn't reach the rope around his ankle, and his abs weren't strong enough to do a sit-up. After struggling for ages, all he managed was to swing back and forth in the air.

"Damn it—what kind of lousy trap is this—"

The bell lay beneath the tree, less than three meters away.

He could see it, but he couldn't reach it.

Jiraiya took a few breaths, gritted his teeth, and tried again.

This time, he didn't struggle wildly. He reached for the ninja tool pouch at his waist, pulled out a kunai, and tried to cut the rope around his ankle.

The angle was awkward. Hanging upside down, he stretched his arm as far as he could, but the kunai's tip only brushed the rope's outer layer.

His face red, he strained to reach. At last, the kunai's edge caught the rope.

He was halfway through cutting it—

"Looking lively."

The voice came from above.

Jiraiya's hand jerked, and he nearly dropped the kunai.

He looked up—or, more accurately, down, since he was upside down.

Kitahara Kaede was crouched on the branch holding him, hands resting on his knees as he looked down at him.

Jiraiya's face turned even redder.

Not just from the blood rushing to his head—though that was part of it—but because he'd almost cut through the rope.

Almost.

"I found the bell first!" Jiraiya shouted. "You have to respect who got here first!"

Kitahara Kaede didn't answer.

Should he let Jiraiya down so he could take the bell and ask Tsunade out?

Sorry, buddy, he wasn't into that kind of weird scenario.

He dropped from the branch, glanced over the ground around the bell, and casually tossed a pebble over.

After confirming there weren't any other traps, he bent down and picked up the bell.

It chimed crisply in his palm.

"You—" Jiraiya's voice went up an octave. "Hagoromo Kaede, you bastard! I found it first! Have you no shame?"

His curses echoed through the forest, startling a few birds.

Kitahara Kaede gripped the bell and looked up at him.

Jiraiya's face was nearly purple, and he still clutched the kunai in his hand. The rope had been cut almost halfway through.

Give him twenty more seconds, and he really would have cut through it.

Jiraiya didn't know that he'd lost those twenty seconds because of his own mouth.

When he'd shouted, "The heavens are on my side," half the forest had heard him—including Kitahara Kaede.

About a minute later, the bushes rustled, and Tsunade emerged from the side.

Two leaves were caught in her ponytail. She held a kunai in her hand, her expression wary.

"What was that noise? I heard Jirai—"

Then she saw them.

Jiraiya was hanging upside down from a tree, face red, still holding a kunai.

Kitahara Kaede stood beneath the tree, a bell pinched between his fingers.

Tsunade's wary expression turned complicated.

"...So this idiot stepped into a trap."

"Yeah."

Tsunade didn't say anything else.

Kitahara Kaede held out the bell.

"Here."

Tsunade froze at his words.

She stared at his face.

He was giving her the bell?

Jiraiya's words from before rang in her ears—"If I get the bell, I'll ask Tsunade out."

He'd heard him.

So was that why he'd run so fast? To—

Tsunade's ears warmed.

She quickly cut off the thought before it could go any further.

"Take it." Kitahara Kaede gave the bell a little shake.

Tsunade was still looking at him.

Kitahara Kaede frowned slightly and waved a hand in front of her face.

"Tsunade?"

Tsunade snapped back to herself.

Realizing she'd been staring at Kaede for several seconds, her face suddenly grew hot.

"Y-yeah."

She snatched the bell from him, moving so quickly she nearly dropped it.

Her voice was half an octave higher than usual.

Even she could tell it sounded strange, so she hurriedly lowered her gaze to the bell instead of looking at him.

Kitahara Kaede stared at her for a second.

Her ears were red, her eyes were darting around, and she'd even stumbled over her words.

She was nothing like the usual Tsunade, who folded her arms and gave people sidelong looks.

For a moment, he thought Tsunade was kind of cute.

His hand nearly reached out to ruffle her hair.

"The other bell is on Teacher Hiruzen. I have an idea, but I'll need your help—"

Tsunade didn't answer.

Kitahara Kaede looked over at her.

She was staring at his face again.

"...What exactly are you looking at?"

"I'm not!" Tsunade turned her head sharply. "Go on. What's the plan?"

Her voice was still higher than usual.

Jiraiya, hanging from the tree, watched all of this clearly.

Tsunade's ears were red.

Tsunade's voice was flustered.

And Tsunade's eyes—

They were bright, with a hint of confusion.

She'd never looked at him that way.

Not once.

Jiraiya's nose suddenly started to itch.

It felt like something red was about to come out.

"Hey—don't just stand there chatting—get me down first—"

No one paid him any attention.

Half an hour later.

In front of the three wooden posts.

Hiruzen stood in place, pipe in his mouth, the bell no longer at his waist.

He looked at Kitahara Kaede and Tsunade, something new in his gaze.

"Your teamwork... exceeded my expectations."

He exhaled a puff of smoke.

"Kaede, your tactical awareness and ability to judge a situation on the spot are already beyond what I'd expect from a Genin."

He paused.

"Tsunade, your chakra control and explosive Taijutsu are among the best of your age group."

Tsunade lifted her chin slightly.

She pressed her lips together to hide her smile, but couldn't conceal the pride in her eyes.

Hiruzen tapped out his pipe and put it away.

"You've retrieved both bells. The test is over."

"Oh, right." Tsunade suddenly remembered. "Teacher, where's Jiraiya?"

Hiruzen pointed behind him.

Jiraiya was tied up tight on the middle wooden post.

His head drooped, his white hair was a mess, and he looked utterly hopeless.

"He got down on his own, but I used the Clone Technique to tie him up and bring him here," Hiruzen said calmly. "However, considering he's a ninja and still keeps stepping into traps that obvious, I think leaving him tied up a little longer would be more educational."

Tsunade walked over to the post.

She raised the bell in her hand and dangled it in front of Jiraiya.

Jingle.

"Jiraiya—I won our bet, you know."

She smiled, her eyes curving at the corners.

"As expected, you're the one who got knocked out."

Jiraiya's face twitched.

Then he exploded.

"Shut up! You flat-chested, ironing-board Tsunade!"

Silence fell for a second.

A whole second.

Tsunade's smile froze on her face.

Then it slowly disappeared.

In its place was an expression that seemed to drop the temperature around them by three degrees.

"What—did—you—say?"

"You damn pervert!!"

Her fist slammed into the wooden post.

The wooden post cracked.

Jiraiya jumped along with the post and rope, nearly uprooting the whole thing.

Hiruzen sighed behind them.

"All right, all right. Stop arguing."

He rubbed his temples.

"Kaede, Tsunade, you two go on home. Jiraiya... stay here and think about what you've done."

Tsunade glared fiercely at Jiraiya and turned to leave.

After taking two steps, she looked back and waved at Jiraiya, still tied to the post.

The meaning of the gesture was perfectly clear: goodbye, idiot.

Kitahara Kaede followed her.

The two walked side by side on the way home.

After a while, Tsunade suddenly fell silent.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kitahara Kaede saw her head lowered, her gaze fixed around her own chest.

She wasn't looking at him.

She was looking at herself.

Tsunade stared at her flat chest for two seconds.

Her brows furrowed.

They walked a few more steps.

A fruit stand sat by the roadside, with several baskets piled high with fruit, big and small.

Tsunade's steps faltered.

Then she suddenly spoke.

"Kaede."

"Yeah?"

"When you buy fruit, do you like picking the big ones or the small ones?"

Kitahara Kaede answered without a second thought.

"The big ones."

Tsunade stopped walking.

Kitahara Kaede took two more steps before realizing she hadn't followed.

He turned to look at her.

Tsunade stood there, her expression complicated.

Angry, hurt, ready to punch someone.

Three emotions blended together, finally turning into a stomp of her foot.

"Jerk!"

She turned and strode off, heading in the exact opposite direction from home.

Kitahara Kaede stood in the middle of the road.

He glanced at the fruit stand, then at Tsunade's retreating figure.

—Why wouldn't you pick the big ones when buying fruit?

He thought about it for three seconds.

Then he remembered what Jiraiya had shouted earlier.

"Flat as a board. A washboard."

Then he remembered Tsunade looking down at her chest for those two seconds.

Then he remembered "big or small."

A very rare expression appeared on Kitahara Kaede's face.

Confusion mingled with dawning realization, and dawning realization with a trace of guilt.

He reached up and rubbed the back of his head.

"...She wasn't asking about fruit?"

In the distance, Tsunade's figure turned the corner and disappeared.

The tips of her ears were red as if they might drip blood.