Emotional Damages

The sun had set, leaving only a streak of orange-red at the edge of the sky.

Kitahara Kaede walked back, carrying a paper bag of snacks.

Training had ended early today. Hiruzen had gone to the Hokage building for a meeting, so the three of them had dispersed on the spot.

He was just planning to head home when his peripheral vision caught something at the street corner.

Orochimaru.

The guy who was usually dressed entirely in white was wearing a wide black cloak today, hugging the wall as he headed toward the village exit.

His pace was fast, his head bowed low.

Kitahara Kaede bit into a dumpling.

This getup was no different from having "I'm about to do something bad" written on his face.

He chewed twice and followed.

He was idle anyway.

With his current sensory perception, Orochimaru wouldn't notice him from twenty or thirty meters away.

The two of them passed through the village gate one after the other, arriving at the riverbank outside.

Before he even got close, he heard Tsunade's voice.

"Five thousand ryo! A full five thousand ryo!"

Tsunade was squatting by the river, clutching a flattened wallet in her hand, her face as wrinkled as a bitter melon.

"It was gone before I even saw a splash—those casino owners are definitely cheating!"

She picked up a pebble and hurled it into the center of the river.

The water splashed, but her anger didn't subside.

Kitahara Kaede found a suitable tree, vaulted up, and sat on a branch.

He tore open the paper bag, took out a rice cracker, and watched while he chewed.

On the opposite bank, Orochimaru was crouching behind a pile of rocks, head bowed as he checked something on a piece of paper.

A moment later, Orochimaru pulled on a black hood and drew a smoke bomb from his ninja pouch.

The aura around him changed instantly.

Kitahara Kaede's chewing paused.

Acting?

Boom.

A thick cloud of smoke exploded by the river.

"Who?!" Tsunade sprang up, instinctively retreating two steps.

"Heh heh, little girl, it's not safe to be daydreaming out here all alone."

Orochimaru emerged from the smoke, his voice dropped two octaves, his steps deliberately frivolous, a kunai spinning at his fingertips.

What acting.

Kitahara Kaede gave him a mental rating—eight out of ten.

The voice, the posture, and the control of his killing intent were all quite good.

The only problem was, he had picked the wrong target.

The person in front of him had just lost five thousand ryo and had an entire afternoon of pent-up rage with nowhere to vent.

Tsunade stared at this "rogue ninja" in front of her, stunned for a second.

Then she smiled.

It wasn't a normal smile.

It was the smile of someone who had just been stiffed by the whole world, suddenly seeing someone offer their face up on a silver platter.

"Just in time."

Tsunade clenched her fists, the pebbles beneath her feet cracking under the pressure.

"I'll take you as compensation for the money I lost today."

Orochimaru's brow twitched.

The script didn't say this.

According to Jiraiya's plan, he was supposed to create a sense of suppression, Tsunade was supposed to fall into a disadvantage, and then that white-haired idiot would descend from the sky to play the hero—

Tsunade had already charged.

No opening stance, no wasted movement.

Just a punch, moving with unreasonable speed.

Orochimaru's body folded backward at the very last second, the wind of the punch grazing the tip of his nose.

The ground beneath him didn't escape.

Boom—

Earth and stone shattered, debris flying half a meter high.

Orochimaru was blown back three or four meters by the shockwave, sliding a distance on one hand before coming to a stop.

He looked back at the crater.

Half a meter deep.

He looked at Tsunade again.

Tsunade stood with her head bowed, her shoulders heaving slightly, the aura around her seemingly heavy enough to press the river water down three inches.

Orochimaru revised his assessment of the night in his mind.

Something was wrong, very wrong.

"You dodge fast."

Tsunade started again, her right leg lifting, heel coiled with power, chopping down with the force to split a mountain.

Orochimaru didn't dare hold back anymore.

He flickered to the side, and Tsunade's heel smashed into the rocky shore, the entire riverbank shaking.

She turned and pursued again.

Orochimaru dodged continuously among the rocks; his footwork was elegant, but his composure was long gone.

Up in the tree, Kitahara Kaede finished the rice cracker and switched to a rice cake.

He saw a white shadow in the distance, rushing toward them in a panic.

Jiraiya had arrived, holding a bouquet of wildflowers.

"Stop! Do not harm my companion!"

His voice was loud enough to send ripples across the river.

When he charged into the scene, the picture he saw differed from his expectations by a fair bit.

Tsunade was chasing.

Orochimaru was running.

Every time a punch landed, the ground shook.

Orochimaru swept past Jiraiya.

The moment they brushed shoulders, Orochimaru didn't even stop, dropping only three words.

"You're done for."

Then, with a flicker, he vanished into the night.

Only two people remained on the riverbank.

Jiraiya still held the bouquet of wildflowers, which had been bent by the wind.

Tsunade slowly turned around.

She didn't attack immediately.

She just looked at Jiraiya, then at the direction Orochimaru had disappeared, and finally at Jiraiya's getup—the floral shirt, the new hairstyle, the bouquet of wildflowers, and that stupid face plastered with "all according to plan."

"Ji—rai—ya—"

"Tsunade, let me explain..."

"Explain what?"

Tsunade snatched the wildflowers from his hand and shoved them, stems and all, into his nostrils.

"Letting Orochimaru play a rogue ninja so you could be the hero?"

Jiraiya's face went pale.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?"

Tsunade threw a punch.

A direct hit.

Jiraiya went airborne, tracing a beautiful parabola through the night.

He ended up hanging from the branch of a tree.

It was less than ten meters away from the tree where Kitahara Kaede was hiding.

Kitahara Kaede looked at Jiraiya hanging upside down on the opposite tree.

Two wildflowers were still stuck in Jiraiya's nostrils, his white hair hung down, and two lines of tears slid silently down his face.

Kitahara Kaede lowered his head to finish the rice cake, brushing the crumbs from his hands.

Close enough.

He dropped down from the tree.

Tsunade was still standing by the river, panting, her fists clenched, her chest heaving.

Hearing footsteps behind her, she whipped around—seeing it was him, the killing intent on her face faded, replaced by the embarrassment of being caught in a humiliating moment.

"Kaede? When... when did you..."

"Just got here."

Kitahara Kaede walked two steps closer and looked at her hand.

The knuckles on her right hand were scraped, not deep, but oozing blood.

She had put too much force into those punches against Orochimaru and hadn't controlled it well.

He didn't speak, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and handing it over.

Tsunade looked down, only then noticing her hand.

She took the handkerchief and wiped it off carelessly, muttering, "Two idiots..."

Her voice was much quieter than before.

Kitahara Kaede walked to the riverbank and bent down to pick something up.

A wallet.

Jiraiya's.

The punch from earlier had sent him and his belongings flying, and the wallet had landed in the rock pile.

Kitahara Kaede opened it and took a look.

It was stuffed full.

He weighed it in his hand and turned back.

"How much did you lose today?"

"Five thousand ryo." Tsunade's tone was still resentful. "Why?"

Kitahara Kaede tossed the wallet to her.

Tsunade caught it instinctively, opened it, and her expression changed.

"This is—"

"His." Kitahara Kaede tilted his chin toward the tree. "Probably saved up for tonight."

Tsunade counted it; it was far more than five thousand ryo.

She was silent for two seconds.

Then she stuffed the wallet into her pocket with a clean, decisive motion.

"Consider it compensation for my emotional damages."

Kitahara Kaede couldn't help it; the corners of his mouth curled up.

Tsunade caught it.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing."

"You were definitely laughing."

"Let's go, let's get something to eat." Kitahara Kaede turned and walked toward the village. "Your treat."

"Why should I pay?"

"You just came into a windfall."

Tsunade glared at him, but she couldn't suppress the corner of her mouth anymore.

She took two quick steps to catch up, walking side by side with him.

The streetlights flickered on one by one, reflecting the shimmering light on the river.

A wail drifted from far behind them.

"Hey... at least take me down..."