Who Said It Was for Him

Before the sky had fully brightened, Kitahara Kaede arrived at Tsunade's doorstep.

He knocked twice.

A flurry of movement erupted inside, followed by footsteps rushing down the stairs as if the house were on fire.

The door swung open, and Nawaki poked half his body out.

His ninja tool pouch was stuffed to the brim on his shoulder, and his forehead protector was polished to a shine; it was clear he had spent more than one session buffing it in front of a mirror.

Upon seeing who it was, he froze for a split second.

Then, his eyes lit up.

"Master?!"

He scanned him up and down twice, his expression betraying a fear that he might have mistaken the person.

"I heard a few days ago that the team leader had been replaced, but I thought I'd heard wrong—I didn't expect it to actually be you!"

Kitahara Kaede's mouth twitched.

Good kid, I didn't realize he was such a fanboy.

"What, you didn't want it to be me?"

"How could that be!" Nawaki chuckled, rubbing his hands together. "With Master leading the team, this mission is just—"

"Take off your ninja tool pouch."

Nawaki's mouth remained open, his smile freezing on his face.

"...Are you kidding me?"

Kitahara Kaede was already squatting at the doorway, patting the ground.

Nawaki muttered something, but obediently unbuckled the pouch and spread it out.

Kitahara Kaede flipped through the items one by one, his finger pausing on the Military Ration Pills. He weighed them.

"Not enough. Add two more."

"It's a C-rank—"

"Add two more."

Nawaki looked at the expression on his face, swallowed his retort, and turned to run back into the house to rummage for more.

By the time he came back out with the pills and stuffed them in, Kitahara Kaede had already stood up.

He reached out and pressed the fasteners on the inner armor at Nawaki's shoulders, one on each side, confirming they weren't loose.

"Let's go."

The two of them walked out of the alley side by side.

The streets were mostly empty, save for early-rising vendors setting up stalls and the distant sound of barking dogs.

After walking a few paces, Nawaki couldn't hold it in.

"Master, seriously—it's just a C-rank reconnaissance mission, is all this necessary..."

"Once you leave the village, there is no such thing as 'necessary' or 'unnecessary'," Kitahara Kaede said without turning his head. "Every item you leave behind is just another way to die."

Nawaki fell silent.

Two seconds later, he quietly tightened the buckle on his ninja tool pouch by another notch.

The quiet didn't last long.

"Master."

"Yeah."

"This mission... do you also feel like something is off?"

Kitahara Kaede glanced at him.

Nawaki scratched the back of his head.

"It's not that I feel something is wrong, it's just... ever since my sister heard I was going on a mission a few days ago, she's been acting strange. Every time I ask her, she says it's nothing, but I'm not stupid."

He paused.

"She doesn't act like that when she's confident about things."

Kitahara Kaede looked at the road ahead.

"So you didn't sleep all night and polished your forehead protector three times."

Nawaki grinned, not denying it.

"I was thinking—if Master is leading the team personally, my sister shouldn't have to worry about me anymore."

Kitahara Kaede patted the back of his head.

"Listen to orders when we get there."

"Got it."

Nawaki rubbed his head, returning to his usual bouncy self, his steps light as he moved forward.

The South Gate.

The other two genin were already waiting.

They were rookies who had graduated in the same class as Nawaki, one tall and one short, standing ramrod straight.

Seeing Kitahara Kaede approach, the two of them snapped their heels together, nervously rattling off their identification numbers and names.

Kitahara Kaede waved a hand.

"Just call me Captain, no need to be so nervous."

The two relaxed their shoulders, though their backs remained rigid.

Nawaki stood to the side, hands behind his back, chin tilted up—a posture of seasoned seniority.

Kitahara Kaede glanced at him.

He immediately straightened his face, then leaned in, lowering his voice to a whisper.

"Master—look at the South Gate."

Kitahara Kaede looked in the direction he indicated.

Tsunade was leaning against a stone pillar at the entrance of the South Gate.

She wore her dark blue coat draped loosely, her ponytail tied carelessly, and her hands were tucked into her pockets.

Judging by her stance and posture, she had been there for a while.

She was supposed to be on duty at the hospital today.

Before Kitahara Kaede could move, Nawaki had already sidled up to him, leaning almost against his ear, his face brimming with gossip.

"Master, let me tell you—"

He scanned Tsunade sneakily, confirming they were far enough away.

"A few days ago, my sister didn't come home for the night."

He paused.

"When she came back the next day, she was—still—secretly—smiling."

Kitahara Kaede ignored him and walked toward Tsunade.

Behind him, Nawaki silently gave a thumbs-up.

Seeing him approach, Tsunade pulled her hands from her pockets and took out a cloth bundle. Without meeting his eyes, she shoved it toward him.

"Take this."

Kitahara Kaede took it, his thumb flicking open the edge.

Military Ration Pills—high-concentration, individually sealed, with a color two shades deeper than the military standard.

Tucked underneath was a tube of hemostatic ointment, a handwritten label stuck to the bottle with clean, forceful strokes.

Tsunade's handwriting.

Kitahara Kaede looked at the tube of ointment for two seconds.

"Nawaki won't need this."

Tsunade's gaze drifted toward the treetops outside the South Gate.

"Who said it was for him?"

Her tone was stiff.

But once she finished speaking, her gaze returned—not to his face, but to his hands, watching him place the cloth bundle into his ninja tool pouch.

Kitahara Kaede didn't say anything more, tucking the bundle into the innermost compartment of his pouch and pressing it down firmly.

Tsunade's eyebrows twitched.

"It's Nawaki's first time traveling far."

"Yeah."

"Don't let him show off. That kid will charge into anything once he gets worked up."

"I won't."

She paused.

"You too."

The tone was no different from her previous words, as if it were just an afterthought. Like a tail added on after finishing instructions for her brother.

But Kitahara Kaede heard it.

As smoothly as the previous words had flowed, these three words had been stuck and rigid.

"Alright."

Just one word.

Tsunade nodded and turned to leave.

After walking a few steps, she didn't stop, her voice drifting back on the morning breeze.

"Come back early."

By the time the four words reached his ears, her back was already distant.

Kitahara Kaede watched for a moment, then turned back to his team.

"Let's move."

The four of them stepped out of the South Gate and onto the main road. A layer of morning mist was rising.

After walking twenty paces, Nawaki looked back.

Then he turned around again.

He didn't speak immediately, walking in silence for five or six steps before tugging on Kitahara Kaede's sleeve.

"Master."

"Yeah."

"My sister is still there."

His tone had changed, losing the earlier playful edge and gaining something indescribable.

"She isn't looking at me."

Kitahara Kaede didn't stop walking.

But he did look back once.

The morning mist was thin, and the outline of the South Gate was still visible.

Tsunade was still leaning against that stone pillar, her dark blue coat standing out in the gray-white mist.

She hadn't left.

And she was indeed not looking at Nawaki.

The moment their gazes met, Tsunade's chin tilted up slightly.

She didn't wave, didn't nod, didn't make any other gesture; she just watched him.

Kitahara Kaede looked away.

He found himself smiling.

Nawaki observed from the side for three seconds, then let out a snort through his nose.

Kitahara Kaede raised a hand and patted the back of his head.

"Watch the road."

"...Oh."