You... Let Go of Me!

That delicate sensation made his heart tremble.

Tsunade felt his scorching body heat, and her heartbeat involuntarily quickened.

"Bastard! You, you..."

"You... let go of me!" Tsunade's voice trembled slightly, but the strength in her hands did not lessen.

Hiruko did not answer. He simply released her silently.

But carried by inertia, Tsunade threw herself straight into his arms.

Their bodies pressed tightly together, and they could clearly feel each other's heartbeats.

Amid the misty steam, the atmosphere grew increasingly intimate.

"S-Sorry." Hiruko rarely apologized, his voice somewhat hoarse.

Tsunade raised her head and met his deep eyes.

For a moment, she actually forgot that she was still angry.

"You... you idiot..." Tsunade's voice grew quieter and quieter, her face flushed crimson.

Hiruko looked at her, and a complicated emotion flashed through his eyes.

He slowly raised a hand and gently brushed the droplets from her face.

Tsunade did not dodge. She merely closed her eyes.

Tsunade suddenly opened her eyes, her whole body freezing in place. She had just thought this bastard was about to kiss her.

"You... you..." She stammered, unable to get the words out, her face instantly turning as red as a ripe apple.

Hiruko remained expressionless, though a faint smile flashed in his eyes.

Then Hiruko suddenly leaned in and kissed her!

"Ah—!!" Tsunade screamed, shoved him away, and fled the bathroom in a panic.

Bang!

The bathroom door slammed shut.

Hiruko stood where he was, watching Tsunade's flustered retreating figure, the corners of his lips curling upward slightly.

Her figure really was incredible!

Tsunade ran wildly all the way, her wet golden hair streaming behind her.

She rushed into her bedroom and hurriedly threw on some clothes, not even bothering to dry her hair.

"That bastard! That pervert!" she cursed through gritted teeth as she dressed, but the blush on her face refused to fade.

After getting dressed, Tsunade dashed out of Hiruko's home like a gust of wind and ran back to her own house without looking back.

Bang!

She slammed the door shut, leaned against it, and panted heavily.

"That idiot... that idiot... Grandma Mito, what am I supposed to do?" she muttered, her heartbeat still racing frighteningly fast.

She had not forgotten Mito Uzumaki's final instructions to her before she died.

Meanwhile, Hiruko stood in the bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror as he lightly touched his lips.

Did I like her?

Did I like Tsunade?

Perhaps, after his parents had died, the little girl who had first offered him candy occupied the largest place in his heart.

Hiruko did not dwell on it any further. He was still not strong enough, and soon returned to the laboratory.

Only power could protect what he wanted to protect!

"Clan Head!"

After Fugaku Uchiha woke from his afternoon nap, an Uchiha jonin who had returned to the clan with him immediately came to his side to report.

When Fugaku hurried over, he saw Tekka sitting there blankly, looking utterly lost, as though he had survived a catastrophe.

"Tekka? How are you? Do you feel any discomfort?"

Fugaku Uchiha walked over to Tekka's side and called to him softly, snapping him out of his daze.

When Tekka saw Fugaku Uchiha, his lips moved a few times before he finally replied, "Clan Head!"

"How do you feel now?"

Fugaku sat at the bedside and asked gently.

He was very concerned about Tekka's condition and the specific effects of that silver flower.

Tekka sighed softly. "I feel like I died once."

"I stayed in that illusory world for a very, very long time. What I experienced made it difficult for me to distinguish reality from illusion."

"Even now, I don't dare say for certain whether what I saw was illusion or reality." Tekka Uchiha gripped the bedsheet tightly, his face filled with pain.

"But the one thing I am certain of is that I don't have the potential to awaken them."

"In that illusory world, even after enduring hellish torture, I still failed to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan."

Fugaku Uchiha did not show much disappointment after hearing that.

He asked with concern, "Then how are you feeling now? Do you feel any aftereffects?"

His tone was filled with concern and worry for his clansman.

He was not particularly disappointed that Tekka had failed to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan.

If the Mangekyo Sharingan were truly so easy to awaken, the Uchiha Clan would not treat it as such a taboo subject.

Eyes born from ultimate emotion could not be awakened by mediocre people without talent.

Tekka sensed his physical condition and shook his head. "No problem. There should not be any physical aftereffects!"

"It seems this medicine is not as effective as that guy Hiruko claimed."

"Clan Head, are we really going to continue investing the full amount of resources?" an Uchiha jonin asked worriedly.

Although the Uchiha Clan had vast wealth and could be considered one of the village's great clans, the investments made recently had already directly affected every aspect of the clan.

Next, Fugaku Uchiha, as clan head and the main advocate of this plan, would surely face considerable criticism and a loss of prestige.

For Fugaku Uchiha, who had only been clan head for a few years, this was also a tremendous blow.

As a staunch supporter, he found this outcome hard to accept.

"No, no, it worked. No, it was extremely effective!!!" Tekka, lying on the bed, suddenly said.

At this moment, he had already activated his Sharingan, pushing his ocular power to its limit.

"My eyes did not evolve to the Mangekyo level, but I can feel that my ocular power is far stronger than it was before taking the medicine."

"Perhaps it could be said that my ocular power is now already extremely close to the Mangekyo level. It is only because of my limited talent that I cannot improve it even the slightest bit further."

Fugaku Uchiha's eyes immediately lit up as he asked with concern, "Then are your eyes all right now?"

Tekka nodded. "Yes. My eyes ache a little from the newly increased ocular power, but I can still endure it. The main thing is that my ocular power has nearly doubled!"

As he described his condition, he seemed rather eager to show off his ocular power.

Tekka then went out into the courtyard and demonstrated the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu for Fugaku Uchiha and the other jonin.

He formed hand seals with both hands, then spat out a massive fireball that slammed fiercely into the target.

Boom!

In an instant, the target was swallowed by scorching energy, erupting with tremendous force and blasting a deep crater into the ground.

The observing Uchiha jonin could not help activating their Sharingan, carefully studying the destructive power.

These jonin had all sparred and grown up together. How could they not know that Tekka's former strength had been no different from theirs?

If...