Finally Got to Touch Tsunade

"Still awake, Mirai?"

"Just about to sleep." Mirai sat up. "Sister Tsunade, what is it?"

Tsunade walked in and casually shut the door behind her. She sat in the chair beside the bed, remained silent for a while, then finally said, "About what happened today... I came to thank you."

"Sister Tsunade, didn't you already say—"

"I mean it." Tsunade cut him off, looking straight into his eyes.

"Nawaki is my only blood relative. If something had happened to him... I don't know what I would've become."

Seeing the fleeting vulnerability in her golden eyes, Mirai recalled what had happened to Sister Tsunade after Nawaki's death in the original story...

He didn't refuse again, merely nodding. "You're welcome."

Tsunade let out a breath, and the corner of her lips curled up slightly. Her solemn tone became a little frivolous.

"But just saying thank you doesn't seem very sincere."

As she spoke, she placed a hand on the tie at her waist. "I originally thought that since you saved my little brother, I'd give you a special massage as thanks. But—"

She looked Mirai up and down, a subtle pause entering her voice.

"You little brat have grown so much without me noticing. If I massage you now... it feels a little strange."

Mirai immediately sat up straight. "It's not strange! Not strange at all!

Sister Tsunade, I'm still young—I'm still a child!"

"Where did that gleam in your eyes just now look like a child's?"

"I'm only ten, Sister Tsunade. My heart is pure! What bad thoughts could a ten-year-old possibly have?"

Tsunade stared at him for three seconds, then gritted her teeth and turned her face away.

"Fine, fine. Since you said you're a child... turn around and lie down.

No peeking, got it?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

At the fastest speed of his life, Mirai flipped over, lying face-down on the bed with his face buried in the pillow.

The rustle of fabric came from behind him, followed by the sound of a bathrobe being draped over the chair back.

Then, a warm touch pressed against his back—

Large, soft, and warm, carrying the fragrance of a fresh bath and a faint damp mist.

Mirai buried his face even deeper.

Tsunade began moving across his back, applying just the right amount of force. In two particular places, the sensation was different.

As she moved back and forth, she used that uniquely blunt yet rhythmic method of hers.

But unlike before, after massaging him for a while, her movements became noticeably gentler, as though she was afraid of touching somewhere she shouldn't.

"...Lie there properly. Don't move around." Tsunade's voice came from behind him, lower than usual and somewhat tense.

Mirai gave an "Mm" and lay there obediently.

But after around ten minutes, he really couldn't hold back any longer. He tilted his head slightly and secretly glanced behind him from the corner of his eye—

Smack!

A palm landed precisely on the back of his head.

"I said no peeking! Were you not listening?"

"No, Sister Tsunade, my neck was sore, so I just moved it a little—"

"Your neck was sore? Then I'll massage your neck too."

Tsunade increased her strength by thirty percent. Mirai grimaced from the pain, but the curve of his lips betrayed him.

After quite a while, while Tsunade was changing positions, he quietly, lightly, and seemingly absentmindedly reached a hand behind him, his fingertips brushing against her—massage tool.

Just as he'd imagined, it was soft and delicate!

Unfortunately, the price for that touch wasn't small.

"—You little brat!!"

Tsunade's iron fist came crashing down on Mirai's head.

Fortunately, she still had her reason and didn't knock his head crooked.

Then she abruptly pulled away, grabbed her bathrobe and wrapped herself in it, the red in her face spreading from her ears down to her neck.

She glared at the back of Mirai's head and gritted out, "...Today's special massage ends here! There won't be a next time!"

"Hiss—" Mirai Uzumaki clutched his head and sucked in a cold breath. "Sister Tsunade, you hit way too hard!"

"Who told you to grope people everywhere? You're so young, yet you've got the nerve of a lecher! You're lucky I didn't make your head bloom."

She grabbed her bathrobe and hurried to the door. As she pulled it open, she paused, then threw out a sentence without looking back.

"...But thank you for today. Really."

The door shut with a click.

Mirai lay on the bed with his face buried in the pillow, no longer even holding his head. That little injury had healed instantly anyway!

He'd made great progress today. He'd actually touched Sister Tsunade's big... The curve of his lips simply wouldn't go down.

Mirai rolled over and stared at the ceiling, savoring that soft sensation from earlier.

After a long while, he muttered softly, "...Growing up is great."

The next day, at Team 7's meeting point.

Jiraiya leaned against a wall with a blade of grass between his teeth. Once he saw all three had arrived, he pulled several stacks of bills from his pocket. "The payment for yesterday's bandit mission has been settled. The C-rank mission reward was a total of one hundred thousand ryo."

He drew out one stack. "I'll take forty thousand. The remaining sixty thousand is twenty thousand each for you three."

Then he handed the three stacks of bills over separately.

Minato accepted the money and nodded seriously. "Thank you, Jiraiya-sensei."

Zhili took hers and tucked it into her ninja tool pouch without expression.

Mirai examined the twenty thousand ryo in his hand, then casually stuffed it into his pocket.

He didn't care much about money—the commercial street Grandma Mito had left for him and Kushina brought in over ten million ryo in rent every month.

To him, this mission reward was probably only enough for a few barbecue meals.

"Next time, we'll try to take a B-rank mission. The reward will be higher."

Jiraiya glanced at them. "But you can't rest today either. You did well on yesterday's bandit mission, so there won't be another mission this afternoon—come to the riverbank at two for training. Don't forget."

The three little ones all nodded. "Yes!"

By afternoon, sunlight slanted across the riverside training ground, carrying the distinctive warmth of early summer.

This open space at the edge of the village was far from the streets. Wild grass half a person tall grew all around it, with trees on three sides and water on the fourth.

It was suitable for practicing Ninjutsu without worrying about affecting the villagers.

Jiraiya sat on a horizontal branch of a large tree with his legs crossed, looking relaxed and lazy.

Before him stretched an open field. His three disciples each occupied an area, engrossed in their training.

Jiraiya didn't rush to teach Minato Namikaze any new Ninjutsu. Instead, he had him repeatedly practice Wind Release: Great Breakthrough and Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique.

The defining traits of Wind Release were compression and sharpness. Though Minato learned quickly, Jiraiya wanted him to build an even firmer foundation.

That way, he'd get twice the results with half the effort when learning more advanced Wind Release Ninjutsu later.