A Wager; Forgetting

For a time, only Tsunade and Sōji remained in the tea room. The brazier crackled, and the kettle gave off a faint hiss.

"What will happen three years from now?" Tsunade suddenly asked without any context.

Sōji's heart skipped a beat, but his expression did not change. "What?"

"When you were calculating the time just now, your heartbeat sped up by 0.3 seconds."

Tsunade gave a derisive snort and leisurely poured herself a cup of tea. After blowing on the steam, she continued, "I don't know what you were calculating, but it seemed to concern you. Or the ninja world?"

"Just some business cycle planning," Sōji replied evenly.

"Say whatever you like!"

Tsunade drained her tea and set the cup down heavily. "But no matter what plans you have, I'll only remind you of one thing."

"Brat, Shizune and I fought hard to snatch your life back from the King of Hell. Don't throw it away again so easily."

"Also, your bloodline illness has only just recovered. Go easy on those bones of yours."

With that, she rose and stretched, her yukata rippling dramatically with the movement.

"I'm going to take a bath. When the liquor arrives, put it in my room."

She shuffled out, and the sliding door closed behind her.

Sōji withdrew his drifting gaze as well. Sitting alone in the tea room, he listened to her footsteps fade down the corridor and lightly touched the black cloth over his eyes.

Three years...

Outside the window, the hot spring town of the Land of Hot Water glimmered with scattered lights. Laughter and the sounds of shamisen drifted faintly from the distant inns.

Beneath the tranquil night sky, the river of time rushed on soundlessly, carrying one who knew the future toward the distance.

With that thought, he lifted the tea that had already gone lukewarm and drank it in one gulp.

The tea was bitter, but its lingering sweetness endured.

The merchant ship docked in the Land of Hot Water for two days. Its hold was filled with local specialties: sulfur soap, hot spring buns, yukata fabric printed with ukiyo-e, and several dozen barrels of hot spring skincare tonic labeled with secret healing formulas.

The ship's waterline had visibly sunk. In the thin morning mist of the third day, it slowly departed the harbor and sailed toward its next destination, the Land of Iron.

After half a day at sea, the afternoon sunlight streamed through the portholes into the upper passenger cabin.

The three sat around a low table. Several small dishes, a flask of sake, and hot spring buns freshly brought aboard from the Land of Hot Water were laid out before them.

Tonton lay by Shizune's legs, nibbling at bun crumbs in tiny bites.

Tsunade, meanwhile, did not look well.

Of course, it was not seasickness. For a ninja of her caliber, the tossing sea was no different from level ground.

It was because of her money pouch. Or, more bluntly, Tsunade had gambled herself into bankruptcy. Again, perhaps.

"Lady Tsunade..."

Shizune spoke cautiously from the side. "How about, once we reach the Land of Iron, we find a place to..."

"Shut up!"

Tsunade gloomily took a swig of sake, her golden eyes narrowing dangerously. "Let me be."

Sōji kept his teacup raised, concealing the faint smile at the corner of his mouth.

Although Six Eyes' active perception was turned off, the atmosphere in the cabin remained crystal clear to him.

The irritation radiating from Tsunade after losing everything, mixed with Shizune's despair at having to live in hardship again, created an awkward and subtle tension.

Two days. In merely two days, Tsunade had not only lost all the emergency funds she had received from Sōji, but also borrowed a large sum from an underground exchange in the Land of Hot Water.

The interest was said to be astronomical. Right now, she probably could not even produce a single ten-ryō coin.

"Ahem."

Sōji coughed lightly and set down his teacup, his tone calm. "Lady Tsunade, you needn't worry about the fare or meals. As agreed, I'll cover them. It's just..."

"It's just what?"

Tsunade looked up at him. Her blond hair was somewhat disheveled beneath the afternoon sunlight, and the collar of her yukata hung slightly open, revealing a delicate stretch of collarbone.

"I'm simply curious."

Sōji raised a brow, choosing his words carefully. "With your status and strength, it shouldn't be difficult for you to make money if you wanted to. So why do you always..."

"Lose it all?"

Tsunade finished for him, letting out a scornful laugh. "Brat, you don't understand. In a casino, winning or losing isn't the important part. The important part is the feeling in that instant."

As she spoke, she leaned back, lazily pinching her wine cup between her fingers.

The slanting afternoon sunlight fell into the cabin, casting mottled shadows across her face. Her golden eyes reflected the gleam of the liquor, carrying an unexpectedly hazy allure.

"Putting everything on the line, feeling your heart race, the instant the dice fall—that thrill of not knowing whether you'll win or lose can make you forget many things."

She took a sip of wine, licking the stain from the corner of her lips with the tip of her tongue. Her voice softened considerably. "Enough to make someone... forget things they don't want to remember."

The cabin fell silent for a moment. Shizune lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously stroking Tonton's back. She knew what Tsunade was talking about.

Sōji also fell silent.

He watched Tsunade. Though the Six Eyes beneath the black cloth were not operating at full capacity, they could still catch those minute fluctuations.

When she mentioned forgetting, the vast Yang Release energy deep within her chakra stagnated for an instant, as though something were lodged there, blocking its smooth flow.

"It's about Lord Nawaki... and Lord Dan."

Shizune spoke softly, as though explaining it to Sōji, yet also as though continuing out of habit. "Lady Tsunade has always..."

"Shizune!"

Tsunade cut her off, her voice flat. "Don't bring up those old matters in front of someone who has nothing to do with them."

Shizune pressed her lips together and said no more, but Sōji knew.

He knew Nawaki—Tsunade's younger brother, a disciple of the cold lord Orochimaru—had died in an explosive tag trap during the Second Shinobi World War at only twelve years old.

He also knew Dan Katō, Tsunade's former lover, Konoha's elite jōnin, and a supreme genius of the Spirit Transformation Technique, had likewise died on the battlefield—right before Tsunade's eyes.

And despite possessing medical ninjutsu at its pinnacle, she had been unable to save the people most important to her. Twice.

He knew all of that better than anyone, because he had read the original work and knew those stories.

He had once felt nothing much about it. But perhaps because of their year-plus of time together, Yamada Sōji had gradually come to understand the weight behind it all.

"So..."

At that moment, Tsunade suddenly leaned forward, bracing an arm against the table. Her yukata sleeve slid down, revealing a stretch of fair forearm.

She stared straight at Sōji, the corners of her lips curving into a half-smile. "Brat, since you're so rich, how about lending me a little more? We can negotiate the interest!"

As she spoke, she deliberately drew out the final syllable, her voice carrying a touch of affected languor and provocation.

Her blond hair slipped from her shoulders and draped over the edge of the table, gently swaying with the ship. Her open collar fell even deeper, and the faint curve beneath her collarbone was washed in an ambiguous glow under the sunlight.

Shizune's face immediately turned red at the sight. Lady Tsunade was so bold!

The hand holding Sōji's teacup paused slightly.

Though his Six Eyes were covered, his senses were more than enough to see Tsunade's current posture clearly.

That nonchalant yet intensely aggressive sensuality unique to mature women, mixed with the scent of liquor and her faint body fragrance, was no less powerful than a nuclear warhead to a virgin.

But he also knew she was acting.

Tsunade-hime, granddaughter of the First Hokage, princess of the Land of Fire, one of the Legendary Sannin—how could she truly use such tactics on a brat?

She was testing him, and playing with him. It seemed she was using this method to conceal her momentary loss of control just now, while also indirectly testing his reaction.

"How much do you need?" Sōji asked calmly.