Strong Yet Gentle

Time passed slowly amid the fragrance of wine and a pleasant buzz.

"Shizune... Shizune..."

Tsunade called twice, but no one answered. When she turned to look, she could not help but laugh.

At some point, Shizune had fallen asleep hugging an empty wine bottle. She lay sprawled across the table, her cheeks as red as boiled shrimp, a satisfied smile still lingering at the corners of her mouth.

She clutched the empty bottle tightly in her arms, as if afraid someone would snatch it away.

On the chair beside her, Tonton had also toppled over, belly up, exposing her round pink-and-white stomach. Soft snores came from her tiny snout.

There was still a trace of wine around her mouth. Clearly, the little one had sneaked a drink too.

"This girl..." Tsunade shook her head, her voice carrying helplessness and a hint of indulgence. "She can't hold her liquor, yet she insisted on drinking with me."

She took off her haori and casually draped it over Shizune. Her movements were gentle—so gentle they hardly seemed to belong to Lady Tsunade, who could shatter rock with one palm.

After doing that, she sat back down, picked up her cup, and unconsciously let her gaze fall on the boy across from her.

Yamada Soji remained in the same posture as before, his hands folded together, his breathing even.

Chakra circulated within his body. The black cloth over his eyes concealed those startling eyes, revealing only his sharply defined jaw and lightly pursed lips.

He trained with great focus.

So focused... like someone else.

Tsunade's gaze suddenly grew distant.

Warm yellow light spilled down from above, casting a gentle glow over the boy's silver-white hair.

That still-youthful face, that concentrated expression, and that stubborn bearing of ignoring everything around him in his single-minded pursuit of strength.

For an instant, that face changed.

It became another boy's face.

Short black hair, the same focused eyes, a kunai in his hand as he practiced the most basic thrust over and over.

Back then, he had only been twelve or thirteen. Every time, he trained until his hands were covered in blood, yet he never complained. He would only lift his head and look at her with those bright eyes.

"Big sister, I'll definitely become Hokage! I'll be as strong as Grandpa, then end this war!"

Nawaki.

Her younger brother.

The child she had protected too well, too innocent to seem like a ninja, who had always believed he could become a Hokage like their grandfather and change the entire Shinobi World.

Yet he had died cold before her eyes, blown into a bloody pulp by explosive tags.

Tsunade's cup stopped at her lips.

The lamplight swayed faintly before her eyes, and the silver-haired boy seemed to overlap with the figure in her memories.

Just as young, just as earnest, just as desperately determined to grow stronger.

Only, this boy was colder, steadier, more like a true ninja than Nawaki had been.

But he was also...

"Lady Tsunade?"

The clear, cool voice pulled her back to reality.

Tsunade snapped out of it and realized that Sōji had stopped training at some point. He was looking at her, his face slightly tilted beneath the black cloth over his eyes, as though waiting for something.

"Is there something wrong with my training?" he asked.

Tsunade froze for a moment, then realized she had been staring at him the entire time.

She hurriedly looked away and took a large gulp of wine. The liquor went down the wrong way, making her cough lightly.

"N-No... it's nothing..."

She set down her cup and wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. Her voice was a little unnatural. "I just saw how seriously you were training. Not bad."

After saying that, she poured herself another cup, lowered her head, and drank without looking at him again.

The tavern was lit by warm, hazy yellow light. Outside the window came the distant cry of the night watchman, mixed with a few barks from dogs.

The other patrons had all settled their bills and left. Only their table remained lit.

Sōji did not press her.

He merely watched the woman across from him in silence.

Tsunade kept her head lowered, golden hair spilling down to hide most of her face.

Her hand gripped the wine cup, her knuckles faintly white. Her haori was draped over Shizune.

At that moment, she wore only a thin, short kimono with its collar open wide, revealing a deep expanse of snowy skin, delicate collarbones, and a stretch of fair neck.

The warm yellow light fell over her, coating her skin in a soft honeyed glow.

Her usual sharpness and dominance seemed to have melted away in the alcohol and the night, leaving behind an indescribable gentleness.

It was a strange feeling.

He had seen many sides of Tsunade: her boldness at the gambling table, her severity while guiding training, her languid manner when drinking, her sternness when scolding Shizune. But at this moment, she was different.

Her lashes hung slightly low, casting a small shadow over her eyelids. The remaining wine at the corners of her lips glistened moistly in the light.

Her shoulders slumped faintly, as if she had set down some burden—or as if that burden had finally crushed her. Her whole body was enveloped in a vague aura of fragility.

He had seen many beautiful women.

When he delivered food in his previous life, he had traveled through the streets and alleys of great cities and seen all kinds of faces.

In this life, while wandering through different countries, he had also seen countless women in casinos, taverns, and marketplaces.

Beauty had never been scarce in any world, and Sōji had never lingered over such things. But Tsunade at this moment was different.

It was not her beauty.

It was that... that softness belonging to someone strong.

Like a towering mountain that, in a single fleeting moment, revealed a crack deep within its heart, allowing others to glimpse something it had always hidden.

There was no magma within that crack, no blazing fire—only cold, silent sorrow sealed away by time.

Sōji suddenly realized that he had become lost in watching her.

Not seeing with the Six Eyes, but seeing in another sense. His gaze passed through the black cloth over his eyes, through the drifting dust in the air, and settled upon the blonde woman with her head lowered.

Her lashes trembled.

Sōji lowered his gaze, picked up the cup of tea before him that had long since gone cold, and took a sip.

The tea was bitter.

"Lady Tsunade," he said softly.

Tsunade raised her head. Her golden eyes looked toward him, still carrying a trace of daze she had not managed to conceal.

"Thank you for your hospitality tonight. Though you ordered the wine, I'll pay the bill."

"Hehe~"

Tsunade paused, then snorted with laughter. The daze and vulnerability in that laugh scattered, replaced by her usual laziness and disdain.

"Obviously you're paying. Did you expect a woman who gambled away everything to pay?"

She grabbed the wine jug and found it empty again. Irritably, she gave it a shake. "Boss, another jug! Hot!"

The owner answered and quickly brought over another jug of warmed wine. Tsunade poured herself a cup, and steaming white mist rose up, blurring her features.

"Kid," she suddenly said.

"Mm?"

"Train if you want, but don't push yourself too hard. Your life is your own. If you train yourself into a wreck, no one's compensating you."

Sōji gave a slight nod. "Understood."

Tsunade said nothing more. She simply raised her cup and drank slowly. Amid the rising steam, her face became blurred again, as though separated by a thin veil of mist.

Outside, the night had deepened.

The faint sound of waves came from afar, carried from the direction of the East Sea. It passed over the rooftiles of Kanazawa Castle, through the tavern's warm curtain, and reached the ears of two people each lost in their own thoughts.

Shizune still slept soundly, breathing evenly, while Tonton lay belly up, her little stomach rising and falling.

Sōji raised the cup of cold tea and drained it in one swallow.

It was bitter, yet the lingering sweetness seemed to last longer than usual.