The door had not been closed.
Standing a short distance away, Tsunade leaned against the wall, faintly hearing the voices inside the room.
Perhaps Tobirama Senju and Yanbai simply did not care, so they had made no effort to conceal their presence or their conversation.
An irrepressible curiosity, as powerful as the will to survive, made Tsunade tremble all over.
Orochimaru's adoptive parent was actually her Grand-Grandaunt-the most beautiful princess depicted in the textbooks, the person who had been buried with magnificent honors and lived on in everyone's hearts even after death.
But why would...
Tsunade finally understood what that strange feeling was.
Tsunade did not walk straight into the room or interrupt the conversation between Second Grandfather and Grand-Grandaunt. She slowly headed toward the living room, returning to her friends.
On that summer night, a chill seeped through Konoha beneath the clear sky.
The hallway, usually so short, seemed especially long now.
Tsunade walked one step at a time. She felt a coldness spread from her heart through her entire body, making every step difficult. She moved very slowly, seemingly unsettled by having seen something she should not have.
Yet the expression on Tsunade's downturned face suggested otherwise. She simply kept her head lowered, looking utterly drained.
In the living room, that fool Jiraiya's noisy voice grew louder, drowning out every other sound in the house.
Even Tsunade's own breathing and the sound of her feet on the smooth wooden floor became difficult to hear.
The interior of Orochimaru's house was decorated in a traditional Japanese style, and Tsunade was barefoot.
Amid that surge of emotion, Tsunade heard something other than the idiot Jiraiya's voice. Her head remained lowered, but her gaze suddenly sharpened.
An indescribable sensation welled up inside Tsunade, making her deeply uncomfortable.
It was an invisible