In his haze, Yūto felt himself struggling to breathe, as though something soft yet intensely oppressive had enveloped his entire face.
He struggled to open his eyes. Everything was dark, but his nose was filled with warm air mingled with a woman's distinctive scent.
"Mmph...!"
He instinctively squirmed, pushing blindly with both hands, only for his fingertips to sink into something astonishingly soft.
"Mmm... stop it..."
Tsunade's sleepy murmur came from above his head, and then the arm around the back of his head tightened further.
I'm going to suffocate!
Yūto kicked desperately at the sheets with his heels, finally making the drowsy Tsunade loosen her grip.
He jerked his head back, his forehead knocking against her chin with a thud.
"Ow!"
Tsunade let go in pain, and Yūto seized the chance to roll to the edge of the bed, gasping for breath,
only then getting a clear look at the weapon that had nearly killed him.
Tsunade's neckline had long since loosened, and as she sat up, it slipped down to her shoulders, revealing a broad expanse of snow-white skin.
"You little..." Rubbing her chin, Tsunade abruptly stopped scolding him.
She followed Yūto's blank stare downward, instantly flushed scarlet, and snatched up the blanket to wrap around herself. "Turn around!"
On the way back to Konoha Camp, Yūto kept feeling that something was off.
His mouth was a little numb, and it felt rather uncomfortable.
Beside him, Tsunade guiltily turned her head away when she saw him repeatedly rubbing his mouth.
After discovering how deeply Yūto slept, she had nearly been unable to stop herself last night.
She had only stopped in the early morning, when the sky was beginning to brighten.
Yūto and Tsunade walked one behind the other, a subtle silence hanging between them.
Yūto occasionally glanced at Tsunade out of the corner of his eye, noticing that she was unusually quiet today. Even her usual fiery temper had mellowed considerably.
He touched his lips. That strange numbness had still not completely faded.
"Um... Lady Tsunade," Yūto finally couldn't help saying, "I think I had a strange dream last night..."
Tsunade's steps visibly faltered, but she quickly resumed her normal pace. "A brat is a brat. You can't even behave in your sleep."
Her voice was noticeably louder than usual, carrying a deliberate impatience. "You kept tossing and turning. I barely got any sleep."
Tsunade sounded forceful, but inwardly she was exceptionally guilty.
Oh no, this brat hasn't figured something out, has he?
My lifelong reputation!
If anyone finds out I took advantage of a brat, I'll never live it down!
Even the name of the Konoha Sannin will become a joke because of me!
Yūto scratched his head, trying hard to recall the blurry fragments of his dream.
He vaguely remembered something soft pressing against his face, along with a faint, elusive fragrance.
At that thought, his ears suddenly grew a little hot. Could it have been a wet dream?
It's all this body's fault. I'm right in the middle of puberty. With a beauty like Tsunade lying beside me, it'd be hard not to have a wet dream...
"Sorry, I was probably too tired," Yūto muttered, not noticing Tsunade quietly breathe a sigh of relief.
The two continued onward, and Konoha's main camp finally appeared before them.
Yūto immediately spotted Tsukimi patrolling around the camp.
Anxiety filled Tsukimi's face as her eyes constantly searched every road leading into the main camp.
Yūto and Lady Tsunade had been away on their mission for far too long.
Judging by the distance, they should clearly have returned to camp two days ago.
Yet Yūto had still not returned.
She was truly afraid something had happened to him, so she had been waiting on the outskirts of the camp for the past two days.
Fortunately, her wait had paid off today.
Tsukimi promptly forgot her patrol duty. Like a young swallow returning to its nest, she threw herself into Yūto's arms.
"Yūto, I was worried sick!"
"Honestly, what took you so long?"
Yūto caught Tsukimi around the waist, taking considerable effort to absorb the momentum of her flying leap.
Then he discreetly flexed his toes. The medical case had just struck the top of his foot.
Looking at the two embracing, Tsunade couldn't help feeling a headache coming on.
She had forgotten about Tsukimi.
In fact, anyone who spent some time with these two Uchiha brats could tell that Tsukimi liked Yūto.
This is trouble. Am I, one of the illustrious Sannin, going to fight a little girl over a boyfriend...?
After returning to camp, Yūto took a stroll around.
The camp's current condition was no different from before he had left on his mission.
Even the front line where the two sides interlocked remained unchanged. It seemed Konoha and Kumogakure intended to keep this a sitzkrieg to the very end.
But the situation did not seem as calm as it appeared.
As one of Konoha's high-level combatants and the captain of the medical supply escort mission, the first thing Tsunade did upon returning to camp was report the mission's completion.
As soon as she entered the tent, she saw three people: Shikaku Nara, Uchiha Fugaku, and Minato Namikaze.
The three stood around a table, studying the border map spread across it, all of them frowning.
Curious, Tsunade approached them.
Shikaku Nara pointed at Kumogakure's deployment markers on the map and said gravely, "Kumogakure's troop movements are very unusual. Their main force has pulled back, but they've increased the number of reconnaissance teams on their flanks. This deployment doesn't look like preparation for a surprise attack."
On the map, the camp Kumogakure had originally established on the Land of Tō's border had already withdrawn at least twenty li.
Their main force had likewise pulled back with the main camp, giving every appearance of avoiding battle.
Logically, in this situation, Kumogakure was either preparing to end the war or redeploy its troops to fight in another country.
But according to their intelligence, Kumogakure had no such plans. Moreover, it had increased the number of reconnaissance shinobi, making it much harder for Konoha to gather intelligence lately.
Uchiha Fugaku said coldly, "There are especially large numbers of Kumogakure shinobi to the northeast. That's the Land of Lightning's own territory. What's there that needs covering?"
Northeast of the Land of Tō lay the Land of Lightning. Under conventional combat deployments, Kumogakure had no need to station large numbers of shinobi in the Land of Lightning.
Doing so would weaken Kumogakure's frontal defenses against Konoha and instead lead to defeat in the war.
Unless there was something in the Land of Lightning that could not be allowed to come to light.
Minato Namikaze pondered for a moment. "There haven't been any large-scale movements of supplies within the Land of Lightning lately. Unless... they've deployed irregular forces."
At those words, Fugaku and Shikaku began to ponder.
The Land of Lightning... did it have any irregular forces?
This was no longer the era when shinobi villages had first been established over thirty years ago. Any shinobi clan with even a little strength would choose to join a shinobi village rather than fight alone.
In turn, other villages would also keep an eye on these shinobi clans and gather intelligence on them.
Even if some small clans had not joined a shinobi village, their strength probably would not be enough to determine the outcome of a war.
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