After a round of fairly straightforward "negotiations" in the Hokage's office, Tsunade finally got her wish and left with Lin Chen.
Hiruzen Sarutobi watched her retreating figure. In the end, he said nothing more and merely let out a long sigh. He gave Lin Chen temporary identification, with his file reading: Chen, war orphan, adopted by Tsunade.
This was already the greatest protection he could offer within the rules.
Tsunade did not return to her apartment, which stood empty year-round. Instead, she carried Lin Chen through the bustling streets to a sprawling yet exceptionally quiet area.
This was the former Senju Clan compound.
Tall courtyard walls, imposing gates, and, above them, the Senju Clan's crest-though covered in dust, they still bore traces of their former glory.
Tsunade pushed open the heavy, dust-covered gates. With a creak, it felt as though she had opened a sealed chapter of history.
Before them lay a spacious courtyard overgrown with weeds and a main residence that, though grand, showed age and decay everywhere. The air smelled of dust and rotting wood.
No one had lived here for far too long.
"From today on, this is your home." Tsunade's voice was slightly hoarse as she surveyed everything before her, her gaze complicated. This place held all the joys of her childhood, and it had also buried all her loved ones.
"Big sis, what about my mommy and daddy?" Lin Chen was going all out to play a child who had lost his family. Acting little the entire way had nearly made him sick, though being in Tsunade's arms was an exception.
"When your mommy and daddy come, they'll live here too." To avoid upsetting Lin Chen, Tsunade had no choice but to lie. Deep down, however, she knew his parents were most likely no longer in this world.
She gently set Lin Chen down, then clumsily rolled up her sleeves like an ordinary housewife and tried to clean a room. She used hand seals to blow away the dust, only to cover herself in it; she tried to make the bed, only to discover that the bedding had long since grown damp and moldy.
One of the Sannin, so commanding on the battlefield, now seemed rather at a loss.
Lin Chen stood to one side, quietly watching.
He watched dust smear Tsunade's face, watched her irritably scratch her head when she could not find a clean cloth, and watched her finally give up and plop down on the veranda, an expression mingling nostalgia, sorrow, and a trace of bewilderment on her face.
Then he walked over on his short little legs, reached out with his grubby little hand, and gently, clumsily wiped a streak of dust from her cheek.
Tsunade shuddered and lowered her head, meeting Lin Chen's eyes, so clear they seemed untouched by a single speck of dust.
"Big sis, don't be sad."
The boy's voice was soft, carrying a soothing power.
Without warning, Tsunade's eyes reddened once again. She reached out and pulled the boy tightly, tightly into her arms, as though she wanted to press him into her very flesh and bones.
Lin Chen quietly let her hold him, his little face resting against her chest. Deep in his eyes, the composure and calculation far beyond his years were perfectly concealed at that moment.
Step two was complete.
From today on, I'm not only your "little brother," but also your only family, your deepest bond in this world.
I'll become your strongest armor, and at the same time, I must become your most vulnerable weakness.
Uh, she's holding me so tightly I can barely breathe.
Through Tsunade and Shizune's efforts, they finally managed to clear enough space in the old Senju Clan residence to stay. Rather than cleaning, it was more like briefly brushing aside the dust of history to uncover a corner where they could catch their breath.
Night deepened. Moonlight filtered through the damaged window lattice, casting mottled shadows across the old tatami.
Tsunade woke from a nightmare once again, her forehead covered in cold sweat. In her dream, Nawaki and Dan lay in pools of blood, and her blood-covered hands refused to reach out no matter how hard she tried. That helplessness and despair had clung to her for years, like a festering wound that reached the bone.
Breathing heavily, she instinctively looked beside her.
A small figure lay curled up beneath the bedding, sleeping soundly. Seemingly sensing her movement, Lin Chen turned over in his sleep. His little hand reached out unconsciously and rested lightly on her arm.
A faint yet incomparably pure breath of vitality passed silently through that little hand into her.
Like the clearest mountain stream, it flowed gently through the chakra pathways left restless by her nightmare, smoothing the creases deep within her soul. The familiar, suffocating panic in her chest was washed away and soothed little by little, until it finally subsided.
Tsunade froze. She looked down at his sleeping face, especially peaceful in the moonlight. The raging waves in her heart melted completely under this silent comfort, leaving only tenderness and affection.
She carefully lay back down and held the boy's little hand in her palm. Feeling that power soothe her soul, she could no longer hold back the moisture gathering at the corners of her eyes.
She felt that this child was her salvation. She was even willing to believe he was Nawaki's reincarnation-that Nawaki had seen her pain and longing from heaven and specifically reincarnated as this child so he could remain by her side.
What Tsunade did not know was that the boy "sleeping soundly" beside her was completely awake.
With his eyes closed, Lin Chen controlled his Wood Release chakra until it was as fine as a gossamer thread, soothing this woman who remained tormented by her past in the gentlest, least noticeable way possible.
Although this was his first day in this home.
He had already fully grasped the essence of playing the "little brother." When Tsunade was cleaning, he would stand on tiptoe to offer her a cup of hot tea Shizune had brewed; when she stared blankly at the empty residence, he would hug her legs from behind and look up at her with the most innocent eyes.
He used everything a four-year-old child could do to fill the hole named "Nawaki" in Tsunade's heart.
And the results were astonishingly good.
Tsunade's long-frozen heart was thawing at a visible pace. The way she looked at him gradually shifted from her initial pity and displaced affection to pure, unadulterated love and reliance.
For Lin Chen, who had been an orphan in his previous life, being cherished and protected felt unfamiliar, and he treasured it. But he also understood that this peace was merely an illusion before the storm.
To protect this peace, he still needed to face greater trials and gain greater strength.
The ripples stirred by him, a stone suddenly cast into the waters of Konoha, were about to spread to the center of the surface.