I’m the Last Senju, and the Hokage Wants Me Dead! Chapter 192 192: The Day Katsuyu Played Matchmaker

For the next few days, Ryusei and his clones focused almost entirely on refining those two new abilities, rging the boiling energy of the Five-Tails with the gravity-weighted principles he'd also conceptualized.

His taijutsu beca denser, heavier, sharper.

Every punch carried both pressure and heat, every kick bent the air like a collapsing tide.

Then, in the middle of one strike, the world froze.

The air, the sound, even the steam around him, all halted for a split second before everything twisted and vanished.

In the next instant, he stood in a completely different place.

A quiet forest clearing, thick with mist and humidity, deep sowhere in the northern reaches of the Land of Hot Springs.

The ground shimred faintly with a residue of summoning.

A dium-sized Katsuyu fragnt rested on a nearby rock.

In front of it stood Tsunade, arms folded, her gaze sharp and steady, expression hovering between anger and disbelief.

Ryusei blinked once, then sighed softly.

"So that's how you call now? Kidnapping instead of sending a ssage?"

Her eyes narrowed, voice low. "You think stealing from an army of jōnin is a good hobby now?"

He tilted his head, pretending to think. "Let guess, I did sothing 'reckless' again, in your opinion, and now you're here to scold personally?"

"This is not my opinion. You broke into their most elite division's camp alone, Ryusei. Without backup. Without telling . What did you expect to do, send you flowers? You're lucky you're standing here right now."

He gave a faint grin, unfazed. "If you wanted to see that badly, you could've just said so. I'd have run here myself."

Tsunade's jaw tightened, the faintest flicker of a vein showing at her temple.

"You're lucky I didn't let Katsuyu drop you into a volcano instead."

Ryusei glanced at the slug on the rock, still calm. "You sure this isn't harassnt at this point?"

Katsuyu's voice was small but weary. "I did warn her that dragging you mid-training might cause... conflict."

"Conflict?" Tsunade muttered. "I call it discipline."

Ryusei chuckled under his breath. "And what if I was in the middle of sothing very important? Like inventing the next step in taijutsu evolution?"

"Then I suppose that evolution can wait," Tsunade said coldly, though the corner of her mouth almost twitched.

"Because next ti you try pulling sothing like that, there won't be enough of you left for to yell at."

Katsuyu sighed again, antennae drooping slightly. "You two truly exhaust ..."

Tsunade looked at his face, that sa calm, slit-eyed expression she'd grown used to.

For so reason, her anger slipped a little.

Her mood, against her will, lightened just seeing him stand there like nothing had happened.

The truth was, she didn't actually care about him attacking other villages, or even stealing tailed beast chakra from them.

What got under her skin was how easily he put himself in danger again, disappearing without warning, not even bothering to tell her what he planned.

When Katsuyu had told her afterward, during one of the routine updates, Tsunade forced her to give about what Ryusei was doing, she'd nearly lost her temper on the spot.

She'd wanted to summon him imdiately, right out of wherever he was hiding, just to make sure he was alright.

But Katsuyu, for once, refused.

The slug had calmly repeated Ryusei's own words, that everything was fine, that he was in no danger, and that Tsunade should give him at least a week before interrupting. A week to "integrate new abilities."

She hadn't liked it, but she'd waited. Barely.

And now, after seven long days, Katsuyu had finally relented and reverse-summoned him. Straight into Tsunade's reach.

The worst part was that the mont she saw him standing there, whole and breathing, her anger already felt half-spent.

Ryusei let out a quiet laugh, tilting his head slightly as he looked at her.

"You know, I appreciate the concern," he said, voice light but carrying an edge of seriousness beneath it. "But don't you think it's a little unnecessary by now? You should know better. I don't take risks unless the odds lean in my favor. I'm not exactly the impulsive type."

He paused, the faint smirk returning. "Besides, even if sothing did go wrong, Katsuyu could just reverse summon into Shikkotsu Forest. So what's there to worry about?"

Tsunade's lips parted, but no words ca at first.

She caught herself looking away for half a second before snapping her gaze back.

"That's not the point," she muttered, irritation rising again to cover the slip. "You think just because you can teleport away, that makes you immortal?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"And don't get clever with . You still bleed, don't you?"

Her tone sharpened, but the slight red on her cheeks betrayed her mood. She clicked her tongue quietly and crossed her arms again.

"You really think it's rational to make worry for a week straight and then talk about odds like it's a math problem?"

Ryusei smiled faintly. "You sound like you're admitting you were worried."

Tsunade froze, eyes narrowing. "Don't push it."

Katsuyu gave a small sigh from the rock. "Perhaps next ti, a written report would suffice."

Tsunade huffed, pretending to ignore both of them, but the tension in her shoulders had already eased.

Ryusei just watched her for a mont, not saying a word, eyes moving over her the way they always did.

Every ti she crossed her arms, like that, her bulging chest pushed forward almost unconsciously.

He noticed, because he always did.

And he noticed her current attire too, how she'd long since dropped anything to do with Konoha, now always in so version of those sa traditional sleeveless blouses, a little loose below the waist and tied with those oversized bells, like that old gray one but now in a darker blue.

Her pants were tighter, fitted for actual movent, almost exactly the sa style as in the original series as well.

It honestly didn't matter how often he saw her.

Every single ti, it felt like the first day all over again.

Ryusei sotis wondered if won this attractive and provocative could only exist in universes where supernatural things occurred, like this one.

In his old world, not a single female celebrity, model, or anyone he'd ever seen ca close.

Here, there was no entertainnt, no real distractions, nothing but survival and training.

Sotis, he felt like the only dopamine hit left in the world for him was just watching Tsunade walk around.

Tsunade felt his eyes on her for a mont, catching his stare in a way that made sothing tighten in her chest.

She realized she'd been watching him too, often in recent tis, so she found herself checking him out almost without thinking now, but it felt different presently as well.

Her breathing hitched just a little when she caught the exact look he was giving her, and suddenly she felt embarrassed, and then instantly irritated with herself for reacting that way.

But everything had started changing months ago.

Their sparring matches had always been rough and hard, but lately, Ryusei had actually started to win when they went all out, for the first ti.

And with that, he got bolder, his attitude, the teasing, the way he spoke to her, all of it kept pushing past what any serious disciple would ever say.

The strange part was, she didn't really mind. Not deep down.

She'd always thought she'd hate it, but for so reason, every ti he crossed a line, it just felt... right.

Which honestly scared her more than anything.

She'd tried so many tis to cut it off, to get serious, put him back in his place.

Not with instinctive anger anymore, either. She realized that whenever she tried to force it, her tone just ca out strangely playful, or worse, it could be mistaken for sothing else entirely.

What she wanted was real resolve, just to remind both of them where the line was supposed to be.

Yet every single ti, sothing in her head pulled her in the opposite direction.

Whenever he joked or got close, it was like her mind lit up.

Any ti she considered ending it, her mood just went dark and heavy.

She struggled with it for a while and finally just stopped eting him at all, two whole months without their usual matches or training.

The last ti they sparred, Ryusei didn't just win; he did it crushingly for the first ti.

There wasn't even an excuse. And the worst part?

Her pride as his teacher, as a legendary kunoichi, should've stung.

Instead, there was sothing else, sothing weirdly exciting she didn't want to na.

She couldn't deny what was happening anymore, especially with those accidental touches he definitely set up on purpose at that ti.

She knew it, realised it for a hundred percent at that ti, but still didn't do anything about it.

So she faked a few casual words after that fight, acted like she was annoyed about the loss, and sent him away.

Internally, her thoughts were just a ss of everything she didn't want to deal with.

When she cald down later and her rationality returned, it all felt wrong, unnatural, and she made up her mind to finally reset things eventually.

She figured it had to be because he won.

If she just beat him again, maybe everything would go back to normal, maybe he'd stop pushing, maybe she'd stop letting him.

So, she threw herself into training, even dug into those Inner Gates techniques he'd picked up, using her own dical knowledge and taijutsu experience to quickly open the first two already.

She was actually looking forward to challenging him next, ready to put him back in his place and restore her own sensei status, not just for herself, but to fix whatever was shifting between them.

But just when she was finally ready, he'd gone off to Iwa, then disappeared to consolidate his new strength, and she was left waiting, annoyed, and way more unsettled than she'd admit to anyone.

Now, finally, Katsuyu had dragged him back in front of her.

The dynamic between them was still there, stronger than ever, and for a second, she just stood there, not trusting herself to say anything first.

However, seeing her hesitation, Ryusei was the first to speak, a confident grin tugging at his lips.

"If you're that tense, we could always settle it the usual way. One match should clear the air."

Inwardly, he almost laughed.

He could already guess what she was thinking, trying to reclaim her old ground.

But if that was her plan, she'd walked straight into his.

It wouldn't end like she imagined. It would only tighten that strange pull between them.