Nawaki's birthday feast was held at the old Senju estate.
A large table had been set up in the courtyard, laden with several hearty dishes and a pot of sake. Tsunade sat in the seat of honor, pouring herself a glass. Kitahara Kaede sat opposite her, his gaze fixed on the inner rooms.
Nawaki hadn't co out yet.
"What is taking him so long?" Tsunade frowned.
The door to the inner room flew open with a bang.
Twelve-year-old Nawaki bounded out, his brand-new Genin forehead protector polished to a mirror shine, though it was tied crookedly across his brow. Oblivious to its position, his voice reached them first.
"Sis!"
He plopped down beside Tsunade, chin tilted up defiantly. "Just you watch! In two years at most, I'll surpass you!"
Tsunade, holding her sake glass, nearly spat the drink out. "Two years?"
She set the glass down and delivered a sharp smack to the top of Nawaki's head. The already crooked forehead protector shifted even further askew.
"Learn to throw a shuriken straight before you start bragging."
"That was last month! I can hit seven out of ten now!"
"The top students hit every single one without even trying."
"Well, I've still got three years to practice!"
Tsunade was montarily speechless at his sheer confidence. Giving up on arguing, she reached over and straightened his forehead protector.
"Eat."
Nawaki picked up his bowl, but as his eyes scanned the table, his chopsticks suddenly paused.
"Kaede-niisan! When did you get here?"
Kitahara Kaede was sitting right across from him, barely two steps away. "I've been here the whole ti."
"Then why didn't you call !"
"You were in the inner room practicing tying your forehead protector in the mirror. You did it six tis in a row. You wouldn't have heard even if I did."
Nawaki's entire face flushed deep red. Beside him, Tsunade burst out laughing.
Nawaki stomped his foot in frustration, but he forgot about it the next second. He dragged his stool over to Kaede's side and leaned in, resting his chin in his hands.
"Kaede-niisan, that infiltration mission to the Land of Rain last ti—what actually happened?"
"It was an intelligence mission. There was no fighting."
"Liar! How could a Jonin-level intel mission have no fighting!"
Kaede didn't take the bait. Instead, he picked up a piece of grilled saury and placed it in Nawaki's bowl. "Eat."
"You always do this!" Nawaki grumbled, though he obediently stuffed the fish into his mouth.
After a few chews, he still wasn't satisfied. He mumbled half a sentence through a mouthful of food. "Then that northwes—"
"Don't talk with your mouth full."
Nawaki glared at him, cheeks puffed out. Kaede reached over and ruffled the boy's hair. The annoyance vanished instantly; Nawaki let out a little giggle and shrank back, eating in peace for the next two minutes.
Tsunade didn't interrupt. She watched the scene unfold.
Nawaki's clingy nature hadn't changed since he was seven or eight; he was simply taller now. Eventually, her gaze drifted from Nawaki to the man beside him, who was quietly eating. The porch lights cast a soft glow across the side of Kaede's face.
Tsunade took a sip of sake and looked away.
"By the way."
Nawaki suddenly put down his chopsticks. He looked at Tsunade, then at Kaede, a mischievous grin slowly spreading across his face.
Tsunade's instincts scread a warning, but it was already too late.
"Kaede-niisan, are you actually my sister's boyfriend?"
Silence fell over the table.
Tsunade's chopsticks froze mid-air. Her first instinct was to puml the kid. But her body was a beat slower than her mind—because in that sa instant, she sensed a shift in the gaze beside her.
Kitahara Kaede was looking at her.
It wasn't the instinctive dodge of soone asked an awkward question. He simply looked at her. Quietly, directly. It was as if he were looking at an answer he had already determined.
The mont Tsunade t his eyes, her heart skipped a beat. Heat rushed up her neck to the tips of her ears with uncontrollable speed. She wanted to glare back, but her throat tightened, leaving her unable to speak.
Three seconds passed.
Tsunade was the first to break. She snapped her head away, stood up abruptly, and slamd a fist onto Nawaki's head.
"What does that have to do with you!"
"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" Nawaki crouched down, clutching his head.
But the corners of his mouth were curled upward. He wasn't stupid. His sister's reaction—avoiding eye contact, red ears, and imdiately resorting to violence—was a combination more effective than a hundred "yeses."
Rubbing his head, he scrambled up and, while Tsunade wasn't looking, gave Kaede a knowing wink.
Kaede looked at him and shook his head slightly. *This kid...*
Tsunade sat back down and raised her glass to hide half of her face. The heat in her ears hadn't faded. He had offered that gaze without any defense, and she had taken it all in without any defense of her own.
And then, right in front of him, she had blushed like a fifteen-year-old girl. Tsunade secretly grit her teeth.
"Kaede-niisan!" Nawaki had already bounced back up, drawing his practice kunai and waving it. "One round! Target practice!"
Kaede glanced at Tsunade. She was staring intensely at a plate of edama, her expression suggesting the beans owed her five thousand ryo.
"Go, go, go," she waved them away without looking up. "Get out of my sight."
The two of them headed to the target range behind the courtyard.
After three rounds, Nawaki had six hits, and Kaede had five. The final throw had missed by two inches.
Nawaki didn't notice. "I won! Kaede-niisan, I won!"
On his twelfth birthday, he had beaten the person he admired most. This was sothing he could be happy about for six months.
"Good luck," Kaede said, patting his shoulder.
Nawaki bead, his face flushed with excitent as he dragged Kaede back toward the table.
Tsunade hadn't moved from her spot, but she had a clear view of the target range. She had seen the final round. The mont Kaede released the weapon, his wrist had shifted by two inches.
Would a Jonin miss a target by two inches?
Tsunade held her empty sake glass, and the corner of her mouth curved upward, though she didn't even realize it.
***
Afterward, Nawaki was like a restless sparrow, chatting nonstop—from training to classmates, and from classmates to the missions he wanted to take in the future—his hands gesturing so wildly he nearly knocked over the dishes.
Kaede listened quietly, offering an occasional response. Tsunade watched them from across the table, remaining silent.
Gradually, Nawaki's speaking speed slowed, and his eyelids began to droop. He propped up his chin, his voice becoming increasingly slurred.
"...and then that mission, I'll... I'll..."
His head tilted, and he collapsed face-first onto the table.
Tsunade sighed. She stood up and draped her coat over him, tucking it around his collar. Nawaki let out a soft hum, snuggling into the coat, a thin trail of drool escaping the corner of his mouth.
He was asleep—or at least looked like it.
Tsunade glanced at Kaede. He understood; she had sothing to say in private.
He nodded. She leaned over and scooped Nawaki up in her arms. Tsunade pushed open the door to the inner room, and Kaede stepped in beside her to help lay the boy on the tatami mat, covering him with the coat.
Nawaki rolled over, clutching the edge of the blanket and mumbling an incoherent dream.
The two of them stepped back outside. The night air had grown cool. Tsunade walked to the porch and leaned against a pillar. Kaede stopped beside her, leaving a half-step of space between them.
"There's sothing I want to ask you," Tsunade spoke first.
"Mm."
"I want you to be Nawaki's teacher."
Kaede didn't answer imdiately. He looked toward the inner room at the brat who had been chasing after him for over a decade. The boy who asked a million questions every ti they t, and who could bounce with joy just from winning one round of kunai.
He looked back at her. "Alright."
Tsunade looked at his profile. "If you don't teach him well..."
"Then what?"
"I'll beat you up."
"Fair enough."
Tsunade crossed her arms and looked down at her toes. There was more she wanted to say, but as the words reached her lips, they shifted and changed, until only that one sentence remained.
A sudden rustling sound echoed from the inner room.
Then ca a muffled thud as the door was kicked open from the inside.
Nawaki ca sprinting out.
"Really?! Kaede is going to be my teacher?!"
A vein throbbed on Tsunade's forehead.
"When did you wake up?"
Nawaki took a guilty step back, but his voice remained bold.
"From the part where you said, 'there's sothing I want to tell you.'"
Tsunade took a deep breath.
Quickly judging the danger level to be S-rank, Nawaki perford a sliding step to hide behind Kitahara Kaede, peeking his head out from under Kaede's arm.
"Teacher! Do we start tomorrow? What are we training first?"
Kitahara Kaede shifted slightly, refusing to provide cover.
Suddenly exposed to Tsunade's range of attack, Nawaki instinctively shrank back—but Tsunade didn't move.
Emboldened, he leaped out and stood straight in front of Kitahara Kaede. He looked up, his eyes shining with an almost blinding intensity.
"Teacher!"
Kitahara Kaede looked down at him. He reached out and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"The first rule of following ."
Nawaki's smile faded slightly, and he straightened his back.
"Stay alive. It is more important than anything else."
Nawaki didn't quite grasp the weight of those words. He was only a twelve-year-old boy who had just received his forehead protector; the battlefield felt distant, and death felt even further.
But he saw the look in Kaede's eyes.
It was different from usual. It wasn't the casualness of when he ruffled Nawaki's hair, nor the gentleness of when he shared a al.
"I've got it!" Nawaki nodded emphatically.
Kitahara Kaede released his grip and ruffled the boy's hair.
"Go back to sleep. The day after tomorrow, five-thirty in the morning."
"Five... five-thirty?"
"Too early for you?"
"No! Not at all!"
Nawaki turned and bolted back inside. After a few steps, he paused and looked back with a wide grin.
"Kaede-niisan, thank you!"
Then, he vanished in a blur.
The door closed, and silence returned to the courtyard, leaving only the two of them.
Tsunade leaned back against the pillar, looking up at the moon hanging over the eaves. After a long silence, she spoke.
"That thing you just said."
"Which part?"
"That staying alive is more important than anything."
She turned her head to look at him.
"Is that how you feel about yourself, too?"
Kitahara Kaede didn't answer.
A night breeze drifted past, causing the silver chain around Tsunade's neck to sway gently. She waited for a few seconds, but no answer ca.
"That's another answer you owe ."
"I'll pay them all back together so other day."
"You always say 'so other day.'"
Kitahara Kaede turned to look at her. The moonlight was faint, just enough to illuminate half of her face.
"Wait until the war is over."
Tsunade didn't respond. She lowered her gaze, her lips parting as if to speak, but the words never ca out.
After a long while, she gave a soft, quiet "Mm."
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