The three of them spent nearly two hours playing cards around the coffee table.
The more Kushina played, the more fired up she beca, her voice rising unconsciously.
"No way! How did you bomb again?! How long have you been hiding that hand!"
Kitahara Kaede laid the final pair of kings on the table.
"The whole ti."
"Then why didn't you bomb when Lady Tsunade played her cards earlier?"
"I wouldn't have won then."
Kushina choked on her words, speechless.
Tsunade leaned back on the sofa, holding three useless cards in her hand, her expression blank.
She had lost again.
She glanced down at her hand and then looked up at the boy across from her.
From start to finish, she had barely won a single round. And the few tis she did win, it was only when Kitahara Kaede was her teammate.
It was as if he had calculated exactly what to play and what to hold onto in every single round.
Tsunade tossed her cards onto the table and picked up her teacup.
"One more round!" Kushina slamd the table.
Kitahara Kaede glanced up at the clock on the wall.
"I think that's enough. It's getting late."
Kushina pouted, looking completely unsatisfied. However, following Kaede's gaze, she saw the ti—11:40 PM.
"Fine, fine." She gathered the scattered cards into a pile and shoved them back into the box. "Next ti, I'm definitely beating you."
Kitahara Kaede stood up and bowed slightly.
"Thank you for the hospitality, Sister Kushina, Lord Minato."
Tsunade set down her teacup and stood up as well.
"I'll be heading out too. I have an early eting at the hospital tomorrow."
Kushina's hand paused while packing the cards. She looked up, glancing at Kitahara Kaede, and then at Tsunade, who was straightening her clothes.
She blinked, and a slow smile spread across her lips.
"Kaede."
Kitahara Kaede looked back.
"Lady Tsunade's house is over in the center of the village. It's on your way back, right?"
As she closed the card box, Kushina looked up with a natural, innocent smile. "It's too secluded around here, and the streetlights are dim. Why don't you walk her ho since it's on your way?"
Tsunade frowned.
"Do I really need an escort?"
"Walking alone in the middle of the night is so boring," Kushina waved her hand as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It's on the way; it's not like you're going out of your way."
Tsunade opened her mouth to argue.
She was a mber of the Sannin. If word got out that she needed an escort just to walk ho at night, wouldn't that be embarrassing?
But then she looked at Kitahara Kaede.
The boy stood in the entryway, his expression neutral, as if simply waiting for her to decide.
Tsunade turned her head away.
"...Whatever."
Kitahara Kaede nodded. He was slightly surprised; he had expected Tsunade to refuse outright.
The two of them walked to the entryway to change their shoes. Kitahara Kaede opened the door first, stepping aside to let her through. As Tsunade passed him, their eyes t for a brief mont.
She was the first to look away.
Kushina leaned against the doorfra, watching the two of them walk down the dim, yellow-lit path. They walked with half a body's length between them—neither too close nor too far.
A thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
At the dinner table, the two of them had almost simultaneously ntioned that they had "t once." Then there was the ti last week when Tsunade had co to see her, hesitating before ntioning a "friend who had strange dreams."
Kushina spun around and bolted up the stairs, pushing open the study door with a crash.
Minato nearly dropped the pen in his hand.
"What happened?"
Kushina opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. She wanted to say—on second thought, never mind. This was Tsunade's business; she couldn't be the one to blab her best friend's secrets.
"Nothing," she waved her hand, though her face was still tight with suppressed excitent. "Just a woman's intuition."
Minato looked at her, completely bewildered.
By the ti he could react, Kushina had already closed the door and left. Minato stared at the door for three seconds, shook his head, and went back to writing his report.
***
The moonlight stretched their shadows long across the ground. The streets were empty, save for the sound of their footsteps following one after another.
Neither of them spoke.
Tsunade walked half a step ahead, her gaze fixed on the road. But her attention wasn't on the path.
The rhythm of the person beside her—not too fast, not too slow, neither crowding her nor falling behind—consistently maintaining that half-step distance.
This way of walking felt so familiar.
In her dreams, before their relationship had been defined, that person had walked exactly like this. Every ti he picked her up from the hospital, escorted her ho from the tavern, or walked her back from the training grounds, it was always like this.
Tsunade tilted her head slightly.
The moonlight hit him from the shoulder, carving out the silhouette of his profile. He was a fifteen-year-old boy whose features hadn't fully matured, yet the tranquility in his eyes didn't seem to belong to soone his age.
'What about him?'
She didn't know what Kitahara Kaede was thinking. Was she the only one having these inexplicable dreams, or was he experiencing sothing too?
Digging through his files, reviewing his evaluation records, specifically arranging etings at the hospital, and now walking the sa night path. For a Sannin to do these things for a fifteen-year-old Chunin... it sounded like the ramblings of a madwoman.
But Kushina's words echoed in her mind: "Just do whatever you want to do. Just make sure you don't regret it later."
At the very least, she didn't regret it.
Kitahara Kaede walked half a step behind her. As they passed under one streetlight after another, Tsunade's shadow lengthened, shortened, and lengthened again on the pavent.
In the twenty-so years of the simulation, how many nights had they walked ho like this?
But that was a simulation.
He tilted his head. The moonlight hit Tsunade's profile, casting the shadow of her eyelashes against her cheekbone.
'She won't rember.'
Kitahara Kaede shifted his gaze back to the road.
"How long were you on the front lines?" Tsunade's voice suddenly broke the silence.
"About two months."
"Minato ntioned in his letter that your intelligence analysis was very useful."
"Lord Minato is overpraising ."
Tsunade didn't respond. They fell back into silence for a while.
Unconsciously, Tsunade slowed her pace. Walking this quiet road with the sound of his footsteps beside her, she felt that it didn't matter if the journey felt a little shorter.
"When we were playing cards," she began, her tone casual, "your card counting was very accurate."
"It was alright."
"Who taught you?"
Kitahara Kaede paused.
"I figured it out on my own."
Tsunade didn't press further.
"That thing you said at the hospital before."
Kitahara Kaede looked at her.
"You said those dical skills were taught to you by soone important."
Tsunade's gaze remained fixed ahead.
"That person... where are they now?"
Kitahara Kaede didn't answer imdiately. Their footsteps echoed through the empty alley for several beats.
"Far away from ."
There was another sentence he didn't say.
'And yet, so close.'
Tsunade tilted her head slightly. The footsteps continued, one after the other, the rhythm unchanged.
They continued walking like that, crossing two streets and turning a corner until the wall of Tsunade's courtyard appeared ahead. She stopped at the gate and turned around.
Kitahara Kaede stood three paces away.
"We're here," she said.
"Mm."
Tsunade looked at him. The streetlight hit him from the side, making his expression difficult to read. A fifteen-year-old boy standing at her gate, his shadow resting quietly on the ground.
For so reason she couldn't explain, the sight made her feel a sense of peace.
"Go on back," she said.
Kitahara Kaede nodded and turned around. He had taken five or six steps when she spoke again.
"Kitahara."
He looked back.
Tsunade stood at the entrance, one hand resting on the doorfra. The light from the streetlamp behind her obscured her expression.
"Next ti you visit Minato's house, don't bring desserts."
She paused.
"Bring seasonings. I'll cook a few dishes with Kushina."
Kitahara Kaede froze for a heartbeat.
"Okay."
Tsunade pushed the door open and stepped inside. The door closed.
Kitahara Kaede stood there, staring at the door for two seconds, as the moonlight dragged his shadow behind him.
He turned and vanished into the night, his pace slightly slower than when he had arrived.
***
Several months later.
It was evening at the training grounds.
Kitahara Kaede retracted his fist and looked at Guy, who was kneeling on one knee, panting for breath.
"The angle of your second kick is too high. In a real fight, your ankle would be caught."
Guy nodded vigorously and sprang back up from the ground to continue practicing.
Nearby, Kurenai released her genjutsu hand signs and walked over.
"Kaede, these interlocking tactical setups are honestly so difficult."
"These situations are common on the battlefield. Just take your ti," Kaede replied.
Kurenai nodded with a sigh of resignation.
Kaede waved to the two of them. "That's it for today."
Returning to his apartnt, he locked the door and drew the curtains. Squatting down, he dragged a wooden box from beneath the floorboards.
The box was heavy.
He lifted the lid to reveal stacks of money, neatly arranged. For over half a year, starting from zero, he had saved every single coin to reach this point.
He counted it once more.
Five million and thirty thousand Ryo.
It was enough.
Kaede stared at the money for a few seconds. Then, he sat cross-legged on the bed and closed his eyes. Deep within his mind, the system interface—silent for over half a year—lit up.
[Initiate simulation?]
***
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