Akane strolled toward the Commander's tent, his mind already running through the possibilities of what this meeting could entail. The camp was quieter now, the earlier buzz of activity settling into the nightly rhythm of guards patrolling and shinobi resting. Lanterns lit the pathways, their soft glow casting long shadows that danced with the evening breeze.
As he approached, Akane noticed Tsunade coming towards the tent from another direction. Their eyes met, and Tsunade motioned him to remain quiet. Akane nodded at her and stopped in front of the tent.
When Tsunade arrived there, she didn't reply, but instead gestured toward the tent. "Let's get this over with."
The two stepped inside, greeted by the sight of Nara Shikakuro, the camp commander, sitting at a table cluttered with maps, reports, and scrolls. His usual lazy demeanour was absent, replaced by sharp focus as he studied them.
"Ah, you're here," Shikakuro said, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms. His eyes scanned Akane briefly before settling on Tsunade. "I don't suppose this was what we planned, right?"
"That depends," Tsunade replied, her tone neutral. "What exactly were you hoping to see?"
Shikakuro sighed, rubbing his temples. "Don't play coy, Tsunade. You know exactly what I'm talking about. This… situation you've brought to the camp has everyone talking. A spar in which a Chunin Uchiha with Sharingan was handled by an unknown guy without breaking a sweat? ANBU and ROOT are already sniffing around, and I can understand why, but news of the two of you pulling off a medical miracle together? It's not exactly low-profile."
"Is that a problem?" Tsunade asked coolly, her golden eyes narrowing.
Shikakuro met her gaze evenly. "You know it is. It's you who chose a Uchiha, not me. I am sure we talked about low profile, but if you planned on making use of this fight for the agenda, you got it. I am sure I said that he was like me, but it seems you didn't understand what exactly I meant. And let's not even start on Danzo…"
Akane, who had been quietly observing, finally spoke up. "If I may interject, I fail to see how my actions have caused any harm to the camp. I just acted in a way I was supposed to be as someone related to Tsuna-nee, I mean Tsunade-Hime."
Shikakuro's sharp eyes turned to Akane. "That's exactly the problem. You've become the centre of attention in less than a day. People are talking, and speculating, and that kind of chatter draws eyes we don't want."
"Not only this, your identity is unknown to everyone, and even if you are backed by them, it could cause a lot of problems."
"Since the focus is on you, let me ask you directly—what's your angle, Akane?"
Tsunade's expression darkened at Shikakuro's pointed question, but before she could speak, Akane raised a hand to stop her. He met Shikakuro's gaze head-on, his pink eyes glowing faintly in the dim light of the tent.
"I don't have an angle, Commander," Akane said, his voice calm but firm. "I didn't ask for ANBU or ROOT to show up. I didn't ask to be dragged into a spar, and neither prepared to perform an emergency surgery. These were simply situations I responded to as they arose."
Shikakuro studied him for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Finally, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "You're a strange one, Akane. And I don't like strange things I can't figure out. Too many unknowns around you."
Akane shrugged. "That makes two of us, Commander."
A tense silence hung in the air before Shikakuro leaned back with a resigned sigh. "Fine. I'll let it go for now. But keep your head down, both of you. The last thing I need is more chaos in this camp. This is supposed to resting camp and... forget it. Just keep things low, and Tsunade, when you are done with Medical stuff, take a mission outside. "
Tsunade smirked, her earlier annoyance fading. "You'll be fine, Shikakuro. You're good at handling chaos, and I was already planning on doing this."
He shot her a withering look before waving them off. "Go. I've got enough on my plate without babysitting the two of you."
As they stepped out of the tent, Tsunade let out a low chuckle. "That went better than I expected."
Akane tilted his head, a faint smile on his lips. "Did it? He still doesn't trust me."
"He doesn't trust anyone," Tsunade replied, shrugging. "But at least he's not kicking you out of the camp. Though he can't even if he wanted to."
Akane chuckled at Tsunade's words as he understood what she meant, but his eyes were thoughtful.
The two walked in companionable silence back toward their tents, the camp now almost entirely still. As they reached Tsunade's tent, she stopped and turned to him.
"Get some rest," she said, her voice softer than usual. "Tomorrow's going to be another long day."
Akane nodded, his smirk returning.
"Let's rest together," he replied while stepping towards her tent. Looking at him, Tsunade rolled her eyes and, shoving him lightly toward his tent, she said, "Not here. Go to sleep so we can do something there."
With a quiet laugh, Akane waved her off and slipped into his tent. The day had been long, but he couldn't help but feel that things were falling into place. One step at a time, his plans were moving forward. All he had to do was stay the course.
In the tent, Akane created a Shadow clone to keep guard. He closed his eyes and lay down to be back in the dream space again. After thinking for a moment, he only brought Tsunade inside since he felt that she had something to say to him.
Appearing inside the dream space, Akane looked at Tsunade, who looked like she was waiting for him.
"It seems you understood what I meant," Tsunade said to Akane, who tilted his head. He understood that she wanted to speak to him, but he didn't know what it was about.
"The patient we treated today, pull him here. I want to see what happened to him and the rest of the squad." Tsunade said to Akane with a serious expression on her face. Hearing her, a look of understanding appeared on Akane's face, and he thought of the patient he had treated before.
The details about him were something he had read in the report given to him by Tsunade. But before he pulled him, Akane made sure that the patient wouldn't notice anything wrong and just think of this dream as his nightmare.
Pulling him into the dream, before the patient could do anything, Akane took control of him. The surroundings started to change, and Tsunade narrowed her eyes as she looked at the group of people who had appeared in her vision.
"Iwa ninjas," She murmured as she looked at the headbands of the ninjas. They were near the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire, so Tsunade wondered why Iwagakure Ninjas were spotted there.
"They must be scout ninjas," Akane replied with a thoughtful face and saw Tsunade shaking her head.
"No, they aren't. The scout team wouldn't consist of two Jonins and two Chunin. Looking at them, I feel that they are on a mission." Tsunade said and turned towards the ninjas from Konoha.
"1 Jonin, three Chunin, the Chunin survived." Tsunade looked at the ninjas of Konoha, and she started to think of how the Chunin could survive. The fight between the two groups started, and Tsunade kept an expressionless face as the fight continued.
On the other hand, Akane looked at the techniques they were using. Even if those techniques wouldn't help him much, it wouldn't be bad to keep them in mind and try them later.
"Should I look into the dream of Tsuchikage?" Akane murmured, and his head was smacked by Tsunade, who was beside him.
"Don't mess around, knowing too much can be harmful to us," Tsunade said and looked at Akane, who was rubbing his head. Looking at his expression, she understood that he had just heard her words but hadn't made up his mind about not looking into Tsuchikage's dream.
As the fight progressed and people started to die, Akane sped up the dream. In the end, except for the fact that another squad found the Chunin and saved him, no other information was found in the dream.
"Do you want to look more?" Akane asked Tsunade, who had a thoughtful face. He knew she would understand what he was trying to say, and Tsunade rubbed her head at his words.
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Chapter 59 is out on ptreon
I uploaded on ptreon before I went on a sudden journey, but forgot to upload chapters here. 🤦♂️🤦♂️
As a sorry, I will upload 10 chapters (Mass release)