'Is this really the time to care about this?'
Aoba gently bumped her forehead with his cheek, then reached out and pinched her slightly swollen face.
Looking at her rosy lips, no one would have guessed that such a delicate little mouth had just...
"Don't play like that next time. Moderation is fine."
"Oh, so are you willing to admit I won this time?", Mei Terumi rolled her eyes and threw out that line.
"..."
Aoba was a little speechless. He wanted to say, 'It was really your competitiveness acting up, I was just enjoying the process from the start.'
"Alright, alright, fine, you win."
"Hmph!"
Mei snorted lightly, leaned into Aoba's arms, slipped a hand around his neck, and said with a smile, "Do you want to try something different tomorrow?"
Aoba shook his head, "Sensei and I are leaving tomorrow."
"Hm?"
Mei turned to face him; their eyes met, "Why so sudden?"
"Sensei and I plan to go to Takigakure tomorrow to check on the Seven-Tails' situation."
Aoba explained.
"The Seven-Tails?"
Only then did Mei remember the nine tailed beasts, besides the Five Great Villages, there was indeed one in Takigakure.
She then grew a little annoyed and pinched Aoba's neck, asking fiercely, "Really, you're not worried I'll be taken away?"
"Because, Mei-nee, you've got the jutsu I left on you. If you get into danger, I'll appear in front of you right away."
Aoba pressed a kiss to Mei's slightly puffed cheek.
"Forgiven."
Mei's expression returned to how it had been.
"Are you coming with us, Mei-nee?", Aoba asked, only to be refused.
"Better not. There's still a pile of things to handle in the village, and besides, we've already found traces of the Six-Tails' Jinchuriki, Utakata."
Mei resumed pinching his face and playing with him.
"Do you think you can bring him back to Kirigakure?", Aoba asked curiously.
"We have a certain amount of confidence," Mei explained, "Utakata originally fled after killing his teacher, but from our investigation over time, we found there was a big misunderstanding."
'Killed his teacher?'
Aoba was slightly surprised, 'Regicide really is a tradition in the ninja world, huh.'
'Would that count me as a teacher-slayer? After all, I have once plunged a blade into Tsunade's body.'
Back then the white blade went in, the red blood came out.
While he was recalling the past, Mei continued, "Utakata's teacher back then wanted to extract the Six-Tails from his body, which made Utakata mistakenly think his teacher intended to kill him. The Six-Tails' power erupted, he killed his teacher, and then he fled the village."
"Extracting a tailed beast from a Jinchuriki, wouldn't that kill the Jinchuriki?", Aoba asked curiously.
"Don't interrupt me!", Mei pinched him sharply, annoyed, then went on.
"Utakata's teacher didn't actually intend to kill him. From what we found in our investigation, he seemed to have developed a way to extract the tailed beast from a Jinchuriki without killing them."
"It's just that he worried the village elders would disagree, so Utakata's teacher never told anyone about the plan. Most importantly, he also hid it from Utakata."
"So, in a mix of rage and fear, Utakata only thought his teacher wanted to harm him. Enraged, he ran wild, killed his teacher, and left Kirigakure despondent, carrying the name of a teacher-slayer and becoming a hunted missing-nin."
Having said so much in one breath, Mei, already drained of a lot of moisture, felt her mouth go dry again.
Seeing this, Aoba immediately picked up the water on the table, took a sip, and then kissed her to help relieve the symptom.
"There, there."
In the end Mei pushed him away of her own accord, otherwise, what if he got another vicious streak?
Aoba didn't linger and instead asked the doubt he had.
"So Utakata's teacher really mastered a method to extract a tailed beast without harming the Jinchuriki?"
He didn't remember much about Utakata; mainly he wasn't a classic tale. He only remembered Utakata later took on a disciple from the Tsuchigumo clan and, after resolving his inner knot, was eventually captured by Pain.
But Mei shook her head, "Not sure. We didn't find the method. We only discovered part of Utakata's teacher's research notes. Over all these years, most were destroyed."
"I see."
Aoba wasn't too disappointed.
"Do you really want to know the extraction method?", Mei asked, puzzled.
"Just a bit curious."
Aoba didn't openly say he wanted to synthesize the Ten-Tails. After all, the Three-Tails was already sealed in Mei's body, saying that would only add to her burden.
He wasn't regretting anything; sealing the Three-Tails inside Mei had been to boost her strength and prestige in Kirigakure. And Orochimaru's side had also made progress in research, they just needed clinical experiments. The Six-Tails or Eight-Tails might be good experimental material.
"Curiosity won't help, the person's already dead."
Mei sighed. She felt some regret when she found this information. If Utakata's teacher had told Utakata the truth back then, Kirigakure wouldn't be so sickly now.
"Hmm! But if you need help, Mei-nee, tell me. If you need me, I'll come whenever you call," Aoba said earnestly.
"Smooth talker! No wonder so many girls fall for you."
Mei pinched Aoba's face, but the smile on her face couldn't be fully hidden.
———
[The Next Day]
Aoba returned to Tsunade's residence early in the morning.
Samurai from the Land of Iron had also delivered breakfast. After checking things, Aoba gently pushed open Tsunade's bedroom door.
"Sensei, time to get up and eat."
But when he went in, Tsunade was still sleeping soundly.
Her golden hair a little messy, her delicate features peaceful, she looked like a princess waiting for a prince's kiss.
"Uh…"
Maybe having heard Aoba's voice, Tsunade seemed to show signs of waking.
"Ugh… no, perverted student… I really can't eat right now…"
In the end, Tsunade only frowned, twitched her lips a few times, and turned over to sleep again.
Aoba: "?"
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