Listening to the wild words Tsunade muttered in her half-asleep state, Aoba could easily imagine what kind of dream she was having.
He thought, 'If only I had a camera right now.'
He could've captured Tsunade's current appearance.
Then, when she saw it later… Thinking that far, Aoba lifted the blanket a bit, slightly disappointed. She was wearing pajamas. Clean ones, too.
But a pair of bare feet stuck out from under the blanket.
Smooth, soft pink, pale as jade.
For a moment, he couldn't help but feel a certain urge…
'No.'
Aoba instantly suppressed the sudden rise of appetite.
He wasn't actually a pervert.
"Stupid disciple…"
Sensing something odd with the blanket, Tsunade subconsciously rolled over and, by habit, reached out to hug whatever was beside her.
And immediately wrapped her arms tightly around the very perverted disciple who'd been "bullying" her in her dreams.
"Mm!"
Aoba couldn't help but pat the arms around his waist, Tsunade's grip was far too strong. If she didn't wake up soon, he really might suffocate.
"Hmm?"
Under his patting, Tsunade slowly woke. Her blurry eyes fell upon the head in her arms.
Instinctively, she let go.
"Phew!"
Aoba felt like he'd been pardoned from death and greedily gulped down fresh air.
'Survived.'
Once Tsunade's mind fully cleared, she suddenly wrapped herself around him again like an octopus.
"Weren't you with that Mei Terumi?"
"Sensei, it's morning already. Breakfast is ready."
Aoba explained helplessly.
"Breakfast, huh."
Tsunade muttered softly.
"But I don't feel like getting up right now…"
And then, both of them wordlessly forgot all about breakfast.
———
The door opened.
Tsunade and Aoba, both fully dressed, stepped out of the bedroom together.
She raised her hand to stifle a yawn, feeling that her energy, which had just been restored, was once again flagging.
As expected, moderation was key, no matter what the matter was.
Keeping this up every day was no good.
She felt that while Aoba seemed completely fine, her body might give out first.
"After we visit Takigakure, let's return to the village as soon as possible," She really couldn't take it anymore.
"Takigakure? We're going to Takigakure too?", Kurotsuchi, who'd been wearing a resentful expression, suddenly brightened at the mention of the village.
She'd never been there before. It was said to be a hidden, secretive village that had never suffered from war.
"You want to come too?", Tsunade asked, glancing at her.
"Mhm!"
Kurotsuchi nodded eagerly, she just wanted to travel around the ninja world while she was still young.
Tsunade didn't object, "Fine, but we'll be in a hurry. Just don't slow us down."
"Got it!"
"Good. Let's eat. Once we finish breakfast, we'll head to the summit. We probably won't talk for long before we leave."
———
After breakfast, Tsunade, as usual, was the last to arrive, just on time for the meeting to begin.
Among those present, only the Fourth Raikage showed clear irritation. The rest didn't seem to care much.
Facing his daughter's deadly glare, Onoki's deputy, Kurotsuchi's father, Kitsuchi, awkwardly averted his gaze.
Onoki himself looked entirely calm, he simply saw his granddaughter as a rebellious girl too young to understand the burdens of adults.
Mei Terumi, having eaten her fill, didn't try to tease Aoba again as she had yesterday. She simply winked at him once, then closed her eyes to rest, clearly uninterested in this so-called Five Kage Summit.
Gaara, as always, sat quietly, following Konoha's lead in silence.
The Fourth Raikage, looking at the scene before him, finally realized he was completely alone.
This grand Five Kage Summit that he and Onoki had initiated had turned into a joke at his expense.
From Onoki's demeanor, it was obvious he had already achieved his goal. There was no way he'd help him now.
Mei Terumi and Gaara were just going through the motions, barely saying a word the whole time.
Originally, the Raikage had hoped to pull the other villages with tailed beasts into an alliance to resist the Akatsuki and share the burden. But that dream was clearly dead.
Now, everyone either stood aside, or sided with Konoha.
As for Takigakure, the tiny village that held the Seven-Tails, the Raikage probably hadn't even remembered it existed, much less considered inviting them to the table.
Which meant, unless he offered something truly valuable, the Fourth Raikage now had almost no chance of finding a willing ally against the Akatsuki.
"Enough idle talk," Mei said calmly, "No matter how today's meeting ends, we'll be leaving afterward."
Onoki and Gaara both looked slightly surprised but said nothing.
The news, however, clearly made the Fourth Raikage panic.
Still, even anxious as he was, he began as before, trying once again to freeload information about the Akatsuki and calling for everyone to unite against them.
He knew the odds of success were slim, but he had to try.
After all, Kumogakure was truly poor now, they had nothing valuable left to trade.
Tsunade's response was the same as yesterday's.
Soon, the Raikage, the man who stood atop the ninja world, started ranting like an old man in a marketplace, shouting and waving his arms over "peace in the ninja world."
In the end, it was Onoki who finally threw him a bone, revealing a bit of information he knew.
He said that besides the Uchiha Itachi known to the Raikage, Akatsuki also had the Mist's rogue ninja Kisame Hoshigaki, the Sand's rogue Sasori of the Red Sand, and Takigakure's rogue Kakuzu.
But that was all.
And of course, the Raikage wasn't satisfied. He was sure Onoki was holding back more.
He turned his anger on the old Tsuchikage, but after revealing what he wanted, Onoki merely crossed his arms and sat serenely, refusing to say another word.
Which only infuriated the Raikage further.
Tsunade, growing impatient herself, finally cut in, she didn't have time to watch a mad dog bark.
"Raikage, if you're going to keep being insincere, this meeting ends here."
Only then did the Raikage quiet down, clenching his fists.
"As long as you all agree to join Kumogakure in eliminating the Akatsuki, once they are destroyed, Kumogakure will share the secret method for perfect tailed beast control!"
"Hm?", Even Aoba, who had been silently watching from the side, raised an eyebrow.
He had almost forgotten that Kumogakure still had that method.
It must be that so-called Turtle Island(Genbu), though called an island, it was actually an enormous sea turtle that drifted endlessly across the ocean, its location ever-changing. Only Kumogakure's shinobi knew how to summon it.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.