After Tsunade returned to the inn, her heart couldn't calm down for a long time.
No matter how she thought about it, she decided she still needed to have a proper talk with Aoba about this matter.
She was already quite satisfied with the way they were getting along now.
Even though they couldn't date openly like a normal couple back in the village, they could still occasionally leave the village and go to other cities together.
In her view, there was absolutely no benefit in letting their relationship be exposed.
But just when she wanted to wait for Aoba to return so they could have that talk, she ended up waiting in the inn all afternoon, and he never came back.
Aoba, on the other hand, was also planning to talk with Tsunade properly. For that reason, he even bought two bottles of her favorite sake.
He stood at the door and knocked.
But after a long time, there was no sign of anyone opening the door.
Aoba knocked several more times. The door still didn't open, and he could only sigh helplessly.
"Sensei, if you don't open the door, I'm going to break in."
He could sense that Tsunade was inside, she was just deliberately refusing to open the door.
Sure enough, right after he said that, the wooden door opened just a small crack.
Aoba was about to push the door and go in, but it was held firmly shut from inside, revealing only a cold and beautiful face through the gap.
"Sensei, are you still mad?", Aoba asked.
"What do you think?", Tsunade glared at him.
"I already talked to Kurotsuchi. She definitely won't tell anyone about what happened," Aoba said with a helpless smile.
But whether it was his imagination or not, Tsunade's expression seemed even colder, "Oh, I see. Anything else?"
"?", Aoba was completely puzzled, 'Did I do something else to make her angry?'
Since he couldn't think of it, he decided to just take action directly.
Sensing the Flying Thunder God mark on Tsunade's body, he appeared inside the room in an instant and hugged her from behind.
"Brat? Mmph!"
Tsunade gasped in surprise, suddenly lifted into his arms.
BANG!
The door slammed shut, and soon after, hurried, rustling sounds filled the room.
Only when Tsunade was nearly out of breath, her body going completely soft, did Aoba finally let her go.
"Haa!"
Tsunade gasped for air, wiping her lips while glaring fiercely at him, "Brat, were you trying to suffocate me?"
But those misty eyes had no real bite to them.
Aoba looked innocent, "It's just that I didn't know why you were still mad. Since your mouth is so stubborn, Sensei, I had no choice but to make it softer first."
"You damned brat!", Tsunade glared at him again, but this time didn't throw a tantrum. She folded her arms across her chest.
"Where were you this afternoon with that girl? Why are you coming back so late?"
'Ah, so that's what this is about.'
Aoba understood instantly, "Didn't I just go to make a deal with Kurotsuchi? Sensei, you don't even know, to make her keep our secret, I paid a painful price."
He even put on a look of deep suffering as he said it.
"Cut the act and tell the truth already," Tsunade said, kicking him lightly. She'd long known this brat was a drama king.
"Oh!"
Aoba straightened up, dropping the act, and seriously recounted everything that had happened that afternoon.
After listening, Tsunade rolled her eyes, "That girl's been spending too much time around you, she's learned all your bad habits."
"Sensei, I'm your student, you know."
Aoba looked exasperated.
"Perverted, shameless, womanizing scoundrel of a student."
Tsunade summed up all his traits in one sentence.
Aoba was instantly speechless.
"Hahaha!"
His look of helplessness made Tsunade laugh aloud.
"Alright, about this matter, I really do need to talk to you properly. Our relationship—"
"Sensei, I bought some sake. Want to drink together while we talk?"
Aoba interrupted her, lifting up the two bottles of sake.
Tsunade sighed helplessly, "Fine, we'll talk while we drink."
That's what she said, but once she started drinking, she didn't stop. One cup after another, without pause.
Several times she tried to steer the conversation back to serious matters, but Aoba always cut her off, deliberately changing the topic.
Feeling more and more sullen, Tsunade started drinking faster.
Before the first two bottles were even finished, Aoba brought out two more.
As they drank, perhaps because just drinking felt boring, or maybe because drinking on an empty stomach wasn't a good idea, Tsunade decided to have something else first.
But she ended up overdoing it without realizing.
———
[The Next Day At Noon]
The warm sunlight slipped through the cracks in the window, spilling into the room.
Still half-asleep, Tsunade felt an unbearable heat and kicked off the covers.
A pale body, fair as snow, bore many traces across its surface.
After a long while, Tsunade opened her eyes.
She couldn't sleep anymore.
The heat was one thing, but her whole body felt sticky and uncomfortable, impossible to fall back asleep.
Not bothering with clothes, she went straight to the bathroom.
After washing away the remaining traces from her body, Tsunade finally let out a long breath, feeling alive again.
But as she looked down at her slightly heaving belly, she suddenly bit her lip, her face showing a mix of embarrassment and anger.
This was the result of Aoba's "palace coup" last night.
As an experienced medical ninja, of course she could control whether she'd "get caught" or not, so normally, she didn't worry about that sort of thing.
But last night, after eating a fair amount of cream puffs, she'd agreed to quite a few of his "terms."
Some were reasonable enough, but others… were much harder for her to accept.
Like that nonsense he spouted about having a wedding, that was just ridiculous.
That brat had even resorted to strategy.
Tsunade rubbed her temples.
She had to find a way to reclaim her dignity as a teacher.
When she finally came out of the bath, Aoba had returned to the room, holding a lunch box in his hand.
"Sensei, I brought your lunch."
"Brat, I haven't even settled last night's account with you yet, and you've already walked right into my grasp."
Tsunade stepped toward him with a dangerous look, not caring in the least that she wasn't wearing a thing.
Aoba backed up two steps, speaking weakly, "Sensei, you already agreed to it. As the Fifth Hokage, one of the Three Legendary Sannin of Konoha, surely you wouldn't go back on your word?"
"Hmph!", Tsunade only snorted, but didn't say anything about breaking her promise.
"Next time," she said coldly, "I'll make you take it all back with your own mouth."
———
In the days that followed, since Aoba and Tsunade's relationship had already been exposed in front of Kurotsuchi, there was no point pretending anymore.
Kurotsuchi, for her part, finally understood what it truly meant to suffer as a third wheel.
Luckily, that kind of situation didn't last too long. After all, they were supposed to be attending the Five Kage Summit, and they'd already wasted enough time.
A few days later—
Aoba, Tsunade, and Kurotsuchi finally arrived, after much dawdling, in the Land of Iron.
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