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"Izumi, she's yours."
Neji's gaze slid to Karin, who froze mid-squirm under Izumi's "gentle" smile.
"I taught you Mind's Eye of the Kagura for recon, not eavesdropping," Neji added dryly.
Karin looked to him for rescue. "B-Boss, save me! I was wrong, I swear!"
Neji sighed, all pity, no help. "Be careful with her," he told Izumi. "Don't scar the kid."
"Of course," Izumi said sweetly—the kind of sweet that promised suffering. "Ai-chan, prep Training Room Three."
[Training Room Three is ready.]
Karin's glasses came off. Izumi's gaze stayed calm and warm like a priest giving last rites.
Karin gulped. "I… may have miscalculated."
She was dragged away to her fate.
…
Neji left the underground lab and slipped back to Konoha. His remote systems synced; the shadow-handling his "cover" in the village dissolved as the real Neji stepped out of his private workspace.
Team Kakashi, he'd heard, was already chasing a target toward Rōran. As for him there was someone else he had to see.
He knocked on the Hokage's door. "Sensei."
Tsunade glanced up from her paperwork, then set it aside. "You're just in time. Let's go to the usual spot. We need to talk and you owe me a workout."
"Shizune," she called, "hold the fort."
Shizune nodded, already sorting the files with practiced ease.
They cut through the village and into the small forest they used for private spars. Tsunade stretched, rolling the tension out of her shoulders.
"Work never stops. Akatsuki's as relentless as ever," she muttered. "First the Sand—Gaara lost the One-Tail. Then the Cloud's Two-Tails vanished after an attack. Mist reports the newly re-formed Three-Tails… disappeared again."
Neji kept his face neutral. Two and Three are in my vault, not Akatsuki's. Let them shoulder the blame for now.
Tsunade ticked off on her fingers. "So far: Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Kokuō, and Chōmei gone. That leaves the Four-Tails, Six-Tails, Eight-Tails, and Nine-Tails."
She chewed a nail, rare worry in her eyes. "I still don't know what their endgame is. But nine monsters wandering the world is nine different disasters."
"And Naruto?" Neji asked.
"I've already sent him out on a long assignment off the grid. If Akatsuki comes sniffing around, they won't find him in the village."
Smart, Neji thought. Keep the storm away from the powder keg.
They stepped into the clearing scuffed earth, shattered stone, the ghosts of a hundred bouts imprinted on the ground.
Tsunade shrugged out of her cloak, feet planted, grin wolfish. "Enough politics. You've dodged me long enough. Today, no holding back."
Neji peeled off his top lean muscle, clean lines, inked seals coiling like asleep dragons. Tsunade's eyebrow arched in frank appreciation.
"For the record," she said, "that symmetry is ridiculous. Good balance. Good form."
"Wouldn't want to disappoint my teacher."
Then the earth cracked.
They met in the center with nothing but fists, feet, and intent no ninjutsu, no tricks. Tsunade moved like a landslide, each step a threat, each strike a demolition charge.
Neji flowed to meet her: soft becoming hard, circles cutting lines, pressure folding into angles and counters.
She pressed; he slipped. He pressed; she broke the line.
Breath came hot. Skin flashed with sweat. The forest echoed with impacts that rattled branches and sent leaves spiraling.
An hour became two. At the end, Neji found a sliver of timing, turned her shoulder, and set her down gently but decisively.
Silence. Just wind and heartbeat.
…
They leaned against a sun-warmed boulder, sharing a canteen. Tsunade splashed water over her face and sighed in satisfaction.
"You leveled up again. Keep this up and I won't be your ceiling much longer."
"Only in taijutsu," Neji said. "If you start mixing jutsu, I'm the one on defense."
She waved off the modesty, eyes sharpening. "Drop the act. You're strong, and getting stronger. Which brings me to the real question."
She looked straight at him. "What do you think of the Hokage's chair?"
Neji paused mid-swig, water catching in his throat. "My view? Whoever's best for the village should sit there."
Tsunade didn't blink. "I took the hat because Konoha had no one else at the time. When there's a true successor, I'll step down. I won't let my grandfather's legacy rot."
A beat. The wind moved the leaves.
Neji's heart gave a small, unwelcome kick. …No way. Is she—
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