Tsunade peeled the two purple stripes from Shuji's cheeks. "What are you sticking this weird stuff on for?"
Then she let him down and looked him over from head to toe. "Like this, you look much better than that stiff, all-business ninja getup."
The Fourth Raikage stepped closer. "You're a Konoha shinobi too?" He glanced around. "What are Konoha people doing here?"
Tsunade snorted, dropped back into her seat, and tipped back a flask. "This isn't Lightning Country. Where Konoha shinobi show up has nothing to do with you, Raikage."
This was not the scene Shuji had expected, Tsunade discovered by Kumogakure and about to be hauled off. He answered evenly. "I am a Konoha shinobi, but I'm on leave."
He turned to the wall menu, ordered skewered chicken, daikon, and stewed meat, then sat cross-legged across from Tsunade. There were already more than a dozen small sake bottles on the table. Shuji sniffed the aroma; it was ordinary sake.
"Brat, didn't I say you can't drink yet?" Tsunade arched a brow.
"Just checking how strong the drink is to make you this drunk." Each flask held roughly one-fifth a liter, never filled to the brim. Judging by the number, she had downed a couple of kilos' worth. Sake's alcohol wasn't low nor high, maybe in the teens. But with a shinobi's constitution…
"If you can't handle it, please drink less." Shuji said. "I figured by now you'd be locked in some basement."
"What was that!" Tsunade's face darkened, veins rising across the back of her fist. "That obnoxious tone again. Who do you think you are, talking to me like that!"
"Um… customer." A server edged closer with the dishes.
The Senju Princess drew a slow breath and banked the anger.
Shuji gestured to set the plates down and thanked the server, then looked to the Raikage. "If you don't mind, please sit."
A's cheek twitched. He couldn't tell whether this kid was polite or rude, and he was even posing like the host. Still, the Raikage sat.
"As I told you before, I'm a Konoha ninja on leave. I discovered Lady Tsunade's whereabouts and sensed the movements of the Kumogakure ninja, so I came to check on the situation."
"Konoha and Kumogakure have signed an alliance. Not exactly friendly, but no longer enemies." A's tone was stiff. He studied Shuji's face again. Familiar.
"Shuji misunderstood. Tsunade-sama and the Raikage had a wager, and then…" Shizune began.
The Raikage finished it. "I forced Tsunade to treat me and my men. That's all."
"Shuji…" His face now matched a name from intelligence. "I've heard it. You were the envoy to Sunagakure last year, weren't you?"
"A small errand. Didn't expect it to reach the Raikage's ears." Shuji picked up a skewer, voice flat.
"As an envoy, making it home alive is no easy feat." A glanced at Tsunade. "Though I won the wager to make you agree to treat us, you'll get proper compensation."
He stood. "Tsunade, I've already settled your debts to those people from the Cedar Country. Farewell."
"Hey! Wait, give the money directly to me!" Tsunade started and shouted.
The Raikage didn't look back. "Handing money to a compulsive gambler who can't win does nothing but make her lose it all. Whether you borrow it again or not is none of my business, but I've done what I had to do." Then he strode out.
Tsunade clicked her tongue. "Although I don't have a good impression of the people of Kumogakure, what he said makes sense."
"You can get lost too!" She glared. The brat really knew how to get under her skin.
"Tsunade-sama, that's too harsh." Shizune hurried to smooth things over. "Mr. Shuji came because he was worried about your safety."
She hugged Tonton tighter and turned to Shuji. "It began in Cedar Country. The Raikage seized Suginagakure's secret scroll."
Shuji nodded. Kumogakure again, perfectly matching his stereotype—stealing other villages' treasures, even with the Kage present.
Suginagakure, to get the scroll back, hired a mercenary team called the Xuanyuan Group. The squad A led fell prey to the Group's secret technique, Explosive Bugs. One member died, another was parasitized by the insects, and even the Raikage himself was affected, though temporarily unaffected.
The traces Shuji found in the woods came from that.
A Cloud medic then discovered Tsunade and sought her help. With Konoha and Cloud's recent history, Tsunade naturally refused to help with treatment.
"At first, the Raikage tried forcing Tsunade-sama." Shizune's voice dropped. "Then he proposed settling it by a duel. But Tsunade-sama was drunk that day and stood him up, making him wait in the rain all night."
"So the next day, when Lord Raikage came back, Tsunade-sama offered an arm-wrestling bet. If he won, she'd treat them."
Tsunade had the greater raw strength. A had the greater speed. He feinted slackness during the hold and burst at just the right instant to win.
Tsunade honored the wager and agreed to treat.
"Would that kind of injury require surgery?"
"I handled it." Shizune said.
"The Raikage didn't question the reason?" Shuji asked. If they came to Tsunade, they wanted her hands.
Shizune's smile turned awkward. "We were found out."
"Exposed?"
"Uh… yes."
Shuji looked at Tsunade's indifferent face.
Despite the lingering grudges between Konoha and Cloud, in this matter, the Fourth Raikage, A, was indeed a man of his word—even after discovering Tsunade's hemophobia, he didn't use it to his advantage.
"In the end, Cloud reinforcements arrived and the Xuanyuan Group withdrew." Shizune finished.
"Story's over." Tsunade turned back, impatience obvious beneath the haze of drink. ""Cloud's gone too, when are you leaving, kid?"
Shuji took his last bite in no hurry, set down the skewer, and met her gaze. "This wasn't a chance meeting."
Tsunade's look said "figured as much," with a snort.
"I have something I hope you can help me with."
"This vacation is for training in Sage Mode, and there are some hurdles I hope you can assist me with."
Chapters in advance there: patreon.com/Thaniel_a_goodchild