Chapter 82 – The Hook Is Set, the Shark Swims Free, and the Night Burns
Jiraiya grabbed Tsunade's arm and pulled her aside, lowering his voice.
He never fully trusted Aike's "merchant" story.
As long as the group wasn't hostile to Konoha, he could play along—for now.
But they had helped kill his teacher. That grudge still simmered.
When the price turned out to be one of the three great sage lands, Jiraiya's suspicions went through the roof.
He immediately stopped the wavering Tsunade.
She, too, had started doubting Aike's intentions. After a long internal struggle, she refused the trade.
Aike's smile didn't even flicker.
"No deal? No problem. Let's just be friends then."
Before leaving, though, he dropped one last line—soft, casual, lethal:
"If you ever want to see Nawaki and Dan breathing again… you know where to find me."
Night.
The Hokage Tower lights stayed on.
Mountains of paperwork still waited.
But the Fifth Hokage wasn't working.
Tsunade sat slumped in the chair, eyes distant, replaying Aike's parting words.
"True resurrection…"
Jiraiya watched her stare into nothing and got worried.
"Tsunade, don't let them mess with your head. Bringing the dead back for real? Even sages can't do that. At best it's some twisted Edo Tensei knockoff. Don't fall for it."
He could halfway believe the merchant act.
Resurrection? Pure nonsense.
But he knew exactly why those words worked on her—Nawaki.
So he kept talking, trying to talk her down.
Tsunade, already torn, finally snapped.
"SHUT UP!"
She slammed a fist into the desk, splitting it in half.
"If you've got so much energy, do the damn paperwork yourself! I'll figure my own shit out!"
She stormed out and headed straight for the nearest bar.
Just like Jiraiya feared, the hook had sunk deep.
Nawaki's death was the scar that never closed.
Even if true resurrection sounded insane, a tiny spark of hope had ignited.
And the intel files did say this guy could pull souls out like toys…
Of course, Jiraiya wasn't wrong either—Edo Tensei existed.
But that wasn't resurrection. That was desecration.
That's why she was stuck.
So she chose the old Senju coping mechanism: get blackout drunk.
Meanwhile,
after Tsunade walked away, Aike was left with the Kisame problem.
The shark had nothing worth taking except Samehada.
And he was being very cooperative (read: terrified).
Aike shrugged and let him go.
He kept Samehada, though.
A decent ninja blade was always useful—especially for future trades in Kiri.
Once everything was cleaned up, he dismissed the barrier.
"Too bad the masked one never showed. Would've wrapped your revenge up perfectly."
The barrier had been a trap for Obito as much as a shield for the village.
Obito never bit.
Izumi just smiled softly.
"He'll turn up eventually. Killing Itachi was already more than enough."
The way she looked at Aike now was exactly the same as Nami, Carina, and Kaya.
Her biggest chain was broken.
Her heart already belonged to him completely.
The body was only a matter of time.
That very night,
after Nami, Carina, and Kaya successively tapped out from the earlier "battles" and fell asleep,
the rookie stepped up to the plate.
Izumi took the next shift.
One combatant at Six Paths level.
The other damn close.
The intensity instantly surpassed the previous three rounds combined.
The inn shook.
The bed didn't survive.
Neither did the sound barrier.
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