Naruto rose slowly, supported by Shizune's steadying hand and Shorai's silent, firm grip on his shoulder. The blonde boy was trembling, his eyes wide as he stared at the massive fissure Tsunade had torn into the street with a single finger. The raw, terrifying scale of a Sannin's power was no longer a story; it was a scar in the earth at his feet.
"Jiraiya! Are you the one who taught him the Rasengan?" Tsunade demanded again. Her voice was jagged, vibrating with a volatile mix of fury and a grief she couldn't quite suppress. "Stop filling these children's heads with foolish dreams. They won't last a day in the real world!"
She turned her gaze to the boys, her amber eyes hardening into a mask of cold authority. "Let this be your lesson. This is the hard reality you have to grasp. No amount of emotional outbursts will change the truth of what lies ahead."
"Then I'll throw your own words back at you, woman," Shorai's voice cut through the air, chillingly level.
Tsunade stiffened. Shorai stepped forward, his turquoise eyes fixed on hers with a clinical, detached intensity.
"Reality is indeed a hard thing to live in," Shorai continued, his tone dropping into a register that made Jiraiya's brow furrow in concern. "Everyone struggles. What they experience differs, certainly, as does the way they choose to cope. You can keep telling yourself whatever lies help you sleep at night. Blame the village, blame the title, blame the world. But you cannot run from your own conscience. No amount of alcohol can erase the faces of the people who remember your choices."
He paused, letting the silence of the street amplify his words. "Enjoy your victory in strength over children. I once held you in high regard, Lady Tsunade. I studied your theories and built my own progress on the foundation of your research. But as of right now, you have lost every ounce of that respect."
"Are you testing my limits, brat?" Tsunade's eyes narrowed, a flicker of genuine killing intent leaking into the air. "You've been brazen. I wonder how you've managed to live this long with such a mouth. You call me a hypocrite, yet you speak down on my views while admitting you agree with the burden of the position? You need to be taught where you stand."
"Lady Tsunade... they are just kids..." Shizune interjected, her voice small.
"Stay out of this, Shizune!" Tsunade barked, not looking away from Shorai. "I didn't get the impression he was a fool, but he is certainly trying to bring misfortune upon himself."
Her vision drifted to Naruto, who was staring down at his palms, where shallow cuts from the debris were beginning to sting.
"And you, shrimp!" she shouted. "Why are you so emotional about a title that brings nothing but death?"
The street fell into a heavy, suffocating silence. Naruto stared at his hands, his body beginning to shake with a different kind of energy.
"You are unworthy…" Naruto mumbled. Then he raised his eyes, azure blue burning with a resolve that seemed to push back the darkness of the street. "Because unlike you… becoming Hokage is my dream! And I'll die before I let someone like you spit on it!"
Tsunade shuddered. The hard edge of her expression softened at once as her gaze searched Naruto's face for a lie—for childish bravado, hesitation, anything that would let her dismiss him.
Her hand rose by reflex and closed around the jade-colored stone hanging at her neck.
Beside Naruto, Shorai felt the yellowish radiation of the Mind Stone surge again, pressing violently against his triple-layered shield. The barrier groaned beneath the pressure, ripples of invisible force vibrating across Shorai's skin as he converted and grounded the leak. He caught Naruto by the shoulder—a silent anchor amid the boy's storm.
"It's common for adults to look down on the dreams of the young," Shorai said softly, breaking the tension. "As if they've forgotten they were once the ones dreaming. We may appear as fools to you, Lady Tsunade. Naive. Inexperienced. Perhaps we are. Only time will tell."
He looked at Naruto, a thin, genuine smile touching his lips. "But I've found he possesses a special talent... the will to never back down. It's a stubbornness that defies logic. Right, Naruto?"
"Hmph! I'll prove it to you, grandma!" Naruto slammed a fist against his chest. "That's my Ninja Way!"
Jiraiya stepped forward, his arms crossed and a knowing smirk playing across his face. "Aren't they charming, Tsunade? They mean every word they say. The white-haired one is standing up to you because your medical breakthroughs saved his life—though he is too proud to admit he still cares." And the blonde? He is brute-forcing his way toward mastery of the most difficult jutsu I know just to prove a point."
"Mastery?" Tsunade released her necklace, her frown returning even as the tension drained from her posture. "Are you joking, Jiraiya? That was a mess, not a Rasengan."
"He's only been at it a week. Give him some slack," Shorai countered. "His determination isn't just about a title. He wants to surpass every Hokage who came before him."
Tsunade's expression flickered with a strange, nostalgic intrigue. A playful, dangerous smile touched her lips. "Surpassing them? Even my grandfather?" She let out a short, sharp laugh. "Then how about a bet, kid?"
"Eh? What kind?" Naruto blinked, still dusting off his orange jacket.
"If you master the Rasengan in one week..." She pointed to the jade-colored stone hanging from her neck. "This will be yours."
"Lady Tsunade! You can't!" Shizune cried, but Tsunade ignored her.
"I don't need a necklace!" Naruto shouted. "Give me three days! Just three! I'll master it!"
"Don't be so quick to dismiss it, Naruto," Jiraiya interjected. "That's the First Hokage's relic—one of a kind. It's worth enough to buy a small country. Your grandkids' grandkids would never need to work a day in their lives."
Naruto's eyes widened. "W-wha…? Three days! I definitely meant three days!"
Tsunade stepped into Naruto's personal space, leaning down until her eyes met his directly. Naruto flinched back, but she moved with the effortless grace of a predator. Her hand blurred once.
"You'd better prepare for your loss, boy."
When she stepped back, a fat, green toad-shaped wallet bounced lightly in her palm. A satisfied smile curled across her lips.
"N-no! My Gama-chan!" Naruto frantically patted his pockets. "So cruel! I worked hard for that!"
"Hard? A kid carrying a wallet this fat?" Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "Jiraiya, is he a thief?"
"Hmph! He won that at the gambling stands on the way here," Jiraiya muttered with a mix of irritation and pride. "The brat has a hidden talent for games of chance. He's no sucker, unlike some legendary losers I know."
Tsunade glared at Jiraiya for a moment before turning her attention back to Shorai. Her gaze was different now—searching, suspicious.
"And what about you, cold one?" she asked. "Want to join the wager? Perhaps you can earn my forgiveness for that… little trick you played in my mind. Don't think I've forgotten it."
She did not meet his eyes directly. Her gaze drifted aside, and a faint tremor passed through the hand at her side—a quiet betrayal that the blood-soaked illusion still echoed somewhere behind her eyes.
"I see no reason to wager over something I have already mastered," Shorai said with a shrug, his voice returning to its lazy, disinterested edge. "It is his burden, not mine."
"Shorai, wait…" Naruto looked at his friend, blinking as realization caught up with him. "Wait… you already mastered it?"
Tsunade's smile froze. Her eyes sharpened as she searched Shorai's face for a joke.
"Are you implying you mastered the Fourth's jutsu in a single week?"
"Less," Shorai said, a crescent smile touching his lips without reaching his cold eyes. "To be exact."
"What?" Naruto and Tsunade said in unison.
"You little liar," Tsunade laughed, though the sound came out strained. "Hold on… are you trying to charm me by acting cool? You certainly don't lack the looks for it, cutie, but I'm not interested in children."
Then she turned sharply toward Jiraiya, her expression hardening.
"Are you proud of yourself? Is this part of your training? Shame on you."
"Oh?" Shorai retorted. His gaze swept over her with calculated provocation. "Does the princess love hearing herself talk as much as she loves the bottle? As naturally beautiful as you try so hard to remain, I am not interested either. My heart is already set elsewhere."
Tsunade's eye twitched. She stepped forward, folded her arms beneath her chest, and drew a slow breath.
"Now you're playing hard to get?"
Under her breath, she muttered, "Loves hearing herself talk… that's rich, coming from you. Every sentence out of your mouth sounds like a lecture, kid."
"I can control my impulses, Princess," Shorai said flatly, glancing at Jiraiya. "Unlike the adults around here. Though I agree with you on one thing—that man should feel more shame for his 'research'."
"Ha!" A genuine, melodious laugh escaped Tsunade. She studied Shorai with intense, newfound curiosity. "A child who speaks like a tired old man. Who are you, really? Is this a Henge?"
She raised a finger and slowly traced a circle in the air around him, openly examining him from head to toe.
"Keep guessing," Shorai replied, flicking a dismissive hand. "But I will tell you this: if you apologize for what you said in that bar—and it sounds genuine—perhaps I will satisfy your curiosity once you are sitting in the Hokage's office."
"Don't look at me," Jiraiya sighed, shaking his head at Tsunade. "He's a clever brat on his own. I can't take credit for his mouth."
"A natural charmer, then," Tsunade smirked. "Fine. Let's add a stake. If the shrimp masters the Rasengan in three days, I'll apologize. To the memory of the fools, and to you."
Shorai met her golden eyes, his expression unreadable.
"And if he loses…" Tsunade's smirk sharpened. "Not only will you tell me your secrets, but you will pay me exactly what was in this toad wallet. And for the rest of this trip, you will address me as 'Wisest Big Sister.'"
Shorai's eye twitched. "You call his dream a fool's way, yet you are the one hallucinating. Are we simply saying nonsense now?"
"Then root for his success, cutie," Tsunade chuckled, turning her back on them. The bitterness in her voice had receded, replaced by something sharper—predatory playfulness.
She paused.
"Jokes aside, if he fails, what I really want is for you and Jiraiya to fulfill one order of mine. Whatever it may be."
Her gaze slid over her shoulder, settling briefly on Shorai.
"That is the price for disrupting my peace."
"Hey! Why am I in this?" Jiraiya complained.
Tsunade didn't answer. She began walking toward the nearest inn, her silhouette tall and imposing against the moonlight. "Let's go. Book the rooms, Shizune. I'm exhausted, and I need a drink that hasn't been interrupted by brats."
Shorai watched her disappear down the street before turning his focus inward. The thin, invisible barrier surrounding the Reality Stone still trembled faintly beneath his awareness. Converting Naruto's surging energy had left a residual warmth in Shorai's palm when he had caught the boy by the shoulder.
Naruto, oblivious to it all, was already shadowboxing the air. A confident smile rested on his face, as though three days were more than enough to overturn the impossible.
'Three days,' Shorai thought. 'A hard reality, indeed.'