In the blink of an eye, three days had passed since Reiji threatened Danzō.
As evening fell, Reiji stepped out with Rie.
They were heading to a yakiniku place for dinner and to say their goodbyes to Fugaku Uchiha and Teuchi.
After all, he'd be gone for at least three years.
Soon, Reiji and Rie arrived at a high-end barbecue restaurant. Out front, Teuchi was pulling Fugaku aside, whispering in his ear.
"Fugaku, listen up. If you ever end up with a student from the Akimichi clan, whatever you do, don't bring them here."
"Why not?" Fugaku asked, genuinely curious.
"Because this place is owned by the Akimichi family! They'll come up with all sorts of excuses to make someone else pay, drain your wallet dry, and still eat and drink for free!"
Hearing that, Fugaku nodded like a pecking chicken.
"The Akimichi are pretty impressive... They all look round and cute, but who knew they were so shrewd?"
Teuchi nodded vigorously and added, "If you get students, just bring them to my ramen shop. I'll give you a 4% discount!"
Behind them, Reiji gave Teuchi a speechless glance.
You little rascal—clearly just trying to sabotage someone else's business.
He cleared his throat loudly, making the two jump in surprise, then casually snapped his fingers and led the way into the restaurant.
Behind him, Rie and the others followed eagerly.
Truth be told, yakiniku wasn't cheap.
Even Asuma Sarutobi, the teacher of the second-generation Ino–Shika–Chō trio, had to empty his wallet to treat his students to a meal.
Of course, Chōji's appetite didn't help.
Not long after they'd settled into a private booth, Tsunade came strolling in, glancing around.
Rie and the others immediately stood up, waving at her enthusiastically.
"Sis Tsunade, over here!"
Smiling like a blossom, Tsunade hurried over.
She sat down, greeted everyone warmly, and the four of them quickly got lost in conversation—completely leaving Reiji, their teacher, to the side.
Not that it was surprising. Without Tsunade, the three of them would've been long dead by now.
Soon enough, the food arrived.
The sizzling charcoal and juicy meat instantly pulled everyone's attention.
Pouring herself a drink, Tsunade looked at Reiji with a smile and asked softly,
"What made you suddenly want to treat us to barbecue?"
"Nothing big. I'm heading out of the village soon, figured we should have a meal together. Something fun."
"Leaving? Where to?" Tsunade asked, curious.
"The Land of Water."
He didn't bother hiding it from her and lowered his voice to explain a bit.
"Remember how I took off the Third Mizukage's legs?
Not only that, I also left a Flying Thunder God marker on him.
Just a few days ago, I noticed the guy was up and walking around like nothing ever happened.
Worse, he even made a trip to the Land of Iron.
So I want to go check out what's really going on."
"Oh..." Tsunade nodded and stared into her cup, falling silent.
After a while, she finally asked,
"How long will you be gone?"
Reiji let out a sigh.
"Three to nine years. No more than nine, no less than three or four."
"Nine years..." Tsunade murmured, slowly sipping her drink.
In nine years, I'll be twenty-seven...
The mood turned quiet for a moment. Only the sizzle of fat dripping onto the coals and the sound of Rie and the others slurping their drinks broke the silence.
Then, Teuchi suddenly looked up and asked,
"Sensei, will you come back at all during that time?"
"I will," Reiji nodded.
Teuchi immediately broke into a grin.
"Great! I've been working on a new ramen flavor. I'll save it for you!"
That made Reiji smile warmly. He patted Teuchi on the shoulder, nodded, and asked casually,
"What flavor?"
"Hehe~" Teuchi gave a proud thumbs-up. "Blazing Spicy Fire Release Great Fireball Tonkotsu Ramen!"
Just hearing the name made Reiji squirm.
Are you trying to kill me?
He rolled his eyes but eventually nodded, reluctantly agreeing to Teuchi's excitement.
...
Good times never last long.
Soon, the three students waddled out of the restaurant with full bellies, leaving Reiji behind, supporting a tipsy and clingy Tsunade.
Her long legs swayed with each step, eyes half-closed, lips curled in a silly grin. Her cheeks glowed pink like peach blossoms—absolutely stunning.
"Drink! Reiji, c'mon—let's go another round!"
Tsunade, clinging to Reiji's neck, was all smiles as she waved her fists in the air, clearly in high spirits.
"You're drunk," Reiji said, shaking his head. While waving Rie and the others off to head home first, he wrapped an arm around Tsunade to help her toward her house.
"Bullcrap, I'm not drunk! I remember every single thing you did to piss me off! And the stuff I'm not supposed to say... I'll take it to the grave!"
Hearing that, Reiji let out a helpless smile.
"Right, right. Tsunade's the best. Be good and go home to sleep."
"No!"
"I wanna drink! I'm not happy!"
As they made their way down the road, Reiji, for once, replied with uncharacteristic gentleness.
"Who made you upset?"
"You!" Tsunade declared without hesitation, her hazy eyes glaring up at him.
"You're the one who made me mad! I promised Second Grandpa I'd keep an eye on you, but you—you didn't even come to let me spy on you! You... you're sneaky!"
Looking at her slurring nonsense, Reiji sighed.
So that's what was up... Tobirama actually had you keeping tabs on me? No wonder you always gave me those weird looks when we were kids.
Hard to believe it's been over ten years already...
As they walked, Tsunade grew increasingly groggy, her steps turning wobbly.
Seeing that, Reiji grabbed her arm and, with practiced ease, hoisted her onto his back.
The moment her weight settled on him, he raised an eyebrow.
Damn... I really underestimated you back then.
Before long, they arrived at the Senju estate.
Reiji knocked on the front gate with Tsunade completely passed out on his back like a rock.
Soon, an elderly woman opened the door. Seeing Reiji standing there with Tsunade on his back, she paused in surprise, then gave him a knowing smile.
"My, if it isn't Reiji-kun. So late at night, and you still went out of your way to bring Miss Tsunade home."
Reiji smiled and nodded, preparing to set Tsunade down, but the old woman quickly stepped in to stop him.
"Reiji-kun, you'd better carry her straight to her room. I'm too old to haul around a grown girl like her."
Before he could respond, she pulled him inside and shut the door behind him with a firm thud.
"Tsunade's room—you should know where it is. I won't bother showing you.
Lady Mito was just calling for me anyway!"
With that, she darted down the hall in surprisingly spry steps and vanished around the corner.
Reiji stood there, watching her disappear, his expression twitching.
What...
What the hell kind of setup is this?!