Chapter 140 : Tsunade Forced To Listen To The Story
After the recent incident, Tsunade had gained quite a bit—but her greatest gain was overcoming her fear of blood.
Back in Tanzaku Town, Riku had been staying in the hotel ever since their last battle.
Jiraiya was off enjoying himself in the entertainment district of Bamboo Street. Compared to other areas, Bamboo Street was a cut above the rest—better casinos, better izakayas, and more refined... pleasure houses.
Meanwhile, Naruto was out behind the mountain, working hard to perfect his Rasengan.
It was already somewhat usable before, but still a bit unstable.
While Riku remained in the hotel, he spent his time reading or researching. Tsunade had handed over a stack of materials on medical ninjutsu, and Riku dove into them.
They had been holed up in the hotel for two days. Tsunade would occasionally drop by to have a drink with him, but Riku mostly kept to himself and read.
The medical ninjutsu texts Tsunade had given him weren’t something you could find in Konoha—not publicly, at least. That kind of material was usually kept classified, inaccessible to most ninja.
Today, Riku sat in his room reading a particularly dense book about body reconstruction through medical ninjutsu.
After a while, the door creaked open.
Riku didn’t even look up—he already knew who it was.
"Why do you stay in your room all day? Aren’t you bored?" Tsunade asked as she entered.
His eyes remained glued to the book, completely engrossed.
And truthfully, there was something in this text that genuinely fascinated him.
He had never come across this kind of information before.
"Lady Tsunade," Riku said calmly, "don’t you ever get tired of coming here every day?"
Tsunade sat down right beside him and poured herself a cup of tea.
The familiar scent of her perfume drifted toward him—but he was used to it by now.
She turned to look at him, sighing. "If I had known you’d get this into it, I would’ve given you these books earlier instead of letting you sit around bored."
"You weren’t like this before."
Riku gave a faint smile. He hadn’t taken up medical ninjutsu out of some noble desire to heal others—he simply found it interesting.
To be precise, he had a fascination with all the strange, obscure knowledge that existed in the shinobi world.
Riku had mastered several forbidden jutsu for the same reason. He didn’t initially study them to become stronger—he just found them intriguing.
Learning jutsu and exploring the unknown had become a hobby.
He was, in a way, the embodiment of that old phrase "a beauty in the book." To him, knowledge was irresistible.
These books offered new insights and unfamiliar concepts, and he wanted to devour them all.
Hearing Tsunade’s mild complaint, Riku chuckled. "Lady Tsunade, you’re acting like a child. Enjoy this time while you can—once we get back to Konoha, you’ll be the Fifth Hokage."
"When that happens, you won’t even have time for a vacation."
Tsunade didn’t argue. She knew all too well what being Hokage meant.
Riku continued, "If I were you, I’d spend these few days having as much fun as possible."
Tsunade leaned on the table beside him. Riku was sitting cross-legged on the floor, and Tsunade—already tipsy from her drink—sat so close that her body brushed against his.
If this had been the old Riku, he would’ve blushed immediately. But after spending so much time around her, he’d grown used to it.
Apparently, so had she.
Leaning against his side, she peeked at the book he was reading.
"When you finish, come drink with me," she said.
Riku glanced out the window. It was only noon.
He sighed. "Why not ask Lord Jiraiya?"
Tsunade slumped over the table. "Why would I drink with that pervert? I’d rather be with you."
Riku smirked. "You like drinking with me because you can speak freely, don’t you?"
He understood why she preferred his company.
Whenever she drank with Riku, she’d end up telling him stories—memories from the Second Great Ninja War. And Riku always listened quietly.
He actually found them interesting. Though he knew the general history, he lacked the details. And Tsunade had plenty of those.
As she lay on the table, Tsunade turned her head to look at him. After a long silence, she asked, "If the genjutsu you used on me that day had been real... what do you think would’ve happened to me?"
Riku was caught off guard. He’d already forgotten about that illusion.
He paused to think, then met her eyes.
"You probably would’ve killed Orochimaru," he said with a smile.
Tsunade thought for a moment. "Yeah... probably."
Then she added, "You know, you and Nawaki don’t resemble each other at all."
Riku raised an eyebrow. Tsunade sat upright and looked at him seriously.
"Naruto reminds me so much of Nawaki. That’s why I find him so endearing. But you... you’re nothing like them."
Riku was puzzled. "I don’t get it. What are you trying to say?"
Tsunade looked him square in the eye. "Do you know why I used to like Dan?"
Riku let out a helpless sigh. "To be honest, I’m not sure I want to know."
Tsunade froze, then glared at him. "Huh?"
Her voice rose sharply in protest.
Riku quickly backpedaled. "Okay, okay, I want to know. You can tell me."
In truth, he really wasn’t curious. He already knew most of it. Tsunade had told him the story multiple times—always when she was drunk.
Still, he didn’t interrupt her. He just returned his attention to his book.
After all, it had happened ages ago.
Maybe Tsunade was feeling her age—people tended to reminisce more as they got older.
Tsunade chuckled. "I fell for Dan because he reminded me of my little brother. They both had that same obsession with becoming Hokage. And Dan supported my medical ninjutsu reform. That’s when I started to love him."
Listening to this ancient love story, Riku felt his eyelids growing heavy.
Is this woman trying to hypnotize me? he thought.
Still, he kept his eyes on the book.
When Tsunade finally finished speaking, Riku didn’t respond. He was too absorbed in the text.
Noticing this, Tsunade gave him a hard shove.
Riku looked up and frowned. "You done?"
Tsunade nodded. "Yeah. You weren’t even listening."
"Of course I was," Riku said quickly.
She narrowed her eyes. "Then what did I say?"
Riku went silent.
Truth was, he could’ve easily repeated it back to her.
He just... really didn’t care about those kinds of stories.
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