43: Chapter 43 The Brewing of Emotions and Dou's ProvocationOrochimaru's sticky voice dissipated in the alley, but his two crippled arms and the devilish contract regarding the Impure World Reincarnation became an invisible mark, deeply engraved in Tsunade's soul.
He gave her a week.
A week to weigh the guilt of betraying the village against the happiness of regaining what was lost.
Orochimaru and Kabuto disappeared into the night, as if they had never existed.
[Ding!Target [Tsunade]'s emotional field has entered a period of high-intensity fluctuation.]
[Ding!The [Desire] and [Guilt] attributes are in fierce conflict.]
[Ding!Generating high-purity complex emotion: [Struggle] x22000!]
On the rooftop, Naruto calmly watched the numbers frantically jumping on the system panel.The joy of his achievement paled in comparison to his anticipation for the "medicine" simmering before him.
Hope is the most potent poison.
It can make a dead heart beat again, and it can also cause a firmly held principle to crumble.
Jiraiya could no longer tolerate it.
He leaped from the rooftop, his heavy footsteps jarringly echoing in the deathly silent alley.
He rushed up to Tsunade, his face, which always carried a hint of boldness, now filled with uncontrollable anger and disappointment.
"Are you crazy, Tsunade?"
"Are you really considering that bastard's suggestion?"
"To betray your teacher and your village for a false illusion created with forbidden magic?"
Every word Jiraiya uttered was like a heavy hammer blow, striking Tsunade's already crumbling rationality.
Tsunade's body trembled violently.She slowly raised her head, and all the emptiness and numbness in her beautiful brown eyes were replaced by a hysterical madness.
She smiled.
The laughter was shrill and piercing, filled with endless bitterness.
"A false illusion?"
"Jiraiya, you're standing here, using your ridiculous set of principles to criticize me?"
Her voice suddenly rose, turning into a heart-wrenching scream.
"What do you know!"
"You don't understand!You don't understand the pain of watching your loved one die in your arms, and being powerless to do anything about it!"
"You have no idea the despair on their faces as they die, the way they see it every night when they close their eyes!"
"Nawaki!Severed!They're all dead!For that damned Hokage, for that village filled with war and death!"
"Now, I have a chance, a chance to bring them back!And you're telling me it's a lie?It's a betrayal?"
"roll!"
The last word was accompanied by a punch that gathered all her strength.
Bang!
Jiraiya didn't dodge at all; he took the punch squarely, and the force sent him flying backward, crashing into a wall in the distance and sending debris flying everywhere.
Tsunade was panting heavily, her chest heaving violently, and two streams of hot liquid slid down her cheeks.
She didn't look at Jiraiya again, staggered, and rushed towards the other end of the street without looking back.Her back was filled with the desolation of being abandoned by the whole world.
[Ding!You have received 18,000 units of ultimate [Pain] from Tsunade!]
[Ding!You have received 16,500 units of Tsunade's ultimate [Despair]!]
[Ding!You have received 5800 units of [Sorrow] from Jiraiya!]
Naruto remained standing on the rooftop, watching the white-haired man struggling to his feet amidst the ruins, and then glancing at the blonde woman who had disappeared into the crowd.
Everything is unfolding according to the script.
This soup needs to be simmered slowly with enough time and enough emotion.
A few days passed in the blink of an eye.
Tanzaku Street remains bustling, but for some, every minute and every second is torture.
Tsunade locked herself in her hotel room, neither drinking nor gambling.
She just sat there, stroking the emerald green necklace on her chest over and over again.
Orochimaru's suggestion echoed repeatedly in her mind like a persistent curse.
Just as her will was about to be completely consumed by that desire, there was a knock on the door.
Standing in the corridor was the young man who wore glasses and always had a gentle smile on his face.
Yakushi Kabuto.
He didn't force his way in; he simply stood politely outside the door and spoke in a perfectly timed, concerned voice.
"Lady Tsunade, I've only come to check on you.Lord Orochimaru is very concerned about you; he's worried that you might harm your health due to excessive longing."
It is called "concern" but in reality it is "urging".
This hypocritical oppression disturbed Tsunade's peace of mind.
She flung open the door, intending to tell him to get out, but she saw Kabuto's gaze pass over her and land in the room behind her.
There, Naruto Uzumaki was sitting quietly by the window.
For the past few days, he has stayed by Tsunade's side like a silent shadow, neither speaking nor disturbing her, but simply observing.
Kabuto pushed up his glasses, and a barely perceptible glint flashed in his eyes behind the lenses.
He sensed something unusual about the little imp in the orange clothes.
That's not the Nine-Tails' chakra.
It was a more restrained, purer kind of energy, yet it carried a strange energy that made him instinctively uncomfortable.
"Oh?Isn't this the brat that Jiraiya-sama was with?"
Kabuto's voice remained gentle, but the words within it carried undisguised contempt and provocation.
"It's better for children not to get involved in adult matters."
He turned to Tsunade, bowing slightly in a gesture full of sympathy and understanding.
"Lady Tsunade is enduring immense pain and making a difficult choice.This weight is something a clueless brat like you could never comprehend."
He was praising Tsunade to the point of ruin, while simultaneously belittling Naruto.
He was using words to pull Naruto away from this "On the chessboard of "trade," it was brutally kicked out.
However, to his surprise.
The boy didn't react to his words at all.
There was no anger, no rebuttal, not even the slightest emotional fluctuation.
Naruto simply turned his head slowly and looked at him calmly with his azure eyes.
What kind of look was that?
It's not about looking at an enemy, nor is it about looking at an opponent.
That was a butcher looking at an animal waiting to be slaughtered.
It's like a chess player evaluating a piece that can be discarded at will.
It is a higher-dimensional life form looking down on a lower-dimensional, meaningless existence.
For the first time, the smile on Kabuto's face froze.
A sudden, intense feeling of irritability and displeasure welled up from the bottom of his heart.
What he hates most is this feeling of not being able to see through him or control him.
Why is this brat looking at me like that?
He wanted to shatter this feigned composure in front of Tsunade.
He wanted to prove that he was the one who could stand on the same level as Lady Tsunade and understand her pain.
"It seems you are very confident in yourself."
Kabuto's smile softened again, but beneath that gentleness, murderous intent began to gather.
"Since Jiraiya-sama didn't teach you what manners are, let me do it for you."
The moment he finished speaking, his figure vanished from the spot.
The next second, he appeared in front of Naruto.
A scalpel-like green chakra light shone from the palm of his right hand, piercing straight towards Naruto's heart at a speed too fast for the naked eye to perceive.
"Let me help you wake up, kid!"
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