The delicate sensation sent a jolt through Hiruko's heart.
Tsunade, pinned against him, could feel the searing heat of his body. Her own heart rate spiked uncontrollably, a mixture of adrenaline and something she couldn't quite name.
"You bastard! You..."
"Let go of me!" Her voice trembled, though her hands, still gripped by his, didn't slacken their strength.
Hiruko didn't offer a verbal rebuttal; he simply opened his hands. However, due to the slickness of the water and her own forward momentum, Tsunade ended up pitching directly into his chest.
Their bodies pressed together tightly in the waist-deep water, the rhythmic thumping of their hearts audible even over the sloshing of the pool. In the thick, swirling mist, the atmosphere shifted from combative to suffocatingly intimate.
"Sorry," Hiruko said, his voice unusually raspy.
Tsunade looked up, her gaze locking with his deep, crimson-tinted eyes. For a moment, the fury that had fueled her just seconds ago evaporated, leaving her breathless.
"You... you idiot..." she whispered, her face a deep shade of crimson.
Hiruko looked at her, a complex flicker of emotion crossing his usually stoic features. He slowly raised a hand, his thumb gently brushing a stray droplet of water from her cheek. Tsunade didn't pull away; she simply closed her eyes, leaning instinctively into the touch.
Suddenly, she snapped her eyes open, freezing in place. She had actually thought—for one insane second—that the "idiot" was going to kiss her.
"You... you..." She stammered, her face glowing like a ripe apple.
Hiruko's face remained a mask of calm, but a trace of a smirk played in his eyes. Without warning, he leaned down and captured her lips in a firm, decisive kiss!
"AH—!!"
Tsunade let out a muffled shriek, shoved him back with enough force to create a tidal wave in the pool, and scrambled out of the bath in a blind panic.
SLAM!
The heavy door was thrown shut with enough violence to rattle the entire house.
Hiruko stood alone in the steaming water, watching the doorway where she had vanished. He reached up, tracing his own lips, the corner of his mouth curving upward. Her figure truly is... explosive.
Tsunade ran as if the Nine-Tails itself were at her heels, her wet golden hair flying behind her. She burst into her guest room, fumbling with her clothes and pulling them on with trembling hands, not even bothering to dry her hair properly.
"That bastard! That pervert!" she hissed through gritted teeth, though the heat in her cheeks refused to subside.
Once dressed, she bolted out of the estate like a whirlwind, not looking back until she reached the safety of the Senju compound.
BANG!
She slammed her front door and leaned against it, gasping for air. "That idiot... that absolute idiot... Grandma Mito, what am I supposed to do now?" she murmured to the empty hallway. She hadn't forgotten the words Uzumaki Mito had whispered to her on her deathbed—words about finding a pillar of support for her heart.
Back in the jade bathroom, Hiruko looked at his reflection in the steamed-up mirror.
Do I like her?
In his memories, long before he became a cold scientist, there was a little girl who was the first to offer him a piece of candy after his parents passed away. Perhaps she had occupied the largest space in his heart all along.
He didn't dwell on it for long. He knew he wasn't powerful enough yet to dictate his own fate or hers. He dried off and headed back to his lab. Only absolute power could protect the things he wanted to keep.
"Clan Head!"
Uchiha Fugaku had just woken from a midday nap when an Uchiha Jonin appeared at his side to deliver an urgent report.
When Fugaku arrived at the medical wing, he found Uchiha Tekka sitting on the edge of a bed, looking hollowed out, as if he had just survived a brush with death.
"Tekka? How are you feeling? Any discomfort?" Fugaku asked softly, pulling the man out of his daze.
Tekka looked at Fugaku, his lips trembling before he finally found his voice. "Clan Head..."
"How was the experience?" Fugaku sat beside him, his voice filled with genuine concern. He cared deeply about the physical status of his clansmen and the efficacy of the "Silver Flower" serum.
Tekka let out a long, shaky breath. "I feel like I've died once."
"In that illusory world... I was there for so long. The things I experienced... I can barely distinguish between what was real and what was a dream. I'm still not sure if what I saw was a lie or a hidden truth." Tekka gripped the bedsheets tight, his knuckles white. "But one thing is certain: I do not have the potential to awaken the 'Eyes'."
"In that world, despite suffering through a literal hell, I failed to manifest the Mangekyō."
Fugaku didn't show disappointment. He simply patted Tekka's shoulder. "And your current state? Are there any side effects?"
He wasn't surprised by the failure. If the Mangekyō were easy to obtain, it wouldn't be the clan's most guarded secret. Those eyes required a level of emotional extremity that a "mediocre" talent simply couldn't reach.
Tekka sensed his own body and shook his head. "No... physically, I feel fine. No lasting damage."
"Then it seems the medicine wasn't as effective as Hiruko claimed," another Uchiha Jonin noted with a hint of worry. "Clan Head, should we really keep pouring full resources into this? The recent investment has already strained the clan's finances."
As a relatively new leader, Fugaku faced potential backlash if his "Great Leap" in research failed to yield results.
"No, no... it is effective. It's incredibly effective!" Tekka interrupted, his eyes snapping open to reveal his Sharingan, the three tomoe spinning with unprecedented intensity.
"My eyes didn't evolve to the Mangekyō stage, but my visual prowess—my raw ocular power—is vastly greater than before. I've reached the absolute limit of the three-tomoe stage. My talent may be the ceiling, but that ceiling has been raised to the sky."
Fugaku's eyes lit up. "And the strain?"
"My eyes ache from the sheer volume of new power, but it's manageable. My ocular energy has nearly doubled!" Tekka said, a hint of pride finally returning to his voice.
He led the group into the courtyard to demonstrate. With a quick set of seals, he unleashed a Great Fireball Technique. A massive sphere of flame roared forth, twice the size of his usual output, slamming into the target range with a deafening BOOM. The impact didn't just burn the target; it left a massive, charred crater in the earth.
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