The room had not changed much since Tsunade came in, but the mood had settled into something tighter and quieter.
Akane remained near the window frame, one hand resting against the wood beside him. He was more controlled than usual, and he knew she had noticed.
Tsunade sat in the chair nearest the table, turned slightly toward him instead of toward the door, one elbow propped on the armrest. There was still a trace of the earlier closeness in the way neither of them was performing distance, but it didn't diminish the seriousness of the conversation they were having, at least for Tsunade.
She rolled her eyes once, faintly, the motion carrying over from the end of the last exchange. "For now," she repeated.
"You dragged me to that phrase and stopped. Go on. What did you want to take from that mess?"
Akane watched the room instead of her face for a second.
'No point wasting time. It is something I had to tell anyway.'
"Roran. In the Land of Wind."
Tsunade's fingers paused against the cup she had been turning. "This is not where I expected you to start."
"I know."
"Then start properly."
He tilted his head and wondered how he should mention the information.
"There is a reason to keep Roran in mind for later. Not as an immediate destination but as an opportunity. Beneath Roran, in the Land of Wind, there is something called the Dragon Vein, a massive chakra flow."
That got her full attention, and the skepticism arrived with it, exactly where he expected. She leaned forward, curious about what he had found now.
"Massive?" Tsunade murmured. "You will need to be better than this for your goal."
Akane smiled at her response, but Tsunade kept staring at him. She raised an eyebrow and said, "Explain it again. Slowly."
Akane pushed off the window frame and came to the table, though he stayed standing for the moment.
"Fine."
"Step one, the most difficult Fuinjutsu runs into sustained chakra demand before it runs into theory. You can design something stable on paper and still fail because feeding it is inefficient or just not possible."
"Step two, a continuous source of chakra on that scale changes the cost calculation."
"Step three, if the flow can be regulated, then some structures stop being impractical."
Tsunade lifted a hand before he could continue. "Stop right there. I did say slowly, but I didn't mean this way."
"Also, 'if?' That's the important word."
"Yes. Let me speak of everything."
"Because a current like that isn't a friendly reserve. It isn't chakra you shaped yourself. It's external pressure. One wrong intake and wrong balance, and you don't get a stronger formula, you get structural failure."
She tapped two fingers against the arm of the chair. "Or physiological failure, depending on how stupid the user is."
Akane noticed the slight edge in her tone, not dismissal but medical instinct. She was already translating his idea into strain, rupture, overload.
'Of course she would go there first.'
"I'm aware."
"Are you?" she asked, and he could hear the test inside it. "Because you are talking like the Dragon Vein beneath Roran in the Land of Wind solves the supply problem by itself."
"It doesn't solve it by itself."
He took the chair opposite her and sat.
"It changes which problem matters first. Without enough power, certain designs remain theoretical. With too much unmanaged power, they become dangerous. Those are not the same issue."
Tsunade watched him for a beat. He could see her checking whether he really knew what he was saying or just phrasing conveniently. After a moment of staring, she seemed satisfied enough to move to the next cut.
"Where did this come from?"
There it was, the question he was expecting. Not the logic but the source, where the idea had come from.
'Now comes the difficult part.'
Akane folded his hands loosely on the table and took a brief pause, already knowing she would notice it, and she did.
"That pause is doing the answer no favours," Tsunade said.
"I learned about it through a dream conversation." Akane lied through his teeth.
"And with whom?"
"The Queen of Roran."
The words settled into a brief silence. Tsunade's expression shifted by very little, but he saw the exact moment she accepted the method and turned her attention to motive instead.
She already knew he could contact people in dreams. She was not going to waste time pretending that part was unbelievable.
"In the Land of Wind," she said.
"Yes."
"And the Queen of Roran told you there is a massive chakra current beneath her kingdom."
"She did."
Tsunade leaned forward now, forearms on her knees, the sceptical weight of her attention narrowing. "Did she ask for help, or did you volunteer first? Or did you play God again?"
"In broad terms, her subconscious asked for help."
"That sounds cleaned up."
"It is cleaned up."
"Mm." Her mouth moved in a way that said she appreciated the honesty more than the answer. "So, what did she actually say?"
Akane had expected that too. He also knew she was no longer asking because she needed the strategic summary. She wanted to hear where he edited, why and what he played as.
"She spoke about Roran's situation, the Dragon Vein beneath it, and the risk of mishandling it."
"That is not what I asked."
"It is the relevant part."
"No." Tsunade sat back again, studying him. "It is the part you keep on chirping."
He let the silence sit for a moment.
'Let her imagine everything she wants.'
The silence made her understand he was doing it on purpose, and that only sharpened her expression.
"You are leaving something out," she said.
"I am."
"On purpose."
"Yes."
That drew the smallest breath of amusement from her. "Haha~! At least you stopped pretending otherwise." She reached for the cup, then changed her mind and left it where it was. "Did she flatter you? Or were you flattered on your own?"
"That wouldn't work, you know it."
"That is not what I asked."
"It is what I said."
Tsunade's eyebrow climbed. "So not only are you avoiding it, but you are also doing it badly."
"Should I be worried that the Queen of Roran now likes you?" Tsunade asked, dry enough that it came out closer to teasing than suspicion.
"It could be possible," Akane said with a shrug, totally enjoying the situation. He had planned to contact the Queen of Roran later, and now, with this, a chance and a story had appeared.
"Of course it is possible!" Her tone had gone lighter, which meant she had shifted from probing for weakness to teasing him for the shape of it. "What did the Queen of Roran call you?"
"That doesn't matter."
"Then answer it."
"It remains irrelevant after the answer as well."
She looked at him for another second, and he knew she had found exactly enough resistance to keep the subject alive in her head later.
"You are impossible."
"Are you sure you should be saying this?"
"Of course I can say it, you little menace." She said, shaking her head at whatever would happen from now on. Tsunade knew that once Akane had decided something, he would surely do it, whether others liked it or not.
"Fine, fine!! Keep your carefully edited dream conversation with the Queen of Roran in the Land of Wind. But if this becomes important later, I get to see everything I want."
"You will want to see it even if it never becomes important."
"Yes," Tsunade said. "Because that part is free."
The faint noise of footsteps passed outside the room and moved on. Akane looked toward the door for a moment and then back at her. The first topic had settled where he needed it. It was still not resolved, but now he could create any narrative cause dreams were his.
Some time passed by in the room with both of them lost in thought.
Tsunade stared at Akane, and she had several questions in her mind.
'He'll keep messing around until it gives him something back.'
Roran would keep turning in his head after she left. The Dragon Vein too, and she could live with that for now. She had come to resolve her questions, but now more had indexed themself in her mind.
She shifted in the chair, one knee angling toward the table. "Fine. Let's talk about the next issue. Himari is the Land of Wind's Daimyo's daughter. What does that mean for access?"
Akane's eyes lifted to hers immediately. No surprise showed, no hesitation either, which told her he had already built this answer and decided what version of it she was getting.
"It means exactly that," he said. "Himari is the Land of Wind's Daimyo's daughter."
Tsunade gave him a flat look. She knew this wasn't what he had in mind.
"That was neat. Try the better version."
He understood the push and did not bother resisting the premise itself.
"It means leverage and access later. It means attention will be paid to the Land of Wind when it matters, even if it doesn't show it every time."
"There." She pointed one finger at him briefly, not accusing, just precise.
"And you have already considered using it."
"Yes."
'Good.' No softening, no hiding. Tsunade preferred blunt truth to careful virtue.
"You were never undecided," Tsunade said. "You are controlling the sequence."
"Timing and disclosure," Akane replied. "Not intent."
He said it as plainly as she would have, and Tsunade felt a small, private satisfaction at that. He was not pretending this was a moral puzzle. He was treating it like a strategic one, which meant she could discuss it cleanly.
"So, say the rest," she continued. "What does that sequence look like?"
Akane leaned back slightly in the chair. She could see the firmness in the set of his mouth. "Later, we use the fact that Himari is the Land of Wind's Daimyo's daughter, not now. The priority is healing her and protecting her. If we move on the political side before she is stable, unknown variables would start to inject themself."
Tsunade understood at once. She did not agree because it sounded gentle. She agreed because it was structurally sound. Push a system before it stabilised, and all the weaknesses came forward at once.
"You think early leverage would contaminate treatment and her position."
"It would mix decisions," Akane replied. "Treatment, security, who is told what and why. People will start optimising for control instead of recovery."
She tapped her fingers once against the table, thinking through the order of it. He was right. More importantly, he was already committed to that order.
"So, Himari first and then politics."
"Yes."
"And until then, you keep the access angle contained."
"I keep the information contained," he said. "The angle exists whether we discuss it or not."
That was more precise, and Tsunade appreciated precision when it was not used to dodge. "Fair."
She looked at the papers on the table, then at him again. "Then the other pressure point is the Daimyo in the Land of Fire. Orochimaru is already trying to scam the Land of Fire's Daimyo through that border-conflict story."
Akane's mouth moved faintly. "Haha! Orochimaru is being Orochimaru."
"Which is a polite way to say he'll scam the Land of Fire's Daimyo for every coin he can get." Tsunade crossed one leg over the other. "Fear, urgency, emergency research, defensive preparation. He will build a whole plan first and charge for it after."
He nodded at her and said, "And if his version of the problem gets accepted first, resources start moving in the wrong direction."
"Exactly." Tsunade leaned forward again, voice sharpening as the practical side of it took shape. "Once a bad treatment plan is funded, replacing it is harder than preventing it. So, we give the Daimyo the cleaner needs we have. Real ones and Himari's condition justify medical costs, safer lodging, transport, if necessary, protection that isn't theatre."
Akane listened without interrupting. He could see her laying the routes over one another in her head. "If those channels open," he said, then adjusted, "if we can get them open, they can carry more than medicine."
"They can carry useful infrastructure," Tsunade said. "Seal materials, support staff, storage. Anything that can be justified around actual care or security without making noise. Most important are the people around. The mission isn't what was commissioned, so the more I stay here, the greater the fees become."
He nodded again, slower this time. In these matters, she was more experienced than he, and he decided to let her do as she wanted,
"But open competition would just make Orochimaru more creative." Tsunade reached for the cup and finally drank. It had gotten cold, leading her to make a face as she put it back down. "I would rather route funds quietly than argue with him in front of a frightened patron."
"That is good. Besides, we need him more than the money. Everything else is just an extra benefit. So, a wise choice."
"It is." She tilted her head at him. "And before you start commenting, yes, I know this still uses Himari's situation, which shouldn't be, as per my norms. But the difference here is order. I treat her first. We build around that. We do not turn her into an excuse and call it strategy."
Akane looked at her, laughter escaping his lips. He understood what she was implying, and most importantly, she was taking a huge step back as Medical-Nin.
Tsunade didn't say anything to his laugh, and the room went very quiet when he stopped, but not tense. More like both of them had reached the part where the shape of the next few days was clear enough to stop arguing over definitions.
She stood and rolled one shoulder back. "So, I continue treating Himari. You do what you are good at. We watch what Orochimaru is doing with the Land of Fire's Daimyo and redirect whatever can be redirected into something real."
"And later," Akane said, rising as well, "we use the Land of Wind connection."
"Yes. Later." She glanced toward the door, then back at him. "After that, we return to Konoha."
He gave a small nod. "After that."
Tsunade looked around the room once, the lamp, the papers, the cups left cooling, the half-open window that let in night air and nothing else. Same room, same evening, but the conversation had shifted the weight in it.
"Himari first," she said.
"Himari first," Akane replied, acknowledging her words.
She moved to the door and paused with her hand on the frame. Her voice lost some of its edge, though not its clarity. "And eventually, you're going to tell me what the Queen of Roran in the Land of Wind actually said."
Akane's expression stayed even. "That remains unlikely."
"That's not a no."
"It is a durable form of no."
That pulled a brief smile from her before she suppressed it. "We will see."
Tsunade left, and the door slid shut behind her with a soft wooden sound that settled back into the room's quiet. Akane stood still for a moment, looking at the table without seeing the papers yet. Then he exhaled once and sat back down beneath the lamp.