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Then Tsunade continued her questioning.
"Let's start all over," she said. "But this time, just describe how the Anomalies acted and what they could do. Don't use that death-scream language again. We still need to check that later. And let's not tell other people about it yet, or things might become even more chaotic."
She paused briefly.
"We'll talk about that later."
Tsunade grabbed her phone, stopped the recording, saved the file, and immediately started another audio recording.
Maki simply nodded at her.
Nemuri was still sitting comfortably on Maki's lap. She shifted her hips slowly, pressing her butt against the firm bulge between his legs as if she had completely forgotten the seriousness of the conversation.
Tsunade ignored it.
"So," she said, looking at Maki, "can you explain from the very beginning what happened?"
Maki nodded.
With his deep voice, he began, "I was sitting in the basement when suddenly I heard a cracking sound andā"
But before he could continue, Nemuri interrupted him.
"Wait, baby. You were sitting in the parking lot?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you never came back here and just stayed in the basement the whole time?"
Maki looked at her.
Then he looked away.
He didn't meet her gaze.
Nemuri knew that reaction well. Whenever he didn't want to answer something, he simply looked somewhere else.
Then realization struck her.
"So that's why you were outside the condoā¦" she said slowly. "Because you were in the basement the whole time."
Maki still didn't look at her. His head remained turned slightly to the left.
Nemuri stared at him in disbelief.
He had really waited there for her to come home.
She didn't say anything else. Instead, she leaned her head against his chest and stayed quiet, though a small smile formed on her lips.
Tsunade didn't know exactly what had just happened between them, but she chose to remain silent as well.
Maki continued speaking.
"Then I looked around. The noise was coming from outside the building, so I walked out. That's when I saw the strange aliens. They were very noisyā¦ so I had to do what I had to do."
His voice grew deeper.
"Bring back the silence."
Both women looked at him.
His expression hadn't changed at all, yet the tone of his voice made it sound as if the entire situation had simply beenā¦ bothersome.
Maki continued.
"I trapped them in a pyramid. They have this flower-like hair that could produce some kind of green liquid that melts things. They could shoot it like a cannon. They ran slowly. They were really noisyā¦ very loud. And they liked to brag."
He paused for a moment, thinking.
"Hmmā¦ I think that's it."
Tsunade stared at him, trying to squeeze more information from his words, but it seemed that was all he had.
Flowers that produced a melting liquidā¦
Acid?
"Did it melt your wood?" she asked.
Maki nodded.
Tsunade nodded as well.
"Wellā¦ that's it then."
It had been sloppy, but considering the man explaining it, it was almost a miracle he remembered even that much.
She had been observing him the entire time, and one thing was absolutely certain.
This man simply didn't care about anything.
Tsunade grabbed her phone again and stopped the audio recording.
Then her eyes met his.
This time her expression was more serious.
"I'll ask you something," she said. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to. It's a personal question. I'm justā¦ very curious."
Tsunade didn't hesitate.
She wanted an answer now.
Her blunt personality and the theory forming in her mind demanded clarification, and she wasn't about to let this chance slip away.
Maki looked at her.
"Okay."
Tsunade leaned slightly forward.
"If you were the one who defeated those Anomaliesā¦ then you were using a wood ability, right?"
Maki casually nodded.
"Then tell me something," Tsunade continued. "Do you know Hashirama Senju?"
"Oh, you mean the cool uncā" Maki started.
Tsunade's eyes widened instantly.
She leaned closer across the table.
"Unc?" she repeated.
Then she spoke again, her voice sharp with curiosity.
"Tell me, Maki. Do you know that your wood ability is a unique bloodline? Throughout history, only Hashirama Senju has ever been able to use it. Orā¦ is your ability different from his?"
This wasn't really a question anymore.
It was Tsunade analyzing everything she had observed.
She knew the feeling of that chakra. She had sensed it clearly earlier.
Maki frowned slightly.
"Bloodline? The wood?"
Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
"You don't know?"
Maki simply tilted his head.
The two of them fell silent.
Then Nemuri spoke up, her head still resting against Maki's chest.
"Baby, why don't you tell Sis-Tsuna who taught you how to use the wood? Maybe she'll get the answer she wants."
Maki looked down at her.
"Wasn't it Hashirama-unc?" he said casually. "I even saw him make that massive Buddha with many hands. What was it called againā¦ thousand fists?"
He frowned slightly, trying to remember.
Tsunade answered automatically.
"It's called Shinsu Senju: True Several Thousand Hands."
She spoke with the tone of someone reciting something deeply familiar.
"It's a high-level Wood Release technique where Hashirama Senju creates a massive wooden Buddha statue with thousands of arms behind it."
Maki's eyes lit slightly.
"That's it," he said. "Cool, right? That massive statueā¦ when I first saw it, it was unbelievable."
He nodded as fragments of memory surfaced in his mind.
But for Nemuri and Tsunade, it felt very different.
The way he described itā¦
It sounded like he had personally seen Hashirama perform it.
Like someone had actually been teaching him.
Both women gulped.
Tsunade leaned back in her chair.
"I give up," she said with a sigh. "This just became even more mysterious."
She stared at the ceiling of the condo.
"How is this even possibleā¦?" she muttered. "The very first founder of the Senju clan teaching someoneā¦ who would even believe that?"
She rubbed her forehead.
For the first time, the theory she had originally bet on seemed correctā¦ but not in the way she had expected.
Another absurd idea crossed her mind.
Maybe he was some hidden son of Hashirama.
Of course, that didn't make sense.
But as she looked into Maki's eyes, one thing became clear.
He wasn't lying.
And more importantlyā¦
He simply didn't give a damn.
Tsunade shook her head.
"I give up. No more thinking."
She waved her hand dismissively.
"Let's leave it to Mother."
Then she smiled slightly, as if another idea had just formed.
"That's rightā¦ leave it to Mother."
And judging by that smile, she was clearly planning something.
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