The atmosphere inside the restaurant felt heavy. Only the lively chatter and sizzling of meat from a few nearby tables broke the silence.
Shinichi sat quietly, sipping his tea without speaking first.
He could tell that one of the Legendary Sannin was in a terrible mood. She clearly hadn't come here just to drink.
Sure enough, after downing two more cups, Tsunade looked up at him with hazy, drunken eyes and curled her lip. "Hey, kid. Tell me—what's so great about being a shinobi anyway?"
"You train until you're half-dead, cover your body in scars… and for what? A few lousy missions and some blood money? Or for those pretty-sounding ideals that are actually complete bullshit?"
She took another swig, her gaze drifting out the window toward the gloomy evening sky.
"You walk around with your head on your belt every day, never knowing if you'll see tomorrow… One day you might just die in some forgotten corner, and no one will even come to collect your corpse. Comrades? Hah! The guy you drank with today might be nothing but a name carved on a stone tablet tomorrow…"
Her voice grew lower and heavier. She wasn't really asking Shinichi—she was questioning herself, questioning the profession she had once fought for with everything she had, but now only wanted to escape.
Shinichi remained silent, not interrupting.
He could sense that Tsunade's words weren't aimed at him. She had been suppressing these emotions for a long time, and the alcohol had finally given her an outlet. He just happened to be the person sitting across from her.
Seeing that he wasn't responding, Tsunade leaned in closer. Her breath, thick with the smell of sake, washed over his face. "What about you, kid? Why do you want to be a shinobi? Why does a big genius like you train so desperately every single day?"
Before he could answer, she seemed to have already decided what the answer was. Her voice suddenly rose, laced with mocking certainty. "You want to become Hokage, right? Haha! Of course you do! All you brats your age have nothing but the Hokage title or heroic dreams in your heads… You think once you become a shinobi, you'll quickly become famous across the ninja world and be admired by everyone, don't you?"
The strong alcohol scent made Shinichi frown slightly. He leaned back a little to create some distance. "Lady Tsunade, you're drunk."
"I'm not drunk!"
Tsunade slammed her hand on the table. Dishes rattled loudly, drawing startled looks from the other customers.
She ignored them completely. Her voice grew louder and sharper from agitation and alcohol. "Am I wrong? Hokage? That's a worthless position! Only naïve idiots and brainwashed fools would want it! And that so-called Will of Fire… burning yourself to light up others? All pretty lies! It's a curse that makes people willingly go to their deaths!"
"Lady Tsunade!"
Shinichi stood up abruptly. The chair legs scraped loudly against the floor as he cut off her increasingly out-of-control outburst.
"Although I don't know exactly what happened to you today or why you're in such a bad mood, please stop right there! I will not allow you to insult the Hokage or the Will of Fire that our village has inherited!"
"What? You little brat, you want to lecture me?" Tsunade tilted her head and looked at him, her body swaying slightly from the alcohol as she laughed coldly.
Facing one of the Legendary Sannin, Shinichi did not back down. He met her eyes directly. "The Hokage is the pillar of the village, the flag of Konoha! The Will of Fire was lit by the First Hokage himself and has been passed down through the blood and lives of countless predecessors as fuel! It is what every name on the Memorial Stone willingly—"
"Shut up!"
Tsunade looked as if she had been stabbed by something sharp. The drunken haze on her face was partially washed away by intense emotion, replaced by a mix of extreme irritation and rising anger.
"You have no right to lecture me, you little brat! What do you know? What have you seen? You don't know anything at all!"
She reached out irritably to grab the sake bottle on the table, but her fingers closed on empty air.
Shinichi had already taken the bottle away and placed it on the far corner of the table.
"Give me the wine!" Tsunade stared at him, her voice thick with anger.
Shinichi shook his head, his tone calm but firm. "Lady Tsunade, you're drunk. You really shouldn't drink any more."
"I said I'm not drunk!"
Shinichi shook his head again.
Seeing this, Tsunade smiled. Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
"You little… You really want to oppose me?"
Shinichi shook his head once more. "Lady Tsunade, you are the granddaughter of the First and Second Hokage, the disciple of the Third Hokage, and a hero of Konoha. Every word you say here—even if it's just drunken talk—will become gossip if it spreads, causing serious negative impact to the village."
"I told you! Stop lecturing me!!!"
Tsunade's patience finally ran out. Her suppressed emotions exploded along with the alcohol. She slammed her fist down toward the table.
But a hand moved like lightning and blocked between her fist and the tabletop.
BANG!!!
A heavy thud rang out. The violent collision of two immense forces created a shockwave that sent bowls, dishes, and cups flying off the surrounding tables with a loud clatter.
The nearby customers and the owner turned pale with fright, backing away in terror as they watched the shocking scene.
The drunken haze in Tsunade's eyes cleared up significantly, replaced by undisguised surprise. She was shocked that this boy had actually blocked her punch. Although she hadn't used her full monstrous strength, the power behind it was still far from ordinary.
Under Tsunade's astonished gaze, Shinichi slowly and firmly lifted her fist away from the table.
"Lady Tsunade," he said, glancing around before continuing in a voice that wasn't loud but carried clearly through the now-silent restaurant. "Earlier you asked me why I wanted to become a shinobi, and why I train so desperately, right?"
"I'm an orphan. The village raised me, and I'm deeply grateful for that."
"Ever since I can remember, I've always seen the adults around me with worried or sorrowful expressions on their faces from time to time. The kids I played with in the orphanage would suddenly have a few more timid new faces every once in a while, while some familiar smiles… would never appear again."
"Only later did I understand that the ninja world was still at war back then. The adults were worried about their family and friends on the front lines, and the new kids were those who had lost their parents."
Shinichi's gaze returned to Tsunade's shocked face. His eyes were clear and honest.
"At that time, I wondered—what was protecting children like me who could grow up safely inside the village? What allowed the adults to keep living and working hard every day even when they were scared and sad? Later, I realized it was the predecessors fighting desperately on the front lines. It was Sakumo Hatake, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Nawaki, Kato Dan…"
Tsunade's eyes widened more and more. The drunkenness on her face faded significantly. When the names "Nawaki" and "Kato Dan" came clearly from Shinichi's mouth, she looked as if she had been stabbed by an invisible needle and sharply interrupted:
"You! How do you know those names?! Who told you?! Was it Shizune?!"
Shinichi didn't answer that question, as if it wasn't important. He simply continued in his steady tone, stating what was, to him, the simplest truth:
"It was countless predecessors like them—people I've never met, whose names I don't even know—who used their lives as a wall to keep war and death outside the village, protecting the peace here."
"So from that moment on, I made up my mind." Shinichi met Tsunade's shocked gaze with calm, settled determination. "I want to become that kind of person too! I want to become strong enough to protect the next generation the way those predecessors protected the village and me; to give more people a world where they can live in peace without constant fear; to make this place that raised me have more peaceful days and fewer tears of parting."
"That is my reason for becoming a shinobi and continuing to grow stronger!"
The yakiniku restaurant fell completely silent. Only the occasional crackle of the charcoal fire could be heard.
Tsunade stared blankly at the still-youthful boy in front of her, whose eyes were already filled with an unusually calm and firm resolve. For a moment, she was at a loss for words.
Shinichi slowly released her fist and took half a step back. "So, Lady Tsunade, please think carefully. The things you want to deny and mock right now are what countless predecessors of Konoha—including your own beloved family and the Slug Princess who brought hope to so many Konoha shinobi in the last Great Ninja War—fought desperately to protect."
With that, he said no more. He didn't look at Tsunade's expression as he turned and walked straight out of the restaurant, his figure quickly disappearing into the snowy night outside.
The things they fought desperately to protect…
Tsunade watched the boy's retreating back. Her lips moved slightly, but in the end, it only became a faint, almost inaudible murmur.
"Shinichi… Higashino…"
The news that Konoha's Princess, one of the Legendary Sannin—Tsunade-hime—had gotten into a conflict with the recently rising young genius Shinichi Higashino at a yakiniku restaurant spread like a small spark in winter.
Although the details were unclear, it still added an indescribable ripple to the peaceful village through the quickly circulating rumors.
People speculated about the cause. Had the genius done something inappropriate to anger his senior? Or was this just the Princess taking out her bad mood on someone?
Opinions varied, but no one had a definite answer.
Meanwhile, inside the Hokage's office, under the warm yellow lamplight, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, received a detailed report from an Anbu operative.
"Haah…"
After a long time, he let out a long, complicated sigh.
...