Watching the Saiki beside her vanish into a flurry of petals, Shizune happily stepped out and opened the door.
"Saiki, you're back?"
Having just killed someone, Saiki's mind was a bit restless and irritated, but he still managed a smile. Reaching out to flick Shizune's forehead, he teased, "Kept you waiting. You hungry?"
Saiki's intimate gesture brought a sweet smile to Shizune's face, and she shook her head with shy obedience.
"Let's go eat!"
Even though Saiki's synchronized Flower Clone had been right beside her the entire time, completely indistinguishable from the real thing—his clones could even eat for him, or use the bathroom without an issue.
Of course, he would never actually use a clone for those things.
But while interacting with the clone, Shizune wasn't nearly this enthusiastic. The moment his true self returned, she stuck to him like glue, following him submissively. Saiki couldn't help but wonder if his real body possessed some hidden, passive attribute that naturally attracted girls.
"Saiki, why are you eating so little today?"
At the dinner table, Shizune looked at him with wide, curious eyes while taking tiny bites of her rice. Normally, Saiki was an absolute glutton, but today he had barely touched the dishes spread across the table.
"Ah, I ate way too much at lunch, so I don't really have much of an appetite right now."
Coming up with a quick excuse, Saiki brushed it off.
Saiki freely admitted to himself that he was just an ordinary guy at heart. He couldn't just brutally snap a man's neck and then immediately start stuffing his face with meat. He wasn't some cold-blooded psychopath; he hadn't yet adjusted to the lingering physical and mental nausea that followed taking a life.
However, Saiki successfully managed to divert Shizune's attention.
Her cute cheeks puffed out as she bit down on her chopsticks, huffing indignantly, "It's all because of those annoying girls. They ate all your good food at lunch and forced their awful, nasty cooking on you."
"What are you talking about? We're all classmates, we should be kind and loving to one another! It's just my own fault for overeating."
As he spoke, Saiki picked up a piece of meat and placed it into Shizune's bowl. "Here, you eat this. Lady Tsunade is always picking on you anyway! Today's braised pork is all yours."
Saiki's mood was actually pretty decent today. He had his clone and Shizune prepare an entire table of delicious food; it was just a shame he didn't have the stomach for it at the moment.
Although Tsunade frequently bullied Shizune, Saiki and Tsunade never actually let her go hungry. Still, having all the best bites to herself brought a look of pure, unadulterated joy to Shizune's face.
"Just as I thought!"
He found it genuinely amusing. In an era where kids could be sent to the battlefield by the age of five or six, nine years old wasn't exactly considered "young," but they were still children in his eyes. Saiki just couldn't fathom why they were already so incredibly boy-crazy at such a young age.
After finishing dinner, washing the dishes, and resting for a bit, Saiki headed to the open-air hot spring in the backyard to take a bath.
He didn't know where Tsunade lived in the original story, but the place they currently resided in was a small, private courtyard estate located on Hot Spring Street.
Saiki guessed Tsunade probably lived here in the original timeline too, considering Jiraiya was nearly beaten to death for peeping on her while she bathed.
Technically, one shouldn't bathe immediately after eating as it's bad for the body, but having killed a man today and considering the potential fallout, he desperately needed to relax his mind.
Being brought back to the village by Tsunade was a stroke of incredible luck for Saiki. Shortly after he had killed that Stone Ninja, before he had even recovered from the shock, Orochimaru and Tsunade had happened to pass by. Saiki had narrowly avoided becoming one of Orochimaru's lab rats or catching a kunai to the throat—back then, he was still very much killable by a simple kunai.
For reasons unknown, Tsunade had decided to take Saiki in. Considering she had recently lost both her younger brother and her boyfriend, Saiki wondered—though he had never seen pictures of them—if he shared a physical resemblance with either Nawaki or Dan Kato.
Knowing full well that the world he now inhabited was a ninja world utterly infested with conspiracies and tumors like Hiruzen Sarutobi, the "Scapegoat" Danzo, and Black Zetsu, Saiki's absolute first instinct for survival was to lay as low as possible. He could not afford to enter their field of vision; he didn't have a "System" to protect him, so even a hundred extra lives wouldn't be enough to survive their schemes.
But tonight, that damned Sand Ninja had forced him to expose himself. Saiki had no idea if someone would come knocking on his door soon.
Usually, Shizune and Tsunade bathed first, and he would take his turn afterward. Saiki turned his head, only to see Shizune standing there, wrapped tightly in a bath towel.
Seeing it was Shizune, Saiki quickly grabbed a towel to cover his lower half before asking in utter shock, "Wait, Shizune, what are you doing here?"
"Sai... Saiki!"
Caught in Saiki's startled gaze, Shizune flushed a deep, violent red instantly, her hands clutching the towel over her chest in a panic.
"Shizune, you have to try hard! Graduation is almost here, you absolutely cannot let those other girls beat you to the punch. With Lady Tsunade gone for these few days, this is your absolute best chance."
She kept aggressively pumping herself up internally, but she was incredibly nervous, her words tumbling out in a stutter.
"U-um... Saiki, you look tired. Would you... would you like me to scrub your back?"
A nine-year-old girl would only be in the third or fourth grade in his past life. While girls in the 21st century were precocious to a ridiculous degree, the girls of the Shinobi world were absolutely not to be outdone!
It couldn't be helped. In an era where the average lifespan of a ninja hovered around thirty, many boys and girls were engaged by fifteen or sixteen, and basically married the moment they reached adulthood.
Young people from the 21st century might be accustomed to late marriage and late childbirth—in his twenties, Saiki had still been in university!
Yet here, Naruto and Sasuke were already having children at that age.
Therefore, Saiki found Shizune's proactive advances a bit troubling. Nine years old was genuinely far too young; his personal standard for a partner was a woman in her twenties.
Looking into Shizune's timid yet hopeful gaze, Saiki hadn't expected the usually shy, obedient girl to be quite this daring. After thinking it over, Saiki finally relented.
"Ah! Then I'll have to trouble you, Shizune!" Saiki replied, flashing her a smile.
Given their ages, it wasn't like they could actually do anything anyway. Even so, Saiki still made sure to wrap the bath towel securely around his waist. His unique constitution didn't just make him taller and more physically robust than his peers—it also ensured he was far more well-endowed than other boys his age.
At nine, he had already entered puberty. If Saiki truly wanted to, he could absolutely find an older woman to fuck right now, but at nine years old, his hormone production hadn't quite reached its peak, and he didn't want to prematurely damage his physical foundation at such a young age.
He would wait another two years, get a bit older, and reconsider then.
Having received Saiki's affirmative response, a joyful, radiant smile instantly broke out on Shizune's face. "Plan: Success!" she cheered silently in her heart with excitement.
By the time Saiki stepped out of the water, Shizune had already hurried over with a small stool and toiletries she'd grabbed from behind the door.
Shizune was supposed to be a very pure, innocent little girl, but looking at her flushed, deeply excited face, Saiki began to genuinely wonder if the ninja world he'd transmigrated into was actually a doujinshi universe, or if Konoha was just suffering from a massive heatwave.
Taking the small stool, Saiki sat down with his back facing Shizune, and she settled in directly behind him.
"Is something wrong?"
After sitting there for a while without any movement from the girl behind him, Saiki asked with a hint of confusion.
"Ah! N-no... it's nothing, slurp, I'm starting right now."
Hearing Shizune's flustered voice and the distinct, audible sound of her swallowing her saliva, Saiki was left momentarily speechless, thinking to himself, "What the hell is this girl doing?"
Although she had mustered all her courage, seeing Saiki's back—which was significantly broader than his peers—and the well-defined, sculpted muscle lines of his arms and back made Shizune incredibly nervous and excited.
A ladle of warm water was poured over his back, and soon Saiki felt a pair of slightly cold, small hands, thickly coated with lubricating shower gel, press against his skin.
At first, Saiki didn't have any impure thoughts, but as Shizune's small hands wandered to his sides and the dimples of his lower back, all sorts of random, chaotic thoughts began to flood his mind.
Fortunately, the former Saiki was a seasoned veteran who had been baptized by hundreds of gigabytes of "training material," so this minor level of stimulation wasn't enough to make him lose control.
Touching Saiki's skin, feeling the incredibly firm, solid muscle beneath his sturdy frame, Shizune felt her heartbeat accelerate wildly, her small face flushing a deep, burning crimson.
Luckily, the washing portion was over quickly, and Shizune couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
She took a towel, soaked it in a wooden basin of warm water, wrung it out slightly, and draped it over Saiki's broad back.
As the hot, damp towel pressed against his skin and Shizune began to apply firm pressure to massage him, Saiki started to truly enjoy himself.
After Saiki had demonstrated his terrifying talent for learning, Tsunade's personal inventory of Ninjutsu was made largely available to both of them. However, in the specific field of Medical Ninjutsu, Saiki was not inherently superior to Shizune.
Due to her intimate familiarity with human anatomy, even through the barrier of a towel, Saiki could feel every muscle in his back being thoroughly and perfectly massaged, which greatly alleviated the terrible, lingering mood caused by killing a man earlier.
"Saiki, how does it feel?" Shizune asked in a small, soft voice, her face flushed as she worked hard on the massage.
"Mm, it's incredibly comfortable! I feel like all the exhaustion from today has completely vanished. Thank you so much, Shizune."
Receiving Saiki's gratitude made Shizune feel a surge of excitement despite the physical effort she was putting in. She whispered shyly, "I-if it makes you feel good, Saiki, I... I can help you massage it like this all the time."
These little girls were truly calculating. Saiki didn't quite know what to say, eventually only managing, "Then in the future, I might really have to trouble you!"
Saiki had already washed himself, and his back wasn't dirty; Shizune's "scrubbing" was primarily just helping him massage and relax his muscles.
It was over soon, and Shizune gave Saiki a quiet, soft prompt.
"All done!"
"Mm!"
Saiki stretched his arms out comfortably. Under Shizune's expert massage, he felt the slight, lingering heaviness in his back completely disappear.
Turning around to look at Shizune, whose small face was bright red and flushed, Saiki smiled and thanked her. "Thank you so much, Shizune! I feel much more relaxed."
But for some unknown reason, Shizune looked down shyly, not daring to meet his eyes as she murmured softly, "It's nothing!"
Watching Shizune with her head bowed—don't blame him—even after three years together, Saiki still possessed the soul of a clueless "straight man"; he didn't quite grasp what was going on in her head.
Saiki thought about it some more, recalling certain bathhouse customs where scrubbing was supposed to be a mutual exchange.
Looking at Shizune, Saiki asked tentatively, "Do you want me to give you a scrub too?"
Hearing Saiki say this, Shizune's head snapped up instantly. Seeing the intense, expectant look in her eyes, Saiki was left utterly speechless.
"Forgive me, Shizune. Maybe next time!"
As he spoke, Saiki used his finger to poke Shizune's forehead again, making her small face turn an even deeper shade of red.
Standing up, Saiki walked straight back into the house.
Seeing Saiki leave, Shizune felt a bit disappointed, but remembering his words, she quickly regained her spirit. She firmly believed that as long as she worked hard, she would definitely secure her position ahead of all the other girls.
Saiki didn't truly understand the intricate thoughts of young girls, but he didn't dislike the feeling either. Perhaps because his physical body had become younger, he felt like his spirit and soul had rejuvenated significantly as well.
After his bath, Saiki's mood had improved enough for him to eat another meal. Once Shizune had fallen asleep, Saiki sensed the arrival of the tracking personnel and overheard their conversation.
"What a bunch of annoying dogs!"
The Inuzuka clan—even if Saiki hadn't left a single trace at the scene, they could still track him down using their hyper-sensitive canine noses.
Having hidden his true strength for three years, the nine-year-old Saiki, relying heavily on his Devil Fruit powers, was fully capable of achieving the combat prowess of a Special Jonin. He realized that he might not be able to stay hidden for much longer.