Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 183 The Night of the Five-Tailed Beast (Part 1)

Orochimaru pointed a finger at the two of them, a look of astonishment creeping onto his pale face: "You two, just now..."

The incident happened so suddenly that Aokiji scratched his head, feigning confusion, and said, "The weather is really nice today~"

Uh, what am I even saying...?

Aokiji winked and gave Tsunade a frantic look, as if to say: Don't just stand there, think of a solution!

Tsunade's disappointed expression was filled with the words "How should I know?"

Aokiji sighed, as if giving up: "You saw everything just now?"

Orochimaru nodded in agreement, then shook his head as if he were hallucinating, muttering to himself, "Looks like I've been too engrossed in my research lately and am hallucinating. Heh... How could Aokiji and Tsunade possibly do something like that?"

Aokiji and Tsunade locked eyes, their unspoken thoughts revealed in each other's gazes.

But such thoughts are just that—thoughts. Orochimaru isn't that stupid; he'll soon realize something's wrong.

With things having come to this point, Aokiji took a deep breath, steeled his resolve, and cupped Tsunade's face in his hands, kissing her directly in front of Orochimaru.

Orochimaru witnessed the entire scene, his eyebrows furrowed in disbelief, his eyes bulging like goldfish eyes, and his head buzzing.

Aokiji grabbed Tsunade's shoulders and snuggled up to her: "As you can see, we're together now."

The two's intimate actions made Orochimaru's vertical pupils narrow slightly. After a long while, he murmured, "This is truly unexpected..."

Having someone to confide in made Aokiji feel much more relaxed: "Isn't this world always changing?"

Shocked, Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with the delight of a child discovering a new toy: "How long have you two been like this?"

"This...this..."

Tsunade hesitated whether to speak up, but Aokiji made the decision for her: "Let me say it."

Tsunade nodded in agreement.

Aokiji organized his thoughts for a moment, then briefly recounted how the two of them got together, downplaying the important parts.

As Orochimaru listened, he couldn't help but recall Tsunade's unusual behavior in the past. The timing was basically consistent, which meant that the two of them hadn't lied and had indeed hooked up.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes and heard it from you yourself, I still would find it hard to believe that two people who never seemed to get along could actually fall in love... Well, anyway, congratulations to you both."

"I'm sorry, it's not that we don't trust you, but our family relationships are rather complicated."

Orochimaru nodded, indicating his understanding. He had heard a little about the relationship between the Uchiha and Senju clans.

Orochimaru's understanding saved Aokiji a lot of trouble. He put his hands together and said, "Then, I'll leave the secrecy to you from now on."

"I will," Orochimaru replied.

"On another note, why would Orochimaru specifically show up here?" Aokiji gave a wry smile. "This really gave us a fright."

Orochimaru told the two about his search for the red four-leaf clover.

Upon hearing this, Aokiji was momentarily stunned, surprised that it was all because of this trivial matter: "Do you want me to help you search?"

Orochimaru chuckled, "Aren't you two going to continue?"

"I don't want to be discovered again." Aokiji gave a wry smile.

He has to admit that he's been a bit love-struck lately, clinging to a gambler's mentality.

Next time, try to avoid dating in the village. Even in a place like the Death Forest, strange things happen.

According to Orochimaru's description, their next destination is a place called Akara, named so because the grasslands are reddish.

On the way, Orochimaru suddenly remembered something and asked, "How are you going to explain things to Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya was very clear that he had feelings for Tsunade.

But now that Aokiji and Tsunade are hooking up, Jiraiya, who already had little hope, has become even more hopeless.

"What else can we do? Of course, we should just maintain the status quo."

It's better to avoid trouble than to cause more problems. Tsunade didn't want Jiraiya to know about her relationship with Aokiji.

Orochimaru sighed, "Jiraiya is truly pitiful..."

Before they knew it, the three of them arrived at the Red Plains, which was a red meadow just as described.

As soon as the three approached, they sensed something was amiss and quickly jumped back.

With a loud bang, an explosion occurred where the foot had just been standing.

As the thick smoke dissipated, Aokiji and the others were filled with shame.

Why are there landmines buried nearby when I was just looking for a red four-leaf clover?

But this piqued the interest of the three: "They seem unwilling to let me get close."

Aokiji smiled slightly and suggested that the group create shadow clones to test out all the traps.

Orochimaru and Tsunade did as instructed, and the three of them created shadow clones that rushed towards Akara, causing a series of explosions and billowing black smoke along the way.

After triggering all the mechanisms, the three swaggered into the Red Plains, stepping onto the red grass. No explosion occurred as before, indicating that there were no more traps here.

The three searched all over the Red Plains but couldn't find the legendary red four-leaf clover.

Tsunade smacked her lips listlessly: "It seems the red four-leaf clover is just a legend after all."

"If I can't find it, then forget it. I only came here because I was bored."

Orochimaru, who hadn't held out much hope to begin with, looked at the two of them with a smile: "Besides, I've already found something even more interesting."

After searching around without finding it, Tsunade suggested, "Let's go back."

"There's still one place we haven't looked for, isn't there?" Aokiji shook his head and pointed to a stone Buddha statue in the center of the Red Plains. The bottom of this statue was hollow, and it was the only place we hadn't looked for.

Tsunade's slightly open eyes revealed an expression that seemed to say, "Are you kidding me?"

"How will we know if we don't look for it?"

Aokiji walked up to the Buddha statue, lay down, and looked at it from the side.

"How could there be..." Tsunade had barely finished speaking when she was immediately contradicted by a joyful voice saying, "I found it!"

The red four-leaf clover was pressed down by the Buddha statue, leaving a very small gap in the middle, which Aokiji could not fit his hand through.

"You're so lame, get out of here." Tsunade couldn't stand it anymore, so she walked over to the Buddha statue and moved it away.

Aokiji was delighted and bent down to pick the red four-leaf clover. Just as he was about to hand it to Orochimaru, it seemed as if he had triggered some kind of mechanism, and a bunch of puppets crawled out of the ground.

Before the three could react, the puppets seemed to be sentient and attacked them en masse.

The puppets are not strong, but they have a large number of them.

No matter how many small fry came, it was no use. The three of them didn't take it to heart and just thought it would warm them up.

But as the battle intensified, the three gradually realized something was wrong. No matter how they fought, they couldn't get rid of these puppets, and they seemed to be multiplying, which was a real headache.

Not only were there complaints about landmines near the Red Plains, but now puppets are constantly appearing, which makes one wonder if there is some secret buried nearby that would warrant so many traps.

"There are more and more of these puppets. I'm going to use ninjutsu. You two, be careful."

Tsunade was getting a little impatient, punching each puppet one by one.

"etc……"

Just then, a sudden voice stopped her from moving further. Tsunade stopped forming hand seals, looking puzzled: "Is there a problem?"

Aokiji didn't have time to explain: "You two cover me now and buy me some time."

"no problem."

Tsunade and Orochimaru had no objections and trusted Aokiji.

Under the cover of the two, Aokiji easily moved the stone Buddha back to its original position. After that, the puppets fell to the ground as if they were puppets that had lost their strings.

After observing for a moment, Orochimaru concluded, "It seems that this stone Buddha is the one that triggered the mechanism."

Tsunade looked at the puppets lying all over the ground, her expression full of doubt: "This is really strange. How come there are so many traps in Akara?"

"Isn't it obvious? Someone doesn't want Akagahara's secret to be discovered." Aokiji raised an eyebrow, speaking as if it were a matter of course, his gaze slowly sweeping over the puppet on the ground.

He was very curious about the workings of these puppets, but adhering to the principle of "better to avoid trouble than to cause trouble," he decided not to explore too much today.

Tsunade's interest was piqued by Aokiji's words, and she inquired about the secret.

Aokiji shrugged and said, "Instead of asking me, shouldn't you ask your teacher, Sarutobi?"

Tsunade, finding the suggestion reasonable, hummed in agreement: "I'll sound it out next time."

The blue pheasant looked up at the sky and observed the colors. The sun was setting in the west, and the sky was tinged with a crimson hue.

"It's getting late, let's leave the Dead Forest."

The three left the Death Forest and walked along the street, which was tinged with crimson by the setting sun, when they happened to run into an acquaintance.

He had white hair and his face was painted with red greasepaint.

—It was Jiraiya.

He was slightly taken aback when he saw the three of them together, and let out a soft exclamation: "Where did you three come from? You didn't even call me?"

Orochimaru, who knew that Tsunade and Aokiji had an affair, looked at Jiraiya with a strange expression.

Jiraiya, looking on in confusion, scratched his cheek and asked, "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"

"It's nothing..."

The look in Orochimaru's eyes seemed to say, "What a pitiful fellow."

Explanation is a cover-up, and a cover-up is the truth. Jiraiya had a premonition that Orochimaru was hiding something from him.

"Did you do something to betray me?"

Orochimaru remained silent, giving the couple a meaningful look.

Following Orochimaru's gaze, Jiraiya asked the two questions.

Tsunade and Aokiji were feeling guilty.

Aokiji chuckled awkwardly, "Um, I have to go now."

Tsunade chimed in, "Me too."

After saying that, Aokiji and Tsunade each left in different directions.

While Jiraiya was still in a daze, Orochimaru had already moved away from him.

At the crossroads, Jiraiya stood motionless in place.

For some reason, he suddenly felt abandoned...

........................

Two weeks later.

The Land of Earth is a superpower located in the northwest of the Land of Fire.

Unlike Konoha, which is covered in forests, this country is characterized by overlapping mountains and continuous peaks.

In this country there is a ninja village surrounded by rocky mountains, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is difficult for enemies to break into its interior. However, it is also relatively difficult for them to communicate with the outside world.

It is night, the moon is bright and the stars are sparse.

Madara Uchiha looked up at the moon, his crimson eyes silently gazing at the night moon through his mask. Tonight, the moon was large and round, radiating a bright and gentle moonlight.

"The moonlight is so beautiful tonight~~"

It serves as a good backdrop for the upcoming Five-Tails rampage...

Madara Uchiha genuinely believed this.

He wore a hooded cloak and a one-eyed swirling mask, exuding a mysterious and eerie aura under the cover of night.

After admiring the moon for a moment, Madara Uchiha disappeared into the darkness and infiltrated Iwagakure.

"Let's begin, Five-Tails. I'll free you from your Jinchuriki's body right now..."

P.S.: Something came up, I might not have time to write.

(End of this chapter)