Tsunade blushed furiously and wanted to crawl into a hole when the Five-Tails spoke so bluntly.
This tailed beast sure has a nasty way of talking.
Tōshirō chuckled and said, "Little Five, stop teasing Tsunade."
The Five-Tails ignored Tōshirō. Its deep blue eyes stared directly at Tsunade, and a neutral voice rose from its throat:"Human, what kind of existence am I in your eyes?"
Tsunade recovered from her earlier embarrassment, thought carefully, and responded seriously:"From what I know about you tailed beasts, you're ferocious creatures that bring disaster to humanity."
"Tsunade…" Tōshirō gave a gentle reminder, thinking, That's basically a negative score for an answer.
Sure enough, the Five-Tails was immediately displeased upon hearing that. It was clearly because of humans that it became a beast of calamity—if humans hadn't kept provoking it, why would it bother turning out like this?
Tsunade saw the Five-Tails' displeased expression but didn't change her tone or attitude at all. In fact, she provoked it even further:"Isn't it true? You wreaked havoc in Konoha and caused the deaths of many innocent people."
The Five-Tails remained silent, not offering any explanation.
With the pride of a tailed beast, it wouldn't explain itself to a human—unless it was someone like Tōshirō, who could understand it directly. Then, it might tolerate a few lines of conversation.
Tōshirō saw the atmosphere had turned ice-cold, and it was exactly the moment a mediator was needed—someone like him.
Just as Tōshirō was about to speak, Tsunade beat him to it. She shook her head, added a "but," and continued:"That's all in the past. After seeing the way you and Tōshirō talked just now, I think maybe I've had some prejudice against tailed beasts. Perhaps it's time I reconsidered my view of you."
A flicker of surprise crossed the Five-Tails' eyes.
"Of course, just based on that brief impression, it's impossible for me to change my view of tailed beasts completely. Honestly, I still resent you for hurting the village my grandfather founded with his own hands.
"To be clear, it's not that I trust you—I'm simply choosing to trust Tōshirō, that's all."
Tsunade met the Five-Tails' gaze and explained. After hearing that, the deep blue in the beast's eyes showed a trace of approval.
If Tsunade had acted like she held no resentment, it would've seemed fake. Her words, instead, showed she was a genuine person.
The Five-Tails finally spoke:"My name is Mu… King Mu."
"King Mu?" Tsunade was taken aback. What a strange name.
Mu King corrected himself: "It's King Mu."
Damn that annoying Jinchūriki—keeps calling me that. I'm starting to react instinctively now.
With that, Tsunade and the Five-Tails had formally met. But their interaction ended there, as the Five-Tails gave a clear dismissal:"Alright, we know each other now. Hurry up and take her away. Otherwise, don't blame me for being rude."
Despite what it said, deep down the Five-Tails had somewhat accepted Tsunade. But as a proud tailed beast, it wasn't going to show friendliness so easily.
Tōshirō didn't say another word and immediately took Tsunade out of the mental space.
He understood the principle of "more haste, less speed." Even he had spent a long time coaxing the Five-Tails in his body before they developed their current, somewhat bickering but friendly relationship.
Now that the Five-Tails could even have a calm chat with Tsunade, that was already quite a feat.
Back in the real world, Tsunade opened her eyes. The moment she returned to reality, she heard a teasing male voice next to her:"Scared you just now, didn't I?"
Why'd he have to bring that up? Tsunade glared and pinched Tōshirō's waist:"You jerk! You didn't even give me a heads-up before doing that to me."
"My dear Tsunade, please stop—it really hurts," Tōshirō grinned and begged for mercy.
"Hmph, good. It should hurt." Tsunade gave a symbolic squeeze and said, "Hey, I want to ask you something. Answer honestly."
"What is it?"
"If I remember correctly, didn't my grandmother also have a tailed beast inside her?"
Tōshirō replied casually: "That's right~ It was the Nine-Tails. But it was very different from the one inside me—way more bad-tempered."
Tsunade picked up on something in his tone: "The way you said that… have you met the Nine-Tails?"
"More or less."
Tōshirō organized his thoughts and began breaking down his experiences with Mito for Tsunade.
After hearing it all, Tsunade was shocked.
Tōshirō smiled and said, "That's why I said Grandma Mito knew everything."
Tsunade went silent for a moment. "So… was the tailed beast inside Grandma Mito the same as yours?"
"Same? What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, was the Nine-Tails' relationship with my grandma the same as yours with the Five-Tails?"—After seeing Tōshirō and the Five-Tails get along, Tsunade had the impression that tailed beasts might actually be easy to get along with.
"I'm not like Grandma Mito," Tōshirō shook his head. "Though this may sound a bit boastful, I'm probably the first perfect Jinchūriki in history. As for Grandma Mito, she was still considered an ordinary Jinchūriki. The Nine-Tails inside her hated your grandma. And I don't mean just your grandma—it hated all of humanity."
"Hated all of humanity? Why?"
"This is easy to understand," Tōshirō explained. "If you were targeted every day for hundreds or thousands of years, and then forcibly stuffed into a stranger's body, do you think you'd have any fond feelings toward humans?"
Tsunade lowered her gaze. Putting herself in the tailed beasts' shoes, she began to understand why they hated humans so much. But there was still something she didn't quite get: "You were able to do it, so why couldn't Grandma?"
"Each tailed beast has a different personality. In Little Five's case, its temperament is on the gentler side. Plus, as I explained earlier, the circumstances between us allow for calm conversation. As for the Nine-Tails, from the moment I first saw it, I could tell—it has an extremely rebellious nature. On top of that, its power seems to be the strongest among the nine tailed beasts, so trying to tame it…"
At this point, Tōshirō noticed his choice of words might have been inappropriate and quickly corrected himself: "I mean, to reconcile with it… it won't be as easy as it was for me. Oh~ and of course, I mean 'easy' in a relative sense. Normally, it's extremely difficult for tailed beasts and humans to understand each other. My situation is highly exceptional—everything had to align: the right time, the right place, and the right person."
Tsunade nodded and recalled a term Tōshirō had mentioned earlier. "What did you mean by 'perfect jinchūriki'?"
As soon as that was brought up, Tōshirō's spirits lifted. After all, it was his chance to show off in front of his girlfriend. "Oh, that. To talk about that, I have to first mention what a 'jinchūriki' is—but I don't need to explain that part to you, right?"
Tsunade nodded, signaling for him to go on.
Receiving the green light, Tōshirō continued, "A jinchūriki, through rigorous training and improvement, can control the power of the tailed beast inside them and even use it. But that power isn't offered voluntarily by the beast—it's forced…"
Here, he deliberately paused, setting a trap.
Sure enough, Tsunade eagerly took the bait. "What about you?"
Grinning, Tōshirō deliberately elongated his tone: "Oh~ I'm different. I'm what's called a perfect jinchūriki. The tailed beast inside me willingly gives me power."
"Willingly?"
"Yes. Because unlike other jinchūriki who treat their tailed beasts like cold tools, I treat them like close companions. That's also why I introduced you to the Five-Tails."
Tsunade nodded, finally understanding why Tōshirō had wanted her to meet the tailed beast.
"A perfect jinchūriki doesn't just not need to worry about the tailed beast going berserk—they can also fully utilize the beast's power," Tōshirō boasted. "Most ordinary jinchūriki can only use a small percentage of the beast's power. I, however, can use 100%, maybe even exceed that limit."
Listening to him, Tsunade couldn't help but feel he was showing off. With a look of surprise, she asked, "So you're saying… you've already reached that level?"
Right in the middle of his bragging, Tōshirō faltered. "Uh, not yet."
Tsunade tilted her head slightly in confusion, not fully understanding what he meant.
"I may have gained the tailed beast's trust in terms of character, but power-wise, I still haven't met its expectations."
Tōshirō let out a big sigh and complained, "Seriously, it's going to happen eventually anyway—what difference does it make whether it's sooner or later?"
Hearing this, Tsunade recalled that when Tōshirō first met the Five-Tails, he seemed to have said something about wanting it to 'submit' to him. So that's what he meant.
Tōshirō straightened his expression and said solemnly, "Anyway, the reason I'm telling you all this is because I want you to feel completely at ease. After all, we're living together now."
Tsunade replied, "I've always trusted you."
Tōshirō said seriously, "It's good that you think that way. But as your man, I can't just take it for granted."
Tsunade spat back, "What do you mean 'your man'? We're just living together, it's not like we're married."
Tōshirō chuckled. "Your body already has my shape molded into it."
Tsunade's face instantly turned bright red.
Before she could lash out, Tōshirō swiftly changed the subject with a straight face: "Alright, enough joking around. There's something I wanted to ask you."
Honestly, Tsunade was about to hit him, but his sudden shift in tone felt like punching a pillow—nowhere to release her anger.
"I don't know," Tsunade replied grumpily.
Tōshirō laughed, "I haven't even asked yet. How do you know you don't know?"
"I just don't, so don't ask me."
Tsunade pouted like a sulking child.
(▼ヘ▼#)
Tōshirō sighed in defeat. Then, as if he saw something, he let out a curious sound and leaned his head forward.
Tsunade, startled, looked back instinctively—only to find nothing behind her.
Weird, there's nothing there.
What did that guy Tōshirō see?
Still confused, Tsunade turned back, just about to ask—but before she could even form a word, something sealed her lips.
Her eyes widened. A figure had somehow appeared right in front of her.
Their lips parted as Tōshirō leaned back, a mischievous smirk tugging at his lips. "That should've cooled your temper, right?"
"Hmph! You rotten man, always bullying me."
Tsunade was so mad~This rotten man always took advantage of her feelings, bullying her relentlessly. The worst part was, her body actually kind of enjoyed it.
Seeing Tsunade's tsundere expression, if it weren't for something important coming up, Tōshirō really would've wanted to keep teasing her: "Let me ask you something—do you know any ninjutsu that absorbs chakra?"
(End of Chapter)
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