Tsunade Can Hear My Inner Voice

After eating and drinking his fill, Kamizuki Hikari waited at home until nearly nine o'clock, but Tenten never showed up. A faint sense of disappointment settled in his heart.

[Has my charm diminished, or has Tenten shifted her affections to someone else?]

With that thought, Hikari silently vanished.

---

Yūhi Kurenai's Residence.

A gentle breeze swept through, lifting the curtains. Yakumo, sitting inside, suddenly turned her head toward an empty space nearby.

"You're here, yet you still hide yourself. Are you wary of me, or are you hoping to catch a glimpse of something scandalous?" she teased.

Hikari's figure materialized, as if a projection slowly solidifying from transparency into reality.

"I'm just being cautious. If anyone found out I came here, the entire village would explode by tomorrow." As the man widely believed to be Hokage's exclusive property, the moment he dared to approach another woman—even if he wasn't burned at the stake—the rumors would be relentless.

"Kurenai-sensei is taking a bath. Would you like to take a look?" Yakumo extended the invitation with surprising enthusiasm, as if proudly offering a treasure for appreciation—except this "treasure" was the beautiful Kurenai herself.

Hikari hesitated for three seconds before nodding. "Well, since you're offering, it'd be rude to refuse. A quick peek won't hurt."

Now it was Yakumo's turn to be stunned. She scrutinized Hikari's shameless expression carefully before pointing at the nearby wall.

Just as Hikari wondered if she'd lost her mind, the wall gradually thinned, turning transparent—as if the solid brick had transformed into glass in an instant.

"This is..."

Hikari observed the beautiful figure beyond the wall with the analytical eye of a trained shinobi. The moment his eyes reached that mysterious "delta", he felt a primal vitality surge within him.

*Snap!*

With a snap of Yakumo's fingers, the enchanting view vanished, and the wall returned to its solid, opaque state.

"Tsk. Men." she scoffed.

"Tsk. Women." he shot back.

"You rejected her so decisively before, yet just now, your eyes were practically glued to her!"

"That was just an instinctive appreciation of beauty, nothing more. My focus was purely artistic."

"Want to keep looking?"

"Nah. Seeing but not touching is bad for my health."

"What if I could let you touch her?"

*Gulp.*

Hikari swallowed hard but resolutely shook his head.

"Really? You're not tempted? This is Kurenai-sensei—the goddess of male shinobi in Konoha. Just imagine her beneath you, surrendering to pleasure. How could you—"

*Smack!*

Hikari's hand landed squarely on Yakumo's backside. "You little brat, don't you know some things are meant to be admired from afar? Besides, she's all cozy with Asuma now. I don't want to be labeled a homewrecker."

"Now lie down properly. I'll treat you today before I leave for the mission."

Yakumo obediently settled onto the couch. Since she was already wearing a silky nightgown, there was no need to change.

Hikari casually pulled out a bottle of "special" oil and prepared to begin the treatment.

"I have a secret. Wanna hear it?"

"What kind of secret could a little girl like you possibly have? Unless you've mastered an illusion that projects Kurenai's bath scenes—which, by the way, I've already figured out."

Just by recalling it, Hikari understood Yakumo's earlier trick.

The room's interior hadn't changed—only his perception of it had. Yakumo had used genjutsu to distort his vision, making him see what she wanted him to see.

After all this time, Yakumo had certainly deepened her understanding of male nature.

"What if I told you it's about that Asuma you mentioned?" Yakumo smirked, a mischievous glint in her eyes as she watched Hikari massage her arm with focused care. "He's been... enjoying himself quite a bit lately."

"That sounds loaded."

Hikari channeled his Yang Release chakra into Yakumo's body through the massage—effectively infusing her with his own vitality.

Yakumo had long since noticed this.

Every time Hikari treated her, the exhaustion afterward was undeniable.

After some research, she'd even learned about Yin and Yang Release.

"Did you know? Asuma just called Kurenai-sensei out again!" Yakumo's expression brightened with pride, like a child awaiting praise for a well-executed prank.

"Nice try, but I can sense Kurenai in the next room." Hikari immediately saw through the lie.

"Of course I wouldn't lie to you. But what if the 'Kurenai-sensei' he met... was actually a monkey?"

"Your Kurenai-sensei can't possibly be a monkey."

"Ugh, how do I explain this? I used genjutsu to make a monkey look like Kurenai-sensei. Asuma came and 'invited her out'. Right now, he's probably in some training field corner, having a very... primal encounter with 'her'."

Hikari's hands froze.

This was... big.

Asuma, the guy nicknamed "Little Monkey" since childhood, was now... with an actual monkey?

If he ever found out, would he even survive the shame?

"You... aren't mad, are you?"

Seeing Hikari's stunned expression, Yakumo suddenly looked nervous. She felt like she could never live without this man—the only one who treated her selflessly, who didn't even take advantage when she offered herself.

(Hikari's inner thoughts: Kid, your figure's as flat as a board. If you had curves like Kurenai...)

"I'm not mad. Just curious how you came up with the idea of giving Asuma a monkey."

The thought of this interspecies romance—directed by Yakumo—was bizarrely impressive.

Back when he wrote his adult novels, he'd deliberately avoided beast transformations to keep things mainstream. Even Jiraiya's works stuck to human pairings.

Where had Yakumo learned this "all beings are equal" philosophy? Truly terrifying.

"The first time he came over, I used an illusion of Kurenai-sensei to meet him. But then he started badmouthing me—even my parents. Did he think I'd let that slide? So I trapped him in a genjutsu, led him into the woods, and gave him a monkey disguised as Kurenai-sensei. What happened next... well, let's just say it wasn't pretty."

Hikari forcefully erased the mental image of that scene. He'd never be able to look at Asuma the same way again.

"Just be careful. If he ever finds out, he'll come after you with everything he's got."

"Relax. He's enjoying it. He can't go a day without 'Kurenai-sensei' now."

Well, if the two were happy together, who was Hikari to judge?

He could only silently wish Asuma a long and fulfilling... relationship.

After all, he wasn't involved. Maybe Asuma genuinely preferred it this way and was having the time of his life.

Stranger things had happened.

"While I'm away, Konoha might face some changes. If war breaks out, hide in my house. There's a barrier seal in the second-floor study. If it's triggered, I'll return as fast as I can."

"Mmm, I knew Hikari-senpai was the best!"

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