Chapter 56.3- One Thousand Hands

“Thank you. I thought I was going to die there. I thought we were going to die there. I owe you, Shori.” She said, and it might have taken me a second, and lots of enthusiastic encouragement from Grandma behind Tsunade’s back but I did wrap my arms around her to enclose her in a hug as well, while trying not to think about the way her mammary glands squished themselves against my chest. Gods, those things felt like pillows.

No, bad Shori. That’s your cousin, I warned myself off to prevent undesirable bodily reactions before she leaned away and I tapped her shoulder in some camaraderie.

“You’re welcome, Tsunade. What are cousins for?” I asked, and she smiled back. This time it was a watery thing.

“Danzo-san says you want to send Nawaki to the front lines” She said next, looking at me. What kind of ambush was this? Thankful one minute, and accusing the other? And Danzo? That little piece of shit. He probably had some convoluted plan related to having the Senju upset at me and making me lose the support of most of the other clans through that.

“No. The front lines are a meat grinder. One would wonder where Danzo would get an idea like that one. I did graduate all genin over the age of eight, but not to use them in the war but to instead have them take up administrative functions within the village so their elders can be sent off to the front line. Everything from cryptanalysis to torture and interrogation is going to receive a massive influx of genin to free up the chunin ordinarily taking up these roles.

“Not like those chunin are much better than genin in the first place” She scoffed. I shrugged.

“There’re old enough to face the consequences of somehow thinking that they could survive in this world without physical might. Or village might suffer from the losses in future, but we need the bodies on the lines now if we want to have any chance of surviving this war. I might be strong, but not strong enough to face down three armies when they make it to our gates.” I said.

She nodded, accepting the reasoning but not being pleased about it.

“What about Hiruzen?” I asked. I tried to put as much concern in my voice as possible. It was not hard to fake. My concern was not or his well-being, but for the fact that he might wake up too soon. Say what you would about my cousin but she was one hell of a medic.

“He’s stable. No danger of crossing the line now. All we just have to do is bring him back to consciousness in one piece” She said..

“And how long would that take?”

“It depends on him to be honest. Could be anything from a month to never” She said. If it were anyone else, I would have asked her to delay his return as much as possible, but this woman would try to turn me to paste if I even suggested it. So instead, I closed my hands around hers and wished her the best.

—

“I do not much appreciate being ambushed” I said, turning to Grandmother as Tsunade left.

“I think you might be letting your new position get to your head, Hokage-sama” She said the title mockingly. “I am not beholden to what you appreciate, young man”

“As you insist on making known, Grandmother. Now I need your help.” I said, walking back towards her and finding my lips quirking upwards to match hers of their own accord.