Just as Tsunade was left speechless...
At that moment, Yugito brushed right past her and held out the lunch box in her hands to Shiki.
"Shiki-kun, I made this myself. Please accept it as… as a gift from your new neighbour."
"Uh!"
Shiki's eye twitched slightly. He was a little stunned by how smooth she was. He'd originally wanted to refuse and at least save Tsunade a bit of face, but Yugito's decisiveness in placing the box directly into his hands made him pause awkwardly.
Yugito had completely cut off any path of refusal and acted without hesitation. She fully understood that if you wanted to pursue someone who already had a woman by his side, you couldn't afford to be shy—you had to be straightforward.
Seeing her plan succeed, Yugito nodded in satisfaction. Then she turned her head toward Tsunade, raised an eyebrow at her, and finally turned back around and walked away.
She knew exactly when to attack, when to defend, and when to retreat. Since her offensive had worked, staying here any longer would only be a disadvantage—so she left.
Wow, that was smooth, not gonna lie.
Shiki was genuinely impressed. His impression of the Cloud shinobi had always been that they were reckless muscle-heads who solved everything with their fists. Who would've thought Yugito would be this cunning in matters like this?
He couldn't even bring himself to be annoyed. Instead, he felt amused.
Honestly, if Tsunade wasn't standing right there, he would've applauded such a brilliant performance on the spot.
"Ahhhhh… damn it…"
Tsunade suddenly bit her lip and lowered her head, sulking.
"This woman… I underestimated her… She's definitely a serious rival I can't go easy on!"
Clenching her fist, Tsunade glared viciously at the house next door.
Right now, Tsunade couldn't help but wonder if Yugito, sitting inside that house, was laughing at her and looking down on her.
If it wasn't for the self-control she'd built up over the years—and the little bit of sanity she still had left—she probably would've already stormed over and punched that damn house flat, taking Yugito's place down along with it.
"It actually tastes good."
Just then, a surprised voice sounded from beside her.
The moment she heard it and turned her head, Tsunade saw that Shiki had already opened the lunch box Yugito had given him and was eating from it.
She had to admit, the desserts inside didn't just look exquisite—judging from Shiki's expression, the taste was just as impressive. Even Shiki seemed quite surprised.
"If Shiki-kun likes it, I'll make it for you again next time!"
At that moment, the door of the house next door slid open again.
Yugito leaned out with a smile and called over to Shiki.
"Then thank you."
Shiki didn't think too much about it. Holding the dessert in one hand, he raised it slightly toward her and replied while eating.
Seeing him act like that, Yugito's smile only grew brighter. She raised an eyebrow at Tsunade one more time before closing the door again.
"…"
Tsunade's killing intent was getting heavier and heavier.
Veins were already bulging on her forehead as a dark aura began to leak from her body.
But when she saw Shiki leisurely eating dessert like nothing had happened, Tsunade could only let out a helpless sigh. The strength in her fists slowly dissipated as she looked at him, speechless.
"How can you still be so indifferent?"
"So what do you want me to do?"
Still eating as he spoke, Shiki raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "You want me to compare the two of you out loud? You and Yugito?"
"How is that even possible?!"
Tsunade snapped back without the slightest hesitation.
"That woman—how could she compare to me!"
What kind of joke was that? She and Shiki had already gone through so many things together.
But Yugito? How many times had they even met?
Even if Shiki had to make a choice, it should be in a situation where things were at least equal—like with Kurenai.
But Yugito? She'd just given him a lunch box. Did she really think something like that was enough to stand on the same level as her? How naive.
Her and Shiki's relationship was on a completely different level.
"Just like you said. So what are you worried about?"
Shiki smiled, tilting his head as he looked at Tsunade.
At that moment, Tsunade suddenly froze.
Yeah… what am I even afraid of?
Even when that red-eyed little girl, Kurenai, appeared, she hadn't lost.
So why should she be scared of this Yugito woman who suddenly showed up out of nowhere?
"Hey, I'm not worried about myself—I'm worried you won't be able to control yourself."
Still staring at his relaxed expression, Tsunade couldn't help but grumble.
Shiki nodded, as if agreeing.
"That's true. In that case, you really do need to worry."
"Right now, I don't have any particular thoughts about Yugito… but in the future, who knows?"
Rolling her eyes, Tsunade didn't think too deeply about it. She just assumed Shiki was teasing her again.
"Alright, let's go back. I still haven't done my sword-swinging training today."
Waving his hand, Shiki made it clear he didn't want to keep arguing about this topic.
"Fine."
Tsunade nodded, not pressing the issue any further.
At that point, Shiki held the dessert box out to her.
"Speaking of which, are you really not going to eat any? It tastes really good."
"I said I'm not eating it!"
"Not even a bite?"
"I said no, no, no! MY cooking skills will definitely be better than hers in the future!"
Tsunade had already decided—she was going to train her cooking, seriously.
Hmph! A Jinchūriki actually dares to look down on me, Tsunade? Just you wait.
I'll cook something so good it'll shut you both up for good.
Shiki didn't know what exactly Tsunade was imagining, but seeing the vicious look on her face, he just shrugged and didn't ask.
Instead, he started his daily training: sword swings.
During the war, Shiki rarely had this kind of free time to train like this.
"9,997!"
"9,998!"
"9,999!"
"10,000!"
The blade flashed through the air. After swinging his sword ten thousand times, Shiki finally stopped and tossed the now-worn-out ninja sword aside.
"Daily mission completed. Reward: Fit +0.09."
Hearing the system's notification, Shiki smiled slightly and rolled his wrist to relax it.
At his current level, this kind of daily mission wasn't difficult anymore.
It was just… a little boring.
"I really don't understand what the point of this kind of training is."
Sitting by the edge of the room, Tsunade couldn't help commenting as she watched him finish. In her eyes, with Shiki's current strength, training at this level shouldn't make any difference at all.
"Well, it's about staying stable. I don't want there to come a day where I can't even swing a sword properly."
Shiki couldn't exactly explain anything about the system, so he could only phrase it that way.
Tsunade didn't doubt him. Instead, she nodded seriously.
"That's true too. Keeping your strength stable is important for a shinobi."
"Wait here, I'll go boil some water for you. Take a good bath later."
"Mm."
Shiki didn't say much. Watching Tsunade's back as she left, he couldn't help the small smile that formed on his lips.
He had to admit—this gentle side of Tsunade was really nice.
Taking advantage of the time while Tsunade went to boil the water, Shiki opened his character template.
[God-level Template System]
[First Template: Golden Lion – Shiki]
[Template Progress: 99.09%]
[Template Abilities: Top Conqueror's Haki, Top Observation Haki, Top Armament Haki, Top Great Swordsmanship, Fuwa Fuwa no Mi (Advanced)]
[Skills: Three Basic Ninja Techniques, Body Flicker Technique
Daily Mission: Swing the sword 10,000 times (Completed)]
"It's still a little short…"
Top-level mastery of all three types of Haki.
Top-tier greatsword swordsmanship.
Advanced-level Fuwa Fuwa no Mi ability.
That was Shiki's current strength.
Put simply—within the ninja world as it was now, he was overwhelmingly powerful.
And once his fit rate reached 100%…
His Fuwa Fuwa no Mi would evolve from its advanced state into an awakened one.
At that time, Shiki would stand at the absolute peak of the Golden Lion's power.
Every ability he possessed would be honed to the very apex.
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