The night grew deeper. The lights of Konoha came on one by one, casting a soft glow across the streets.
Chiya and Tsunade walked side by side along the small path leading to the sake house. Their shadows stretched long across the stone-paved road.
"Are you sure you want to drink?"
Tsunade glanced sideways at Chiya, a barely perceptible concern in her tone.
"We leave tomorrow."
Chiya smiled slightly, his gaze settling on the sign of the sake house in the distance.
"Precisely because we leave tomorrow, I want even more to share a drink with Lady Tsunade tonight."
He paused, and his voice dropped a shade lower.
"After all... what happens on the battlefield, no one can say."
Tsunade's footsteps slowed for just a moment.
She said nothing in reply, only quickened her pace and walked straight toward the sake house.
The sake house had only a scattering of people inside.
Chiya chose a quiet private room, pulled the door shut, and closed out the noise of the world beyond.
The server quickly brought out sake and a few small dishes, then bowed and withdrew.
Chiya filled Tsunade's cup and said quietly.
"Tonight, let us set aside Lord Hokage and the training corps for a while."
Tsunade took the cup and drained it in one go. The sharp liquid slid down her throat and made her brow furrow briefly.
She set the cup down and looked directly at Chiya.
"Why did you agree to go with Orochimaru? You could have refused."
Chiya did not answer right away. He poured a cup for himself and drank it slowly.
A light warmth from the sake rose through him, and his eyes took on a deeper quality.
"Some things still need someone to do them. The Sharingan's ability to suppress a Tailed Beast is real. If my ability can be of help to our comrades on the front lines, I have no reason to hold back."
Tsunade's slender fingers drifted absently along the rim of her cup. Her voice lowered a degree.
"But do you know how terrifying the power of a Jinchuriki is? If something were to..."
"I know."
Chiya cut her off. His tone was calm but firm.
"If even the Uchiha, who have a natural advantage against Tailed Beasts, will not go, then who in the village will? Other clans fight and bleed for Konoha on the battlefield, while the Uchiha contribute nothing. What will people say about the Uchiha after that? Only when every clan stands together with one will can Konoha win this war."
Tsunade snapped her head up. Something stirred in her eyes.
She opened her mouth as if to speak, then swallowed the words back. She simply reached for the sake jar and refilled both their cups.
The two drank in silence for several rounds. The warmth of the sake rose slowly.
The atmosphere inside the private room turned subtle, as if a thin veil had settled between them, hazy and yet enough to make the heart beat faster.
"Actually..."
Chiya spoke suddenly, his voice carrying a slight roughness.
"There are some things I have wanted to say to Lady Tsunade for a while. If I leave it too late, I am afraid there will be no chance."
Tsunade's heart skipped. She raised an eyebrow with a composure she did not quite feel.
"Oh? What things?"
Chiya's gaze met hers directly, carrying a seriousness she had not seen from him before.
"Lady Tsunade, from the first moment I saw you, I was drawn to you. Everything about you makes it impossible for me to look away."
The flush spread across Tsunade's cheeks in an instant. She turned her face away on reflex, though her voice had softened.
"You smooth-talking little brat. Do you even know what you are saying?"
"I know very clearly."
Chiya gave a quiet laugh. His tone shifted and carried a trace of self-deprecation.
"I only did not expect that before I had the chance to know you better, I would have to go to the battlefield. Perhaps... this is just how things go."
"How things go?"
Tsunade snapped her head around. For a moment the thought of her dead brother crossed her mind.
A flash of anger moved through her eyes.
"Don't speak as though something is certain to happen to you! Besides, you have Orochimaru going and all those elite ninja..."
Chiya did not argue. He only looked at her quietly, the feeling in his eyes complicated enough to make something ache.
Tsunade felt his gaze like a sting. A heaviness pressed at her chest.
She grabbed her cup and drained it, trying to use the alcohol to dull the feeling rising inside her.
"Lady Tsunade."
Chiya's voice was as gentle as a breeze.
"If... I mean if, I really do run into the Jinchuriki, or into Hanzo of Amegakure, and I do not come back. Would you still remember me?"
"Enough!"
Tsunade slammed her hand on the table and rose to her feet. The rims of her eyes had gone faintly red.
"Do not say things like that. You will come back safely, without question."
Chiya stood and walked slowly to stand in front of her.
They were close enough to feel each other's breath.
He raised his hand and brushed lightly at a strand of golden hair beside her face.
Tsunade felt her breath catch. The wall inside her came apart completely in that moment.
She suddenly grabbed his wrist. Her voice trembled slightly.
"You foolish little brat... what are you trying to prove? You have barely been outside the village on missions, and now you are going with Orochimaru to deal with a Jinchuriki. He has lost his mind, and so have you?"
Chiya did not explain himself.
'Deal with the Jinchuriki on his own? He was not so reckless as to fight one alone.'
There was Orochimaru to take the front, and battle-hardened elite ninja all around.
The task reward was tempting, but the world was unpredictable. If things turned bad, he would be the first one running.
The logic of keeping yourself alive to fight another day was something Chiya understood well.
As for running into Hanzo, that had been something he made up on the spot.
Who would be so unlucky as to walk into Amegakure and immediately cross paths with Hanzo?
Looking at Tsunade now, usually so proud, showing such an open vulnerability because of him, Chiya knew the plan had largely succeeded.
This was not a moment to hesitate.
He reached out and pulled her into his arms.
Tsunade did not resist. She buried her face against his shoulder.
"Promise me. You will come back."
Chiya tightened his arms around her, feeling the warmth of the person he held.
The sake and the feeling between them wound together. The air in the room seemed to stand still.
After a long while, Tsunade pushed back and raised her head, looking directly at Uchiha Chiya.
She rose on her toes and kissed him.
Their lips met for just a moment and then parted.
"Lady Tsunade, I don't want us to have regrets..."
Hearing those words, Tsunade's body gave a small tremor. Her eyes grew soft.
'You little brat!'
"Saying something so unreasonable like that... when you come back, I will deal with you properly."
Tsunade stirred in Chiya's arms. Her bright brown eyes now carried something new in them.
'What a troublemaker.'
'Fine. Let him have his way.'
With a soft click, the light went out. The door of the private room was latched shut. The last barrier between the two of them finally gave way.
...
The following morning.
When Chiya woke, the other side of the room was already empty.
He shook his head, still foggy from the night before, and stood on unsteady legs.
He pulled the door of the private room open. A carefully prepared breakfast had been left outside, and it was still warm.
Beside it was a note that read: eat properly and I will be waiting for you to come back.
Chiya knew it was from Tsunade. The corner of his mouth curved upward.
'She is actually this thoughtful.'
After a long night, Chiya was genuinely hungry, and he made no ceremony of it.
He ate quickly and without restraint.
One night of intensive study had taken a great deal out of him.
Twenty minutes passed.
Chiya left, satisfied.
Back home, he gathered the equipment he would need for the battlefield.
"Intercept Tsunade task completed."
"Please select your reward."
Hearing the system notification, Chiya stopped what he was doing.
'It is done?'
A quiet thrill rose in his chest. He turned his attention to the reward.
"I choose the Advancement Card. Advance my three-tomoe Sharingan!"
"Congratulations, host. Reward obtained: Advancement Card."
"The Advancement Card is now enhancing the bloodline limit Sharingan."
Chiya felt a cool sensation wash over his eyes. Within his dark eyes, the three tomoe shifted and blurred.
Then a powerful surge of emotion poured out from his eyes and rushed into his mind.
Chiya let out a muffled sound and closed his eyes without thinking.
Standing in place, the hand gripping his kunai trembled faintly.
"Hah."
When Chiya opened his eyes, the once dark three-tomoe pattern had transformed into a six-petal crimson spider lily design.
At the center of the flower, the faint pattern of a Rinnegan emerged.
"Sharingan advancement successful."
"Congratulations, host. Mangekyou Sharingan obtained."
"Congratulations, host. Eye technique obtained: The Far Shore of the Yellow Springs."
"Congratulations, host. Eye technique obtained: Cycle of Cause and Effect."
The chakra throughout Chiya's entire body surged violently. His clothing whipped around him.
Ten minutes passed.
Only then did the overwhelming pressure from before ease away, and the crimson Mangekyou Sharingan settled and hid itself within his eyes.
"System, bring up my character panel."
"Name: Uchiha Chiya"
"Age: 18"
"Chakra: 10 Kaka"
"Bloodline Limit: Sharingan (Mangekyou)"
"Skills: Mangekyou Eye Techniques: The Far Shore of the Yellow Springs, Cycle of Cause and Effect. Genjutsu Mastery, Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu, Body Flicker Jutsu, Shadow Clone Jutsu, Three-Body Technique, and others."
Two eye techniques had been added. Chakra had surged by nine Kakashi units.
Chiya understood.
The sudden surge in chakra had come from the special Yin Release chakra that had flooded his mind when the Mangekyou awakened.
Eye techniques required visual power to activate, and visual power was a form of chakra.
The increase in visual power had resulted in his current chakra level of 10 Kaka.
Chiya let out a long breath. A new confidence entered his eyes.
For this upcoming mission to Amegakure, never mind a mere Jinchuriki.
Even if he crossed paths with that so-called demigod of Amegakure, he had the ability to put him down.
A Jinchuriki? A demigod?
Come and face his Mangekyou eye techniques.
"Chiya!"
Hearing his name, Chiya used the Body Flicker Jutsu and was out of the room in an instant.
Seeing who had come, Chiya was briefly taken aback.
It was Mikoto's grandfather, Uchiha Sosuke.
"Going to the front lines like this, you were reckless."
"Elder Sosuke."
"Some things still need someone to do them."
Hearing that answer, Uchiha Sosuke went quiet. The words he had been about to say were swallowed back down.
"As long as you come back alive, I will never stand in the way of you and Mikoto again."
'Stand in the way?'
'Mikoto and I are a perfect match. What business does an old man like you have opposing us in the first place?'
Chiya grumbled inwardly.
But thinking about how this old man's emotional resilience was not particularly strong, and seeing the genuine worry in his eyes, Chiya gave him his word.
"I... will come back alive. And I will come back in one piece."
As Chiya said it, a trace of crimson crept into his dark eyes.
Sosuke heard the confidence in those words. His brow furrowed slightly.
The battlefield was not something to treat lightly. He was about to speak up to warn Chiya to be careful.
Then he saw the change in Chiya's eyes. His pupils contracted sharply.