Seeing Rin's devastated reaction, and remembering the chaos he'd witnessed when he picked them up from the Academy that day, Minato instantly regretted sharing the full details.
He offered a reassuring smile, trying to dispel the heavy gloom settling over the team. "Don't worry too much. Based on the tactical analysis of the crater, it's highly probable Saiki used a Reverse Summoning Jutsu to escape the blast radius. His life shouldn't be in immediate danger. However, given his performance, he has undoubtedly been placed at the very top of the Hidden Cloud's bingo book. Our mission is to locate him before the Cloud hunter-nin do."
Hearing this, the color rushed back into Rin's pale face. Her eyes lit up with renewed hope, and she asked with desperate urgency, "Sensei Minato, when do we leave?"
Seeing the girl's sheer desperation to find her friend, Minato smiled gently. "If your gear is packed, we leave right now."
...
Night fell once again. After several days of grueling travel, Saiki and Tsume had finally reached the border between the Land of Iron and the Land of Fire.
Just like their first night, Saiki used Earth Style to construct an earthen cabin. But after a few days of "refinements," tonight's cabin wasn't a single room; it was a fully functional suite complete with a living area, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom.
Because they had camped near a river, Saiki had even put in the extra effort to engineer a working hot-water shower system.
The only thing that hadn't changed was the bedroom: it still only had one massive earthen bed.
However, after that fateful first night, Saiki hadn't made another move on his teacher, so the atmosphere between them had become significantly more relaxed.
Of course, that relaxation was only on the surface!
After dinner, knowing they had another long march tomorrow, the two of them retired to the bedroom early.
Inside the room, the single candle cast a dim, flickering glow over the walls, giving the space an entirely different vibe. It lacked the sterile comfort of a standard camp, radiating instead a heavy, provocative, and deeply ambiguous mood.
Dim, atmospheric lighting has always been the primary design choice for love hotels for a reason.
There was a calculated reason Saiki hadn't touched Tsume over the past few days.
On the second night, Saiki had fully intended to continue his conquest. But seeing her lingering apprehension, he knew that if he simply pounced on her, she wouldn't refuse him, but it would feel forced. Sometimes, a forced harvest yields bitter fruit; you have to read the room.
By deliberately ignoring her, Saiki could feel Tsume's initial relief slowly morphing into a gnawing sense of anxiety and self-doubt.
That is the nature of a woman's psychology: if you smother her with aggressive passion, she will resist. If you suddenly pull back and ignore her, she will start second-guessing herself, overthinking every detail. And once a woman starts overthinking... the trap is sprung.
In short, Saiki had been playing the long game, stringing her along. The results were highly effective.
With his elite sensory perception, Saiki didn't even need to look at her to track the subtle shifts in her mood—especially tonight, after they had both taken a hot shower.
Saiki's psychological warfare was flawless. Right now, lying in her sleeping bag with her eyes squeezed shut, Tsume couldn't sleep. Her mind was a chaotic mess, and her heartbeat was erratic.
Over the past few days, Tsume had been genuinely surprised by Saiki's restraint. She knew he understood her boundaries, but she had also seen the raw, hungry gaze he directed at her when he thought she wasn't looking.
Every night, she lay awake, terrified that he would pounce on her and she wouldn't have the willpower to say no. But as she drifted off to sleep untouched night after night, a strange, hollow emptiness began to settle in her chest. That morning, she had even woken up in a cold sweat from a dream where Saiki had ravaged her.
Consequently, she couldn't stop herself from wondering, "Is he actually listening to me and suppressing his urges? Or does he think I'm dirty because we haven't been able to bathe for days?"
Tonight, Saiki had gone out of his way to provide hot water so they could thoroughly scrub themselves clean. She had assumed that once she was fresh and fragrant, he would finally make his move.
The fact that the candle was still burning only reinforced her suspicion, filling her with a potent mix of fear and agonizing anticipation.
But she had been lying there for a long time. Saiki hadn't blown out the candle, and he hadn't made a move. Caught between tension, fear, and a small, undeniable spark of hope, her mind was a tangled mess, keeping her wide awake.
Lying in the darkness, pretending to be asleep, Saiki knew the moment had finally arrived.
"Sensei!" Saiki opened his eyes and called out softly.
"Wh-what is it?!" His sudden voice shattered the silence. Her mind already buzzing with dirty thoughts, her fake-sleeping facade crumbled, and she answered with a flustered, panicked stutter, sounding like a thief caught red-handed.
Opening her eyes and turning her head, Tsume found Saiki staring at her with a knowing, teasing smile. The panic intensified. She hurriedly averted her gaze, but then realized how suspicious that looked. Why am I hiding from him?! She forced her eyes back to meet his, but under his amused stare, her face flushed a furious, burning red.
The sensation of having her deepest, most shameful thoughts laid bare made her want to find a hole to crawl into and die.
Seeing her flustered panic, Saiki felt a surge of smug satisfaction. His smile widened as he asked, "Sensei... what were you just thinking about?"
Being caught in his smiling gaze, she decisively turned her head away again, her words tumbling over each other. "N-nothing. I wasn't thinking anything."
"Is that so?" Saiki chuckled. In the next second, he threw off his quilt and lunged directly on top of her.
When Saiki had been keeping his distance, Tsume felt fear, apprehension, and a tiny spark of anticipation. But now that he was actually pinning her down, pure panic set in.
"Sai... Saiki, what are you doing?!" she cried out in alarm, looking back at him. When she realized he was completely naked, her panic was swallowed by a wave of intense shame and terror.
When they bathed earlier, Saiki had gone first, then Tsume. Knowing what he planned to do, Saiki hadn't bothered to put his clothes back on.
Although she shouted at him to stop, her body made no move to struggle.
"Sensei Tsume... I just missed you." As he spoke, Saiki reached down and pulled back the thin blanket covering her.
"No!" She tried to stop him, but seeing him so completely exposed and vulnerable before her, she was forced to avert her eyes once more.
Having left the freezing peaks of the Land of Iron and neared the borders of the Land of Fire, the climate was significantly warmer, meaning she wasn't wearing much to bed.
Turning her face away so she wouldn't have to look at him, she crossed her arms protectively over her chest and squeezed her knees together, pulling them up slightly. She pleaded in a frantic, trembling voice, "Saiki, stop messing around. Give me the blanket back."
"Sure! But first, you have to tell me... what were you thinking about just now?" Saiki asked, a wicked smirk playing on his lips.
Hearing this, her embarrassment peaked, turning into a flash of defensive anger. "Nothing!" she snapped.
Seeing this, Saiki casually tossed the blanket aside and threw his arms around her, pulling her soft body against his bare chest.
She shuddered violently, then turned her face back to look at him, her expression pitiful. "Saiki, please. Stop playing around. Let's just go to sleep, okay?"
Seeing her look so vulnerable, Saiki knew he was being a bastard. But the reality was simple: if he pushed forward now, she would become his exclusive, private "ride." If he backed off, their relationship would revert to a purely professional one forever.
Driven by the overwhelming, primal possessiveness coded into male DNA, Saiki knew this was morally wrong, but he refused to give up.
Faced with her begging, Saiki reached out and gently stroked her pale, smooth cheek. It was hard to imagine that this normally boisterous, fierce, and fiercely independent woman could look so incredibly fragile.
Saiki's gentle, soothing touch calmed the frantic beating of her heart. As they looked into each other's eyes, they could both see the complex storm of emotions swirling within—but buried deep beneath the confusion was a dark, suppressed hunger.
Saiki lowered his head and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to her lips before pulling back.
Perhaps she was in a daze, or perhaps she saw the raw desire burning in Saiki's eyes. Or perhaps, reflected in his crystalline pupils, she finally saw the truth of her own suppressed cravings.
With that single, gentle kiss and the caress of her cheek, Saiki spoke softly. "Sensei, I want to feel that joy with you again. And I know... I know you want it too, Sensei. Am I wrong?"
Hearing Saiki say it out loud forced her to confront her own heart. She still tried to resist, whispering, "Saiki...!"
But Saiki wasn't going to give her the chance to vocalize a rejection. If she spoke the words aloud, continuing this would be nearly impossible.
He pressed a finger gently against her lips, shaking his head. "Sensei... don't carry any guilt. If you have to blame someone, blame me. Blame fate for giving you such a bastard of a student."
With that, Saiki gave her no further opportunity to speak. He lowered his head and captured her lips in a deep, demanding kiss.
At first, she tried to resist, refusing to part her teeth. But faced with Saiki's overwhelming, suffocating passion, she ultimately let out a silent, internal sigh and began to rationalize her surrender.
"Just this once. After tonight, I will never give in to him again!"
But the truth was, the moment that thought crossed her mind, she had already lost. She relaxed her jaw, allowing him entry.
For a woman, breaking through the mental barrier of the first time is agonizing. The second time is still a massive challenge to her morals. But by the third or fourth time... the resistance crumbles, and it becomes terrifyingly easy to accept.
It's exactly like a man visiting a massage parlor for the first time. He hesitates, consumed by guilt. The second time, he still feels it's wrong and struggles with the decision. But by the third time, his mindset shifts: "Well, I'm already here. Might as well enjoy it. Why overthink it?"
When a woman steps out of her marriage, once becomes twice, twice becomes three times, and three times inevitably becomes countless times!