The atmosphere was somewhat subdued, with only the lively conversations and sounds of grilling meat from the nearby tables.
Shinichi quietly drank his tea without speaking.
He could tell that this legendary Sannin was in a very bad mood and was definitely not there simply to drink.
Sure enough, after downing two more drinks, Tsunade, her eyes glazed with drunkenness, glanced at him and smirked, "Kid, tell me, what's so great about being a ninja?"
"Training yourself to death without end, with various parts of your body injured… and for what in the end? For a few lousy missions? A bit of money earned by risking your life? Or those pretty-sounding principles that are actually complete nonsense?"
She took a swig of wine, her gaze drifting towards the gloomy sky outside the window.
"They're always risking their lives, not knowing what tomorrow will bring... They might die in some forgotten corner, their bodies rotting away without anyone to collect them! Companions? Ha! The companions you're drinking with today might just be names carved in stone tomorrow..."
Her tone grew increasingly somber; rather than questioning Shinichi, she was questioning herself, questioning the profession she had once fought for but now only wanted to escape.
Shinichi remained silent and did not respond immediately.
He could sense that Tsunade's words weren't directed at him, but rather that her long-suppressed emotions had found an outlet thanks to the alcohol, and he was just a listener who happened to be sitting across from her.
Seeing that Shinichi didn't reply, Tsunade suddenly leaned closer, her breath heavy with the smell of alcohol, almost hitting his face: "And you? Kid, why did you become a ninja? What are you, this genius, training so hard all day long for?"
Before Shinichi could answer, she seemed to have already made up her mind.
Her voice suddenly rose a lot, carrying an almost mocking certainty: "You must want to become Hokage, right? Haha! That's right, that must be it! Kids your age, all you can think about is becoming Hokage or dreaming of being a hero... You think that once you become a ninja, you'll quickly become famous throughout the Shinobi World and be admired by thousands, right?"
The strong smell of alcohol made Shinichi's brows furrow slightly, almost imperceptibly. He leaned back a little and created some distance between them: "Lady Tsunade, you're drunk."
"I'm not drunk!"
Tsunade slammed her hand on the table, the dishes clanging loudly, drawing the attention of the surrounding diners.
Ignoring everything else, her voice grew louder and sharper with anger and alcohol: "Am I wrong? Hokage? That's a bullshit position! Only naive fools and brainwashed idiots would want to become one! And that Will of Fire... Burning oneself to light up others? It's all fancy talk to fool people! It's a curse that makes people willingly send themselves to their deaths!"
"Lady Tsunade!"
Shinichi abruptly stood up, the chair legs scraping against the ground with a screeching sound, interrupting Tsunade's increasingly out-of-control outburst: "Although I don't know what happened to you today or why you're in such a mood, please stop! I will not allow you to insult the Hokage and the Will of Fire passed down through the village!"
"What? Kid, you want to teach me a lesson?"
Tsunade tilted her head and glanced at him, her body swaying slightly from the alcohol, and sneered.
Facing this renowned one of the legendary Sannin, Shinichi did not back down, looking directly into her eyes and saying, "The Hokage is the pillar of the village, the banner of Konoha! The Will of Fire was ignited by the first Hokage himself, and countless predecessors have used their blood and lives as fuel to pass it down to this day! It is also the will of every name on the memorial stone that willingly..."
"Shut up!"
Tsunade looked as if she had been stabbed by something sharp. The drunkenness on her face was somewhat washed away by her intense emotions, replaced by an expression that was a mixture of immense annoyance and even rage.
"It's none of your business, you brat, to lecture me! What do you know? What have you seen? You know absolutely nothing!"
Frustrated, she reached for the wine bottle on the table, but her fingers grasped nothing.
Shinichi had already moved the bottle away and placed it on a corner of the table away from her.
"Give me the wine!"
Tsunade stared at him, her voice filled with suppressed anger.
Shinichi shook his head, his tone calm but firm: "Lady Tsunade, you're drunk, you really can't drink anymore."
"I told you I'm not drunk!"
Shinichi still shook his head.
Seeing this, Tsunade smiled, her eyes narrowing slightly with a dangerous glint in them.
"You brat... Do you really want to go against me?"
Shinichi shook his head again: "Lady Tsunade, you are the granddaughter of the first and second Hokage, the disciple of the third Hokage, and a hero of Konoha. Every word you say here, even if it's just something said in a drunken fit, will become rumors and have a great negative impact on the village once it gets out."
"I told you! Don't lecture me!!!"
Tsunade's patience seemed to have completely run out, and her pent-up emotions, fueled by drunkenness, suddenly erupted. She slammed her fist into the table in front of her.
However, in the blink of an eye, a hand blocked her fist before it landed on the table.
"Bang!!!"
With a dull thud, the shockwave from the violent collision and cancellation of two enormous forces sent the bowls, plates, and cups on the surrounding tables flying with a crash.
The diners and the owner nearby turned pale with fright and backed away as they watched the horrifying scene.
The drunkenness in Tsunade's eyes dissipated slightly, replaced by undisguised surprise. She was surprised that the boy in front of her could actually catch her punch. Although she hadn't used full strength, the power it contained was not to be underestimated.
Under Tsunade's astonished gaze, Shinichi slowly and firmly raised his fist from the table.
"Lady Tsunade."
He glanced around and spoke slowly, his voice not loud, but it echoed clearly in the now quiet shop: "Didn't you ask me before why I became a ninja, and why I work so hard?"
"I am an orphan, and the village raised me. I am deeply grateful for that."
"From as far back as I can remember, I always saw the adults around me with worried and sad expressions on their faces from time to time. Every now and then, a few timid new faces would appear among the playmates in the yard, while some familiar smiling faces never appeared again."
"Later, I slowly came to understand that various countries were still at war at that time, and there was constant fighting outside the village. They were worried about their relatives and friends on the front lines, and those new playmates were children who had lost their parents."
Shinichi withdrew his gaze and returned to look at Tsunade's face, his eyes clear and genuine: "Back then, I wondered, what protected children like me who grew up safely in the village? What made those adults, even when they were afraid and sad, still try their best to live every day? Later, I realized it was the seniors who fought desperately on the front lines, Sakumo Hatake, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Nawaki, Dan Kato..."
Tsunade's eyes widened as she listened, the drunkenness fading from her face. When the names Nawaki and Dan Kato were clearly uttered by Shinichi, she felt as if she had been stabbed by an invisible needle and abruptly interrupted Shinichi: "You! How did you know?! Who told you?! Was it Shizune?!"
Shinichi didn't answer the question, as if it weren't important. He simply continued speaking in a calm tone, as if stating a perfectly simple fact: "It is countless predecessors like them, whom I have never met and do not even know the names of, who used their lives as walls to keep war and death outside the village and maintain the peace here."
"So, from that moment on, I made up my mind."
Shinichi's gaze met Tsunade's astonished eyes with a calm and almost pure determination: "I want to become that kind of person too! I want to become strong enough to protect those who came after me, just like those predecessors who protected the village and me; to give more people a peaceful place to live, where they no longer have to live in constant fear; and to make this place that nurtured me have a more peaceful daily life and fewer tears of parting."
"This is why I became a ninja and keep training to become stronger!"
The barbecue restaurant was quiet, with only the occasional crackling of the charcoal fire.
Tsunade stared blankly at the boy in front of her, whose face was still young but whose eyes were already unusually calm and firm, and for a moment she felt speechless.
Shinichi slowly released his grip on Tsunade's fist and took a half-step back: "So, Lady Tsunade, please think about it carefully. What you want to deny and mock is precisely what countless predecessors of Konoha, including your closest relatives and loved ones, who brought hope to countless Konoha compatriots during the last Shinobi World War, desperately tried to protect."
After saying that, he didn't say anything more, nor did he look at Tsunade's expression. He turned around and left the barbecue restaurant, his figure quickly disappearing into the snowy night outside.
Something so important that he would risk my life to protect…
Tsunade watched the boy's retreating figure; her lips moved slightly, but in the end, it only turned into a faint murmur.
"Shinichi… Higashino…"
The news that Tsunade, the princess of Konoha and one of the three legendary Sannin, had a conflict with Shinichi Higashino, a rising young genius, at a barbecue restaurant was like a small flame that suddenly appeared in winter.
Although the details are unclear, the rumors that spread like wildfire still added an inexplicable ripple to the peaceful village.
People speculated about the reason: Had the genius's misbehavior offended his senior? Or was it the Konoha princess taking her anger out on him because she was in a bad mood?
There are many opinions, but no definitive answer.
In the Hokage's office, under the warm yellow light, the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, received a detailed report from Anbu.
"Haa...."
After a long silence, he let out a long, complex sigh.