Naruto: We Agreed on a Simulation, But They Actually Came to Life?

The door opened.

Kitahara Kaede stepped inside and gently closed the office door behind him.

Tsunade sat behind her desk, still holding a medical chart. Her amber eyes looked straight at him.

There was no expression on her face. None of the anger he had expected, nor any deliberate coldness. Only calm.

Kaede remained beside the door, his throat suddenly dry.

He had prepared countless opening lines before coming, but the moment he met those eyes, he discovered he couldn’t say a single one.

Should he ask whether she had been doing well lately?

After an entire month, wasn’t it far too late to ask that now?

The longer the silence stretched, the more suffocating it became.

In the end, Kaede chose to get straight to the point.

"Lady Tsunade, how has Rin been lately?"

A flash of disappointment crossed Tsunade’s eyes so quickly it was almost impossible to see.

He had returned from Amegakure and come all the way to the hospital, yet the first thing he asked about was Nohara Rin.

Not even a single question about whether Tsunade herself was all right.

Tsunade lowered her gaze, suppressed the emotion she shouldn’t have felt, and restored the steady tone she used at work.

"Her vital signs have remained stable, and her chakra circulation is much smoother than before."

"Katsuyu also reported that her conscious activity has increased considerably."

Kaede immediately stepped forward.

"Does that mean she’ll wake up soon?"

Tsunade didn’t look at him. She used the pen in her hand to draw a line in the corner of the chart.

"There’s a strong possibility, but no one can guarantee exactly when she’ll awaken."

"That’s good."

Relief was obvious in Kaede’s voice.

Hearing it, an inexplicable sourness rose in Tsunade’s heart.

So he had really rushed here solely to confirm Nohara Rin’s condition.

As for how Tsunade had spent the past month, whether she had reached a decision, or whether she was suffering, he had never intended to ask.

The office fell silent again.

The official matter was finished. By all reason, Kaede should leave.

Yet his feet felt rooted in place.

He wanted to say something more, to break the awkward atmosphere, but each time he opened his mouth, he had no idea where to begin.

In the past, whenever he was with Tsunade, he could easily respond to her, make her laugh, or provoke her anger.

But now, after months of cold war, even speaking the simplest sentence felt impossibly difficult.

He remained silent for a long time.

So long that Tsunade thought he would take his leave at any moment. Only then did she hear him speak with awkward hesitation.

"If Rin can wake up, then what comes afterward... may become much easier to handle."

Tsunade looked at him, her gaze carrying a searching quality she herself hadn’t noticed.

What did he mean by suddenly saying that?

Was he trying to explain something, or had it simply occurred to him?

She was afraid of reading too much into it and making herself look ridiculous.

But if he truly was trying to approach her, she was equally afraid of missing the chance.

Tsunade could only give the safest answer.

"Mm."

The small hope that had just risen in Kaede’s heart immediately sank again.

He assumed Tsunade didn’t want to listen and had no desire to discuss anything beyond necessary business with him.

If he stayed any longer, he would only irritate her.

"Then I’ll leave."

Tsunade didn’t raise her head. Her voice sounded muffled.

"When Rin wakes, I’ll send someone to notify you."

"All right."

Kaede nodded and turned toward the door.

Tsunade finally looked up and watched his back.

Was he really going to leave just like that?

Kaede’s hand had already settled on the handle.

With the slightest press, he would leave this office completely—and perhaps leave her world with it.

Just as he was about to push it down, Tsunade’s voice suddenly came from behind him.

"When you get back, you... should make sure to rest."

Kaede’s hand froze.

He slowly turned and stared at her in astonishment.

Tsunade grew flustered beneath his gaze and hurriedly lowered her head.

Kaede remained where he stood for two seconds before quietly answering.

"I will."

The door closed again.

Tsunade sat motionless for a long time.

The instant those words had left her mouth, all the indifference and unconcern she had worked so hard to feign collapsed completely.

She raised a hand to cover her face, her thoughts in total chaos.

"What am I even doing...?"

That wasn’t what she had wanted to say at all.

She wanted to ask what he had done during his month in Amegakure. She wanted to ask what exactly was going on between him and that woman named Pakura. She wanted to ask him...

But when the words reached her lips, they became a meaningless "get some rest."

The more Tsunade thought about it, the angrier she became.

"That bastard! That idiot! Why can’t he understand what I mean?!"

***

Deep underground, the air was dark and damp.

Obito emerged from a twisting spatial vortex. The lone eye behind his orange mask swept coldly across the surroundings.

Black Zetsu stood within a shadow, half his body nearly fused with the slick stone wall. Without looking carefully, he would have been impossible to detect.

Obito approached him, his voice devoid of emotion.

"Were you the one who took Nagato’s Rinnegan?"

Black Zetsu slid out of the darkness, the corners of his mouth slowly stretching into an eerie smile.

"Yes. Fu was one of the contingencies Madara-sama left behind, prepared specifically for unexpected changes to the plan."

Obito remained silent for a moment, the gaze behind his mask turning colder.

Uchiha Madara was already dead, yet the arrangements that old man had left behind were still activating one after another, like an invisible web enveloping the entire Shinobi World.

"Where are the Rinnegan?"

"And what is the next stage of the plan?"

Black Zetsu gave a low laugh.

"The eyes are with me. They’re safe. When the timing is right, I’ll naturally hand them over to you."

"As for the plan... we’ll begin by investigating the Jinchuriki of each village. Confirm their locations and strength, then deal with them one by one."

Obito stared at Black Zetsu, undisguised doubt in his voice.

"The two of us are going to steal the Tailed Beasts from the Five Great Ninja Villages?"

"Who said there were only two of us?"

Black Zetsu’s smile widened.

"Madara-sama prepared more than enough power for us long ago."

Obito asked nothing further. He merely snorted, turned away, and allowed space to distort before him once more.

"Understood. I’ll gather intelligence."

Black Zetsu nodded and watched him vanish into the vortex.

Silence returned to the underground chamber.

After a while, faint footsteps emerged from the shadows.

Another masked figure stepped out from a corner—the traitor Fu, who had defected from the Akatsuki.

He raised a hand and touched the area around his left eye.

Black Zetsu turned toward him.

"How are you adapting to the new eye?"

Fu’s breathing was heavy. His hand remained beside the eye socket, and pain seeped into his voice.

"Its power is too great. Right now... I can barely withstand one."

Black Zetsu slowly nodded, cold satisfaction in his gaze.

"There’s no hurry. Take your time."

"We have many, many things to do next."

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