Chapter 55: I, Your Father, am Living the Good Life

After hearing what Wu had to say and taking a few moments to collect herself, Tenten recapped, “So you learned from the Third Hokage that Lady Tsunade’s eggs were going to given to surrogates, volunteered to ‘help,’ got into a heated argument, and still somehow ended up getting married…?”

Though he nodded his head, Wu corrected, “It would be more accurate to say Jiji asked if I was willing, and I replied that I was. After all, Tsunade is the woman you look up to and intend to surpass. The fact she agreed with the arrangement should tell you just how ‘dire’ the situation was…”

Exhaling a sigh, Tenten leaned into Wu’s shoulder as she replied, “Yeah…I get that. It’s just hard to believe that ‘the’ Senju Tsunade is now your wife. I can’t imagine how I’m going to face her…”

Resting his cheek atop Tenten’s head, Wu softly replied, “When you’re ready…for now, we continue our lives as usual. I already talked to her at length, and she has no problems with me assisting in your training these next couple of weeks. She even permitted us to utilize the Senju Clan Compound, nearly 500 acres of forest personally planted by the Shodai Hokage…”

As exciting as the prospect of exploring the ‘heart’ of Konoha was, Tenten wasn’t quite ready to meet with Tsunade just yet, replying, “For now, let’s just use the usual training grounds. I…”

Realizing how her words could be misconstrued as running away, Tenten found herself unable to voice them. It wasn’t like she could avoid meeting Tsunade for the rest of her life, so even though the very thought made her tremble, she supplanted, “I changed my mind…let’s go ahead and use the Senju Clan Compound. In fact, let’s go right this instant. The sooner I can get this over with, the sooner I can return to focusing on my training.”

Nodding his head in approval, Wu gave Tenten a kiss on the top of her head, saying, “That’s my girl…” in an affectionate tone. He wouldn’t have condemned her if she wanted to put things off, but facing the source of your worries and insecurities was infinitely better than allowing them to consume you. The longer she delayed the encounter, the more anxious and unfocused she would become…

Catching Wu a little off guard, Tenten softly inquired, “So…what was it like? Someone as…experienced as Lady Tsunade should have been able to teach you all kinds of things, right?”

Flipping things on their head, Wu surprised Tenten by asserting, “Quite the opposite, surprisingly. I also thought she would be experienced, but she yielded the advantage pretty quickly once I got her to climax a few times. After that, she never even tried to steal it back…”

Though it was a little difficult to believe, a wry smile developed across Tenten’s face as she remarked, “Why am I not surprised? And to think, for a moment there, I was actually looking forward to seeing you get teased by an older woman.”

Recalling the state he had left Tsunade in before his departure, Wu had a confident smile on his face as he stated, “That’s not going to happen. You should know that if it’s a skill I can quantitatively improve, I keep ‘training’ until I surpass even my own expectations. You might find this challenging to believe, but there was a point when Tsunade was shouting at me to go and find other women just to have a moment’s reprieve.”

Contrasting Wu’s expectations, Tenten remarked, “I can’t speak about the parts concerning Lady Tsunade, but the rest certainly sounds like you. It’s one of the reasons I’m terrified to actually do it. I’ve heard about Kunoichi who have been ‘broken’ during intense intercourse…”

Planting another kiss on Tenten’s head, Wu assured her, “I would never do something you’re against, Tenten. Tsunade just goaded me and paid the price for her hubris…”

Not wanting the image of her Hero to be tarnished any further, Tenten responded with a half-hearted, “Yeah, yeah…” before asking, “When do you want to introduce me? I didn’t have anything planned today except training, so I’m down to go whenever.”

Surprising the dango-haired girl, Wu shook his head, asserting, “Now isn’t the best time. We can go over the Senju Clan Compound, but I don’t think Tsunade is in any condition to accept visitors. If I had to guess, she won’t be waking for another six to eight hours, at least…”

Blinking in surprise, Tenten’s voice carried more than a hint of incredulity as she asked, “What did you do to her…?”

Narrowing his eyes and adopting a playful smile, Wu replied, “She wanted to see my limits. I merely proved to her I didn’t have any…”

Understanding what Wu was insinuating, Tenten’s voice trembled slightly as she softly inquired, “How long…?”

Adopting a toothy, almost feral grin, Wu left the dango-haired girl reeling as he revealed, “Fifty-three hours, and I still haven’t rested…in fact, I feel more energetic and ‘alive’ than ever before. Aren’t you excited~?”

Without hesitation, Tenten replied, “More like horrified…” before adopting a sober expression and adding, “Promise me you’ll never do anything like that to me, Wu…”

Pulling the usually bubbly girl close, Wu’s expression and tone softened as he answered, “I said it before…I would never force you to do anything you’re unwilling. This situation with Tsunade may have shaken things up, but you’re still the first woman I chose to walk this path with…nothing can ever change that…”

With Wu’s words whittling away at the defenses of her heart and mind, Tenten momentarily forgot her trepidations and muttered, “Oh, Wu-kun…” in a faint, clearly enamored tone. Then, as the latter drew his face closer to her own, Tenten closed her eyes and just allowed her instincts to take over…

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As the days since Wu’s return transitioned into weeks, the delegations from Iwa, Suna, Kumo, Kiri, and several other smaller Shinobi Nations began to arrive in Konoha. Around the same time, Hiruzen called Wu into his office to ask if he intended to participate in the Chunin Exams, but the latter immediately refused. He had every intention of taking part, primarily to prevent Orochimaru from targeting anyone he found useful, but most of Wu’s interest in the Chunin Exams involved its Finals.

Since he had intended to talk Wu ‘out’ of participating, Hiruzen had no problem permitting the former to do as he pleased. It would cause an international incident if Wu were discovered partaking in the Exams as an inactive participant, but Hiruzen was confident in the boy’s ability to go undetected. Besides, if Oto and Suna ‘did’ orchestrate an invasion of the village, they could easily claim that Wu was acting in the capacity of an ANBU operative. Who was going to attempt to hold the boy accountable? The Raikage…?

With the matter of his ‘participation’ decided, Wu was asked to remain low-key until the delegations from the other villages departed. He wasn’t expressly prohibited from walking around the village, but Hiruzen asked him to act with discretion unless he was sure of his victory and prepared to eliminate Orochimaru ahead of schedule.

Fortunately for Hiruzen, Wu was more than happy to ‘confine’ himself to the Senju Clan Compound. ‘Bullying’ Tsunade and teasing Shizune were quickly becoming his favorite pastime, and he had already explained his circumstances to everyone that mattered. If anyone needed something from him, they could easily find him at the Senju Clan Compound, either training himself ‘or’ Tsunade…

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“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this…”

With a mesh bodysuit covering her ribs, abdomen, and thighs, a white crop top that barely contained her breasts, and a red skirt that struggled nearly as much to conceal her remarkably rotund ass, Tsunade had sweat beading from her brows as Wu instructed her in his ‘horse stance’ training. It was the same training Wu had put most of his students through, but he had gradually refined it to include weights and strike training.

While perched on the end of his staff, which was currently parallel to the ground and with the opposite end adhered to a tree, Wu replied, “You’re the one who demanded to know the ‘secret’ of my strength. Besides, now that you have that incredible body to serve as a foundation, it would be a sin not to refine it further.”

Unable to refute Wu’s words, Tsunade just continued to squat with her hands out to her sides, each clutching the rims of jars with the kanji for ‘guts’ written on their surface. The contents of said jars were granulated Chakra Metal Ore, the same material used to pack the weights used by people like Wu, Lee, and other physical-oriented Shinobi in their training. Even a palm-sized bar of the material could weigh hundreds of kilograms, yet Tsunade was supporting reinforced ceramic jars filled with liters of the substance, roughly 100,000 kilograms each.

Though he was confident he would wipe the floor with her in a fight, Wu had to concede he wasn’t a match for Tsunade in terms of raw physical strength. His current limit was around 140,000 kilograms, yet, according to Tsunade, she had once used the sword wielded by Jiraiya’s summon to take out an entire platoon of enemy Shinobi. Said blade was more than 16 meters in length and purported to be around 400,000 kilograms, yet she had managed to swing it around like an ant swinging a full-sized tanto…

Observing Tsunade’s form, caked in sweat and focused to the extreme, Wu would be lying if he said he didn’t feel an inkling of ‘obsession’ for the woman. Tsunade’s character left a lot to be desired, but her strength and beauty were ‘beyond’ exceptional. She was widely regarded as the most powerful Kunoichi in history, so seeing her aiming to improve herself ‘just for him’ stoked the flames in Wu’s heart and eyes.

Feeling Wu’s gaze burning a hole in her, a progressively ruddy hue spread through Tsunade’s cheeks. She would never, ever admit it, but his ‘honest’ desires caused her to feel increasingly giddy. She initially thought he was just a brat using his strength, appearance, and natural charisma to satisfy his desires. In reality, Wu’s most sincere desire was to have at least one person who could keep up with his monstrous growth. Thus, whenever he found anyone even remotely close to him in terms of strength or potential, he did everything he could to ‘obtain’ them and spur their growth. In other words, at least from Tsunade’s perspective, Wu was desperate not to feel alone…

Reaching the limits of her endurance, Tsunade released the jars, allowing them to crash to the earth, their weight causing them to embed so deeply into the fertile soil they were nearly buried completely. Then, even though she knew she would ‘regret’ it, she turned to Wu and said, “Today is a safe day…”

Replacing the faint red glow exuding from his pupils, Wu’s eyes became fiery red as he promptly descended from his perch, a wolfish grin on his face as he teased, “Have I ever told you how much I absolutely fucking adore you?”

Resisting the urge to point out that he had never even said he loved her, Tsunade rolled her eyes and said, “Yeah, yeah…why don’t you take that silver tongue of yours and put it to use somewhere else? My hormones have been going crazy ever since I started training again. You have the responsibility of helping me ‘balance’ them.”

Grinning even fiercer, Wu’s eyes looked like they were on the verge of firing beams as he practically growled, “If I weren’t concerned with how you viewed me, I’d push you down right here and now…”

Though her throat tensed slightly and her heart skipped a beat, Tsunade managed to appear unflustered as she forced a smile and replied, “Lucky for me that you do…”

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(A/N: For those who are curious, check out the fight between Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru. She really does swing around Gamabunta’s tanto like it’s a toy. And yes, it does weigh that much, if not considerably more due. After all, no ordinary metal could endure the strain of being swung around by a giant frog without snapping instantly.)