Chapter 16 (Patreon)

If Kushina could truly forget Minato so easily—her childhood sweetheart, her husband, and the father of her child—Roy would have found that far more troubling.

The fact that she could not forget him only proved how deeply she valued the bonds she formed.

Of course, the thought of another man still occupying a place in the heart of the woman he desired left Roy feeling somewhat conflicted. But who could he blame when he had arrived in the shinobi world so late, only to become bound to a woman as captivating as Kushina?

Even Roy himself could not say with certainty whether he truly loved Kushina for who she was, or whether years of loneliness, combined with their unavoidable physical closeness, had simply made him desire her.

Whatever the truth might be, he and Kushina could no longer be separated.

Perhaps they would remain bound together for the rest of their lives.

And since Roy wanted her, he had to be willing to accept everything that came with her.

His words shook Kushina deeply.

She could not imagine how powerful his feelings must have been for him to accept that Minato would always remain in her heart. Love was supposed to be selfish, after all.

Had Kushina known Roy’s true thoughts—that one of them craved physical closeness while the other longed for comfort and affection—she might have faced the situation with far less guilt.

Instead, the misunderstanding between them only caused her remorse to deepen.

She silently thanked the heavens that, after losing Minato, Roy had appeared in her life.

At the same time, she could not help feeling that she was unworthy of his kindness.

“Human emotions really are complicated.”

Inside the mental space, the Nine-Tails watched their exchange with great interest.

“I’ve lived for a thousand years, and I still don’t understand them. Maybe this is what that old man, the Sage of Six Paths, was always talking about...”

Its expression suddenly darkened.

“Damn it!”

Its connection to the outside world had been cut off again.

This was not the first time it had experienced something like this.

The same thing had happened whenever Uzumaki Mito was alone with Hashirama Senju, and later whenever Minato and Kushina spent time together.

Every time its perception of the outside world was blocked repeatedly, a new life might eventually appear inside its jinchūriki.

The Nine-Tails had always been curious about how humans created new life and how the process differed from the way the Sage of Six Paths had created the nine tailed beasts.

Unfortunately, it had never once been allowed to observe it.

Despite what the Nine-Tails imagined, however, Roy did not take matters that far.

Even though Kushina’s guilt had caused her to begin accepting his feelings, she was not yet prepared to entrust herself to him completely.

But...

“Roy-kun… please give me a little more time.”

Her clever hand slipped under the covers without warning.

“Haa—!”

Roy’s entire body jerked. Kushina’s warm, slightly rough fingers closed around his already half-hard cock and gave it a slow, testing stroke from base to tip. The sudden pleasure forced a sharp breath out of his throat.

“…Alright,” he managed, voice strained and rough. “I’m not… in a rush.”

Kushina was no naive girl. She heard the lie clearly. The way his cock twitched and thickened rapidly inside her fist told the real truth. Still, the fact that he forced himself to respect her pace only made the heat between her legs worse.

She used her free left hand to peel his clenched fingers off the bedsheet and guided them upward, pressing his palm firmly against the heavy, soft curve of her breast.

“Touch me,” she whispered.

Roy’s restraint snapped.

Both hands immediately cupped her full tits, squeezing and kneading the soft flesh. His thumbs found her nipples and rubbed them in firm circles until they stiffened into hard peaks against his palms.

Kushina’s breathing grew heavier. She kept stroking his cock with slow, deliberate pumps, twisting her wrist slightly at the head on every upstroke, spreading the bead of precum that had already leaked out.

“Mnnh… Roy-kun… your hands are so hot…”

He leaned down and closed his mouth over one swollen nipple, sucking hard.

“Ahh—! Haaah…!”

Kushina’s back arched. The wet, lewd schlurp of his mouth pulling on her nipple filled the quiet room. He sucked greedily, tongue lashing the stiff tip, then bit down lightly.

“Nnhh—! Ahh… yes… suck them harder… mmph—!”

Her hand sped up on his cock, pumping him with wet, filthy sounds as more precum slicked her fingers.

Schlick… schlick… schlick…

Roy switched to the other breast, biting down on the nipple while his free hand slid lower. He grabbed one of her soft ass cheeks and squeezed hard, then spread them open, fingers digging into the plush flesh.

The cool air of the room touched her exposed entrance for a moment before his hand returned to kneading and spreading her roughly.

Kushina’s moans grew louder, dirtier.

“Ahh… Roy-kun… your mouth… nnhh… you’re going to make me lose my mind… haaah… suck my nipples like that again… bite them… yes—!”

He obeyed, biting down harder on the sensitive peak while his tongue flicked rapidly over it. At the same time his other hand kept spreading and massaging her ass, occasionally letting a finger brush teasingly close to her dripping entrance without entering.

Kushina’s hand became almost frantic on his cock.

“You’re throbbing so much… haah… so thick… I can feel every vein… nnhh… are you close already? Cum for me… cum in my hand… paint my fingers white, Roy-kun—”

The filthy words pushed him over the edge.

Roy’s hips jerked. He bit down hard on her nipple at the exact moment his cock pulsed violently in her fist.

“Kushina—!”

Thick ropes of hot cum erupted across her fingers and palm with wet, heavy spurts.

Kushina kept stroking him through it, milking every drop while soft, broken moans spilled from her lips.

“Ahh… yes… that’s it… empty it all… nnhh… so much… haaah…”

Roy’s body shuddered for several long seconds before he finally released her nipple with a wet pop. A thin string of saliva still connected his lips to the reddened, swollen peak. His chest heaved.

Kushina’s hand was completely coated in his release, the sticky warmth dripping slowly between her fingers.

She looked at the mess with half-lidded eyes, then lazily wiped most of it on his lower stomach before snuggling against his chest, still breathing hard.

“…Good night, Roy-kun.”

Roy’s voice was hoarse.

“Good night.”

Although he said that but he couldn't sleep at all.

All night his hands kept roaming—squeezing her breasts, pinching the sensitive nipples he had bitten, spreading her ass cheeks again and again just to feel the soft heat of her. The memory of her dirty words and the wet sounds of her hand working his cock kept him half-hard until dawn.

When morning finally came, Kushina no longer pretended not to notice the thick erection pressed against her hip. She simply reached down, wrapped her fingers around him once more, and whispered against his ear:

“I’ve been making things difficult for you lately… let me take care of it again.”

Roy, who had remained awake throughout the night, somehow appeared even more energetic.

...

Nonō Yakushi did not find it strange that Kushina woke up an hour later than usual.

After all, Kushina had spent so long training with heavy weights the previous day. The fact that she could even get out of bed the next morning was already more than most people could manage.

After placing the reheated breakfast on the table, Nonō picked up Naruto and took him outside for their usual morning walk.

Once Kushina had eaten her fill, she began another day of training.

This time, however, she redistributed some of the weight from her arms to her legs.

After lunch, Roy and Kushina entered the Nine-Tails’ mental space.

While Kushina continued speaking with the Nine-Tails to strengthen their relationship, she also used the opportunity to adapt further to its chakra.

Only one day had passed since she began her training, yet she was already able to endure the corrosive influence of the negative emotions for an additional two and a half minutes.

That improvement gave Kushina even greater motivation for her afternoon training.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the arrival of the Uchiha clan had brought Kumogakure’s advance to a halt.

The first reason was Shisui of the Body Flicker.

His overwhelming speed forced the Fourth Raikage to race constantly from one section of the battlefield to another, responding wherever Shisui appeared.

The second reason was the Sharingan’s ability to control tailed beasts.

The Nine-Tails’ attack on Konoha had already demonstrated that possibility.

The moment the Uchiha appeared on the battlefield, the Raikage became wary of allowing either Killer B or the Two-Tails’ jinchūriki to act freely. If either of them fell under the Sharingan’s control, the consequences would be disastrous.

Even so, Shisui alone did not possess enough power to decide a war between two great shinobi villages.

Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage, had waited in vain for an opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Kumogakure.

In the end, he could only sigh once more at the depth of Konoha’s reserves before turning his attention toward Sunagakure and Kirigakure.

Neither village responded to his attempts at provocation.

Compared to Konoha, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure, both Sunagakure and Kirigakure were already at a disadvantage in terms of overall strength.

They had also suffered severe losses during the Third Shinobi World War.

At present, recovering their strength was far more important than allowing themselves to become expendable soldiers in Iwagakure’s schemes.

Unable to persuade them, Ōnoki could do nothing except curse the leaders of both villages as cowardly and incompetent.

Within Konoha, the rumours surrounding Danzō had still received no official response from either the Hokage or Danzō himself.

The villagers who had initially dismissed the stories were beginning to waver.

It was not that Danzō did not wish to defend himself.

He simply had not yet discovered who was spreading the rumours, and he knew that any explanation he offered would be useless.

Even if one accusation was silenced, another would soon appear in its place.

For the moment, remaining silent and allowing the war on the front lines to divert the villagers’ attention seemed like the better choice.

Given Konoha’s current condition, completely repelling Kumogakure in a single offensive was unrealistic.

Therefore, allowing Kumogakure to increase the pressure on the village was far more useful to Danzō.

What frustrated him was Kumogakure’s lack of progress.

Despite deploying both of its jinchūriki to the front lines, it had still failed to break through Konoha’s first defensive line.

Since Kumogakure was incapable of producing the result he needed, and Danzō required the village to feel enough pressure to forget about the rumours surrounding him, he decided to help Kumogakure advance.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, meanwhile, had deliberately refused to issue a statement on behalf of Konoha’s leadership.

His reason was simple.

He intended to use the situation to suppress Danzō.

Hiruzen wanted him to understand that without the Hokage’s support, Danzō could not control everything by himself.

Perhaps then Danzō would return to being the adviser who worked alongside him in unspoken cooperation, rather than continuing to behave like an ambitious rival who repeatedly defied the Hokage’s authority.

When Danzō entered the Hokage’s office with his usual expressionless face, Hiruzen felt a flicker of satisfaction.

He assumed Danzō had finally been unable to withstand the pressure and had come to lower his head.

However, the moment Danzō spoke, Hiruzen’s satisfaction vanished.

“Hiruzen, I can understand why you sent the Uchiha clan to the front lines.”

Danzō’s voice remained cold and controlled.

“But you have seen the results for yourself. They have been there for several days in considerable numbers, yet they have neither driven Kumogakure back nor captured either of its jinchūriki.”

His visible eye narrowed.

“They are clearly doing the bare minimum. And that proves they have never truly considered themselves part of the village.”