Chapter 27: Sorting feelings

In the coming days, Yujin did not meet with Tsunade. He spent most of his day meditating or practicing martial arts. He had not fully recovered yet; there was still some way to go before the Qi and Chakra in his body reached equilibrium. Currently, he was only at 20% of his strength, which was sufficient for training.

At night, he would visit Mito to assist her with the technique she was creating.

Although Yujin understood the theory, he didn’t comprehend how she intended to use it in practice. The more he studied Chakra, the more amazed he became at its versatility. Qi couldn’t even compare in this regard.

Days passed, and Yujin found himself constantly thinking about Tsunade. He realized; this was love. Only now did he understand how painful it is to be away from a loved one.

As it was the first time he felt this way, he decided to seek knowledge on the subject. He went to the village’s bookstore and bought two books he found interesting.

He wasn’t a proficient reader, but he had spent the past few weeks learning from Tsunade and could somewhat understand if he strained his memory and brain. It wasn’t very challenging since the spoken language was the same. He also had a dictionary with illustrations that Tsunade gave him, so with great effort, he managed to read the books.

All the books he bought were of romance, and he devoured the content. When he finished reading them, he reread them, deepening his understanding of love and reading.

Although it was painful to be away from Tsunade, he knew it was for the best. It’s not like she was alone; now, she had a daughter to care for and love.

On the other hand, Tsunade was not much better than Yujin. She tried to keep herself occupied, spending time with Mito, Shizune, and Kushina, but deep down, she was always thinking about Yujin and their relationship.

These past few days made her realize how dependent she was on Yujin.

Whenever she felt lonely or sad because of her grandmother, she thought about visiting Yujin, something that occurred frequently. She also missed drinking with him. Drinking alone wasn’t the same, and she wasn’t in the mood to drink with anyone else.

At the same time, she started to acknowledge the feelings she had for him, feelings she had ignored for over a month due to circumstances.

About these feelings, she was conflicted. She could recognize and understand them, but accepting them was difficult. Dan’s death was still fresh in her mind.

Today, she was home alone. Shizune was spending time with Mito and Kushina. Feeling lonely, she went home to ponder a bit.

She then took out paper and began writing her feelings, something she had never done before. She wanted to organize how she felt in a simple way to understand how to proceed.

She started by writing about her relationship with Dan. They didn’t date for long, but the feelings she had for him were recent, something impossible to erase overnight.

She also wrote about how, despite liking him a lot, she never tried to deepen the relationship physically, which confused her for a while. Dan had tried a few times to become physical, but Tsunade always felt uncomfortable and rejected him.

Dan was kind and understanding enough not to force it, perhaps why Tsunade felt comfortable dating him for so long without deepening the relationship. Now, thinking about the past, she realized something was wrong.

Why didn’t she want to deepen the relationship, even though she loved him so much?

Why was she so resistant to becoming physical with him?

Even after hours of thinking, she couldn’t come to a conclusion. She decided to talk to Mito about it next time.

Tsunade then wrote about her past, about her parents’ death, grandfather, brother, and then about Mito, Kushina, and Shizune. She wrote everything she could remember and feel.

Finally, she began writing about Yujin.

From the first meeting, when he abducted her from the battlefield, thinking she was a civilian, to how he dug graves for the enemy village ninjas, his past story, how he constantly wanted to comfort her, caring for her.

She began to question Yujin’s intentions. She had spent enough time with him to know him well, and his actions of constantly being kind to her puzzled her.

Yujin is kind normally, always thinking from people’s perspectives, but she began to notice the care he always had for her, from the first moment they met.