The shop attendant froze, a tray of cookies trembling in her hands as she walked out of the kitchen and saw Ayato smack Kurenai's backside. The biscuits nearly slid off the plate. She stood there in stunned disbelief.
Did I just see that?
Was that Kurenai—Kurenai, the proud, valiant kunoichi admired by so many girls and envied by men—getting spanked in a pastry shop?
Her eyes widened. This couldn't be right.
Kurenai's body trembled. Her dark hair fell over her face; heat rushed to her cheeks and the color spread to her ears. She bit her lip, voice trembling as she said, "Ad—Ayato!"
The sting wasn't much—less than a sparring bruise—but the shame cut deeper than any pain.
"Don't be so angry." Ayato patted her rear in a mock-comforting way, speaking as if lecturing a child. "Have you heard the saying, 'tit for tat'? Means I don't like being on the losing end."
Kurenai blinked, furious. She had meant to splash him with tea as a prank—an eye-for-an-eye—but Ayato's "slip" had been a lot more emphatic than hers. Who managed to "accidentally" slap someone's backside like that?
"You—" Kurenai's voice cut off. Her face, cold at first, suddenly went soft; a flush spread over her features and she sagged to her knees, overwhelmed by a fluttering sensation that made her go weak at the knees.
The shop girl dropped the tray with a clatter, crying out and fleeing back into the kitchen with her face in her hands. Oh my god, she'd seen something she shouldn't have. Were they lovers? Was she going to be silenced for witnessing it?
Kurenai spun around, eyes glittering with tears and humiliation, and—before she could think—she bit Ayato's hand hard.
"Argh—" Ayato sucked in a breath, pretending to be in agony.
That softened Kurenai's expression. She let go, wiping at the corner of her mouth, cheeks damp. Her gaze was sharp and frosty now as she spat, word by word, "I—hate—you—right—now. We're—through!"
With that, she stormed out of the pastry shop and hurried toward the village gate to greet Mei Terumī. As a jōnin she had a duty to receive the Mizukage; no matter what else, she'd do it properly.
Ayato glanced at his palm and saw a neat row of tiny teeth marks. He rolled his eyes. "Women are all the same," he muttered, amused. "They like biting the same place, apparently."
Still… he found Kurenai a little cute when she was mad. He shrugged and headed for the gate—this show promised to be interesting.
The Konoha gate was lined with jōnin on both sides while townsfolk watched from a distance. Hidden among the crowd were dozens of Anbu and covert operatives, all keeping a wary eye on the visitor. After all, Kirigakure and Konoha had history. The Fifth Mizukage's arrival demanded constant vigilance.
Mei Terumī entered with her retinue: Ao, Chōjūrō of the Seven Swordsmen, and a squad of nine Kirigakure genin. She removed her hood and revealed the formidable, elegant face of the Mizukage as she scanned the gathered Konoha jōnin.
"The Hokage's village looks lively," Mei observed. She cast a cool glance across the assembled upper ranks.
Hiruzen Sarutobi inhaled and blew a lazy cloud of smoke, smiling warmly. "The visit of the Mizukage to ease tensions between our villages is welcome. The Will of Fire endures—healing old wounds and bathing people in sunlight."
Mei's polite smile did not reach her eyes. She scanned the jōnin line for a certain face that haunted her dreams and made her teeth grind, but of course she found no sign of him. The so-called "Will of Fire" meant little to her now. She had sent teams to register under the cover of the Chūnin Exams for one purpose: to find Ayato.
What a wretched brat—how dare he defy her! She would find him and make him pay.
Ao narrowed his single visible eye, sending a subtle alert about the hidden Anbu. "Mizukage-sama, there are nearly a hundred covert operatives in the vicinity. Please be cautious."
Mei nodded slightly. She had felt the presence of hidden forces too; Konoha smelled differently from Kirigakure. Still, the whole trip was worth it—she had a personal matter to attend to.
She turned polite curiosity into conversation. "I've heard rumors of a 'disaster ninja' from the Hyūga clan… named Ayato?"
Hiruzen chuckled. "You mean Ayato Hyūga? Yes—young, absurdly powerful, and even more reckless than his strength would explain. He's a handful, even for me."
That was the reason Mei had come. Ayato's strength and unpredictability were not trivial. If someone like him was roaming the land, Kirigakure could not ignore it—especially if Mei had personal motives.
The Kirigakure escort exchanged looks. Everyone in Kirigakure knew their leader's obsession; Mei had been poring over Ayato's reports for days, sighing and blushing like a lovesick fool. They'd gone so far as to send operatives under the pretext of the Chūnin Exams to get her to Konoha faster.
Mei smiled faintly. "We'll have a short tour, then." She regarded Kurenai with a cool curiosity. "She seems… refined."
Kurenai bowed before Hiruzen and accepted the task of showing Mei around. Inside, Kurenai's mood was complicated: she did not like Ayato's antics, but she did not hate him entirely. The Mizukage's sharp gaze flicked to Kurenai, and for a moment something private passed between them—Mei wondered if Kurenai liked this particular troublemaker.
Kurenai blushed at the thought and stammered a denial. "N—No, of course not."
Mei's eyes twitched. She asked pointedly, "Do you like him?"
Kurenai's face flamed red. "Like him? Who would like that—he's a rotten, lecherous nuisance!"
Mei's lips curved as she watched Kurenai struggle to explain herself. "He seems… not so bad, perhaps," she said softly. "Sometimes the things people do are annoying, but that doesn't mean they're entirely unendearing."
Kurenai bristled and insisted she would cut him off for good. Mei smiled, thinking it a child's mood—nothing to worry about. But inside, her expression hardened with a private ire. If Ayato had been the one to make her miss him, she would settle the matter utterly.
Suddenly blue lightning crackled and Ayato reappeared among them, carrying a box of takoyaki. He'd been sampling street food and charging it to the Third Hokage, as usual. "Hey—did you miss me?" he called, as if greeting long-lost friends.
The Kirigakure genin gaped. "Is that the so-called 'disaster ninja,' the Mizukage's boyfriend Ayato? He's handsome… and that thunder—lightning style, right?"
Ao's face remained unreadable, but Kiri's junior ninjas whispered and stared. Mei glared at Ayato, lips tight. Kurenai's reaction was quicker and louder: she and Mei both shouted insults at him without thinking—one called him a "pervert," the other a "rotten lecher."
They both froze, staring at each other in confusion: why was the Mizukage calling him a "pervert"? And why was Kurenai calling him something else? Each woman looked at the other, baffled—neither understood why the other had cursed Ayato.
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