Chapter 44

Each time I visited the Senju district, I was amazed by the amount of greenery growing within its boundaries. Dozens of tree species, including fruit-bearing ones, numerous diverse shrubs, both decorative and not so much, various flowers, and other plants—all this magnificence transforms ordinary streets into green alleys that are a pleasure to stroll through. Of course, Konoha itself doesn't lack greenery, but Hashirama's district goes above and beyond.

The main thing is that most of his plantings require almost no care and are very resilient, significantly easing the lives of the local inhabitants. Especially since the Senju clan did not boast large numbers even when a large part of them stopped taking missions or actively participating in wars, preferring to raise a new generation of fighters in the shinobi academy. Therefore, the streets of the district are not crowded even during the busiest times of the day, when I usually visited Mito and Kushina.

Perhaps it was precisely my admiration for the local beauty that caused me to be caught off guard when one of the passing women suddenly moved behind me and enveloped me in bone-crushing embrace (even by my standards), I simply didn't react in time, being in a relaxed state.

"What an uncouth young man—passed by without even greeting," a vaguely familiar voice whispered in my ear with reproach, while the hemispheres pressing into my back clearly suggested that their owner differed only slightly from Tsunade in terms of her main assets.

After a second of contemplation of who this might be, I literally lit up.

"Lyn-chan, you're back!" With this exclamation, I turned around, tightly embracing my childhood acquaintance from the Senju clan and lifting her up, swirling her in the air.

"Ryo-kun! Put me down right now!" the kunoichi protested playfully.

"When did you manage to return to the village?" I asked, setting her down and stepping back slightly.

"I arrived the day before yesterday with the convoy from Suna," Linley reported. "Half of the army was granted leave, so I took it too."

"That's why I haven't seen you around here, even though I visit Kushina-chan quite often," I modestly omitted mentioning Mito.

Carefully examining the kunoichi clad in standard jonin attire (but without a vest), I sadly noted signs of exhaustion on the face and even a certain thinness of my long-time friend, new wrinkles, and folds on the forehead. Apparently, even for such a strong woman, the war had been very challenging. But even in such a state, she remained very beautiful.

"And you've grown so much in just a few years," Linley smiled, shaking her head. "I recognized you only by your hair—it's your distinctive feature."

Indeed, we hadn't seen each other for a very long time—since I was quite young. Then the war began, and as one of the elite jonin, she went to the front, appearing in the village only for short intervals every few days.

"I've achieved a lot in that time—became a third-degree medical-nin, graduated from the academy, joined a team, and even started my own business!" I couldn't help but boast. "And I've also accumulated several nuke-nin on my record!"

"What a remarkable young man! Saya-san must be jealous of you—what a talented person you've grown into," sighed Senju weakly smiling. "And I heard about the new degree from Tsunade—she closely monitors the successes of talented colleagues and emerging talents in medicine."

Really? I would never have thought so. Upon closer acquaintance with her, I got the impression that the people surrounding Princess Senju were not interested at all, being something like extras—not as talented as her, just getting in the way. Especially men, not counting the children.

"By the way, let me take a look at your face, you're all masked up like an Aburame," Linley suddenly chuckled and reached out towards me.

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