But there was really no helping it.
Kiri let out a quiet sigh in her heart. They still couldn't say for sure what kind of person Li Ke truly was. Because of that, someone had to step up and verify whether he actually possessed the power to send them back to their original worlds.
Even though this survival sandbox world had its own strange charms, she still had an incredibly critical mission waiting for her back home.
And that was revenge.
Yes, cold-blooded revenge.
Kiri gently traced the faint battle scars decorating her skin. She didn't even need to think to know what must have happened. With both herself and Katu missing in action, compounded by the manipulation and backstabbing of that wretched traitor, there was absolutely no way the Arden Heights could hold out. No matter how much she lacked tactical military genius, she knew exactly how devastating internal betrayal was to a squad's morale and survival.
More importantly, during her chaotic fall into the Sea of Sky, Kiri had already pieced together the identity of the turncoat within her ranks. If she could find a way back to Arad right now, she might still make it in time to intercept the Kartel cartel's brutal siege on the Arden Heights.
The price to pay was merely a virginity she had kept guarded for over twenty years. Compared to the lives of her cherished brothers-in-arms, and the intoxicating temptation of ripping the traitor apart with her bare hands, that price was absolutely negligible.
The only reason she hadn't trusted Li Ke initially was that the kid had come clean way too fast. He had blurted out secrets that any normal person would take to their grave, which naturally made it seem like he was the mastermind behind their sudden summoning—all to fulfill some sick, depraved fantasy.
For instance, tricking them into bed only to murder them afterward or turn them into obedient slaves. She had crossed paths with plenty of scum like that during her years of wandering.
However...
Tomorrow would mark their fifth day in this world.
She was rapidly running out of time. God only knew when those Kartel bastards would launch their final assault on the Arden Heights. If she couldn't secure a path home as soon as possible, then even a successful return later down the line would be completely meaningless.
She hadn't forgotten the exact circumstances of her arrival. She had been plummeting straight toward a boundless ocean. If she wanted to make it back to her comrades from there, she would, at the very least, have to fight her way through one or two heavily fortified Kartel outposts.
"But is there really a need to be this impatient? Wouldn't it be wiser to keep observing him for a bit longer?"
Tsunade could empathize with Kiri's plight. If her own family and friends were still drawing breath, and sleeping with Li Ke truly was the sole shortcut to returning to their side, she wouldn't give a single damn about her so-called purity either.
For a ninja, obsessing over such superficial things was an absolute luxury.
Furthermore, she was a legendary medical ninja. If she ever wanted to reconstruct a hymen or structurally restore her body back to a pristine, untouched state, it would be an absolute walk in the park for her.
In fact, she wouldn't even need to perform surgery; simply activating the Strength of a Hundred Technique just once would automatically force her cells to perfectly regenerate every inch of her anatomy.
The real difference was that she simply had no intention of going back, nor did she feel any lingering purpose to do so. Konoha was nothing but a graveyard of painful memories for her. The only person left who warranted a shred of her concern was Shizune, and she was merely Dan's niece. Even if Tsunade vanished from the face of the earth permanently, the old man Hokage would undoubtedly ensure the girl was well provided for.
After all, her aging teacher, who had visibly started showing his advanced years, knew exactly what buttons to push to make her heart soften.
"Honestly, I'd love nothing more than to explore this bizarre world before heading back," Kiri said, shrugging her shoulders casually. "But unfortunately, I just don't have that luxury. There are far too many people waiting for me back home. I have important business to settle, so there's really no other choice. Besides, ever since I was a little girl, I've been pretty curious about whether that kind of stuff actually feels good or not. You could say this is just a neat way to finally satisfy my curiosity."
Tsunade fell silent for a long moment. To tell the truth, Kiri's blunt personality was completely her cup of tea. If she weren't trapped in such a miserable state of mind right now, and if this desolate wasteland actually had any decent alcohol, she would have absolutely loved to sit down and share a few stiff drinks with her.
Regrettably, even now, she simply couldn't muster up the enthusiasm for it.
"In that case, come find me right before you make your exit," Tsunade offered, outlining the only real help she could provide for this woman. "An event like this can leave a permanent scar on a person. I can structurally repair it for you."
It was a highly sensitive subject to bring up, and doing so technically bordered on fraud. Yet, Tsunade could clearly see that Kiri was genuinely making a grand sacrifice for the sake of her comrades. A noble choice like that left absolutely no room for judgment or moral lecturing.
Even so, in the ninja era she came from, a woman's physical purity was still heavily scrutinized.
"Huh? Wouldn't that just be outright cheating?" Kiri waved her hand dismissively. "There's really no need for that. Sure, it's a bit of a bummer. I always pictured my first time happening after a beautifully romantic date and all that jazz. But since things turned out this way, there's no point crying over spilled milk. Besides, if a guy truly, deeply loves me for who I am, he wouldn't give a single damn about something like that, right?"
Kiri shifted her stance, a completely carefree look on her face.
"Fake is fake, and lying is lying. If two people are truly a perfect match, and neither party goes around fooling around afterward, why would either of them obsess over a tiny piece of skin? Furthermore, if society insists that a woman must save herself, what happens if she runs into a terrible guy? How do you even measure a man's history anyway? Men don't exactly have an easy, built-in tracker to check their past. Are women supposed to reject every single guy who has ever been in a relationship before? Hahaha! If that were the case, half the men in the world would never be able to get married!"
She threw her hands up in the air, looking thoroughly amused by the sheer absurdity of it all.
"Let's just be completely real here. What guys actually detest are those specific kinds of bitches. The ones who have already done everything under the sun, yet still act like a pure, flawless little angel to demand astronomical things from a guy. They use it to artificially inflate their own worth just to squeeze more cash out of men. I'm not that kind of gold-digging bitch, so I couldn't care less. True love and deep connection easily transcend stuff like this. Even if a partner does happen to mind, in a healthy relationship, it just becomes a quirky topic for a sweet romantic comedy. It acts as a milestone that binds the two closer together, not a toxic breaking point that sparks a massive fight."
Kiri proudly thumped her own chest with her thumb, right over her heart.
"As for me? I might never even settle down and get married. Who knows if I'll end up biting the dust during one of my wild adventures? Because of that, I refuse to sweat the small stuff. Even after I go through with this, I have absolutely zero intention of hiding it from anyone."
Tsunade, who had spent her entire life raised in a semi-ancient, deeply traditional ninja world, stared at Kiri in sheer astonishment. After a brief period of stunned silence, she slowly shook her head.
"I'm sorry, but I can't quite align with that worldview," Tsunade murmured. Her hands instinctively tightened around her own arms, hugging herself closely. "In my eyes, when you truly love someone, you want to present your absolute best self to them. Whether that's your first time, or anything else..."
Tsunade couldn't help but feel a sudden wave of self-deprecation wash over her. It felt incredibly ridiculous. She was visibly much older than Kiri, yet when it came to emotional freedom and a mature outlook on life, she couldn't even hold a candle to the younger woman.
Unable to hold back her curiosity any longer, she quietly voiced the question burning in her mind.
"You... must have a family that loves you very much, don't you?"
Otherwise, Tsunade truly couldn't fathom why Kiri was so willing to throw away her physical purity just to go back.
In her mind, only the safety and love of one's own flesh and blood could ever justify making a heavy sacrifice like that.
"They're all dead," Kiri replied, her voice completely flat and casual.
"When I was just a little girl, they were shot down right before my eyes. If a handsome old man hadn't taken me in and raised me, I probably would've ended up like many other women under the Kartel's chaotic reign—forced to sell my own body just to survive. After all, any way you look at it, I'm still a very beautiful woman."
As she spoke, Kiri playfully cupped her own soft breasts.
"I mean, no matter how you look at it, my chest size is considered pretty big among normal people."
Saying this, she couldn't help but look over at Tsunade. That massive, reality-defying size of Tsunade's was incredibly prominent, especially on her slightly shorter frame.
If it weren't for the fact that Tsunade possessed a mature, seasoned face that bore the weathering marks of her experiences, she could easily pass for a flawless "legal loli with massive breasts"
"Well... yeah."
Tsunade instinctively covered her own chest. Although she was long past the age of a young girl who obsessed over her breast size, she still couldn't help but subconsciously curl the corners of her mouth when someone envied them.
It was just like how length clearly isn't the true measure of a man's performance—hardness and duration are—yet a massive crowd of men still take immense pride in their length and obsess over it. It was a very primitive, classic form of phallic worship and organ pride.
For someone like Tsunade, whose mindset was still somewhat old-fashioned, she was still highly proud of her own figure.
Good for bearing children, and beautiful to boot.
Indeed, back in the era she grew up in, being "good for bearing children" (having wide hips and a fertile build) was still a highly important standard of evaluation, and her body was the textbook definition of a build meant for breeding!
Not only that, her figure and face were exceptionally gorgeous. Back then, if it weren't for her terrible temper and her choice to become a ninja, she probably could have easily secured a position as a Daimyo's (Feudal Lord's) wife.
Of course, a political life within the Land of Fire would have been complicated by her close bloodline ties to the ruling family. If she had pursued such a path, it likely would have taken her to the Land of Lightning or the Land of Earth.
But considering the historical tensions those nations shared with Konoha, that was a purely hypothetical thought.
However, what truly occupied her thoughts was the other part of the conversation.
"You really are incredibly resilient," Tsunade murmured, staring at Kiri with a surge of respect. If she could only adopt a carefree attitude like Kiri's, maybe she wouldn't be struggling with her own heavy burdens.
Kiri's past was arguably more brutal than her own, yet the girl managed to live each day with such bright optimism. Tsunade, on the other hand, was finding it difficult to find that same spark.
Kiri simply shrugged her shoulders.
"There's no such thing as being resilient or not. The truth is, just staying alive already takes every ounce of effort we have. So why shouldn't we try to enjoy every day? Who knows what tomorrow brings? Drowning in misery only makes the journey uninteresting."
With that, Kiri finished her beer and grabbed a towel to dry off her well-proportioned, beautiful body.
Seeing this, Tsunade also climbed out of the giant bathing jar. As she bent over, her figure—which vastly outperformed Kiri's—drew Kiri's eyes right to her. Kiri could clearly see countless water droplets pooling across Tsunade's chest. The water trailing off her skin even gathered at the very tips, forming a long stream of droplets falling straight down from her pink nipples.
"..."
That sheer volume truly left Kiri completely speechless!