Chapter 103: He Simply Couldn't Refuse Her
Kagami picked up his chopsticks, delicately lifting a single piece of shrimp to his mouth. As the flavor hit his tongue, his expression froze for a fraction of a second—the taste was utterly bizarre—but he swallowed it down without a single change in his mild demeanor.
Stelle immediately leaned over, filling his cup to the brim with clear wine.
"Come on, a bite of food and a sip of wine. Bottoms up!"
Kagami shook his head with a helpless smile and downed the cup in one smooth motion.
"I'm wounded and can't drink," Stelle added shamelessly, sliding the bottle closer to him. "So just consider it drinking on my behalf. Have two more cups."
At first, Stelle maintained the charade of a gracious host, reminding him to try the various dishes. But as the strong sake began to work its magic, painting a faint, uncharacteristic flush across Kagami's usually pale cheeks, she dropped the act entirely. She stopped offering food and simply shoved the heavy porcelain wine bottle directly into his hands. She urged him to be a little more heroic, insisting that a real man drinks in big gulps.
She wasn't even pretending to be subtle anymore.
Yet, Kagami didn't refuse. He accepted every cup, every drop of alcohol she pushed onto him, drinking it down with a quiet, unwavering obedience.
"Stelle..." he murmured her name, the syllables rolling off his tongue with a heavy, deeply affectionate weight.
"What?" She blinked, feigning innocence. "Not enough side dishes? I'll have the Anbu prepare some right away."
She leaned in closer, her sharp gaze carefully scrutinizing his features. His eyes were slightly unfocused, the flush on his neck deepening. He was teetering right on the edge of true intoxication; she absolutely couldn't give up halfway.
No matter what it took, she was going to pry open his mouth today and find out exactly what final, paranoid warnings Senju Tobirama had left behind for his disciples.
"If I finish all ten bottles of wine..." Kagami began, his voice surprisingly steady despite the alcohol. "...will Stelle teach me that ninjutsu?"
"Su—" Stelle bit her tongue, barely swallowing the word 'Sure' before it could fully escape her lips. "Wait until you finish drinking first."
So that was his game. No wonder he was drinking so readily. He actually wanted to trade ten measly bottles of sake for her ultimate trump card? Impossible.
Kagami smiled again, a soft, almost melancholic curve of his lips. "It's really unfair. Can't Stelle treat it as a little secret exchanged between comrades?"
'I'm not listening, I'm not listening!'Stelle chanted in her head, completely ignoring his gentle guilt-tripping.'It's just a turtle chanting sutras!'
By the time the sixth bottle was emptied, Kagami finally seemed to hit his limit. He propped his forehead against his palm, his breathing growing shallow as the alcohol fully flooded his system. Slowly, his head slid down his arm, coming to rest against the wooden table with a soft thud.
Stelle leaned over the table, waving a hand in front of his closed eyes. "Kagami?" she called out twice. Sensing that he was genuinely in a daze, she lowered her voice. "Kagami, wake up!"
When he didn't even twitch, she reached out. She propped his chin up with one hand and ruthlessly pinched his warm cheek with the other, stretching the skin like dough.
"Hey, wake up. I wanted to get you drunk, not put you in a coma. You haven't answered my question yet."
His face was burning hot under her fingers, the flush extending all the way down his collar. Slowly, his dark eyes fluttered open, though his gaze remained hazy, locking directly onto her face.
"Stelle..."
"Good, you're still responsive," she muttered, dropping her hands. She leaned in, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Kagami, tell me quickly. What exactly did Tobirama-sensei say to you all before he died?"
Kagami's eyes were half-closed, his tone dropping into a deep, quiet murmur.
"Tobirama-sensei wanted to pass the position of Hokage to Hiruzen. Hiruzen thought it was more appropriate to pass it to you... and the rest of us agreed. We felt you were far more suited for the hat. But Tobirama-sensei refused." He paused, taking a slow breath. "He said..."
"What did he say?" she pressed, her heart skipping a beat.
"He said... Ida Mutzuki does not belong to Konoha. She has her own mission to complete."
Stelle blinked, the pieces rapidly clicking into place. She finally understood the wild narrative Senju Tobirama had concocted in his paranoid, brilliant brain. So, he had actually deduced that she was that ancient Guardian.
A Guardian who reincarnates across eras?
This identity was actually quite good. She could definitely exploit this. Playing a simple, world-destroying final boss for the Fourth Great Ninja War would be far too boring anyway.
She had to hand it to Tobirama—the man was truly impressive. While everyone else was playing checkers on the ground floor, the Second Hokage had been playing on the second floor. He had successfully peeled back one of her fake aliases, linked it perfectly to her first fake alias, and somehow managed to make the entirely fabricated logic completely self-consistent.
Through the hazy veil of his half-lidded eyes, Kagami quietly took in every micro-expression that flickered across her face.
The truth was, even if she hadn't gone through the trouble of getting him drunk, he would have given her the answer anyway. He simply couldn't refuse her.
Back when the mantle of Hokage was shifting hands, he and Hiruzen had discussed Tobirama's warning extensively in private. They had initially theorized that, given her noble birth, her mindset was chained to aristocratic conventions. They feared she didn't actually want to be a shinobi at all, but rather sought to use the village to restore the lost glory of her noble clan.
Yet, reality had proven them entirely wrong. After she took the position of Hokage, her political suppression of the old nobility and the Fire Daimyo was even more ruthless and tyrannical than Tobirama's ever was. Combine that with her relentless, exhausting efforts to protect Konoha without a single day of rest, and her loyalty seemed unquestionable. If Danzo hadn't suddenly brought Tobirama's warning back up, the rest of them would have buried the matter entirely.
But Tobirama-sensei never spoke without reason.
A sudden, cold spike of panic pierced through the alcohol fogging Kagami's brain. He forced himself to sit up slightly, asking her with desperate intensity. "Stelle... will you leave the village?"
Stelle didn't hesitate. She shook her head with absolute, unwavering certainty. "I am the Fourth Hokage. Even if I am buried, it should be in Konoha."
Even if the coffin ends up being completely empty.
Watching the fierce conviction in her eyes, Kagami made a silent vow. No matter what happened, no matter the cost, he would never let her die before him.
In the grueling days that followed, Stelle found herself reduced to a permanent resident of the Konoha Hospital. The Senju Clan Leader took personal charge of her recovery, trying every conceivable method to restore her depleted cellular activity. He ran endless, exhausting chakra experiments on her from dawn until dusk.
Worse still, he scoured the continent for all sorts of rare, miraculous medicinal herbs. She had absolutely no idea what ungodly ingredients went into those brews, but the resulting sludge was so horrendously foul-tasting that a single sip made Stelle question her entire will to live.
Meanwhile, Kagami, Hiruzen, and the rest of her inner circle relentlessly hounded her. They tried everything—from gentle pleading to stern lectures—exhausting every trick in the book to force her to write down the formula for her forbidden technique.
The pressure was mounting. Stelle genuinely feared that if she didn't show signs of recovery soon, Kagami might actually snap and use his Mangekyo Sharingan to forcibly rip the jutsu's formula straight from her memories. Left with no other choice, she secretly accessed her system and topped up her lifespan, burning her reserves to exchange for a few extra months of vitality.
Almost instantly, she returned to her usual lively, energetic self.
Unfortunately, this miraculous recovery severely backfired. The Senju Clan Leader immediately claimed full credit, insisting that his aggressive treatment methods had finally worked. He flat-out refused to halt any of the experiments or the herbal brews, stubbornly declaring that they needed to keep her under strict observation to ensure her condition remained stable.
That vile, pitch-black medicine—which was so bitter that merely smelling it caused physical pain—made Stelle's daily life an absolute misery. And to top it off, they still refused to authorize her discharge.
It wasn't just the Senju Clan Leader blocking her exit; the entire Advisor Group stood united against her.
Trapped in her hospital bed, Stelle finally resorted to throwing wild accusations.
"You guys are just planning to sideline me so you can inherit my position, aren't you?!"
"Hiruzen, are you itching to become the Third?!"
"Danzo, are you secretly planning to establish Root?!"
"Kagami, do you want to make the Uchiha great again?!"
The three men merely crossed their arms, offering her identical, utterly unimpressed sneers.
"No matter how many ridiculous excuses you try to invent, you still have to drink your medicine first."
The breaking point arrived the very next afternoon. When the Senju Clan Leader marched into her room carrying yet another steaming bowl of that bubbling, pitch-black medicinal juice, Stelle finally snapped and simply ran away.
Who was she? She was the Fourth Hokage! The moment she activated the Body Flicker Technique, her figure blurred into a wisp of smoke, leaving the hospital staff to eat her dust.
The elite Anbu guards stationed specifically to supervise her medicine intake lost track of her in the literal blink of an eye.
"What do we do?! Hokage-sama ran away without taking her medicine again!"
"Go inform Kagami-sama immediately! He's the only one who has a way to track her down!"
While the Anbu scoured the village streets like headless flies, Stelle had already materialized at the very peak of the Hokage Rock.
Standing at the highest vantage point in the village, she let the cool wind whip through her hair as she admired the bustling expanse of Konoha beneath her feet. Honestly, playing this real-life infrastructure game was incredibly entertaining.
The current layout of Konoha had been carefully planned by her own hand, stroke by stroke. Every major facility, every commercial district, and every training ground had been tailored specifically to her personal preferences. The village had completely taken her shape.
Just as she was rubbing her chin, contemplating whether there were any more developable projects left over in District One, the soft crunch of footsteps sounded behind her. A figure stepped up to the edge of the cliff, standing side by side with her.
"Hokage-sama. So this is where you were."
"Oh, it's just Sakumo." Stelle turned her head, instantly breathing a heavy sigh of relief when she saw his empty hands. He wasn't holding that damned medicine bowl.
"Sakumo is the best after all," she praised with a wide grin. "Knowing I don't like drinking medicine and not bringing any when looking for me."
She glanced left and right, noting that the carved stone atop the Hokage Rock was swept clean but lacked any benches. Unbothered, she simply dropped down and sat cross-legged right on the hard ground, propping her chin in her hands as she resumed watching the scenery.
"Speaking of which, Sakumo," she began casually, "you've been intentionally avoiding me lately. Every time we cross paths, even when you're just reporting mission outcomes, you're always in a massive hurry to leave. Is it because I saved you?"
Hatake Sakumo fell into a heavy silence. The silver-haired shinobi turned his head, his dark eyes locking onto her relaxed form.
"I just don't understand, Hokage-sama," he said softly, the weight of immense guilt lacing his words. "Why did you use such a dangerous technique to save me?"
He was just a shinobi of Konoha. Perhaps to the rest of the village he was hailed as a peerless genius, but Konoha had never lacked geniuses. What the village truly lacked was a pillar like the Fourth Hokage—a supreme powerhouse capable of deterring the other Four Great Nations entirely on her own.
As the Anbu Captain, his sworn duty was to protect the Hokage from the shadows and share her burdens. How could he possibly justify letting his Hokage sacrifice her own life force for his sake?
If the Fourth Hokage had truly died just to save him, he couldn't even begin to imagine the catastrophic consequences for the village.
Stelle looked up at his conflicted expression, her eyes softening in understanding. "I see. Is it because I saved you that you're feeling a psychological burden?"
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