Konoha: Sage Body

Konoha, night, a very famous izakaya owned by a merchant family.

Tsunade is here drinking alone to soothe her sorrows. There are already quite a few liquor bottles on the table in front of her, but she still seems to be drinking like water as she pours the spirits into her mouth.

The name of the Princess of Konoha is naturally very well-known in Konoha, and many people in the izakaya can't help but feel admiration when they see Tsunade's slightly flushed face as she drinks alone.

Unfortunately, no one dared to approach her.

This was because the brutal reputation of the Princess of Konoha was also well-known in Konoha. Anyone who dared to say something lewd to her was sent to the hospital with a broken leg, where they received some unforgettable treatment before they were allowed to leave.

With so many examples to follow, many Konoha ninja were afraid to reveal their intentions in front of Tsunade, and could only secretly admire her.

Recently, Tsunade has been very troubled. As a last resort, she has had to drink to escape her troubles, to numb her thoughts with alcohol and find a moment of peace.

But she will eventually wake up and face the current difficulties again.

"Why can't we all just get along? Why does it have to be life and death?"

Tsunade muttered drunkenly.

The conflict between her family and her teacher is the source of her troubles these days.

Both sides are things she treasures deeply within her heart, but now they have irreconcilable conflicts. As someone caught in the middle, she feels very difficult. She has tried to get both sides to re-establish friendly relations, but in the end she has only made herself hurt all over.

The clan will never admit any connection to Danzo's death or the mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse. The teacher's side has firmly stated that they will severely punish the person behind Danzo's murder. As for the fact that Danzo colluded with outsiders to kill Nawaki, no matter how she hinted at it, she received no response.

She now feels that it is difficult to be a good person. She clearly wants to do things properly, but ends up making enemies both inside and outside.

She now increasingly doesn't want to stay in Konoha. She misses life outside a little.

However, Konoha is her home. Many very important people in her life live here. If she doesn't stay here, where else can she go?

"May I sit down?"

Suddenly, a voice came from in front of her. Tsunade looked up slightly and saw a young and handsome man with black, dishevelled hair.

But none of this was worth Tsunade's particular attention.

As a medical ninja with great combat capabilities, alcohol was actually the same to her as drinking water. Although she looked drunk, her mind was still very clear and her perception had not been reduced much.

But she had just failed to notice the presence of the man in front of her.

Moreover, she had not been able to sense a single fluctuation of chakra from this man. The other party seemed to be just an ordinary person, but this was impossible. Ordinary people could not escape her senses.

What kind of special senses of chakra did her senses belong to? Although this kind of sensing ability was mediocre and far from the level of a professional sensing ninja, she could still react to the first sign of any disturbance within a radius of 20 meters.

For a moment, Tsunade narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked at the man, who looked suspiciously like her brother Kirito when he grew up. A trace of interest arose in her heart, and she nodded slightly, saying, "Have a seat, it's empty anyway."

The next moment, under the brave and playful stares of the other men around her, the mysterious man sat down and then asked the waiter to bring the best wine in the store.

The mysterious man didn't seem to be courting Tsunade, and just drank by himself, too. Apart from the initial exchange with Tsunade, he never said a second word.

Tsunade didn't bother to talk to the strange man either, and continued to indulge in her own thoughts.

However, because of the mysterious man's presence, she didn't gradually let her guard down as she normally would, completely numbing herself with alcohol. She remained vigilant and kept a close eye on the mysterious man the whole time.

In this way, the two of them quietly sipped their drinks alone, neither disturbing the other.

This continued until Tsunade had finished her wine.

"Wine from the Land of Wind, would you like some?"

The mysterious man suddenly used a summoning technique to pull a bottle of wine from a summoning scroll and received it with a smile, as Tsunade's glass was already empty.

Tsunade couldn't help but look at the bottle of wine in the mysterious man's hand.

As a very wealthy woman who likes to drink, she knows her wine, and she knew at first glance that this was the top wine from the Land of Wind, Blood Sunset.

Due to the precious ingredients and complicated production process, the annual output of Blood Sunset is extremely low, and it is generally only supplied to the royal family of the Land of Wind. Very little Blood Sunset is available on the market, and the market price starts at at least one million per bottle.

At the same time, Blood Sunset is also her favorite wine to drink.

With a "bang,"

The cork was opened, and a heady aroma that made the heart of any alcoholic flutter immediately spread from the bottle.

Tsunade took a whiff, and she instantly knew that this bottle of Blood Sunset was a rare treasure that had been aged for nearly fifty years. The wine bug in her stomach woke up at once, and the two of them looked at the Blood Sunset in the mysterious man's hands with shining eyes, and hurriedly asked, "Is this wine for sale?"

She doesn't really like drinking alcohol that strangers offer her, she prefers to just pay for it. She happens to have a lot of money that she doesn't know what to spend it on, so as long as the other person is willing to name a price, she has no problem buying this bottle of Blood Sunset from them.

After all, it's just a gambling debt at most, no big deal. Besides, she's sure the other person wouldn't dare blackmail the princess of Konoha.

"Looks like you've finally sobered up, sister,"

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang in Tsunade's mind.

Tsunade's eyes widened at the sound, before returning to normal immediately. She said angrily to the voice that had suddenly appeared in her head, "You little brat, you're mocking me, I'll beat you up now if I believe you."

She never expected that the mysterious man in front of her, who felt like a grown-up Kirito, was actually the brat Kirito.

This brat must have been secretly watching her drink and make a fool of herself.

At this thought, Tsunade felt both ashamed and angry.

"Sorry, this wine is not for sale, it's just for free drinks,"

Kirito heard Tsunade's words through the Mind Body Transmission Technique and smiled.

Then, while pouring wine for Tsunade, he whispered, "Don't be angry, dear sister. I didn't dare to disturb you while you were distracted, so I had to wait until you finished drinking. You haven't gone home in a few days, and Lady Momo asked me to see if you're alright."

"Hmph, see if I care. She told you to persuade me to go back and be Clan Leader, didn't she?"

Tsunade replied in her heart, her voice betraying her deep dissatisfaction, before gulping down the wine Kirito had poured upside down.

She hadn't gone home in recent days, and the reasons for this were, on the one hand, naturally annoyed by the conflict between the family and Sandaime, and on the other hand, Momo had once again launched a new attack on her as the head of the clan, forcing her to become the head of the Senju clan.

And Momo's intention to force her to become the head of the clan was more than obvious.

Once she becomes the clan leader, unless she is willing to betray the interests of the Senju clan, she will have to directly confront Sandaime, with no room for circumlocution.

"Clan Leader Momo is getting old. She is currently both the clan leader of the Senju clan and the advisor to the Hokage, and is very busy every day. There is no one in the Senju clan who can share her worries. And she is always worried about Nawaki and me. In the long run, I am afraid that her hard work will take a toll on her health."

Kirito did not say anything to pressure Tsunade into returning as Clan Leader, but was simply revealing a stark truth.

That truth was that Tsunade had no sense of responsibility.

As the clear strongest person in the current Senju clan and the descendant carrying the bloodline of the first Clan Leader, she had been evading her responsibilities and shirking all the burdens of the Senju clan onto an elderly person who deeply loved her.

To be honest, Kirito himself could no longer bear to watch.

In the past, the Senju clan and Sandaime had a relatively good relationship, and he could turn a blind eye to Tsunade's resistance to becoming the clan leader. He could pretend that he didn't see it. But ever since the Senju clan and Sandaime had a major conflict, Momo has been busy every day working for the good of the Senju clan.

And what has Tsunade been doing?

She's been drowning her sorrows in alcohol and avoiding her responsibilities.

After Kirito finished speaking, he once again silently poured wine into Tsunade's wine glass.

This time, Tsunade did not immediately drink the wine, but silently looked at the blood-like wine in the glass, looked at her reflection in it, and then slowly let it go down her throat.

At this time, the wine, which had clearly tasted very sweet and delicious, was now incredibly bitter.

"Kirito, I'm not cut out to be the clan leader, so let Momo choose someone else. By the way, what's going on with you right now?"

Tsunade whispered, still choosing to run away and deliberately changing the subject.

"This is a puppet I made. I have temporarily attached a soul fragment to it to serve as a body for me to operate in Konoha."

Kirito sighed when he saw this.

Like the Lightning God puppet, his current body was a cyborg puppet created by combining the Earth Grudge Secret Technique with puppet techniques.

However, unlike the Lightning God puppet, this bionic puppet has two Earth Grudge and Grief hearts inside it, one from a Jōnin of Iwagakure and one from a Jōnin of Kumogakure. It is a masterpiece among the many bionic puppets created by Kirito.

If controlled by a soul fragment, it can exert a strength that surpasses that of an elite Jōnin.

Since his last rampage in Konoha using the Byakugou clone, he has noticed that there are more White Zetsu clones appearing in Konoha. What makes it tricky is that the spiritual energy of these White Zetsu clones is actually blocked, and he can no longer sense them using the Spirit Transformation Technique.

If it weren't for the White Zetsu clones having Byakugan, they might have fooled him.

This shows that Uchiha Madara has already noticed him, and may even have linked him to the White Zetsu clones.

Also, it seems that Tsunade has sensed that the White Zetsu clone has the ability of Wood Release, which the opponent revealed during his argument with Momo.

Because of this, Momo has recently tried to secretly test him on Wood Release many times.

Therefore, it is not suitable for the White Zetsu clone to appear in front of Konoha and Tsunade for the time being.

"Golem!"

Tsunade was shocked again when she learned the truth.

She had thought it was a humanoid created by Kirito's soul possessing another's body and then transforming. She never expected it to be a puppet.

But she could clearly feel breathing and a heartbeat from the mysterious man in front of her, and there was no way to fake the life force emanating from him.

"Your puppet technique is really better than your teacher's. If the puppet masters of the Sunagakure knew that a ninja from Konoha like you could create such a realistic puppet, I wonder how they would feel?"

Tsunade didn't ask Kirito about the secrets of his puppets, she was just surprised.

She was increasingly unable to read her good younger brother. The other person's strength was growing at a frightening rate, and just looking at the puppet in front of her, she got the feeling that it was very dangerous.

No surprise there, this puppet must be another very powerful ninja tool.

"Nawaki and I recently took on a new mission, secretly assigned to us by Sandaime. Do you want to know what it is, sister?"

Kirito did not intend to let Tsunade continue to change the subject, and said something that made Tsunade have to face it head-on.

"What mission!"

Tsunade asked without hesitation.

"Nawaki is indeed her biggest weak point,"

Kirito sighed, seeing that Tsunade had instantly cast Sandaime aside and was concerned about Nawaki.

He had long since understood that his good sister was a super brother controller, and she would not hesitate to stand on Nawaki's side in anything related to Nawaki.

Just as now, even though she knows that the new mission was secretly assigned by Sandaime, and that his current actions in Konoha are a serious violation of Konoha's mission regulations, she still chooses to ignore it.

This shows that in her heart, Nawaki is more important than Sandaime.

"Sandaime asked Team White Fang to cut off the source of Sunagakure's unknown funding. The source of Sunagakure's unknown funding is the appearance of a ninja in Sunagakure who has awakened Magnet Release. This ninja's Magnet Release is very special. His Magnet Release manipulates metal materials, and the gold dust he produces is exactly because he endlessly mines for gold in the desert that Sunagakure's war funds have been able to continue."

Kirito briefly explained to Tsunade the content of the new mission assigned by Sandaime.

Tsunade was quick-witted, and although Kirito did not explicitly say how difficult this new mission was, she quickly understood from what he had just said just how difficult this mission was.

The importance of the ninja who had awakened Magnet Release and was able to turn sand into gold dust was comparable to that of a star in the current Sunagakure. For the White Fang squad to try to assassinate him was almost the same as making enemies with the entire Suna-Nin village.

And she was 100% sure that the White Fang squad's target would encounter the Sandaime Kazekage and other Kage-Level powerhouses of the Sunagakure on this mission.

In her opinion, the new mission that the White Fang squad was carrying out could no longer be described as "picking chestnuts out of the fire"; it was basically a 90% chance of death. And that was for Hatake Sakumo; Nawaki, Kirito, and Chizuru had a 100% chance of death on this mission.

"Nonsense, sheer nonsense. That old man has gone mad. Even if the White Fang Squad has Hatake Sakumo, Nawaki, Kirito, and Chizuru are just rookies who have just gone out on a mission. How can he give them such an extremely difficult S-class mission? He's really senile."

Tsunade was furious when she thought about her two younger brothers carrying out such an unreasonable mission. She felt a strong resentment towards Sandaime.

What did Sandaime mean by this?

The Senju clan had just killed Danzo, and he immediately turned on them?

Tsunade really never imagined that her beloved teacher, who had taught her the Will of Fire, would target the Senju clan by going after Nawaki and Kirito, and that he would use such despicable methods. What kind of mission was this? It was complete nonsense.

Nawaki, Kirito and Chizuru are all talented Konoha ninja who will go on to great things in the future, so how could they be sent on such a dangerous and almost certain death mission as soon as they arrive on the battlefield.

Sandaime is basically destroying his own army by doing this.

"How could he do this? Doesn't he realize that this will force me to do something I don't want to do? Where is his Will of Fire?"

At this moment, Tsunade had completely sobered up. Her entire body was trembling with anger, and she was emitting a terrifying chakra fluctuation.

Tsunade's unusual appearance immediately attracted the attention of the other ninjas in the izakaya.

They could all clearly feel that the Princess of Konoha was angry, and they all angrily glared at Kirito, thinking that Kirito had angered Tsunade using unknown means.

"Bang~"

The wine glass in Tsunade's hand was crushed, and the broken glass pieces pierced her fingers, barely allowing her to suppress her uncontrollable anger.

However, the broken wine glass in Tsunade's hand seemed to become a signal.

In an instant, two ANBU ninjas wearing masks appeared in front of and behind Kirito, and drew their ninja blades on their backs and slashed at Kirito with lightning speed.

But before their ninja blades could harm Kirito, Tsunade struck. She punched the two ANBU ninja with even greater speed, knocking them out of the izakaya.

The two ANBU ninja were both jōnin, but after taking Tsunade's Monstrous Strength Fist, they vomited blood and collapsed.

Tsunade suddenly attacked the ANBU ninja. This scene left the other Konoha ninja in the izakaya dumbfounded. For a moment, they were unsure of who the real enemy was.

"Tsunade-sama, what are you doing?"

An ANBU ninja wearing a dog mask asked angrily.

"Shut up and go back and tell the old man that this doesn't concern him."

Tsunade was feeling angry and frustrated, and she immediately turned her head and glared at the ANBU ninja, roaring, instantly transforming into an angry female tyrannosaurus, overflowing with murderous intent, as if she was going to beat the ANBU ninja up if he dared to talk back.

"You, you..."

The ANBU ninja never would have guessed that Tsunade would take her anger out on him. He was instantly shocked by Tsunade's explosive aura and subconsciously took a few steps back, pointing at her shakily with his hand as he stuttered.

"Get out!"

Tsunade roared again.

Hearing this, the ANBU ninja dared not speak, and for the first time, he felt the strength and domineering nature of the former female bully of Konoha from Tsunade. He quickly picked up his two seriously injured companions and left.

Then, the other ninjas in the izakaya saw Tsunade looking over, and they all sat back down.

The originally lively atmosphere became deathly silent, to the point where you could hear a pin drop.

"Tsunade-nee, if you go to Sandaime now, it'll only make things worse."

Tsunade didn't have time to care about the feelings of others. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and the more worried she was about Nawaki and Kirito. Just as she couldn't help but stand up and go find Sandaime to scold him, Kirito once again used the Mind Body Transmission Technique to whisper to her.

Hearing this, Tsunade's heels dug into the seat of the chair as she anxiously said, "If I don't stop the old guy from suspending the mission now, do you want me to just sit here and watch you two die? And I'm ordering you two to abandon the mission immediately. If anything happens, I'll take the blame."

"Abandoning the mission is out of the question. Nawaki and I must participate in the execution of this mission, and we must complete it beautifully and return to Konoha in style as heroes of Konoha.

If we give up, it will be difficult for Nawaki and I to continue to establish ourselves in Konoha in the future, and Nawaki's dream of becoming Hokage will end here. This will also have a significant impact on your future candidacy for Hokage. Sandaime is surely hoping that you can go to him and turn things around, right?

In that case, he can use this as an excuse to easily manipulate me, Nawaki, and you. In the future, unless a coup d'état is launched, none of the three of us will ever become Hokage, because this incident will surely become a huge stain for our opponents to attack us."

Kirito calmly replied.

Although what Sandaime did this time was very unfair, his actions were quite appropriate.

Because he was standing on the so-called big picture, he decided to let Team White Fang carry out such a dangerous mission for the sake of the greater good. Even if others knew that he was suspected of taking revenge against the Senju clan, they couldn't say anything.

Maybe there were many people who were happy to see this and secretly fuelled the fire.

If Tsunade now loses her temper and goes looking for a third-generation theory out of anger, not only might she not be able to make Sandaime give in, she will also end up with the label of being overly selfish and ignoring the big picture, which will have a huge negative impact on her future competition for Hokage.

This time, he will send a soul clone to find Tsunade, in addition to Momo's request, and he wants to give Tsunade a heads-up in advance, in case some people use this new mission to provoke Tsunade and cause her to impulsively do something wrong.

After all, there should be other people in Konoha who can tell that Tsunade is a brother-obsessed person.

As Kirito's new transmission appeared, the expression on Tsunade's face kept changing, sometimes angry, sometimes fearful, sometimes disappointed, and so on.

Gradually, she regained her composure, and her face only revealed disappointment and fatigue.

Her heart was so tired right now.

She suddenly envied her stupid younger brother, Nawaki. If she wasn't so smart, she would definitely be able to live a happy life right now, without being so painfully suppressed.

"It's time to make a decision, sister Tsunade. Our enemies are not as honorable as you think. If you continue to be weak-willed, you will not only harm yourself, but also those around you. And Konoha does not need a Hokage whose own will to fire has been corrupted."

Kirito watched as Tsunade calmed down, and suddenly used the Mind Body Transmission Technique to say some rebellious things to her.

The next moment, Tsunade looked up at Kirito, stunned, and the more she looked at him, the more she realized that she couldn't read her younger brother. At this moment, Kirito gave her a very, very strange feeling. From what he had just said, it was clear that he was angry—angry with Sandaime, and angry with her.

She had a hunch that if she didn't do something, her younger brother would completely abandon her and never "bother" her again.

"Grandma, can I really be a good Hokage?"

Tsunade suddenly asked herself again.

...

On the other side, in the Hokage Building, in the Hokage's office:

"Father, Tsunade has gone too far. Our people were only trying to help her out of the kindness of their hearts, but she went so far as to threaten them. This is intolerable! You must punish her severely, or else where would be the authority of the Hokage and the ANBU?"

Sarutobi Takashi, the ANBU squad leader, said angrily to Sandaime.

In less than a minute, the news of what happened in the izakaya had reached his ears as the ANBU squad leader. How could he, as the highest-ranking ANBU officer, swallow this humiliation?

If he did, he would never be able to hold his head up in the ANBU in the future, nor would he be able to easily command those ANBU ninjas who belonged to the martial arts faction.

"Hmph, if you've got the guts, you can go find her directly, why come to me? She did do something wrong, but she didn't ask you ANBU to intervene, it was you ANBU who overstepped your bounds."

Sandaime took a drag on his cigarette and said coldly, glaring at Sarutobi Takashi with a look of hatred.

Let him step forward and punish Tsunade?

How could he possibly bear to do that? Besides, he was feeling very guilty at the moment and didn't want to see Tsunade at all.

And what was his son doing right now?

The ANBU squad leader should not be bothering him with such trivial matters and tattling to him.

"If this idiot can't even defeat Tsunade, what future does the Sarutobi clan have?"

Sandaime thought with a cold exterior and worried heart.

He knew very well how outstanding the strength of the Sannin he had cultivated. All three had great potential to become shinobi, and all three also had the hope of becoming Hokage.

His son is the same age as the three ninjas, and his qualifications are not much worse than the three of them. However, his strength is hard to describe in words, and his potential is of the kind that is hard to see at a glance. Without some special opportunity, he will be an elite jōnin for his whole life.

Sarutobi Takashi never expected Sandaime to be so biased in favor of Tsunade. He suddenly felt that in Sandaime's eyes, his own, genuine, legitimate son was not as important as Tsunade. He couldn't help but feel increasingly unhappy. He shouted, "Just you wait, I'll make her pay sooner or later. By then, don't you dare interfere."

After saying this, he left angrily.

"After being the ANBU squad leader for several years, his temper is still so explosive. He really can't shoulder great responsibilities."

Sandaime shook his head and sighed, disappointed in his eldest son once again.

It seemed that his eldest son was hopeless, and he could only hope that his younger son would have a brighter future.

"Someone come here,"

Sandaime said, straightening his face.

A ANBU ninja immediately appeared.

"Have you found out who he is?"

Sandaime asked.

When Sarutobi Takashi became angry, he secretly ordered someone to find out who the person was that Tsunade had met at the izakaya tonight.

"Reporting to the Hokage, there is no such person. The opponent is most likely a helper hired by the Senju clan. The abnormality of Lady Tsunade is probably due to him secretly conveying some kind of information to her using some mysterious ninjutsu."

The ANBU ninja answered truthfully.

"I see. Give the order to keep a close eye on the person. Once the opponent leaves Konoha, immediately carry out a secret arrest."

Sandaime ordered, a cold light flashing in his eyes upon hearing that the person might be a helper hired by the Senju clan.

"Ha~"

The ANBU ninja obeyed.

"What kind of information made you so angry? Tsunade."

After the ANBU ninja left, Sandaime's face changed, revealing a hint of worry, as he muttered.

Ever since his son received the information from the ANBU in advance, he had felt a bad feeling in his heart.

...

Meanwhile, in the desert in the southwest of the distant Land of Wind...

A group of hooded ninja from the Sunagakure were moving quickly through the desert. Above them, a cloud made of black iron sand was also moving rapidly with their movements. On top of this cloud of iron sand stood two ninja with extraordinary air: one adult and one child.

The adult in particular exuded a sense of powerful authority as the superior.

The two of them are Sandaime Kazekage and Rasa.

Suddenly, Rasa, who had kept his eyes closed, opened them and whispered, "Sensei, I've discovered a new gold dust mine, it's in the northwest."

"Excellent, everyone, turn northwest immediately."

Sandaime Kazekage was overjoyed at this news and shouted out.

The other Suna-Nin also beamed with joy when they heard the order and followed it, changing the direction of their movements.

In no time at all, under the guidance of Rasa, the Sandaime Kazekage and the rest of the Suna-Nin arrived at the top of an unremarkable dune in the middle of the desert, and then began feverishly digging up the sand with tools such as shovels.

Rasa, on the other hand, took a special soldier's pill and then used his chakra, which had a special magnetic force, to quickly collect the gold dust contained in the sand.

Every night, following the Sandaime Kazekage out into the desert to pan for gold had become Rasa's daily routine.

Although this job is hard and tiring, and it also severely cuts into his sleep time, he feels that his work is sacred and his efforts are worthwhile when he thinks that the gold dust he collects will bring precious water and food to his fellow villagers and give the warriors on the battlefield the strength to continue fighting the damn Konoha ninjas.

And because he awakened Magnet Release: Gold Dust and got this job, his destiny has also changed dramatically. Many people in the village say that he will become the fourth Kazekage.

He personally believes so too.

He has single-handedly maintained the economy of Sunagakure, which was on the verge of collapse, and has become the richest person in the village. Coupled with his increasing strength, he feels that his chances of becoming the new Kazekage in the future are much greater than those of other people his age.

After about two hours, the miniature gold mine at the bottom of the sand dune was finally mined, and a pile of gold dust nearly five meters high appeared in front of the group of Suna-Nin, all beaming with joy.

"You've worked hard, Rasa,"

Sandaime Kazekage said with a face full of relief to the somewhat tired Rasa.

With this batch of gold dust, the Sunagakure would be able to exchange for a large amount of supplies from the outside world again, and then they would have the confidence to continue fighting with Konoha.

Upon hearing this, Rasa immediately returned a happy smile to Sandaime Kazekage, and then continued to look at the large pile of gold dust in front of him, his eyes showing a look of obsession.

Just as the group of Suna-Nin were overjoyed at their hard work, a huge black snake's head suddenly poked out of the ground and swallowed the unsuspecting Rasa in one gulp.

"Rasa!"

Sandaime Kazekage saw Rasa being swallowed by the large snake and burst into rage, his body instantly erupting with a terrifying murderous aura. A large amount of sand iron quickly spewed out from the sand for several kilometers in all directions.