Konoha: Sage Body

Sandaime cursed in his heart at the protest letters sent by the various ninja villages. At the beginning, the starting point of the First Hokage's allocating the tailed beasts to these ninja villages was to balance the power of each village and seek peace through this, but after the death of the First Hokage, the upper echelons of these ninja villages have one after the other torn up the agreement.

Now they actually have the face to come over and accuse Konoha of breaking the agreement they discarded, they are truly shameless.

Sandaime sneered at the leaders of these ninja villages, despising these guys a million times over in his heart. If he could, he would definitely send a letter full of innuendo to the leaders of these ninja villages to teach them a lesson.

Unfortunately, he cannot do that, and must still find a way to deal with this matter.

The people from Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure, and Takigakure all delivered their protest letters to Konoha on the same day. This was obviously not a coincidence; these guys must have coordinated among themselves and joined forces to pressure Konoha.

To be honest, Sandaime is now under a lot of pressure.

If only two or three villages were doing this, such as a joint effort by Sunagakure, Kirigakure and Takigakure, Sandaime could simply ignore it, but with Iwagakure and Kumogakure thrown into the mix, he has to be on his guard.

Konoha's battle with Sunagakure is already within sight of victory, but as things stand, Konoha is still a long way from peace, and Iwagakure and Kumogakure are clearly eyeing Konoha up.

"How should we handle this matter? This is a real headache."

Sandaime thought about it for a long time, but was unable to come up with a good solution, and his worries suddenly increased.

It was obviously impossible to ask Kirito to return the tailed beasts to Sunagakure.

Not to mention whether or not he could return the tailed beasts to Sunagakure, once he proposed that Kirito hand over the tailed beasts, it was questionable whether or not he, the Hokage, could continue to be Hokage.

Kirito is now undoubtedly the hero of Konoha. His deeds of seizing the first tail from Sunagakure, killing Ebizo, and his various exploits on the battlefield have been dug up and then widely publicized in the village, inspiring and uplifting countless people in Konoha.

Kirito has performed such great exploits and been publicized, and he is now no longer just some newly graduated ninja, but a powerful ninja with great prestige in Konoha.

If the current Hokage did something to Kirito that would be detrimental to him, he would immediately suffer a huge backlash. He might even be accused of being a traitor by the people of Konoha and be driven from power.

Moreover, the information that he had urgently transmitted back from Orochimaru had made it clear that Kirito was indeed a Kage-Level powerhouse. He had already broken through to the mysterious realm of Lightning Release, and he also possessed a powerful Lightning Release movement jutsu. Now that he had obtained a Tailed Beast, he had become an One-Tailed Jinchuuriki, and his strength had further increased.

If Kirito personally disagrees, no one in Konoha can force him to hand over the Tailed Beast.

And from his personal understanding of Kirito, it is impossible for him to agree to such an outrageous request. This boy usually seems calm, friendly, and generous, but in reality he holds a grudge very easily, as evidenced by the fact that he severely beat up one by one those students at the Ninja School who had offended him.

Asking Kirito to hand over Shukaku is the same as asking him to die. How could he possibly agree? If the village really made such a decision, Kirito might immediately turn his back on the village.

Forcing their own 11-year-old Kage-Level powerhouse to betray Konoha, and he is also a talented ninja who has made great contributions, Sandaime's mind hasn't been in anyone, so how could he possibly do such a thing? If he did, he would definitely be deserted by everyone.

However, if he doesn't hand over the tailed beast, Konoha will likely be attacked by the major ninja villages.

These ninja villages are obviously afraid of Kirito growing up and becoming even stronger and leading Konoha in the future, so they have joined forces to pressure Konoha. If they don't succeed this time, the next step is likely to be to join forces against Konoha, weaken its strength as much as possible, and even remove it from the list.

"An 11-year-old Kage-Level powerhouse who has also obtained the power of a tailed beast. No wonder the major ninja villages are afraid of such talent and potential. When Kirito grows up, he might become a ninja as powerful as the first-generation adult. After all, great power attracts great attention."

Sandaime was full of emotion as he thought about Kirito's current age and strength.

It was naturally fortunate for Konoha to have such a genius born, but it was unknown whether Konoha's current strength could support Kirito as he grew up.

These are different times.

When thinking back to the time of the Great First Hokage, Konoha was so powerful, but ever since his death, Konoha has been on a downward spiral, and has never produced another powerful ninja capable of suppressing the ninja world.

It's just that the other ninja villages definitely don't want Konoha to produce another ninja god, and then have Konoha continue to suppress them. They may even be afraid of Konoha's retaliation.

After all, after the First Hokage, these guys immediately tore up the agreement and attacked Konoha, so they can't help but be guilty.

In order to stop Konoha, it is very likely that the other ninja villages will join forces to attack Konoha before Kirito grows up and becomes uncontrollable.

If this really happens, what should Konoha do?

Is it to save Kirito?

Or save the others in Konoha?

This is a difficult choice.

"This matter is too big, and it seriously involves the future of Konoha. It's hard for me to decide, and I have to discuss it with the others."

Sandaime continued to think for a while, but in the end, he couldn't make up his mind, so he decided to hold a general meeting of all the clans to discuss it.

The future of Konoha should be decided by everyone in Konoha.

...

On the other side, underground in Konoha, in the original Root base camp, now the new Root base camp, in the Root leader's office.

Homura Mitokado, the new leader of the Roots, also looked at an intelligence report with a worried expression. The content of the report was also about Kirito, but unlike the intelligence report in Sandaime's hands, this one was about Kirito's interpersonal relationships.

You don't know until you investigate, but you'll be shocked when you do.

Through this intelligence report, he discovered that most of the young ninja in Konoha who had risen in the recent war had direct connections to Kirito. Many of them were friends who had been very close to Kirito during their time at the Ninja Academy, and some were even his followers.

The best of these people, such as Umino Daio, Yuzuru Yukimi, Iguchii Takeshi, Hyuga Hanare, and Uchiha Feng, actually already have the strength of a jōnin.

Without exception, the rest have the strength of a chūnin, and most of them are elite chūnin.

After these young ninjas graduated from the Ninja Academy, they have all grown up quickly after experiencing trials by fire and blood, and have become elites among their peers. Many of them have now begun to hold important positions in the military or have become the captains of small teams of ninjas.

"What a new generation replacing the old. If this continues, Konoha will soon be this boy's world,"

Homura Mitokado sighed.

The future belongs to the young, and as a veteran, Homura Mitokado knows this very well.

Now that he sees the content of this piece of intelligence, he immediately smells a change of regime in Konoha, and a huge change is coming.

Because most of the followers of Kirito on the intelligence are ninjas from commoner backgrounds and those from the Little Ninja tribe, like the Sarutobi clan, Shimura clan, and the Inoshikacho clan, not a single one of them is from these clans.

How could Homura Mitokado not guess the meaning of this information?

If Kirito hadn't recently done something shocking and exposed his true strength as a Kage-Level powerhouse, he probably wouldn't have thought much about it, but now that he has become the leader of the new Root and replaced Danzo as Sandaime's right-hand man for dirty work, he has to think more.

The people on this intelligence report are Kirito's forces in Konoha, and this force is still growing rapidly and is already unstoppable.

Now that Kirito has displayed his amazing power, these people in the intelligence report will find a leader in their hearts, and they will become a force led by Kirito. As a new force in Konoha, they will definitely challenge the old Konoha forces in the future.

His interests are already inseparable from those of Sandaime, and if Kirito wants to reshuffle the Konoha forces in the future, he will definitely not be able to avoid it.

"This kid is terrifying. He must have quietly recruited help and laid plans while at the Ninja Academy. He is truly a genius of sealing techniques and has a good mind, but he is still too young and couldn't help but jump out once he had some strength."

Opposite to Homura Mitokado, Utatane Koharu said with a gloomy face, and a flash of fear in her cloudy eyes.

After learning about the amazing move Kirito made on the battlefield yesterday and after reading the intelligence in Mitokado's hands, she now couldn't help but feel fear in her heart.

She really feels that Kirito is a terrifying person. Enemies with such opponents feel more pressure than facing Danzo.

At a young age, he is already a Kage-Level powerhouse, and he also has the ability to single-handedly kill Ebizo, an old Kage-Level powerhouse, and suppress Shukaku. The most terrifying thing is his deep mind, maturity, and wisdom. Such an opponent is really too terrifying, and it is unwise to make him an enemy.

"He had no choice but to jump out. The mission that Hiruzen gave the White Fang squad made him reveal his strength. Think about it, the mission of the White Fang squad was to go deep into Sunagakure and kill the ninja who could use Magnet Release and gold dust. It was much more difficult than killing Ebizo on the battlefield and sealing the One-Tailed, and the probability of failure was high.

If the mission failed, the entire ninja squad would most likely be wiped out. Now that he has killed Ebizo and sealed Shukaku within himself, he has become a hero of Konoha, and it is only a matter of time before Konoha defeats Sunagakure. Naturally, the White Fang squad no longer needs to risk their lives to go to Sunagakure and kill the target.

That brat has now become a Jinchuuriki, and even if it's a Hiruzen mission, he'll never be allowed to go to Sunagakure and take risks. That kid is not young and impulsive, he's downright calculating. If you really still think of him as an immature brat, you're definitely going to suffer in the future."

When Mitokado Homura heard Utatane Koharu say that Kirito was too young, he immediately spoke up to correct her.

Utatane Koharu heard Homura Mitokado explain Kirito's actions on the battlefield this time, and her mouth quickly grew wide. Her fear of Kirito deepened severalfold in her heart, and a worried look gradually appeared on her face. She sighed and said, "So what should we do now? This kid is obviously in league with the Senju clan. When he grows up and becomes a full-fledged ninja, will there be room for the two of us in Konoha? That old woman from the Senju clan and the Konoha princess have long looked down on the two of us."

The Senju clan and Sandaime, these two forces were originally on Sandaime's side, which had the advantage, because they had more people on their side and more Kage-Level powerhouses than the Senju clan.

But after Kirito revealed the strength of a Kage-Level powerhouse and gained the power of the One-Tailed, everything became a bit different.

The Senju clan originally didn't have a single Kage-Level powerhouse, but now with an additional mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse and Kirito, their strength has suddenly increased.

Moreover, Tsunade is also a ninja with the potential to become a Kage-Level powerhouse. It is estimated that in a few years, after polishing her strength or successfully cultivating new powerful ninjutsu, she will naturally become a Kage-Level powerhouse.

As for Sandaime's side, the Kage-Level powerhouses now include Sandaime, Takeshi, and Orochimaru. She and Mitokado Homura together also count as one. There is hope that Jiraiya will become a Kage-Level powerhouse in the future.

On the surface, their side has an advantage in terms of the number of top-level strong players, but when it comes to a real fight, their side may not necessarily be able to win.

The only advantage they have is that their side has an absolute advantage in terms of the number of jōnin.

However, this advantage is only temporary, and the future is hard to predict.

This is because of the variable of Kirito.

Tsunade did not know how to use her advantages to win over the neutral or unaligned strong people in the village, but Kirito was different. He had obviously started to build his own team during his time at the Ninja Academy, and many of his followers had already grown up.

Now that he has made a name for himself, and has also shown amazing strength and potential, he will definitely recruit more outstanding ninjas in the future.

In addition, Kirito's relationship with the Uchiha clan is obviously not ordinary, and he may be able to gain the support of the Uchiha clan.

Therefore, in Utatane Koharu's opinion, their current situation is very bleak.

"Knowing what? What can we do? This kid is no longer someone we can easily manipulate. He is a chess player with the power to turn the board over. If we dare to play dirty, do you believe he will immediately dare to do the same to us?"

Homura Mitokado laughed bitterly.

"He dares! Does he still want to betray Konoha and become the enemy of the entire Konoha?"

Utatane Koharu snapped.

Kirito is strong, but he is not powerful enough to ignore the rules of Konoha. She doesn't believe that Kirito would dare to do anything to them.

"Danzo thought the same thing at first,"

Homura Mitokado said sadly.

Upon hearing this, Utatane Koharu's face instantly paled, and she didn't dare to argue anymore.

The entire room also instantly fell into a strange silence.

"Are we just supposed to quietly wait for someone to take away the things that we have worked so hard for our entire lives?"

After a long while, Utatane Koharu said with a look of unwillingness on her face.

She had dedicated most of her life to Konoha in order to obtain her current status and power, and she didn't want to be kicked down from her current position so soon by someone who came later.

Homura Mitokado also wanted to maintain his current status and power, but as things stood, there was really nothing they could do. Kirito's rise was already unstoppable, and if they forcibly blocked his path, they might lose face one day.

"This kid has definitely been a Kage-Level powerhouse for a long time, maybe even since the year before last. If that's the case, it's likely that he's the one who recruited that mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse.

In the world of the Shinobi, power is everything, and even if the Senju clan was once glorious, that was in the past. It's not like they can just easily recruit a Kage-Level powerhouse to help them take out Danzo. But if it was Kirito who recruited him, then it all makes sense."

Homura Mitokado suddenly associated Kirito with the mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that making Kirito an enemy was very unwise.

If the mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse really was invited by Kirito to help the Senju clan deal with Danzo, then Kirito's strength was undoubtedly much stronger than what he had shown so far.

The thought that Sandaime had been overpowered by that mysterious Kage-Level powerhouse made him feel increasingly heavy-hearted.

Continuing to follow Sandaime seems to offer no hope.

But since becoming the new leader of the Root and working for Sandaime, he is already bound to him, and it is impossible for him to turn against him.

The future is worrying.

"Root, let's go find the Root. Danzo's legacy will definitely contain what we need right now."

Utatane Koharu saw that Mitokado Homura was taking his time to speak, so she thought for a moment and spoke her solution.

After Danzo's death, the old Root, the power he left behind, has shown no signs of collapsing or splitting apart. On the contrary, it is still maintaining a distant relationship with Konoha. The members of the new Root, which they have newly formed, who have been sent out to gather intelligence have discovered the footprints of some members of the old Root.

From the intersection of the routes of these people's whereabouts, it seems that the old Root has moved its base of operations to the side of Taki no Kuni.

"The legacy left by Danzo..."

Homura Mitokado heard Utatane Koharu's suggestion and did not immediately respond, showing a thoughtful expression.

He knew Danzo relatively well. He seemed selfless but was actually selfish and crazy, but he was also a very capable madman. He also knew that Danzo had always coveted the power of the Sharingan and Wood Release.

It was precisely for this reason that Danzo had always targeted the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan.

If there is a legacy left behind by Danzo in the old Root, it is most likely related to the Sharingan and Wood Release.

"Sharingan and Wood Release, I wonder how far Danzo's research into these two Bloodline Limits has progressed. If we can obtain the power of these two Bloodline Limits, then our side will also have a new future."

At this thought, Mitokado's eyes suddenly lit up.

But soon, his eyes dimmed again, because the power of Sharingan and Wood Release is not something that can be obtained so easily. To obtain these two powers, one would have to conduct a large number of cruel human experiments, and Sandaime would probably not agree to such a thing.

"Say something, for or against,"

Utatane Koharu said impatiently.

Upon hearing this, Mitokado slowly spoke his thoughts on Danzo's legacy.

"As long as Hiruzen doesn't know, it'll be fine."

Utatane Koharu sneered when she learned of Homura Mitokado's concerns.

"You make it sound easy. Although we are nominally the leaders of the New Root Department, in reality, we both know who the real leader is. Hiruzen can't help but know everything we do in the New Root Department."

Homura Mitokado was speechless. He felt that today's Koharu was even more out of it than usual.

"No, no, no, you're not getting what I really mean. That brat Kirito is making such a splash right now. Who do you think is more anxious than us?"

Utatane Koharu shook her head.

Homura Mitokado was a smart guy. He instantly understood what Utatane Koharu meant and narrowed his eyes and said, "Is it possible to succeed?"

"Hiruzen is so busy every day, he doesn't have time to pay attention to the new Root. As long as we convince the messenger and gain the support of that clan, there's no reason it won't succeed,"

Utatane Koharu said with a similar squint.

The two looked at each other and smiled, and everything was said without words.

...

At the same time, in the Senju clan, in the Nawaki family,

Senju Momo was drinking with Tsunade in the living room. The two of them could drink a lot, and they had already finished many bottles of wine, but they had not spoken a word the whole time, and the atmosphere was very cold and stiff.

"Momo, I've given this a lot of thought these days, and I still don't think I'm capable of becoming Hokage,"

Tsunade said, her face red with anger, as she could no longer stand the oppressive atmosphere.

Momo Senju heard this and instantly sobered up. She glared at Tsunade angrily and said in a tone of voice that expressed her hatred and disappointment, "You ran away from home for so many days and this is the result? Don't forget your identity, running away is not the solution."

"I know, just hear me out,"

said Tsunade, slamming her hand on the table and shouting at Momo, emboldened by the alcohol.

Momo's face twitched slightly at this, but she still held her patience and decided to hear what else Tsunade wanted to say.

"Although I will not become the Hokage, I will start actively rallying others to pave the way for Nawaki and Kirito. I am someone who has no intention of becoming the Hokage, and someone like me becoming the Hokage will only harm Konoha. However, Nawaki and Kirito are different; they are people with lofty ideals and are more suitable to become the Hokage than I am."

Tsunade saw that Momo was patient and listened to her, so she slowly told her true feelings.

Yes, she really didn't want to be the Hokage. This was the answer she had come to after so many days of serious thought.

However, Sandaime's actions of letting Nawaki and Kirito go on a mission with almost no chance of survival made her realize that if she didn't take the initiative to gain power, then she wouldn't be able to protect the people around her. So she wasn't going to continue to sit around and do nothing anymore. She was going to start taking the initiative, gather the forces in Konoha that could be united together, and make Sandaime and the others fear her so that they couldn't take any rash actions.

She had figured it out: she just needed to become a banner for the Senju clan to unite the forces of all sides. As for who would pick up the banner and lead the Senju clan and Konoha forward, it didn't really matter. She didn't need to be the Hokage; she just needed to become the supporter behind the Hokage.

Nawaki and Kirito were undoubtedly very good choices.

Especially Kirito. With the strength he had now shown and the prestige he had accumulated, if he had her support, when Kirito grew up a bit more, it might not be impossible for him to become the new Hokage.

After all, the Hokage exists to protect Konoha.

If Kirito becomes the strongest in Konoha in the future and makes great contributions to Konoha, even if he is a bit young, who can say that he is not qualified to be the Hokage?

To be honest, she personally really hopes that Kirito can become the Hokage.

The reason is none other than that Kirito is so suitable, both in terms of strength and mind, and is many times more suitable than her stupid younger brother, whose heart is full of worries. Perhaps the only flaw is his age.

"You really think so?"

Momo heard Tsunade say so, and her anger subsided slightly as she inquired.

Tsunade quickly nodded, then stood up and bent over to pour Momo a drink.

"Okay, just do what you think is right, and the Senju clan will always be your solid backing,"

Momo said with a sigh as she gulped down the drink Tsunade poured.

Hearing that Momo agreed with her, Tsunade's eyes widened, and a smile that she hadn't seen in a long time appeared on her face. Without giving Momo a chance to change her mind, she shouted, "Momo, thank you for understanding. I will definitely not let you down. I'm leaving now, I have an appointment with someone else."

After saying this, she left with a big smile on her face.

"Idiot, if only things were really that simple,"

Momo said, looking at Tsunade's departing back, a meaningful expression on her face.

Although Tsunade's answer just now was not satisfactory, it was considered an improvement. At least she was not going to continue to mess around, and finally decided to choose a side.

This is a very good start.

As for Tsunade's desire to let Nawaki and Kirito replace her as Hokage, that is her wishful thinking. As long as she takes that step and chooses to become the new banner of the Senju clan, no one can predict what will happen next.