Land of Fire.
Day after day slipped by.
Chiba’s daily life was one long repetition.
Casinos.
Losing money.
Being hunted for debt.
Sleeping rough in the wild.
When Tsunade was at her most worn-out and hungry, she would teach Chiba a few scraps of the most basic medical theory.
Then loudly scold him for being “stupid.”
Chiba played the timid, middling Chunin to perfection.
Only alone, deep in the night, would he silently circulate his Wood Release chakra, cementing what he’d learned that day.
His strength was quietly transforming, at a terrifying rate.
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.
The border of the Land of Fire.
In a dense primeval forest, Chiba walked behind Tsunade.
He sensed that something today was very wrong.
It was too quiet.
Even Tonton, who loved to grunt, had its head buried in Shizune’s arms, trembling.
Tsunade’s steps were very slow.
Her hands were tucked in her pockets, her manner easy.
But through the keen perception of his Sage Body, Chiba could feel it clearly—the chakra inside Tsunade was condensing madly, at a horrifying rate.
Like an active volcano on the verge of eruption!
The pressure was immense!
Then, all at once, Tsunade stopped.
She tilted her head slightly toward the canopy that walled off the sky above.
“You’ve been following me for a month.”
“Do you really take me for blind?”
Tsunade’s voice was ice cold.
So cold it seemed to freeze the very air.
Without any warning, Tsunade spun, her right leg like a whip of golden steel lashing into a towering tree so thick three people together could barely ring it!
“Boom!”
Terrifying Monstrous Strength erupted in an instant!
The huge trunk burst apart at the middle as if it were made of paper!
The violent shockwave swept outward, blasting a clearing through the dense forest!
“Ah!” Shizune cried out, driven back step by step by the blast.
Chiba crossed his arms before his chest, chakra surging under his feet to pin himself to the ground so he wasn’t blown away.
The next moment, out of the dust of the fallen tree, two black figures were forced from their hiding place.
They flipped through the air a few times and landed steadily on a trunk more than ten meters off.
They were the masked Root ninja, A and B.
Their hearts were hammering.
Had that kick landed on them, they’d have been reduced to paste on the spot.
“Quick to show yourselves, aren’t you, sewer rats.”
Tsunade slowly drew her right leg back.
She rolled her neck, her bones cracking with a teeth-gritting sound.
But her cold gaze stayed fixed on the pair in the tree.
A and B traded a glance.
They fought down the fear in their hearts.
“Lady Tsunade.”
“We’re only acting on orders.”
“The Hokage and Danzo are deeply concerned for your safety.”
A forced the words out.
“Concerned?” Tsunade sneered.
Her laughter brimmed with endless mockery and rage.
“Sending two dogs to show their concern for me?”
“Go back and tell Danzo!”
“I may have left the Village, but I won’t be watched by some crippled rat who can’t stand the daylight!”
“If you dare follow me again,”
“I’ll twist your heads off and deliver them to Root myself!”
“Get lost!”
The words “Get lost” landed like a thunderclap.
Violent killing intent bore down on the two like a landslide.
This woman truly meant to kill!
“Since we’re not welcome, Lady Tsunade,”
“we’ll take our leave.”
A gave a slight bow, then made a hand signal.
Swish!
Swish!
Both burst into white smoke and vanished.
The forest fell back into dead silence.
“That frightened me half to death.”
“So they were from the Village.”
Shizune let out a long breath and patted her chest.
Chiba said nothing.
He closed his eyes, his powerful perception spreading outward.
One second.
Two seconds.
Chiba’s brows knit slightly.
They hadn’t left.
Those two hadn’t left at all!
They’d only fallen back behind a dirt slope five hundred meters away and used Earth Release to bury their presence.
Just as he’d thought.
Root’s people answered to no one but Danzo.
Even under a Sannin’s death threats, they wouldn’t retreat so easily.
Five hundred meters off, A and B, hidden two meters underground, held their breath.
“That was close.”
“That crazy woman nearly attacked just now.”
A whispered a curse.
“We’re this far out—she’ll never find us.”
“Keep watching.
As long as we don’t get too close…”
B replied.
“Boom!”
But before B could finish, the earth above their heads let out an agonized wail.
The hard rock layer shattered in an instant.
Soil laced with violent chakra poured down like a waterfall!
“What?!”
The two were horror-struck.
They had no time even to form hand seals.
A fist wrapped in chakra had already punched through the strata.
Carrying terrifying, destructive force, it drove straight at A’s chest!
“No!”
A frantically marshaled all his chakra, trying to condense an Earth Release barrier before him.
But against Monstrous Strength, every defense was as laughable as thin paper.
Crack!
A crisp snap of breaking bone rang dully underground.
A’s chest caved in at a horrifying angle.
Dozens of ribs shattered at once!
His whole body was blasted out of the ground like a burst sack by the sheer force of that fist!
B was utterly terrified.
His body went cold, his mind blank.
Run!
I have to run!
This woman really would kill Konoha ninja!
“Earth Release: Earth Dragon Submersion Technique!”
B bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, heedless of the cost.
Using the clarity the sharp pain gave him, he frantically formed hand seals.
He couldn’t spare a thought now for whether A lived or died.
Like a mad dog, he fled underground in a panic, vanishing at top speed.
Up on the surface, Tsunade sprang out of the pit.
She brushed the dirt from her hands and glanced at A, lying like a dead dog in the distance.
She didn’t chase B.
Leaving one alive to carry the message back was exactly the outcome she wanted.
Before long, Chiba and Shizune arrived.
Looking at the unconscious Root ninja, Chiba said nothing.
But in his heart, he understood completely.
The whole past month had been a play Tsunade staged for the Root ninja!
To lull Danzo.
To make everyone believe Chiba was nothing but worthless commoner trash!
And now, the play was over.
Tsunade had used the most violent means to stamp a bloody period on the end of it.
“You understand now, kid?”
Tsunade turned and looked at Chiba.
The cynicism was gone from her tone.
In its place was a deep weariness—and resolve.
“I understand.”
“Thank you for your hard work this month, Lady Tsunade.”
At that, Chiba nodded gravely.
“The Konoha of today…”
“is no longer the Konoha my grandfather built.”
Tsunade sneered and leaned back against a tree.
Her gaze turned toward Konoha Village, full of mockery.
“The upper ranks are rotten—forming cliques, freezing out anyone who isn’t one of them.”
“For power, they’ll do anything.”
“How did the White Fang die?”
“Why was the Uchiha pushed to the margins?”
“They even dared send Root rats to spy on me—the granddaughter of the First Hokage!”
At this, Tsunade clenched her fists tight, her knuckles whitening.
“Still,”
“after today,”
“those two old men should rein themselves in a good deal.”
“Danzo may be suspicious by nature,”
“but once he’s sure you’re no threat, he won’t keep fixating on a commoner Chunin.”
A moment later, Tsunade turned her head, staring at Chiba with burning eyes.
“Starting tomorrow,”
“the good days are over.”
“I’ll use the harshest methods there are to wring out every last drop of your potential.”
“You will master your Wood Release in the shortest time possible!”
“…”
Under Tsunade’s gaze, Chiba didn’t flinch in the slightest.
Because he understood his situation all too well.
The moment his Wood Release was exposed, Danzo would stop at nothing to seize him and cut him open for study.
And Sarutobi Hiruzen would take full control of him in the name of “For Konoha.”
This was the Konoha of today.
Hypocritical!
Filthy!
At the thought, a surge of profound disgust rose in Chiba’s heart.
But an instant later, that disgust turned into a wild ambition.
He may have been an orphan in his past life, but in this one, the blood of the Senju of the Forest ran in his veins.
Who built Konoha?
The Senju and the Uchiha!
The Senju had even held the Hokage’s seat for two terms running!
In a sense, Konoha was the Senju Clan’s own estate!
And now these thieves had seized his family’s property—and still meant to use him as cannon fodder and a lab rat?
In their dreams!
Once he was strong enough, whatever Third Hokage, whatever Danzo, the “Darkness of the Shinobi”—every last one of them would pay the price!
He would take back what belonged to the Senju Clan with his own two hands!
He would make this rotten Village run according to his will!
“Lady Tsunade!”
“I’ve been ready for a long time!”