At the very top of Iwagakure, inside the bun-shaped Tsuchikage Tower, Ōnoki listened to the intelligence corps ninja’s report.
The hand scrubbing his stone paused, and he let out a scornful snort.
“So that Kumo brat’s little scheme got him caught red-handed.
Looks like he’s about to pay a heavy price.” With that, he tossed the report onto his desk.
“Order the ninja along the border to keep pushing forward—give Kumogakure a little more excitement.
And while you’re at it, send a letter to Konoha.
Tell them Iwagakure is willing to strike a temporary ceasefire agreement to deal with Kumogakure together.”
“Yes, sir!”
Over in Sunagakure, the Kazekage finished reading the message that had been delivered and simply set the paper aside.
“Konoha still has the Uzumaki Clan’s bloodline?
Forget it—we don’t have the energy to meddle in this right now.
Just keep someone watching them and stay neutral.”
As for Kumogakure…
“Damn it!
Ruining my grand plan!”
The Fourth Raikage’s fist, big as a cauldron, slammed down hard on his desk.
The entire granite desk cracked with the blow, splitting open a gash several inches wide.
Every Kumogakure higher-up in the room kept their heads down, not daring to make a sound.
Everyone knew this Raikage had a fiery temper to begin with, and now that his plan had been completely exposed—with Konoha broadcasting the whole affair to every corner of the Shinobi World, leaving Kumogakure as the target of universal scorn—it would be a miracle if he weren’t in a rage.
“I told you to abduct someone from the Hyuga Main House—who told you to make it known to the entire world?
Now look!
Konoha’s got us roasting over the fire, and Iwagakure’s still massing troops at the border.
We’re caught between two fronts.
Tell me, how should I deal with you!”
Before him, two Kumo ninja—one black-skinned, one white—kept their heads bowed and said nothing.
Nobody dared open their mouths and poke the Raikage’s fury at a time like this.
After a long while, the Raikage’s anger subsided a fraction.
He pointed at the two and demanded in a low voice, “So that idiot really fell into Konoha’s hands?
And got his words pulled out of him with Genjutsu?”
The black-skinned Kumo ninja quickly lifted his head to answer.
“Yes.
That Uzumaki brat used some kind of technique to seal the leader’s Chakra, and then the leader was manipulated by Uchiha Shisui’s Genjutsu.
Every part of the plan was spoken aloud in front of everyone—we had no time to salvage the situation.”
“What’s more, Konoha’s stance this time is extremely hardline.
They’ve even recalled Jiraiya and Tsunade of the Sannin from abroad,” the white-skinned ninja added.
“An Uzumaki Clan brat?” The Raikage’s brow furrowed.
“That idiot may be middling in strength, but he’s still an experienced ninja.
He couldn’t even handle a single child?
Useless!”
At that moment, a strategist seated at the far end stepped forward.
“Lord Raikage, now is not the time to assign blame.
Konoha has already released the news, and the intelligence department reports that Iwagakure is inclined to join forces with Konoha.
Either we… either we truly go to war, or we cede a portion of our interests to Konoha in exchange for a peace agreement.”
“Cede interests?
You say cede interests!?” the Raikage roared again, so hard the window glass rattled and shook.
But once the shout was out, all he could do was clench his fists and pant.
He understood Kumogakure’s predicament all too well—if war really broke out on two fronts at once, Kumogakure would come out badly for certain.
“You two—get out to the border and report to the reconnaissance squad.
Don’t come back until you’ve run at least twenty missions!”
During wartime, reconnaissance squads always suffered the heaviest casualties.
Twenty missions was the equivalent of twenty games of Russian roulette with your life on the line.
But for the envoy Kumo ninja who had committed so grave a blunder, there was no better option to be had.
Having handed down the punishment for the envoy team, the Raikage turned to his trusted confidant, Dodai.
As the right-hand man to two successive Raikage, Dodai had the standing and the reliability.
At the very least, he wouldn’t be like these fools who couldn’t even abduct one person without cornering the whole village into a dead end.
“Dodai, you’ll make another trip to Konoha.
Take note—this time, the absolute limit of the interests we’re willing to cede…”
What good was resentment now?
His own order had sent his men to abduct someone; now that things had gone wrong, he had to find a way to fix them.
His fury was only the surface.
A was, in the end, the Raikage—even with the fire raging in his heart unquenched, he still had to seek the best outcome for the village.
He couldn’t drag Kumogakure into the quagmire of a two-front war just to satisfy a moment’s temper.
Three days later, Dodai arrived in Konoha bearing an agreement written in the Raikage’s own hand.
Before Konoha’s higher-ups, the Kumogakure envoy team admitted fault and offered reparations for this incident.
The compensation materials included Thunder Ore as well as Chakra-conductive metal and other ore specialties of the Land of Lightning.
They also withdrew the Kumogakure forces that had previously clashed with Konoha ninja at the border—all as atonement for the abduction affair.
Once Hiruzen Sarutobi accepted the agreement, he made no further mention of war.
Konoha took the reparation materials and gave Kumogakure a way to save face.
The two sides quickly settled on a new peace treaty, and the matter was finally laid to rest.
Moreover, Konoha made it clear it would not ally with Iwagakure.
Should the Lands of Lightning and Earth go to war, Konoha would remain neutral—for Konoha, nothing would be better than watching those two beat each other’s brains out and reaping the fisherman’s profit.
Through this whole affair, Konoha’s ninja came to know the name Uzumaki Genshin.
And they all understood that this little Uzumaki cub not only carried the purest Uzumaki bloodline, but also the purest Will of Fire—his nerve and courage far exceeding those of other cubs his age.
He could now be officially crowned as the “other kid” that Konoha’s parents held up as an example.
Genshin knew nothing of any of this, because at that very moment two heavyweights were sitting across from him.
The heavyweight directly in front of him was Tsunade, regarding Genshin with a gaze that was half nostalgic, half appraising.
The heavyweight to his front-left was Jiraiya, who at this moment was also studying Genshin with a complicated look… And to the left, the little blond Naruto wore an expression that was a whole pie-chart of guilt, longing, and consolation all tangled together.
Yes—the gambling-and-lecher duo of the Sannin had returned to the village.
The moment they got back, the two went straight to see the Third Hokage.
After the Third revealed Genshin’s identity and his First-Hokage-caliber talent, Tsunade couldn’t sit still.
Before he’d even finished speaking she slammed the door and stormed straight to Genshin’s home.
Naruto happened to be over playing at the time, which was how the scene above came to be.
Tsunade looked at the redheaded little squirt with his miniature-adult air, and the more she looked, the more she felt he resembled her grandmother, Uzumaki Mito.
Recalling how the Third had said this little one’s Chakra was very special, along with his record of knocking out a Kumogakure ninja leader with a single slap, her curiosity began to overpower every other thought.
Dawdling wasn’t her style.
Tsunade abruptly stood up—the waves at her chest bounced once—and beckoned to Genshin.
“Hey, kid.
The old man told me your talent’s something fierce.
How about we go a couple rounds outside?”
“Eh?”
We’re fighting?
I’m fighting Tsunade!?
Is this for real?
Genshin felt his mind going a little numb.
“Hey, Tsunade, are you serious?
Who challenges someone to a beating the second they meet them?” Jiraiya couldn’t help but try to talk her out of it.
Little Naruto too went wide-eyed with his blue eyes and puffed out his cheeks in indignation.
“Yeah, yeah!
Big sister’s being a bully!”
Ho~ this little blond had a future.
Tsunade shot the two of them a glance.
“What are you scared of?
I’m not going to beat him to death—I just want to test this kid’s ability.
He’s Grandma Mito’s descendant, and the old man even says he has talent to rival the First.
I’ve got to inspect the goods myself, don’t I?”
“And have you forgotten what I’m best at?
Even if I break him, I can bring him right back.” Tsunade cracked her fists and flashed a nuclear-grade kindly smile, her knuckles popping and crackling.
Jiraiya remembered the time he’d been sent flying a hundred meters by one of Tsunade’s punches, and along with Naruto he shrank his neck and fell silent.
With that, Tsunade grabbed Genshin by the collar and hauled him toward the door.
Genshin flailed his arms and legs a couple of times but couldn’t break free, so he could only be dragged out like a kitten.
Jiraiya watched the scene and scratched his head, then hurriedly pulled Naruto along to go watch the fun.
Out on the open ground, Tsunade let go and stepped back a few paces.
She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at Genshin.
“Come on, use everything you’ve got—show me all the tricks you used on that Kumogakure ninja leader.
I’ll take it.”
What else could he do at this point?
Fight, then!
Genshin knew perfectly well that whether in Ninjutsu or Taijutsu, he was worlds apart from Tsunade.
The greatest significance of this sparring match was to test his own current level.
Steadying his mind, Genshin activated the Hamon Breathing Method, then mixed the Hamon with his spiritual energy inside his body to produce Hamon Chakra.
As the Hamon Chakra circulated through his Chakra Pathway System and coursed throughout his body, faint currents of Hamon spread across his frame, and that familiar sense of power welled up in his heart.
This entire process, Genshin could now complete in an instant—the fruit of his training over these past days.
As for Tsunade, the moment Genshin finished extracting his Hamon Chakra, she suddenly froze—this Chakra, brimming with vitality and yet so achingly familiar, was the very sensation buried deep in her memory.
The “talent to rival the First” the old man had spoken of… so this was what he’d meant?