Hokage’s Office.
“That’s how it happened.
I’ll arrange for someone to write a detailed report on the specifics.”
Tsunade briefly summarized the mission process, her face filled with exhaustion.
Hiruzen Sarutobi instinctively reached for the pipe in his pocket but found it empty.
“You’re saying you encountered Anbu from both the Cloud and Mist Hidden Villages?”
“Exactly!
The intel the village provided was wrong.”
Tsunade clenched her fist.
It was supposed to be just a routine information exchange mission.
Their opponents were an Anbu squad from the Cloud Hidden Village.
But then an Anbu squad from the Mist Hidden Village appeared out of nowhere, and together, the two sides outnumbered her team by more than double.
Despite her best efforts, she only managed to escape with less than half of her team members.
Hiruzen Sarutobi furrowed his brow.
“Danzo verified this intel.
Perhaps the appearance of the Mist Anbu was an accident.”
“An accident?”
Tsunade snorted coldly.
“The mission location was deep within the Land of Lightning.
You think the Mist Anbu appearing there was an accident?”
Hiruzen Sarutobi fell silent, a significant doubt growing in his heart.
For any Hidden Village, unless they had reached some important agreement, they would never allow Anbu squads from other villages to operate within their own territory.
“…Then it’s an even worse possibility: the Cloud and Mist have joined forces.”
In recent years, there has been a consensus among the major Hidden Villages: war is not far off.
Because of this, although the surface remains calm, beneath it, turbulent currents are surging.
Conflicts along the borders and intelligence-gathering operations against each other have been escalating.
Looking across the major Hidden Villages, thanks to the Land of Fire’s unique natural resources, Konoha is the most prosperous.
The Cloud and Stone villages have relatively barren land, the Sand village deals with sandstorms daily, and the Mist village is isolated overseas.
Therefore, what the major villages covet most is Konoha.
And now, at this very moment, the Cloud and Mist villages seem to have joined forces.
For Konoha, this is hardly good news.
“Most likely.” Tsunade’s expression was grave.
“Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense.”
Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a long sigh.
“Thankfully, there’s the Whirlpool Village to help Konoha keep an eye on the Mist.
Otherwise, if the Cloud and Mist launched a joint attack…”
He shook his head, not finishing the sentence.
Although Konoha is large and powerful, and could withstand a long coastline defense, what truly worried him was deploying a large number of ninjas to the coastline, only for the Stone and Sand villages to attack Konoha from other directions.
If that happened, being attacked from both sides would be a real problem.
Fortunately, the Whirlpool Village could help Konoha stabilize the defense line.
Fortunately, it’s difficult for the major Hidden Villages to truly set aside their grievances and cooperate fully.
The two stopped discussing the topic.
Confirming cooperation between Hidden Villages requires verification from multiple intelligence sources.
After a brief silence.
Tsunade suddenly spoke up.
“Sensei, what do you think about the idea I mentioned before—training medical ninjas?”
“What idea?”
“Assigning a medical ninja to every ninja team.” Tsunade explained.
“On this mission, I was the only medical ninja, but I had to hold off the strongest enemy.
If there had been one more medical ninja, perhaps two more people could have been saved.”
Hiruzen Sarutobi refused without hesitation.
“Tsunade, you faced enemies twice your number.
Even with one more medical ninja, there wouldn’t have been time or opportunity to save anyone.”
“Teacher, war is approaching.
Wouldn’t it be better to train more medical ninjas and save more wounded?”
Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head again.
“Training medical ninjas takes too long.
We won’t make it in time for this war.
Let’s discuss it after this war is over.”
Tsunade sighed helplessly, her eyes filled with disappointment as she looked at the Hokage.
If we can’t make it for this war, what about the next one?
If we always use war as an excuse and fail to prepare in advance, when will we ever establish a complete medical ninja system?
She turned to leave.
“Wait.”
“Hmm?” Tsunade stopped in her tracks.
“Teacher, have you changed your mind?”
“No.” Hiruzen Sarutobi stood up and met Tsunade’s gaze.
“I want to introduce a disciple to you.”
“A disciple?”
Tsunade’s hopes dashed, and she curled her lips.
“Not interested.
Find someone else.”
“You are the most suitable person for this!”
“Oh?
Is there a promising medical ninja candidate?”
“Tsunade, stop thinking about medical ninjas!” Hiruzen Sarutobi’s tone grew sharper.
Tsunade replied impatiently, “If he’s not a medical ninja, what would he do as my disciple?
Go find Jiraiya or Orochimaru.”
“Don’t be stubborn, Tsunade.
This is also Lady Mito’s wish.”
Hearing it was Mito Uzumaki’s idea, Tsunade grew somewhat interested.
“Who is it?”
“Gekko Ryun.”
….
Konoha Hospital.
Tsunade stood by the window of an office, arms crossed, gazing blankly at the bustling crowd outside.
Gekko Ryun knocked on the door and entered after receiving permission.
“Lady Tsunade, you asked for me?”
“Take a seat.”
Tsunade turned around, releasing her arms, which swayed gently, and casually slipped her hands into the pockets of her white coat.
“I’m sorry about your uncle.”
He was taken aback, not expecting Tsunade to apologize for such a thing.
He shook his head.
“Please don’t say that, Lady Tsunade.
My uncle is very grateful that you saved him.
If it weren’t for you, it wouldn’t have been just an arm.”
Tsunade waved her hand, a look of weariness crossing her face.
As a medical ninja, what she hated most was watching her comrades fall before her eyes, unable to save them.
This situation could clearly be changed.
She couldn’t bring herself to say these words.
After a few seconds of silence, she gathered her spirits.
“Kid, this is the second time we’ve met, right?”
“Yes.”
Tsunade looked him up and down before suddenly saying, “Do you want to become my disciple?”
“Huh?” His mind went blank for a few seconds.
When he finally processed the question, he quickly nodded.
“Yes!”
He didn’t bother thinking about why Tsunade would take the initiative to accept a disciple.
In the current Konoha, becoming a disciple of any of the three—Jiraiya, Orochimaru, or Tsunade—would place one in the Hokage’s inner circle.
Among them, becoming Tsunade’s disciple was the most ideal scenario.
The reason was simple: she had plenty of valuable things.
According to his speculation, many of the items left behind by Senju Hashirama might be recognized by the system as equipment materials.
And these things would almost all end up with Tsunade.
From this perspective, Tsunade was undoubtedly the wealthiest person in the entire Ninja World.
In the original story, after losing Nawaki and Dan Kato one after another, Tsunade left Konoha in despair.
No one knew where the things left behind by Senju Hashirama ended up.
The ever-helpful Gekko Ryun couldn’t bear to see such waste and was willing to help Tsunade find a good home for these things…
Of course, there were also a few other minor factors involved.
Who doesn’t love a blonde big sister?
“Becoming my disciple won’t be that easy.”
Tsunade’s tone carried a hint of mischief as she casually grabbed a piece of paper, picked up a pen, and bent over to write.
A breathtaking curve faintly revealed itself, but he sat upright, keeping his gaze fixed straight ahead.
A few minutes later.
He took the paper Tsunade handed him, looked at the long list of book titles, and felt his throat go dry.
“What’s this?”
“It seems you’ve guessed it.
Yes, this is a reading list.”
Tsunade curled the corner of her mouth and raised a finger.
“Finish learning all of this within a year, and you’ll be my disciple.”