Tsunade barged into the office of the Hokage only to find herself under two sets of eyes as the discussion between Danzo and Hiruzen abruptly ceased. She wasn’t deterred much under their scrutiny, not really caring about their opinion of her barging in. Instead, she just walked towards the couch into which she lazily flopped before speaking. “Don’t mind me. Finish your gossiping, old folks. I can wait.” She waved her hand lazily in a dismissive manner, enjoying how their eyes twitched.
Danzo was livid. The Senju brat just interrupted a very important meeting. He wanted to get some clan ninjas to his ROOT but Hiruzen was vehemently against it. Danzo knew he would eventually persuade the old monkey. He always did. The usual schtick of ‘I do it in the shadows and you pretend you didn’t see’ always worked. In truth, he already had a few ‘lost’ clan females strapped to a table with the sole purpose of breeding more clan kids. He would give these kids to orphanages owned by him, naturally not the ones inside of Konoha, and then, when the kids are older, he would take them back into ROOT, getting rid of weak and bad seeds while nurturing those strong and resilient ones. Needless to say, these females he managed to kidnap would not leave their current ‘accommodations’ for a long, long time. He also had quite a bit of clan males being trained but those were in significantly lesser numbers since kidnapping a female for breeding was easier than kidnapping and persuading a male to serve him. They usually got aggressive and had to be put down. All Danzo needed was to make Hiruzen give him okay for having clan ninjas in ROOT and he would be able to not fear being persecuted when he reveals these clan ninjas he had. At that time, nobody would look how they came to be nor would they have any right to. Danzo sure as hell would make sure of that by having the council set some laws in place. Laws that individually might not even make sense but together would create a perfect shield for this operation of his. And yet, when he was almost done persuading Hiruzen, the Senju brat just barged in and fucked up four hours of his persuasion efforts!?
Hiruzen just watched how his friend huffed in anger, something he didn’t see Danzo do for two decades at the very least, and walked away from his office while glaring murderously at Tsunade. He was aware that Danzo probably wanted more than just a ‘few willing clan shinobi for his ROOT’ as he put it but for all the smarts he had, Hiruzen couldn’t really figure out what was his old friend’s end goal.
Instead, Hiruzen looked at Tsunade and with a tired sigh, greeted her. “Hello, Tsunade. What can I do for you?” He tried to ignore the broken door and thanked heavens for sending his ANBU away before Danzo came in. It could have been bloody otherwise. Not that he believed his ANBU would be stupid enough to come into Tsunade’s path when she is in a mood to smash things.
“I came to warn you.” Tsunade plainly stated as she looked at the pictures of her Grandfather and Granduncle with fondness. Hiruzen wanted to bloom in a full-blown smile when he saw it but her next words chilled him to the bone. “Kiri is planning a full offensive to the northern shores of the Land of Fire.” She said as if it didn’t even matter.
Hiruzen’s mouth opened as a thousand thoughts swirled in his mind. He had no idea what to think about that. It was plausible. Probable. Possible, even. As a plan… if Mizukage did what Tsunade just said he was planning to do, ‘It could spell the end of Konohagakure.’ Hiruzen realized in horror.
“Why do you think so?” He carefully asked Tsunade. If it was true, now was not the time to panic. It was time to act and plan accordingly to this new information. “You surely have some proof. Jiraiya’s spy network spans every single nation. He has spies even in the Land of Earth but no report of Kiri forces planning to attack our country was received.”
“Well, duh.” Tsunade deadpanned. “The Mizukage is much smarter than you think yourself to be, Sen-sei.” She said in a sing-song tone. “I am sure Jiraiya informed you I lived some time in Kirigakure. I have a few… friends there.” She deliberately stopped, letting Sarutobi digest what he just heard. “And they informed me. Believe me or not, that’s not my problem. I gave you the intel I had and that’s where it ends for me.” Tsunade stood up and shrugged. “Anyway, I’ll return to the hospital.” She said before marching out of the broken door, ignoring Sarutobi calling her name.
Rei wanted her to alert Konoha. To be honest, Tsunade didn’t really have much fondness for the village itself. It could burn for all she cared. The possessions of her clan were already stored safely in Rei’s dimension and she didn’t much care for the lands. After all, even if Konoha burned to the ground, the lands would still belong to the Senju clan. The clan money was also in the bank, not in the village itself. As for her Grandfather’s wish? She could care less what one idealistic fool wanted. The village was corrupt and twisted. The village higher-ups were responsible for the extinction of the Senju clan. Tsunade was only curious how her grandfather would react to hearing this. Sure, he wanted peace but he was a Senju. The family went first, no matter what angle one looked at it. Tsunade had no doubt Hashirama-jii would burn the village down himself if it saved the Senju clan.
‘I just wonder why Rei wants Konoha to survive. Sure… if it fell, there would be a power vacuum and the war would probably considerably lengthen. By now, the villages are going on fumes and one to two years should be enough to end the war but is it really worth it? We could maneuver better if there is a war among nations…’ Tsunade thought in confusion. Rei informed her he would defect from Kiri and as such, it would be easier for him to do whatever he wanted to do while Kiri was preoccupied with war. Tsunade had no idea why he wanted to alert Konoha to something that could be a fatal attack. ‘Well, he probably has his own plans.’ She shrugged, deciding to just go along with it.
At the same time, the Hokage was cradling his head, for the first time since the start of the war not knowing what to do. If Tsunade was right, then this was a major threat to the village. He would also have to re-evaluate the Mizukage… something he didn’t want to admit he was wrong about. Alas, he didn’t really have much of a choice. If he believed Tsunade or not, he was grateful she alerted him and it made his heart warm that his student still cared for the village and its people. Since she returned, she was completely cold and uncaring. Especially during the Council Meetings. At times, he wondered if she was a Nara as she often just laid her head on the table or tended to her polished nails, not really listening to what they discussed. Her most likely reply to any question was, ‘Don’t care, do whatever…’ and it really worried Hiruzen.
But he was unable to complain since the civilians and ninjas alike utterly loved her. If he decided to give her the hat, he knew the village would burst into celebrations despite being in the middle of the war. Tsunade was just that good of a medic. Every single clan had many fatally wounded people she somehow saved. Nobody except Tsunade had even an inkling how but they clearly lived past something that should have killed them. Tsunade was always cordial towards people and never acted high and mighty… she was a Senju, after all. This made the civilians love her despite her bitchy attitude when it came to scolding people who didn’t listen to her medical advice. For people, it was just a sign that she cared and while they always left the hospital grumbling under their noses, they appreciated it. Tsunade Senju was a legend before she left the village. But now that she returned? She didn’t even need to enter the battlefield, something that irked many, and despite that, she became one of the biggest heroes of this war. The number of lives she saved… Hiruzen really couldn’t complain about her acting like an utter bitch to him and anyone on the Council. Sadly, that was also the sole reason why he was unable to pass the hat to her. He feared the Council would be dismantled sooner rather than later if that happened and he could not in good conscience do that.
“Tsunade… why can’t you be a cute and obedient girl like you were as a genin?” He groaned and banged his forehead on his table while pressing a button under it to call his ANBU. Not a second later, four people appeared kneeling in front of his desk.
“Hokage-sama.” They chorused.
“Three of you back into your positions, Owl, wait until I write a message for Jiraiya. I will need you to deliver it… discreetly.” Hiruzen said, not bothering to wait for a reply. He took his pipe out of the drawer before starting to smoke as he wrote new orders for his spymaster. It was high time to get a better look at the actions of Kirigakure.
