Dilemma

A pall of gloom hung over the Hokage Building. The sound of Hiruzen Sarutobi puffing on his pipe had not stopped once, and the tobacco inside burned at an astonishing rate, as if turbocharged.

In the dim Hokage Office, besides Hiruzen Sarutobi, the attendees included the three advisers—Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and Shimura Danzō—as well as representatives of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans.

And the head of the Senju Clan.

Ever since the Shinobi World had learned of the First Hokage's immense power, countless people had set their sights on the Senju Clan. Even the village itself hoped to reproduce Hashirama Senju's strength. This made it exceptionally dangerous for Senju clan members to travel through the Shinobi World, and vicious incidents targeting them happened often.

Unfortunately, most of them possessed nothing special. They were utterly ordinary, yet they died unjust deaths.

This dealt another blow to the Senju Clan, which had already sacrificed so much for Konohagakure. From a great clan once no less populous than the Uchiha, it had dwindled to a mere handful within several decades.

Perhaps no one in the Shinobi World wanted to master Hashirama Senju's power more than the Senju Clan itself.

Thus, in order to protect their clansmen, the Senju Clan had chosen to conceal themselves since the Second Hokage's administration. Those of mediocre talent, especially those unable to become shinobi, adopted other surnames. Of the Senju Clan in the public eye, only Tsunade's main branch remained, numbering barely over a dozen people.

Yet after so many years, that temporary measure seemed to be turning into a permanent separation. The Senju Clan was drawing ever closer to "disappearing."

But no matter what, the Senju Clan had been the greatest contributor to the village's founding. Though the current Hokage did not bear the Senju name, every high-ranking official in Konohagakure could be considered Tobirama Senju's disciple. The Hokage lineage originated with the Senju, and the Senju Clan held an exceptional status. This was Konohagakure's common understanding.

That was also where Tsunade's title of "Princess" came from.

The Senju clan head who had arrived this time was Senju Dougo, the cousin of the First Generation and the Second Generation.

"Lord Hokage, make a decision soon. Nothing can happen to little Tsunade."

Hashirama Senju's sudden rise to greatness seemed to have used up all the Senju Clan's luck. For so many years, not a single clansman had even come close to Hashirama Senju's level. They had finally produced a supremely gifted Tsunade Senju and had protected her so carefully all these years.

Yet the moment she began traveling through the Shinobi World, she was captured!

"Tsunade is my disciple. Of course I am worried about her safety. I have already sent Sakumo to lead the Anbu to the Land of Hot Water."

According to Jiraiya's account in the scroll, the three of them had been caught up with not far from the Land of Fire's border. Tsunade, the only one capable of fighting, had chosen to stay behind, while Jiraiya had taken Orochimaru, who drifted in and out of consciousness, back to the Land of Fire to seek aid.

After entering the Land of Fire, Jiraiya successfully located a shinobi patrol along the border using their signal codes. Following some simple treatment, he immediately returned to the Land of Hot Water with reinforcements, only to find nothing.

Based on the investigation at the scene, Jiraiya concluded that Tsunade was not dead, but might have been captured alive. They could only send someone back to the village with a scroll recording the whole incident to seek more reinforcements, while Jiraiya led men in the hope of finding Tsunade himself.

But lacking sufficient strength, Jiraiya did not dare lead his men too deep inside, fearing that they would run into the Third Raikage again. He could only search around the Land of Hot Water–Land of Fire border.

"Can we not even confirm whether Chief Torifu died in battle?" The Akimichi Clan representative was also anxious. Hiruzen could not ignore the matter either. The Ino-Shika-Cho clans were his staunchest supporters as Hokage. When his own people were in trouble, he naturally had to resolve it properly.

But the problem was that he could not resolve it!

The stakes had been raised too high!

Even in a shinobi war, the Kage of each village would only take the field at the very end. This had originally been nothing more than an assessment mission, yet it had somehow drawn out the opposing Raikage directly.

In this peaceful era, it was an extremely dangerous situation. It was hard not to be nervous.

Making peace would require no small price.

Going to war would cost even more dearly.

Hiruzen Sarutobi could not figure out what price they would have to pay to settle this matter. At that moment, he deeply regretted arranging that damned assessment mission.

The most troublesome part was that both Tsunade and Torifu Akimichi were unquestionably forces of the Hokage faction. Would the others in the village be willing to pay the price for them?

The more he thought about it, the worse his headache became. Hiruzen Sarutobi took several more puffs from his pipe.

"Cough, cough! Sarutobi, we must at least confirm whether Tsunade and Torifu were killed in battle or captured before discussing what comes next." Utatane Koharu waved a hand to disperse the smoke.

"I have already instructed Sakumo, but if that Third Raikage is still in the Land of Hot Water, it may be difficult to bring Tsunade and the others back." Hiruzen Sarutobi set down his pipe, his head aching.

"By the way, has there been no response from Kumogakure? Not even some sort of protest?" Mitokado Homura suddenly asked.

Hiruzen Sarutobi realized it as well. Kumogakure had yet to provide any official response—not even a protest or threat.

Combined with what Jiraiya had said in the scroll, the three of them were unknown figures and likely had not exposed themselves as the Hokage's disciples.

Did that mean that even if Tsunade had been captured, the enemy did not think they had seized anyone important and thus had not taken the matter too seriously...

Then Torifu Akimichi was probably dead...

If a renowned shinobi like Torifu Akimichi had been captured, Konohagakure should have received a ransom demand from Kumogakure very quickly.

"Then perhaps there is still room to turn this around..."

"Father, that woman's identity is anything but ordinary. She is the First Hokage's granddaughter, the Third Hokage's disciple, Tsunade Senju." After leaving the place where Tsunade was held—or rather, after leaving the tree Tsunade had been tied to—Dada chose to tell his father this information.

"Oh? How did you know?" The Third Raikage was somewhat surprised. That was no small background.

"While they were taking me away earlier, I pretended to be unconscious for a while. I heard it from their conversation."

In truth, Tsunade and the others had communicated secretly through Katsuyu. Aside from Jiraiya blurting out some inexplicable title for himself, there was no way they should have revealed that they were the Hokage's disciples. But Dada existed.

Dada did not know whether Tsunade had obtained the nickname of the legendary fat sheep, but this time, she would likely become Kumogakure's fat sheep for keeping Konohagakure in check.

A fat sheep already hanging from a tree, just waiting to be butchered.

"She probably thinks her identity has not been exposed yet. How do you plan to deal with her, Father?"

"If there had been no other complications, I would probably have taken her back to the village for interrogation..." The Third Raikage looked at Dada, but he did not tell the truth.

By ordinary practice, an enemy shinobi captured like this would either be taken back, interrogated, and imprisoned for life, or used as a consumable for human experimentation until everything had been extracted from them.

But that was too cruel for a child. Though Dada was exceptionally mature for his age, as a father, A still chose to soften his words.

"But since we know her status is not low, we cannot handle her so simply..."

"Father, do you think it might be possible..."