Dilemma

The Hokage Building was shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere. The sound of Hiruzen Sarutobi puffing on his pipe never ceased; the tobacco inside burned away rapidly, as if turbocharged.

Inside the dim office of the Hokage, the meeting participants included not only Hiruzen Sarutobi, but also the three advisors—Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and Shimura Danzō—along with representatives from the Ino-Shika-Cho clans.

And, the clan head of the Senju Clan.

Ever since the might of the First Hokage became known to the ninja world, countless people had set their sights on the Senju Clan. Even the Village itself hoped to recreate the power of Hashirama Senju. This made walking through the ninja world exceptionally dangerous for members of the Senju, often leading to malicious incidents targeting them.

Regrettably, most of them possessed no special traits; they were ordinary people who ended up as innocent victims.

This dealt a heavy blow to the Senju Clan, which had already sacrificed so much for Konohagakure. Once a great clan with numbers rivaling the Uchiha, they had dwindled to a handful of people over the decades.

Perhaps the people who most wanted to master the power of Hashirama Senju were the members of the Senju Clan themselves.

Therefore, to protect their kin, the Senju Clan had chosen to hide themselves since the era of the Second Hokage. Especially those with mediocre talent or those unable to become ninjas would adopt other surnames. On the surface, the only remaining main line of the Senju Clan was Tsunade Senju, totaling only a dozen or so people.

However, after so many years, that temporary expedient seemed to be trending toward a permanent separation, with the Senju Clan coming closer and closer to "disappearing."

But regardless, the Senju Clan was, after all, the greatest contributor to the building of the Village. Although the current Hokage did not bear the name Senju, all of Konohagakure's current high-ranking officials could be considered disciples of Tobirama Senju. The Hokage lineage originated from the Senju, and the Senju Clan held a transcendent status; this was the consensus in Konohagakure.

The title of "Princess" for Tsunade Senju also stemmed from this.

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

"Lord Hokage, make a decision quickly. Little Tsunade cannot be allowed to come to harm."

The emergence of Hashirama Senju seemed to have exhausted all the luck of the Senju Clan. For so many years, not a single clansman had been able to touch the ankles of Hashirama Senju. It had been difficult enough to finally produce someone with such excellent talent as Tsunade Senju, and they had protected her well all these years.

As a result, the moment she started traveling through the ninja world, she was actually captured!

"Tsunade is my disciple; naturally, I am worried about her safety. I have already sent Sakumo to lead the Anbu toward the Land of Soup."

According to the scroll Jiraiya provided, the three of them were caught up with not far from the border of the Land of Fire. Tsunade, the only one with the strength to fight, chose to stay behind, while Jiraiya took the drifting-in-and-out-of-consciousness Orochimaru to return to the Land of Fire first to seek reinforcements.

After entering the Land of Fire, Jiraiya successfully used a code to find a team of ninjas patrolling the border. After simple treatment, he immediately took reinforcements back to the Land of Soup, but they arrived to find nothing.

Based on the investigation of the scene, Jiraiya concluded that Tsunade was not dead but might have been captured alive. He could only send someone back to the Village with a scroll recording the cause and effect to seek more reinforcements, while he himself, clinging to a sliver of hope, took men to search for Tsunade.

But lacking the strength, Jiraiya dared not lead his men deep into enemy territory for fear of running into the Third Raikage again, so he could only search the border area between the Land of Soup and the Land of Fire.

"Can the news of the clan head's death not be confirmed either?" The representative of the Akimichi clan was also very anxious. Hiruzen could not ignore this either; the Ino-Shika-Cho trio were his ironclad supporters as Hokage, and naturally, he had to handle it properly when his own people were in trouble.

But the problem was, he couldn't handle it!

The stakes had been raised too high!

Even in a Great Ninja War, the Kage of each village would only take the field at the very last moment. This mission was originally intended to be a mere assessment, yet unexpectedly, it had provoked the Raikage of the opposing side.

In a peaceful environment, this was a very dangerous situation, and it was hard not to feel nervous.

Peace! That would require a significant price.

War! That would mean an even heavier price.

Hiruzen Sarutobi could not figure out how much of a price would have to be paid to settle this, and he deeply regretted initiating such a damn assessment mission.

The most troublesome part was that both Tsunade and Torifu Akimichi were 100% of the Hokage's faction. Would others in the village be willing to pay the price for this?

The more he thought about it, the more his head ached, and Hiruzen Sarutobi took a few more puffs of his pipe.

"Cough, cough! Hiruzen, at the very least, we must confirm whether Tsunade and Torifu are dead or captured before we can discuss the next steps." Utatane Koharu waved her hand to disperse the smoke and spoke.

"I have already instructed Sakumo, but if that Third Raikage is still in the Land of Soup, it might be very difficult to retrieve Tsunade and the others." Hiruzen Sarutobi put down his pipe and said with a headache.

"By the way, is there no reaction from Kumogakure? Not even a protest?" Mitokado Homura suddenly thought.

Hiruzen Sarutobi also realized that Kumogakure had not provided any formal feedback so far, not even a protest or a threat.

Connecting this to what Jiraiya said in the scroll—that the three of them were nobodies—they shouldn't have exposed their identities as disciples of the Hokage.

So, does that mean that even if Tsunade was captured, the other side didn't realize they had caught anyone important, and therefore didn't take the matter to heart...

Then Torifu Akimichi must have been killed in battle...

If a famous ninja like Torifu Akimichi had been captured, Konohagakure should have received a ransom note from Kumogakure very quickly.

"Then, is there still a turning point in this matter..."

"Father, that woman's identity is quite extraordinary. She is the granddaughter of the First Hokage and a disciple of the Third Hokage, Tsunade Senju." After leaving the place where Tsunade was being held—well, after leaving the tree to which Tsunade was tied—Dada chose to share this information with his father.

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

"On the way I was captured by them earlier, I feigned unconsciousness for a while and heard it from their conversation."

In truth, Tsunade and the others had been communicating secretly using Katsuyu. Aside from Jiraiya announcing some inexplicable title, it was impossible for them to have exposed the fact that they were disciples of the Hokage, but unfortunately, Dada was there.

Whether Tsunade had earned the nickname "Legendary Sucker" yet, Dada did not know, but this time, she would likely become the "fat sheep" that Kumogakure would use to squeeze Konohagakure.

And the kind of fat sheep already hanging from a tree, just waiting to be slaughtered.

"She probably thinks her identity hasn't been exposed yet. How does Father intend to deal with her?"

"If there were no other circumstances, I would probably take her back to the village for interrogation..." The Third Raikage looked at Dada, not telling the whole truth.

According to general practice, such captured enemy ninjas were either taken back for interrogation and imprisoned for life, or used as consumables for human experimentation, eventually being drained of all value.

However, this was too cruel for a child. Although Dada was exceptionally precocious, as a father, A chose to selectively reorganize his language.

"But since we know the other party's status is not low, we cannot handle it so simply..."

"Father, do you think it's possible..."

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