Tsunade's Second Grandfather

Land of Fire, Hidden Leaf Village.

"Wow, Hidden Leaf Village, Naruto Uzumaki has finally returned!"

Naruto cheered happily.

He touched his flat frog wallet, his eyes already brimming with tears.

"You little brat, why are you shouting so loudly? You nearly blew out my eardrums." Tsunade slammed a fist onto Naruto's head and gave him a rather displeased warning.

Looking up at the familiar gates of Hidden Leaf Village, Tsunade felt deeply conflicted.

This place where she had been born, which she missed, and which she hated.

Huh, Jiraiya had finally brought Tsunade back to take the bullet—pfft, no, he had brought her back to become the Fifth Hokage!

Who was talking?

Tsunade looked around her in confusion.

It was not a woman's voice, so Shizune was immediately ruled out.

And that person had mentioned Jiraiya. Could it be Naruto Uzumaki? No, it could not be him.

"Hikari, you're on gate duty today, huh? Where's your brother?" Jiraiya swaggered over to the guard post by the gates of Hidden Leaf Village, opened the door, and shouted inside.

Hikari looked helplessly at Jiraiya. He had only wanted to honestly guard Hidden Leaf Village's gates and collect his sign-in rewards.

Yet while slacking off, he had occasionally written a few rather risqué novels. Jiraiya had eventually seen through his identity, and whenever he returned, he would discuss writing with Hikari.

"Since the Third Hokage died in battle, everyone capable is on duty in the village to prevent spies from other villages from slipping in. A weakling like me can only guard the gates."

That old bastard Third Hokage had finally died. If he had not been unwilling to make sacrifices back then and forced the Fourth Hokage into that position, leaving him no choice but to use the Reaper Death Seal to seal the Nine-Tails, why would I have needed to live so cautiously?

Still, it was the Fourth Hokage who assigned me to guard the gates. Without him, I would not have gained my cheat system, and my strength would not have skyrocketed.

If I got the chance in the future, I might as well look after Naruto. That damned Third Hokage had schemed the Fourth Hokage to death, then confiscated all his property and spread word that Naruto was the Demon Fox. If I were the Fourth Hokage, I would definitely give the Third Hokage a thorough beating in the Death God's belly.

Now that Tsunade, the Big Fat Sheep, had returned, Hidden Leaf Village would get back on track. Great!

Those elders were still incredibly annoying, though. They would definitely cause her trouble in the future.

But what did that have to do with me? I just needed to guard Hidden Leaf Village's gates.

"So that's how it is! Then keep up your duty. Tsunade, let's go meet Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu and settle the matter of the Hokage!" Jiraiya urged Tsunade enthusiastically.

Once Tsunade became Hokage, those two old fogeys would stop pestering him. Then Jiraiya would have time to gather material and make an even greater contribution to Ninja World culture.

Tsunade studied Jiraiya. After analyzing it, she knew the voice had not belonged to Naruto Uzumaki. That meant it had to be the young man named Hikari inside the guard post.

But... how did he know about those things?

The Reaper Death Seal was a forbidden technique. Only people at elder rank or above knew about it. How could this guy, who was merely a gate guard, know such things?

Who exactly was he?

At that thought, Tsunade smiled. "Jiraiya, is he your friend? I did not expect that after being away for a while, you had made another new friend in Hidden Leaf Village."

As companions who had grown up together, Tsunade understood Jiraiya quite well.

He looked carefree and boorish, but he was actually extremely meticulous and noticed many details that ordinary people missed. If this Hikari was suspicious, Jiraiya would surely have noticed.

Jiraiya's expression tightened, then he gave an awkward smile. "Hikari is a kid from the Shen Clan, Kotetsu Hagane's younger brother. His strength is average. After the Third Shinobi War ended, Minato arranged for him to guard the gates."

Kotetsu Hagane's younger brother?

With that identity, the possibility of him being a spy could be ruled out.

Average strength, huh? Well, with my current strength, I could easily defeat ten Jiraiyas!

But I would not say that. Heh, I was just having fun, guarding the gates here.

Guarding the gates was the greatest love of my life. I was willing to become Hidden Leaf Village's ultimate existence—the Gatekeeper!

Tsunade raised a brow. Easily defeat ten Jiraiyas? What a joke.

Jiraiya's strength was about the same as hers. If he could defeat ten Jiraiyas, would that not mean he could defeat ten of her?

I, Tsunade, would like to see which family produced such an arrogant fool who dared think that way!

Having made up her mind, Tsunade waved a hand, signaling for Jiraiya to move aside.

"Tsunade, let's hurry back! Hikari may be a little lazy, but there will not be any danger while he is guarding the gates. He's very dedicated. Even if you want to punish him, you should wait until after you become Hokage!" Jiraiya spread his arms, trying to block Tsunade.

Tsunade's brow twitched, and several large vein marks appeared on her forehead.

Who did not know that she, Tsunade, was gentle and considerate, broad-minded, and never punished people lightly?

How could Jiraiya slander her like this?

"It's fine. I just want to see what this child of the Shen Clan looks like."

Tsunade wants to see me? No, no!

I am so handsome. What if Tsunade takes a fancy to me, decides to force herself on me, and makes me submit?

Should I agree? Agree, or agree?

Still, women were too troublesome. Tsunade, you may be beautiful, but I still want to be a lone wolf. I have no intention of getting into a relationship for now. Sorry!

He clenched his fist.

A crack sounded, startling Jiraiya.

"Don't hit me! I did not mean anything by it. There really is nothing to see with Hikari. If you want to see someone handsome, look at me, Jiraiya the Toad Sage. Why look at that little bastard?"

Tsunade forced a smile. "Get out of my way. I just want to see what that brat behind you is doing."

Why was he slandering her so viciously in his mind?

She, Tsunade, was a stunning beauty who had captivated young men for ten thousand years. Yet from the sound of it, Hikari did not even fancy her.

Pah!

Tsunade wanted to see where this self-important braggart got the nerve to think such things.

Could I tell you that I'm slacking off right now?

Could I tell you that I'm preparing to use your figure as the heroine of my next novel?

Naturally, I would be the male lead. The heroine would be madly in love with him, offer herself to him willingly, fully support his harem-building behavior, and even voluntarily offer up her own maids just to help him expand his harem.

Mm, that was a great idea. Just thinking about it was getting me excited.

Why are you still not leaving?

Hurry up and leave! Once you do, I'm going to start writing!

I believe this time, my novel will completely crush Jiraiya's in sales!

A novel?

Crush Jiraiya?

Those two key points connected, and Tsunade's face turned green.

As his friend, how could she not know what kind of novels Jiraiya was writing now?

Thinking about how she was about to become the heroine of Royal Uncle, Tsunade wanted nothing more than to activate her Yin Seal and beat these two bastards senseless.

Hikari needed a beating, and Jiraiya could not be spared either.

Seeing Tsunade's increasingly hostile gaze, Jiraiya wisely slipped over to Naruto's side.

Striding forward, Tsunade shoved open the door.

"Kid, why don't you hurry and..."

"Second Grandfather!"