Tsunade's Political Acumen

"Since Lady Tsunade has made her judgment, we should carry it out. I believe everyone will obey Lady Tsunade's decision!"

Hikari said obediently, while also calming his restless, panicked heart.

As the saying went, one mountain could not hold two tigers—unless one was male and the other female.

If Tsunade was a transmigrator, she would be hard to handle. Better pick someone else! Kurenai Yuhi had been getting very close with Asuma lately, so trying to steal her would be far too troublesome.

Ayame was pretty, and her background was clean. She was a good choice.

Anko, pass!

Uzuki Yugao was pretty and capable, and with Gekko Hayate having just died, she was also a good choice.

Shizune was too well-endowed. A woman with an airport runway was out of my league. Pass!

There did not seem to be any unmarried women in this generation. Should I turn my attention to the next generation? That little girl Tenten seemed to treat me pretty well. Should I develop things with her? Too bad she was still too young. If I chose her, I would have to raise her for another two years. Otherwise, I really could not bring myself to do it!

Tsunade raised her head speechlessly.

She had never imagined that Hikari's inner thoughts could be so complicated and so erratic.

Leaving everything else aside, every beautiful woman in Hidden Leaf Village with even a bit of fame was familiar to Hikari as if he could list them all from memory.

He was just as much of a lecherous brat as Jiraiya.

"Forget it. Let's head back."

"There are too few talented people at Konoha Hospital. I'll make another round and see whether any other patients need help!"

As the Fifth Hokage and Konoha's finest Medical Ninja, Tsunade truly had it hard.

She could save anyone except those younger members of Mitokado Homura's family. She absolutely must not save them.

Since there were so few Medical Ninjas, why not train more? There were plenty of female ninjas in Konoha. It would be a shame to send them to the battlefield. They would be better suited for logistics. Once they put on uniforms and showed off their fair thighs, what a delight!

Tsunade thought, Heh heh, this little pervert came to the hospital just to look at women's thighs. He's even more lecherous than Jiraiya. Still, I do want to train more Medical Ninjas, but there are very few people truly suited for it.

Since she was going to take Sakura Haruno as a disciple anyway, why not let others try as well?

Ino Yamanaka was Yamanaka Inoichi's daughter, Tenten was Might Guy's disciple, Hinata was the Hyuga Clan's main-family daughter. Add in the women from all the other clans, and as long as they were given an opportunity, even if they did not succeed, she could still win their loyalty.

Too bad Tsunade's political acumen was not high enough for her to think of that.

Tsunade thought, My political acumen isn't high enough? You brat, you're talking crap!

Since this brat was slandering her in his heart, he could not blame her for borrowing his ideas again.

After all, thoughts in one's head did not have copyrights.

As the legitimate Fifth Hokage of the village, Tsunade could be this brazen. If he had the ability, he could go sue her.

"Xiao Guang!"

"I gave it some thought. If I directly take Sakura Haruno as my disciple, it might make others resent her. Instead, I could gather a group of young people and put them through multiple rounds of selection, choosing the best among them as my disciples. That would also silence everyone's criticism. What do you think of that idea?"

Holy shit, why was Tsunade thinking the same thing I was!

When had her political acumen become so high?

Wait, there seemed to have been a scene like this in the original story. When Sakura took the initiative to ask to become her disciple, Tsunade had Shizune also give Ino and the others some guidance. But in the end, only Sakura Haruno remained.

Now that Tsunade was recruiting people in bulk, wasn't that changing the plot?

Still, it had little to do with me. Time to watch the show! I'm a salted fish with no dreams.

This guy was hopeless.

Tsunade had even hoped to use his own idea to provoke Hikari a little, but he simply did not take the bait. That was rather frustrating.

Forget it. Treating patients was more important.

Hikari discovered that he had fallen out of favor.

He was clearly so handsome and capable. In the past, whenever he came to the hospital, the young women here would thoughtfully come talk to him. Some would even take the initiative to teach him medical knowledge.

Now that Tsunade had arrived, he had become completely invisible.

"Don't worry. While examining patients, I'll explain some of the principles. If there's anything you don't understand, you may ask me. Of course, since my time is limited, you may ask no more than three questions per patient. Understood?"

"Understood! Lady Tsunade is so cool!"

"Lady Tsunade is so gentle. I wonder what man could possibly be worthy of her. If only I were a man."

Don't even think about it. I'm Lady Tsunade's best choice. Lady Tsunade, look at me, look at me!

"Stop pushing! You girls need to understand first come, first served. Lady Tsunade has taught me before, so all of you move aside!"

"Big Sister Da Ju, you should think of the bigger picture. We young people still have chances. You're already so old; you should give us youngsters some opportunities."

People used to say that a woman's voice was like a lark's, sweet and pleasant. Seeing it today, that comparison was wrong. One woman was at least ten larks, chirping away so noisily that it was driving me to death.

I should slip away.

Tsunade's political talent had awakened, and now she was winning people over in the hospital. If I quietly slipped away, she probably would not notice, right?

These women were so annoying.

This was the first time Tsunade agreed with Hikari's thoughts. With so many women talking at once beside her, it really did feel like a flock of sparrows chirping chaotically in her ears.

No matter how pleasant their voices were, she could no longer appreciate them now.

There was only one word for it... annoying.

Still, Hikari's inner voice was truly strange. Even with so much noise around them, she could still hear it clearly. It was rather interesting.

"Alright, stop arguing. Other than those who must remain on duty, anyone willing to come with me can come over!" Tsunade said with a smile.

Konoha Hospital was her territory. Its director, Kira, had once been her student, while the head nurse, Da Ju, was from the Senju Clan.

Back then, Hiruzen had used the name of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, to make the Senju Clan abandon their clan name and change all their surnames.

Under those circumstances, Da Ju had given up the Senju surname, keeping only the rather unpleasant name "Da Ju."

For all these years, she had remained unmarried out of her devotion to the Senju Clan.

By Ninja World tradition, when a woman married a man, she generally took her husband's surname.

Da Ju had obeyed the order and abandoned the Senju surname. It had been the trend of the times, and she had been unable to resist. But she could decide her own marriage.

This was her loyalty to the Senju Clan. Tsunade understood that sentiment, and it made her feel even more burdened.

Da Ju was merely a reflection of the Senju Clan back then. Of those who had given up the Senju surname, how many had refused to take another surname, keeping only their given names as they lived in this world?

As the last person who still bore the Senju surname, Tsunade felt enormous pressure.

Even so, Tsunade knew that this was an irreversible course of action.

Since the Senju Clan had already vanished, it was better to let it quietly disappear.

That would be good for Konoha and for the members of the Senju Clan.