I'll Stand Up and Pedal: On Breaking a Person's Spirit

Tsunade was drunk, so she naturally wouldn't think about such things in detail. Even if she knew, Tsunade wouldn't bother with his little schemes.

"That's all, go get some water yourself!" Tsunade's expression was full of displeasure as she shooed him away.

Naruto wasn't annoyed. He went and asked for a pot of tea with a grin, then shamelessly came back. He sat down in front of Tsunade and casually glanced at her.

Seeing the snow-covered peaks, a half-line of a couplet by Anrokuzan suddenly popped into my mind. "Smooth and creamy, just beginning to solidify, like butter on the frontier."

He secretly pondered that the reward effect of Mission Three was almost the same as Return to Youth. Compared to Tsunade's Body Activation Technique, it was hundreds of times more agile.

Tsunade is one of the few people who can keep Naruto in check. He always has a sense of justice, and Tsunade helped him out at his most critical moment.

Simple rewards are never enough; the reward for Return to Youth in Mission Three was also reserved for her. It's just not the right time yet; perhaps it will be brought up at an appropriate time after it's achieved.

He didn't believe in the concepts of Protagonist Halo or being the chosen one; he believed that every gift in life came with a price. He felt he needed to repay Tsunade's kindness.

Perhaps Tsunade never thought that way, but he couldn't take it for granted. All relationships in the world need maintenance; without maintenance, there will be no future story.

"What do you want?" Tsunade didn't really want to talk to him. She yawned, tried to lie down on the table but couldn't, and suddenly felt a little annoyed.

"Don't bother me unless it's something important, Kakashi."

Naruto: "Am I that annoying?"

"Don't you know what kind of person you are?" Tsunade frowned and stared at him, her fingers curling into a bow shape as she flicked the small ceramic wine cup with a clinking sound.

"Lord Tsunade, that's a bit much."

Before he could finish speaking, there was a loud bang, and the small wine glass, which had been still for a short while, instantly turned into powder. It lay slumped on the table, perfectly intact one second, and dust the next.

"It's a bit... a bit of a waste of money, we'll have to pay compensation!" Naruto quickly changed his tune, immediately backing down; this old woman was too terrifying.

"Get to the point, stop with the fluff." Tsunade seemed genuinely annoyed, and switched to a different wine glass to continue drinking alone.

"Oh, it's nothing much, just reporting my recent arrangements to Lord Tsunade." Naruto didn't get straight to the point, but instead beat around the bush.

Hearing this, Tsunade was displeased, but she did not interrupt him.

"The village's communication methods are too outdated. I have new... no, cough cough, slip of the tongue. The Land of Rain and the Land of Snow have long since adopted new Chakra communication methods."

Naruto took a sip of water, sipped it as usual, and said casually.

"Times have changed, it's about time to change our communication methods."

This was a concise and to-the-point statement, a brief introduction followed by a direct address. Tsunade, surprisingly, considered it for a moment before declining.

"I can't decide this, and I don't have the time or energy to focus on it right now." Tsunade frowned. "Talk to Kakashi about it later."

"Kakashi? He's already agreed. Let me ask for your opinion."

"Why?" Tsunade looked up at him.

"Because I said that new communication methods can replace new video communication methods, which means that he can see the first-hand manuscript of the Make-Out Paradise."

Naruto suddenly leaned closer, half his body resting on the table, and held up three fingers mysteriously.

"Three limited edition gold sets of the Make-Out Paradise collection, the uncut version."

Tsunade was speechless for a moment, remaining silent for quite a while before finally mustering the courage to ask.

"Why three sets? Isn't one set enough?"

"One set to look at, one set to keep, and the other set as a backup for the collection." Naruto shrugged and said with a smile, "If the set I look at gets lost, I won't have to worry about whether or not to open the collection set."

"Naruto Uzumaki, you've thought of things quite meticulously." Tsunade frowned, then changed the subject, "What's gotten into you lately? Why are you checking communications for no reason?"

"For the sake of the village!" Naruto naturally wouldn't readily admit it, and wanted to say a few more words, "As Konoha Ninja, you either have to go through fire and water for the village, or ignore the risks and continue the installation."

After a moment's thought, he gave up on his empty talk and looked at Tsunade seriously.

"Forget about these abstract things, Ino is the one who set up this communication system."

"Oh~, I don't have time right now, and there's nothing I can do to find you." Tsunade repeated the same thing, her brows furrowed, seemingly lost in thought.

"Alright." Naruto didn't press the matter further and immediately got up to leave.

Tsunade put down her wine glass, frowned, stared at him for a while, and finally opened her mouth to call out to him.

"Etc."

"Okay." Naruto was very patient and stopped immediately.

"I have a tricky matter to deal with recently. If you really help me, I can consider what you mentioned," Tsunade said, her gaze sweeping over him.

"Danzo?" Naruto wanted to laugh to himself. That old dog Danzo had been targeted after all. "Shouldn't he have been dealt with a long time ago? If he had been more decisive, it wouldn't have dragged on until now."

"You make it sound so easy. Danzo isn't so easy to deal with." Tsunade rolled her eyes. "This isn't as simple as fighting and killing. There's no way to deal with it in a short time."

"But the Root Konohagakure are hardly useful anymore; they've practically become Danzo's private property," Naruto said. "That's unreasonable. Doesn't that give us an excuse?"

Tsunade didn't speak, but instead stroked the cup and turned it around once before saying something.

"The independent deployment of Root is indeed a constraint for the Anbu," Tsunade sighed. "But it's easier said than done."

"After thinking it over, it seems that no one is more suitable than you to do that kind of thing."

At this point, Tsunade stopped what she was doing and put down her sake cup.

"What would be suitable?" Naruto paused for a moment, then suddenly realized that Tsunade had already been considering this. "You're not going to make me deal with Danzo, are you?"

"That's too much of a rip-off! How could I possibly do that?"

"I don't know, but you definitely have a way," Tsunade said after careful consideration. "Kakashi isn't good at this kind of thing, but you should be able to."

"Because you are a scoundrel, thick-skinned, and don't like to reason."

"Lord Tsunade, you've gone too far! You're making baseless accusations!" Naruto didn't think much of it at first, but the more he heard, the more uneasy he felt.

Are compliments these days all so unique?

"The communication system isn't actually that complicated. If we get approval from both Hokage, basically..." Tsunade glanced at him, her meaning clear.

"I don't have many other strengths, but I'm resourceful. You're a good judge of character." Naruto immediately changed his expression, becoming a completely different person from before.

However, Tsunade was right. He wasn't afraid of Danzo, and he had been harboring malicious intentions for years with nowhere to vent them. He had come up with several ways to deal with Danzo.

Ultimately, the first step is to extract Danzo's personal Assassination Squad, Root.

"This method won't work," Tsunade, stating bluntly, "The Root members are basically all under Danzo's control, and Root might be in danger in the future."

Upon hearing this, Naruto was somewhat displeased; at a time like this, they were still holding back against Root.

"Lord Tsunade, if you had the opportunity to use your enemy's personal property, what would you do?"

"How do we do it?" Tsunade frowned.

He grinned, raised his eyebrows, and said in a cheeky tone, "I'll stand up and kick!"

Tsunade: "???"

After leaving Tsunade, Naruto went straight home to sleep. He slept until dark, and after waking up, he washed up briefly, mocked the listless Nine-Tails (Nine-Tails), and went downstairs for dinner.

Then, he went straight to the Satomi Hill Villa.

Yakumo Kurama was still a little dazed when he saw a dark figure smoothly vault over the wall at the edge of the manor, and he couldn't help but shiver.

It seems to have become a conditioned reflex, mainly because Naruto really does take action, dealing 100% real damage. He's ruthless and heavy-handed, the kind of torture that happens in stages.

The saying "ghosts fear evil people" illustrates this point.

After standing there with her neck hunched for a moment, Yakumo Kurama suddenly remembered that she had been recruited into the government and there was no need to hide anymore. So, she suppressed her fear and walked to the front of the courtyard to stand and greet them.

"Why are you standing here?" Naruto was also a little surprised. It was the first time he had seen Yakumo Kurama be so proactive. Usually, it was already a big favor that he didn't hide.

Of course, hiding won't help either.

"Wait for you, let me greet you." Yakumo Kurama still looked fearful, clutching the hem of her skirt, barely managing to stay upright.

Naruto had no intention of appeasement; a nod was his confirmation. But what needed to be done still had to be done: the torture of Ido inside Yakumo Kurama's body couldn't be stopped for even a day.

He skillfully forced Ido out of her body, and then beat her severely. He would beat Ido in different ways almost every time.

No matter how much Ido cursed and begged for mercy, it was the same thing every day without fail. This time was different; each time was more ferocious than the last, and it was impossible to get used to it.

Unfortunately Ido couldn't die, and was repeatedly pulled out and tortured.

After he finished, Naruto simply sat on the stone steps in the courtyard. The summer night was cool and breezy, so it wasn't too hot. The wind made all the trees in the courtyard rustle and shake.

"Use tea."

Yakumo Kurama, who appeared out of nowhere, didn't seem to mind the dirty stone steps. He knelt down to one side, holding a tray in his hands. On the tray was a cup of fragrant tea, with white steam swirling around it.

He glanced back at her, took the tea, blew on it, and squinted slightly.

"From now on, if you don't know what to call me, just call me Master."

"... Okay, Master..." Yakumo Kurama stammered, not out of shyness, but purely out of fright.

The child, who had rarely seen evil people since childhood, had never seen such people even at eighteen. He was so terrified in the last battle that his rebellious spirit was completely shattered.

Besides, she was now forced to witness Ido's horrific injuries every time, and each time she was terrified. As a result, she became even more afraid to provoke Naruto.

But her only hope of becoming a ninja rested on Naruto, leaving her with no other choice but to submit.

Seeing Yakumo Kurama's terrified expression, he lost interest and had no desire to frighten the little girl.

"Go on, go on." He gestured for them to leave. "I'll be alone for a while, then I'll head back."

"Okay." Yakumo Kurama stood up, but then thought for a moment and felt something was off. "Master, can we begin what you mentioned last time?"

Upon hearing Yakumo Kurama's explanation, Naruto suddenly remembered that Yakumo Kurama was now also one of the Evil God follower in Mission 3. Her control panel was also independently operable, capable of being directly absorbed into another dimension and thrown into the Evil God Altar.

"Tomorrow, I've got a lot going on today." Naruto waved his hand. He was telling the truth; there were just too many things piling up lately.

He hadn't even gone to see Hinata yet, and it was clearly inappropriate to do so now. Too many things could easily lead to chaos, and chaos could cause big trouble. He didn't want Ino and Hinata to have another falling out.

In short, let's finish what we're currently busy with first. Yakumo Kurama didn't dare to object and nodded in agreement.

The next day.

Naruto opened his eyes and saw that Uzuki Yugao was already standing by the window, politely knocking on the window.

"Lord Tsunade is looking for you."

"Okay, okay." He got up to wash up in a daze, feeling tired all over. Uzuki Yugao didn't seem to be leaving, so he sat down in the living room.

"What?" Naruto came out of the bathroom and looked at Uzuki Yugao on the sofa, then Ichiraku. "Not in a hurry anymore? What a rare guest, Uzuki Yugao."

"The Anbu aren't that busy right now; the Root ninjas are taking on a lot of missions," Uzuki Yugao said. "So, I'll go with you to see Lord Tsunade."

"Casual."

The two met Tsunade together, and without much conversation, she tossed them a stack of information on Root members. This information was also archived in the Anbu when these individuals were transferred to Root Organization.

"How do you plan to make a big fuss?" Tsunade asked.

"This." He smiled.

Shizune watched Naruto's departing figure, her gaze complex. "Lord Tsunade, will Naruto's method work?"

"I don't know." Tsunade leaned back in her chair and sighed deeply. "If he can't do it, then there's no one more suitable than him."

"Six or seven years ago, when he was a teenager, he dared to say things like 'it's okay if the house burns down,' so don't expect him to have the concept of rules in his mind."

"Shikamaru is very smart, but he's too smart, so he can't fight against someone like Danzo. They often come up with many foolproof plans, but there aren't that many good plans in this world."

"What if it were Naruto? He didn't say anything just now, did he? What would he do?" Shizune asked curiously.

"If he didn't say, then he naturally can't say. It's definitely not a fair and square approach," Tsunade said, pursing her lips and pausing for a moment.

"Shizune, do you remember that time you met Orochimaru in Tanzaku Town a few years ago?"

"Ah, I remember."

"That Kabuto under Orochimaru is an undisputed genius," Tsunade said. "Even I would find him quite troublesome."

"But Naruto defeated him with just a few words. I looked it up later and all I can say is that it sent chills down my spine."