"Even if we agree to unite the Five Great Shinobi Villages, the daimyo might not agree."
After leaving the secret chamber, Ōnoki's face was clouded with worry.
The Hidden Leaf Village's Hokage was ambitious, but more importantly, she had the strength to support those ambitions.
After submitting to the Hidden Leaf Village, Ōnoki had raised that concern.
Hinata replied that she would handle it. They only needed to make their preparations.
Preparations? What preparations?
They did not understand, but they knew the world was about to change.
"Seriously, what happened to you? How did you end up in such a sorry state?"
Before Tsunade returned, she had already heard that a patient with a rather troublesome condition needed her treatment.
Only when she returned to the Hidden Leaf Village and saw the patient did she understand just how troublesome his injuries were.
Just from the tubes sticking out of his back, Tsunade could tell they had been inserted around his heart.
She did not immediately operate on Nagato to remove the tubes.
Instead, she returned to her quarters to rest.
Those tubes had been embedded in Nagato's body for a long time already. Another day or two would make little difference.
Tsunade had spent several days traveling. If she operated now, something could easily go wrong during the procedure.
She rested for an entire day before operating on Nagato.
From the outside, the tubes appeared to be inserted around his heart. Only after Tsunade opened his chest and abdomen did she discover that their bases were connected to several major blood vessels leading to his heart.
The bases of the tubes also coiled like tree roots, burrowing into the blood vessels.
If she forcibly pulled them out, the consequences would be little different from crushing his heart outright.
"Tch...