"All right, Hiruko—"
"Hmm?!"
Orochimaru suddenly sensed a response from the White Snake he had stationed outside the base. Someone had secretly slipped in.
And that person... was no ordinary intruder.
"Heh. Jiraiya, did our teacher send you to investigate me? Has he started to suspect me?"
"Come, Hiruko. Someone's broken in. Let's talk somewhere else."
After Orochimaru and Hiruko slipped away, Jiraiya crept into Orochimaru's secret base.
"Orochimaru's already gone? His counter-surveillance is that sharp? What exactly is he hiding?"
Jiraiya crouched and examined the traces Orochimaru had left behind. The more he saw, the darker his expression grew.
There were human organs and tissues in Orochimaru's base. Liao Wu had been right. Orochimaru had done it too!
Leaf Village, Uchiha Clan Land.
"Lord Tsunade, what did you say?"
Mikoto asked, puzzled.
Tsunade shook her head. "Nothing. Something just occurred to me. By the way, may I take these things of Liao Wu's?"
Mikoto nodded.
After Tsunade left with Kushina, Fugaku came over with the Police Force's senior officers.
A visit from the Senju Princess to Uchiha Clan Land was a big deal to the Uchiha people.
The Uchiha Clan desperately wanted to end its isolation within the village.
"Mikoto, did Tsunade discover anything?"
Mikoto shook her head.
Uchiha Yashiro sounded glum. "Tsunade clearly still has feelings for Liao Wu. Damn it. If the Third hadn't stopped them back then, we could have formed a Political Marriage with her. Our position in the village wouldn't be so awkward now."
Fugaku shook his head. "Even if the Third had agreed, the Senju Clan wouldn't have. The village leadership is deliberately shutting us out."
Seeing Fugaku and the others drift toward subjects they should not touch, Mikoto took Itachi inside.
Once they were indoors, Itachi looked at Mikoto in confusion. "Mom, I heard everything. Lord Tsunade said Uncle isn't dead."
Mikoto covered Itachi's mouth. "Itachi, forget it. Even if your uncle is alive, he has to stay dead."
Itachi did not understand, but he could only nod.
Mikoto warned him again. "Itachi, don't show your eyes to anyone. Not even your father."
"Why?"
"Just don't. It would put you in danger!"
Because of Liao Wu, Mikoto was not as obedient to Fugaku as she had been in the Original Work, unconditionally supporting every decision her husband made.
Those Outsiders, Tsunade and the others, had at least given Liao Wu a grave. Fugaku, meanwhile, had been quick to sever Liao Wu's ties with the clan.
All he had brought back to Mikoto and her son was an apology—and his supposedly wise decision to expel Liao Wu from the clan, strip him of the Uchiha name, and protect its reputation.
Mikoto remembered Liao Wu's verdict on Fugaku: "An incompetent husband."
Could the Uchiha Clan have protected Liao Wu? Honestly, no.
But it could have used Liao Wu's technique to bargain with the village leadership. It could even have presented the technique to the Daimyo in exchange for political support.
Fugaku had chosen the safe route instead. The moment the affair came to light, he put Liao Wu under house arrest.
After Liao Wu defected, Fugaku struck his name from the clan rolls and led the Police Force in pursuit.
And when it came to Itachi, Fugaku had been cruel.
Itachi had barely turned four when Fugaku took him to a battlefield to kill people.
Liao Wu had stormed over and argued with Fugaku. Exposing Itachi to the darkness of the Ninja World so young, he said, would destroy him.
Fugaku had answered that this was a Ninja's fate—something a Chunin like Liao Wu, who feared death and hid in the rear, could never understand.
Itachi was going to be a Ninja someday. The sooner he faced that darkness, the greater his head start.
At the time, Mikoto had not known whom to believe. She had followed Uchiha Clan tradition and stood by her husband.
After that, Fugaku had told Mikoto and Itachi to spend less time with Liao Wu.
Mikoto noticed how Itachi had changed after returning from the battlefield. Sometimes he followed famous Ninja around the village, asking them what life meant.
Fugaku called it maturity. He said that was how a Hokage thought.
Mikoto saw the burden of growing up too soon. Itachi had begun to lose his will to live.
He had improved only after meeting Shisui.
But a scar remained a scar, especially one on the heart.
Mikoto held Itachi tight. Her brother had already left her. She could not let Fugaku and the others draw Itachi into their schemes too.
Itachi looked at his grieving mother, then glanced outside at the Uchiha Elders discussing how to launch their grand undertaking!
For the first time, he wanted to grow up quickly. Then he would understand more. If he had been older, perhaps he could have stopped his uncle from defecting.
But why had his uncle harmed fellow villagers and defected?
After returning from the battlefield, Itachi had gone behind his parents' backs to ask Liao Wu what life meant.
Liao Wu had been making Imitation Explosive Tags. He had tossed out an answer: make money.
And after making money?
Get the girl!
Lord Orochimaru said life had no meaning. His uncle's meaning was making money and getting girls.
What gave his mother's life meaning, then? His father's? And what gave the clan meaning?
Itachi stared at the Uchiha Clan's Red and White Fan Clan Crest, lost in thought.
Only Shisui could answer him now, but Shisui was at the Mist Village Frontline.
After leaving Uchiha Clan Land, Tsunade had remained quiet, clearly troubled. Kushina did not pester her. She said she was going to the Vegetable Market to buy groceries and left.
Tsunade carried Liao Wu's belongings toward Kage Rock.
She wrestled with herself, wondering whether to tell the Third Hokage that Liao Wu was alive.
But Liao Wu had unquestionably blown himself up in front of the Sannin and Minato. Who could possibly have fooled them all?
Tsunade could not imagine what power in the Ninja World could deceive the Sannin.
Yet she was convinced that a menace like Liao Wu would not die so easily.
Have my lingering feelings for Liao Wu made me imagine things?
As Tsunade examined Liao Wu's Explosive Tags, she noticed something odd. On the back of every Imitation Explosive Tag was what looked like a symbol.
Tsunade put them together and slowly arranged them to read the message. But the writing was a cipher, decipherable only with a specific method.
She suddenly remembered a Ninja game she had played with Liao Wu as a child. He had taught her a cipher then.
Tsunade used Liao Wu's method on one symbol, and it worked. She rounded a corner, found a Secluded Place, and began writing down the message.
It took considerable effort, but Tsunade finally transcribed it.
Forbidden Technique: Creation Rebirth
Tsunade stared blankly at the Forbidden Technique. It was the very technique she had been developing in her mind for years.
Tsunade had the Yin Seal and Hundred Healings Jutsu, Forbidden Techniques passed down to her by Mito Uzumaki.
"Note: Under the newer Boruto canon, Tsunade did not develop the Yin Seal."
At this stage, the Hundred Healings Jutsu merely released the Chakra stored in the Yin Seal, granting her tremendous healing ability.
But no matter how quickly she recovered, it could not keep pace with the damage sustained in battle. Ninja battles had always favored overwhelming offense over defense.
So Tsunade wanted to develop an even stronger healing ability: the Power of Regeneration. That was the early form of Creation Rebirth.
In her spare time, Tsunade had studied the Senju Clan's Data and Hashirama Senju's Training Data to develop Creation Rebirth.
But the Third Shinobi World War had left her no time to finish it. She had never expected Liao Wu to steal her Ninjutsu Scroll and work out the Forbidden Technique himself.
Tsunade felt that without her Senju Clan bloodline, her talent for Medical Ninjutsu would not have matched Liao Wu's.
Then Tsunade noticed another line below it: words Liao Wu had left for her.
"I don't owe you anymore, Tsunade."
"You knew I stole your Ninjutsu that day. One dog from the Inuzuka Clan would have exposed me. But you didn't pursue it. You even covered for me. I owed you for that."
"You'd probably scoff at my Forbidden Technique, knowing you. So I'm giving you this one instead. It suits you!"
"Oh, and Tsunade, I want to tell you a secret. The day we were supposed to meet, I was planning to drug you."
"I'd prepared a powerful dose for myself too. I was ready to die gloriously on top of you."
"Tsunade, I wanted you so badly! I even dreamed about you!"
Boom!
Tsunade punched the wall beside her, smashing straight through it.
But rage did not follow. Tears splashed onto the ground, scattering into tiny droplets.
"Liao Wu, you damned thief. The next time I see you, I'm going to beat you flat."
Tsunade was now certain beyond any doubt that Liao Wu was alive. How could a menace like him die?
"What little brat smashed my wall?"
The owner of the ruined wall came rushing over from the front yard, cursing up a storm. But the moment he saw Tsunade, he looked as if he had seen a ghost and hurriedly dropped to the ground to play dead.
Tsunade burned all of Liao Wu's belongings, tossed the homeowner money for the wall she had destroyed, then looked toward Kage Rock.
She strode toward the Hokage Building—not to report him to the village leadership, but to become the next leader of the village herself.
Tsunade looked up at Kage Rock. How could she let the village her grandfather had spent his life protecting become their private property?
Before you continue