Newspapers and the Three Little Ones

Half a month later, at the Konoha Ninja Academy:

"So cool!!!" Jiraiya, looking like a little white-haired delinquent, stared at the newspaper in his hands with extreme excitement.

"Hey, are you done reading? I bought that." Orochimaru... little Orochimaru stood with his hands on his hips, shaking his head helplessly at little Jiraiya.

"What does it matter? With our relationship, why distinguish between yours and mine..." Little Jiraiya curled his lip and stuck his tongue out at little Orochimaru.

"Forget about that, look at this! Our big brother is truly amazing!" Little Jiraiya draped an arm around little Orochimaru, intimately sharing the headline on the newspaper.

Little Orochimaru sighed, then spoke helplessly: "He is only your self-proclaimed brother, not ours... Forget it, compared to that, I'm more interested in whether the grain stores will be open this month."

Little Jiraiya looked a bit confused: "Huh? What grain stores? Haven't the grain stores always been open?"

Little Orochimaru shook his head: "I mean the grain store downstairs on our street. Grandma Ryoko has trouble walking, and the grain store in the Commercial Street is too far away. If it's not open today, I'll bring a bag of rice back for Grandma Ryoko after class."

Little Jiraiya blinked, then nodded and handed the newspaper back to little Orochimaru: "Alright, then you take a look."

Little Orochimaru took it and flipped it over to check the lifestyle section on the back, feeling a bit disappointed when he didn't see any notices.

Children have a very strong ability to adapt to new things.

In fact, while some elderly people in Konoha currently lack the habit of buying newspapers, the children have taken a liking to them (mainly because there are so few entertainment activities; the newspaper has an entertainment section that occasionally features short stories or trivia, which is a huge draw for the entertainment-starved children of Konoha). They can even learn to read through the newspaper; one can only say it's an unexpected result.

However, since the outcome is positive, Yuya couldn't be bothered to interfere.

A crisp sound rang out, and Tsunade walked into the classroom humming a tune.

Seeing her, little Jiraiya immediately reached out his hand: "Tsunade, Tsunade! Over here, over here! Your brother is in the newspaper!"

Tsunade's face darkened; she strode over and punched little Jiraiya right in the stomach.

Little Jiraiya curled up like a shrimp on the floor, still pointing a finger at Tsunade: "You, you violent girl..."

Tsunade stood with her hands on her hips, shouting at little Jiraiya with dissatisfaction: "He is not my brother! He isn't even a member of my clan!"

It was clear that Tsunade still held a grudge against Yuya.

This was only natural; Yuya had previously claimed he would make those clans that failed to support the front lines pay the price, but in the end, nothing happened.

Although life for ordinary people in Konoha is improving—with the Cannery providing meat that was once unimaginable, and options like fish (shipped from Kirigakure) and beef (procured by merchants from Kumogakure), or even more exotic choices like lizard meat (well, sourced from Sunagakure; after all, the variety of animals in the desert is limited, and while it is edible... anyway, Yuya didn't stock much, only a hundred kilograms for canning, and it hasn't sold out even after half a year, as very few people are that adventurous)—these changes felt incremental to Tsunade.

Living in the midst of it as a child, she had no concept of the bigger picture and naturally assumed Yuya had done nothing.

Furthermore, Tsunade's parents and the neighbors around her were always singing Yuya's praises, claiming he had done many good deeds.

Children being children, since she felt Yuya hadn't done anything while everyone around her kept praising him, Tsunade naturally developed a rebellious streak and wanted to act in opposition.

After knocking Jiraiya down with a punch, Tsunade looked at Orochimaru: "What does the paper say about him now? Is it saying he opened another factory or another shop, calling for ordinary people to go to work again?!"

Little Orochimaru shook his head and turned the newspaper around so Tsunade could see the headline: "He went to the front lines and had a fight with the Raikage. It is said that he even severely wounded the Raikage."

(Second Raikage: Slander! This is slander! He is slandering me! He is slandering me!)

Tsunade was stunned, then looked on in disbelief: "How is that possible?! That is the Kage of an entire village!"

Little Jiraiya pointed at the newspaper: "That's what it says, anyway. But Big Brother Yuya was also severely wounded; they say he even fell into a coma."

Tsunade immediately became anxious: "What?! Severely wounded and in a coma? Will he be alright?!"

After all, having grown up going to Senju Hashirama's place to play with Yuya, there was certainly still affection there.

Little Jiraiya stroked his chin: "Hmm, it's hard to say. After all, that's the Raikage. Even though Big Brother is very strong and managed to wound the Raikage, the injuries he sustained himself must be significant. It's hard to say."

Tsunade's little face turned pale, and she remained distracted for the rest of the day's classes.

She wanted school to end quickly so she could go home and ask the adults what was actually going on.

Especially her father.

Tsunade's father, the son of Senju Hashirama.

A few years ago, it was announced that he had died while on a mission. Little Tsunade didn't know why her father had to announce it that way, only to hold a wedding with her mother all over again.

However, thinking about it carefully, the titles hadn't changed, so she still called him Dad and didn't pay much attention to it.

But Tsunade's parents knew the reason.

It was the same reason Senju Hashirama dissolved the Senju clan and integrated them into Konoha.

He didn't want the members of the Senju clan to be targeted by those with ulterior motives because of him.

Tsunade couldn't be hidden; after all, Konoha was already at peace when she was born, and everyone in the village knew of her existence—it was impossible to simply erase the traces of a person.

But Tsunade's father was different.

As the son of the God of Shinobi, one could imagine how many people were watching him. What if they could actually extract genetic information related to Senju Hashirama?

Wouldn't that make it possible to mass-produce the God of Shinobi?

The temptation was too great; other villages would go crazy for it.

Therefore, Senju Hashirama simply announced publicly that his son had died while executing a mission.

In any case, his son only knew a few people as an Anbu ninja, and if it were leaked, they could easily trace who the whistleblower was.

Therefore, he simply staged a fake death, then publicly married his wife after some time and changed his surname, no longer being a member of the Senju clan from then on.

There is no doubt that Senju Hashirama's plan was a success.

Until Tsunade became the Fifth Hokage in the original history, there had never been any rumors of the Senju clan being attacked.

Even a genius from Konoha like Orochimaru had to rely on repeated experiments to obtain Wood Release, eventually creating Yamato, a low-tier version of a Wood Release ninja.

To be fair, Yamato's strength is actually not weak, but everything is relative.

The Wood Release of the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama, was so overpowered that even though Yamato possessed the strength of an elite Jonin, he seemed pathetic by comparison.

In any case, although Tsunade did not know these twists and turns, she knew that if she went to ask her father, he would certainly know whether or not Yuya was truly dead.

However, there was no need to ask anymore.

Tsunade left the school in a hurry after classes ended.

Little Jiraiya and little Orochimaru, seeing Tsunade in such a rush, assumed she had an urgent matter and, driven by the competitive spirit of children, chased after her.

Then, not even a few minutes after leaving the school gate, they saw a young man walking toward them...

The youth had a gloomy expression, his head lowered as if deep in thought, and all three children recognized this figure.

It was the very person from the newspaper earlier:

Kamigane Yuya.

I am guilty, I admit it. I previously wrote that Tsunade's father had died, but later readers pointed out that Nawaki hadn't even been born yet, and that's when I realized I'd messed up. I originally wanted to change it immediately, but after thinking about it carefully, as the son of the God of Shinobi, it's impossible for Tsunade's father not to have been targeted, right? After all, when Nawaki died, his internal organs were hollowed out, so it's impossible for Hashirama's son not to have been targeted. As for why Nawaki was targeted, it's simple: Tsunade's mother was also a member of the Senju clan, though she was a civilian. I've mentioned many times that every clan has civilians, but because she gave birth to Tsunade, this mother was no longer ordinary. Later, I can write that Nawaki is one of only two known ninjas in the Senju clan. The other, naturally, is Tsunade. They didn't dare touch Tsunade, and they probably couldn't beat her anyway. But Nawaki was not a civilian; he was a ninja! Naturally, he was targeted. After all, the temptation of Wood Release was just too great. This explanation is reasonable enough. (Of course, I have already changed too much in this book, so Nawaki cannot be like he was in the original history.) [I have already landed in Xi'an, and the knife-cut noodles at the high-speed rail station are so damn terrible... and expensive as hell, though I can get reimbursed for it...]