"Lady Tsunade, I've Had Such a Hard Life!"

"Exactly. Second Grand Uncle took a hardline stance and silenced all opposition. The people around your father were completely scattered, too."

"So my father was purged and banished from Konoha?"

Dongfang Mao looked up into Tsunade's eyes.

"No."

Tsunade shook her head.

"The commotion was considerable, and Second Grand Uncle just wanted to quell the uproar as quickly as possible. He also understood your father's feelings, so he merely placed him under temporary guard.

"But then Kumogakure suddenly attacked Konoha. Second Grand Uncle led troops to the front lines, and the First Shinobi World War broke out.

"Back then, Konoha's defenses were thin, so your father seized the opportunity, dealt with his guards, and defected from Konoha..."

Tsunade paused. Her expression turned hesitant, but she continued.

"After defecting, your father grew resentful not only toward Second Grand Uncle, but toward all of Konoha.

"He may have thought that without Konoha, the Senju Clan would still be the Ninja World's greatest clan, instead of being broken apart like it was in Konoha.

"So he began attacking merchants traveling to and from Konoha, and some of those caravans were carrying supplies to the front lines. This put enormous strain on Konoha's logistics."

Dongfang Mao listened, a strange look crossing his face.

"That old geezer was so strong? You people in Konoha couldn't do anything about him?"

Now it was Tsunade's turn to look surprised.

She could understand Senju Yusuke's state of mind at the time, but she certainly didn't approve of what he'd done to Konoha afterward. As she spoke, her words had carried a hint of reproach.

Dongfang Mao, meanwhile, barely reacted. His question sounded merely curious, as if he were listening to a story that had nothing to do with him.

"Brat, he was your father. How can you be so calm? Don't you even care?"

Tsunade felt a little frustrated.

"I personally buried him ages ago. What's there to worry about? Besides, from what you've told me, the old man hated Konoha, sure, but he didn't seem to suffer much for it, did he?"

Dongfang Mao shrugged.

That was true. He hadn't suffered much. Konoha, on the other hand, had been in a terrible state back then.

Tsunade's mouth twitched, but she knew Dongfang Mao didn't care about Konoha at all, so she let the matter drop and continued.

"Your father was one of the Senju Clan's mainstays, far stronger than the elite jonin the village recognizes today.

"He even studied the Flying Thunder God Technique created by Second Grand Uncle in its early days. He never mastered it completely, but he used its principles to create a powerful Space-Time Ninjutsu of his own.

"The shinobi left behind in Konoha had no answer to Yusuke. It wasn't until after the First Shinobi World War ended and the elite shinobi returned from the front that Yusuke finally disappeared without a trace.

"After that, I think you were the only one who knew what happened to him."

As she spoke, Tsunade glanced at Dongfang Mao.

He listened and nodded unconsciously. So that was why the old man always seemed so depressed.

He hadn't seemed like an ordinary man without a surname, but whenever Dongfang Mao asked about it, the old man would get worked up and shout that his ancestors had been farmers for eighteen generations, telling him to focus on farming instead of dreaming about things that didn't concern him.

So there had been a whole history behind it. It seemed the old man had truly hated the Senju Clan of Konoha. He'd rather call himself a farmer than admit where he came from.

But then Dongfang Mao seemed to think of something. He looked at Tsunade, puzzled.

"Lady Tsunade, if the old man was just a rogue ninja, how did you recognize me so quickly after all these years?"

At that, Tsunade wore a knowing, almost amused expression.

"When you were little, if your grandfather had been a stern, harsh man whom everyone around him feared, and then someone suddenly pointed at him and called him a traitor to his ancestors who'd turned everything upside down, would you have remembered that person?

"Not to mention, he caused such a huge commotion in Konoha afterward. You also look quite a bit like him, so naturally I recognized you at a glance."

Dongfang Mao nodded, completely convinced. It was like that creepy old guy he'd met just after leaving the village, who'd offered to take him to see the big goldfish.

Even though Dongfang Mao had punched the man's head until it burst like a watermelon, spraying blood everywhere, he still thought about him from time to time. He'd never felt he'd gotten even, and sometimes wanted to dig up the man's grave and whip his corpse a few hundred times.

People never forgot the things that had made a deep impression on them as children.

"But your father was such a powerful shinobi. How come you haven't learned a single ninjutsu?"

As Tsunade spoke, she seemed to think of something. She changed the subject and looked at Dongfang Mao in confusion.

Dongfang Mao's mouth twitched. She'd hit a sore spot.

The old man could hate Konoha all he wanted, and he could hate the Senju all he wanted. They could've just dropped the Senju name, for crying out loud.

The surname he'd come up with by pointing at the house on the eastern edge of their village had worked just fine, after all.

But it was a bit much not to pass down the skills that put food on the table. Had the old man really cut himself off from his past and decided he was a farmer?

If Dongfang Mao hadn't been clever and gifted as a child, that unreliable father of his would have left him in a real mess.

Still, Tsunade's words had given him an idea.

If he remembered correctly, after the Second Ninja World War ended, Tsunade would have been the only one left on her family register.

And even if he was the orphan of a Senju rogue ninja, wasn't he still Tsunade's last living relative?

Dongfang Mao's eyes darted to and fro. A second later, he slipped into character, looking grief-stricken, tears welling in his eyes.

He dropped onto the ground and clung tightly to Tsunade's long, shapely legs. As Tsunade and Shizune stared at him, dumbfounded, he began to wail.

"Lady Tsunade, I've had such a hard life! That irresponsible dad of mine didn't even leave me a word before he abandoned me. He left me all alone in this world, and I almost got kidnapped by a creepy old man, too.

"I finally managed to scrape together a living up in the mountains, only to have those officials chase me around like a dog. You have to help me! I want to learn ninjutsu so badly! If I can learn ninjutsu, they won't bully me anymore!"

Tsunade was both exasperated and amused. This little troublemaker was the leader of more than a hundred bandits. He'd even managed to capture Konoha shinobi, and before she'd recognized him, he'd dared to threaten her. She'd never met anyone so brazen. And he expected her to believe people bullied him?

"Brat, get off me! Aren't you embarrassed to say that?"