"I'm the one who's going to become the future Hokage and the next God of Shinobi!"
Naruto's introduction clearly went completely over Tsunade's head.
After all was said and done,
there was only one thing Tsunade remembered.
Naruto wanted to become Hokage!
"Tsunade, long time no see. This fellow is my new student, Naruto Uzumaki."
Jiraiya sat beside Tsunade and poured himself a small cup of sake.
"The Uzumaki Clan? There aren't many of them left these days."
Compared to the name Uzumaki,
Tsunade had noticed Naruto's hair color more clearly.
"What are you here for? Want to learn how to gamble, Jiraiya?"
Tsunade had been drinking and was a little tipsy.
"To bring you back to take the Hokage Position."
Jiraiya got straight to the point.
Hokage?
Tsunade said nothing.
Konoha was a painful place for her, and she never wanted anything to do with it again.
Her younger brother had died young, her lover was gone, she was afraid of blood, and war was cruel.
Tsunade, one of the Sannin, no longer wanted to keep carrying the burden. It was too exhausting.
"I'm not going back, Jiraiya."
"Let those old fossils run the village themselves. You know Konoha's beyond saving!"
Tsunade angrily pounded the table.
The mountain seemed to tremble with it.
"But how can anything change if no one tries to do something?"
Jiraiya had always devoted himself to bringing lasting peace to the world and finding the Child of Prophecy mentioned by the Great Toad Sage.
Despite enduring countless painful memories and being affected time and again by Konoha's shocking events,
he still followed his own way of the ninja.
So
he had to keep moving forward, keep searching for the person who could change the world.
Tsunade had to become Hokage.
If Jiraiya knew that the so-called Child of Prophecy was right beside him, then fate really would have been playing a cruel joke.
"Hokage! Whoever wants it can have it!"
Tsunade slammed her palm down, smashing the table to pieces, and refused again.
The tavern owner stared in stunned silence.
Seriously?
Whatever you call yourselves, don't smash up my tavern!
"Me!"
Naruto pointed to himself. "If you won't do it, then go recommend me to the village!"
"The Hokage position sounds great. If I had it, I'd rebuild Konoha from the ground up!"
"I'd create an incredibly powerful next-generation Ninja Village where everyone had a Kekkei Genkai!"
Uh...
Tsunade's cheeks were flushed.
Is Naruto stupid or something?
He's so sure he can become Hokage.
"Even I couldn't recommend you. At your age, you'd have to accomplish something extraordinary, like the Fourth Hokage did when he achieved greatness at such a young age."
"Idiot!"
Looking at Naruto reminded Tsunade of her own foolish little brother.
"Is that so? I'd say I'm a familiar face in the village, and as for strength, I'm consistently in the top three, vying for first place."
"I'm more than qualified to be Hokage. After all, that old man wrapped in bandages is pretty stupid."
Naruto really was one of Konoha's top three in strength.
He was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, capable of entering Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, and he had learned and developed Sage Mode Double.
The more he trained, the stronger he got, and he tempered his body even faster than with Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
The only people in Konoha who could compete with Naruto for the top spot were Might Guy and Jiraiya.
Guy mostly specialized in Taijutsu, and no Ninja Village had ever had a Taijutsu Kage.
Jiraiya refused.
So Naruto was the one at the top!
"Hahahaha, you're still too young. You don't understand how strong jonin and the even more powerful ninja really are."
Hearing Naruto talk, Shizune thought he was just a child dreaming aloud about becoming Hokage.
She thought Naruto was adorable, but he didn't understand just how high the ceiling of the Ninja World was.
"I can see you don't understand at all. You don't even know what being Hokage means!"
Tsunade was helpless, too. She really couldn't resist an idiot full of passion like this.
"Actually..."
Jiraiya looked a little awkward.
Of the two beautiful kunoichi in front of him, Shizune was the weaker one, but even she was a Konoha jonin.
But Naruto hadn't been lying.
Just going by the techniques and strength Jiraiya knew about, Naruto could already be a top fighter.
"Hey, Jiraiya, what are you trying to say? Spit it out!"
Tsunade ruffled Naruto's blond hair.
She thought there weren't many silly kids who wanted to become Hokage these days.
"Well, actually, Naruto's strength..."
"Really is formidable. He might even be as strong as me."
Jiraiya could say that he had almost emptied his entire stock of signature techniques.
But Naruto had surpassed his master.
He was already incredibly skilled with the Rasengan, and had even developed several different variations.
Lightning Release Chakra Mode combined with the Flying Thunder God Technique was enough to take down a whole lot of ninja.
As for Sage Mode Double and Nine-Tails Chakra Mode,
those seemed beyond the limits of most ninja!
"But Naruto still lacks battle experience. If he wants to become Hokage like Minato Namikaze, he'll need more training and everyone's approval!"
Jiraiya fully acknowledged Naruto's strength.
Not enough experience!
Shizune fell silent.
Tsunade was right at the height of her tipsiness, and she patted Naruto on the head.
"Are you really that strong, Naruto?"
Bang!
Tsunade rested her arm on the new table the owner had just brought over.
"Come on! Let's arm-wrestle and see!"
Tsunade narrowed her eyes, smiling brightly.
Jiraiya was definitely exaggerating to make the kid sound better.
"If I win, you have to go back and recommend me for Hokage!"
Naruto put his hand forward.
Damn!
This old woman was getting on in years, but not only did she look young, her hand was even softer than Naruto's!
The Yin Seal really was something!
"Bring it on!"
Tsunade exerted herself.
As the strongest woman in the world, able to defeat the Raikage in an arm-wrestling match,
she only meant to use a little force, so Naruto's arm wouldn't break.
But then she realized Naruto's hand wasn't budging at all.
"What?!"
Tsunade felt something was off, so she used thirty percent of her strength.
Good grief.
Still no reaction.
Naruto didn't even feel the need to push harder.
"This kid's a little strange!"
Tsunade got serious. She was already drunk, and she wasn't going to go easy on Naruto anymore.
Hah!
She pushed harder again, reaching ninety percent of her strength!
Most people would have been beaten at this point.
Naruto finally exerted himself, but Tsunade still didn't win!
"Damn it! I'll have to use my real strength!"
Tsunade was completely fired up, her face turning red from the strain.
"Lady Tsunade!"
Shizune hadn't expected Tsunade to get so riled up by a kid like Naruto.
"You're going to destroy the tavern! This is too much!"
Jiraiya stood up, ready to protect the poor tavern.
"Ah!"
The owner looked utterly forlorn. What had he done to deserve this?
These two were about to wreck his whole tavern just by arm-wrestling. Did ninja have no sense of decency?
"Get ready for a challenge!"
Tsunade used Chakra Enhanced Strength, channeling the flow of chakra into pure physical power instead of attacking.
"I'm ready!"
Naruto used Chakra Enhanced Strength, too.
Bang!
Their surging strength blew the table apart, and the tavern's wall facing the street went flying.
Jiraiya used Earth Release to create a thick wall, finally protecting the tavern.
"Not bad!"
Tsunade stood up from the rubble.
She surveyed everything around her with an imperious gaze.
"Where'd you learn that arm-wrestling strength? This is strange!"
Tsunade raised her leg and kicked.
"Painful Sky Leg!"
Naruto attacked with a kick, too.
They both used Painful Sky Leg.
Tsunade had accumulated her strength through years of training, while Naruto had incredible talent and far too much chakra.
"This street sure drew the short straw, having the two of you come through."
Jiraiya could only patch things up.
The cracks in the ground weren't cracks at all. They were trenches!
"Not bad, you idiot who wants to become Hokage!"
Tsunade crossed her arms and stepped in front of Naruto, towering over him.
"I can't see you anymore, Granny Tsunade!"
Because she was standing so close,
Naruto couldn't see Tsunade herself when he looked up.
"Your Taijutsu is a lot like mine, but I haven't taught it to anyone. Maybe it's just a coincidence."
"But if you can hold your own against me with other techniques a week from now,"
"then I'll not only return to the village and recommend you for Hokage, I'll give you this necklace, too."
Tsunade turned and walked away.
Only after she had gone some distance did she look back and say, "You're pretty strong for a brat."
"I'm going to be Hokage!"
Naruto shouted.
"We came to bring Tsunade back to become Hokage, not to have her go back and recommend you!"
Jiraiya was so upset he could have cried.
No matter what, as long as he could bring Tsunade back, that would be good enough.
At this point, all he could do was take things one step at a time.
"Hahahaha!"
Naruto was over the moon.
At last, after staying quiet for so long, the system had given him a new quest.
Sigh...
Jiraiya looked at Naruto's back, speechless.
That kid was going crazy again.
With a temper like that, wouldn't he be better suited to be Tsunade's disciple?
Deep in the forest.
"You damn system, where have you been hiding lately?"
Naruto slapped the system interface furiously.