Tsunade's Dominance

Cangshu Qianyu walked along the path toward his new home with his schoolbag on his back, just as he did every day. The relaxation following the end of the school day allowed him to lower his guard slightly. As he mentally calculated whether to spend the evening studying the Fire Release scroll Fugaku had given him or continuing to refine his subtle control over Wood Release, he remained completely oblivious to the presence not far behind him.

As he pondered, Qianyu felt he had finally gained a foothold in this world and let out a Uchiha-style burst of manic laughter. In the shadows of a concealed corner, a sharp gaze was locked firmly onto him.

Tsunade leaned against the cold wall with her arms crossed, her eyes tracking the back of the black-haired boy. The more she watched, the tighter her brows furrowed.

The way he walked, the silhouette of his profile, and especially that faint, aloof sense of distance that kept others at bay... how did this resemble the warm, sunny style of the Senju Clan? It looked far more like...

"Shizune," she lowered her voice, her tone peculiar, "don't you think this kid looks more like a member of the Uchiha clan no matter how you slice it? Aside from his hair being a bit long."

Shizune, holding Tonton, took a careful look and whispered, "He does have that feeling. But Lady Tsunade, the Hokage's letter mentioned his Wood Release."

"That's why I need to confirm it with my own eyes." Tsunade cut her off and stepped out to follow, moving as lightly as a cat without making a sound. Shizune hurried to keep up.

The two of them trailed behind Qianyu at a distance. As they neared the desolate area on the edge of the village, Qianyu suddenly stopped in his tracks. His body visibly tensed, and his right hand moved swiftly toward the ninja tool pouch at his waist.

Was I discovered? Tsunade felt a flicker of surprise. This kid's vigilance was exceptionally high; he could detect he was being followed while walking home in the middle of Konoha?

Qianyu spun around abruptly, a kunai already in his hand. Although his stance was still somewhat amateurish, his eyes were exceptionally sharp as he scanned the road and the bushes behind him. His voice carried a deliberately chilled edge: "Come out! Who's there?!"

The slight surprise in Tsunade's heart was instantly replaced by an unnameable anger. Just how many times must a child, who should be living a carefree school life, have been forced to live in fear and face potential threats to act like a startled rabbit in his own village?

She stopped hiding and walked out from behind a large tree, Shizune at her side.

Qianyu's vigilant gaze focused sharply on the newcomers. A second later, his hand holding the kunai trembled imperceptibly, and his eyes widened slightly.

The golden glow of the setting sun perfectly outlined the figure of the woman. The dazzling long blonde hair, the exquisite face, and especially that proud, towering chest...

Good heavens! This was the living, breathing Lady Tsunade, a hundred times more impactful than in the 2D world! The mature, formidable, and beautiful aura that he couldn't fully grasp from manga and imagination alone was now washing over him.

Qianyu was momentarily stunned. The cold, stern facade he had been maintaining nearly crumbled, and a flash of pure, instinctive infatuation—the kind a boy his age feels when seeing a peerless beauty—flickered in his eyes.

This subtle change in expression did not escape Tsunade's notice. A vein popped on her forehead. This brat! He was acting like a wary little wolf cub a moment ago, and now he's staring blankly at me? Men are all the same, regardless of their age!

"Hey, kid!" Tsunade spoke up irritably, her voice snapping Qianyu out of his daze. "Stop daydreaming. Use Wood Release on me!"

"Wood Release?" Qianyu reacted as if the word had burned him. He snapped back to reality, his face instantly shifting to one of shock and vigilance, laced with a "how do you know" panic. He gripped his kunai tighter and took a half-step back. "Who are you? Grandpa Hokage said I'm not allowed to use that in public!"

"Grandpa Hokage?" Tsunade chewed on the title. Looking at the genuine reliance and trust in Qianyu's eyes when he spoke of Hiruzen Sarutobi, and then thinking of the boy's situation in the village, the fire in her heart burned even brighter. It's all the fault of those rats hiding in the gutters!

"Bang!" She punched a tree the thickness of a bowl beside her. The trunk snapped instantly and crashed to the ground.

"Enough talk!" Tsunade shook her hand and stared at Qianyu. "Kid, use Wood Release on me! As long as you prove you are a true heir to Wood Release and not some freak cooked up in a lab, I'll look after you in Konoha! Let's see who dares to touch a hair on your head again!"

Her tone was overbearing, yet it carried the weight of an unquestionable promise.

Qianyu looked at the unfortunate tree on the ground, then back at the undeniable toughness in Tsunade's eyes, mixed with a deeply hidden urgency and anticipation. His mind raced; he knew that since the play had reached this point, it was time for the main course.

His face showed hesitation and struggle, eventually settling into a look of desperate resolve.

"Then... blonde sister, be careful!"

He took a deep breath and began to weave hand signs—not entirely proficient, but the structure was correct. Chakra surged within his body, and the Yang Release power belonging to the Senju was deliberately channeled and amplified.

"Wood Release: Four-Directional Total Sealing Technique!"

Tsunade was speechless at the name, but as for the actual effect of the technique... dozens of tough vines and wooden tentacles the thickness of a bowl erupted from the ground around her. They didn't attack; instead, they rapidly intertwined and spiraled, forming a dense wooden cage that trapped her in the center. The cage continued to tighten, applying pressure.

The move didn't look particularly grand, but the key lay in the vitality and binding force contained within it.

Inside the cage, Tsunade closed her eyes the moment the wood rose. She didn't use her superhuman strength to break out; instead, she held her breath and focused, using her keen perception as a descendant of the Senju bloodline to feel the power flowing through the wood that encased her.

Warm, vast, and full of life... like a forest under the spring sun, like the warmth of her grandfather's broad palms in her memories... It was completely different from the cold, violent, and unstable inferior Wood Release she had encountered in those laboratories! This vibrant, heavy sense of life could not be wrong.

It was the aura of her grandfather, Hashirama Senju's power! Although still young and weak, the essence was the same!

Tsunade snapped her eyes open, shock, excitement, and a complex sense of relief flashing through her amber pupils. She didn't hesitate, letting her chakra ripple slightly.

"Crack—Boom!"

The sturdy wooden cage shattered into countless flying splinters as she exerted a slight force. She stepped out and arrived instantly in front of Qianyu, who was still holding his hand-sign posture and looking somewhat drained.

"Blonde sister, you..." Qianyu was startled and instinctively tried to retreat.

Tsunade pressed a hand onto his shoulder, while her other hand moved directly to his forehead. A gentle yet incredibly pure and powerful chakra surged into Qianyu's body, acting like a scanner that raced through every meridian, bone, and organ in his system.

Qianyu's body stiffened, but he forced himself to suppress the instinct to resist, allowing her to probe. He felt the clear intent of the scan, but there was no malice—only a sense of warmth.

As he felt Tsunade scanning his body, he thought she shouldn't be able to find anything; he only possessed the purified bloodline cells of Madara and Hashirama, and it was primarily the Yin-Yang Release of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path that had nurtured him to adulthood.

Tsunade's brows gradually smoothed out, and the light in her eyes grew brighter. Healthy, incredibly healthy—one could even say he was healthier than any ordinary person! The bone density, muscle fibers, organ vitality...

Especially that life essence hidden deep within his bloodline, not yet fully awakened, as heavy as the earth itself... It was the Sage Body! Although still in its dormant seedling stage, it was undeniably the Sage Body inherited from her grandfather!

There was no mistake. He wasn't an artificial monster or a failed experiment. He was a gifted, healthy child.

She withdrew her hand and looked at the black-haired boy before her, who looked somewhat bewildered and wary from the sudden examination. Her mood was incredibly complex. This face... the more she looked at it, the more of an eyesore it was, but the aura of his bloodline made her feel an uncontrollable sense of closeness.

"Kid, your name is Cangshu Qianyu, right?" Tsunade's voice softened considerably, though it still couldn't be called gentle.

"Yes." Qianyu nodded, his eyes clear. "Who exactly are you, sister? You're so strong!"

"My name is Tsunade. Senju Tsunade." Tsunade crossed her arms and lifted her chin slightly. "You can call me Lady Tsunade."

Qianyu followed suit: "Lady Tsunade."

Tsunade hummed, feeling that something was off. This kid, wearing the face of a teenage Madara Uchiha, using her grandfather's Wood Release, and calling her "Lady"... the combination was just too bizarre.

"This isn't the place to talk." Tsunade glanced around; although it was remote, the commotion from earlier might attract attention. She reached out and grabbed Qianyu by the back of his collar.

"Eh? Lady Tsunade? Where are we... Whoa!"

Before Cangshu Qianyu could finish, Tsunade had already hoisted him up. Together with Shizune, she vanished from the spot in a few flashes of Body Flicker, leaving behind nothing but a mess of wood shavings and Abin, who had just poked half his head out from underground and witnessed the entire ordeal, staring in stunned silence.

Abin's beady eyes blinked before he slowly retreated back into the earth, muttering, "What a fierce woman... but, she seems pretty strong? Does this mean the little fish has found himself a new backer?"

In the blink of an eye, Qianyu was dropped back in front of his new wooden cabin. The feeling of solid ground beneath his feet left him a bit dizzy, but his mind was racing: Tsunade returning to the village in person to verify this, and acting so agitated... it seemed his Wood Release and Sage Body had truly struck a chord with her.

If he could gain the public recognition and protection of this Lady Tsunade, that old dog Danzo would have to think twice before trying to move against him again. She was the granddaughter of the First Hokage and one of the legendary Sannin; her prestige and influence in Konoha were no joke.

While he was secretly calculating the possibility of latching onto her as a backer, Tsunade merely gave him a long, deep look, tossed out a command to stay put, and vanished again with Shizune.

In the Hokage's office, the atmosphere had yet to fully recover from the previous confrontation.

Tsunade returned as quickly as she had left. This time, she didn't even bother with the door; she kicked it open, the hinges groaning in agony as she stormed in like a whirlwind.

"Old man!" Her target was clear. She lunged straight for Hiruzen Sarutobi's desk, slamming her hands down and leaning forward, her rage almost palpable. "Your letter didn't make it clear! That old dog Danzo—has he already made a move on that child?! An assassination? Inside the village?!"

Hiruzen watched his disciple return with even greater fury, knowing he couldn't hide it anymore. He sighed and gave a brief account of how Qianyu had been attacked, how Root ninja had made a move, and how he had intervened in time—though, naturally, he still characterized the attackers as "unidentified."

"Bullshit 'unidentified'!" Tsunade wasn't buying it for a second. She spun around, pointing at the grim-faced Danzo by the window, her voice rising with raw, violent intensity. "Besides you, you persistent old ghost with a head full of filthy experiments, who else would be so impatient to kill a seven-year-old child?! Is it because he looks like Madara Uchiha? Or is it just your damn, bottomless ambition?!"

"Tsunade! Mind your position!" Utatane Koharu couldn't help but snap.

"Position? My position is Tsunade of the Senju!" Tsunade retorted without hesitation, her gaze cutting like a blade across the two advisors. "And I am that child's senior clansman! I'm putting this on the table right now—"

She turned back to Hiruzen, every word sharp and resolute, echoing throughout the office:

"That child, Cangshu Qianyu, is under my protection! His Wood Release, his body, his future—I will be the one to guide and look after him! Anyone who dares to target him again, especially using those underhanded, shadow-dwelling methods..."

Her gaze shot toward Danzo once more, her killing intent undisguised:

"I will personally rip their head off! I mean what I say!"

With that, she didn't give anyone a chance to react and slammed the door behind her as she left.

The office fell into a deathly silence.

Danzo's single eye flickered with an inscrutable light in the shadows, his fingers tightening slowly around his cane.

Hiruzen leaned back in his chair, took off his Hokage hat, and rubbed his temples.

It was a headache, but deep down, he felt a quiet sense of relief. With a raging lioness like Tsunade standing in the way, at least on the surface, the child was much safer.