In Konoha: Three Choices from the Start

"A rat out in the open is far more useful than a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, isn't he?"

Liuyun smiled easily, a sharp glint in his eyes.

"As expected of you, Liuyun. You're thinking exactly what I am. Sorry for the trouble, but I'll need your Genjutsu next!"

Orochimaru nodded in agreement.

"All right!"

Jiraiya and Tsunade couldn't make heads or tails of their cryptic exchange.

"Hey, what are you two talking about?" Jiraiya finally asked.

Liuyun ignored him. His Sharingan spun rapidly.

"Done! I erased his memories of seeing us tonight. All he'll remember is Jiraiya coming to drink with him!"

"The rest is up to you, Jiraiya. Just drink with him, and whatever you do, don't mention that we were here!" Orochimaru warned him sternly.

"Got it, got it!" Jiraiya had no idea what they were getting at, but he accepted the job.

After they returned from Dark Moon Momonosuke's room, Orochimaru said goodbye, and Liuyun went straight to Tsunade's room.

Tsunade pulled a bottle of liquor she had hidden in the corner and poured it straight into her mouth.

"Ask whatever you want! Don't hold it in. If I know the answer, I'll tell you!"

Seeing her like this left Liuyun deeply uneasy.

"I don't have anything to ask. I just feel awful. I never thought Konoha could be this dark. I'm starting to believe your conspiracy theories!"

A bitter smile crossed Tsunade's flushed face.

Madou Video? What Kind of Trash Is That! (10 Updates)

She was disappointed in her teacher and had lost all hope in the Konoha High Command.

"I'm glad you understand. Now use your head and think about what the Senju Clan will do next."

Liuyun spoke quietly.

"I will!"

Judging by the look of her, Tsunade would be drinking for a long while. Liuyun got up and left.

When he returned to his tent, his young wife Mikoto was already asleep on the Tatami.

Liuyun went through his usual routine: he sealed the tent flap with ice, took off his clothes, and slipped inside.

Every time he looked at Mikoto's sleeping face, Liuyun felt a strange urge stir within him.

He kept asking himself, Do I really have Eastern Wu blood in me?

In two months, no matter what, he would save his first time for his young wife Mikoto.

With the arrival of Konoha reinforcements a few days earlier, Liuyun no longer had to share a tent.

Like Tsunade, he now had a tent of his own. It was a recognition of his strength.

Early the next morning, Tsunade's shout woke Liuyun again.

As usual, she hauled him off to the meeting room.

"Look! That's Uchiha Liuyun, Lady Tsunade's student!"

"That's Liuyun, the one who fought his way through the Sand Ninja camp? He's so young!"

"The Uchiha Clan is lucky. When I think about what I was doing at his age... Never mind. It hurts too much!"

The moment the two entered, the Jonin seated around the room lowered their heads and began whispering.

Their envy and resentment were plain to hear.

Those with children looked ready to go home and give them a sound thrashing.

Liuyun walked to his usual spot beside Orochimaru. Just as he was about to sit down, Orochimaru spoke in his raspy voice.

"That isn't your seat, Liuyun. Yours is over there." Orochimaru pointed to a chair on the left.

"They're all the same." Liuyun couldn't be bothered. He sat in his old seat.

"If Liuyun won't take it, I suppose his teacher will!"

Tsunade smiled and raised her chin like a proud swan.

Without hesitation, she plopped down in the other chair.

Liuyun didn't know what the seat meant, but Tsunade was a battlefield veteran. Of course she knew.

The battlefield wasn't like the village. Connections meant nothing here; strength was everything.

The stronger someone was, the closer to the front their seat at a meeting. It was an unwritten rule.

Back when Hatake Sakumo presided over meetings, the three Sannin had occupied the first three seats on the left.

This time, Liuyun had been placed ahead of all three of them.

And since Liuyun didn't know how things worked, Tsunade got the seat instead. She had long wanted to know what sitting in the first chair felt like!

Tsunade leaned back, narrowed her eyes, and gave a small nod. "Not bad!"

Several ninja around her looked utterly exasperated. Others gazed at her with envy.

Was this what they meant by a teacher rising on her student's success?

Hatake Sakumo coughed at just the right moment, ending the little spectacle and beginning the meeting.

The plan was simple: wait. No matter how the Sand Ninja provoked them, they would wait!

They would wait until Hatake Sakumo recovered.

Then they would fight the Sand Ninja in a decisive battle!

Sakumo wanted to make sure the newly arrived Jonin understood. He didn't want anyone charging in without knowing the situation and falling for a Sand Ninja plot.

"B-bad news, Lord Sakumo! Our border is under attack from the Land of Rain!"

A ninja from the Hyuga Clan rushed in and shouted the report.

"The Land of Rain? Weren't they attacking the Land of Iron?" Orochimaru asked, puzzled.

"Hanzō has breached the Land of Iron's first defensive line. He's now leading the Rain Ninja toward us," the Hyuga ninja replied grimly.

"Hanzō's ambition knows no bounds. He's already occupied the Land of Waterfalls, the Land of Birds, and the Land of Grass."

"Now he's taken part of the Land of Iron and is coming after Konoha? Does he think we're no different from those small countries?" Jiraiya said indignantly.

"Occupied? Those small countries were simply battlefields for us. Now that Hanzō's taken them, he'll have to station troops to defend them."

"The Land of Rain is only a small country. It doesn't have many ninja. Sooner or later, it'll lose those territories, and its Rain Ninja will die for nothing."

Orochimaru licked his lips. His vertical pupils gleamed with intelligence, as though he had seen through everything long ago.

"Orochimaru's analysis is sound."

Hatake Sakumo nodded. Those small countries were lands they had chosen not to hold, so battles could be fought there instead.

0 ········· Please send flowers · ··

It wasn't exactly honorable, but that was the tragedy of small countries.

"Orochimaru, you'll command the force. Tsunade and Jiraiya will assist you. Take some people and stop Hanzō!"

Hatake Sakumo spoke firmly, then glanced at Liuyun, who looked bored out of his mind.

"As for you, Liuyun, stay at the main camp in case the Sand Ninja attack!"

"No problem!" Liuyun nodded. That would give him time with his young wife Mikoto.

With the orders given, everyone hurried off.

An hour later, Tsunade and the other two led their people toward the border with the Land of Rain.

"Remember, while I'm gone, I'm counting on you to look after Nawaki!" Tsunade had told him.

And the payment? Did half an hour of potassium iodide and Big Boobs count?

With Tsunade gone, Liuyun had no one else he knew well in the camp.

He might as well use the chance to make Shadow Clones and train properly.

He himself returned to his tent to give the Madou Video he had just acquired a thorough critique.

And so his days passed. Each morning, Liuyun wandered around the camp and completed his three choices; each afternoon, he critiqued the videos and novels in his inventory.

Before he knew it, two months had passed. Hatake Sakumo had fully recovered.

Thanks to the system's Gene Potion, Liuyun's body had quietly matured to that of a sixteen-year-old. He now met every physical benchmark.

Perhaps because his kidneys had evolved once, he was more vigorous—and larger—in certain respects than most people.

He supposed that was one of the perks.

Since Liuyun went out for a walk every day, the other ninja hadn't found his growth over the past two months strange.

Some even remarked on how quickly he was growing.

"Lord Liuyun! Lord Sakumo would like to see you!" A ninja entered, speaking respectfully.

"Understood!" Liuyun didn't appreciate being interrupted while watching Madou Video, but he knew what mattered.

"Lord Sakumo, what did you need me for?" Liuyun asked as he entered the command tent.

Hatake Sakumo looked up from the map, and his furrowed brow immediately relaxed.

"You're here, Liuyun!" he said with a smile.

"Yes. Why did you call for me alone, Lord Sakumo?"

At the Border of the Land of Rain, Battle Begins! (1 Update—Please Subscribe)

"Tsunade and the others were careless and fell into Hanzō's trap. They've pushed too far into the Land of Rain and are trapped. I want to send you to help them."

Sakumo's expression turned grave as he got down to business.

"What? Teacher Tsunade is trapped? What happened to the ninja they took with them? Are they all dead?"

Liuyun's face darkened instantly.

Tsunade and the other two had taken a full third of the Konoha Main Camp's forces when they left.

That might not have been enough to defeat Hanzō, but it should have been more than enough to hold off his attack.

Sakumo gave Liuyun a strange look.

"They're fine. Apparently, a Rain Ninja provoked Tsunade during the fighting. She couldn't let it go and pursued him deep into the Land of Rain to kill him."

"Jiraiya and Orochimaru followed because they were worried about her. Now all three are trapped by Amegakure."

"The Konoha Ninja outside tried to rescue them, but the Rain Ninja blocked every attempt. With no way through, they sent a request for reinforcements."

Liuyun's mouth twitched. So this whole mess was that busty woman's fault.

"Understood. I'll get ready and leave at once!"

"All right. Be careful on the road," Sakumo told him.

Liuyun left the command tent and headed for the medical station. Before he went, he needed to tell Mikoto.

"Lord Liuyun!"

"Lord Liuyun!"

Konoha Ninja greeted him respectfully all along the way. Liuyun smiled and nodded back.

There had been no fighting at the Konoha Main Camp for the past two months.

Apart from those who had been badly wounded in the first battle, nearly everyone had recovered.

As a result, the medical station had grown fairly quiet.

When Liuyun arrived, he found his young wife Mikoto using Medical Ninjutsu to treat a patient's wound.

A smile rose to Liuyun's lips as he watched the young woman work with such concentration.