Once Tsunade understood their intentions, she was no longer in a hurry.
She leisurely sat down and poured herself a cup of tea.
"Go on, then!"
"Who do you propose as my successor?"
Everyone exchanged glances.
Finally, they all spoke the same name in unison:
"Zhou Cheng!"
Pfft!
Tsunade spat out every drop of tea in her mouth!
Zhou Cheng?
You're all remarkably united this time!
What did Zhou Cheng give you?
Then she spotted Inoichi Yamanaka, Shikaku Nara, and Choji Akimichi.
And Hyuga Hiashi.
She understood immediately.
Although they were nominating Zhou Cheng,
they were still thinking of their own clans.
The children of more than half the clans represented here had a relationship with Zhou Cheng that was part friendship, part mentorship.
Zhou Cheng becoming Hokage would bring their clans nothing but benefits.
Tsunade frowned. Why does this feel so much like you're forcing my hand?
"Zhou Cheng isn't a Konoha native. That alone means he can never become Hokage."
The two elderly advisors, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, were also attending the meeting.
After suffering at Zhou Cheng's hands,
they no longer dared to act quite so openly.
But using rules to trip people up was still their specialty.
"Advisor, that's the wrong way to look at it!"
"Zhou Cheng already possesses such strength at his young age."
"Once he grows up, he might well become another First."
"Are we supposed to leave someone like that unused and hand him over to another shinobi village?"
Mitokado Homura would not give up so easily. He continued invoking the rules.
"This rule was established by the Second himself."
"Do you want Lady Tsunade to abolish a rule her own grandfather established?"
That remark really struck a nerve with some of them.
"Rules are rigid, but people can adapt!"
"Bad,