By the time Tsunade finished reading through everything printed there...
It felt as though an entire century had passed.
This was the first time she had read every last item in a newspaper.
Even in the past, she had only picked out things that interested her. This time, she had read every story, even those she no longer cared about.
She was afraid of missing even a single detail.
After carefully reading the entire newspaper, Tsunade finally returned her gaze to the section about Senju Nawaki.
To her, its account of the Senju Clan and Nawaki seemed remarkably fair.
She truly had not expected a report like this to come from the Uchiha.
Back then, the Senju Clan had honored Hashirama Senju's dying wish, hiding their name and abandoning the Senju surname to integrate fully into Konoha.
Tsunade herself was an example. Although she belonged to the Senju Clan, her name now was simply Tsunade.
But even without the Senju surname, Senju blood still flowed through their veins. Nawaki had been no different.
When it happened, Tsunade had seriously suspected that there was more to the incident.
After all, what had the circumstances been?!
He had been blown up by Explosive Tags far behind the front lines, with Orochimaru leading the team.
Orochimaru had been her teammate. She did not believe he had done it deliberately.
That could only mean even Orochimaru had not expected something like that to happen.
And afterward, the internal organs had even been removed from the body.
An explosion could never have caused that, could it?!
That was why Tsunade had always suspected someone else might have been involved.
Now that Danzo's research had been exposed, Tsunade felt that he might have orchestrated it, however unwilling she was to face that possibility.
He had wanted to research Wood Release!
There was an even more devastating possibility: Hiruzen Sarutobi might have known about it.
If that was true, then what did it make all of this?!
To research Wood Release, they had not only blown Nawaki to pieces, but even turned their vile hands toward her grandfather's remains.
But it was all in the past now. Even if she learned about these things, even if every word was true...
Would that bring Nawaki back?!
Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others were dead, and Nawaki was dead too. Those left alive were the ones who suffered most.
Tsunade's feelings were tangled.
If Hiruzen Sarutobi were still alive, she could have stormed back and demanded to know why he had done it, and whether he had known something.
It was too late for everything.
They were all dead. To her, it seemed as though none of it meant anything anymore.
"Lady Tsunade... are you all right?!"
Shizune cautiously glanced at Tsunade. Seeing her silent expression and everything that had happened, she felt something she could not put into words.
Something about Tsunade's state of mind seemed wrong.
Still...
The news really was shocking.
Even she had yet to recover from it. She was not trying to dream up conspiracies, but if it was true, everything the Senju Clan had done for Konoha seemed hardly worth it.
Besides, Hashirama Senju had been Tobirama Senju's older brother, as well as Konoha's First Hokage.
Yet their disciples had committed such an outrageous betrayal.
It was utterly monstrous.
After all...
As Tsunade's attendant, she had never sided with the Uchiha. But this time, she genuinely felt they had done nothing wrong.
As for Tsunade, her feelings were complicated too.
She drew a deep breath, temporarily suppressed her turbulent emotions, and said slowly, "I'm fine. We're going out for a drink tonight."
"Lady Tsunade... weren't we planning to run away today?!"
Shizune hurriedly asked.
Wait, what?!
Why are we suddenly going drinking?!
Earlier, Tsunade had apparently said that if she won tonight, she would be rich enough to buy two bowls of porridge and throw one away. If she lost, they would simply run.
Shizune thought the outcome was already obvious.
They were definitely going to be running tonight.
After all, given Tsunade's luck, it would take a miracle for her to win any money.
"Run from what? Whoever comes tonight gets punched!"
Tsunade waved her fist as she spoke. She was in a terrible mood today. Even her creditors would get punched if they showed up.
In the past, Tsunade would never have done that.
After all, those people funded her gambling.
If she hit them, what would she do if they refused to lend her money again?!
But now, her emotions were a mess, and she could not be bothered to worry about all that.
Seeing Tsunade's attitude, Shizune nodded and let the matter drop.
"But Lady Tsunade, with things the way they are in Konoha now, do you think they'll call us back?!"
Shizune asked curiously.
Although they had been away from the village for years, strictly speaking, they were still Konoha ninja.
The Fourth had not called them back when he took office either.
But that was because the Fourth was the Third's grand-disciple and Jiraiya's student, and because his time in office had been short.
Now, however, someone from the Uchiha had taken over.
They themselves did not merely have close ties to Hiruzen Sarutobi; there was some bad blood with the Uchiha too.
Besides, the newspaper had described the situation. Everything Bai Ye had said yesterday had been reproduced word for word.
That included his references to Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Asuma Sarutobi.
Judging by those details, the Uchiha might take action against them in the future.
If that happened, should they return?!
"What would we go back for?! Konoha stopped being the Konoha we knew a long time ago!"
Tsunade curled her lip. She had no desire to return.
The people and things she knew were no longer in the village.
What could she possibly do by going back?!
"What if the Uchiha order us to return?! After all, if we refuse... they might declare us rogue ninja..."
Shizune did not think Bai Ye would be foolish enough to pull something like that.
Surely it was enough for Tsunade to remain a Konoha ninja in name?!
But there was no guarantee someone else would not do it.
So to Shizune, this was not something they could simply dismiss.
Better safe than sorry.
"What are you afraid of?! I didn't get where I am by being scared! If that brat has the guts, he can come find me himself. Even if he does, I'm not going back!"
What a joke!
Does he think he can scare me?!
When she had made her name in the shinobi world, Bai Ye had not even been born.
Would a couple of remarks frighten her?!
What could he do if she refused to return?!
Even if Bai Ye came in person, she would not oblige him. Besides, he might not even do anything of the sort.
Either way, Tsunade did not care in the slightest.
Seeing her attitude, Shizune swallowed the words she had been about to say.
After all, with Tsunade saying that, what else could she say?!
Besides, the news concerned quite a few people.
As it spread, Jiraiya would probably hear about it too.
The Land of Fire Daimyo was the first to learn of it.
At that moment, the Daimyo glared at the newspaper and demanded in an angry growl, "What exactly do those Uchiha think they're doing?! They actually dared to kill the Hokage outright?!!
"And more importantly... one of them just took over as Hokage?!!"
Wait, what?!
Am I reading this right?!
When the Daimyo first saw the newspaper, he thought he must have misread it.
Outrageous!!!!
This is absolutely outrageous!!!!
Konoha's leadership had changed completely. The Uchiha had openly attacked the Third Hokage, a man he had personally appointed.
In the Daimyo's eyes, that gave the Third legitimacy.
Yet the Uchiha had killed him.
At the same time, without notifying the Daimyo, the village had simply chosen Bai Ye as Hokage.
Ever since the Third, appointing a Hokage had required his approval!
Although the village and the nation were, in principle, merely partners.
The Land of Fire provided land and resources so Konoha could survive there.
In return, Konoha served as the Land of Fire's military force.
But beginning with the Third, Konoha had become increasingly dependent on the Land of Fire's resources, and the relationship between them had begun to shift out of balance.
So now, the Daimyo naturally took it for granted that choosing a Hokage...
Required his approval.
Otherwise, that Hokage's claim to the office was illegitimate!
And that was exactly the case here!
Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi had done all those things, could they not have arrested him first, then handed him over to the Daimyo for trial before passing judgment?!
Bai Ye had first killed so many of Konoha's senior leaders, then taken the position of Hokage himself, and finally announced it in the newspaper.
Everything had bypassed the Daimyo. How could he possibly accept that?!
"They appointed a Hokage themselves, without our approval?!"
"Isn't Asuma one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja? They actually killed his father. Isn't that going too far?!"
"Have the Uchiha gone mad? Should we cut off Konoha's supplies?! They must give us an explanation!"
"Exactly! The Uchiha must give us an explanation!"
At that moment, everyone at the heart of the Land of Fire's government felt the same as the Daimyo.
In their eyes, Konoha was nothing more than a dependent of the Land of Fire. Yet now that dependent had developed ideas of its own.
Something so enormous had happened within the village, and they had not received the slightest word of it.
How could they accept that?!
"Enough. For now, contact Konoha and have Bai Ye come here. We'll discuss everything else afterward!"
The Daimyo waved his hand and immediately made his decision.
Whatever further ideas the others had, they no longer mattered to him.
The main problem was that the deed was already done.
Even though he was furious.
For now, he could only set his feelings aside.
But he would not let this slide so easily!
As they had said, Konoha was now heavily dependent on the Land of Fire. Without its support...
The village would collapse from within.
So he would summon Bai Ye first and question his attitude, to see whether he had any respect for the Land of Fire Daimyo.
Then, as long as Bai Ye was willing to bow to him, he would be willing to let Bai Ye become the Fifth Hokage.
After all, the Daimyo did not want to push Konoha too hard either.
What he needed was a military force to help him protect the Land of Fire.
Without Konoha, he had no idea what the other nations' Daimyo might do.
So he certainly would not cause Konoha's collapse.
But it ultimately depended on Bai Ye. If Bai Ye refused, he would never approve his appointment as Hokage. At worst, he could simply choose another Hokage himself!
In any case, launching another war would be a strain for the major Ninja Villages right now.
The previous two shinobi world wars had taken a considerable toll.
That actually had something to do with the Daimyo as well. War itself was a means of keeping the Ninja Villages under control.
If the Ninja Villages under them became too powerful, that would hardly be good news for the Daimyo.
Besides, without killing, how could they create hostility between the two sides?
The deeper that hostility ran, the more the villages would need to depend on the great nations.
Without their support, the villages would collapse internally.
They needed the nations' support in daily life, and the same was true in war. That was why the Ninja Villages had become increasingly dependent on the great nations.
From that perspective, the Daimyo naturally did not believe Bai Ye could escape his control.
Everything was within his grasp.
"Then what do we do about Asuma?!"
After all, his father had been killed. They couldn't simply pretend they knew nothing about it, could they?!
What was Asuma supposed to do now?!
The moment those words were spoken, everyone fell silent.
"We have to give Asuma an answer, but let's think it over for now..."
The Daimyo rubbed his brow, thinking that he absolutely had to give Asuma an answer.
After all, Asuma had guarded him for so many years. How could he possibly refuse him an answer?!
But...
When it came to facing the other side, no!!!
He would have to make Bai Ye bow his head when the time came. As for an answer... what that answer would be could wait until later.
But he had to give Asuma an answer.
Meanwhile, as the news spread...
In the Land of Earth.
As Jiraiya read the newspaper in front of him, a trace of wistfulness crossed his face.
"Troubled times... and the old man actually died. Should I head back?!"
Jiraiya had actually been somewhat furious at first. After all, the man had been his teacher.
But after reading those reports...
He suddenly thought of something: sooner or later, everyone had to pay for what they did.
When you killed someone else, you ought to be prepared to be killed yourself.
And the Uchiha had killed Hiruzen Sarutobi in retaliation.
The fact that one of them could become Hokage meant that most of the village's shinobi had accepted what had happened.
Besides, the headline had made it perfectly clear: a battle to settle their grievances once and for all!
Since they had settled their grievances...
Was he really supposed to do anything about it?!
Still...
With Hiruzen Sarutobi dead, he ought to head back, shouldn't he?!
"Heh... Teacher... so this was how you departed this world?! Do you regret it?!"
At the Akatsuki.
Orochimaru gazed at the contents of the newspaper, an unreadable emotion on his face.
And those Uchiha...
They really were insane!
They had actually killed even the Hokage!
Come to think of it, they really knew how to rally people. They had killed the Hokage, yet one of them was actually going to take his place.
That alone showed that Hiruzen Sarutobi had already lost the support of the village...
So did he regret what he had done back then?!
Just as he was pondering that, a voice interrupted his thoughts: "Orochimaru, the leader says it's time for a meeting!!"
Before you continue