In the distance, on the second floor of an izakaya.
Tsunade downed a cup of sake, her face flushed as she asked Jiraiya, "Aren't you going to put a stop to this farce?"
Jiraiya shook his head lightly. "I trust Oto and Zou to handle this..."
"Trust..." Tsunade set down her cup and frowned. "Since when did you start trusting the Uchiha too, Jiraiya? Every last one of them is arrogant beyond belief."
As a descendant of the Senju Clan, Tsunade had been influenced by Tobirama and had an instinctive dislike of the Uchiha.
Jiraiya smiled. "Don't underestimate them, Tsunade. They've driven Orochimaru back several times. They're the strongest of the village's younger generation."
At the mention of Orochimaru, Tsunade's eyes lit up. She raised the sake flask and took several swigs.
As his former teammate, Tsunade knew Orochimaru's strength well. If those two could force him to retreat, as Jiraiya said, didn't that mean they already ranked among the strongest in the shinobi world?
As time passed, powerful young ninja had emerged from both the Hyuga and the Uchiha.
Yet the Senju Clan had abandoned its former glory and had never produced another ninja worth mentioning.
Just then, a puff of smoke appeared, and a ninja toad materialized on the table with a scroll clamped in his mouth.
The ninja toad's arrival sobered Jiraiya considerably. After opening the scroll and reading it carefully, he frowned, his expression growing grave.
"What happened?"
Tsunade noticed the change in Jiraiya's expression. There weren't many things that could shake this old lecher.
Jiraiya said grimly, "According to our intelligence, Hiruko has been spotted in the Land of Hot Water. He's also captured quite a few ninja with kekkei genkai."
"Hiruko!"
Tsunade slammed her fist into the table, splitting it in two.
It wasn't