After the matter of "Xuanyuan Group" was solved, Senju Chen and the others felt a lot more relaxed. Tsunade hummed a tune, his hands still resting behind his head, walking leisurely, but his green eyes would glance at the two people walking behind him from time to time, with a smile on his lips that was looking forward to a good show.
Shizune followed at the end, holding Tonton who was sleeping soundly in her arms, her head almost buried in her chest. Her cheeks were still glowing with a faint pink color, like the softest sunset in the sky after the rain.
She didn't dare to look at the tall figure in front of her, but the corner of her eye was always drawn to him uncontrollably. Her heart seemed to be pulled by that figure, and every beat was filled with a hint of sweetness and a hint of panic.
Senju Chen walked in the middle, deliberately slowing down, keeping a not too far or too close distance from Shizune. He could clearly feel the hot and shy sight behind him, and the tip of his nose seemed to be able to smell the faint fragrance of herbs on the girl's body. He did not look back, but the curvature of the corner of his mouth inadvertently rose a little.
This ambiguous and peaceful atmosphere gave his soul, which had been born in two lifetimes, a rare sense of youthfulness and excitement.
"Ahem!" Tsunade couldn't stand it any longer. He coughed heavily on purpose, breaking the tranquility. "I said, do you two plan to just walk until dark?"
Shizune was startled, and suddenly raised his head like a frightened rabbit, just in time to meet Tsunade's teasing eyes, and his cheeks instantly turned red like a ripe apple.
"Lady Tsunade, I... we..." She was incoherent and didn't know how to explain.
"Okay, sister, please stop teasing Sister Shizune." Senju Chen smiled and turned around, took over the conversation naturally, and helped her out, "Let's speed up and try to get to the town ahead tonight, have a good meal, and take a bath in the hot springs."
"That's pretty much it!" Tsunade nodded with satisfaction, "Tenten Sleeping in the wild, my bones are almost rusty!"
She complained, but her eyes flickered between Senju Chen and Shizune, laughing secretly in her heart.
I can't tell. Little Chen, this guy is quite good at hurting people.
While the three of them were enjoying this rare leisure time, what they didn't know was that Konoha was behind them, and a storm of public opinion against Hokage was brewing to the extreme.
Konoha, Hokage building.
Hiruzen Sarutobi dragged his tired body and finally returned to the village he had guarded all his life.
The post-war negotiations with Iwagakure and Sunagakure were far more difficult than imagined. That old fox Ōnoki, even if the village's vitality was greatly damaged, still had no place at the negotiation table. If you don't give in, every clause will have to be seen over and over again. Although the new Kazekage at Sunagakure is young, all the Council of Elder Advisors around him are veterans, and they are also difficult to deal with.
Fortunately, the final result was quite satisfactory. As the victorious country, Konoha gained enough benefits to make up for the huge losses caused by the war, and even allowed the village to achieve considerable development in the next ten years.
Logically speaking, he should feel relieved and relaxed now.
But the moment he stepped into the village, an invisible sense of depression hit him.
When the villagers on the street saw him, their eyes were no longer the pure respect and love of the past. There were something more complicated in their eyes - doubt, alienation, and even... a hint of resentment.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's doubts became more and more serious.
He pushed open the door of Hokage's Office, and the lingering smell of tobacco and the heavy atmosphere made him frown.
In the office, Jiraiya and Shikaku Nara, the patriarch of the Nara Clan, have been waiting for a long time. Everyone's face is full of solemnity.
"What happened?" Hiruzen Sarutobi put the Hokage bamboo hat on the table and asked in a deep voice. He knew that it would be a big deal if these three people could show such expressions at the same time.
"Teacher..." Jiraiya opened his mouth. He had always been free and uninhibited, but now he seemed a little irritable and angry, "There have been some bad rumors in the village recently."
"It's more than just bad." Shikaku Nara sighed, his always sleepy eyes were full of clarity and sharpness at this moment, "Lord Hokage, during the time you left, a storm of public opinion against you has swept the entire Konoha."
He handed over a scroll in his hand.
Hiruzen Sarutobi took the scroll and slowly unfolded it. What was recorded on it were various remarks that had been circulated in the village recently, collected by Anbu and Nara Clan.
From the beginning, "Lord Hokage was afraid of the hero and forced Senju Chen away", and later evolved into "Hokage monopolized power and could not tolerate Senju Clan".
And now, the latest version recorded on the scroll was so vicious that it even frightened him.
--"Have you heard? Iwagakure Over there on the battlefield, it should have ended long ago! It was because Third Hokage saw that Senju Lord Chen had made too much contribution and was afraid that his achievements would shock the master, so he was forcibly transferred back from the front line! This made the war last for several more years!"
--"My husband died in those years! If Senju Lord Chen was still here, he wouldn't have to die at all! It was Third... who killed my husband!"
--"This is so similar to Lord White Fang back then! Konoha's heroes will not end well as long as they take too much credit! Princess Tsunade was forced to leave, and the same is true for Senju Lord Chen!"
--"Is this what we got for our bloodshed and sacrifice for the village? Our relatives died on the battlefield in vain just because of Hokage's selfishness?"
Each sentence, each sentence, is like the sharpest knife, piercing Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart.
His hand holding the scroll began to tremble slightly. The sparks in the pipe flickered out, reflecting his face that had aged ten years in an instant.
What chilled him the most was that the flash point of public opinion this time was no longer the idle villagers, but the families of ninjas who had lost their loved ones in the war.
Their grief is real, their anger is real. But this real emotion is being used by someone with intentions at this moment, turning it into the most deadly weapon directed at him, Konoha Hokage.
"The most violent ones were the family members of the ninjas who died in the friction between Battle of Kikyo Pass and the subsequent conflict with Iwagakure." Minato Namikaze's voice was filled with sadness, "They gathered in front of Memorial Stone and were very excited. Military Police Force went there several times, but the effect was minimal, and instead intensified the conflict."
"Haha... hehe..." Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly laughed in a low voice, the laughter was hoarse and sad, "What a move to drain the bottom of the cauldron, what a move to kill people and kill people's hearts."
He slammed the scroll on the table, and the long-lost anger finally ignited in his cloudy old eyes.
"Is there someone who can't bear to see me sitting in this position for too long?"