Half an hour later.
Inside a rather tasteful izakaya in Tanzaku Town.
Kenya, Tsunade, and Shizune sat around a low table in a private room.
The table was laden with expensive sake and premium drinking snacks.
Of course, Kenya had paid for all of it with a handful of money casually scooped out of that chest of gold coins.
"Glug, glug, glug-ah!"
Tsunade raised her bowl and downed all the sake in one go.
She slammed the bowl onto the table and wiped the wine from the corner of her mouth.
Alcohol brought a rosy flush to her cheeks.
Although she had confirmed Kenya's identity, she still found it somewhat unbelievable.
They had been apart for only two years.
Back then, he had been a brat ostracized in Konoha who could barely even extract chakra properly.
Yet he had transformed into a monster with wealth rivaling a nation's, who could even overpower her in pure taijutsu.
"Spit it out, you little bastard. What exactly did you come all this way to find me for?"
Tsunade poured herself another bowl of sake and eyed Kenya sideways.
"Don't tell me you came here just to give me gambling money."
Kenya picked up the bottle and poured himself a cup as well.
He raised it and gave it a gentle swirl.
"The gambling money was just a bonus. Mostly, I wanted to see how my only aunt was doing out here."
"But from the looks of things, pretty miserably."
Kenya exposed her embarrassment without mercy, leaving Shizune beside them feeling awkward.
"What do you know? This is called enjoying life!"
Tsunade forced out a defense, but her tone clearly lacked conviction.
After all, the brat had witnessed her embarrassing predicament at the casino while debt collectors hounded her.
Kenya did not dwell on the subject.
His smile faded, and his gaze grew deep and sharp.
"Auntie, you've been wandering out here for so many years."
"Do you really not care about Konoha or the Senju Clan at all anymore?"
At the mention of the Senju Clan.
Tsunade's hand paused slightly around her bowl.
A trace of sorrow and pain flashed through her eyes, impossible to conceal.
Nawaki's death, Dan's death.
And the village leadership's relentless efforts to divide and suppress the Senju Clan.
These were all wounds in her heart that would never heal.
"What good would caring do?"
Tsunade gave a self-mocking smile, tilted her head back, and drained her bowl.
"The Senju Clan... has long existed in name only."
"For that elusive 'Will of Fire' the old man keeps talking about."
"The Senju Clan shed too much blood and sacrificed too many people."
"And what did we get?"
Tsunade's voice trembled with a hint of anger.
"Our clansmen were scattered and absorbed into the civilian population."
"The glory and power that once belonged to the Senju were carved up entirely by those politicians lurking in the shadows!"
"Konoha stopped needing the Senju long ago."
Tsunade closed her eyes, as though once again seeing the sight of her younger brother Nawaki's gruesome death.
"I'm tired. I don't want any more part in those disgusting political struggles."
"Just let me take Shizune with me, gamble a little, drink a little, and spend the rest of my life in peace."
Shizune's eyes reddened as she listened, and she gently hugged Tonton in her arms.
She knew this was not merely Lady Tsunade's disappointment in Konoha.
It was also her profound guilt over being unable to protect her loved ones.
Yet.
Faced with Tsunade's despondency and resignation.
Kenya showed no sympathy whatsoever.
He abruptly slammed his cup onto the table.
Bang!
Sake splashed everywhere.
"Spend the rest of your life in peace? Run away from reality?"
Kenya sneered, his tone turning exceptionally stern, even carrying a trace of overbearing frustration at her refusal to do better.
"Do you think those vermin in Konoha will leave the Senju Clan alone just because you're hiding out here?"
"Do you have any idea how many vile human experiments that old dog Danzo has secretly conducted to obtain Lord First's power?"
"And do you know that if I hadn't defected, I'd already be a cold corpse on Root's dissection table?"
Kenya's words stabbed viciously into Tsunade's heart like knives.
Her eyes flew open, and she stared at Kenya in shock.
"Danzo... he actually dared to experiment on you?!"
Although she knew Danzo had never given up his designs on the power of Wood Release.
She had never imagined.
That Danzo would be so deranged that he would not even spare the Senju Clan's last publicly known bloodline!
"What about the old man? Doesn't he do anything?" Tsunade demanded furiously.
"The old man?"
A mocking smile curled Kenya's lips.
"What can he do besides spout the 'Will of Fire' and make laughable compromises?"
"In his eyes, as long as the village can maintain the appearance of peace, even sacrificing the entire Senju Clan is worth it."
Kenya rose and walked to the private room's window, looking out at the bustling street.
"Auntie, the Senju of the past were too gentle."
"Lord First founded Konoha for peace. He was even willing to hand over the Tailed Beasts to balance the nations' power."
"But what did that get us?"
"Endless demands and betrayal from those weaklings!"
"The leadership's fear and suppression without any limits!"
Kenya turned around and fixed Tsunade with a burning gaze.
"Is that the so-called 'Will of Fire'?"
"As far as I'm concerned, it's nothing more than a high-sounding excuse a bunch of parasites use to suck our blood!"
Kenya's heretical remarks shocked Tsunade into silence.
Had anyone else dared say such things, she would already have punched them.
But coming from Kenya's mouth.
She discovered that she could not refute them.
Because these were all bloody facts!
"Then what... do you want to do?"
Tsunade's voice was somewhat dry.
She looked at her nephew, whose overwhelming presence was almost suffocating.
She vaguely sensed that this brat seemed to be planning something earth-shattering.
Kenya did not answer directly.
He walked to the table, took two thick books from inside his clothes, and slapped them heavily onto its surface.
"What are these?" Tsunade asked in confusion.
"Take a look and you'll know."
Tsunade picked up one of the books.
She opened it.
Inside were densely packed records of astronomical sums flowing in and out.
It was the Iron Fist Chamber of Commerce's financial ledger.
"This... what is this?" Tsunade's eyes widened.
"This is the ledger for my current business, the Iron Fist Chamber of Commerce."
Kenya spoke casually.
"Right now, the chamber of commerce has monopolized over seventy percent of the Shinobi World's high-end defensive construction materials market."
"Our daily net profit is enough to buy half of Tanzaku Town."
Tsunade sucked in a cold breath.
No wonder this brat had casually produced an entire chest of gold coins!
He was practically a walking gold mine!
She picked up the other book.
It contained detailed architectural blueprints.
On the plans.
An enormous island city, built from a pitch-black material and resembling a war fortress, sprang vividly from the page.
Its walls towered into the clouds, and its defensive facilities were exceptionally comprehensive.
There were even large harbors, training grounds, and medical centers.
"And where is this?" Even Tsunade's voice trembled.
"This is my private base, built from black iron wood off the coast of the Land of Waves."
Kenya braced both hands on the table and looked down at Tsunade, fervent flames burning in his eyes.
"In other words, our Senju Clan's future new empire!"
"An empire?!"
Tsunade and Shizune cried out simultaneously.
"That's right!"
Kenya's voice rang like a great bell, echoing through the private room.
"Since Konoha has no room for the Senju, we'll rebuild an empire of our own overseas!"
"We won't have to bow to anyone's whims or be held hostage by politics!"
"With the greatest military might and the vastest wealth, we'll trample every last one of those vermin who once lorded it over us!"
Kenya slammed his hand onto the table.
"Old hag, the Senju aren't dead!"
"Come back overseas with me!"
"I want you to see for yourself."
"How I'll use these iron fists to shatter Konoha's hypocritical, rotten order and make the Senju name stand at the pinnacle of the Shinobi World once more!"
That wildly inflammatory declaration.
Together with the ledger representing endless wealth and the blueprints of that magnificent fortress on the table.
Struck Tsunade's long-dormant heart like an unstoppable torrent.
Tsunade stared blankly at Kenya.
It was as though, in this arrogant, domineering young man.
She saw the heroic spirit with which her grandfather Hashirama Senju had pacified a war-torn age, and her great-uncle Tobirama Senju's ruthless resolve to use any means necessary.
No, he was purer and more domineering than either of them!
That unreasonable dominance, that declaration brimming with ambition and power.
Actually made Tsunade's long-withered heart, which knew only how to numb itself through gambling.
Begin beating once more!
"Gulp."
Shizune swallowed beside them.
She looked at Lady Tsunade's flushed face and shining eyes.
An ominous premonition suddenly rose in her heart.
It's over.
Lady Tsunade really seemed about to be completely talked into leaving with this "nephew" of unknown origins, through his crude combination of coaxing, deception, and throwing money around.