Chapter 187 Tsunade's Respect, Hiruzen's Bitterness

Bang! Bang bang!

In the Hokage's office, when he heard the "knocking" on the door that only Tsunade could use, which was almost like "smashing", Sarutobi Hiruzen felt that his body, which he had managed to recover with great difficulty, began to hurt again.

However, now that Tsunade came to the Hokage's office, Sarutobi Hiruzen breathed a sigh of relief since she knew to knock before entering instead of just pushing the door open.

Originally, Tsunade's strength was in the second echelon under his "shadow" in the entire Konoha.

After Uzumaki Mito became the Nine-Tailed Jinchuuriki through an almost self-inflicted transfer ritual, even his "kage" and teacher did not dare to say that he could steadily suppress his apprentice.

If it were a life and death battle where any forbidden technique could be used, Hiruzen Sarutobi was confident that he could kill Tsunade.

After all, he is also a ninja known as the "Ninjutsu Professor". Almost all the ninjutsu and forbidden techniques recorded in the Konoha Seal Jutsu have been learned by those who meet the learning conditions.

Even if it were Mito who was alive, he would still feel that he had the strength to fight despite all his methods, let alone Tsunade now.

However, in Sarutobi Hiruzen's view, it has not reached that point yet, and he is not willing to really reach the point where master and disciple regard each other as enemies.

"Come in." He sighed in his heart, with a smile on his face, and said.

Click.

The door to the office was opened, and the figure walked in.

Perhaps because of the passing of Mito Uzumaki, Tsunade looked much calmer.

Originally, Hiruzen Sarutobi was very happy to see Tsunade like this.

But after Tsunade said the next sentence, the smile on his face froze.

"Sir, please don't let a child become the outlet for the villagers' malicious resentment."

Tsunade's calm eyes looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen, the old man who was once her teacher, and there was no hint of intimacy in those eyes:

"No matter how you plan to handle this matter, whether you make it public that I became the Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki, or put all the responsibility on Mito Grandma, please don't involve that child."

"She is still a child and knows nothing about this. She is not suitable to deal with this kind of thing. Please let her go."

At this point, Tsunade's tone contained only respect for "Kage", even sincerity.

"..."

In the past, I would always be annoyed because of Tsunade's mediocre behavior, but now I see Tsunade who only respects me in front of me.

For some reason, Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly felt a pain in his heart, and a strong sense of suffocation came over him, making his face pale slightly.

He hadn't felt this way for a long time.

The last time was when he saw Kagami's body, and the last time was when he saw the back of Tobirama-sensei risking his life to cover their escape.

"Hi! Huh..."

Subconsciously, Sarutobi Hiruzen raised the pipe in his hand, put the holder in his mouth, and took a deep puff, as if he was trying to blow the old bellows in his chest to pieces.

The sweet, bitter and sour air flowed into his lungs, lifting his chest high, and finally he exhaled sharply.

The smoke he exhaled smoked his fingertips. Looking at Tsunade in front of him, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't know what to say for a moment. He could only suppress all the emotions and words in his heart along with the bitter smoke.

After a moment of silence, he whispered in a slightly hoarse voice: "I promise you, although it is a little late, I will try my best to stop the spread of rumors, and I will also protect the child and make Konoha her home."

"Thank you, Lord Third, I will take my leave now."

Tsunade bowed slightly with an expressionless expression. She didn't even mention the application to leave the village, and turned around to leave the office.

"Wait a moment."

Hearing the hesitant voice coming from behind, Tsunade's raised steps stopped, she turned to look at Sarutobi Hiruzen and said respectfully: "Is there anything else, Thirdai-sama?"

"..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression became more and more depressed. He lowered his head and signed the application for leaving the village before handing it over. He said in a dry voice, "I passed your application for leaving the village. You and Jiraiya can go out to relax. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the front line or not, it’s up to you.”

Hearing this, Tsunade looked at him deeply, took the document, and said in a gentler tone: "Thank you, teacher. I'm just going to the front line, not running around."

After saying this, under the gaze of Sarutobi Hiruzen, she bowed slightly, turned around and left.

Click.

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the closed door and took a few quiet breaths. The only sound in the room could be heard was his broken breathing like a bellows.

After a while, he stood up stiffly and walked to the window behind him.

At three o'clock in the morning, the rain had almost stopped, and the dark clouds half covered the moonlight. He looked up at the half-moon hanging in the sky.

The moon tonight cannot be called bright. It hangs in the sky like a red and yellow wet halo the size of a copper coin. It shines with light brown moonlight, flowing from the shadow rock that depicts his face to the pool of water accumulated on the house.

The light rain dispersed the moonlight and spread it flat on the water, reflecting the dim light and illuminating the pain-filled side face of Sarutobi Hiruzen by the window.

"Huh..." As he breathed, the pipe in his mouth lit up with sparks, and the white smoke slowly spread out into hazy patches.

Protect Uzumaki Kushina, let the child with the will of fire form a bond with her, let her become the second Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki after Mito, and let Konoha become her home.

This was what he had always wanted to do and had been doing before the invasion of the Sky Legion.

But, after that incident, everything changed.

Hidden away from everyone, Uzumaki Mito transferred the Nine-Tails into Tsunade's body, turning Tsunade into the Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki, completely disrupting his plan.

This was also the main reason why Tsunade reprimanded him when he saw the scene in the hospital, even though Tsunade was still grieving over Mito's death.

At that time, the transfer ceremony had been completed and everything was irreversible. The most correct choice should be to appease Tsunade, block the news and deal with the follow-up.

However, the situation at that time was so bad that it was completely out of his control. He never expected that Mito would transfer the Kyuubi to Tsunade at the expense of himself, even though his decades of energy cultivation skills had temporarily lost his sense of proportion.

As a result, it was his rebuke that stimulated Tsunade, who was in an extremely unstable emotional and mental state at the time, and made her take direct action against her teacher, making herself, the Hokage, embarrassed in front of so many ninjas.

In the end, maybe he felt guilty, or maybe it was because of Tsunade's status, strength and reputation. Even though he was beaten by Tsunade and sent to Konoha Hospital, he did not hold Tsunade responsible, but just tried his best to eliminate the matter. Impact.

After doing this, Sarutobi Hiruzen thought that the bad impact of the Sky Legion invasion had ended here, but unexpectedly, it was just the beginning.

Under the poisonous fog named "Fear Gas", most of the people in the entire village were affected.

Even after so long, the scenes of that day will still appear in their dreams, etching fear in their hearts.

The consequence is that the villagers are mentally tense due to long-term fear, are in a state of stress, and carry out excessive self-defense behaviors due to fear, which has led to a direct increase in the crime rate in Konoha some time ago.

Not only were there conflicts between civilians, there were also incidents of ninjas hurting people. Konoha almost turned into a powder keg and exploded.

Who knows how scared the Hokage was at that time.

You know, Konoha is not only home to ninjas and their families, but also to many wealthy foreign businessmen and the families of Fire Nation officials.

If there was a large-scale bloodshed due to internal conflicts, he, the Hokage, would directly take off his hat and step down amidst the scolding.

However, this colorless and invisible "fear gas" directly affects the spirit, and Tsunade and the entire medical ninja of Konoha are helpless against it.

It would be okay if it was just memory. Although there are few means of blocking memory, and they are all forbidden techniques, at least there are ways.

However, that kind of poisonous gas is not a simple repeated memory, but directly awakens the fear in the subconscious mind.

Not to mention ordinary treatment methods, even the secret techniques of the Yamanaka clan that control the mind and invade memory cannot enter the deep subconscious mind of the patient and block it at the risk of directly causing the patient to become dementia.

Later, someone recommended to him a wandering doctor named Pharmacist who was good at psychotherapy. After absorbing her advice, he developed a gentler psychotherapy that combined illusions.

Although it cannot be completely cured in a short period of time, it can at least be alleviated when it occurs, and it can be cured little by little over time.

However, as the treatment gradually progressed, a problem arose.

The villagers' resentment and malice urgently need an outlet.

As a sibling of Uzumaki Mito, Uzumaki Kushina became the unlucky guy.

That red hair was extremely eye-catching, and with that last name, he naturally became the target of public criticism.

When the rumors emerged, Sarutobi Hiruzen had already received the ANBU report, and originally wanted to dissuade and block them.

But then I thought about it and started to hesitate again.

No matter how much he doesn't want to, the fact that Tsunade has become the Nine-Tailed Jinchuuriki cannot be changed, and it is impossible for him to take the Nine-Tails directly out of Tsunade's belly, so the current Uzumaki Kushina seems to have lost its value.

In other words, becoming an outlet for the villagers' malice and resentment and maintaining Konoha's internal stability are her greatest values ​​now...

"Hiss...cough! Cough!"

Thinking of this, Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression became even more sad. He subconsciously took a deep puff, but felt a sting in his throat. He coughed several times and spit out the smoke in his mouth.

"If your body continues like this, it will collapse sooner or later."

The office door was pushed open, and someone walked in with very light footsteps.

"Koharu? Yan? It's so late, haven't you slept yet?" Hearing the voice behind him, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't look back, put down the pipe in his mouth, lowered his head towards the window and gently shook the ashes.

"Biwako is very worried about your physical condition."

Mito Kaden and Koharu walked behind Sarutobi Hiruzen and looked at the white smoke slowly rising in front of him. The latter said bluntly: "She said you have only returned home once during this period, and only once." He glanced at Asma and left."

"She also said that Asma's child is very smart. Now she can call her mother and brother, but she can't call her father."

Hearing these words, Sarutobi Hiruzen fell silent, smoking a cigarette without saying a word.

"It's just an internal problem. Don't you still need us to help you? You should take this opportunity to take a rest, right? Worrying too much will only cause trouble."

Mito Kadenyan said helplessly in the same tone: "Also, the situation on the front line has finally eased. Jiraiya and Tsunade are ignorant and want to leave the village. As the shadow of the village, you should not be at such a time. Just let them go."

Anyone can hear Mito Kadoyan's dissatisfaction with Jiraiya and Tsunade.

Forget that Jiraiya guy, Tsunade is now the Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki of the village. What if something unexpected happens on the battlefield?

They Konoha will lose the biggest "deterrence" of the Nine-Tails!

The Nine-Tailed Jinchuuriki must not leave the village without orders. Even Uzumaki Mito followed this unwritten rule during his lifetime.

Logically speaking, when faced with Tsunade's plan to leave the village, Sarutobi Hiruzen should have tried his best to dissuade her, but now he actually approved Tsunade's application without any obstruction.

"Rest is reserved for the dead. After ensuring that the war is over, it is not too late to sleep peacefully."

Sarutobi Hiruzen turned to look at them, the bitterness at the corner of his mouth disappeared, and smiled: "As for Tsunade... don't worry, Jiraiya is not idle during this time in the village. Although he usually seems unreliable, , but I will definitely protect Tsunade with my life.”

Mito Kado and Koharu, who had gone to bed, frowned and were a little dissatisfied with his perfunctory explanation.

It's not a question of trusting Jiraiya or not, but that Konoha can no longer bear the consequences of unexpected events.

"I'm not too old to move yet. If something happens, I, the Hokage, will bear all the responsibilities."

Before the two of them could try to dissuade them again, Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke directly, completely interrupting the two of them.

Mito Kadoyan looked at each other and realized that this old friend of his was determined to let Tsunade out, and they couldn't help but feel helpless in their hearts.

"You don't have to think that I let them out for personal reasons."

Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly spoke with an indifferent tone: "Do you really think that the Second Ninja War will end like this?"

Hearing this, Mito Kadoen was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously frowned: "What else? With the cooperation of Hanzo and Amegakure, Sunagakure is already at the end of its war effort, and will be completely defeated in a short time. The Second Ninja World War It will end naturally."

Xiaochun, who was sleeping next to him, pondered for a moment, squinting his eyes as if he thought of something, and his expression gradually became serious.

"No, you think too simply." Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head and sneered, "His Highness the Daimyo really wants the Kingdom of Wind to lose, but do you think he wants the Kingdom of Rain to win?"

War is the knife used to divide the cake.

The country of rain is not worthy.