Chapter 232 Epilogue (2)

"Tsunade-sama, Tsunade-sama!"

Shizune ran down the wooden corridor of the hotel, opening the door to her room and calling out to Tsunade who was sleeping in the room.

"Something is going wrong, Tsunade-sama!"

He ignored Tsunade who was sleeping and shook her awake from her sleep.

"What? It's Shizune. You're making a lot of noise here early in the morning. Can't you just let me sleep for a while?"

Tsunade rubbed her eyes and glanced at the sun that had just risen outside the window, with a slightly dissatisfied look on her face.

"Now is not the time to talk about such things, is it?"

"What's wrong? I just kept saying something bad...is it the end of the world?"

Tsunade looked like she hadn't woken up and was about to lie down and take a nap.

"Please be serious, Tsunade-sama, something big has happened in the village!"

Shizune looked serious and held Tsunade's arm to prevent her from lying down.

Tsunade frowned: "I'm talking about you..."

Seeing Shizune's extremely serious face, it seemed like she wasn't joking.

Tsunade woke up a little and did not directly ask Shizune what happened. Instead, she stood up and walked out of the room.

"Tsunade-sama, what are you doing?"

"Wait for me here, I'll go out and buy a newspaper."

"Newspaper? At this time..."

Before Shizune could speak, Tsunade's figure had disappeared from the corridor outside.

Shizune had no choice but to sigh helplessly and wait quietly in the room for Tsunade to come back from buying newspapers.

Shizune was not kept waiting for long. About a few minutes later, Tsunade came in from outside holding a newspaper.

As soon as she entered the room, she walked towards the cabinet in the corner, opened the drawer, and took out a piece of paper.

"Is this the lottery ticket Tsunade-sama bought a while ago? What are you looking at?"

Shizune looked puzzled.

"To me, this is an artifact that predicts good and bad luck."

Tsunade responded to Shizune with a solemn expression.

Then she picked up the lottery ticket and compared it with the winning numbers published in the newspaper, and her body stiffened.

"All? All hits!?"

Shizune's eyes widened.

Seeing that the numbers in the lottery exactly matched the winning numbers published in the newspaper, it was the first time she had seen Tsunade win such a big reward after following Tsunade for so long.

Because Tsunade usually never encounters the word "winner" by chance.

"I probably know what level of bad news you mean by 'bad news'."

Tsunade smiled bitterly.

To her, winning the lottery meant something bad was going to happen.

The bigger the winnings, the worse things get.

"The winning amount is worth 150 million taels. It's really a disaster."

Tsunade sighed.

"Tsunade-sama..."

Tsunade waved her hand and said:

"Forget it, no matter how bad things are, it can't get much worse. Tell me, what happened in the village?"

Tsunade was mentally prepared for something bad to happen in the village.

However, she couldn't think of anything bad that could happen in the village.

It's impossible for the Kumogakure Village to break through the eastern defense line of the Fire Country and directly invade Konoha headquarters, right?

"Lord Orochimaru has defected."

Shizune took a deep breath and told Tsunade about Orochimaru's defection.

This news has spread throughout the major countries, but they are currently on vacation and are living in small and remote countries, so they got the news a little later.

After Shizune finished speaking, she looked at Tsunade worriedly.

After all, Orochimaru has been Tsunade's friend since childhood, and a companion who has been through life and death together... The impact of this incident on Tsunade can be imagined.

Sure enough, after hearing the news, Tsunade's mind buzzed and went blank.

"W-What did you say? Orochimaru...he defected from the village? Are you kidding..."

It's not that Tsunade doesn't believe it, but this kind of thing really makes her unbelievable.

Suddenly, my heart felt like it was being torn apart, and it hurt.

This feeling of betrayal reminded her of the betrayal five or six years ago.

The student he had always trusted suddenly betrayed the village.

Now Orochimaru has also embarked on this path... which makes Tsunade want to personally question Orochimaru why he did this.

But her reason told her that there must be some reason for this.

A guy like Orochimaru couldn't betray the village for no reason, there must be some hidden agenda.

"It's absolutely true, Tsunade-sama. Orochimaru-sama did human experiments on ninjas from the same village, killing many innocent people. After the incident was exposed, he escaped from the village. Now he is as dangerous as Shiraishi-senpai." An incomparable S-class defector ninja."

Shizune also sighed with a complicated expression.

"Damn it! What on earth is that bastard Orochimaru doing?"

Tsunade punched the ground with her fist without hesitation.

With a click, the ground of the entire hotel began to shake, and an extremely exaggerated crack extended toward the wall of the courtyard. It continued to extend until the wall was neatly divided into two halves.

Shizune swallowed her saliva. If a fist with such force hit a human body, she would be punched to death.

"Where's Sarutobi-sensei? Why did he let Orochimaru leave the village?"

Tsunade's eyes were filled with anger at this moment.

"Hokage-sama... I heard that he was injured when he intercepted Orochimaru-sama."

"That old thing!"

Tsunade yelled angrily, and Shizune was frightened by Tsunade's angry expression.

This was the first time she had seen Tsunade so angry.

When Shiraishi betrayed Konoha, he wasn't so angry.

"Well, Tsunade-sama..."

Shizune wanted to persuade Tsunade to calm down, but found that she didn't know how to do so.

"If he wanted to stop Orochimaru, how could Orochimaru injure him and escape from the village? What was going on in his mind?"

Regardless of the reason for Orochimaru's defection, no matter how you look at human experimentation, it doesn't seem like Orochimaru's cautious style.

What made Tsunade most angry was Orochimaru's plan to betray Konoha and the indecision of his teacher Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Doesn't he know what a terrible disaster Orochimaru will cause Konoha to suffer once he escapes from the Land of Fire?

Orochimaru is different from Shiraishi, he is the real high-level leader of Konoha.

His knowledge, technology, and intelligence will bring huge losses to Konoha.

He was injured by Orochimaru and was unable to stop him... It looked like he was shirking responsibility. He was the Hokage of Konoha.

Faced with such a serious matter as defection, how can one abandon public service for personal reasons?

Shizune didn't dare to say a word on the side, and her body was shaking under Tsunade's anger.

What a terrifying murderous aura!

At this moment, Shizune seemed to see a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood before her eyes.

After all, he is a Sannin. Even if he is carefree at ordinary times, it is definitely very scary when he is serious.

Especially in this rage.

"Let's go! Shizune!"

"Go? Where to go, Tsunade-sama?"

"Whatever, as long as it's not the Fire Nation."

Seeing that the village her grandfather had left behind was so ruined, Tsunade felt the endless coldness surrounding herself, suffocating her to the point where she couldn't breathe.

She knew that Konoha's Anbu were probably already on their way to find her, conveying the Third Hokage's order to return to the village immediately.

Orochimaru defected, and only by letting her, who is also a Sannin, return to the village can she stabilize the floating hearts in the village and suppress some dissatisfied voices.

Because she is the granddaughter of the First Hokage and the purest heir to the Will of Fire in Konoha.

Medical ninjas who saved countless lives for Konoha during the two great ninja wars made outstanding contributions to Konoha's medical system.

It can be said that her influence is the most powerful among the three ninjas.

"Eh? Is this really good? The village needs Tsunade-sama's help very much right now."

"I would like to, but I can't do anything if I go back now. It will only make Konoha more and more chaotic. Out of sight, out of mind."

Tsunade smiled bitterly and shook her head.

She was afraid that if she went back, she would not be able to help but directly confront her teacher Hiruzen Sarutobi, and even use the influence of the Senju clan to rule out the illegal Anbu department.

Even if the root cannot be judged, huge restrictions must be placed on the root and Danzo cannot be allowed to move freely.

And these things were precisely the strategies that his teacher Hiruzen Sarutobi was least willing to implement.

Danzo has made so many mistakes and is still able to maintain a high position, and her teacher Hiruzen Sarutobi can be said to be indispensable.

Hiruzen was unable to do this. Now that she was back in Konoha, she could only compromise with this old man named her mentor.

"Oh, Minato passed away so suddenly..."

When Tsunade said this, her eyes became lonely.

If Minato hadn't died, Konoha might be in a different situation now.

She could already guess that the roots of Danzo's leadership must now become domineering in Konoha again.

Without Minato's suppression, her old teacher alone would not be able to suppress Danzo.

This was true in the past and is true now.

Knowing that if you go back and do nothing, you will be treated as a gunman...

At least the last bit of dignity must be preserved. This was what Tsunade was thinking at the moment.

"Minato-senpai... I heard that the Nine-Tails riot seems to be related to Shiraishi-senpai. I don't know if it's true."

Hearing Tsunade mention Minato, Shizune thought of Shiraishi instead.

Tsunade shook her head and didn't say much. There were too many doubts about the Nine-Tails Riot, and it might be related to her student.

"Hurry up and leave. The ANBU will come later and it will be difficult to escape."

Tsunade neatly carried the package, greeted Shizune, and walked out the door.

As for the winning lottery ticket, it was left to the owner of the hotel as a repair fee for her damage to the hotel.

◎

"Tsunade...don't you plan to come back?"

Asami Masumi, who was sitting in the office of the director of the Pharmacy Department of Konoha Hospital, received the information conveyed by Kakashi.

The ANBU searched for Tsunade, one of the three ninjas, to no avail. Tsunade seemed to have deliberately avoided the Konoha ANBU and was currently missing.

It is not difficult to see that Tsunade's attitude of refusing to return to the village is extremely firm.

As for the reason behind this, Asami Masumi didn't quite understand.

However, all she cared about was whether Tsunade would return to Konoha. Now that she was sure that Tsunade would not return to Konoha at this time, she was really relieved.

Now is the critical moment for her to lay out Konoha Hospital and the entire Konoha ninja system'network'. If Tsunade returns to the village at this time, with Tsunade's identity and influence, it will not be difficult to take charge of Konoha Hospital again. Ye Hospital's plans may be delayed.

Tsunade refused to return to the village so that she could take advantage of the opportunity.

The contact network she had set up in Konoha was always too fragile.

She is in charge of Konoha Hospital. The ANBU already has Kakashi, and there are still many places to be arranged next.

The Intelligence Department, the Torture Department, the Ninja School, the Barrier Department and other departments must constantly put people in there.

Having said that, it is actually very difficult to place people.

When Shiraishi left Konoha, there were actually not many spies deployed in Konoha. Currently, there were only four people in middle and upper positions, including her and Kakashi.

And among the four of them, none of them had access to the secrets at the true core of Konoha.

At this moment, there was a knock on the office door.

"Come in."

Asami Masumi returned to her usual indifferent expression and said to the people outside the door.

A male medical ninja wearing a white coat walked in.

"Director Asami, here are the drug usage statistics for this month."

He put a large stack of documents on the desk in front of Asami Masumi and said respectfully.

"Thank you for your hard work, I will come back to deal with it later."

"Director Asami, are you going out now?"

the medical ninja asked in surprise.

Asami Masumi nodded.

"Well, let's go for a walk and I'll be back soon."

Regarding this, the male medical ninja has no doubts. As long as he can complete the statistics of drug use during working hours, Asami Masumi, as the director of the hospital, can indeed be more relaxed in her usual work.

After leaving Konoha Hospital, Asami Masumi was going to see someone.

This person was not a subordinate spy that Shiraishi had personally placed in Konoha, but a talent she had discovered in Konoha before the Fourth Hokage came to the throne the previous year.

It is an overestimation to say that it is a talent, because in her opinion, the other party is actually very ordinary from any angle.

But it is precisely because of this ordinary nature that he can display a relatively outstanding talent in spying.

This may be the only shining point in him.

Go to the meeting place agreed in advance, which is a relatively secluded wood near the park.

Normally only students from the ninja school would come here to play ninja games.

In a clearing in the woods, a man with a five-pointed star hairstyle stood there anxiously, waiting for something.

"You're so nervous, can't you get used to things like this?"

After Asami Masumi came here, she didn't make a sound of footsteps, and stood behind the man. These words suddenly sounded behind the man.

The man was also taken aback, turned around hastily, and was slightly relieved when he saw Masumi Asami's familiar face.

"Miss Qian, Qianmei..."

The man was a little hesitant, but when he saw Asami Masumi's slightly displeased expression, and her eyes seemed to be flashing with murderous intent, he quickly changed his words and said, "Asami-sama."

Asami Masumi's expression softened, but she still didn't give the man a good look: "I've given you such a long time to think about it, but you still haven't made up your mind to really do things for me, Haruno?"

The man surnamed Chun Ye said with a wry smile: "It's hard for an individual to make up his mind right away, right?"

Because the task Asami Masumi entrusted to him cannot be said to be unfavorable to Konoha, but it must have ulterior motives.

For example, let him collect information about the people around him, and find out all their personalities, abilities, hobbies and other information without missing a beat.

He is a low-level ninja and has a fairly cheerful personality, so even though he is in his twenties, he is still a chuunin and is still popular.

Asami Masumi believed that even a guy of this level would come in handy sooner or later, so he used some means to make him surrender.

"Don't forget who was in the hospital who saved your wife and kept their mother and daughter safe."

"..."

The man named Haruno's face became uncertain, and he finally sighed.

"I understand. As long as I don't attack them, I will obey the order."

"As I expected, you are indeed a family man."

Do you care about your family?

The man's mouth was slightly bitter.

When his wife was giving birth, she encountered an extremely rare medical accident. It was the woman in front of him who saved the lives of his wife and daughter.

He should have been grateful to her, but this woman also used this incident to exert control over him.

It didn't matter to him, but when he thought about his wife and daughter waiting for food at home, they would be unfairly threatened... He could only succumb to such a puppet fate.

"As long as you work honestly, the organization will not treat you badly. The alimony of your wife and daughter will all be reimbursed by the organization."

"yes."

What else can be done?

He is just an insignificant Chunin in Konoha Village, and what he can usually brag about is his relatively good connections.

It was precisely because of his connections that he was targeted by this woman and became a pawn in her hands, and he was the kind he couldn't resist.

As for the organization...he had no idea who Asami Masumi was.

I don't know what the organization is, how many people are in it, how powerful it is, and how far it has penetrated Konoha.

All he knew was that the organization's financial resources were astonishing, and it must not be a casual organization established casually.

Moreover, for a low-level person like him, he only needs to obey orders, and other things do not need to be considered.

I received an unopened file bag from the man, which contained information that the man had worked hard to collect for several months.

These information about Konoha ninjas are not very powerful ninjas, they are all chuunin and genin at the lowest level, and even some ordinary passers-by.

"I understand collecting information about ninjas, but why do we even need to collect information about those villagers?"

The man looked at Asami Masumi in confusion.

"Those villagers may not be ninjas, but their husbands and wives may be ninjas. When necessary, they will also become the eyes of the organization."

Asami Masumi explained a little.

"Haruno, you can go back. I will use this information to find some useful talents in Konoha. When the time comes, you will be the one to make contact. If you fail, you should understand the consequences."

The man's face changed slightly, he nodded, turned and left.

Watching the man leave, Asami Masumi snorted softly, put on the thick-rimmed glasses on her chest, her plain face was slightly cold.

"This guy, it seems that he still needs to be strictly trained."

She is very clear that the man has not completely surrendered to her, and there is still a risk of betrayal.

Although she could eliminate the threat immediately before the other party betrayed her, it would take a long time to find a suitable person to monitor the lower levels of Konoha. She didn't have that much time to waste.

"Haruno Zhao, I hope you can be more aware of current affairs."

◎

"Teacher Shiraishi, what are you so happy about?"

Entering the laboratory, Lin saw Shiraishi smiling and reading a scroll. She didn't know why she was happy.

When Shiraishi saw Lin walking in, he said without hiding anything: "The information coming from Konoha showed that Masumi did a better job at Konoha Hospital than I thought. She and Kakashi were both overt and covert, it can be said that It’s a perfect fit.”

Orochimaru defected and Tsunade did not return to Konoha. For Shiraishi, this was a matter of great joy.

Regardless of Orochimaru's reason for defecting to Konoha, it means that Konoha's strength has been further weakened.

Thinking about it carefully, Shiraishi was a little frightened by all the changes in Konoha over the years.

Ever since his teacher Sakumo Hatake committed suicide, Konoha feels like it has been cursed, and almost nothing good has happened.

The Fourth Hokage died in battle, Orochimaru defected, Tsunade refused to return to the village, Danzo Shimura seemed to be planning something secretly, and the influence of the Third Hokage weakened again, and he could no longer control most of Konoha's voices as before.

For the spies he arranged in Konoha, this was a golden opportunity to expand their power.

And Asami Masumi did not waste such a great opportunity. He extended his fangs to all levels of Konoha and perfectly completed the tasks he assigned.

"Masumi? Konoha Hospital? Could it be that Mr. Shiraishi is talking about Asami Masumi-senpai?"

Lin connected the key words in Shiraishi's mouth together, and it was easy to think of a senior medical ninja from Konoha Hospital that she knew when she was in Konoha.

"That's right."

Lin knew Masumi Asami, so Shiraishi was not surprised.

"Is she also from Teacher Shiraishi's side?"

"When I met her, it was just a chance. But she is indeed a very outstanding medical ninja. When I was still in the ninja school, she had been praised by Teacher Tsunade more than once."

"According to this, Konoha's hospitals and ANBU must all have personnel deployed by Mr. Shiraishi. It's really an exaggeration. I wonder if other departments in Konoha have also been infiltrated?"

Lin was secretly shocked by Shiraishi's layout in Konoha.

Regardless of Kakashi who works in Anbe, with Asami Masumi's performance in Konoha Hospital, it is very likely that he is in a high position in Konoha Hospital at this moment.

"It's still early. Kakashi's entry into ANBU was just an unexpected surprise. Because of my professional relationship in Konoha, it is more convenient to place manpower in Konoha Hospital. Of course, the same is true for the ninja school."

As for the other important departments such as the Torture Department and the Intelligence Department, there is no suitable manpower.

"Looking at it this way, Konoha's threat to the kingdom of ghosts has almost been lifted."

"It's not all lifted yet. Konoha is far more powerful than you think. The real main force of Konoha is actually those ninjas. They are the most powerful force in Konoha. The three ninjas are powerful, but there are only three people. , but those ninjas are in groups."

Shiraishi shook his head.

It is true that Konoha's strength has weakened, but the current Konoha should not be underestimated too much.

The team left by the first generation of Hokage is too solid, and the collapse of Konoha's building will never be completed overnight.

But some actions in the future can indeed be more presumptuous, and there is no need to take Konoha's feelings too much.

"Speaking of which, how's the practice of communicating with tailed beasts going?"

Shiraishi put down the scroll in his hand and began to ask Lin about the progress of practicing forbidden arts.

"I'm here to tell you about this, Mr. Shiraishi. After these few months of practice, I have initially mastered the technique of communicating with tailed beasts."

Lin replied with a smile.

This also means that she can practice perfect Jinchuuriki at any time.

After hearing this, Shiraishi nodded with satisfaction and said, "Then let's officially start next week. I will ask Obito and the ninjas of the Uzumaki clan to assist you."

When Rin is practicing perfect jinchūriki, the power of the tailed beast in her body is likely to run amok and out of control.

Obito and the ninjas of the Uzumaki clan can use the Mangekyo Sharingan and sealing techniques to avoid the risk of tailed beasts going berserk.

"I see."

Lin gently brushed the hair around her ears and smiled.

"In addition, you have to be prepared to fight the tailed beast for a long time and make the tailed beast surrender. It is still too difficult for you now. Do you think you can do it in three years?"

"Three years?" Lin murmured to herself, and then her eyes showed determination: "I will work hard to overcome it."

"Just have confidence. According to my inference, the longer you fight the tailed beast using this technique, the lower the chance of success. If you can't defeat the tailed beast within three years, the perfect Jinchuriki will If you practice, you will end in failure.”

Shiraishi didn't lie.

There are risks in using any forbidden technique.

Three years is the best training time for Lin to cultivate the perfect Jinchuuriki.

Once this time is missed, it means that Lin bids farewell to the perfect Jinchuuriki.

"In the next few years, the Demon Kingdom will gradually expand to the outside world. If you can become a perfect Jinchūriki by then, you will also play a vital role in this plan."

This is something Shiraishi is very concerned about.

With the current size of the Ghost Country, it is actually quite saturated.

If you want to continue to grow, you can only expand externally and touch the interests of those with vested interests.

At first there will be a little contradiction, and then due to the gap in systems and technology, greater contradictions will arise, intensifying the conflict. Finally, war will come and interests will be redistributed.

Change is never about a peaceful afternoon tea party where everyone sits together in peace and friendship, but a trial of blood and fire!