Searching for Tsunade (Please Subscribe)

"Hey, hey, isn’t this face enough to borrow some money with? I’m a friend of the Uzumaki Company President. That redhead standing outside is the Uzumaki Company President herself. Do you want her to come in personally and borrow money from you? Huh!?"

Although Tsunade, wearing Hyuga Mirai’s face, spoke about borrowing money, her eyes were more focused on surveying the crowd and the surroundings, looking for anyone whose expression changed after hearing "Uzumaki Company President," or any powerful Ninja.

This was one of Kaido Shipping’s cargo warehouse transfer hubs. It was enormous, one of the largest transfer points in the Hot Spring Country, with numerous warehouses for storing goods. Half were for company use, while the other half were rented out.

There were also plenty of personnel here to guard the goods: thirty resident guard samurai and ten recruited wandering ninja. They had all changed into Kaido Shipping uniforms now, making them look quite uniform.

"Even if you say that, ma’am, this is a place for storing goods. We really don’t keep much cash here…"

The person in charge spoke to Tsunade with a bitter expression. If it had been anyone else, he would have already called someone to throw her out.

But Boss Gato had specifically instructed them that the Uzumaki Company and the Hundred Herbs Company were their allies, and that they had to treat people from those two companies politely. Although the person in charge of this transfer hub did not know whether the Uzumaki President outside was real, someone with Byakugan probably would not bother lying to small fry like them.

Tsunade investigated in secret for quite a while but found no useful information. Nor did she find anyone who gave her that stiff, inhuman feeling. She prepared to ask about something else.

"If that’s the case, where is your person in charge? Have him come out and speak with me."

"The person in charge?"

"I’ll take responsibility!"

A voice came from above. Before Tsunade and the cargo transfer hub’s manager could look up, Hyuga Mirai landed on the ground.

The benefit of anti-gravity flight mode was that it was completely silent. Even with the Added-Weight Rock Seal on him, Hyuga Mirai merely flew a little slower. He still made no sound when he landed.

"Y-you are?" The Gato Shipping manager stared at Hyuga Mirai, who had descended from the sky, in astonishment. Why had someone identical appeared?

"Tch." Tsunade frowned slightly when she saw Hyuga Mirai and clicked her tongue. "You got here pretty quickly."

Hyuga Mirai said evenly, "If I’d come any later, how many more things were you planning to do while wearing my face?"

After saying that, Hyuga Mirai took out a communicator and had the manager contact Gato before dismissing everyone else.

"Relax, Princess Tsunade. I’m not here to fight you. Besides, with your current strength, without the Sage Mode I gave you, you probably wouldn’t last long against me."

Hyuga Mirai saw that Tsunade looked relaxed, but her muscles were tightly coiled. He guessed that she still did not trust him. Shizune behind her had even taken out poisoned needles, though they would have no effect on him.

"Find somewhere to talk?"

"Hmph." Tsunade bit her lip and snorted, turning her head away. "I have nothing to discuss with you."

While pulling up a map of the nearby area, Hyuga Mirai said to Tsunade, "I thought you were crazily scamming money to lure me out. So you really are broke? You borrowed nine hundred million ryo and lost it all?"

"How could that be? Don’t underestimate me, White-eyed Kid!"

Tsunade said this with complete confidence. She had been gathering intelligence recently and, even after borrowing the money, had never gone to a casino. At most, she had drunk a little alcohol a few times. Her expenses had not even reached three hundred thousand ryo.

"Then return the money later. You borrowed it while wearing my face and Orochimaru’s. I can’t believe you had the nerve to do something like that, Princess Tsunade."

After saying that, Hyuga Mirai showed Tsunade the address of a nearby barbecue restaurant and continued, "Let’s go here. Quite a few people have rated this place highly. Though I have no idea when a barbecue restaurant opened here under my name."

Seeing Hyuga Mirai’s calm expression, Tsunade did not know whether she should follow him or attack immediately. But when she recalled what she had seen with her own eyes over this period, along with the doubts in her heart, she decided to go with Hyuga Mirai.

She could not beat Hyuga Mirai anyway. She might as well go hear what this White-eyed Kid wanted to say.

"Fine, let’s go. Come on, Shizune."

Tsunade called to Shizune. One moment ago, the atmosphere had been tense enough for a fight to break out, and the next they were suddenly going out for drinks together. The sudden turn of events left Shizune somewhat confused. Still, she obeyed Tsunade-sama’s order and put away the concealed weapon that fired poisoned needles, though her vigilance toward Hyuga Mirai did not lessen in the slightest.

Of all their classmates at the Ninja Academy, Shizune had remembered Hyuga Mirai most clearly as someone gentle and easygoing. Speaking with him felt like being bathed in a spring breeze. But she had never expected that, among all their former classmates, Hyuga Mirai would be the hardest to see through.

After arriving at the barbecue restaurant, it could strictly be considered a food court. There was not just barbecue, but all kinds of other food as well. It was quite famous even in the Hot Spring Country.

"This, this, and this—I don’t want those. Two servings of everything else."

Hyuga Mirai’s way of ordering stunned the barbecue restaurant’s waiter. But seeing Hyuga Mirai’s refined and wealthy appearance, the waiter did not think he was poor, so he went to make the preparations as instructed.

Just as the waiter was about to leave, Tsunade hurriedly stopped him and continued ordering, "Wait, bring another ten bottles of shochu!"

"Don’t listen to her. Two bottles of shochu, and replace the rest with juice." Hyuga Mirai had come to discuss matters, not to listen to a drunk spout nonsense.

After a while, the waiter brought out the barbecue dishes one after another. There were so many varieties that they soon filled the entire table.

It had been a long time since Hyuga Mirai had eaten properly. When he was busy, he relied on Sage Chakra to sharpen his mind and ease fatigue, staying in the Laboratory day after day. He rarely even ate, instead relying on Natural Energy to sustain his body’s needs.

That was fine for a short while, but over a long period, his sense of taste would gradually deteriorate. Food was one of Hyuga Mirai’s few hobbies. If his sense of taste degraded, it would be no different from cutting out his tongue.

So he would occasionally take time to enjoy good food. Although the energy obtained by digesting food could not compare to Natural Energy, satisfying his appetite was enough to make Hyuga Mirai set aside time for it.

Once the barbecue was cooked, Hyuga Mirai immediately picked up his chopsticks and put a piece of venison into his mouth.

The perfectly grilled venison was dipped in a little sauce. The moment he bit down, the meat juices burst in his mouth together with the sauce, blending with the smoky scent of charcoal, the fragrance of the meat, and the scorching heat. Hyuga Mirai instantly felt a wave of pleasure wash through his body and mind.

"I didn’t expect this place’s barbecue to be unexpectedly good…"

After saying that, Hyuga Mirai picked up two more pieces of grilled venison and put them into his mouth. Shizune’s nose twitched slightly at the aroma of the barbecue. She glanced sideways and saw that Tsunade-sama had no reaction, so she picked up a small plate and began eating.

They had borrowed quite a bit of money, yet they had not properly enjoyed themselves even once. Even when they ate, it was usually at ordinary Izakayas. This was Shizune’s first time entering such a nice barbecue restaurant.

Although the three of them were currently on opposing sides, their attention seemed to have been drawn to the food and drinks on the table. Tsunade ate very little, spending most of her time drinking.

When they had nearly finished eating, Tsunade could no longer suppress the urge in her heart. She put down her cup and asked Hyuga Mirai with some irritation, "What exactly is your goal?"

With Tsunade’s fiery temperament, it had truly been difficult for her to wait until Hyuga Mirai had eaten the barbecue bite by bite before asking.

"You should understand my goal very well, Princess Tsunade. And speaking of which, weren’t you trying to lure me out by taking on the appearances of me, Orochimaru, and Uzumaki Ayaka?"

Hyuga Mirai smiled, then became somewhat more serious as he said to Tsunade, "Princess Tsunade, I came to invite you. Join my side. You helped me greatly in the past, and I truly don’t want someone as talented as you to struggle within the Ninja hierarchy. Everything you have learned deserves a better place to develop."

"In all of Konoha, the only ones I value are Orochimaru and half of you. Fortunately, you haven’t been brainwashed by the Will of Fire to the point of losing your ability to think. Otherwise, you and I could only be enemies."

Tsunade sneered. "I was wondering what it was. Kid, is that all you wanted to say? I’m a Ninja of Konoha. No matter how much you try to persuade me, it’s useless."

"You probably don’t even believe that yourself. Now that you’ve overcome your hemophobia, why haven’t you gone back to serve Konoha? You’re disappointed in them, aren’t you? The Konoha that was once worth giving your life for—why did it become what it is today? Aren’t those the questions in your heart?"

Hyuga Mirai directly refuted Tsunade’s words, exposing the deepest truth in her heart and placing it before her, leaving her unable to avoid the question.

"I understand how you feel, Princess Tsunade. Do you remember when I told you that Chakra could connect hearts? The Sage Curse Mark I left you contains my Sage Chakra. That’s why your thoughts cannot be hidden from my eyes."

After hearing Hyuga Mirai’s words, Tsunade unconsciously touched the Curse Mark on her neck. At first, she had sealed it frequently, but later, the Curse Mark eroded the seal faster and faster, so Tsunade simply stopped bothering with it.

"Your Grandfather, your family, and the Senju Clan all fought to the death to protect Konoha. After they died, you took up their dream on your own. You believed that protecting Konoha was their dream, so it became your responsibility to inherit and safeguard that will."

"But Princess Tsunade, you gradually realized that the village was changing. As for the Will of Fire, more people merely shouted slogans than truly inherited and carried it forward. Darkness gradually grew within Konoha. Even the Hokage, who should have been the one to inherit the Will of Fire most of all, had darkness within him. That was why you became disappointed in the village and, after leaving Konoha, never once thought of returning for years."

White Fang’s suicide, the filth on the battlefield, and the higher-ups and Ninja Clans in the village fighting each other for profit—Tsunade herself had once been among the village’s higher-ups. She had seen far too much of such things.

Hyuga Mirai used small sake cups on the table to represent so-called "dreams," "will," and "village," gesturing as he spoke to Tsunade.

"But is it really right for you to desperately inherit the will of the dead? Even if that will is no longer suitable for the times, or is even wrong, must you still desperately pass it on?"

"What did you say!?"

Hearing Hyuga Mirai so simply deny the last utopia in her heart, anger appeared on Tsunade’s flushed face. She immediately tried to slam her hand on the table and retort furiously.

But before her hand could come down, Hyuga Mirai grabbed it and restrained her.

"You’re still as impulsive as ever, woman. At least wait until I finish speaking."

Today’s guaranteed release is ten thousand words. Three updates after midnight; the remaining one or two updates will come after work on the first.