Because Tsunade had not returned to the village for many years, after entering the gate she had to go through the routine procedure of registering her return. Although this small matter was fully handed over to Yagoromo to handle, Tsunade still wore a slightly impatient expression from the side… This situation probably gave her the feeling of being interrogated just to return to her hometown, so it was not surprising that she felt a little displeased.
In reality, if not for Yagoromo, this process would have been somewhat more complicated.
As Konoha's two gatekeepers handled the registration, their eyes kept drifting toward Tsunade and Shizune. Occasionally, they even exchanged glances with each other… This was not because Tsunade was "sweet sixteen and beautiful as a flower," nor because she was a "stranger" brought back by the White Yaksha. Rather, after Yagoromo's summoned beast had delivered that message, the news that Tsunade was returning to the village had already spread among the shinobi.
There was no need for the Hokage to prohibit the spread of such good news. In fact, he had even helped push it along. So although only a little over two days had passed, the news that Tsunade would return to Konoha and soon succeed as the Fifth Hokage had already become "known to every shinobi."
In this matter, even Danzō, who had always harbored great ambitions for the position of Hokage, did not have many places where he could interfere. At a time like this, Tsunade returning to Konoha after many years away was more popular than even universal acclaim. After all, the Third Hokage was already old, and the appearance of a legitimate successor would benefit the village's stability.
If Danzō tried to pull any little tricks at this time, it was hard to say who in Konoha besides Root would still follow him. And even if he succeeded, the Hokage position obtained by eliminating Tsunade would absolutely be impossible to sit firmly upon. No one wanted that kind of person to become the leader of a village.
Moreover, the current Hokage was the Third Hokage. With Minato's precedent from back then, plus the dissatisfaction over the Uchiha incident, as long as the Hokage was watching Danzō closely, Danzō would have to behave even if he did not want to.
From the perspective of "only knowing something's value after losing it," Tsunade's act of leaving Konoha first and then returning to Konoha could almost be called a "strategy." Because this process had not weakened her reputation at all. Instead, it had strengthened it invisibly. Although Tsunade herself had absolutely no awareness of this.
If the world's greatest medical-nin stayed in the village, which Konoha shinobi would reject such a thing?
When those two shinobi truly saw that among the names Yagoromo had signed, one of them was indeed written as "Tsunade," they grew so excited they nearly trembled.
The Legendary Sannin. They had finally seen one alive… If Jiraiya, who had been active in the village these past few years, knew they were thinking this, where would that leave him? Were they treating him as decoration?
However, this excitement was also a small manifestation of what Jiraiya himself believed: "Tsunade is more suited than I am to inherit the position of Hokage."
The return of Old Princess Tsunade to Konoha made everyone feel as if they had seen a bride being carried into their own home. How could they not be excited?
At this time, no one yet knew that the return to Konoha of the most popular member of the Sannin was, in a sense, an unusual omen. It might mean the first chance for the Three Sannin to gather in many years. However… where exactly was the least popular one among them right now?
For the moment, no one knew.
"First, I should go meet the Third Hokage, right?" The process of entering the village was not complicated. And after entering Konoha, Tsunade naturally needed to meet the Third Hokage immediately.
Yagoromo nodded, then walked ahead to lead the way for Tsunade.
In reality, although Tsunade had been away from Konoha for many years and the village had changed greatly, the Hokage office building had always remained in its original location. Yagoromo's actions could be considered unnecessary.
When they had walked about halfway, they ran into Jiraiya, who had come to welcome them.
However, these two "old friends," who had only just parted and now met again, merely nodded to each other. They were not in a hurry to converse. Instead, Jiraiya moved close to Yagoromo and quietly asked,
"How did you do it? How did you get her to come back with you?"
Jiraiya had tried many times for this matter without any result, yet Yagoromo had only gone out for a few days and achieved the goal. Uncle was simply unable to understand no matter how hard he thought.
Looking at Jiraiya's face, which was filled with confusion, Yagoromo merely shook his head, smiled, and said nothing.
Let him guess blindly.
"Lady Tsunade, there's nothing more for me to do next…" After running into Jiraiya, Yagoromo was ready to withdraw. After all, there truly was nothing left for him to do next. He had no interest in joining the closed-door Hokage meeting after Tsunade's return.
Science had proven that a meeting involving more than three people was less about discussing matters and more about talking nonsense. Such discussions could not produce any truly central decisions, especially when two advisers born specifically for flapping their lips were participating.
Next, they would probably discuss when Tsunade would officially become Hokage. That was merely a matter of sooner or later.
Tsunade simply waved her hand, indicating that Yagoromo could leave. She was not a child. Surely she did not need someone to accompany her just to meet the Hokage.
Besides, even if she did need someone to accompany her, wasn't Jiraiya right here?
...
"Next, we're going to carry out a mission outside the village. We might even go to another country…"
"Yeah, yeah! Jealous, aren't you?"
Before Yagoromo had even stepped through his own front door, he heard Naruto's noisy voice. There was nothing special about that. After all, Naruto was often this noisy. The key point was, why was there an echo following behind him?
And from the sound of the voice, it was clearly a little kid. Could Yagoromo's house really have turned into a nursery?
Naruto's "showing off" had probably forgotten something, hadn't it?
Not to mention that Mirai's group of three had only just returned from a mission outside, Kimimaro and Haku themselves were foreign immigrants, and Mirai had traveled halfway around the world with Yagoromo very early on. If Naruto wanted to brag, he had come to the wrong place.
Sure enough, his words only received an extremely listless reaction.
When Yagoromo walked into his own courtyard, he also saw the owner of that not-very-familiar voice… It was the Third Hokage's grandson, Asuma's nephew. His name seemed to be Konohamaru?
When had he become Naruto's follower? Still… was this really okay? Bringing his own little follower in front of Mirai was not exactly a smart choice, because who knew when the other party might defect and become Mirai's follower instead.
"Maybe I'll even get a chance to test the power of the new ninjutsu I developed."
"Yeah, yeah! It's a really amazing ninjutsu. It's a technique that can instantly defeat Jiraiya, one of the Sannin."
Naruto and Konohamaru echoed each other perfectly, completely unaware that Yagoromo had already appeared behind them… Fortunately, Naruto's head had not been caught in a door before. He knew that this so-called "high-powered" ninjutsu could not be performed here. Otherwise, that would mean he felt he had lived long enough.
Yagoromo directly gave him a smack to the back of the head. "Aren't you supposed to be carrying out a mission outside the village? Hurry up and go prepare. What are you wasting time here for?"
He kept feeling that after Naruto joined Team 7, his IQ had started to show a downward trend.
But let him go crazy for now. Who knew… one day Naruto might end up like Kushina and be confined inside Konoha.
Or rather, after learning Akatsuki's objective, the fact that Naruto could still leave the village and move around was already something beyond convention. He really had no idea what the Hokage was thinking.
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