Kushina at this moment was like a free fighter, determined to struggle against all injustice in the world.
"Let's go, we'll go find Tsunade right now. I'll stand up for you."
Sigh… I never thought about going to confront Tsunade. In the end, the one who gets hurt will still be me…
Kairen was frantically rejecting this in his heart. He had to quickly think of a way to brush off this silly girl Kushina.
Kairen suddenly let go of Kushina and said righteously, "Right now, we must put the bigger picture first. Let's talk about this after this war is over."
Kushina nodded. She also knew this was a special time.
"You'll have to endure it for a while. When the time comes, I'll definitely expose Tsunade's trueself."
"Her heart has already become twisted. She's not suitable to be Hokage anymore."
Kairen patted Kushina on the shoulder.
"Why not let you take the position and become the Fifth Hokage!"
Kushina pointed at herself. "Me? Can I really do it?"
Kairen looked at Kushina firmly.
"If you can't, then who can? We must overthrow Tsunade's cruel oppression and bring the village back onto the right path."
Kushina looked into Kairen's eyes, which seemed to have walked out from the darkness, and nodded.
At this moment, her entire body was burning with the Will of Fire as she joined the Anti-Tsunade Alliance.
In the spring of Konoha Year 50, the two giants of Konoha Village—Moku Kairen and Uzumaki Kushina—formally formed an alliance, laying the foundation for the subsequent overthrow of the Fourth Hokage.
This day happened to be March 15, later called by historians the 3/15 Great Upheaval.
—"Unofficial History" by Kairen.
Kushina quickly got into character. "Kairen, we should give the alliance a nice-sounding name. What do you think of Red Storm?"
Kairen shook his head. "No! How about calling it Wolves in Collusion?"
Kushina slapped Kairen on the shoulder.
"We're righteous people. How can we use such a sinister villain-style name?"
Kairen spoke casually. "Then how about—Phoenix Legend!"
Kushina nodded. "Phoenix Legend, good name. From now on, we'll be called Phoenix Legend. We'll work to pull in more people, all to support me becoming Hokage."
Kairen glanced at the woman beside him.
She was already in her early twenties, yet lived even younger than him—interested in everything, curious about everything.
Truly a bewitching little fox. No, my hoe needs to be swung even harder.
In Kairen's mind, chakra formed into a wave that connected to the Pangolin Alliance.
"Pangolin, respond! Pangolin, respond!"
"Reporting! Pangolin has received the message! Please give instructions."
"Where has the target Divine Swiftfoot reached?"
"Reporting to the Chairman, Divine Swiftfoot Namikaze and the Flower Monk Jiraiya have already left the Land of Fire and are on the way to the Land of Grass."
"Received. I now issue instructions: arrange Namikaze's affair as soon as possible. He must forget Uzumaki Kushina."
"Understood. Guaranteed in the name of the Party-State to complete the mission."
"Gentlemen, this mission is of great importance and concerns the safety of the Party-State. I leave it to you!"
After issuing the orders, Kairen and Kushina unknowingly walked to the Hokage Building.
Kairen still reminded Kushina, "Later, when you see Tsunade, don't reveal your thoughts. It will make her wary."
Kushina nodded. "Don't worry! I already have experience rebelling once."
Kushina thought smugly to herself.
Overthrow Tsunade, then I become Hokage—wouldn't that mean I've completed my very first small goal when I came to Konoha Village!
Hehe! I'll become Hokage before Minato. I'll suppress him for a lifetime.
Kairen pushed open the Hokage Building doors and began today's real business.
...
Land of Grass. The Flower Monk and the Divine Swiftfoot walked through a small street.
It was market day, yet the street was sparsely populated, bleak and desolate.
Jiraiya naturally knew what was going on.
Overnight, the ninja world had changed. The four great nations launched a strong attack on the Land of Fire. Small countries like the Land of Grass had to take sides.
It used to be a vassal of the Land of Fire, but Konoha Village had overthrown the daimyō system.
The Land of Grass directly swallowed the alliance treaty and turned around to send heavy troops to attack the Land of Fire.
Now, war in the ninja world had spread everywhere—a true Third World War.
"Sigh…"
Jiraiya sighed. "Once weapons are raised, who knows how many people will die?"
Minato was instead somewhat worried about Konoha's situation.
"Jiraiya-sensei, should we go back to protect the village?"
Jiraiya was stunned for a moment, then said, "Let's observe a bit more. It's our village after all. When Tsunade and the others can't hold on anymore, we'll go back."
Minato nodded. "Understood, Jiraiya-sensei."
Suddenly, Minato spotted a woman passed out drunk by the roadside.
"Jiraiya-sensei, look, there's a girl drunk over there!"
"Where? Where? Ah… no! Hurry and help her up. I'll do artificial respiration."
After Jiraiya's frantic efforts, the drunken woman didn't pay him any attention at all. Instead, she fell for Minato beside him.
"Blondy, my chest feels a bit itchy. Could you help me rub it?"
Minato looked helplessly at the woman who seemed about to collapse onto him and was just about to state the fact that he was already married.
"Miss!"
The drunken woman was greatly startled.
"How did you know I'm a miss?"
Minato was even more speechless.
Jiraiya grinned and leaned over.
"Miss, how much for one night?"
The drunken woman glanced at Jiraiya disdainfully.
"Dream on. Even though I'm a miss, I'm a principled miss."
"You're old enough to be my father and still want me to service you. Aren't you ashamed?"
Jiraiya was utterly embarrassed. Covering his face, he squatted to the side, looking at Minato with unwilling eyes.
If I had this face, wouldn't I be able to dominate both the underworld and the daylight.
The drunken woman continued to tease Minato.
"I can do anything. I'm proficient in eighteen sets of radio calisthenics. Do you want to have a taste?"
Minato kept his head down.
No matter what the drunken woman said, he didn't budge, making the Pangolin hiding in the grass feel utterly distressed.
"Reporting, this kind of woman can only trick low-level goods like Jiraiya. She hasn't reached Minato's level. Requesting headquarters to switch to another one."
"Received!"
...
At this moment, a cry of alarm came from the Hokage Building.
A Pangolin drilled out from the wooden floor and loudly reported to Kairen,
"Bad news! Sunagakure has launched a blitzkrieg and has already broken into the Land of Fire."
"They've already reached Kikyo Pass. Kikyo Pass is about to fall."
Hearing this, everyone was thrown into panic.
"The people of Sunagakure are actually this fast. We haven't even eaten lunch yet. What do we do?"
"Beyond Kikyo Pass there's no natural defense at all—flat land all the way. Konoha is in danger! The Land of Fire is in danger!!"
Kairen's expression turned grave.
"I didn't expect Sunagakure's blitzkrieg to be this powerful—air, land, and sea integrated as one, unstoppable. Sunagakure has capable people!"
"Everyone, this is a moment of life and death. You go to the front line to hold them back. I'll protect your families as they evacuate."
"..."
The tense atmosphere was instantly swept away, as if a patch of calm had descended upon the air.
Tsunade grabbed Kairen's ear from behind and scolded,
"You brat, you're a main combatant. Fleeing before battle—this deserves military punishment."
"Tsunade, I was wrong, I was wrong. Please don't treat me like this anymore!"
Kushina watched silently.
She used to think the bickering between these siblings was normal. Now, she had a deeper understanding.
Kairen immediately chickened out in front of Tsunade, which meant he was very afraid of her. Tsunade must bully Kairen quite severely.
My Phoenix Legend must take action and recruit more people to overthrow Tsunade together.