Hii Kōri's decision to specifically assign Pakura and Karura to the guard mission for his "wandering monk" disguise was, to some degree, a case of using public resources for personal benefit—an opportunity to polish his lovers' credentials.
After all, setting aside the "disguise factor," the actual strength of the person being guarded far exceeded that of his two guards. Karura was even a medical ninja, who normally wouldn't need to take on outside missions at all.
But such trivial matters hardly mattered. Hii Kōri had already been upfront about his intentions: beyond traveling to the Temple of Fire under a false identity, he also planned to capture a few Konoha ninja prisoners.
Compared to others who would need time to adjust, his lovers—with whom he shared a bed—would naturally be better able to keep pace with him.
Of course, aside from the practical consideration of compatibility, the Third Kazekage suspected that Hii Kōri was really just applying for a paid vacation for his girlfriends.
"Isn't that only natural? The war's over. Everyone needs a break. Compared to this godforsaken Land of Wind, a trip to Konoha is practically a restorative holiday."
In response to Vegeta's complaint, Hii Kōri's reasoning was utterly unapologetic. But since he was covering both the mission fee and travel expenses himself, it hardly mattered.
It was hard to say whether Hii Kōri was trying to make it up to Pakura and Karura. During the war, everyone had been busy; long separations were the norm. But after returning to the village, he'd barely been back two days before leading a team into the treacherous great sand sea.
No matter how independent and understanding Pakura and Karura were, as their partner, Hii Kōri still had to consider their feelings.
Emotions were something that required careful nurturing. No matter how flourishing or fruitful a feeling might be, if it was neglected after sprouting, it would inevitably wither.
As for Vegeta's response to Hii Kōri's theory on emotions…
So complicated. Too bad I've never been in love.
Even setting those factors aside, Hii Kōri himself needed to adjust his mental state. When the brain focused too intensely on pursuing efficiency, it could actually lead one astray.
The human brain's algorithm favored simplicity and efficiency, but that inevitably introduced sensory illusions and bugs.
For example, when a person's gaze was fixed on a single point for more than twenty seconds, visual stimuli in the surrounding area—within the observer's peripheral vision—would gradually and eventually disappear. This was known as the Troxler's fading effect.
It was a manifestation of human neural adaptation.
The sensory system did not respond to sustained external stimuli in a fixed manner; rather, it adapted over time. The nervous system was constantly busy—monitoring physiological indicators, directing internal and external movement, and collecting vast amounts of information from the senses for analysis.
Without some degree of filtering, the burden would be overwhelming. This adaptability lets the nervous system ignore less important information—such as constant stimuli—so a person can respond more effectively to changes in their environment.
But for Hii Kōri, this automatic filtering mechanism was an unnecessary "defect."
Just as martial artists repeatedly trained their hands and feet until they were no longer suited to serve as ordinary tools but became something far more refined, Hii Kōri—having long surpassed normal human limits in thought and information processing—constantly had to suppress these "optimizations" shaped by millions of years of evolution.
Still, rather than continuous suppression, periodic relaxation was far more efficient.
While Hii Kōri prepared for his next departure, Tsunade, far away in Konohagakure, had found herself almost inevitably caught in another bitter vortex.
More than three months earlier, after she had drunk herself nearly unconscious at a bar, Jiraiya had found her and brought her home. She had been cared for by the young Shizune until dawn. That experience had reignited a heart that had been scorched nearly numb by hatred and self-loathing.
Since then, it was as if she had made a decisive break with the past. She pulled herself together, immersing herself in daily life with Shizune.
In the following weeks, her life gradually returned to something resembling normalcy. She no longer spent her days holed up in the library. She occasionally visited the medical corps to offer guidance. When Jiraiya awkwardly tried to make conversation, she would punch him just as she had in the past.
She stopped drinking. Even the gambling habit her grandfather had inadvertently cultivated in her was reined in. She spent more time teaching Shizune or playing with her.
It was as if the torn wounds in her heart were slowly healing.
But this fragile peace did not last long.
Before long, Tsunade began experiencing persistent nausea, fatigue, and and weakness.
At first, she thought it was withdrawal from alcohol. But as time passed, the increasingly obvious "symptoms" could not be hidden from her—a top-tier medical ninja.
Even without any equipment, using only medical ninjutsu, she could confirm it: she was pregnant.
Based on timing and developmental stage, this child was the "product" of the dark days she had spent imprisoned by Hii Kōri.
The moment she realized the origin of the child in her womb, a torrent of hatred, humiliation, and fear surged from the depths of her heart, unleashing a wave of nearly uncontrollable nausea.
That was only natural. No matter how much she tried to hypnotize herself into forgetting those unbearable experiences, this child served as a "reminder" that made such efforts futile.
Tsunade's first instinct was to abort the child immediately.
Yet perhaps it was the maternal instinct she had unknowingly developed while caring for Shizune these past months; or perhaps, having lost her grandfather, her younger brother, and her lover in succession, a deep-seated longing for "family" had taken root within her—one she herself was unwilling to acknowledge…
Time and again, she attempted to go through with it, only to stop herself at the last moment.
Even though she could almost daily see the phantom of "Hii Kōri" conjured by her own hatred, whenever she struck out to disperse his image, she would involuntarily recall his words:
"The loves, hatreds, and grudges of one generation should be resolved by that generation alone. Whether the next generation harbors its own desire for revenge or not, imposing hatred on them—binding those meant to move forward to the past—is both cowardly and disgraceful."
"One thing… is one thing."
Muttering became reality. Whispered words became truth.
Those words lingered like a curse. The more she felt the pulse within her, the harder it became to act against it. Perhaps from the moment she had failed to end this child—even driven by that initial surge of hatred—she could no longer bring herself to sever this bond of blood.
And while she was still at a loss—exhausted by this child she had never anticipated—Orochimaru delivered another piece of news that only made matters worse.
"The teacher has decided to launch a research project on the First Hokage's cells."
Watching Shizune obediently retreat to her room so as not to disturb the adults' conversation, a warmth rare flickered in Orochimaru's eyes—eyes that had grown increasingly inhuman since the Second Shinobi World War began. He withdrew his gaze from the closed door and spoke to Tsunade in his characteristically hoarse yet resonant, steady voice. Then, after a pause, he added: "I'll be leading it."
"What?!"
Tsunade, already emotionally unstable due to the child in her womb, erupted in fury. The negative emotions that had been suppressed for so long burst forth like a volcanic eruption.
"Have you lost your minds?! How far has Konoha fallen?! You dare—you dare lay hands on my grandfather's remains?!"
She slammed her fists down, shattering the sturdy stone countertop into countless fragments. Her amber eyes burned with fury, her chest heaving violently.
"He was the First Hokage, the founder of Konoha! Do you have no sense of decency? No reverence?!"
Roaring, she stepped forward, grabbed the heavy solid wood dining table, and hurled it at Orochimaru.
Having anticipated her reaction, Orochimaru didn't even blink. He let the table smash beside him, shattering together with the door into splinters of wood.
Amid the debris and dust, his eyes remained as unmoving as a white snake's.
Only after the dust had settled did Orochimaru explain, his tone even colder: "Lady Mito is advanced in years. Her health is declining. She can no longer serve as the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki for much longer. And with Uzushiogakure destroyed, the Uzumaki bloodline is all but extinct. The Uzumaki clansman we brought over some time ago was nearly forcibly taken by Kumogakure's shinobi…"
He paused, his gaze sweeping over Tsunade—her face pale, her breath ragged—and his tone softened slightly in spite of himself.
"Under these circumstances, the village must prepare for the worst. Should something happen to Lady Mito… or to a future Nine-Tails jinchūriki… Konoha needs other means to counter a tailed beast. The First Hokage's Wood Release is, to date, the power proven to be most effective at suppressing them."
"… But it's not just about dealing with the Nine-Tails, is it?"
Orochimaru turned his head, looking through the damaged doorway toward the Hokage Rock in the distance, his tone contemplative.
"As the First Lord's granddaughter, you know as well as I do that the daimyō's trust was never in 'Konoha' itself. It was in the Senju. In Konoha—the village established by the Senju and Uchiha together."
"And now, the Senju clan has disbanded. The position of Hokage has passed
to our teacher—an 'outsider.' The relationship between the Land of Fire's daimyō and Konoha can no longer be as close as it once was."
"Compared to the First and Second Lords, our teacher is certainly one of the strongest, but he lacks the absolute dominance that could suppress everyone else. More than suppressing tailed beasts, what matters now is raising 'Wood Release'—that banner of absolute power once wielded by the First Hokage—back over Konoha."
"…"
"…"
Tsunade collapsed, as if all strength had been drained from her, slumping helplessly to the floor.
The village her grandfather had founded… now sought to maintain its prestige by desecrating his remains… Could there be anything more ironic in this world?
She knew very well that everything Orochimaru said was correct. But aside from him—who had come to her out of consideration for their bond as teammates and classmates—no one else had seen fit to inform her of any of this.
Perhaps they were trying to spare her feelings. But in her eyes, it seemed more that, having already obtained the consent of Uzumaki Mito—the First Hokage's wife—the wishes of his "granddaughter" no longer mattered at all.
"How much more… are you going to take from me… before you're satisfied…"
Her head hung low, disheveled honey-colored hair falling forward to conceal her expression. Even this lament sounded painfully thin.
In a daze, Hii Kōri's figure materialized before her eyes once more.
It was as if he stood right in front of her, looking down at her. Those gray, glass-like eyes were as cold as ever—like a mirror reflecting her pathetic, disheveled state.
"Do you think you're the only one who's unhappy? The only one who's lost everything? The world doesn't revolve around you."
He crouched down, questioning her in that infuriatingly steady tone:
"Things you trusted were taken from you. Things you cherished disappeared. But isn't that just how the world works? Everyone has had everything taken from them."
"Of course… that includes me, too."
Hii Kōri's figure and voice gradually overlapped with Orochimaru's.
A flicker of unreadable complexity passed through those golden snake eyes, before vanishing beneath a layer of cold, placid calm.
Turning away with little interest, Orochimaru departed, yet left behind this observation: "That is precisely why I wish to learn every technique in this world and exist forever."
"Only 'knowledge' itself is eternal—something that can never be taken from me, that truly belongs to me."
"Is this acceptable as it is? Or do you intend to go searching for something else that can fill this tattered heart?"
By the end, Tsunade could no longer distinguish whether these words had been spoken by Orochimaru or were the "enticements" of the Hii Kōri in her delusion.
Two days after this conversation—one that could hardly be called pleasant for either party, yet was not truly antagonistic—Tsunade quietly left Konohagakure with Shizune. She said goodbye to no one, leaving only a brief farewell letter.
Upon hearing the news, Jiraiya was frantic. He immediately set out to pursue her, only to be stopped at the village gate by Orochimaru, who had been waiting there.
"Orochimaru, get out of my way! What did you say to Tsunade that day? Why would she suddenly leave Konoha?!"
Seeing his old teammate, with whom his differences had only grown, blocking his path, Jiraiya's low growl carried a note of indignation.
Orochimaru, however, merely regarded him calmly and asked coolly in return: "Then let me ask you—what reason does Tsunade have to stay in Konoha?"
"It's better that she leaves to clear her head than to remain in a place where, wherever she looks, all she sees are irreparable, sorrowful memories."
"I..."
Jiraiya found himself at a loss for words. His mouth opened and closed comically, much like his toad summons, but he realized he had no rebuttal to Orochimaru's words.
Indeed… as things stood now, Konoha was merely a place of heartbreak for Tsunade.
Watching Jiraiya stand there speechless yet full of reluctance, Orochimaru gently shook his head. "You… you really don't understand people at all."
Far less than Hii Kōri, at least when it comes to Tsunade's heart.
Silently adding this thought, Orochimaru had little interest in continuing the conversation with his former comrade. He turned and walked toward his laboratory.
Although the Second Shinobi World War had ended with Sunagakure initiating peace negotiations, in terms of tangible gains, Konoha had unquestionably "lost."
It wasn't enough to cripple them, but the village's cash flow had clearly become strained. And it was foreseeable that this would remain the case for quite some time.
Even the research project he was leading on the First Hokage's cells had received far from generous funding—barely adequate. And that was before Shimura Danzō, having taken over the intelligence division, began making plans to establish a separate organization independent of the Anbu—which would undoubtedly siphon off another large chunk of the budget.
Tsunade, of course, had taken very little savings with her when she left. Most of the assets she had inherited had been gambled away or donated to war orphans.
Anticipating this situation given her personality, Orochimaru had privately funded her travel expenses before she departed. Now his own reserves were nearly depleted.
Compared to wasting time debating the intricacies of a woman's heart with that fool Jiraiya, Orochimaru felt it was far more important to take on some well-paying side jobs and recover his funds as quickly as possible.
***
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