Anko and Yūgao's comments only made Kurenai more determined.
Everyone had their own dream.
And Kurenai's dream was simple:
Catch Uchiha Yusuke.
The Feast Ends… Tsunade Tries to "Blend In"
The food was gone. The tables were wrecked. The banquet was nearing its end.
Tsunade—who'd been drinking alone for half the night—finally drifted toward the girls' group.
Full and satisfied… time to slip through the bill.
I'm a female guest too. Yusuke paying is only fair, right?
The legendary Sannin Tsunade personally came to his banquet—he should be honored.
Now empty your wallet, kid.
The more she imagined it, the happier she got.
Hiruzen had hyped Yusuke up like a monster… but in her eyes, he wasn't all that scary.
She moved through the crowd smoothly, acting familiar:
"Yo, Kakashi. You got taller."
"Oi, Yūgao—nice development."
She made it look like she belonged.
Even the izakaya owner started to wonder:
Wait… is Tsunade also part of the invited group?
So, being the serious, responsible businessman he was, the owner walked up to Yusuke and reported politely:
"Lord Yusuke, the combined cost for the men's and women's rooms is 180,600 ryō. I'll round it down—180,000 is fine."
"And Tsunade-sama's personal order total is 874,600 ryō. Should that be included as well?"
Yusuke glanced at Tsunade.
"Who ordered those?"
The owner blinked. "Tsunade-sama did."
Yusuke smiled—dangerously.
"Then go ask her for the money."
Tsunade's Face Drops
Tsunade's expression instantly darkened.
I already blended in—how are you still targeting me?!
It wasn't even about the money. She could afford it.
It was the fact she failed to freeload.
That was what burned.
She tried to salvage it:
"Hey, brat. Aren't I your guest?"
Yusuke rolled his eyes.
"Ma'am, when did I ever invite you?"
Tsunade pointed at Shizune.
"She's with me. Why are you treating people differently?"
Yusuke smiled.
"Shizune is my classmate."
"Are you?"
That hit.
This entire party was basically his generation.
She'd crashed a reunion.
And it showed.
Half-drunk Shizune even staggered out and sided with Yusuke:
"Yusuke's right… Tsunade-sama, you should pay for your own order."
Tsunade nearly blew a vein.
My own disciple is betraying me?!
But in the end—she paid.
She'd recently scammed a chunk of money off Jiraiya anyway, and even after gambling she still had enough left.
Still, spending nearly a million ryō on one meal…
hurt.
Freeload failed.
So naturally, Tsunade blamed Yusuke.
This man is ridiculously stingy.
I curse you to never get a girlfriend.
Then she grabbed Shizune by the collar with a sweet, murderous smile:
"Shizune. We're leaving."
Yusuke Reads the Real Threat
Watching Tsunade leave, Yusuke sighed.
Hiruzen bringing her back early meant one thing:
Trouble is coming.
Tsunade didn't hate the Uchiha…
but she was pure, traditional Hokage-faction.
And with Hiruzen guiding her?
It wouldn't take much to turn her into Yusuke's "official rival."
This was Hiruzen's signature method:
Sit at the top.
Let rising stars check each other.
White Fang too bright? Raise Danzō.
Orochimaru too wild? Support Minato.
Uchiha too proud? Push Hyūga.
Now?
Tsunade is the new counterweight.
Yusuke could already see the shape of the future:
It would not be peaceful.
Konoha's New Power Map
As expected, right after the day off ended, Hiruzen personally took Tsunade to visit the elders of the major clans.
Old men who "retired"… yet still held real power.
Tsunade quickly gained supporters under Hiruzen's banner:
Sarutobi, Inuzuka, Aburame, Shimura, etc. → Hokage side
Ino–Shika–Chō → neutral / hedge both sides
Hyūga elders tried to persuade… but Hiashi forced the decision and stood with Yusuke
So the village's two major blocs formed:
Yusuke's camp
Tsunade's camp
And they began competing across every domain.
Why People Say Konoha's "Strongest Power" Is Actually…
Here's the twist the chapter is pointing at:
Even with Yusuke and Tsunade clashing—the true strongest force in Konoha isn't just "who's strongest in battle."
It's the Hokage system + elder network + institutional control.
Budgets. Appointments. Pay. Departments. Narrative.
Tsunade's reforms—backed by Hiruzen—were brutal:
ANBU restructuring
Medical reform
Fiscal austerity
And the sharpest cuts hit Yusuke's actual power base:
Police Force budget: 80 million ryō → cut in half
ANBU pay: halved
In other words:
They weren't trying to beat him in a duel.
They were trying to starve his machine.
Uchiha anger rose instantly:
"Clan head, we can't just take this!"
"When do we strike back?"
But Yusuke did not clash head-on.
Instead, he called an emergency clan meeting and declared a surprisingly "dovish" policy:
As long as Tsunade didn't cross the bottom line—the Uchiha would support her reforms.
Many doubted it, but they obeyed because Yusuke's prestige was enormous.
However—not everyone could swallow it.
The two advisors, Homura and Koharu, were furious.
Tsunade was eating into their traditional domains (medical + finance), and by extension, Hiruzen's interests too.
They complained to Hiruzen.
Hiruzen—headache as always—still chose to endure.
Because Danzō's death had warned him:
If they didn't check Yusuke now, the Hokage faction might lose the board forever.
So he held the line.
Tsunade's Momentum Explodes
With both Hiruzen and Yusuke indirectly allowing the reforms to keep moving, Tsunade's reputation surged.
People even started calling Tsunade and Yusuke "Konoha's Twin Jade"—a dual pillar era.
Tsunade hated the comparison.
But her competitiveness started to rise.
Because Yusuke kept "dodging" her.
The more he avoided direct conflict, the more she started to look down on him:
You beat Kumo's monsters, you killed Danzō—so what?
In front of me, you still hide.
And that restlessness made her even more eager to "win once" publicly.
Meanwhile… Obito Starts Moving
Outside Konoha, Akatsuki was mid-transition.
Nagato and Konan were recruiting (names like Kakuzu, Sasori, even Orochimaru and a Seven Swordsman candidate came up).
Obito—"the guy in the shadows"—was free.
And whenever he's free…
he thinks about hurting Konoha.
He understood secrets: Uchiha taboo techniques, the corrupted stone tablet, the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan.
But he wasn't ready to touch the Nine-Tails yet:
Konoha's surveillance was too tight
The statue sealing order requires Nine-Tails last
So he shifted to a smaller, smarter objective:
Collect Sharingan.
He wandered near Konoha… and quickly noticed a perfect target:
Uchiha Itachi.
A prodigy:
Graduated at 7
Awakened Sharingan quickly
At 8 already beyond most chūnin
On low-rank missions only because of age limits
Fugaku was proud.
Yusuke was troubled—because Itachi was deeply "Will of Fire"-washed, harder to pull to the clan's side than Shisui.
And Hiruzen, as always, played the long game:
If Shisui wouldn't obey—he'd cultivate Itachi as the new "bridge" between village and Uchiha.
Still the same.
Still slippery.
Still Hiruzen.
And now—with Tsunade pressuring internally… and Obito sniffing around externally…
Konoha's calm is only the surface.
The real storm is already moving.
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