"I heard ten thousand Stone ninjas invaded the Land of Lightning. How's the war going? Did the Hidden Stone win?"
"The situation is unclear, but I heard the Tsuchikage eventually mobilized too. And... before that, the Third Raikage died on the battlefield..."
"Stone ninjas... didn't expect them to be that capable, actually managing to kill the legendary Third Raikage."
"No, it wasn't the Stone. According to my more reliable sources, the one who killed the Raikage was a Konoha spy hiding among the Stone ninjas, a Jonin named Kushina Uzumaki..."
"Ah? Really?"
"Really!"
"Kushina Uzumaki? Sounds like a kunoichi's name... Aside from Tsunade-hime of the Sannin, who knew Konoha was hiding such a terrifying ninja?"
"Who would have thought that at this stage of the war, Konoha still had a trump card like that hidden away... The Third Hokage really is a scheming old man."
"No, no, it wasn't Kushina. The Raikage incident has nothing to do with her; she's just a regular Jonin. The one who killed the Raikage was Kushina's disciple. Their name... is currently unknown."
"A disciple?"
"...If the disciple is that ferocious, the master must be an absolute monster. I heard she has a build similar to the Raikage and a physique capable of brawling him hand-to-hand. Since her disciple could beat the Raikage to death, the master could obviously do it easily. Just imagine that scene... Am I wrong to call her terrifying?"
"You're absolutely right!"
"Your brain is so brilliant, how did I never notice before? Your logic actually left me speechless."
"..."
While this group of people was chatting nonsense, they paid little attention to the pale youth walking past behind them.
Generally speaking, people with fair, translucent skin can be expected to have high combat power—like the universe's strongest warrior race, the Yato—but right now, he was clearly looking a bit frail.
Although he heard every single word these people said, he acted as if he hadn't heard a thing. No one knew he was the actual disciple being discussed.
With a quick glance, he had already noticed these people were ninjas. The identical forehead protectors indicated they came from some small village.
Although the rumors were a chaotic mess and their accuracy was abysmal, he hadn't expected even ninjas like this to have heard about it... Wasn't the news spreading a little too fast? There was something illogical about this. Could the Hidden Stone have actively helped spread this information?
Diverting the disaster? Shifting the Hidden Cloud's target of hatred?
Regardless of victory or defeat, shouldn't they wait until they evacuated the Land of Lightning to pull a stunt like that?
Furthermore, even if the Hidden Stone hadn't completely figured out his identity yet, they should have their suspicions by now, right?
Whatever, no point thinking about it. He gently shook his head. He needed to finish his current business first.
Five days had passed since that battle. He had crossed the borders of the Land of Lightning and sailed to the small island nation opposite it: the Land of Hot Water.
Moreover, after arriving in the Land of Hot Water, he hadn't chosen to stick to his original itinerary and leave immediately. Instead, he had come to an ordinary town.
This brief stopover was because he wanted to find a certain someone here.
"Which way now?"
He asked the question as if talking to himself.
But he clearly wasn't, because a voice replied: "According to the contract's sensory link... turn left at the next intersection."
The fabric on his shoulder shifted as a palm-sized slug peeked out from his collar.
He nodded without saying another word and followed Katsuyu's directions.
After walking around for another three hours, he finally reached his destination.
"Big Sister... are you sure she's here?"
"There's no mistake. She's in that crowd."
In front of him was one of the town's main streets. It was wide and bustling with pedestrians. Across the street, a group of men dressed as samurai had gathered.
Carrying long katana, they looked just like a gang of street thugs.
"Excuse me, coming through, what's going on here?" Walking quickly across the street, he shouted while squeezing into the crowd.
Looking the way he did now, no one would likely mistake him for a ninja.
Then, he saw a terrifying scene.
"Stop right there! What are you trying to do to this child?"
With a sharp smack, he swatted away a thug's hand reaching for the little girl, then spread his arms wide, stepping in front of the man.
Objectively speaking, he wasn't exactly overflowing with sympathy. He didn't do this because he was worried about the girl; he was worried the thugs might accidentally get themselves killed by her.
Because inside that seemingly tiny body resided an entire colony of King Kongs. Her wrist strength was greater than an ape's.
"What do you think you're doing to my... little sister?"
He still had quite a talent for acting; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to impersonate someone so perfectly in the Hidden Stone without being discovered. So his expression and tone carried a mix of righteous indignation and fear.
However... he was courting death again. Calling a summoning beast of unknown age "Big Sister" wasn't dangerous, but having the sheer audacity to refer to a 38-year-old wom... ahem, the ninja world's most famous kunoichi, as his little sister? He was definitely not going to live long.
When Tsunade-sama was very young, a certain trait inherited from her grandfather, the First Hokage, had awakened... Unfortunately, it wasn't the Wood Style Kekkei Genkai, but a crippling gambling addiction.
And she lost every single time she gambled.
As for her gambling etiquette... it couldn't be called good or bad. She conceded defeat readily enough and never tried to deny her debts.
But while she didn't deny them, she did run away from them.
Using her masterful Transformation Jutsu to dodge gambling debts. Who knows if the Third Hokage, who taught her ninjutsu, would cry if he found out.
And because age is a woman's natural enemy, even Tsunade hated her older appearance. So when she transformed, she usually turned into a young girl.
Or an even younger girl.
Or something like the girl in front of him right now... a loli.
A forty-year-old transforming into someone who looked barely ten years old. Tsunade-sama felt absolutely zero psychological burden... Without Katsuyu's identification, he wouldn't have dared confirm she was Tsunade based on her appearance alone.
Truly, there was no limit to courting death. While speaking, he even patted Tsunade-sama on the head, then shielded her behind him.
He even found the time to wink at her.
Tsunade was initially stunned, then it clicked. Wasn't this Hagoromo? Why was he here?
This was the Land of Hot Water, right? Definitely the Land of Hot Water?
She hadn't gotten so old that her brain was failing her, had she? Or was it just a hangover?
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