"So comfortable…"
In the hotel's hot spring.
The incident with the Evil God Cult in the Land of Hot Springs had already died down.
Thanks to word spreading among traveling merchants, the tourism industry in the Land of Hot Springs was gradually recovering.
Although business at the hotel wasn't booming yet, more travelers from other countries had begun arriving out of curiosity.
Thus, Akira was finally enjoying a long-awaited family-style hot spring bath together with Tsunade, Shizune, Karin, and the others.
He lazily soaked in the warm water, looking across at the women, who were wrapped in bath towels that weren't particularly tight, occasionally giving him pleasant views.
Once again, he couldn't help but sigh at how wonderful the 2D world was.
2D girls are the best!
"Akira Ren, thank you so much…"
The beautiful Tsunade had a slightly flushed, flawless face from the hot spring.
With her eyes gently closed in enjoyment, she smiled and said, "I feel full of vitality. My energy is ridiculously abundant!"
No matter how well she maintained her youthful appearance, she was already in her forties.
While her energy hadn't declined drastically, she still couldn't compare to girls in the prime of their youth.
At least, her current medical ninjutsu research hadn't fully solved this underlying issue.
Unless she had Akira Ren's powerful life-force-infused chakra to regulate her body.
But after obtaining the First Hokage's Wood Release, she truly felt as if she had returned to her twenties, entering a second spring in her life.
"Senior Sister Tsunade, I've always been curious about something…"
Akira glanced at the eye-catching "snow-white peaks" that occasionally floated up from the water.
He narrowed his eyes, gazing at the blue sky, and asked, "Logically speaking, with the First Hokage's incredibly strong life force, even if he was heavily injured after his battle with Uchiha Madara, he should have been able to recover after some rest, right?"
He couldn't imagine what kind of fierce battle it would take to kill a man like Senju Hashirama.
A person whose cells could still remain so active decades after death—how could someone like that pass away so easily?
"Eh?"
Upon hearing this, Shizune and Karin, who had been behaving quietly and a bit shyly because Akira was present, subconsciously looked over.
Akira Ren's question was exactly what they had also been wondering about.
All four of them present were highly skilled medical ninjas and understood the relationship between injuries and cellular recovery better than anyone.
After all, the First Hokage was a man with "No-Scar Healing."
Although such regeneration would inevitably consume cellular vitality, given how active his cells still were decades later, he was clearly far from reaching his limit.
"You're asking about that…"
Tsunade was slightly stunned.
She frowned, recalling the past.
She was still quite young when her grandfather passed away, so she didn't know many details at the time.
But because her grandmother, Uzumaki Mito, was still alive, she gradually learned the truth as she grew up.
"The reason my grandfather, the First Hokage, died young wasn't only because he overexerted his chakra and life force during his all-out deadly battle with Uchiha Madara, leaving him severely injured…"
"More importantly, in order to protect the village, he killed his best friend—a friend who was even more important to him than his own younger brother. The grief was worse than death itself!"
Recalling her grandfather, Tsunade said with deep emotion, "So after returning to Konoha, passing the Hokage position to the Second Hokage, and settling his affairs… once that spirit of his was released, and with the guilt that had always weighed on his heart, he gradually couldn't hold on anymore!"
"I see…"
Akira suddenly understood and fell into thought.
If he remembered correctly, when the First Hokage killed Uchiha Madara, he had resolutely said to his best friend:
"If it threatens the village, I won't forgive even my brothers, friends, or even my own children!"
Yet Madara's dying response was:
"You've changed, Hashirama. This is putting the cart before the horse. This will eventually become the village's darkness!"
There was no doubt that, regardless of who was right or wrong, Uchiha Madara had never changed.
He was still the same person he had always been.
But at that time, the First Hokage had indeed changed compared to the man who had founded Konoha with a broad mind that could embrace everything.
Even a man as upright and noble as him, who once naively believed people could understand each other, and who, in pursuit of that "peace," had selflessly distributed the collected Tailed Beasts to the various great ninja villages to balance their powers, was willing to do whatever it took to protect the "village."
He could even steel himself to personally kill his former best friend.
Clearly, the First Hokage later realized this.
Whether right or wrong, he had ultimately gone against the original ideals he and Uchiha Madara had when they founded Konoha together.
Because he had become confined by the concept of the "village," his "great love" and "peace" had gradually become narrow.
However, he realized it too late.
He, who had repeatedly claimed Uchiha Madara was like a brother, had ultimately stabbed that brother in the back and stained his hands with his best friend's blood.
For the awakened First Hokage, this was probably unacceptable.
That was why he remained haunted by it and eventually died depressed.
"By the way, Senior Sister Shizune…"
Having received a rough answer to his question, Akira stopped dwelling on it.
He looked at Shizune, who had wrapped herself tightly in her towel, and smiled.
"Since I'm back now, let's continue our training from last time tonight!"
"I'll also teach you how to master the Peacock Mystic Technique as quickly as possible!"
"Ah?"
Shizune's heart skipped a beat as she recalled the intimate scenes from when Akira had helped her train the Yin Seal and Strength of a Hundred Seal.
Her pretty face turned bright red.
She stammered a little, "O-okay… then I'll be troubling you, Akira Ren!"
Seeing Shizune's shy expression, a hint of amusement flashed in Akira Ren's eyes.
He then looked toward Tsunade nearby.
"Senior Sister Tsunade, then you can…"
"I'm not in a hurry. I'll focus on familiarizing myself with Wood Release these next few days first!"
Tsunade replied lazily with her eyes closed.
Having gained Wood Release and an unimaginable increase in chakra reserves, she was no longer anxious to train the Peacock Mystic Technique.
Moreover, in the Tsukuyomi world, Akira had not only given her the Wood Release ninjutsu left behind by the First Hokage, but also some practical Wood Release techniques he had developed himself.
Among them were techniques that allowed the user to fly.
...
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