As Richard's fame grew, curiosity about his origins intensified.
Not only among those in the Hidden Cloud Village and Hidden Sand Village, but even Konoha's residents increasingly wondered about his background.
Despite thorough investigations, no one uncovered Richard's true origins. They discovered only that he had lived in Otogakure for a period before the Great Naruto Bridge appeared in the Land of Waves.
As for where he had lived before Otogakure, this remained a mystery.
Though his true origins eluded discovery, the fact that he had lived in Otogakure sparked considerable resentment among some Konoha villagers.
This suggested he had established an early connection with Orochimaru.
If before the Konoha Crush operation the outside world hadn't known that Orochimaru founded Otogakure, afterward everyone recognized him as its creator.
Though many in Konoha harbored hostility toward Richard because of this association, he paid their animosity no mind.
As long as these hostile individuals didn't actively provoke or interfere with him, Richard couldn't be bothered to care about their opinions.
He had weathered similar situations in the Marvel universe.
In Marvel's United States alone, over 80% of ordinary citizens regarded him unfavorably, viewing his existence as both a threat to American security and a liability to its international standing.
After learning of Richard's early acquaintance with Orochimaru, Tsunade had confronted him, seriously questioning whether he'd known about Orochimaru's plot against Konoha.
Richard hadn't denied it, admitting it directly.
Moreover, he had forthrightly explained to Tsunade why he hadn't saved the Third Hokage.
After hearing his reasoning, Tsunade's expression had grown exceedingly complex.
"Because had the Third Hokage lived, you would never have returned to the village to serve as the Fifth Hokage."
These were Richard's exact words at the time.
Though she didn't understand why Richard had wanted her to return as the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade had asked no further questions, leaving his office with a troubled expression.
For Richard, the opinions of ordinary villagers meant little.
But Tsunade was no ordinary villager.
Despite her being considerably older, Richard found himself drawn to her.
Previously, he'd thought himself unlikely to develop feelings for a significantly older woman.
Yet he'd discovered that age mattered far less than appearance.
A simple analogy clarified this perspective.
Female elves possessed extraordinarily long lifespans, yet most men wouldn't refuse an elven partner.
This held true even if the elven woman were one or two thousand years older.
Though Tsunade wasn't an elf, the principle remained identical.
If any obstacle existed, it was that Tsunade appeared to have lost all interest in romantic entanglements.
Over the past three years, Richard and Tsunade had interacted frequently.
Yet the more they interacted, the more apparent it became that Dan Kato, decades deceased, occupied an almost irreplaceable position in Tsunade's heart.
This explained why Jiraiya, who had harbored feelings for Tsunade since childhood, had never captured her affection and remained perpetually unrequited.
Though this suggested Tsunade wouldn't be as approachable as the Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumi, Richard wasn't particularly concerned.
While he would welcome deeper involvement with Tsunade, he didn't consider it essential.
At his office, Richard sat reviewing various commission requests that Yui Hyuga had just submitted.
It was her turn to serve as his personal assistant for the past two weeks, so the responsibility of organizing commissions and presenting them for his consideration fell to her.
Richard quickly finished examining the stack of commissions.
With his growing reputation, requests flooded in from an ever-expanding clientele.
Not only from Konoha and the Land of Fire, but increasingly from foreign nations as well.
The most distant commission Richard had accepted involved traveling to the Land of Snow to overthrow its monarch, Dotō Kazahana.
This commission had come from the famous actress Yukie Fujikaze, whose true identity was Koyuki Kazahana, daughter of the former Snow Country king.
Though the difficulty barely reached S-rank, Richard had accepted the mission because no other commissions had been available at the time, and he hadn't yet visited the Land of Snow.
He had traveled there with Koyuki and easily defeated her uncle Dotō, the usurper king of the Snow Country.
Along with Dotō, Richard had eliminated the Snow ninja mercenaries Nadare Rōga, Fubuki Kakuyoku, and Mizore Fuyukuma.
After Richard dispatched Dotō and his forces, Koyuki smoothly ascended to the throne, becoming the Land of Snow's queen.
Though now royalty, she hadn't abandoned her acting career.
While enjoying Koyuki's warm hospitality in the Snow Country, Richard had presented her with several scripts for classic films to alleviate his boredom.
Though this world differed completely from the Marvel universe, human emotions remained universal.
Classical films from the Marvel world could achieve similar acclaim here, unless the emotional frameworks of both worlds' inhabitants differed fundamentally.
After receiving his scripts, Koyuki—now Snow Country's queen—had grown increasingly enthusiastic and proactive.
As a man with normal psychology and physiology, Richard certainly hadn't refused Koyuki's attentions, and they had engaged in several intimate encounters.
When he'd departed the Snow Country for Konoha, Koyuki had urged him to remain, hoping he would stay longer or serve as the Snow Country's guardian.
Though Richard hadn't chosen to stay, he had placed a Flying Thunder God marker on both Koyuki and within the Snow palace.
Additionally, he had given Koyuki a shadow clone scroll of his own creation.
Though Koyuki wasn't a ninja, the scroll required no chakra input and could be activated simply by unrolling it.
When Koyuki opened the scroll, his shadow clone would appear.
Simultaneously, Richard would sense the clone's manifestation, alerting him if Koyuki faced danger.
He had also made arrangements unknown to Koyuki—periodically sending Isobu to the Snow Country.
Despite the region's frigid temperatures, they posed no challenge to Isobu.
After reviewing Yui Hyuga's commissions, Richard told her, "None of these interest me. Direct them to Konoha's mission assignment hall."
"Understood," Yui replied promptly. "If there's nothing else, I'll be going."
Richard nodded in response.
As Yui left the office, Richard leaned back, wondering when Jiraiya and Naruto would return to the village.
After sending Sasuke to Otogakure, the timeline that had diverged due to his interventions began returning to its original course under destiny's influence.
Naruto had departed with Jiraiya to train.
Kakashi and Sakura remained in the village, occasionally undertaking missions.
Most others continued unchanged.
Except Danzo!
After Richard's initial rejection, Danzo hadn't relented. Learning that both Richard and Yugao possessed the Rinnegan, he had developed designs on acquiring it.
Though Danzo held high rank in Konoha, Richard had shown him no courtesy.
When Danzo attempted to kidnap Yugao to claim her Rinnegan, Richard had stormed Root headquarters and executed Danzo with his Masmune before numerous Root operatives.
He hadn't allowed Danzo the opportunity to perform Izanagi.
Upon discovering Danzo's intention to use Izanagi, Richard had severed his Sharingan-implanted arm.
Furthermore, after amputating Danzo's right arm, Richard had extracted Shisui's eye from Danzo while he still lived.
Finally, he had decapitated Danzo with a single stroke.
Though Danzo had attempted to activate his Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique to die taking Richard with him and ensuring Shisui's eye wouldn't be captured, Richard had denied him that chance.
Many Konoha officials expressed profound dissatisfaction with Danzo's execution, demanding Tsunade eliminate Richard as a destabilizing element and deliver justice for Danzo.
Tsunade had rejected these demands without hesitation.
Beyond lacking sufficient strength to challenge Richard, even had she possessed such power, she harbored no inclination to seek justice for Danzo.
Though Danzo had studied under the Second Hokage Tobirama, Tsunade had never liked him, considering some of his actions worse than Orochimaru's.
Setting aside the Uchiha massacre, consider Danzo's attempt to seize Yugao's Rinnegan.
Yugao is a Konoha jonin.
Yet Danzo—a high-ranking Konoha official and Root's leader—had attempted to kidnap her and forcibly extract her Rinnegan.
On this basis alone, Danzo's death at Richard's hands seemed self-inflicted.
Seeking "justice" for such a person would only disgust Tsunade.
Though Konoha's officials disagreed with her decision, they lacked means to challenge her authority and could only verbally express their dissatisfaction.
Tsunade now served as Hokage at the height of her powers.
Even if they wished to depose her, they couldn't fabricate sufficient pretext.
Most fundamentally, they simply couldn't match her strength.
Just as Richard pondered when Jiraiya and Naruto might return, a knock sounded at his door.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Enter," Richard called.
Hearing his response, the door opened.
Richard had assumed one of his assistants was knocking, so he hadn't employed his enhanced vision to identify the visitor.
When the door swung open, he immediately frowned.
The visitor wasn't Yui Hyuga or any of his assistants, but Shizune.
"Richard-san, Lady Tsunade has an urgent matter to discuss and requests your immediate presence at the Hokage's office," Shizune stated seriously.
Though she didn't elaborate on the nature of this urgency, a suspicion immediately formed in Richard's mind.
Could it be that Gaara, now the Fifth Kazekage, had been captured by the Akatsuki?
At present, this seemed the only major event that came to mind.
In the original timeline, Sunagakure had requested Konoha's assistance after Naruto's return to the village.
However, the Akatsuki wouldn't necessarily wait for Naruto's return before targeting Gaara.
"Very well, I'll go immediately," Richard replied.
With that, he performed the Flying Thunder God Technique, locking onto the marker he'd placed in the Hokage's office.
Within that space, he sensed two Flying Thunder God markers.
One was the formula etched on the office floor.
The other was the marker he'd placed on Tsunade herself.
Though he hadn't managed to seduce Tsunade over the past three years, their semi-monthly sparring sessions had allowed him to secretly place a marker on her.
Tsunade remained unaware of this. Had she known, she would have excised it from her flesh if necessary.
In an instant, Richard vanished from Shizune's sight, materializing in the Hokage's office.
Besides Tsunade, seven others were present:
Kakashi, Sakura, and Sai.
Guy, Lee, Tenten, and Neji.
Though Naruto hadn't yet returned, Sai—who in the original timeline had joined Team 7 after Gaara's rescue—had been integrated into the team prematurely.
This development was largely attributable to Richard.
In the original timeline, Danzo had arranged Sai's placement in Team 7.
With Richard having eliminated Danzo preemptively, Tsunade had disbanded Root entirely.
Subsequently, Sai, finding himself without direction, had been assigned to Team 7 by Tsunade.
She had placed him there purely to fill the vacancy left by Sasuke's departure, maintaining the team's operational effectiveness.
Though Sai lacked a bloodline limit like the Sharingan, his abilities remained formidable.
His Super Beast Scroll technique, if nothing else, represented a unique and powerful jutsu.
Richard's sudden appearance immediately drew Kakashi and the others' attention.
Though none could utilize the Flying Thunder God Technique, they instantly recognized it from his silent, instantaneous manifestation.
Only Flying Thunder God could achieve such an abrupt, untraceable arrival.
Ignoring their stares, Richard addressed Tsunade: "Shizune mentioned an urgent matter. What requires my attention?"
After noting Kakashi and the others' presence, Richard deduced that Tsunade's urgent matter involved rescuing Gaara from the Akatsuki.
Tsunade wasted no time, immediately detailing Sunagakure's request for assistance.
As Richard had surmised, Gaara had indeed been captured by the Akatsuki.
However, surprisingly, Deidara hadn't been the one to abduct him.
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