[Konoha Hospital]
Now that it wasn't wartime, there were very few cases in the hospital that required emergency treatment.
Tsunade had fallen into a cycle of eating then sleeping, waking up then gambling, and after losing everything, coming back to work.
Under the pretext of medical guidance, she had visited the Uchiha a few times.
She had also seen Rengoku several times.
Although ever since Senju Hashirama's death, Tobirama had been instilling in Tsunade that the Uchiha were born evil, these past years Tsunade hadn't actually seen the Uchiha do anything bad.
What's more, every time they met, Rengoku would, intentionally or not, lament the waste of Tsunade's talent.
This left Tsunade baffled, but she no longer felt hostility toward Rengoku.
Last night, Tsunade had gambled until late into the night, then drank heavily.
Today she was still hungover, slumped over her desk dozing off.
"Tsunade-sama… Tsunade-sama!"
Shizune's continuous calling finally woke Tsunade up.
"Mm, Shizune? Let me sleep a bit more," Tsunade wiped away the drool at the corner of her mouth, her face still bearing pillow creases.
"Tsunade-sama, you can't sleep. Uchiha Rengoku has come to see you."
"Rengoku?", Tsunade shook her head, gradually sobering up.
"What's he here for?"
At this time Shizune spoke, "He brought his younger sister Ryuri with him."
Tsunade rubbed her face, "Mm. Where are they?"
"They've already been taken to the reception room."
"I'll go now."
This was the first time Rengoku had come to the hospital to seek her out, it was definitely something important.
Tsunade quickly went to the conference room and pushed the door open, Shizune following behind.
Her first glance fell on Ryuri, who was being held by Rengoku and doing tiptoe exercises.
"Hiss!"
Tsunade's pupils trembled violently.
She knew exactly what Ryuri's condition had been.
She hadn't expected Orochimaru's cloning to actually succeed.
Tsunade's gaze shifted to Rengoku's white hair.
Rengoku was only twenty years old now, and with an enormous amount of chakra in his body, it should've been impossible for such premature aging to appear.
As a medical ninja, Tsunade naturally had a string of guesses in her heart.
But right now, that wasn't the important thing.
"Tsunade-sama," Ryuri had seen Tsunade before and still had an impression of her.
"Hey, come let me take a look," Tsunade directly shoved Rengoku aside, then began checking Ryuri.
First she examined Ryuri's wrist.
Then she crouched down to inspect Ryuri's legs. Apart from the skin color being slightly different, there were no other abnormalities.
Tsunade stood back up, her face carrying amazement, "You really completed it."
As a medical ninja, she knew exactly how difficult cloning was.
Things nurtured in cultivation tanks were extremely prone to all kinds of genetic mutations or deformities.
So in theory cloning could cure many diseases, but in practice, it was a bottomless pit.
Only someone like Orochimaru, with his vast experience, would have the ability to break through those technical barriers.
"If you were here, Tsunade, this process would've been shortened by a lot," Rengoku said meaningfully.
Tsunade stood up, "Let Shizune take Ryuri for an examination."
Rengoku tilted his head and gave Kaori a look.
Kaori took Ryuri and Shizune out.
Click!
Once the door shut, only Rengoku and Tsunade were left in the room.
"Elder Rengoku, what's your purpose for coming this time?", Tsunade pulled out a chair and sat down with a swagger.
Rengoku smiled slightly, "I intend to become the Fifth Hokage."
There was some surprise in Tsunade's eyes, though not much.
In recent years, as the Hyuga clan had gradually leaned toward the Uchiha, plus Rengoku's absolute control over the ninja academy, and with the establishment of the elite class shortening the graduation time for the major clans' successors, even the former clan head, Uchiha Fugaku, had been dragged out to serve as an instructor.
Everyone understood what Rengoku meant.
Especially with the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, Uzumaki Naruto, included in this.
It was equivalent to the Uchiha clan having actual control over the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki.
The Third Hokage was aged, and Uchiha Rengoku was in his prime.
It could be said Rengoku was currently the most promising candidate for Fifth Hokage.
The other candidate, naturally, was Tsunade herself.
Tsunade raised her brows, evasive for once, "Why's Elder Rengoku telling me this?"
Rengoku didn't bother to spar with words and said directly, "In the village, only you qualify to be considered my opponent."
"I hope you won't be manipulated by the Third Hokage again."
Tsunade, having once conversed with Orochimaru, already had some awareness of the Senju clan's experiments back in the day.
So her reaction now wasn't overly intense, "And what benefit do I get?"
She was somewhat curious what Rengoku planned to offer in exchange.
Rengoku chuckled, "Your granduncle Senju Tobirama developed a forbidden jutsu called Edo Tensei."
Then he gave a brief explanation of Edo Tensei before saying, "This jutsu was originally developed by Senju Tobirama to be used alongside the Tandem Explosive Tags.
"But Orochimaru improved it."
"So…"
Rengoku continued, "I deliberately kept Danzo's corpse, used Edo Tensei on him, and learned some things unknown to others."
Tsunade's heart skipped a beat, "What?"
Rengoku shrugged, "The deaths of Nawaki and Dan weren't accidents."
Tsunade shot to her feet, her huge bust nearly smashing into Rengoku.
"You're telling the truth?"
She was panting heavily, eyes red.
Rengoku said calmly, "If you don't believe me, you can go to Orochimaru, have him Edo Tensei Danzo again, and see for yourself."
He didn't rush to bring up resurrection, since everyone had their selfish desires.
The ones Rengoku wanted to revive weren't all brought back yet, there was no way it'd be Tsunade's turn so soon.
"Let's go right now!", Tsunade was someone who acted swiftly and decisively.
She had never really wanted to return to Konoha anyway, since all her loved ones were dead, and the clan had been wiped out by the Mokuton experiments.
It was only because Konoha was the blood and sweat of her two grandfathers that she hadn't wanted to see it torn apart.
She had had her doubts, but with no evidence. Now, discovering even Nawaki and Dan's deaths were conspiracies, how could Tsunade sit still?
Tsunade, along with Rengoku and Ryuri, hurriedly headed outside.
Just as they reached the hospital entrance, an ANBU appeared before Tsunade, "Tsunade-sama, the Third Hokage requests your presence."
Tsunade didn't even look at him, striding straight ahead, "No time."
The ANBU didn't dare block her and quickly stepped aside.
Helplessly watching Tsunade and Rengoku head in the direction of the Uchiha compound.
———
As the Uchiha clan head, Rengoku's every move tugged at the Third Hokage's nerves.
The moment he began wandering around Konoha, several ANBU eyes had been observing him.
But they didn't dare tail him openly, that would provoke Rengoku.
Rengoku was, after all, also a Konoha advisor elder now, his status second only to the Third Hokage.
So they only dared to compile bits of information and report them to the Third Hokage.
The Third had just received news of Rengoku taking his sister to linger at the entrances of Konoha's various clans.
Then immediately came another report: the ANBU sent to fetch Tsunade had instead seen her follow Rengoku straight to the Uchiha compound.
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