"Shouta's taking the day off. He said his head hurts."
Tsunade replied offhandedly to Kawaki while focusing on Nagato's checkup.
"You're a Medical Ninja, why don't you take a look at him?"
"Oh come on, that's obviously just an excuse to fool you, you clueless Hokage."
Kawaki teased Tsunade. With the workload around here, it was totally normal for Shouta to need a break.
"Since you're here already, help me finish up these papers."
"Go home already, Nagato. Minato and the others are waiting for you."
Tsunade took the opportunity to rope someone in and sent Nagato away after finishing his checkup.
At this moment, Kawaki deeply regretted everything—no matter how he calculated it, there was no way he could've predicted Shouta's day off today.
"Okay, my teacher's wife."
Nagato couldn't wait to get home and see his friends. After agreeing, he left without even looking back.
It wasn't that he didn't want to help his teacher—he just didn't have the skill, and couldn't afford the consequences.
He wasn't about to go cracking his head against a rock like that.
Watching Nagato leave without hesitation, Kawaki thought bitterly, *What an ungrateful little brat.*
He could only sigh and obediently take Shouta's place, staying behind to help Tsunade process paperwork.
"Pig farmer Kimura requests approval for expanding his livestock space and requests land allocation."
"The orphanage is requesting funds for repairs."
"Southern Village requests construction of a new canal."
...
Looking through all these civilian affairs files, Kawaki felt his head swell. Only now did he realize the kind of work a Hokage had to deal with.
Immediately, a thought came to him—this damn Hokage job can be taken over by whoever wants it.
"How is it going?"
"Now you understand what it feels like? I told you to become Hokage too."
Seeing Kawaki frowning, Tsunade gave him a sharp eye-roll.
"Not bad, not bad at all."
"It's all for the village."
Kawaki gritted his teeth and kept working, not daring to complain openly.
After all, he bore most of the responsibility for Tsunade being in this situation today.
"That sounds good. You can do my job for a while if you want."
Tsunade muttered under her breath. Classic couch general.
"No thanks, I'm not interested in being Hokage."
"Just let Minato or Nawaki grow up a little more first."
Kawaki quickly suggested replacements so he wouldn't catch any flak.
Honestly, he still preferred staying home with his wife and children.
"In your dreams. They're still so young."
The thought of remaining Hokage for years to come darkened Tsunade's face.
She raised her hand and smacked Kawaki lightly.
"Well then… we can table this for now."
"Did you settle everything with The Snow Clan already?"
Rubbing his head, Kawaki changed the subject.
"Yeah, I've assigned them a piece of land."
"Gave them some funding as well. They've basically officially settled in Konoha."
Tsunade was pleased with how cooperative the Snow Clan had been.
They took everything offered without complaint and never asked for anything extra.
And they fully cooperated when registering as ninjas.
"That's good. Their population is still small right now."
"We should encourage trusted families to build closer ties with them."
"Before long, Konoha will have fully integrated their Kekkei Genkai."
Kawaki shared his thoughts, though it was kind of taking advantage of their situation.
However, comparatively speaking, this was also the fastest way for The Snow Clan to integrate into Konoha.
"Don't worry, we've already had the Uchiha make contact."
"They're all impressive bloodlines; they should get along fine."
Tsunade hadn't considered it herself—Shouta suggested it first.
This only deepened Tsunade's respect for Shouta.
"Fugaku actually agreed?"
Kawaki still found it hard to believe.
In his opinion, having the Uchiha bloodline diluted should've been something Fugaku would strongly resist.
"You can't have Uchiha men marrying into other clans while keeping Uchiha women off-limits, can you?"
"I already discussed it with Fugaku," she replied.
"He said only an Uchiha can teach someone to use the Sharingan."
"And if someone awakens the Ice Release kekkei genkai, their techniques can be copied using ninjutsu."
Tsunade was basically paraphrasing Fugaku's exact words.
"Talk about playing chess several moves ahead."
Kawaki couldn't help but laugh—Fugaku had gotten a lot craftier than he remembered.
This meant that if The Snow Clan intermarried with the Uchiha and any child awakened the Sharingan, they'd still have to learn under the Uchiha.
In the end, Fugaku retained control.
"Spend too much time with you and no one stays innocent."
Tsunade teased Kawaki slightly. She didn't mind what Fugaku did.
Right now, the Uchiha were her most reliable ally.
"That's a bit unfair."
"This trip wasn't wasted at all."
"Guess what I brought back from Kiri?"
Kawaki grinned playfully—he was a perfect example of a law-abiding citizen.
"Oh right, I totally forgot to ask until just now."
"How was your visit to Kiri overall?"
Tsunade had seen Nagato return safely and Kawaki unharmed.
She had totally forgotten to ask until just now.
"Not much, just killed a Mizukage."
Kawaki said it casually, keeping a calm expression—the arrogance was impressively subtle.
"What?!"
"How could you act so recklessly without thinking of the bigger picture?"
Tsunade stood up in shock. She wasn't afraid of war, but that didn't mean she wanted one either.
She originally assumed Kawaki had used the Flying Thunder God technique to rescue Nagato immediately.
"No problem, no need to worry."
"Kiri will be thanking me instead."
"They even gave me quite a few gifts."
Kawaki took Tsunade's hand and gently pulled her back down to sit.
Tsunade looked at him in confusion.
There's more to come—don't miss out on the next part!
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She couldn't understand why Kiri would thank him after he'd killed their Mizukage.
"The Mizukage was controlled by the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"I suspect Madara Uchiha never really died in the first place."
"The current chaos in Kiri was all his doing, using the Mizukage as a puppet."
"So wouldn't Kiri owe me gratitude?"
This was the first time Kawaki had brought up Madara Uchiha to Tsunade.
It happened to be the right opportunity. Previously, he had avoided bringing it up out of concern that Tsunade might worry or disbelieve him.
"After all, everyone in Konoha believes Madara died by Hashirama Senju's hand."
"There's no way. Didn't he die by my grandfather's hand?"
As expected, Tsunade reacted exactly as Kawaki anticipated.
She knew of Madara Uchiha's terrifying strength and his deep resentment toward Konoha.
If that old monster were still alive, how could he possibly ignore Konoha?
"This is something I can't fully explain to you right now."
"I believe he faked his death."
"Other than him, I can't think of anyone else who meets both conditions—having the Mangekyō Sharingan and having enough influence to control a Kage-level ninja from an entire village."
Kawaki couldn't reveal that he knew this from the original plot, so he explained logically instead.
"In that case, we in Konoha must prepare ourselves."
Tsunade thought for a moment before deciding it was better to believe it might be true than risk ignoring it entirely.
Madara Uchiha was a powerful ninja, one who rivaled even her grandfather.
"We should prepare, but there's no need to panic."
"He must have suffered severe injuries. Otherwise, he wouldn't have remained inactive for so many years."
Finding Kawaki's reasoning sound, Tsunade gradually calmed down.
The shock of this revelation was just too great, and she hadn't fully recovered from it yet.
Just imagining Madara in a Gundam rampaging through Konoha made her feel physically ill.
If that day ever came, what would be left of Konoha?
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