Hearing that, Tsunade waved her hand directly. "No need. Seiryū is my disciple, I'll take care of him myself, so there's no need for you to worry about him."
She did not want Seiryū getting too close to that gloomy fellow, Orochimaru.
If Seiryū had not become Jiraiya's disciple even earlier than he became hers, she would not have wanted Seiryū to have any more contact with that pervert Jiraiya either.
Seiryū would learn bad things!
That was absolutely not acceptable!
As for Seiryū, she cared deeply about him and valued him, treating him as family.
"Speaking of this, I wanted to tell you something, old man. The Dragon Vein belongs to the nation of Rōran after all, and by accident, it was sealed into Seiryū's Yin Seal."
"Both emotionally and logically, we should naturally offer compensation to Rōran."
Tsunade stated the purpose of coming to see Hiruzen.
Telling him about Seiryū's situation was one reason.
The second was to tell him about the "agreement" between her and the Queen of Rōran.
He was the Third Hokage, and also her teacher.
Naturally, she needed to inform him of the general situation.
Tsunade looked at Hiruzen and said, "I've already reached some agreements with the Queen of Rōran."
"Konoha and Rōran will form an alliance, exchange what they need, engage in trade, and Konoha will also provide them with some protection. That should be doable, right?"
Even though, with her status, Tsunade did not need to inform Hiruzen in advance.
And she could make that kind of promise to Sāra herself.
But the final approval still required Hiruzen's agreement.
Still, in Tsunade's view, there was no way Hiruzen would refuse something like this.
This was not without benefits for Konoha, and besides, they had already "taken away" Dragon Vein chakra comparable to a Tailed Beast.
If they refused, it would be far too unreasonable.
Hiruzen pondered for a moment.
Then he nodded. "Of course. Konoha is one of the great shinobi villages, we would never do something like taking by force. You handled this very well."
"If it were me, I would have made the same decision."
Looking at Tsunade, Hiruzen smiled. "You've become more and more thorough in the way you handle things. You probably won't be leaving Konoha again in the future, right?"
"After I step down, how about you becoming the Fourth Hokage?"
Tsunade was the granddaughter of the First Hokage and the Second Hokage.
She was the most legitimate heir of the Hokage line.
On top of that, with Tsunade's strength, prestige, and connections, she could be said to be the most suitable person to become Hokage.
She was more suitable than anyone else in Konoha at present!
More importantly, with Tsunade having accepted Seiryū as her disciple, she likely would not continue wandering outside.
Tsunade, who had regained her sharpness, handled matters clearly and methodically, and was showing more and more of a Hokage's bearing.
She was the best possible candidate for Fourth Hokage!
Tsunade paused.
But she shook her head and said flatly, "Forget it. I'm not interested in that position, and besides, there are quite a few people more suitable than me."
"Old man, you can work hard for a few more years. Once a few years pass and Minato matures, I think he'd be more suitable than me."
The fact that he could become the Fourth Hokage in another timeline was enough to show that Minato had earned the recognition of Konoha's people in that other timeline.
The kind of recognition he truly deserved.
Mm, at the final moment before her memories were about to be sealed, Tsunade resisted.
Her memories of the "other timeline" were neither sealed nor blurred.
She clearly remembered everything that had happened!
Her purpose, naturally, was not to invade or colonize another timeline, but to investigate the situation of that shinobi who possessed the Wood Release kekkei genkai.
She was extremely concerned about and interested in that matter.
How could she possibly not care about a shinobi who wielded Wood Release!?
"Minato?"
Hiruzen was stunned for a moment. At present, he had not considered Minato.
Certainly, Minato's talent was very strong, and he was Jiraiya's disciple.
But he was still too young.
However, if a few years passed and Minato truly matured, he would indeed be a very suitable candidate.
After all, his strength was already not weak at this point. What he lacked was only experience.
Hiruzen asked curiously, "Why did you think of Minato?"
Tsunade waved her hand. "Minato's talent may not be as good as Seiryū's, but if you ignore Seiryū, that freak of nature, can you think of anyone whose talent is better than Minato's?"
"Even Orochimaru back then wasn't as good!"
"And during this mission, Minato also performed exceptionally well. At least in some areas, I'm not as good as him. What he lacks is only time."
"Of course, I'm just making a suggestion to you. Whether you consider it or not is up to you."
"It's just that Seiryū is still too young, otherwise I'd even consider having him become the Fourth Hokage."
In her heart, Seiryū was the one most suited to become Hokage!
His talent was powerful, and he was smart.
His only flaws were that sometimes he could be unreliable, he could make extreme moves, and he was too young...
Ignoring those flaws, Seiryū was practically perfect!!
Hiruzen: "..."
Alright.
Seiryū really was different in Tsunade's heart.
She actually said something like that?
She clearly had very high expectations for Seiryū!
After taking Seiryū as her disciple, Tsunade had indeed changed quite a bit.
She just valued and cared about Seiryū too much.
He even felt that...
if Tsunade had to choose between Konoha and Seiryū, she would choose Seiryū without hesitation.
The relationship between the two was less like teacher and disciple, and more like family!
He had no idea what exactly Seiryū had done to make Tsunade care about him this much.
"Old man, if there's nothing else, I'm leaving first. That kid is seriously injured, and I still need to treat him."
"And I just happen to owe him one million ryō, so I need to swindle it back..."
Tsunade said that to Hiruzen.
After seeing that he had nothing else to say, she turned and left directly.
She also did not ask Hiruzen about the "Wood Release shinobi." She would investigate it herself.
As long as a "Wood Release shinobi" also existed in this timeline, she would definitely find them!
After returning home, Tsunade walked straight toward Seiryū's room. Looking at Seiryū still lying flat on the bed, unable to move, for some reason she felt a bit amused.
She raised her brows at Seiryū and smiled. "Yo, still lying there?"
"That's a stupid question, isn't it?"
Seiryū's mouth twitched.
He said helplessly, "Hurry up and check me. How long until I can use chakra again? As long as I can use Kaidō, my injuries will heal very quickly..."
As long as he could use chakra to cast Kaidō, then injuries like this would be solved with a single Kaidō.
Tsunade walked over and sat on Seiryū's bed, helping him tidy up his somewhat messy hair.
Then she teased, "Let's talk about the price first. You know, my fees are always very expensive."
Seiryū: "..."
Gritting his teeth, he said, "Don't you still owe me one million ryō? Deduct it from that!!"
He knew this would happen.
He had just extorted one million ryō from her, and now he was about to be extorted right back.
(To be continued.)