The amount of information Yagoromo told Tsunade that day was a little too much. For a while, she could not fully accept it all. It was not that she did not believe Yagoromo, but there was still a sense of unreality, even absurdity, in what he said.
That was only human nature. Although Tsunade belonged to the group of people in this world with the broadest horizons, strongest cognition, and greatest capacity for acceptance, what Yagoromo spoke of was far too serious and full of wide-reaching danger. At the same time, what he described was something somewhat intangible, invisible, and untouchable, so her mind was naturally a tangled mess.
Something like controlling or destroying the entire shinobi world was far too distant from her current situation. Right now, Tsunade's life had originally consisted of nothing more than drinking a little wine, gambling a little money, and letting such days continue one after another. Yet now, she had suddenly learned that a group of chūnibyō lunatics were trying to destroy the world…
At some point in life, almost everyone had probably had a feeling along the lines of, "This world might as well just be destroyed." Tsunade had experienced such moments too. But at most, that was a passing feeling. Who would have imagined there were really people so bored they wanted to destroy the world?
This situation could not be explained by the word "chūnibyō" alone.
But reality was that a world-ending plan not only existed, the people holding such ideas were also a group of extremely powerful shinobi. At the same time, they had even found a feasible method…
Reviving the Ten-Tails.
Just how much destructive power a single tailed beast possessed was something visible and tangible. Although no one in the current shinobi world had seen the legendary "Ten-Tails," and even among those who had heard of such an existence, they were a minority among minorities, one could still imagine what it would be like to gather all nine tailed beasts together. That kind of violent energy truly did possess the possibility of destroying the world.
Overall, Yagoromo's explanation stopped at the Ten-Tails. He did not continue by explaining the "Eye of the Moon" plan. First, there was no need to do so. In any case, both were world-ending plans. Whether the Ten-Tails was used to devastate the entire continent once over, or everyone was made to sink into an infinite genjutsu, there was essentially no difference.
Second, Yagoromo himself actually had no way to accurately say the words "Eye of the Moon." It was already good enough that he knew Uchiha Obito wanted to carry out the Infinite Tsukuyomi. As for the name of the plan for realizing the Infinite Tsukuyomi? It could be called whatever it wanted.
After that, Yagoromo explained some other things in detail as well. These additions made his words even more persuasive. However, even after he had said so much, Tsunade still did not immediately agree to return to Konoha.
She needed a few days to think.
By this point, Tsunade's attitude already allowed Yagoromo to breathe a sigh of relief. This kind of "consideration" that did not directly reject him was, in itself, not very different from agreement. At most, she simply needed a few days to completely accept the matter.
Yagoromo's persuasion of Tsunade was already complete. Next would be Tsunade's own reason persuading her emotions. This process would not take too long, nor would there be any problems.
If Tsunade accepted what Yagoromo had said, then that meant she accepted that the entire shinobi world was facing a great disaster from which no one could stand apart. And for her, since she could not stay uninvolved, the remaining choice was naturally to participate more actively.
Letting the world be destroyed and even drifting along with the tide? As the granddaughter of the First Hokage, one of the Legendary Sannin, and the heroic female shinobi Tsunade, no matter how negative her attitude toward Konoha or the shinobi world had become, she would not be negative to that extent.
In reality, although she was disappointed in certain aspects of Konoha, she still cared greatly about this "treasure left behind by the previous generations" as a whole. After all, in the "original" situation, she had also refused Orochimaru's offer to revive the two most important people in her life, then turned around and tried to poison him…
Compared to that kind of emotionally inclined persuasion, Yagoromo's persuasion was undoubtedly more absolute. Although he had still not explicitly said that Tsunade would return to Konoha as the successor to the Hokage position, she fully understood that point. After all, Jiraiya had already run over several times for that very reason.
Things turned out just as Yagoromo expected. Three days later, Tsunade made the decision to return to Konoha.
...
"Yagoromo, what are you planning to do?" Tsunade asked with a frown as she looked at the Yatagarasu Yagoromo had summoned.
"I'm sending word back to Konoha first that Lady Tsunade will be returning. That way, the Third Hokage should be able to rest easy."
As Yagoromo spoke, he stuffed the scroll he had just written into Yatagarasu's mouth. After lightly patting it, the enormous summoned beast rose into the air and flew back toward Konoha.
Under these circumstances, the three of them naturally could have followed Yatagarasu and flown back quickly and conveniently. However, Tsunade would definitely not like returning that way, so Yagoromo did not bother inviting annoyance upon himself.
"This is the summoned beast you left in Shikkotsu Forest, right? But is it fine for such a large summoned beast to enter Konoha?" Tsunade watched the huge figure vanish into the sky, then turned and asked Yagoromo.
"It's fine. Konoha should be familiar enough with this summoned beast by now…"
From Tsunade's face, unless one looked very carefully, it was hard to tell whether she had any particular feelings about returning to Konoha. But in reality, Yagoromo knew that no matter what exactly she was feeling right now, her heart was absolutely not calm.
She had left Konoha from the battlefield in Sunagakure and had never returned since. More than eighteen years had passed by now.
Hearing Yagoromo say that, Tsunade nodded. As long as there was no problem, then it was fine. Earlier, she had only been worried that this summoned beast might be shot down the moment it entered Konoha's territory. If that happened, what message would it even deliver?
"Lady Tsunade, there's one more thing. About what I told you that day…"
"I know. For the time being, I won't say anything carelessly."
Judging from Tsunade's reaction, this was clearly not the first time Yagoromo had reminded her of it.
From Tsunade's point of view, the reason Yagoromo had not revealed that Uchiha Obito was the perpetrator when the incident had just happened was because, at that time, he had been immersed in tremendous grief and had no time to concern himself with that side of things. After some time had passed, considering the situation of the Uchiha clan back then, he became even less able to say it. As for now, after so many years, even if he explained it, the persuasive force would already be quite limited… Without definite evidence, not everyone would be willing to believe Yagoromo the way Tsunade did. It could be said clearly that with only his mouth, he could not gain the trust of Konoha's higher-ups.
Her thinking was not entirely wrong. At least for now, this "temporary secrecy" was simply because Yagoromo did not want to be repeatedly questioned by the advisory council. But fundamentally, he merely hoped that his actions in this matter could remain more independent.
"Lady Tsunade, I've already packed all the luggage. We can set off at any time." At that moment, Shizune came to Tsunade's side with the luggage packed.
Compared to Tsunade, Shizune's emotions were much more obvious. Being able to end their drifting days and return to Konoha made Shizune very happy.
Tsunade was alone and unburdened. After losing all her money, she did not have much luggage either, so the group could be considered lightly equipped.
"Then let's set…" Tsunade had just been about to say "set off," but suddenly stopped. Yagoromo thought some major problem had come up.
"Ahem. Before we set off, I have one final question… Once I become Hokage, will my debts become the village's debts? After all, a Hokage who owes money and refuses to repay it would be very bad for Konoha's reputation, right?"
The corner of Yagoromo's mouth twitched. So this person actually knew that owing debts and not repaying them was a bad habit? But that still should not be a reason to push private debts onto the village, right?
He absolutely had to strongly condemn her.
"Of course. I think so," he said instead.
What a joke. From today onward, he had already defected from the Third Hokage faction. The White Yaksha had switched allegiance to the Fifth Hokage's camp. Let Konoha's third-generation leadership team go to hell.
Although Yagoromo often referred to Tsunade behind her back as an old person, in reality, a person's appearance truly could affect both their own mental state and that of the people around them. Sometimes, it could even make others ignore their true age. Although Tsunade was already over fifty, with the appearance she maintained now, even the occasional bout of willfulness did not feel out of place. After all, she "looked" very young. For some things, being pleasing to the eye was enough. But if she reverted to her original appearance… imagine Granny Chiyo suddenly acting spoiled or something… Fine, first of all, she herself would absolutely never do that. Second, even if she did, it would not be acting spoiled. It would be a seizure.
That kind of behavior would carry the most poisonous toxin Granny Chiyo had accumulated over her entire life, a deadly poison that not even Tsunade could cure. It would be enough to make everyone who saw it dig their own eyes out!
Something Chiyo could not do, Tsunade could. That was because, under the premise of always maintaining a youthful appearance, she probably had never considered herself someone in her fifties.
Tsunade would forever be twenty-five-year-old Tsunade.
...
The journey along the way was calm and uneventful, so there was no need to elaborate.
Two days after setting out from that town, Yagoromo's group of three appeared at Konoha's main gate.
For Tsunade, this was Konoha after a long absence.
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