Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 125 Konoha's White Fang

"Loulan?"

Aokiji asked, the name sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place it for the moment.

Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "This is a country within a country."

"A country within a country? If I heard correctly, this country seems to be located within the Land of Wind. Does the Land of Wind allow a country to exist within its own territory?"

"This has historical roots, which I won't go into detail here. You can simply understand it as this country offering a large sum of money every year in exchange for the protection of the Wind Kingdom."

Aokiji nodded in understanding, then asked, "So what exactly is the objective of this mission?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi continued to provide information: "The target of this mission is called Viper, female, an elite Jonin from Sunagakure, with considerable strength. She failed to assassinate the Daimyo of the Land of Wind, so the Land of Wind is issuing a full-scale manhunt for her."

Assassinate the daimyo?

Upon hearing this, Aokiji's goodwill towards him increased significantly.

He was very unhappy that the Great Name was a carbon-based life form.

Unfortunately, the two sides have different positions and cannot allow personal feelings to interfere with the mission.

"What is his ability?"

When carrying out a mission, intelligence on the enemy ninjas is a crucial element.

"In addition to ordinary wind-style ninjutsu, he is also skilled in using poisons, puppetry, and a secret technique that uses tattoos on his body as physical weapons in combat."

Aokiji couldn't help but admire him after hearing this; he really knew a lot of ninjutsu, no wonder he was an elite Jonin.

The strength of ninjas at the Jonin level varies greatly, with a high minimum and a high maximum. Since Hiruzen Sarutobi rated her as an elite Jonin, this woman named Scorpion must be quite strong. To be honest, even with Tsunade's help, Aokiji probably wouldn't have a sure chance of winning with his current strength.

Seemingly sensing the other's concern, Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke first: "This mission isn't just about you and Tsunade; there are two more people involved."

This mission concerns the future of Orochimaru and Jiraiya, and he thinks Aokiji should be able to grasp the importance of it and follow orders from his superiors during the mission.

After saying that, he added, "Because the enemy knows the situation in Sunagakure very well, if the Sunagakure ninjas rashly go to Loulan, there is a possibility that they might alert the enemy. Therefore, we have assigned our Konoha ninjas to go."

"I see……"

As Aokiji was speaking, two more people entered the office, one large and one small, both wearing masks.

Hiruzen Sarutobi introduced the two men to each other, saying, "These two are your companions on this mission."

Aokiji and Tsunade sized up the two. Apart from their white and black hair and the pair of eyes peeking out from the holes in their masks, the rest of their bodies were completely covered by the masks, so they couldn't see their faces and therefore didn't know their true identities.

Judging from their masks, they're probably members of the Dark Guard.

Hiruzen Sarutobi made the two men remove their masks.

The two looked at each other and fell silent.

As a member of the Anbu, one only removes the mask when facing the Hokage alone; otherwise, one must remain mysterious, even when facing comrades from the same village.

"It's alright, they're not outsiders."

After this mission, Hiruzen Sarutobi did not intend to let them continue as members of the Anbu. He wanted to bring his own trusted subordinates into the Anbu, so whether these two wore masks or not would not make much difference.

"I see……"

A deep, resonant voice came from the mask of the tall ANBU ninja. He then removed the mask, revealing his true appearance. He was around forty years old, with thick eyebrows, large eyes, a square face, a broad forehead, and a full beard. If you didn't know he was an ANBU member, you would immediately think he was an honest man if you saw him on the street.

After he removed his mask, the short man also took off his mask. He had white hair and wore a mask, so the lower half of his face could not be seen. However, judging from his eyebrows and eyes, he should be a handsome man second only to Aokiji. Judging from their ages, they should be about the same age.

"Oh, Uncle Sato."

When Tsunade saw the tall man remove his mask, she couldn't help but cover her mouth in surprise.

Aokiji looked at Tsunade, his eyes questioning.

Tsunade introduced him to Aokiji, saying, "Let me tell you, don't be fooled by his honest-looking face; he's actually a disciple of the First Hokage."

Sato, an honest man, shook his head and gave a wry smile: "Hey, is this how you introduce your elders, Tsunade?"

Aokiji glanced at Sato with surprise, not expecting that the First Hokage would have a disciple.

Tsunade described him as an honest man, and considering that he was a disciple of the First Hokage, he showed no interest in the Hokage position after the Second Hokage's death, and even served as an assistant to Hiruzen Sarutobi. In some ways, he did seem like an honest man, just like the First Hokage back then.

The difference is that he doesn't have the strength of the original, nor does he have a good brother to advise him.

Tsunade dismissed it: "I don't know who it was that believed a five-year-old girl who said that if you threw an axe into the lake, a lake spirit would appear and ask you if it was your golden axe or a silver axe..."

Sato, his face darkening, said, "I'm just doing this to keep you company, okay..."

Tsunade looked at the white-haired boy.

Sato smiled slightly and introduced, "This is my disciple, Hatake Sakumo. He's two years older than you, and he's quite strong."

(P.S.: The original work doesn't specify White Fang's exact age. Kakashi was 29 in the first part, Tsunade was 55, and they had children around 27 or 28, so the logic makes sense.)

Tsunade disagreed.

She was unconvinced, while Aokiji was quite surprised.

Sakumo Hatake

White teeth?

Kakashi's father?

After hearing the explanation, he understood why White Tooth had become somewhat depressed later on.

White Fang is definitely the successor to the Will of Fire.

In the original story, White Fang died because he couldn't bear the villagers' accusations, and he became as fragile as a glass heart.

But in his view, it's less about him being fragile and more about his faith collapsing.

The main problem is that the mission was just too suspicious.

"Hello, my name is Hatake Sakumo."

White Fang took the initiative to greet Tsunade and Aokiji.

Although it is in the shadows, it does not give people a gloomy feeling.

"Hello."

Aokiji responded politely.

"It seems you two have gotten to know each other. Now, let's get on with the mission." Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled, then his expression turned serious. The future ninja careers of his two beloved students depended entirely on this mission.

"Yes."

The four accepted the mission and immediately set off.

The Land of Wind is a barren country, giving the impression of nothing but desert. However, it is not entirely a landlocked country; there are areas within its territory that border the sea.

The country they are heading to is relatively coastal, and if Aokiji and the others want to get there as quickly as possible, traveling by water will be much faster.

The four of them rushed to the coastal area of ​​the Land of Fire as quickly as possible, boarded a ship, and set sail.

If traveling by boat at full speed, it would take at least two or three days to get from here to Loulan.

During this period, Aokiji spent most of his time on the boat. When he was feeling irritable, he would occasionally choose to go fishing to calm himself down, so as not to bring his emotions into the mission later.

"The bait has been taken..."

Tsunade offered a reminder from the side.

Aokiji frowned. Judging from the strength transmitted through his hand, this fish was quite powerful.

It would take a lot of effort to fish it up by himself, so to save time, he chose to call for help.

"Tsunade, you're strong, you do it."

After saying that, he handed the fishing rod to Tsunade.

"You're so useless."

Despite her disdainful words, Tsunade's body language was quite telling; her strength was astonishing, and she easily caught a large fish, which fell onto the deck.

The fish had barely thrashed around a couple of times when Aokiji drew Enma and killed it with a single stroke.

Seeing this, Sato, who was standing to the side, recognized the sword's extraordinary origin with his extensive knowledge. He looked surprised and stepped forward, wanting to take a look at Aokiji's ninja tool.

Aokiji handed it over casually.

What followed was the much-anticipated shock of the other party, and then Aokiji Versailles said: "Oh dear, I don't really want it either, but the elders of the family insist on giving it to me, so I can't help it."

After listening to Aokiji's nonchalant boasting, Sakumo silently looked at his specially made chakra dagger.

Tsunade joked, "You really are wasting a good thing, using a ninja tool like the Kusanagi Sword as a kitchen knife."

"Those ninjas who like to use ninja tools must be itching to kill you if they knew this."

Aokiji said nonchalantly, "A sword is meant to cut things, who cares what it's for?"

Aokiji actually wanted the Executioner's Blade more than the Kusanagi Sword.

This weapon has the effect of drinking blood and regenerating. If you use the broken cleaver to slaughter pigs, you can definitely produce a lot of high-quality metal. If you sell it as scrap metal, you can probably make a lot of money.

"You can't say that..."

Although Tsunade didn't understand swords, after hearing Sato's praise of the Kusanagi sword, she knew to some extent what an amazing ninja tool Aokiji used.

"A sword is a sword. It's a tool for cutting and killing. If I don't use it to cut things, am I supposed to treat it like an ancestor?"

As Aokiji spoke, his hands were busy cutting open the fish's belly. Inside, besides the internal organs, there was some undigested food and other random things.

For example, the one right now.

(End of this chapter)