Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 291 Returning the Five-Tailed Beast

Seemingly disapproving of the decision, Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head.

"Hiruzen, are you going to go against Tobirama-sensei's will?"

Danzo was very displeased to see that Hiruzen Sarutobi was still hesitating, so he used his predecessor's name to suppress him.

Hiruzen Sarutobi did hesitate, but that wasn't the main reason: "If it were a few years ago, it might have been possible."

"But now, Aokiji is too strong. He can't be subdued by just a few ANBU ninjas like before."

"If he resists, it would take at least two Kage-level ninjas, plus a group of elite ninjas, to completely subdue him."

"Besides the reasons mentioned above, don't forget that the Uchiha clan stands behind Aokiji. With his current talent and strength, he is undoubtedly the next head of the Uchiha clan. If we act rashly, the village will fall into internal strife, and other villages might even take advantage of the situation, causing an irreparable crisis."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's words made perfect sense, and even Danzo couldn't find a single reason to refute them. He could only snort and blame, "If you had listened to me back then, things wouldn't be like this now."

"What's done is done, let's not bring it up again."

Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't want to mention his mistakes, so he glossed over it: "Let's continue discussing how to deal with Aokiji's problem."

"Whose fault do you think it is that things have turned out like this?" Danzo stood up, clapped his hands, and roared, "This is your dereliction of duty as Hokage!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's earlier display of weakness emboldened Danzo to push his luck, and he had to adopt a firm stance to suppress him.

"Danzo, stop going on and on. Don't forget, I am the Hokage now. I have many things to consider, and it's impossible for me to be able to handle everything from every angle."

The phrase "I am the Hokage" seemed to be Danzo's inner demon, causing him to suppress his raging anger. He plopped back down in his seat and said sarcastically, "Hmph, then tell me how to deal with this."

Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned slightly forward, resting his arms on the table, his palms crossed near his mouth, his voice low and his expression solemn:

"First of all, we can't let Aokiji and Tsunade stay together any longer."

"Easy for you to say. They've been living together for so long, it's not that easy for them to break up." Danzo said sarcastically. "And what reason do you plan to use to make them break up? Don't tell me you're planning to use your status as their teacher."

On the question of how to break up the couple, Hiruzen Sarutobi was self-aware enough that Danzo had clearly misunderstood his words. He explained:

That's not what I meant.

Danzo glanced at him, waiting for him to continue his explanation.

"I plan to keep these two separate when carrying out missions in the future, so that Aokiji can no longer accumulate enough military merits."

The position of Hokage requires not only strength, but also recognition from the villagers and significant contributions to the village.

If Aokiji isn't deployed in some key battles, his military achievements won't accumulate. Then, when he retires, it will be justifiable not to mention Aokiji when it comes to electing the Fourth Hokage.

Danzo snorted, remaining silent and neither refuting nor objecting, thus accepting the proposal for the time being.

At this moment, Xiaochun, who was switching dorms, asked a new question:

"Even so, this won't work. Don't forget the relationship between Aokiji and Tsunade."

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed. The relationship between Tsunade and Aokiji was indeed a very thorny issue.

This is not only because of the teacher-student relationship, but also because Tsunade seems to have a strong desire to become Hokage.

If she is elected, it will be no different from Aokiji being elected.

After all, by that time, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the two would already be married, and might even have children who are several years old.

Having an Uchiha whisper sweet nothings in the Hokage's ear every day is essentially no different from an Uchiha being directly elected Hokage.

Thinking about this, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a pang of regret.

If only I had been more decisive back then, instead of hesitating and just getting to know Aokiji, I wouldn't be in this intractable mess now.

But since things have come to this, there's no point in dwelling on nonsense anymore.

"In short, let's take it one step at a time until we find a proper solution."

When he said this, Hiruzen Sarutobi had a bit of wishful thinking in his heart.

It's not impossible that Aokiji might accidentally get killed by an enemy ninja on the battlefield, it's just that the probability is relatively low.

Danzo was not satisfied with Hiruzen Sarutobi's seemingly evasive answer: "Hiruzen, have you forgotten something quite important?"

"Something important?"

After being reminded, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly seemed to realize something, and his face darkened.

Danzo continued, "Back then, during the Five-Tails Night, we thought it was Inui from Iwagakure."

"When we found the Tsuchikage and confronted him, Onoki denied it, saying that they were not the ones who did it."

"That guy Onoki felt that someone was using their village to escalate the conflict between Iwagakure and Amekakure, so Iwagakure didn't choose to join the war with us, but instead chose to ally with us."

"And at that time, he made a request, I don't know if you remember it."

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled wryly and said, "Of course I remember, how could I forget?"

When the alliance was formed, Onoki's condition was that Konoha return the Five-Tails.

Hiruzen Sarutobi naturally refused to agree to such a thing.

After all, who knows if what Onoki said is true?

Having just used the Five-Tails to cause damage to Konoha, and after Konoha finally managed to seal the Five-Tails, they actually had the audacity to demand its return. How could such a good thing happen? Hiruzen Sarutobi naturally refused with righteous indignation.

Onoki seems unwilling to be used as a tool, but also wants to take back the Five-Tails.

So the two sides remained deadlocked until finally both sides took a step back.

That is, if the Five-Tails Jinchuriki cannot bear the death of the tailed beast within him, Konoha must return the Five-Tails.

Because it's a compromise between the two sides, Iwagakure won't directly ally with Konoha, but will instead adopt an attitude of not helping either side.

This is the deal reached between the two parties.

However, a prerequisite for doing this is that Aokiji does not have the Sharingan.

Everyone knows that the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan can control tailed beasts. If you have the Sharingan, controlling tailed beasts is a piece of cake.

The Iwagakure probably thought that Aokiji, without the Sharingan, would soon be mentally broken by the Five-Tails, so they agreed to the request.

However, now that Aokiji possesses the Sharingan, this deal is no longer valid.

Iwagakure might be wary of Aokiji's growing strength and the possibility that even if they know they're being used, they might still join the opposing forces and try every means to weaken Konoha's power.

At that time, Konoha will have established itself as another ninja village on the scale of a major power, which is an outcome that Konoha absolutely does not want to see.

The thought of how many important things were involved in the Sharingan gave Hiruzen Sarutobi a terrible headache, and he wanted to lie down for a while: "Let's leave it at that for today's meeting. We'll have another meeting in a couple of days."

After saying that, he stood up and prepared to leave, as if he were avoiding the issue.

Danzo then stood up as well: "Hiruzen, you must give a satisfactory answer regarding Aokiji possessing the Sharingan. Otherwise, I will resort to my own methods."

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave Danzo a deep look: "I will..."

(End of this chapter)