Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 497 I Have a Daring Idea

Upon hearing this, the Fifth Raikage, Darui, was the first to stand up and object: "No, absolutely not."

What a joke! Konoha is already this strong. If they were to summon the strongest warriors from other villages and retain that power afterward, those villages would be finished...

Aokiji understood why Darui had reacted so strongly and said calmly, "You must have misunderstood something. With the strength of Konoha, we can do this whenever we want. These resurrected dead are just icing on the cake."

Darui sat down like a deflated balloon.

The other party spoke arrogantly, but it was the truth.

"Can you guarantee that afterwards you won't have the same ambition as Madara Uchiha, to unify the world?"

Darui stared into Aokiji's eyes, hoping for a promise.

Aokiji sighed helplessly, "I have no intention of unifying the world."

Kazekage Ebizo, who had been mostly silent, asked, "What's the reason?"

"The Land of Wind is all sand. I've unified the world, and now I'm expected to take care of your every need—food, drink, and shelter. Is that reason enough?"

Aokiji said speechlessly, "Our Land of Flames is vast and rich in resources, why would we do something so thankless?"

Ebizo lowered his head and remained silent.

Aokiji was getting impatient: "Can you please stop asking me such questions? Tsunade is in charge of the Land of Flames now, why do you keep asking me, the second-in-command...?"

Upon hearing this, everyone present found it hard to believe; what top leader would be the wife of the second-in-command?

Tsunade is only the nominal head; the real head is Aokiji.

"Let's put aside our past grudges for now and unite."

Tsunade gave everyone a way out, and with Aokiji's aggressive words earlier, the contrast made Tsunade appear righteous and virtuous. She spoke very well, so she immediately chose to go with the flow: "It seems that this is the only way. Although doing this will disturb our seniors, it is the only way. At least it can reduce some damage."

Back in the Kamui dimension, Aokiji and Tsunade heard a spatial tremor from afar.

"Oh, here we go again..."

Aokiji covered his forehead, feeling a slight headache.

This situation began after Sasuke upgraded to the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan...

Sasuke is frantically training with new eyes in order to avenge Itachi.

His opponent is Naruto, because Madara Uchiha has become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki. Perhaps in order to save the other tailed beasts, Kurama has temporarily decided to submit to Naruto.

"Aren't you going to tell Sasuke the truth?"

Tsunade felt that now that Sasuke had successfully awakened the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, there was no need to hide anything about Itachi anymore.

Aokiji thought it made sense and adopted the suggestion.

He found Sasuke and Naruto fighting and stepped in to stop them.

"Sorry, Naruto, can I borrow Sasuke for a moment?"

Aokiji pulled Sasuke away.

Sasuke was not happy about it; he still wanted to continue training to avenge his deceased brother.

"While your enthusiasm is commendable, if you continue to use your eye technique, your eyes... well, it seems like there won't be any problems."

Sasuke pleaded, "Aokiji-sensei, please let me train, please..."

Aokiji felt a little unsure how to explain this, so he could only pull him into a room and say, "Wait here for a while, I'll go call someone."

Sasuke was taken aback: "Call someone?"

Aokiji smiled, offered no further explanation, and left. After some time, he returned with a masked man dressed as an ANBU member.

The man glanced at Sasuke, then his gaze fell on Aokiji, his silence seemingly indicating whether he truly intended to do so.

Aokiji laughed and said, "Forget it, we've already achieved our goal, there's no need for further discussion."

The person wearing the mask nodded, removed the mask, revealing a delicate face with two faint tear tracks on either side of the bridge of the nose.

Upon seeing that face, Sasuke's pupils dilated: "Brother..."

Itachi gave an apologetic smile: "I'm sorry, Sasuke..."

"I have something to attend to, so I'll have to excuse myself for a moment."

Aokiji left the scene, leaving the brothers with private space.

"Brother, you're still alive? But I clearly saw you with my own eyes..."

Sasuke suddenly noticed Itachi's red and white eyes, his voice trailing off. He paused for a moment before continuing, "Brother, your eyes..."

Itachi now has one Sharingan and one Byakugan: "Aren't my eyes right here on you?"

"No, that's not what I meant. You're still alive, so why are you giving me your eyes...?"

Itachi sighed, "This is to atone for the mistakes I made in the past..."

"fault?"

"It's too early for you to think about this now. I'll tell you later..."

Itachi didn't want Sasuke to be exposed to the village's dark side too early.

Sasuke paused for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, then said, "It's about that matter, isn't it..."

Itachi looked at Sasuke in surprise: "You understand?"

"Since Uncle Aokiji returned to the clan, the clan has undergone great changes, especially the relationship between my brother and father. Then, that incident happened. Everything is developing in a direction that benefits the Uchiha. I'm not a child anymore..."

"well……"

"Can you tell me the whole story?"

"..."

"elder brother……"

After Sasuke and the others pleaded, Itachi remained silent for a moment before finally agreeing, "Alright..."

Given the effort and resources Aokiji invested in Sasuke, it was a foregone conclusion that he would become a high-ranking member of the clan and get involved in this matter.

Itachi revealed that he originally planned to assist the Root clan by killing all the clan members except for Sasuke.

Sasuke was dumbfounded. He had prepared himself, but the darkness of the village still exceeded his expectations.

Seeing Sasuke's disbelief, Itachi sighed regretfully, "It seems I let you know about this too early..."

Sasuke snapped out of his shock, shook his head, and expressed his understanding: "Compared to being caught between the village and my clan back then, my suffering is nothing."

Having said that, he immediately used the conjunction "but," his black eyes turning blood red, his irises filled with a cluster of six-pointed stars surrounded by a windmill pattern, and his voice became more furious: "I'm really angry..."

Itachi: "..."

"Did you even consider my feelings when you did this?!"

"Feel sorry……"

Aside from apologizing, Itachi couldn't say anything else.

Sasuke's voice softened: "So, please don't do this again. Don't lie to me anymore. I don't want to lose anyone, especially you, brother..."

Uchiha Itachi murmured, "Sasuke..."

Behind the door, Aokiji, who hadn't gone far, leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. Listening to the brothers' frank conversation, he smiled and muttered to himself, "Looks like I was just overthinking it..."

◎

On the eve of war.

Tsunade tossed and turned in bed.

Sharing the bed with her, Aokiji expressed his concern: "Can't sleep?"

Tsunade hummed in agreement.

"Are you experiencing chest tightness?"

Aokiji's hands traversed mountains and valleys, offering words of comfort and showing utmost care.

Tsunade clutched her chest, rubbing her buttocks together slightly, and glared at him: "What kind of time is this? You're still acting indecently, having the mind to do this kind of thing."

It was too dark with the lights off. Aokiji saw Tsunade's fierce eyes: "What's the use of worrying...?"

Tsunade snorted: "You can't talk about ice with a summer insect."

Aokiji chuckled, "Tsunade, you're underestimating yourself. Even though I'm ice, you can't call yourself a summer insect."

This jerk is not only becoming more and more outrageous in his words, but also in his actions. Tsunade said angrily, "I'm warning you, don't do anything reckless."

Although she doesn't usually mind doing this kind of thing, the most important thing right now is to conserve her energy, not to work day and night.

"Sorry, I got a little carried away playing..."

Tsunade said unhappily, "Hey, I'm not your fluff ball."

Aokiji's smile vanished, and he became serious: "I'm not kidding you, I have something serious to tell you."

"You've said all the nice things." Tsunade turned to the side, looking annoyed. "What is it?"

Aokiji shamelessly leaned closer and whispered in her ear, "Wife, I have a daring idea. If we win, could we..."

"ha?"

Upon hearing Aokiji's last words, Tsunade turned around, her eyes wide with astonishment: "Have you finally had a nervous breakdown because you haven't taken your medication in so long?"

I don't think so.

"Could it be that you actually have feelings for this guy?"

"A little bit, I guess. After all, this guy used to take good care of me, didn't he?" Aokiji scratched his cheek.

"Did you squeeze your brain in a door?"

"No, at most your brainwaves have squeezed through my brain..." Aokiji muttered to himself as he responded.

Tsunade, not understanding, subconsciously raised her voice: "That guy was just using you, and he even admitted it himself. You never make a mistake in crucial moments, and you even seem a bit cold-blooded to me, so how come at this critical juncture..."

"I just know who our real enemy is..."

"Speechless..."

"In short, let's see how things go, if possible..."

Tsunade turned over again and lay on her side to sleep, to show her resolute attitude.

Aokiji nudged Tsunade's shoulder: "Hey, don't sleep, you haven't answered me yet."

Tsunade grew impatient: "Shut up, I'm already asleep."

"Then what did you say just now?"

"daydream."

"Are you asleep?"

"..."

"Are you really asleep?"

"..."