Konoha: Offer your heart to the Hokage!

They'll submit as soon as you unleash your Wood Release.

After thinking for a moment, Shen Er said, "Wouldn't it be more appropriate for Tobirama to go?"

“I plan to leave Tobirama in the village to handle government affairs, which will be a good opportunity for him to gain experience. Moreover, during his time in charge of intelligence gathering, he had quite a few conflicts with the various villages, and I’m afraid that if he goes to the scene, he might cause trouble.”

Suddenly, it occurred to him.

The Thousand Hands brothers of the Five Kage Summit seem to have one red-faced and one white-faced character.

"……All right."

"I will go with you."

Testimonials

Thank you, dear readers, for keeping reading until now.

I will update 2 words tomorrow morning at 10 am, and then start updating 6000 words per day, and then see how I feel.

I'm asking for a first-time subscription here _(:з」∠)_

Main text

Chapter 71 Nine-Tails' Scheme, Mito's Bullying (4K)

Shen'er didn't actually want to leave the village.

It wasn't because his roots were in Konoha. Rather, the Zen clan harbored too many secrets that couldn't be revealed, and venturing out would inevitably cause them unease.

Furthermore, during his early assassination missions, he had incurred the blood feuds of many ninja villages. Although he has long since severed ties with the past and erased all traces, the more he does such things, the more mistakes he makes.

But since Hashirama Senju had invited him to go with him, Shen Er naturally wasn't intimidated.

The Five Kage Summit is the grandest stage in the ninja world.

There, you can stand at the highest point, overlook the most elite ninjas of this era, and listen to their heartbeats.

He would even present himself as gentle and harmless, thus getting to know the second Kage of the other four great ninja villages.

That night.

Shen Er returned to the Zen temple clan and began to handle the aftermath. He suspended all his experiments and secretly transferred all the experimental data by sealing it in a scroll. Only after doing all this was the secrecy work completed.

A few more days passed.

As soon as the medical class at the Ninja Academy ended, Senju Takayuki approached him and conveyed Hashirama's invitation to a family dinner.

Shen'er's first reaction was to refuse.

Now that Mito Uzumaki has become the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki, her ability to sense good and evil has been enhanced under the influence of the Nine-Tails' chakra. This ability is subjective and idealistic, and she cannot guarantee that the darkness in her own heart will not be sensed.

But then I thought about it again...

Am I supposed to hide forever?

Even if Hashirama dies, Mito Uzumaki can still live for decades.

Does he always find an excuse to avoid being invited to meet?

No matter how carefully an excuse is prepared, it can't explain why things always happen so coincidentally. The more they avoid each other, the more their guilty conscience is written all over their face, and even the most oblivious person can sense that something is wrong.

This family dinner is something I must not only attend, but I must also attend openly and honestly.

She even went to the shopping street to pick out a bunch of souvenirs, as a way of celebrating Hashirama and his wife's successful capture of the tailed beasts: exquisite bonsai, wooden carvings, high-end sake, and even a set of cheat dice for gambling...

That night, Shen'er arrived at the territory of the Thousand Hands tribe.

...

Upon returning to the village, Mito Uzumaki experienced firsthand the unprecedented pressure and helplessness of being a Jinchūriki.

Even though the Four Symbols Seal had minimized the Nine-Tails' corruption, the chakra filled with overwhelming hatred still clung to her like a persistent ailment, subtly affecting her. It allowed her to sense the hidden goodwill and malice in others' hearts even without using Kagura's Mind's Eye.

Walking on the streets of Konoha.

The villager, who was smiling and greeting her just a second ago, suddenly made her sense the malice in her heart the next second.

Malice manifested in language, as if saying

"Ugh, my hair looks awful, like a red tomato!"

Mito Uzumaki is very sad.

It turns out that the kind and friendly villagers actually viewed her in this way in private.

She had no way to confide her distress to anyone, not even Hashirama Senju.

The village was the ideal world that Hashirama had devoted his life to building, and in his eyes, every villager was like a child.

It is unreasonable for a father to scold his son.

She couldn't just raise her hand and knock those gossipy women to the ground; her malice remained hidden deep in her heart, unspoken.

If a fight really breaks out, she will be the one in the wrong.

ridiculous.

The wife of the Hokage could only silently swallow this grievance.

At that moment, Mito suddenly understood the curse that Nine-Tails was sealed with: "To sever, cut, and chop up the filthy souls of humans."

The Nine-Tails did indeed do it.

It didn't tear her soul apart, but through this power of perception, it dissected the hearts of the Konoha villagers, laying bare their ugliest and most callous nature before her eyes.

To support her husband's ideals, Mito Uzumaki chose to bear all of this alone:

"A ninja is someone who can endure everything; that is my way of the ninja."

The seal on the hairpin turned slightly.

This shows that she has adapted to the malice from the villagers and accepted this ability to perceive malice.

Mito Uzumaki optimistically thought, "If one day a spy from another village were to infiltrate Konoha disguised as a spy, this ability would actually make it easier to lock onto the target."

This situation remained stable for a week.

Hashirama specially invited Shinji to his home for a drink, wanting to finish the wine he hadn't had enough of before the battle at the Valley of the End.

Mito Uzumaki thus met Shinji again.

He carried bags of gifts and greeted the two with a smile, "Hashirama, Mito... I brought you some things."

"Oh, you're already here, why are you being so polite?"

Hashirama casually accepted the gift bag, and Mito followed suit.

But the moment she took the bag

With the combined blessing of Kagura's Mind's Eye and the Nine-Tails' perception.

A bottomless malice invaded her senses.

Cold, piercing, pure to the point of absolute, pitch black as ink, and as deep as an abyss.

The petty, mean-spirited, and trivial evils of the villagers of Konoha are not even in the same league.

Looking at the gentle smile on Shinji's face, Mito Uzumaki froze.

Strangely, the terrifying malice only flashed for a moment before quickly receding and dissipating, replaced by a faint kindness, as if it had just been an illusion.

What's going on? Is her perception wrong?

Mito was completely confused and couldn't figure out the reason.

At that moment, she turned to look at her, her tone calm: "Lady Mito, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, come in."

She suppressed her surprise and led Shen Er inside.

...

In Mito's mental world, Kurama grinned, letting out a low, sneer. Its vertical pupils flashed with an evil light, and its tone was filled with undisguised excitement:

“What astonishing malice this human brat… In my nearly thousand years of life, I have never sensed a more pure malice than his.”

"It's practically like the incarnation of the Absolute Devil."

"Go destroy! Go slaughter! Destroy everything that Mito Uzumaki cares about!"

Nine-Tails' idea is very simple.

Trapped in the seal, unable to escape, it was filled with resentment but helpless. It could only use its chakra to constantly disturb Mito's senses, making her see the darkness in the people around her. Day after day, it was tormented by the malice in people's hearts until it suffered a mental breakdown.

The Nine-Tails can make Jinchūriki feel malice, but it cannot generate malice out of thin air.

Among the people I met in Mito, there were many with mild malice, but also quite a few with good intentions.

until……

Through Mito, Kurama saw the man named Jinji in front of her.

The sheer emanating pure malice immediately attracted the attention of the Nine-Tails. The Nine-Tails instinctively controlled its chakra, preventing Mito Uzumaki from sensing good and evil through its power.

The petty tricks and evil deeds of the Konoha villagers may annoy Mito at most, but they cannot shake the foundation.

However, the aura of extreme evil emanating from him suggests that he is a thoroughly wicked person. He could very well cause chaos in the real world and drive Mito to the brink of despair.

At that point, Mito will have no choice but to rely on his own strength.

And it is then that Nine Lamas will be able to break free of the seal and regain his freedom.

The Nine Lamas rejoiced in his own wisdom.

Just like earthquake early warning systems, how can we maximize the damage? The answer is to frequently issue false warnings in normal times, keeping people on the ground busy and numbing their senses. Then, when a magnitude 9.9 earthquake actually occurs, we keep it secret and deliver the biggest warning all at once.

Under the deliberate manipulation of Nine-Tails.

Mito Uzumaki could only perceive the superficial "good" but not the "evil" deep within her heart.

After doing all this, the nine-tailed fox lay down again and took a nap.