Chapter 226: The Cruel Reality
Although there were some deviations from what was expected, and in the end, she had even requested support, overall, this mission was still considered completed by Sakura.
And it was completed very well. All important personnel and materials were preserved.
"This is a huge harvest!" When they returned to Konoha, Tsunade personally inspected the gains from this trip, her eyes seeming to faintly emit a glow.
No, Sakura could guarantee with her integrity that when her master saw the string of numbers on the seized bankbook, her eyes had indeed instantly brightened a lot.
"Could Master be thinking of embezzling this public fund to pay off her gambling debts..." Sakura felt a drop of cold sweat trickle down her head.
She reached up to touch it, only to find that she wasn't sweating. It was just an illusion. Hn, an illusion, it's all an illusion!
Looking again, Tsunade had indeed returned to her serious demeanor, accompanying the Intelligence Division in registering and classifying the books and scrolls seized this time. The intelligence collected from the underground intelligence market was not necessarily accurate, but it also had high reference value. Some black markets even valued their reputation more than the legitimate market, so the information in their hands could not be ignored.
"Hn... for the sake of the rich harvest this time, I'll count it as you passing the assessment," Tsunade said with a joke after the inspection was over and they had returned to the Hokage's office, in a good mood.
"What? How can you just 'count it as me passing'!" Her cute disciple was in chaos, not hearing the teasing in Tsunade's words. In a moment of panic, she quickly defended herself, "On this mission, I cut down over a hundred people, and even took out several rogue-nin, and a few of them were about at the Jonin level! This level of difficulty could have been used to assess a Jonin! After completing a mission of this difficulty, how can you use the word 'count'? It should be a full-marks pass!"
She looked at Tsunade's expression, which was on the verge of laughter, and only then did she realize that her master had said it on purpose.
Haruno Sakura's eyes rolled, and she immediately realized another problem. "Speaking of which, Master, you couldn't have known long ago that there was a problem with this mission's intelligence, and that's why you sent me to do it, right!"
"Ha, how could that be!" Tsunade quickly denied, but in her tone... Sakura seemed to hear a hint of guilt?
Under Haruno Sakura's pressing, direct gaze, she finally admitted the truth: "Actually, I just suspected there was a problem. After all, we've rarely scouted that area, and the information has always been scarce. If I sent you, if everything was normal, it would just be an ordinary Tokujō assessment mission. If the intelligence was indeed inconsistent with the real situation, then there was most likely a large base there, but with your strength, it wouldn't be too much of a problem..."
The most crucial thing was that doing so would save manpower.
Otherwise, to be on the safe side, she would have had to send two Anbu squads, or an elite Anbu squad with a low number, to carry out the mission.
How could it be as convenient as Haruno Sakura, who, while carrying out her assessment, also had enough strength to deal with any situation, and could be a one-woman squad.
The Fifth Hokage, who had unhesitatingly used her disciple's cheap labor, changed the subject without a change in expression under the girl's unfriendly gaze. "The spoils from this mission... are these all?"
Sakura was stunned, not quite understanding Tsunade's meaning...
She looked again at Tsunade's raised eyebrows, her meaningful gaze, and suddenly had a flash of realization.
"There's nothing more!" she said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. How can the Fifth Hokage seem even poorer than her?
Oh right, she's probably in the negative assets...
"There can be!" Tsunade emphasized. "Split it fifty-fifty when we meet, and I won't pursue your crime of privately hiding the mission's gains!"
"There really isn't..."
The girl had no choice but to hold out her hands, spread her fingers, and reveal her ten clean and neat, light pink nails.
This time, she hadn't put on any nail polish to cover the micro-sealing formula, and the previous formulas had long since been clipped off by her through the medical ninjutsu-induced growth of her nails.
"Ahem, alright, it seems you really didn't do it... very good!" Tsunade was greatly disappointed. Sakura really didn't hide any... she said insincerely, "As expected of my disciple! Alright, let's talk about your business—"
Just as she was saying this, a knock suddenly sounded on the door, and Ibiki's tall figure walked in.
He first nodded slightly to Sakura in greeting, then handed a document to Tsunade. "This is the intelligence that the interrogation department has obtained from the few key leaders of the bounty station. Please have a look."
Tsunade took the document and said, "You've worked hard. The interrogation squad should go back and rest. You've been tired for three or four days!"
She waved her hand, signaling for Ibiki to withdraw.
She opened the document and began to read it carefully. The people at the bounty station were quite familiar with Kakuzu, since he would, from time to time, carry a corpse to the bounty station to exchange for money, and would reveal some intelligence during their idle chat.
For example, Hidan was immortal.
The problem was that most of the intelligence had already been discovered by Squad 14 during that life-or-death battle...
So the only valuable thing in here was some intelligence about the Akatsuki.
Tsunade quickly finished browsing, drew a few circles in the report with a red pen, then put the document aside and rubbed her temples.
"Is there any intelligence on the Akatsuki in there?" Sakura couldn't help but ask.
Tsunade looked up at her, hesitated for a moment, but still said, "Originally, these things shouldn't be revealed to a Chunin, but it's fine to tell you. The 'Akatsuki's' recent goal is still to lie dormant and accumulate strength. Their next plan is said to only be implemented in about two years. So, we won't be making any major moves against the Akatsuki for the time being."
"Since the 'Akatsuki' is still accumulating strength, why don't we take the opportunity to attack it?"
Tsunade closed her eyes, thought for a moment, then held up two fingers and said, "One reason is that we are also in the stage of accumulating strength. The current Konoha is still too weak and does not have the strength to provoke that organization..."
She stopped there.
"And the second reason?" the girl pressed.
"The second reason..." The Fifth Hokage's expression became serious, and she said coldly, "We five great ninja villages all know it has problems, but no one wants to confront the Akatsuki head-on and then let another ninja village reap the fisherman's profit. After all, the Akatsuki has several 'Kage'-level members..."
"Uh!" Haruno Sakura was stunned. So that's the reason.
"Can't the five great ninja villages unite and, as a whole, solve this problem together?" The moment she said this, she realized she had asked a stupid question.
"There has never been a case where the five great ninja villages have united to deal with the same problem. The hatred between the ninja villages is too deep. Mutual vigilance and mutual hostility are our norm. As for cooperation..." Tsunade sighed helplessly. "Perhaps only when the 'Akatsuki' has beaten every village into submission, and everyone truly realizes that its threat is greater than the threat between the ninja villages, will all the villages unite!"
Sakura said with a gloomy face, "That means, before the 'Akatsuki' jumps out and stirs up trouble, we can only, like the other ninja villages, appeasingly watch them develop and grow? This is simply... the most foolish decision."
This was the most typical game theory problem. Everyone chose the most beneficial course of action for themselves, and then the result would inevitably be the worst possible outcome!
"You're right... Fortunately, we've maintained peace for more than a decade. The new generation of ninja has not yet established any hatred among themselves. Maybe I can try to, on the matter of the Akatsuki, strive for a consensus among the five great ninja villages, to work together to deal with this difficult problem, or at least share some intelligence. After all, this is no longer something a single ninja village can accomplish," Tsunade said, rubbing her temples. A person who actually does things knows how difficult it is to do them. She knew that this would be an extremely difficult matter.
There was not even trust between the five great ninja villages. How could there be a consensus?
She was afraid that the suggestions Tsunade put forward would only be seen by them as Konoha's conspiracies. Before the Akatsuki showed its fangs, no matter how much was said, without actual evidence, others would not believe it. On the contrary, they would be wary of Konoha, which had issued the warning, and would think that they had ulterior motives...
This was the cruel reality of the Naruto world.
As her experience grew and her ninja rank rose, Sakura gradually came to understand more and more about the cruelty and darkness behind the ninja world. In Konoha village, she could still feel the love between her comrades, but outside the village, it was a bloody reality—the endless wars of the five great nations had left behind scars of blood and tears in most parts of this world.
The Land of Waves, the Land of Snow—if they hadn't intervened, they would probably be in a state of decline in the world.
What was terrifying was that according to the normal mission procedure, the remuneration required for a high-level mission like defeating Gato and Kazahana Dotō was something that the people of the Land of Waves and the Land of Snow could absolutely not afford. On the contrary, more often than not, it was people like Gato and Kazahana Dotō who, relying on their exploitation of the people, had the money to hire ninja to protect them, enabling them to further exploit the common people...
This was the reality of the ninja world... The more cruel a person was, the more comfortably they lived.
Sakura, who was used to going with the flow, used to being changed by the world rather than trying to change it, was now gradually growing impatient with this cruel reality.
However, this world was a world where only the strong had a voice... As small as she was, she could only adapt to the world.
Even in the Land of Waves and the Land of Snow, she had begun to try to change this world, to try to put her own ideas into practice. However, those were just the corners of a poor and remote countryside, and in the end, not the mainstream of the world.
Her power... was still too weak.
The master and disciple were silent for a while.
The light-heartedness of their conversation just now was completely gone. A heavy atmosphere spread in the office.
"Forget it, let's not talk about this. Let's talk about the matter of the Land of Snow mission," Tsunade finally changed the subject.
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