Chapter 322: Tsunade's Headache
A simple memorial ceremony had turned into this. No one had expected it.
She went to the Land of Waves, ran into Orochimaru and fought him, and then brought Zabuza's coffin and his Executioner's Blade back with her. When she returned to Konoha, the things Haruno Sakura had done during this vacation left everyone dumbfounded.
"Sakura, Haku, you really know how to give me a hard time!" In the Hokage's office, Tsunade rubbed her head and said with a bit of a headache.
"Is there a problem, Lady Hokage?" Haku asked in confusion.
Tsunade looked at her pure eyes, knew that she really didn't understand the problem, and sighed.
"Konoha's cemetery has never buried a foreign ninja," she thought for a moment and explained. "Besides, Zabuza the Demon... was also a rogue-nin of the Mist Village."
"But the Mist Village's wanted order doesn't apply to us here in Konoha!" Yuki Haku was anxious and retorted.
Tsunade glanced at Haku, raised an eyebrow, expressed satisfaction with her subconscious use of the word "us," and then felt dissatisfied with her interrupting her words; how her beautiful eyebrows could express such consecutive and contradictory emotions, Sakura didn't know, but she could see Tsunade's meaning anyway.
"If it were before, that would indeed be the case..." Tsunade said, twirling a pen in her hand. "But we are currently striving for cooperation with the Mist Village, so in some matters, we hope to try not to touch their sensitive nerves."
Haruno Sakura frowned. The ninja world, which has always liked to rush forward recklessly, is now also starting to use gentle methods?
The style is a bit wrong.
"The Mist Village has been closed off for a long time. No one knows what they are thinking!" the Fifth Hokage said seriously. "If we bury Zabuza's grave in Konoha's cemetery with great fanfare, I'm afraid the impact won't be good."
She glanced at Haku, who was biting her lip and not speaking, her eyes slightly red. Tsunade said somewhat helplessly, "Alright, we can discuss this further; but even if he is moved into the public cemetery, there is another more practical problem."
The matter of the grave was not a big problem. In order to make Haku loyal to Konoha and firmly root the Ice Style clan in Konoha, this little thing could still be accommodated; no matter how gentle the means used, Konoha would not go so far as to be servile and obedient to the Mist Village.
Tsunade was making it sound serious just to claim credit from Haku.
The real problem lay in the Executioner's Blade.
The Fifth Hokage pointed to the big sword in Sakura's hand and said, "What should we do with the Executioner's Blade? Continue to use it as a tombstone?"
To use it as a tombstone was truly a waste of a heavenly object.
Tsunade had turned her attention to it again: How about Konoha starts a new ninja sword inheritance?
Before, when Haku had left the Executioner's Blade in the Land of Waves, she had nothing to say; now that the sword was back, the Fifth Hokage's mind immediately became active.
However, there was still that problem: the Executioner's Blade was too conspicuous and too important.
If Konoha kept the Executioner's Blade, whether as a tombstone or as a ninja sword, the Mist Village could not turn a blind eye to it; in the past, when everyone had no dealings with each other, Konoha could still say toughly: "The ninja sword is ours now. Come and grab it if you have the guts!"
But now...
Times were different. To cooperate with the Mist Village on the issue of the Akatsuki, they couldn't ignore the Mist Village's feelings.
When Haku nodded and answered that of course it would be kept as a tombstone, Tsunade had a headache. Alright, compared to her wanting to start a ninja sword school in Konoha, Haku's approach is obviously more low-key and looks better. The loss of the Mist Village's ninja sword inheritance and the loss of the ninja sword, on the surface, both meant the loss of the Executioner's Blade, but in essence, the former was a more serious problem.
Speaking of which, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist hadn't been gathered together for a long time, right!
The Fifth Hokage patted her forehead and said with a frown, "The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist are either dead or defected. Of the seven ninja swords, except for the Hiramekarei, the other six have long been scattered all over the world. But they are all secretly collected by people. Our Konoha is the first of the five great ninja villages to openly hold a ninja sword..."
If a ninja sword was lost, it was lost. The Mist Village could slowly collect it back. But if it was taken by another great ninja village, it became a complicated problem.
"Does the Mist Village want to take back the Executioner's Blade? But the sword is a relic of Mr. Zabuza!" Haku said indignantly.
"Strictly speaking, the ownership of the Executioner's Blade belongs to the Mist Village. Zabuza only obtained the right to use it..." Tsunade rubbed her temples and explained with lowered eyelids. "Of course, now it belongs to you, and you have the right to dispose of it. But if we want to cooperate with the Mist Village, we cannot ignore their feelings."
She looked up at the black-haired girl. "From their perspective, the Executioner's Blade was originally theirs. It was only taken away by a rogue-nin and lost to the outside world. Therefore, the big sword in your hand should be considered stolen goods and should be returned to the original owner!"
Haku bit her lower lip hard. Her thin, cherry-red lips were bitten pale, without a trace of blood.
The black-haired girl was silent, but Haruno Sakura suddenly thought of something and asked, "Have we contacted the Mist Village? Are they willing to cooperate with us?"
"Yes, Kakashi and the others came back two days ago," Tsunade nodded and said.
Previously, when Kakashi, Sasuke, Shino, and Hinata had gone out on a mission, Sakura had been a little surprised. What kind of mission required them to mobilize—the Byakugan and the Sharingan plus two top Jonin as escorts? It was simply an enviable super-luxury configuration—it turned out they were envoys to the Mist Village.
To be an envoy to that country whose situation was unknown, such a top-tier elite team was indeed needed.
"The Village of the Bloody Mist?" Sakura said with some emotion. If she hadn't been leading a team, that mission might have been hers, right? "How's the situation over there?"
"They have a new Mizukage. It seems they want to end the name and policy of the Village of the Bloody Mist," Tsunade raised an eyebrow and said. "They plan to open up the closed village and seek to deepen ties with the outside world."
"It coincides with our plans exactly."
Haruno Sakura shook her head and revealed a smile with an unknown meaning. "Finally, some good news. This is the first time the Mist Village has extended an olive branch instead of a sharp sword to the outside world!"
The calming of the turbulent Village of the Bloody Mist meant that it would grow into a stronger country. In the future, it might be a new threat, but at least for now, it was friendly... With one less mad-dog-like country, the peace of the entire ninja world had taken a big step forward.
"Will the Mist Village ask us to return the Executioner's Blade?" Haku asked. "If they are here for peace, they shouldn't make such a tough request, right?"
Tsunade did not answer her directly, but asked back, "If, for the sake of peace between the ninja villages, I hope you return Zabuza's relic, the Executioner's Blade, to the Mist Village, would you be willing?"
Haku opened her mouth, stunned.
For a while, no one spoke in the Hokage's office. Without waiting for Haku to answer, Tsunade shook her head and said, "Alright! You, don't worry about this problem for now. You've just been through a big battle, so you two should go back and rest first! Don't worry, no matter what happens, the village will definitely be your strong backing!"
The Fifth Hokage looked at Yuki Haku with her gentle and warm eyes.
After leaving the Hokage's office, Sakura and Haku waved goodbye; then she went to Training Ground 9.
Her three students of Team Haruno Sakura were indeed still training there.
"Yoho, long time no see, cuties!" Looking at their childish figures, Haruno Sakura immediately smiled brightly.
Seeing them train energetically, the mental fatigue from fighting that death-aura-emitting Orochimaru seemed to dissipate all at once.
Seeing her appear, the three students of Team Haruno Sakura were also pleasantly surprised. Moegi shouted "Sensei" in surprise and ran over happily.
Udon also waved vigorously, smiling and greeting her.
Only Konohamaru, this arrogant little brat, crossed his arms and pouted, "Hmph! You're late! A whole day!"
"Oh, sorry, Konohamaru," the pink-haired girl scratched the back of her head and said without any sincerity of apology, "I got lost on the path of life..."
"Aaaah!" Konohamaru looked at Haruno Sakura's unapologetic expression and shouted frantically, "That's Kakashi's line! Naruto-niichan told me! Don't brush us off, don't learn from Kakashi!!"
"That's right," Udon sniffled habitually and said, "Sensei is always very punctual. Why are you a day late this time?"
"You didn't really go to elope, did you?" Moegi asked, blinking her bright, clear eyes and looking up.
"Of course not." Sakura flicked Moegi's forehead lightly, teaching this naughty student a lesson, and explained, "Alright, I'll tell you what happened this time when I went to the Land of Waves."
"Just right. Using this battle as a case study, I'll give you a tactics lesson."
Under Sakura's lead, Team Haruno Sakura came to a small river outside the village, the place where she and Naruto had trained during the Chunin Exams back then.
"Watch closely. I'll replay the entire battle process first. Observe carefully, and ask questions anytime if you have any."
She formed hand seals, first using Earth Style and Water Style to change the environment slightly, simulating the environment of the Land of Waves area at a ratio of one to one hundred.
"This is the location where the battle took place," Sakura said, pointing to a small area of ten square meters in front of her. The valley, river, and sea were all recreated by her with exquisite chakra control. The rocks and trees were lifelike, and the scene was extremely exquisite.
"Wow! So beautiful!" The three students focused their attention on the wrong place.
Haruno Sakura clapped her hands, drawing their attention back to the right track, and said, "At that time, Orochimaru and I were fighting on the sea. This environment is particularly suitable for Water Style ninja to exert their combat power. I occupied the geographical advantage, so Orochimaru was defeated by my hands as expected. Hn, the whole battle... let's start from here!"
She created two small water people, one looking like Sakura and one like Orochimaru, also at a ratio of one to one hundred, only the size of Sakura's fingernail; but they could both speak and jump. They were real clones, not exquisite dolls!
With her manipulation, the two on the field also began to replay the battle.
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