What Haseo had said to the Third Hokage was indeed limited merely to a "speak-or-bust" kind of confession. He didn't expect his heartfelt words to actually convince the Third Hokage to change anything—he knew, after all, that some things were beyond changing… Words can sometimes seem exaggeratedly powerful beyond description, but most times, they're just weak.
A person's life perspective, mental state, and approach toward handling affairs won't fundamentally change just because of a few words spoken.
Didn't Hiruzen Sarutobi, who occupied the position of Hokage, understand what Haseo had said? Hadn't he thought about these issues himself? Impossible. Compared to Haseo, Hiruzen actually understood Konoha's situations much better. Yet the Hokage, standing right at the center of numerous complex interests, proved surprisingly "powerless."
To put it simply, Haseo had just acted as a loud critic—admittedly a reasonable one—venting through eloquence; once done, he walked away with dignity intact. In a vast military organization like Konoha, pointing out problems was always easier than fixing them. Who couldn't nitpick? Haseo wasn't the one responsible for fixing anything anyway.
After some exchange and confirming that Haseo truly had no intention of staging any schemes, the Third Hokage felt relieved.
Then Haseo exited from the Third Hokage's office.
For him, after confronting the Third directly with critiques, his mood improved noticeably… After all, people needed outlets for their emotions, and Haseo's way of discharging emotional tension happened to be somewhat sophisticated.
Overall, Haseo bore no real resentment toward the Third Hokage. Putting himself in the Hokage's shoes, if Haseo held that position instead, chances were he wouldn't perform any better than the Third.
No matter how things stood internally within Konoha presently, at least outwardly the village maintained its traditional unity… At the very least, everyone managed to clench their fists together—perhaps precisely thanks to the Hokage's skilled mud-patching abilities?
As Haseo walked along the corridor of this government building, Danzo Shimura approached head-on just as he was leaving.
At that moment, Haseo calmly passed by the other man, rounded a curved corner, and left directly. Meanwhile, Danzo Shimura came to a sudden stop.
If Haseo's evaluation toward the Third Hokage remained neutral, then his attitude toward the current Danzo Shimura was neither hatred nor, certainly, respect—it was simply a clean-cut "ignorance."
He didn't exist. Wasn't worth noticing at all. Like nothing was there at all.
Taking it even further, it might as well be considered as good as dead. Therefore, Haseo sincerely hoped that incident would remain a one-time occurrence.
After returning to Kagenami Base, Tsunade shared what she'd figured out about Yayoi's current condition with him.
"The biggest problem currently affecting that child is that she had been subjected to chakra extraction over an extended period… It seems she was merely an ordinary civilian before disappearing, without receiving any sort of chakra training whatsoever. That means even her chakra awakening was triggered entirely by external forces."
By now, that continuous extraction which had lasted for several years had become an unhealthy "state"—due to the inertia of habit, she couldn't stop anymore.
To put it simply, if her daily chakra production rated a five, the amount she needed to expend rated a ten. Even after being rescued, her body's "mechanical memory" still kept her trapped in this terrible condition."
Haseo listened intently, though he could only grasp about seventy to eighty percent of what Tsunade was saying. However, what Tsunade was explaining reminded him strongly of his own past experience. "This seems exactly opposite to my own condition from many years ago?"
"You're not entirely wrong. But relatively speaking, this child's current state can almost entirely be categorized as externally caused, while your previous condition resulted from internal factors." Tsunade explained further differences.
Haseo thought to himself, I was also one hundred percent externally affected. It had absolutely nothing to do with me personally—the root cause was taking a Water Dragon Projectile from The Second and subsequently getting embedded with numerous fragments of Six Paths Sage Tools. Haseo firmly believed he was perfectly normal; his abnormal physical condition was merely a "cross-infection" resulting from that unique experience.
"So in other words, there's a possibility of complete recovery for symptoms that are purely externally caused?" Haseo asked tentatively.
"I can give it a try. At the very least, this child's situation is much simpler than yours... Since dissipation is hard to address directly, the best current approach would be to boost her chakra production without compromising her physical health.
In cases where the body itself produces insufficient reserves, we'll need to consider external infusion approaches." Tsunade explained.
This perspective intrigued Haseo, since wasn't there plenty of external chakra available whenever needed?
"What about Nine-Tails? I was thinking that..."
"Haseo, do you really think it's appropriate for someone whose physical condition is already full of holes to bear the extremely violent chakra of Nine-Tails?"
"..."
Certainly inappropriate.
As the saying goes, professionals shouldn't let amateurs interfere with their expert judgment.
"Just use my chakra first. Those chakra reserves stored within Shikkotsu Forest—I'm not using them anyway for now... After this girl's condition improves somewhat, I'll bring her along and treat her gradually."
Tsunade could sense how serious Haseo was about this matter, so she made that decision.
"Thank you for the trouble."
If Tsunade was willing to take over and help, that would be even better.
...
Later on, Tsunade both treated Yayoi's condition and simultaneously worried about her younger brother who insisted upon seeking attention by going to the front line.
Her general approach involved placing Nawaki into a ninja squad possessing powerful capabilities, then limiting this squad's activity range and types of missions undertaken... carrying out low-risk tasks in low-combat areas—that was Tsunade's requirement.
To be honest, this seemed rather wasteful—a top-tier squad taking along a rookie just for battlefield observation. It was practically unheard of in recent years.
Without a doubt, Tsunade was clearly "using her position for personal gain," but this wouldn't cause any major issues—not because she was the Third Hokage's disciple or an implicit candidate for the next Hokage—but because she was the best medical ninja in the entire Ninjutsu World. The ninja of Konoha would naturally be happy to fulfill the demands of "Lady Katsuyu."
Of course, all of this hinged on the brass not minding these kinds of details. But would the Third Hokage actually stop Tsunade from behaving this way?
"By the way, Haseo, you mentioned earlier that you're heading to the Land of Rain soon too? For what reason? Is there a specific mission?" After finishing her arrangements for Nawaki, Tsunade brought the topic up again—clearly, she was already thinking of dragging Haseo along for it.
"It's not an official mission. Actually, it's still related to Uzumaki."
"You might not know this, but before the Uzumaki Clan began relocating entirely toward Konoha, they already sensed long-term dangers ahead and proactively dispersed some of their clansmen across the Ninjutsu World... It was a precautionary move made to ensure the clan's survival."
"Although later the Uzumaki moved into Konoha, due to those prior actions, a very limited number of Uzumaki still ended up scattered throughout various corners of the world."
"I recently received intelligence suggesting there were signs of Uzumaki activity within the Land of Rain, so I plan to go investigate."
Haseo's explanation sounded logical enough, yet he didn't really have any actual source for that info.
It was nothing more than a guess based on Jiraiya's unusually prolonged stay in the Land of Rain.
That's exactly why Haseo had to go check it out himself.
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