"..."
Hyuga Hanabi was silent for a moment.
After a while, the young girl nodded and said, "Yes, Hokage-sama."
After leaving the Ninja Academy.
Tsunade was bored and looked up, sighing, "Really, such a young age shouldn't be shackled by hatred! Wouldn't that just make you like that brat Sasuke, resorting to any means for power?"
"This is the residue of war..."
Shizune, who followed beside Tsunade holding a small pink pig, softly sighed, "The last time Uehara Naraku came, I saw that little kid Sarutobi Konohamaru secretly hiding on the side wanting to assassinate Uehara, always clamoring for revenge for the Third Hokage!"
Walking on the other side, Haruno Sakura flicked her hair and murmured, "Clearly at that time, Uehara-senpai never seemed like a bad person!"
"Tsk, are there really pure good people and bad people in this world!"
Tsunade snorted coldly, disgruntled, "Even that brat was doing it for the sake of his village; such things can't be helped. He's just a ninja following upper orders; let's not bring up this topic again."
It's better not to talk about this.
Now that it's mentioned, Tsunade couldn't help but want to curse Shimura Danzo.
Unfortunately, Root Leader Shimura Danzo had long suspected to have died in battle, leaving Konoha in a big mess before his death.
"Hokage-sama!"
An Anbu ninja landed in front of Tsunade, respectfully saying, "The envoy from the Hidden Mist Village has arrived. They bring the latest intelligence on the Akatsuki!"
Another Anbu ninja also descended before Tsunade, speaking solemnly, "Hokage-sama, intelligence from the Land of Earth has just arrived. The Hidden Rock Village was attacked by Akatsuki with heavy casualties, and the Five-tailed Jinchuriki was captured by them!"
A third Anbu ninja appeared before Tsunade, speaking softly, "Hokage-sama, envoys from the Hidden Rock Village have approached, hoping to exchange intelligence on a member within Akatsuki who has yet to be exposed for information on Akatsuki!"
"..."
Tsunade's forehead twitched uncontrollably.
Just as Tsunade was heading to the Hokage Tower, another Anbu ninja appeared before her, speaking in a deep voice, "Hokage-sama, Shibuki from the Hidden Waterfall Village has sent a message, also regarding Akatsuki!"
"..."
Tsunade's temper gradually grew volatile. She clenched her fist tightly, and with a punch, knocked down the wall beside her!
After doing all this, Tsunade gritted her teeth and squeezed out a few words: "I'm going to the Hokage Tower immediately to find out what's going on! How can that group from Akatsuki suddenly launch such widespread actions!"
Land of Earth, Land of Waterfall, Land of Water.
A shadow loomed over Tsunade's mind, and if her guess was correct, the messages from the Hidden Mist Village and Hidden Waterfall Village should be about the loss of Jinchuriki.
Indeed, as Tsunade had predicted.
In the Hokage Tower, after meeting with the envoy from the Hidden Mist Village, Tsunade immediately learned that the Six-tailed Jinchuriki had been captured by Akatsuki, and an enemy with the legendary Sage Eye had appeared.
The intelligence sent from the Hidden Waterfall Village was rather tragic; the village hadn't even managed to put up significant resistance before several Akatsuki members stormed in and captured the Seven-tailed Jinchuriki, Fu.
This point was no surprise to Tsunade.
After all, the Hidden Waterfall Village didn't have the capability to protect the Seven-tailed Jinchuriki, though Tsunade had once offered to protect them, unfortunately, Shibuki from the Hidden Waterfall Village dared not agree.
Now it was straightforwardly taken by Akatsuki.
The envoy from the Hidden Rock Village was more intriguing.
This envoy from the Hidden Rock Village perhaps had been instructed by Onoki, and they wanted more to negotiate for the location of the Akatsuki's base.
"..."
Tsunade was completely speechless.
Who the hell knows where Akatsuki's base is?
If Tsunade knew Akatsuki's base, she wouldn't be sitting in the Hokage Office listening to such bad news, but would have already started organizing the Ninja Alliance to crusade against Akatsuki.
The Hidden Rock Village's ninja hesitated a bit, speaking shyly, "But according to the intel we received, Konoha Village and the Hidden Sand Village united to retrieve the Fifth Kazekage Gaara that Akatsuki had captured..."
"That's because..."
Tsunade wanted to mention Uehara Naraku's and the Hidden Rain Village's contribution, luckily she remained politically sensitive and swallowed Uehara Naraku's name.
After all, if the Hidden Rock Village took this opportunity to establish friendly ties with the Hidden Rain Village, it would be very disadvantageous for Konoha's situation.
"Enough!"
Tsunade slammed her hand on the table, speaking coldly, "If you are willing to negotiate, then bring your intelligence over here! Maybe that member of Akatsuki you know is already on our intelligence list!"
"This..."
The Hidden Rock envoy was a bit inexperienced in negotiation.
After a while, he remembered the instructions from Third Tsuchikage Onoki and spoke seriously, "Besides the intelligence Konoha can provide now, we also request that if Konoha finds out Akatsuki's base in the future, you immediately notify our village!"
"Rest assured."
Tsunade glared at the Hidden Rock envoy disdainfully, "The more allies the better; wanting to eliminate Akatsuki, it's not something a single ninja village can achieve!"
"... Hope Hokage-sama will honor your promise."
The Hidden Rock envoy clenched his teeth, placed the scroll he held onto the Hokage Office desk, and said in a low voice, "This is the information on Akatsuki's contact with our Hidden Rock Village."
"Ha?"
Tsunade couldn't help but smirk, chuckling in mockery, "We always thought your Hidden Rock Village and Akatsuki were closely collaborating partners!"
During the incident in the Land of Grass, the Hidden Rock Village utilized Akatsuki to cause considerable losses for Konoha; Tsunade remembered this grudge very clearly.
Now seeing the Hidden Rock Village also ravaged by Akatsuki, Tsunade's mood couldn't be more satisfied, especially now that these fellows still have requests for Konoha; if not for the bigger picture, Tsunade really wanted to drive this Hidden Rock envoy away.
"Hmm?"
When Tsunade opened the scroll, her brows furrowed uncontrollably: "This woman is actually a traitorous ninja from the Hidden Rain Village?"
Tsunade rubbed her brow, looking at the sketch on the scroll: "It looks somewhat familiar, seems like I've seen her somewhere."
"Has Hokage-sama seen her before?"
The Hidden Rock envoy had just received the intelligence Konoha provided him.
Honestly, the Hidden Rock envoy felt a bit panicked; if Tsunade knew the woman in the scroll, wouldn't their intelligence be useless?
"Rest assured."
Tsunade glanced at the Hidden Rock envoy, speaking softly: "This member hasn't been included in our wanted list, your intelligence is very valuable, our agreement remains effective."
Only then did the Hidden Rock envoy leave with assurance.
Tsunade continued to stare at the scroll, furrowing her brows tighter and tighter.
On the scroll.
There was a sketch of a cold-faced female ninja.
This female ninja wore a Hidden Rain Traitor's Headband, draped in Akatsuki's black robe uniform, appearing a bit unapproachable.
Information written at the bottom of the scroll included some details like light blue hair, light orange pupils, often having a paper flower on her head, especially skilled in some Paper Release Secret Technique, able to ignore physical attacks and so on.
Just as Tsunade was still contemplating, a tall white-haired old man led a blond young ninja into the Hokage Office, speaking with some excitement: "Hey, Tsunade, we're back!"
"Jiraiya? Naruto?"
Tsunade instinctively lowered the scroll she was holding, somewhat surprised, looking up at them: "Why did you come back, did Naruto's Sage Mode training succeed? Didn't you spend many years..."
"Shh, shh, shh, shh!"
Jiraiya quickly put a finger over his lips, leisurely walking to the Hokage desk and sighing, "Anyway, his Sage Mode is sort of successful! Only the duration of Sage Mode is a bit problematic..."
Uzumaki Naruto's body didn't allow other Summoning Beast to share it, which resulted in Uzumaki Naruto's Sage Mode although successfully trained, couldn't last long in battle.
Luckily, the little guy found another route.
After discussing Sage Mode, Jiraiya glanced at the scroll in front of Tsunade, asking curiously: "Ahem, what are you looking at? Why did your expression look so bad just now?"
"Oh."
Tsunade's brows instinctively furrowed again, first handing the intelligence scroll from the Hidden Rock Village to Jiraiya, then also pulling out a copy of the intelligence scroll from the Hidden Mist Village and handing it to Jiraiya.
Tsunade's expression wasn't very good, she spoke softly, "This is the intelligence we just received, there are two hidden members of Akatsuki, I seem to have seen them before..."