Through the streets of a small town south of the Land of Fire, two women wander in search of something that seems difficult to find. One of the women is middle-aged, with long blond hair, and wears a distinctive long green jacket over a gray kimono-style shirt. Many would immediately identify her as one of the three famous Sannin, Tsunade Senju, long missing from the village of Konoha.
"Tsunade-sama, shouldn't we fulfill the mission that the Hokage gave you? What are we looking for?" asks the second woman, someone much younger than Tsunade, with short black hair and wearing a sleeveless black kimono. In her arms, she also carries a small pet pig, wearing a red jacket and a pearl necklace.
"What do you mean Shizune? Of course I'm looking for some kind of casino," Tsunade replies, stating the above as if it were obvious.
"But Tsunade-sama, we are on a diplomatic mission, we must meet with someone from the organization"
"And talk to whom?"
"Well, with the city administrator, the Hokage made it clear that the southern cities are in the hands of the organization," Shizune answers confidently.
"Hoooo, and we get in front of the administrator and tell him, 'we want to talk to the leaders of the hidden organization, which we believe controls the region'... Don't be naive," Tsunade says sarcastically.
"But all you seem to want is to drink and gamble. I still don't understand how the Hokage could convince you."
"That's a secret," Tsunade says, her posture proud.
"So what's your plan?" Shizune asks, resigned.
Tsunade puts on a serious face and says, "Quite simply. If Sensei's information is correct, the organization has an excellent counterintelligence system, so we simply have to attract attention somehow. Investigate or intervene in the affairs of the region's administrative power and end up being attacked like young Kakashi, or simply attract attention in a more subtle way…"
"Gambling and owing at every casino in the region," Shizune interrupts.
"Cough cough. Spreading the word that the amazing Sannin, Tsunade Senju, is in the region," Tsunade corrects.
With an expressionless face, Shizune simply shakes her head, "It doesn't seem any different from what we've done so far. Are you really taking this seriously?"
Suddenly, Tsunade stops and looks at Shizune with a very serious face, "I'm taking this very seriously, even if it doesn't seem like it. Since the founding of Konoha, no one dares to create an official power within the Land of Fire, and if Sensei is correct, and there's an organization with great political power and also possesses S-rank individuals, we're totally screwed if we were to confront each other. The Kirigakure civil war would be a child's fight compared to a civil war of the magnitude we would face. We're talking about a war between ninjas and civilians simultaneously. A scenario in which the other villages wouldn't hesitate to intervene and lead us to extinction."
Upon hearing Tsunade's words, Shizune immediately panicked. "So what are we going to do? This is too big a responsibility."
"That's why we must be patient," Tsunade once again begins walking in search of a casino. "First, we must let them know we're here and wait quietly for them to engage us in dialogue. I highly doubt they'll ignore my presence for too long."
…
[Touki]
Since the less-than-glorious assault on the blacksmith in the land of iron, Touki has been fully focused on utilizing the resources he'd obtained and crafting the weapons and armor necessary to once again elevate his organization's level. First, he decided to craft a prophet's armor for the divine order, which they jointly decided should be awarded to Susumu Otowa, who was the one who obtained the information about the blacksmith.
At first, the order considered using the armor to recruit grandmasters of the sword in the land of iron, but the reality increasingly began to dawn on them: the great samurai hierarchy is filled with men accustomed to power and fearful of anything new. The case of the grandmaster, whom the order had been trying to convince for over a year, and who ultimately backed down due to the blacksmith's death, led to a radical change in everyone's mentality. The order will no longer recruit prestigious warriors of noble origin, but will instead seek them from established circles and from the common people. It is better to have weak, faithful and loyal men than strong figures of dubious loyalty.
Touki is fully in agreement with the order's new policy, so he decided to put a lot of effort into the new armor variants, thus helping members gain even greater advantages when facing strong enemies. After all, it only took Zenji and two other apostles to kill the grandmaster who decided to repent of joining the order, and that included the entire clan of said character.
On a different note, while Touki was working at the bike shop, in those increasingly rare moments when he's not working alongside Suki, a very peculiar character made his first appearance in the shop. Someone who didn't catch the man's attention at first, but when he realized who he was, Touki nearly jumped in fear.
A young Kabuto appeared, a character Touki had strangely forgotten existed in the village at this time, using the guise of a genin to act as a spy for Orochimaru.
Touki struggled to maintain composure while dealing with the presence of Kabuto, an extremely dangerous man, and at the same time, the character from the anime series Touki hated the most in her past life.
Apparently, Kabuto didn't have any nefarious intentions toward the shop or anything devious planned for its owners; he was simply playing his role as an exemplary member of the village and decided to buy one of the popular bicycles.
Holding back his apprehension and contempt, Touki didn't engage in a long conversation with young Kabuto and simply sold him a dirt bike, a fairly common model in the village these days, and one that obviously has a tracking device.
Touki's first thought was to finish Kabuto off right then and there. However, he held back, thinking about his current situation and the trouble that would mean, not to mention the fact that he wasn't wearing his armor.
An internal conflict arose in Touki's mind, a sort of balance on which the man placed all the disadvantages of facing Kabuto in Konoha, as well as the advantages of getting rid of such a problem in advance. The calculation was too simple.
'I'm going to kill that guy, no matter what it takes,' was what Touki thought.
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