Chapter 92 (Patreon)

“Not bad. You’re barely at Kage level.”

Yujiro slowly drew back his fist. It was decent. At the very least, he could feel a little impact.

Tsunade’s face flushed red at his words.

She was one of the Legendary Sannin, yet even her full-strength punch had failed to move Yujiro half an inch.

That was more than enough to make her pride sting.

“Then do you have the guts to bet something else with me?” Tsunade planted her hands on her hips and glared at Yujiro.

“For example?” Yujiro smiled. Against Tsunade, there was nothing for him to be afraid of.

“Jiraiya, do you have any money on you?” Tsunade walked over to Jiraiya and asked.

“Well… I brought a little. Not much, though…” Jiraiya scratched his head.

“Hand it over,” Tsunade said with absolute confidence.

“Why do I have to—”

“Hm?” Tsunade shot him a look, her eyes clearly asking if he had a problem with it.

The corner of Jiraiya’s mouth twitched. He already knew exactly what Tsunade was planning to do.

There was no helping it. Under Tsunade’s pressure, Jiraiya could only surrender.

“I only have one hundred thousand ryō on me, so don’t blow it all!”

Tsunade gave a satisfied smile and took the hundred thousand ryō.

Then she raised her hand and pointed toward the corner of the street.

“Within one hour, we’ll see who can win the most. How about it?”

Tsunade looked at Yujiro with a confident smile.

Hah. This little brat probably has no idea what he’s getting himself into.

Trying to beat me at gambling? Hmph.

Yujiro’s expression did not change.

“Fine.”

Seeing that, Jiraiya silently held his forehead.

“Hahaha! Jiraiya, go to the barbecue restaurant over there and order something good!” Tsunade laughed.

“But I don’t have any money!” Jiraiya said with a bitter look.

“What are you scared of? Once I win, we’ll have plenty.” Tsunade glared at him.

“If you can win, pigs will start climbing trees…” Jiraiya shrank his neck and muttered under his breath.

Those words immediately made Tonton, who was being held in Shizune’s arms, unhappy.

The little piglet snorted twice and struggled as if she wanted to jump out of Shizune’s arms and argue with Jiraiya herself.

In the end, Jiraiya had no choice but to take Shizune with him and leave.

Tsunade smiled and dragged Yujiro toward the corner of the street.

Two hours later.

“It’s already been two hours. Why aren’t they back yet?”

Inside the barbecue restaurant, Jiraiya muttered to himself.

“Jiraiya-sama, maybe we should go check on them,” Shizune said, looking a little worried.

It was not Tsunade she was worried about.

She was worried about the people over there. If Tsunade lost her temper, they might not survive it.

Just as Jiraiya and Shizune were about to go take a look, Yujiro and Tsunade returned.

But what was with that radiant, almost intoxicated look on Tsunade’s face?

Jiraiya and Shizune understood the moment their eyes landed on Yujiro’s hands.

Two entire suitcases filled with money.

Yujiro had not actually planned on winning that much. He had never even touched this kind of game before.

But with his enhanced five senses, winning was as easy as closing his eyes.

“Tsunade-sama.” Shizune hurried over.

“I’m fine, Shizune. Get ready. We’re returning to Konoha immediately,” Tsunade said.

“Eh?” Shizune froze for a moment.

Why had Tsunade-sama given in so quickly?

It was not really Tsunade’s fault. Yujiro’s technique back there had been too extraordinary.

If not for her pride, Tsunade might have wanted to become Yujiro’s disciple herself.

“Tsunade, as long as you’ve made up your mind.” Seeing Tsunade agree to return to Konoha, Jiraiya’s face broke into a smile.

“By the way, did Yujiro tell you that he awakened Wood Style?”

“Wood Style?!” Tsunade froze.

She had not heard anything about that.

Then she hurriedly turned to Yujiro.

“Have you really awakened Wood Style?!” Tsunade asked anxiously.

“I suppose I have,” Yujiro said with a click of his tongue.

“Here. Try pouring some chakra into this.” Tsunade took off the necklace around her neck and carefully handed it to Yujiro.

At the same time, her eyes filled with expectation.

Yujiro accepted the First Hokage’s necklace from Tsunade.

Of course, he recognized it. The necklace contained a trace of the First Hokage’s Wood Style chakra.

Anyone who possessed Wood Style chakra could activate it.

Unfortunately, aside from transplantation, no one had truly awakened Wood Style since Senju Hashirama.

However, Yujiro was a little troubled right now.

The Wood Style chakra inside his body was too powerful.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Yujiro’s Wood Style surpassed even Senju Hashirama’s.

Under Tsunade’s hopeful gaze, Yujiro had no choice but to send a small amount of Wood Style chakra into the necklace in his hand.

The moment it received that powerful, pure chakra, the First Hokage’s necklace suddenly shone with a clear, brilliant light.

Then—

Crack.

The necklace shattered on the spot.

The Wood Style chakra inside it transformed into a small section of what looked like a miniature great tree.

“Hiss…”

Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune all sucked in a breath at the sight.

When the necklace had lit up, it was already enough to prove that Yujiro had Wood Style chakra in his body.

But now, the necklace had broken because it could not withstand Yujiro’s chakra.

If that was the case, then did that mean the Wood Style chakra inside Yujiro’s body was even stronger than the First Hokage’s?

For a moment, Tsunade looked at Yujiro as if she were staring at a priceless treasure.

At the same time, an endless hope began to grow in her heart.

The Senju clan had not fallen.

A man even more powerful than her grandfather had appeared.

“Yujiro, I’ve decided. I’ll return to Konoha with you. Whatever you ask me to do, I’ll do it.”

Tsunade spoke with rare seriousness.

This time, her decision was made from the bottom of her heart.

Before, there may have been other reasons.

But now, it was different.

Tsunade had already begun to see Yujiro as the most important person for reviving the Senju clan.

Yujiro smiled faintly.

Convincing Tsunade was that simple.

He naturally understood what Wood Style meant to Tsunade.

To her, Wood Style was hope.

Now that Tsunade had been dealt with, the rest of the journey became much easier.

After eating, everyone rested for two days.

Then they set off for Konoha.

As for Tsunade’s position, it was arranged for her to serve as the director of Konoha Hospital.

Regarding her hemophobia and similar problems, Tsunade no longer had the luxury of caring about them.

Right now, the most important thing was to allow the Senju clan to take root once more.

Tsunade’s return to Konoha naturally brought tremendous encouragement to the village.

Haku was placed by Yujiro at Tsunade’s side, allowing Haku to follow Tsunade and learn medical ninjutsu.

And Yujiro, leading his own Team Yujiro, set out on another journey.

Yujiro had only one goal right now.

To fully unlock his Limiter.

Yujiro’s Limiter was only at the third level. Although it could be said that he could now move freely across the entire ninja world without fear, at the end of the day, his current combat power was only enough to protect himself.

If he wanted to defeat someone stronger, then he had to become even stronger than that person.

Entering the fourth level of the Limiter.

That was his goal.

The Land of Lightning.

Kumogakure.

An angry roar erupted from the Raikage’s office.

“What the hell is going on?! Why can’t our elites break through a mere hundred men?!”

The Fourth Raikage, A, slammed his right fist down on the desk.

The desk shattered into pieces on the spot.

“According to the report, those hundred are all elite Anbu from Konoha,” Mabui said quietly, holding the intelligence report in her hand.

“So what? Are you saying Kumogakure has no elites of its own?!” A roared, his rage almost reaching the point of going out of control.

“Raikage-sama, right now, all the major nations have become cautious because of Konoha’s sudden rise in strength.”

Mabui calmly began her analysis.

“Kumogakure cannot act recklessly.”

“If we start an all-out conflict with Konoha now, both villages will exhaust themselves. When that happens, the other great nations will be the ones who benefit.”

“Then what do we do?” A took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

“We negotiate with Konoha,” Mabui said. “And Kumogakure’s strongest combat power must personally attend those negotiations.”

“Raikage-sama, you will have to go in person as well. When the time comes, I will handle the specific terms of negotiation.”

Mabui had served as the Raikage’s assistant for many years. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she managed most of Kumogakure’s affairs.

Because of that, she was extremely familiar with matters like this.

“Fine. I’ll leave it to you,” A said with a nod.

At this point, they really could only negotiate an armistice agreement with Konoha.

Otherwise, if the situation continued to drag on, Kumogakure would be the one to suffer.

One day later.

Konoha.

Inside the Hokage’s office.

Minato looked at the truce negotiation request sent by Kumogakure, and a smile gradually appeared on his face.

“Yujiro, your plan worked.”

Minato stood and handed the document in his hand to Yujiro.

“These past few days, the elite Anbu stationed along the Land of Lightning border have achieved the intended effect.”

“It worked?” Yujiro looked over the document, then smiled faintly.

“Minato-sensei, are you actually planning to sign this so-called armistice agreement with Kumogakure?”

“Uh…” Minato scratched his head, slightly confused. “Isn’t that a good thing? After all, Konoha needs time to develop.”

“In my eyes, an armistice agreement is nothing but a piece of paper,” Yujiro said casually.

“The purpose of any so-called armistice is to gather stronger forces, then fight again later.”

“Does an agreement like that have any real meaning? If it did, why did the Third Shinobi World War happen?”

“Didn’t the Five Great Nations sign an armistice agreement at the end of the Second Shinobi World War?”

Those questions left Minato speechless.

After a moment, Minato took a deep breath, looked at Yujiro, and asked, “Then, Yujiro, what do you think we should do?”

“Since Kumogakure wants to come to Konoha and talk, then we’ll talk with them.”

Yujiro smiled faintly.

Seeing that smile, Minato silently mourned for Kumogakure in his heart.

They could have stayed quiet and endured it.

But instead, they just had to come knocking on Yujiro’s door.