Chapter 168: Breaking Ties with Tsunade

Two days ago.

Danzo, manipulating the Nine-Tails, slaughtered indiscriminately, killing both Uchiha and Leaf ninjas alike.

This insane act was witnessed by many, chilling the hearts of numerous Leaf ninjas.

Countless people wished they could kill Danzo on the spot, avenging their family and comrades who died at his hands.

But anyone with clear sight knew.

Danzo's escape from the Anbu prison, his attack on Shisui in the Hokage's office, and his control over the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, could all these have happened without the Third Hokage's tacit approval, or even instigation?

Now, more and more Leaf ninjas understood—doing the dirty work and taking the blame for the Third Hokage was the purpose of Danzo, the former Hokage's assistant.

Uchiha Dan might not seem like a good person, but upon reflection, all the evil he had committed so far was targeted at the Leaf's upper echelons like the Third Hokage and Danzo.

As for the average Leaf ninja, as long as they didn't provoke Dan like the Hyūga clan did, they wouldn't suffer his iron fist.

In the end…Uchiha Dan was an extremely arrogant person. He had no interest in bullying ordinary Leaf ninjas because, in his eyes, they were no different from ants on the roadside, not even worth a glance.

But the Third Hokage was different.

This Hokage, in order to achieve his goals, truly didn't care about human lives, pushing everyone to the brink of death.

At this moment, seeing Dan mocking the Third Hokage to his face, and the latter's expression looking as if he had swallowed a fly.

Many people in the conference room couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction, even wanting to join in and mock the Third Hokage along with Dan.

Under the strange gazes of everyone.

The Third Hokage's face turned from green to white, finally forcing himself to calm down, he said in a deep voice,

"Danzo is currently missing, he may be dead, or he may have defected, the Anbu are investigating. However, if you insist on nominating him, there's no problem."

Even if Dan nominated Danzo, what could he do?

The Daimyō would never appoint Danzo as Hokage, Dan was just messing around.

The Leaf Village had been established for over fifty years.

The appointment of the Hokage had already formed a complete process.

Initially, the Land of Fire and the Leaf Village formed a one-country, one-village system, with an equal partnership between the two.

In the era of the First Hokage, the Daimyō had neither the desire nor the ability to interfere in the affairs of the Leaf, he only needed to pay Hashirama Senju on time.

After all, the First Hokage was an invincible man. He captured the nine Tailed Beasts with his own power and, with his superb personal charm, persuaded all the ninja villages at the negotiation table, leading to peace in the ninja world.

Even the Land of Fire benefited from his glory, becoming the leader of the Five Great Nations.

Therefore when Hashirama Senju decided to pass the position of Hokage to his younger brother, Tobirama Senju, it was not the Daimyō's place to interfere.

Tobirama also passed the position of Hokage to his disciple, Hiruzen Sarutobi, in the same way.

However, with the successive deaths of the First and Second Hokages, the balance of power within

the Land of Fire gradually shifted. After many years of development and change, the Daimyō's office eventually took the dominant position.

By the time the Third Hokage stepped down, the appointment of the Hokage could no longer be as simple as before, but a new system was born.

First, the Leaf's upper echelons would hold a meeting and propose the next Hokage candidate to the Daimyō of the Land of Fire.

Then, the Daimyō, after consideration, would confirm the candidate from the nominations and announce the appointment.

Finally, the new Hokage would need to gain the approval of the Leaf's Jonin through a vote before officially succeeding.

If they didn't get enough votes, the new Hokage would be overthrown, and the entire Hokage appointment process would have to start all over again.

Until a candidate that satisfies everyone is selected.

Nominations by advisors, appointment by the Daimyō, and voting by Jonin.

These three steps, symbolizing the nomination, appointment, and review rights of the Hokage, are each held by different groups and are indispensable.

Only a Hokage elected in this way is the Hokage that the Leaf truly needs.

Like the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, once was.

At present.

The appointment process for the Fifth Hokage has completed the first step.

Although the nominees are Jiraiya and Danzo, the Daimyō actually only has Jiraiya to consider.

Based on past experience, the Daimyō will make an appointment within two to three days at the latest.

Once Jiraiya is appointed, given his reputation and status in the village, it's highly likely that he will pass the Jonin's trust vote.

Therefore, the Third Hokage, Koharu, and Homura Mitokado are all confident in getting Jiraiya to the position of Hokage, and they won't let Dan ruin it.

Returning to this meeting.

The people of the Leaf gathered together, originally intending to divide the land and property of the Uchiha clan, but with Dan's appearance, no one dared to bring it up again.

After dawdling for a long time, they could only find a random excuse to disperse.

Dan walked out of the Hokage building feeling refreshed, as if he had just visited the restroom, both physically and mentally relaxed.

He walked through the streets of the Leaf and returned to the Uchiha clan's territory.

What met his eyes was a scene of devastation.

When the Uchiha left the Leaf, they left in a hurry. The Leaf's people came to search afterwards, leaving everything in a mess.

However, the things inside the Body Modification Department building were not missing much, after all, they were mostly fitness equipment.

He was tired from all the running around, it was time to take a bath and rest.

Thinking this, Dan walked into the bathroom, and soon the sound of running water could be heard.

After a while.

Clang.

Dan, wrapped in a towel, pushed open the bathroom door and walked out, drying his wet hair with a towel.

Huh. He suddenly saw a familiar figure, leaning against the window with her arms crossed, her eyes fixed on him.

It was Tsunade.

"I heard you made a threat that anyone who steps into the Body Modification Department will have their entire clan killed. I left something here and came back to get it, that should be okay, right?" Tsunade said with a smirk, her tone filled with light mockery.

"Your entire clan... isn't it already gone?" Dan asked back, putting down his towel, puzzled.

"…" Tsunade's face stiffened.

After a few seconds of silence.

"What are you doing back here?" Tsunade, staring at Dan, asked again.

"Watching the show."

Dan replied succinctly, then counter-questioned, "What about you? Aren't you planning to continue your journey around the ninja world, gambling everywhere?"

To this, Tsunade just shook her head, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear: "I've quit gambling. The Leaf is my home, of course I'm staying here."

"Oh, I see."

Dan nodded, then put on a regretful expression, "I heard about it, you used the First Hokage's crystal necklace to subdue the Nine-Tails and save the Leaf. If I had known you were staying, I would have used my nomination power as the Hokage's assistant to recommend you for Hokage."

"No, I'm not interested." Tsunade quickly turned her head to the side, seemingly quite disdainful of the position of Hokage, "Hokage, whoever wants it can have it."

In her view, Being Hokage was too tiring, there were too many things to worry about, only a fool would rush to take the position.

Danzo, Hiruzen, and Jiraiya, these guys were all fools.

And no matter who becomes the Fifth Hokage, as long as Dan, this so-called Hokage's assistant is there, life won't be easy.

After some small talk the two didn't have much to talk about, they both fell silent, the atmosphere became a bit awkward for a moment.

Finally, it was Dan who said, "Didn't you come back to get something? Did you get it?"

"Hmm, I'm going now." Tsunade seemed to finally remember, and hurriedly walked towards her old room here.

Dan withdrew his gaze and also returned to his room, closing the door with a "bang", and comfortably took a nap.

An hour later.

Dan, who woke up from his nap, found something to eat in the refrigerator, changed his clothes, and took a walk around the clan grounds.

Unknowingly.

He arrived at the Uchiha's training ground, and coincidentally, he ran into that familiar figure again.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In the training ground, Tsunade was practicing Taijutsu with a shadow clone.

Dan stopped to watch and noticed something interesting:

Tsunade's moves were not as wide-open as usual, with each punch and kick bursting with monstrous strength, but instead, she had changed her style.

She and the shadow clone both activated the three tomoe Sharingan, with fast and exquisite Taijutsu moves, they were engaged in a fierce contest, each countering the other's moves.

It looked more like the Uchiha clan's fighting style.

This was the influence the Sharingan had on Tsunade.

Suddenly.

Tsunade seemed to catch a mistake made by the shadow clone, her eyes flashed, and she immediately threw a punch directly at the clone's face.

During this process.

Hum, hum.

Her fist was vibrating at an ultra-high frequency, creating countless illusions, making the shadow clone dizzy, and it paused on the spot.

In a duel between masters, 0.1 seconds is enough to determine the outcome.

So.

Bang!

Taking advantage of the shadow clone's momentary daze, Tsunade's punch hit the clone's body, and with a "bang", the latter disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Oh? Seeing this, Dan looked surprised. He didn't expect that his Yin Release Phantom Body Technique had been learned by Tsunade.

You should know the Phantom Body Technique was a secret technique that he had developed over ten years.

To master the Phantom Body Technique, not only does the caster need to have an incredibly strong body, but they also need to have a powerful mental strength.

The threshold is high.

Of the many Uchiha clan members who have followed Dan for so long, none of them have been able to learn this technique. The biggest reason is that their bodies are not strong enough.

But Tsunade, who originally had a body second only to Dan's in strength, had

also made up for the shortcomings of Yin Release after transplanting the Sharingan.

Plus her exceptional comprehension.

Learning the Yin Release Phantom Body Technique seemed to be a matter of course.

Dan's heart moved, and the three tomoe appeared in his eyes.

The next second.

Whoosh.

He rushed into the training ground like a whirlwind, attacking Tsunade at a very fast speed.

Huh? Tsunade sensed the killing intent coming from behind, turned her head and saw it was Dan, and was taken aback.

"You..." She had just spoken a word when Dan's fist was already coming at her.

With no choice, Tsunade could only respond hastily.

Bang! Bang! Bang.

The sound of intense physical collisions echoed in the training ground. In the entire ninja world, the only ones qualified to compete with Dan in Taijutsu were the Fourth Raikage and Tsunade.

However, Dan had become stronger recently. Every punch he threw was as fast as lightning, but it didn't make a sound of breaking the air, unlike before when he would easily create air explosions.

Silence is better than sound. This is a more advanced level of Taijutsu, meaning Dan had complete control over every bit of his strength.

Now, every time he made a move, the force was just right, not wasting a bit of extra energy.

Under Dan's fierce attack.

Tsunade quickly began to retreat, unable to hold on.

"Ha!" She let out a roar, a powerful current erupted from her body, finally unleashing her monstrous strength, and with the newly learned Phantom Body Technique, she launched a counterattack against Dan.

At this moment Dan's eyes changed from the three tomoe to the Taijitu Yin-Yang fish, activating the Mangekyou.

Boom! Boom!

As he threw two punches at Tsunade, two completely different auras erupted from his fists.

One was like the scorching sun in the sky, the hot sunlight baking the earth, making people sweat;

The other was like the arrival of a harsh winter, with heavy snow falling, making people shiver with cold;

What?!

Tsunade was horrified, enveloped by Dan's fist intent.

In an instant, with a dizzying spin, she suddenly felt as if she was in the desert, under the scorching sun, as if she hadn't had water for days and nights, about to be sun-dried to a skeleton.

But immediately after, the scene in front of her changed again, and Tsunade was on an ice field. Under her feet was three feet of snow, and the howling bone-chilling wind made her shiver.

The alternating heat and cold, although it was a hallucination created by Tsunade, the terrifying thing was that this hallucination and the real alternation of cold and heat were no different.

Because, Tsunade really thought she was going to die from heat or cold, half of her body was sweating profusely from the heat, and the other half was shivering from the cold.

This is the real Yin Release Phantom Body Technique.

After Dan awakened the Mangekyou, his eye power skyrocketed, and the Phantom Body Technique reached a new height in his hands.

His Taijutsu could not only destroy the enemy's body but also manipulate the enemy's senses.

Fortunately Dan didn't really intend to kill Tsunade.

Bang!

Tsunade came back to her senses, only to find that Dan had locked her arm from behind, pressing her against the wire fence of the training ground.

Damn it, it's that damn lock technique again.

At this moment, Tsunade couldn't help but remember the last time she fought with Dan, she was also strangled from behind, and she was choked unconscious.

That unpleasant memory, Tsunade really didn't want to experience it again.

However, she was now sandwiched between Dan and the wire fence, completely unable to move, her large chest even being squeezed out of shape by the wire fence, making her feel extremely embarrassed.

If an uninformed person passed by and saw their position, they might even have some unhealthy thoughts.

As it turns out, Tsunade is a tough one.

With a "crack" her eyes hardened, and she actually rotated her body and thrust her right shoulder forward, causing her entire arm to—dislocate.

Through this unexpected act of self-harm, Tsunade successfully broke free from Dan's lock.

The next second.

She spun around, using all her strength, and swung her left fist at Dan's face with rage.

However.

Dan simply floated back lightly, causing Tsunade's punch to miss.

Whoosh.

His retreat was like a graceful dance, his body weightless, and he floated back seven or eight meters in an instant.

"It's just a spar, if you can't win, just admit defeat. There's no need to break your own hand."

Dan looked at Tsunade with a smile on his face.

This woman's competitive spirit is really terrifying.