Sixteen Years Old, The Fourth Generation of Mizukage

Thump thump thump thump.

Tsunade, wearing a green kimono, stepped into the Mizukage's office building with extremely heavy steps like a gust of wind.

And as if she had expected this scene, just when Tsunade stepped into this place, Kirigakure's Jonin Ao appeared silently in front of her and said to Tsunade in a calm tone. :

"Please follow me, Mizukage-sama is waiting for you in his office."

"Tsk."

After smacking her lips in displeasure because her actions were being seen through, Tsunade still maintained basic etiquette and quietly followed Ao into Rei Kaguya's Mizukage office.

In the bright and spacious office, Kaguya Rei was sorting out the documents he took out from a huge scroll that was as tall as a person with a relaxed expression, and stacked them together according to specific categories and order for later use. Seeing Ao quietly exiting after bringing Tsunade here, Kaguya Rei temporarily stopped what he was doing and said with slight surprise:

"I thought the first person to come to me would be Jiraiya...but it turned out to be you. Were you the first to realize something, Tsunade-hime?"

"...What did Jiraiya do?" Upon hearing the news, Tsunade couldn't help but raise her eyebrows, "When we were talking about what to do next yesterday, he said he was going to join your institution that studies history. .”

"Well, you guys heard about Shisui's information from, um, Uchiha Itachi, right?"

Kaguya pressed her eyebrows, then shook her head at Tsunade helplessly, spread her hands and said:

"Unfortunately, this organization is now in the preparatory stage of collecting information and documents, whether it is the compilation of information on various policy changes and specific implementation during the Blood Mist Period, or the documents provided by various ninja clans in Kirigakure and Konoha. The classification of information is still in its infancy, and it is far from being officially established and recruiting members."

"With how much control you have over Kirigakure, you can't allocate enough manpower to do these tasks?" Tsunade looked puzzled.

“It is not something that everyone can do to collect historical materials from various sources, distinguish their authenticity and value, and then analyze them to draw a conclusion that is close to the historical truth.”

Kaguya Rei shrugged and said calmly:

"We are not parties to history, and there is a hazy veil between us and the truth of history. In this case, when the data and documents are transferred to our hands, they have already experienced a distortion. And if the person who obtains the information does not have the necessary knowledge and judgment and uses wrong historical data to restore the historical truth, he will only get an answer that is further away from the true history."

"What's more, even those who have experienced history themselves, what they see is only one aspect of the historical truth. There are also deviations from the complete truth that are difficult to determine."

"Just like the first Hokage Senju Hashirama, in his eyes, Uchiha Madara should have died in the Battle of the Valley of the End, but we all know that Uchiha Madara not only survived to the recent era, but also secretly controlled Kirigakure Cho In more than ten years, he even cultivated a powerful and crazy heir who is only one step away from destroying the entire Konoha."

"Just going back a few decades, and even the history that people who have experienced it can ask about, we need to face overlapping difficulties and interferences. We have to trace the history back hundreds of years, to the birth of the ninja group. In an era that has begun to distort, you can probably imagine how difficult it would be to explore the reason why the ninja world became what it is today, Tsunade-hime."

“In order to ensure the reliability of the documents that are first put in front of historical researchers, and to ensure that when they use these documents to clear away the fog of history and explore the truth of history, they will not get answers that are too biased or even completely different. I can only work a little harder and check all the materials by myself."

Tsunade couldn't help but take a deep breath, and under Kaguya Rei's series of calm, rational, and logically connected speeches, she completely accepted his words.

But after all, she can be regarded as an elder who has experienced hundreds of battles, and she will not forget the purpose of her trip in such a simple way. After adjusting her mood and expectations, she resumed He opened his mouth and said:

"Mizukage-sama, you are an expert in this field, so I won't speak out about things I don't understand without authorization... But since you have arranged the manpower to receive Jiraiya and me early, that means that you have We have already anticipated what kind of thoughts we will have after seeing what you want us to see, right?"

"There is a general direction, but to what extent you can see clearly, I can't see through it. After all, both of them are ninjas older than my parents, and have experienced all three ninja wars in the ninja world. , I’m not completely sure about how much you can see.”

Looking at Kaguya Rei's calm smile, Tsunade first subconsciously clenched her fists because she was cueed about her age, and then immediately regained her sanity in the slowly cooling air and exhaled slowly. After taking a breath, she looked directly into Kaguya's white eyes and asked in a deep voice:

"By commercializing ninjutsu, do you mean to use those ninjutsu to openly control the nobles who purchased them!?"

"What is the need to criticize something that you and I agree on?" Kaguya Rei casually played with the pen she used to mark the document scrolls, and replied without any emotion: "They paid their own money to us. These ninjas purchase corresponding services. Isn't this the relationship that exists between the publisher of each task and the ninja village?"

"But when you developed this curse seal system... you actually wanted to do something about this relationship that has lasted for many years, right?"

"Oh? Tell me what you think, Tsunade-hime."

Seeing the interested expression on Kaguya Rei's face, Tsunade sat down on the chair provided for guests in the Mizukage's office, biting her bright red and round nails, and said in a very complicated tone. :

"Normally speaking, in the relationship between employers and ninjas, employers always take the initiative. They issue employment entrustments to Ninja Village. Essentially, they believe that the price offered by Ninja Village and the manpower dispatched by Ninja Village meet their expectations. Coupled with the long-term credibility accumulated by Ninja Village, they came to our door with a high-paying commission..."

"Although it seems that the employer is looking for ninjas, if the price offered by the ninja village exceeds their expectations, they will not hesitate to switch to other small ninja villages that offer lower prices and have reasonable credit. ...In other words, employers have the final say on whether to hire ninjas, and they are the ones who truly have the advantage and initiative in their dealings with ninjas."

"That's right," Kaguya Rei nodded and looked into Tsunade's eyes with approval, "Daimyo in various countries also rely on their control of a large number of mission resources and the increase or decrease of Ninja Village funds. The person who has achieved control over the Ninja Village, a tool of war...should be said to be the only female hero among the three ninjas? Although a lot of time was wasted, her vision is still more than one level higher than that of ordinary ninjas."

"I'll just assume that you are complimenting me," Tsunade's pretty face darkened, and she coughed a few times before continuing: "But, the series of curse seals you developed, and what you want from me The Yin seals obtained...are completely designed to make those who use them completely inseparable from Kirigakure, right?"

"Isn't this a matter of course?"

Kaguya crossed her hands, but there was a chill hidden in her calm tone, "Let the body return to its prime or even youth, and maintain a good figure without any exercise or fatigue... This is for those of us standing in the ninja world The top ninjas spent countless efforts and energy to finally develop the S-level ninjutsu. If you want to gain the right to use them as a mortal, how can you do it without paying a sufficient price?"

"But, why?" Tsunade bit her plump lips, still unable to understand Kaguya Rei's reason for doing this, "If you just want all the daimyo and merchants to be on your side, wouldn't it be faster to use illusions directly? Is it effective? The Uchiha boy next to you is, if I remember correctly, a genius in the field of illusion, right?"

"Although illusion is easy to use, it has limitations and hidden dangers that can be cracked. The fact that you can use illusion to achieve the same effect is enough to prove that you are an excellent ninja, but you are just a ninja."

Kaguya smiled and replied calmly:

"Use genjutsu to control targets. Once someone breaks the genjutsu, we will only get targets filled with anger and hatred for Kirigakure, and it will be difficult to win them over to our side again.

But for those people who sided with Kirigakure because of my curse seal and your Yin seal, even if they knew that using this set of combined ninjutsu in the future would continue to consume and shorten their lives, the most they could do was Protest to us and urge us to develop combined ninjutsu with lower side effects and longer lasting effects as soon as possible, instead of choosing to fall out with us. "

"No one can resist the temptation of youth and indulgence, especially those nobles who have mastered a lot of wealth and power, but have to give up their desires due to the aging of their bodies. Once they taste the taste of regaining their youth and indulgence, they will He is no longer qualified to take the initiative in front of us.

Even if I don't make any further reforms to Kirigakure after this, as long as these two techniques can be passed down, Kirigakure will always be the one taking the initiative in negotiations with the Kingdom of Water, as if he was being Things like the daimyo cutting funding and ninja quotas will never happen again to Kirigakure Village. "

"...Just, just like that?"

Tsunade listened to Kaguya Rei's monologue, while thinking about the feasibility of the other party's plan in her heart, and nodded repeatedly, but at the same time, she couldn't help but wonder because of the looming anger in Kaguya Rei's tone.

Why are you angry?

Why do you feel so happy when you say that these ninjutsu will continue to consume the lives of the nobles who use them?

Why do you have such a sharp and cold murderous intention when you talk about turning the Ninja Village into a guest-oriented one and no longer having to worry that the daimyo will use means such as cutting funding to suppress the development of the Ninja Village?

What on earth...did you see?

Tsunade unconsciously looked at the huge scroll that was as tall as one person.

Among them, there are sealed document scrolls copied from the major ninja clans in Konoha and recording important historical events in the eyes of each clan.

Among Kaguya Rei's requests to the Leaf Village, that was the one that could be exchanged for the most cash reward.

It’s really difficult to completely and accurately convert the thoughts and pictures in your mind into words...