Little Li's Flying Dagger never misses its mark!
This was the "myth" in Li Anshi's heart.
He did not want to be the one to end it.
When the dagger is thrown, someone must die!
So far, only the Third Raikage had survived his dagger.
That had been the only time he had missed since his debut.
Of course, the Third Raikage had survived that time partly because Li Anshi had been unprepared. He had been caught off guard by the Raikage's surprise attack, and in the heat of the moment, the trajectory he had chosen had been for the heart, not the neck.
The other reason was that the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Blue B, fearing for the Raikage's safety, had also unleashed the power of the Tailed Beast at the moment of the attack, wrapping the Raikage in his Tailed Beast form's tails.
In the end, Li Anshi's dagger had pierced through the Jinchuriki's tentacle, shattered the Raikage's Lightning Release Armor, and was then slowed by the Raikage's own formidable physical strength.
Even with these three layers of defense, the Third Raikage had been severely wounded.
If the Cloud had not also had medical ninjas, he would surely not have survived a dagger to the heart.
This was also the reason why, when he and the Cloud had met on the battlefield for the second time, Li Anshi had been able to threaten their entire high command by himself.
Everyone knew that if he had decided to act back then, the Third Raikage would not have had the Jinchuriki's protection.
If Li Anshi had attacked the Third Raikage, he would have surely died.
With the Flying Thunder God Technique, it did not take Li Anshi and the three of them much time to return to Konoha from the Land of Sky.
After entering the village, Li Anshi returned to his shop alone.
As for Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru, they still needed to go to the Hokage's office to report on their mission to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
And to hand over the blueprints for the "wing suits" and the unfinished "airship" designs.
Li Anshi was confident that Hiruzen would understand the kind of change these two things could bring to Konoha.
Putting other things aside, with the wing suits, the Genin who could only be cannon fodder in wars before could now become a surprise attack team.
If there were enough of them, and if they were willing to pay the price, just by throwing kunai with paper bombs attached from the air, they could pose a threat to a Jonin.
Without a doubt, both the wing suits and the airships could greatly increase Konoha's war potential.
…
In the evening, just as Li Anshi had finished making dinner, Tsunade arrived.
Not treating herself as an outsider at all, she picked up a pair of chopsticks and sat down opposite him without any ceremony.
Li Anshi was already used to her ways.
Because she came over from time to time to freeload, he would always intentionally make enough for her as well.
"Congratulations, Tsunade."
"From today on, you are a truly independent ninja."
After putting down his chopsticks, Li Anshi said to her with a smile.
For ninjas, being recognized by a stronger ninja, being able to complete missions alone, and being able to stand on their own two feet—only then could they be considered a true ninja.
Genin who had to form squads to complete missions, and Chunin who were subordinates of a Jonin, were far from being "independent."
Genin lacked strength and experience.
The Chunin under a Jonin were those who had enough strength, but lacked a strategic view or leadership ability, and could not independently carry out high-level missions.
"Heh, I could have completed a mission like this on my own two years ago."
It was clear that Tsunade was also very happy about passing the assessment and becoming an independent ninja.
However, in front of Li Anshi, she still unconsciously put on a slightly tsundere act, a look of disdain on her face.
"If Master Hiruzen and my grandmother hadn't been holding me back, how could I have only passed the assessment now?"
"Yes, yes, Lady Tsunade has always been the strongest."
Li Anshi said with a smile, playing along.
However, his words only earned him a roll of the eyes from Tsunade.
Anyone else could have said that, and she would have accepted it.
But coming from his mouth, it sounded a bit teasing.
In the entire ninja world right now, if one were to choose a "strongest ninja," the ninjas of the five great villages would undoubtedly choose Li Anshi.
Perhaps in terms of physical fitness, chakra reserves, ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, and kekkei genkai, he did not have an advantage.
In terms of physical fitness, the Third Raikage far surpassed him.
In terms of chakra reserves, the Jinchuriki were not something he could compare to.
In terms of ninjutsu, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was leagues ahead of him.
Genjutsu was his weak point. He could only rely on his "conceptual understanding" to break through genjutsu that targeted the soul, but asking him to use it was too much.
In terms of taijutsu, Sakumo Hatake's White Fang sword style and Might Duy's yet-to-be-revealed Eight Inner Gates were on a level that only the Third Raikage, with his "nintaijutsu," could match.
In terms of kekkei genkai, the Third Tsuchikage's Dust Release was the strongest bloodline ninjutsu at this stage.
However, with just his "Little Li's Flying Dagger," Li Anshi had completely erased all these gaps.
Indeed, in these five aspects, he did not rank very high in the ninja world.
But none of these people dared to stand as his enemy within a hundred meters of him.
Isn't he the strongest, then?
For him to say that to me, is he mocking me?
"If you hadn't said that, we could still be good friends."
"No, I wasn't joking."
Li Anshi shook his head and smiled, "I know my own worth."
"In terms of killing ability, there are very few in this world who can match me."
This was not arrogance, but a fact.
Even the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, the so-called God of Shinobi, was only a notch above him due to the large-scale destructive power of his ninjutsu.
Below the two of them, even the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Mito Uzumaki, was a step below him in terms of pure killing ability.
"However, in terms of the other qualities of a ninja, I am not qualified."
For a ninja, killing ability was the most important, but that did not mean other abilities were not.
Disguise, infiltration, assassination, deception, psychology, social skills, adaptability...
These were all abilities a qualified ninja had to master.
And Li Anshi?
The only thing he could put on the table was probably "assassination."
And that was only because of his daggers.
He was not a qualified ninja!
It was just that his Little Li's Flying Dagger had raised his upper limit, making him the feared "Little Li's Flying Dagger" of the ninja world.
"Tsunade, you've grown up."
Hearing his sigh, Tsunade paused.
Yes, she had grown up.
After becoming an independent ninja, Grandma Mito had also begun to hand over the affairs of the Senju clan to her.
This attitude had also made her realize something.
Although she had been prepared for this for a long time, now that the day had actually come, she couldn't quite describe the thoughts in her heart.
Unlike other ninja clans, the Senju truly considered Konoha their home, and everyone in the village their family.
On one hand, this was because Konoha had been founded under their leadership.
On the other, it was because the Senju clan had disbanded, and all its members had given up their surname to integrate into Konoha.
Over the past ten or so years, nearly a third of the newborns in the village had Senju blood flowing through their veins.
They just all had their own surnames now and were no longer called "Senju."
"Anshi, did you know?"
"When I went home today, my grandmother told me a lot of things."
To Li Anshi's surprise, he could feel that her mood had dropped considerably, and there was a sense of confusion in her heart.
"Lady Mito?"
"Is it related to the Senju clan?" he asked.
It wasn't hard to understand.
Becoming an independent ninja was something anyone would be happy about.
The only thing that could make her confused was probably something Mito had told her about the secrets of the Senju clan, secrets that might conflict with her own thoughts and actions.
Otherwise, he didn't think the Tsunade who had firmed her own beliefs would feel such an emotion as "confusion."
"Yes."
Tsunade nodded.
"My grandmother told me that my grandfather established the village and regarded the villagers as his family."
"My great-granduncle, on the other hand, believed that to make Konoha a village where everyone regarded each other as family, the 'ninja clans' had to be eliminated."
"Because for the ninjas of the clans, the continuation of their family takes precedence over the continuation of the village."
"However, both my grandfather and great-granduncle believed that eliminating the ninja clans was not a good thing for Konoha."
"Without the clans, when faced with an attack from another village, Konoha would not have the strength to protect itself and would just be a lamb to the slaughter."
"So, after a period of consideration, they changed 'eliminating the ninja clans' to 'integrating the ninja clans into Konoha'."
"The first clan to integrate was the Senju."
"According to my great-granduncle's plan, after the Senju integrated, he would establish a Ninja Academy, so that the children of the villagers, those with ninja talent, could learn ninjutsu and eventually graduate to become ninjas."
"This way, the other clans wouldn't have to worry about their future generations having no one to teach them, relieving their concerns."
"But unfortunately, plans couldn't keep up with changes."
"First, my grandfather passed away. Then, my great-granduncle had to fight outside to resist the other villages. Before he had time to develop the Academy, he was ambushed by the Cloud..."
"So, after all these years of development, the only ninjutsu the Academy teaches, besides trap-making, disguise, and some theoretical knowledge, are the three basic techniques."
Actually, besides the three basic techniques, the Academy also taught practical skills like disguise, rope-escaping, and hiding.
However, none of these involved the use of chakra, so even an ordinary person could learn them.
It was just that the effect when they used them was far inferior to when a ninja did.
"The more and stronger the ninjutsu that can be learned in the Academy, the more the villagers will recognize it."
"But as it is now, besides being the only way for commoner ninjas to be promoted, it's basically looked down upon by the clan ninjas."
"Currently, each clan only sends one or two students a year, just for show."
"After my great-granduncle's death, the plan to integrate the clans into Konoha also fell into an awkward situation."
"Under these circumstances, no clan will agree to disband and integrate into Konoha like the Senju."
"Anshi, you told me before that you wanted me to become Hokage."
"But my grandmother told me that both the First and Second Hokage of Konoha were from the Senju clan."
"If the Third and Fourth were also Senju, then a question might arise in the hearts of many people—"
"Is Konoha everyone's Konoha, or the Senju clan's Konoha?"
Tsunade looked up at him.
"My grandmother told me that if my great-granduncle had wanted it, my father, Jōsui Senju, would have been a more suitable Third Hokage than Master Hiruzen."
"However, to avoid tying Konoha to the Senju clan, my father left the clan, gave up the Senju name, and integrated into Konoha."
"After that, the only ones left in the Senju clan were me and Nawaki."
"In the eyes of my grandfather and great-granduncle, the influence of our clan needs to be eliminated by the Third and Fourth Hokage."
"After that, the descendants of the Senju, whether in ninja promotions or the election for Hokage, will stand on the same starting line as the other ninjas of Konoha."
"That is the Konoha in their hearts."
"I see."
Hearing her say this, Li Anshi nodded in understanding.
From the fact that Hashirama and Tobirama had disbanded their own clan, he could guess that Tobirama had wanted to create a Konoha where there were no ninja clans, where everyone appeared to be equal.
If Hashirama had lived for a few more years, or if the other three great villages had not invaded after his death, forcing Tobirama to run himself ragged, it was possible that Konoha would have truly been guided by him to become a unified whole.
Unfortunately, there were no "ifs."
"So now you're confused about whether you should continue to pursue your dream of becoming Hokage, right?"
"Yes."
Tsunade nodded.
This was indeed what she was most confused about right now.
Previously, under his guidance, she had developed her own ideas for the future of Konoha.
And to make the village move forward according to that future, she had to become Hokage.