Now, Tsunade was faced with two contradictory paths.
If she continued to pursue her own dream, she would be undermining the plan her great-grandfather and great-granduncle had for Konoha.
Even though Tsunade had a direction for the future of the village in her own heart, she also felt that their plan to integrate the ninja clans into the village was not wrong.
Take the Senju clan, for example.
Perhaps it was precisely because all the members of the Senju had already integrated into Konoha that she had come to see all the villagers as her own family.
She thought that if the other clans were to integrate in the same way, they too would come to see the people of the village as their own family.
This was the ideal village in the minds of her great-grandfather and great-granduncle.
But if she were to give up her dream, it would be tantamount to betraying her own "ninja way." A great loss of strength would be the least of her worries; more seriously, it could make her feel as if she had lost her reason for being.
The "ninja way," to use a term from the martial arts world, was "conceptual understanding."
Whether it was the concept of the fist, the sword, or the spear, they were all things that were extremely personal.
Such people were those who had unshakable faith in themselves.
Therefore, their "conceptual understanding" could grow stronger and stronger.
It was the same in the ninja world.
By comprehending one's own "ninja way" and unswervingly following that path, one would also become stronger and stronger.
However, if one's "conceptual understanding" was broken and a flaw appeared in one's heart, in the martial arts world, it could easily lead to a state of madness.
In the ninja world, because of the different nature of chakra and internal energy, the outcome was also different.
Internal energy was a permanent form of energy, closely bound to its owner. If the conceptual understanding was broken, the martial artist would be more severely affected.
Chakra, on the other hand, was an energy created by fusing spiritual and physical energy when a ninja used it. With the exception of Li Anshi and the Jinchuriki, chakra was only extracted during battle.
This way, although they avoided the spiritual shock that came from violating their ninja way, the chakra they refined afterwards would be of a much lower quality due to the decrease in their spiritual energy.
This was Tsunade's current state.
"Heh, I was wondering what the matter was."
After hearing Tsunade finish, Li Anshi laughed.
"What?"
Tsunade looked up in a daze.
She couldn't understand. She was in this state, and he could still laugh?
Looking at his smiling face, her brow furrowed, and a spark of anger ignited in her heart.
"Anshi!"
"Hahahaha..."
"Alright, alright, Lady Tsunade."
Seeing her expression turn sour, Li Anshi composed himself.
"Your way of thinking is fundamentally wrong."
"Indeed, if the Second Hokage were still alive, it is possible that Konoha would have continued to move towards the future he envisioned."
"However, Tsunade,"
Li Anshi tapped his index finger on the table, "The Second Hokage has been dead for many years. After the Third Hokage took over, do you think the ninja clans of Konoha can still integrate into the village like the Senju did?"
"In the past few years, have you noticed that the major ninja clans of Konoha have started to get involved in other industries?"
When he asked this question, even Li Anshi felt a little embarrassed.
The boomerang he had thrown a few years ago had come back to hit his present self, and the Tsunade of a few years later. This was something he had never expected.
The initial reason for this change in Konoha was what he had told Hiruzen Sarutobi about the limitations of ninjas, and the relationship between Konoha and the Daimyo and nobles of the Land of Fire.
He had once told Hiruzen that if he were to become Hokage, he would definitely lead Konoha to break free from the shackles of the Land of Fire and reverse their positions.
And to achieve this goal, the first step was to make Konoha self-sufficient economically, so that it would not be at the mercy of the Land of Fire, who could cut off their mission supply at any time.
However, this would inevitably create an irreconcilable conflict between Konoha and the Land of Fire, and a battle between the two would be certain.
If Konoha could not achieve economic independence, in order to obtain more resources, it was impossible for the village to remain indifferent to the prosperous Land of Fire.
Similarly, if they could not control Konoha economically, the Daimyo and nobles of the Land of Fire would definitely...
It was precisely because this idea of Li Anshi's was so terrifying that Hiruzen had given up on the idea of him becoming the next Hokage.
However, although Hiruzen had given up on the idea of him succeeding the Fourth Hokage, he also had high hopes for the future of ninjas that he had described.
Therefore, while he was training Sakumo Hatake, he was also secretly encouraging the ninja clans of Konoha to develop businesses.
In the future, if Konoha could successfully break free from the constraints of the Land of Fire, then it was not impossible for Li Anshi to become the Fifth Hokage after Sakumo.
In any case, with him around, the other four great villages would not possibly attack Konoha.
The Daimyo and nobles did not know how terrifying he was, but they did.
Alone, Little Li's Flying Dagger was terrifying, but with a huge sacrifice, it was not impossible to kill him after all his daggers were used up.
But if someone were to cooperate with him, giving him time to replenish his daggers, then the battle between the four great villages and him would turn into a slaughter.
Although Konoha had agreed not to let the blacksmiths in the village forge his daggers anymore, according to previous intelligence, when he first left the village, he had forged over three million Ryo worth of daggers.
Of this batch, besides the three thousand or so that had been destroyed in the battle with the Cloud, he was estimated to still have about thirty thousand in his possession.
This also meant that even if Konoha no longer forged his daggers in the future, with his current mastery, achieving three kills with one dagger, the four great villages would have to sacrifice the lives of nearly a hundred thousand ninjas to have a chance of killing him.
The total number of ninjas in the four great villages probably didn't even reach a hundred thousand.
In other words, if needed, with the cooperation of Konoha's ninjas, he could wipe out all the ninjas of the four great villages!
Although ninjas lived by completing missions for rewards, they were not so desperate as to take on missions that meant certain death.
Besides, if Konoha could truly become independent from the Land of Fire, and even rise to become its decision-maker, it would serve as a great example for the other four great villages.
Before something has been done, perhaps no one thinks of it.
Or if they do, they give up because they don't think they will succeed.
But once someone succeeds, others will start to think they might get lucky too.
Perhaps, if it were me, I could also succeed?
Back then, Hashirama Senju had established the ninja village, becoming the first to take the plunge.
Subsequently, the ninja clans of the other four great nations had followed his example, uniting with other clans to establish their own villages.
They were the successful ones.
The failures, of course, were all swept into the dustbin of history.
In the founding of the villages, the four great villages had followed closely behind Konoha and had also gotten a piece of the pie.
The ninjas of the other clans, and the wandering ninjas, could only go to the small countries and establish small villages to drink the soup.
If Konoha could succeed, the other four great villages would surely follow.
For them, challenging the Daimyo, the nobles, and the state not only involved fewer risks, but the rewards would also be much greater.
And if they were to attack Konoha, there was a high probability they would be completely wiped out.
Of course, whether the other villages could replicate Konoha's success at that time would depend on whether they, like the current Konoha, had begun to consciously cultivate their own independent businesses within the village.
Pushing these thoughts from his mind, Li Anshi looked at Tsunade.
Although he had been the one to cause this, he would obviously not take the blame in front of her.
"That's right. Not just the other clans, but the Senju clan has also started to get involved."
Tsunade nodded.
Although the Senju clan had already disbanded and integrated into Konoha, there were still Mito, Tsunade, and Nawaki living in the clan compound.
Since Hiruzen had decided to let the ninja clans serve as Konoha's economic support, he naturally would not have overlooked the Senju.
"Tsunade, if the ninja clans might have disbanded and integrated into Konoha before, now that they have their own family businesses, it is impossible for them to give them up and disband their families."
Next, Li Anshi explained to her the benefits of having an independent economy. Tsunade fell silent.
She had to admit that what he said was reasonable.
"When ninjas could only survive by doing missions for rewards, integrating the clans into Konoha would have allowed many of the clan members to live well. The resistance to this policy would not have been great."
"In fact, some clans might have even actively disbanded and integrated."
"After all, while ordinary people dream of becoming ninjas, those who actually become ninjas hope for their loved ones to live a peaceful life."
This sentence made Tsunade lower her head.
Even she sometimes had such thoughts.
Ninjas were killers who walked in the darkness.
From the moment the profession was born, when chakra was used for killing, it was destined that no ninja would have a good end.
Even someone as strong as the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, had died in his prime.
The "Fastest in the Ninja World," Tobirama Senju, had met the same fate.
Although Tsunade was confident that she would also grow to become one of the strongest in the ninja world, a so-called "Kage"-level powerhouse, she was not sure that she would not die one day in the future.
Sometimes, when she saw her younger brother, Nawaki, training, she would also fantasize that it would be nice if he were just an ordinary commoner.
That way, he wouldn't have to walk the path of a killer like her, and meet an untimely end one day.
Unfortunately, she also knew that this fantasy of hers could only ever be a fantasy.
"However, the ninja clans now have their own industries. To a certain extent, they have already broken free from the limitations of the ninja profession."
"Even if they no longer complete missions, they have the ability to survive in this world."
"And these industries are largely dependent on the strength of the ninja clans for protection. Under these circumstances, once they disband their clans, their industries will no longer be protected. This is something they cannot tolerate."
"Therefore, under these circumstances, it is impossible for them to disband their clans."
At this point, Li Anshi paused, then smiled and said to her, "Tsunade, actually, your dream and the dream of your great-grandfather and great-granduncle are not in conflict."
"Or rather, because your great-granduncle died early, the development of Konoha has stalled."
"If you want Konoha to continue moving towards the future that the First and Second Hokage envisioned, only you, by becoming Hokage, can continue to push it forward."
"This is a situation where separating would be harmful to both, while uniting would be beneficial to both."
"As for your concern that you becoming Hokage would make everyone see Konoha as the private property of the Senju clan, that is nonsense."
"Only the ninja clans would have such an idea."
"For the common people, they have never thought of Konoha as the private property of the Senju."
"In fact, many of them regard Konoha as their home and want to build it up better."
"If you don't believe me, go to the Ninja Academy and see how many of the children there dream of becoming Hokage."
Tsunade still believed this.
Although she had only been in the Academy for less than a year before being taken as a disciple by the Third Hokage and leaving, she still remembered that on the first day of school, the teacher had asked everyone to introduce themselves and state their name, age, likes, and dreams.
The dreams of the children from the ninja clans were mostly to become great ninjas.
But the dreams of the commoner children were mostly to become Hokage.
From this, one could see the difference in thinking between the clan ninjas and the commoner ninjas.
The children of the clans had a deep understanding of themselves, knowing their clan's position in the village and the highest level they could reach.
Jonin was something they could still dream of.
But the Kage of the village, that was a position that even their clan leaders dared not covet. How could they, the children living in the clan, dare to dream of it?
Only the commoner students, who had an insufficient understanding of the ninja world and did not know many of the ninjas in the village, were different.
The most famous figure was the highest leader of Konoha, the "Hokage."
So, they all set their dreams on becoming "Hokage."
In their eyes, becoming Hokage was the coolest thing.
Only when they truly became ninjas would they know the huge gap between dream and reality.