Sitting calmly inside Ichiraku Ramen, Lin Xuan waited for his bowl while noticing the subtle presence of Anbu stationed around the shop. Clearly, Tsunade had arranged guards to keep their conversation from leaking and stirring panic among the villagers.
He didn't mind. Instead, he watched Tsunade with a faint curiosity as she spoke.
As the foremost healer of the shinobi world, Tsunade's figure was still striking, and her youthful appearance made her look like a woman in her prime. It was no wonder so many fanfictions paired her with various men. Yet Lin Xuan felt no interest at all. With a mental age barely in his teens, the idea of pursuing someone old enough to be his grandmother was absurd.
Besides, Senju Hashirama now served under him—wouldn't it be ridiculous to take Tsunade as his own and still call Hashirama "Grandfather"? He shook the thought away. There were plenty of beauties in the One Piece world, and even more waiting across countless dimensions. Why obsess over Tsunade?
Across from him, Tsunade had no idea the calm-faced Lin Xuan was thinking such things. Fortunately, while his mind wandered, he still caught every detail of what she said.
Before long, thanks to Tsunade's thorough account, Lin Xuan grasped the situation in full.
Just as Kushina had told him, the Sage of Six Paths and his brother had sensed a disturbance on the moon—an enemy they recognized as their mother's ancient foes, though they didn't know the exact identities of Momoshiki and his group. They immediately sent word back to the shinobi world to prepare for war.
Since the Fourth Great Ninja War had ended, the Allied Shinobi Forces hadn't disbanded, and every village had been recovering and rebuilding. When the warning came, they mobilized at once.
Lin Xuan had already heard much of this from Kushina, but Tsunade's version filled in the missing pieces and confirmed his suspicions.
Yesterday, the brothers finally saw those people appear on the moon. Their appearance resembled their mother's clan so closely that they could only be members of the Ōtsutsuki. A battle broke out, but even in their Edo Tensei forms the brothers couldn't stop them—the enemies could absorb chakra itself.
Though the brothers didn't care about their own chakra being drained, the sacrificial bodies anchoring their reincarnations couldn't withstand it and nearly broke apart, forcing them to retreat.
The invaders then descended to the shinobi world, striking several villages and killing numerous ninja.
Naturally, the Allied Forces responded, sending teams to hunt them down. But the results were shocking: more than half of the pursuing shinobi were killed or injured. Even Killer B and Kakashi Hatake had been wounded and were now hospitalized. Their strength was overwhelming.
At that, Lin Xuan couldn't help asking, "What about Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke? They should be your strongest fighters now, right?"
At the mention of those two, Tsunade's expression darkened. "Those idiots have holes in their heads!"
"Oh? What happened?" Lin Xuan asked in surprise.
"After the Fourth War ended, the two of them decided to settle things with a duel," Tsunade said with a mixture of anger and helplessness. "They each lost an arm and ended the fight, but now they're both badly injured and practically useless!"
Lin Xuan's mouth twitched. Great. It seemed he had arrived in the shinobi world too late—some things simply couldn't be changed.
Even though, with his interference, Madara and Hashirama had sealed Kaguya together to end the war, the battles against Kabuto's reincarnated warriors had already cost the Allied Forces dearly. The shinobi world was badly weakened, with little strength left to resist an outside invasion.
Luckily, the invaders seemed to be searching for something. Instead of continuing their assault, they had returned to the moon, giving the villages precious time to prepare. No one knew when they would strike again.
With no better plan, Tsunade and the others had been forced to turn to the "Chairman Lin" spoken of by Hashirama and the others—Lin Xuan himself.
Lin Xuan wondered silently if the people on the moon really were Momoshiki and his cohort. By rights, Momoshiki shouldn't appear for another decade. Yet here they were, a whole group of Ōtsutsuki. And their methods didn't quite match Momoshiki's style. If it truly were him, Kakashi and the others might never have returned alive.
After thinking it over, Lin Xuan shook his head. "Forget it. I'll know when I see them. No point worrying now."
He pushed aside his worries and began to enjoy his ramen.
His gaze drifted toward the shop owner, Ichiraku.
Beside him, Tsunade and Orochimaru, focused on Lin Xuan, noticed his glance as well. Tsunade's heart skipped—had she somehow offended him?
"Chairman Lin, is something wrong?" she asked quickly.
Lin Xuan smiled and waved his hand. "Nothing. Just thinking this ramen tastes pretty good."
Relief washed over her at his words. She turned toward Ichiraku, who beamed at the compliment, clearly pleased.
In truth, Lin Xuan had only looked at Ichiraku twice because he'd suddenly remembered some amusing theories he'd once seen online.
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T/N:
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