Chapter 292: The Sand Village's Invincible "Winning" Philosophy, Tsunade Overwhelmed
Originally, the most dangerous part of the Sasuke retrieval mission was the existence of Kimimaro.
Kimimaro's full outbreak clearly surpassed the scope of an Elite Jōnin.
When he activated Curse Mark Level 2, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a Kage-level gatekeeper.
Don't think this is an exaggeration, because the Curse Mark itself is a weakened version of Sage Mode.
If it were the complete version of Sage Mode, then after activation, one would directly reach the peak of Kage-level or even Super Kage.
Unfortunately, Kimimaro was already dead, and Orochimaru couldn't send out stronger ninja.
Plus, the strength of Sakura and the others was more than double that of themselves in the original storyline. Akiyama Makoto even doubted whether the Sound Four could successfully cover the rear.
But even if they suffered a crushing defeat, Sasuke would eventually leave Konoha successfully.
Because Itachi was observing in secret. Just a little help with genjutsu at the critical moment would be enough for Sasuke to defeat all pursuers.
As for whether people he knew would be seriously injured in this process, Makoto felt the possibility was slim.
Just in case, he still sent a shadow clone transformed into an Anbu ninja to follow in secret.
The result was not much different from Makoto's expectations.
The Sound Four weren't weak and could also activate the Curse Mark state.
They probably had the strength of Special Jōnin, and with the Curse Mark, they could defeat a Konoha Jōnin together.
But unfortunately, the strength of Sakura and the others was no longer describable as Genin, and had basically reached the level of Special Jōnin.
This led to the Sound Four dying under Konoha's pursuit team one after another without causing too much trouble.
However, the Konoha rookies weren't all unscathed.
The injured members retreated, and the uninjured ones continued to pursue. Finally, Itachi Uchiha transformed into a Sound ninja and stopped Shikamaru and the others, giving Naruto the chance to fight Sasuke decisively.
In the end, Sasuke, who had activated Curse Mark Level 2, was slightly better and defeated Naruto, then continued to flee towards Orochimaru's base alone.
Makoto watched all this quietly from a distant mountain peak.
Although the strength displayed by the two was still very immature in Makoto's eyes, this brotherhood still moved him.
Why are they both men?
If it were a man and a woman, I could understand their feelings.
Makoto shook his head slightly, throwing away this ridiculous thought, and then said, "Why aren't you following your brother? What are you doing here?"
"I'm just curious about your purpose, or if you have anything to say to me."
A crow transformed into Itachi Uchiha, who continued, "This is my shadow clone. My main body will follow Sasuke."
Makoto pondered slightly and said, "If you think contacting people in Konoha is too troublesome, you can go to the Land of Waves to pass on intelligence. There will be my base there in the future."
"Also, don't think your whereabouts are very secret. There is a pervasive guy in your organization who might be watching you from the dark."
Itachi frowned, then relaxed, clearly having a target in mind.
Then he turned into smoke and disappeared without a word. Makoto watched Kakashi help Naruto up and take him back to the village.
Makoto stretched. The show was over.
Next, Naruto would also follow Jiraiya out of the village to train, and it would be time for Makoto to do his own things.
Three years seemed long, but it was actually very short.
Short enough that Naruto might not seem to grow much in three years, but Sasuke could grow into "White Robe Sasuke" and officially step into Kage-level.
What Makoto had to do was try to master Yin-Yang Release and then charge towards the Six Paths level.
This was not an easy task.
After all, below Six Paths, all are ants.
Except for Sage Mode, even the First Hokage at the peak of Super Kage would be powerless in front of a Six Paths level powerhouse.
Fortunately, Makoto had a simulator, so he could seize the opportunity to the greatest extent.
Thinking of this, Makoto felt it was time to start the simulation.
He already had a large number of simulation attempts, and the preparations for Tsunade's simulation were almost done. His next goal was to turn himself into a monster with full stats.
Of course, what Makoto obtained was still just potential. To realize this talent, he still needed to continue training hard.
The leisure and relaxation of this period were just Makoto's reward to himself for his past efforts.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
Except for Naruto, all members of the Sasuke retrieval squad had recovered.
Except for Sakura, they had even accepted missions and started operations.
Konoha was currently in need of manpower. Several girls had also obtained the title of Chūnin from Tsunade, and their careers as ninja entered a new stage.
Only Sakura seemed a little lonely. She knew very well that her team life was coming to an end.
What should she do when she was the only one left?
"Don't worry, I'll help you find a good development direction."
"If it really doesn't work, you can stay by my side."
Makoto pinched Sakura's cheek, making her smile immediately.
She was obviously tempted, but seeing the girls around Makoto, and even Yūgao picking up her forehead protector and starting missions again, she naturally couldn't fall behind.
Initially, as a commoner, she wanted to be a ninja to keep up with Sasuke.
Later, it was to protect Makoto, wanting to possess her own power.
And now, Sakura had gradually found her own ninja way.
That was to be a valuable person.
Sakura expressed her thoughts, and she naturally received Makoto's encouragement.
As for what Makoto had to do, the answer was simple: make Sakura Tsunade's disciple.
In fact, Sakura could totally learn Tsunade's full set of medical ninjutsu from Makoto, but Makoto had more things to do, so let Tsunade handle the teaching.
More importantly, this could also become a bargaining chip to re-establish contact between Tsunade and Makoto.
At the same time, Tsunade was meeting Temari in the Hokage's office.
Because of Temari's performance in the Sasuke retrieval mission, Tsunade felt she had goodwill towards Konoha, and it was time to resolve the conflict between Konoha and the Sand.
"You are Temari, right?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Temari appeared very respectful in front of Tsunade.
However, this respect was only on the surface. Clearly, she didn't consider herself a Konoha person.
Tsunade looked Temari up and down, wanting to ask what exactly her relationship with Makoto was, but she held back in the end.
She wanted to resolve the dispute without Makoto's help.
"I have decided that you will act as the spokesperson for the Sand Village and present the Sand Village's demands. You can return to the Sand Village to contact people in your village and collect their opinions. I give you three days. Can you do it?"
Temari looked at Tsunade blankly, then said somewhat unexpectedly, "Um... Makoto-kun has already negotiated terms with Granny Chiyo."
Bang!
Tsunade slapped the table. "He is just a commoner. Negotiations naturally have to be decided by me. Go, I await your good news."
Watching Temari disappear, Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief.
She wasn't deliberately fighting with Makoto, but she urgently needed some achievements to confirm her status.
The mission to retrieve Sasuke failed. Although this matter itself didn't have much impact, it wasn't conducive to her accumulating prestige.
Especially since Sasuke defected to Orochimaru. For Konoha, whose Kage had just been killed by Orochimaru, this was undoubtedly a humiliation.
If someone wanted to stir up trouble now, Tsunade, who had just become Hokage, would see her reputation plummet.
Fortunately, Konoha no longer had Danzō, so no one would do such disgusting things.
Unfortunately, Tsunade wanted to stand on her own feet.
The sense of honor and dignity in her heart made it impossible for her to ignore her failure, and she urgently wanted to achieve success.
However, regrettably, the more Tsunade wanted something, the less satisfactory the result.
Although the Sand Village had suffered huge losses and there were three hostages in Konoha, Chiyo was stubbornly refusing to retreat at this time, showing no awareness of being a defeated village.
Chiyo not only refused to admit defeat, but even didn't plan to pay any compensation to Konoha, and demanded that Konoha immediately release the three Sand Siblings, acting completely arrogant.
Seeing these words, Tsunade was so angry that smoke came out of her nose.
Her chest heaved rapidly, so fast that afterimages appeared, making Shizune worry if Tsunade would suffocate.
"How dare she!"
Tsunade didn't understand. She asked Shizune, and Shizune didn't understand either.
However, Tsunade didn't want to ask Koharu and Homura, so she could only turn to Shikaku Nara for help.
Shikaku sighed and said, "Hokage-sama, Chiyo is bluffing. But the question is, can we still wage war on the Sand Village?"
Tsunade was stunned, seeming to understand.
"It seems you understand. Simply put, as long as we are powerless to punish Chiyo, Chiyo can whitewash the peace and pretend to be the winner."
"This—using a term from Makoto-kun's book, can be called 'Winning Philosophy'."
"Although it's ridiculous, it's very practical. As long as we can't break the opponent's 'Winning Philosophy' with the criticism of weapons, the opponent can keep winning."
Tsunade clenched her fists. "Isn't she worried that we will harm Temari and the others?"
"About that... the opponent seems to be very familiar with your character and isn't worried you'll do such a thing."
"Most importantly, even if we really kill the three Sand Siblings, what loss is there for Chiyo in the end?"
Tsunade fell silent.
Chiyo had no blood relationship with Temari and the others, and it was even hard to say they were in the same faction.
It was just that the Sand Village seriously lacked high-end combat power now, forcing Chiyo to stand up and take the lead. She naturally wouldn't proactively bear the infamy of harming the Sand Siblings.
But if Konoha really killed the Sand Siblings, Chiyo would probably take control of the overall situation of the Sand Village logically. At that time, the Sand Village might be even harder to deal with.
A look of enlightenment flashed in Tsunade's eyes. "It seems we still have to send Gaara and the others back."
Shikaku nodded. "Indeed. At least Gaara is much easier to deal with than Chiyo."
"Although it's very bizarre, Gaara is full of goodwill towards Konoha. I met him, and his words showed great concern for Naruto and great respect for Makoto-kun."
Mentioning Makoto, Shikaku finally couldn't hold back. "Hokage-sama, why not let Makoto-kun mediate this matter?"
"Look, Temari is already a member of his household. He can totally make the Sand Village pay a certain price to sign an armistice agreement."
Shikaku wanted to say more, but Tsunade shook her head. "I will consider it."
Seeing Tsunade's expression wasn't right, Shikaku excused himself directly.
People of the Nara clan were very smart and could see through the petty thoughts of those in power. Naturally, they would also protect themselves when those in power were unhappy.
As for the remaining pressure, let Tsunade solve it herself.
Tsunade was silent for a long time, trying to find a way to break the situation.
In the end, she could only admit that Shikaku was right.
As long as Konoha was powerless to attack the Sand Village, the Sand Village could pretend to be the winner and continue to win.
But the problem was that Konoha had clearly paid such a huge price and killed so many people from the Sand Village, yet couldn't even get a surrender agreement. Then her time as Hokage would be over.
What to do?
Tsunade realized she had to find someone to help.
These were things she couldn't solve in the office.
As Hokage, she could only sit in the office and deploy others to work. But who could take on this important task?
Tsunade thought about it, and there was only Makoto.
As for Koharu and Homura—they might be able to do some things, but they definitely couldn't do it to Makoto's extent.
Makoto had even pulled Temari into his home from the beginning, clearly having made ample preparations for this.
That guy—must be waiting for me to beg him!
Tsunade bit her lip, unwilling to admit defeat.
Just then, Jiraiya's voice came from the window: "You look like you're in a bad mood. Is something bothering you?"
Hearing Jiraiya's voice, a trace of joy appeared between Tsunade's brows.
Maybe she could let Jiraiya go and deter Chiyo?
However, before she could propose her idea, Jiraiya had already come to say goodbye to Tsunade.
"I plan to take Naruto out for training."
"You know, he is a Jinchūriki and needs to learn to use his own power. Besides, that mysterious organization seems to be interested in Naruto too. I can protect him at any time by keeping him by my side."
Tsunade fell silent.
She knew Jiraiya's choice was correct. Konoha was in a fragile period, and they absolutely couldn't let anything happen to the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki again.
But if Jiraiya left Konoha again, who else could Tsunade call to help herself?
Actually, there were quite a few people, such as the Ino-Shika-Chō clans and the Sarutobi clan, but they also couldn't solve the problems Tsunade was facing now.
After Jiraiya left, Tsunade took a deep breath and stood up.
What had to come would come. She had to have a good talk with Makoto about his influence and position in Konoha.
That night, Tsunade went to Makoto's house, planning to have a long talk with him by candlelight.
But when she saw the current situation in Makoto's living room, the emotions Tsunade had managed to organize collapsed.
"What—are you doing?!"
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