"I've got Minato's Flying Thunder God mark on me. I can't run. You hurry up and go, take Konohamaru with you."
"Go anywhere you want. Don't let me know, and don't let me guess."
"As long as Konohamaru lives, nothing else matters."
Amid the ruins of Hiruzen's encampment—
Asuma had already vanished. Hiruzen, on the other hand, lay alone on the ground, waiting to die.
He knew Minato and the others would definitely come back, so he'd already told Asuma to flee first.
Whoosh!.
Edo Minato brought Tsunade back again with Flying Thunder God.
Minato checked the surroundings. There were no other enemies nearby.
Hiruzen looked calmly at Tsunade and Minato, "Don't bother looking. They're gone."
Tsunade walked over and grabbed Hiruzen by the front of his clothes.
"You think Asuma can really get away?"
A savage look crossed Hiruzen's face, "What a pity I never found the chance to kill you!"
Murderous intent flared in Tsunade's eyes. She drove a ferocious punch straight into Hiruzen's face.
BANG!
With his chakra sealed, Hiruzen's head burst like a watermelon.
Scarlet blood and gray-white brain matter splattered everywhere.
Tsunade wiped her face.
"Asuma's not the only one. That old man also has a grandson, Konohamaru!"
"Minato, trouble you to help me find them."
Minato nodded. Tsunade's entire clan had died at Hiruzen's hands.
He naturally understood how she felt.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Minato split off twenty clones in one breath and sent them toward the daimyo's city to search.
It wasn't that he couldn't make more, this was enough.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Minato and his shadow clones vanished in a blur.
Only Tsunade remained where she stood.
She tilted her head up to the sky, her feelings a tangle.
If it started raining now, it would really set the mood.
Too bad it didn't.
Tsunade didn't wait long.
Roughly a little over ten minutes later, Minato returned carrying the unconscious Asuma and Konohamaru.
Reality isn't a storybook. Without special means, how could Asuma and Konohamaru possibly escape from Minato? [T/N: Lol!]
Minato tossed the two down in front of Tsunade, "Lady Tsunade, here they are."
Creak!
Tsunade clenched her fists, a faint sound escaping.
She glanced at Minato, "Minato, if I remember right, Edo Tensei needs living people as sacrifices, doesn't it."
"Yes, Lady Tsunade," Minato reacted quickly; he understood her plan almost at once.
"I'll take these two back first. Lady Tsunade, what do you plan to do with those people?"
Minato pointed toward the daimyo's city.
There were still many Sarutobi clanspeople there, though they weren't combat personnel.
But they were tied to the fighters in countless ways, lots of relatives.
Tsunade stood where she was and let out a breath, "Let me think first."
Minato nodded, grabbed Asuma and Konohamaru, and disappeared in a flash of Flying Thunder God.
After taking in the ruinous scene around her, Tsunade started toward the daimyo's city.
This place had been flattened by Shinra Tensei, then Nue was sealed into Chibaku Tensei and later exploded.
Scouts had been watching from afar for some time already.
But everyone had been cautiously observing from a distance, not daring to get too close.
They were afraid the fighting in the middle would spill over onto them.
Only after a short while, when it went completely quiet inside, did some scouts venture in.
So many people saw Tsunade, covered in blood, walking out.
Though their hearts were full of guesses, none dared meet Tsunade face-to-face.
They hurried to hide.
As Tsunade neared the city of the daimyo's residence, people came out at once to receive her.
"Lady Tsunade!"
An official in court robes, with several soldiers, saluted Tsunade at the roadside.
"The daimyo sent you?"
Tsunade's status needed no explanation, she'd been a princess since childhood.
"Yes. I am the official in charge of the outer city, Hisashiro Norio. If Lady Tsunade needs anything, please tell me."
When Senju Hashirama was around, the daimyo and other officials were essentially like vassals.
After Hashirama's death, during Senju Tobirama's time as Second Hokage, he likewise kept them thoroughly in line.
They were more like the Senju clan's household retainers.
After the Third Hokage came to power, these so-called vassals still didn't dare the slightest move.
It wasn't until the Senju clan mysteriously vanished from the stage that the daimyo and his people gained a bit more status.
They had many guesses but didn't dare say them out loud.
After all, Tsunade was still alive. Faced with a powerhouse like Tsunade, with countless followers behind her, the daimyo and other officials maintained humility.
After all, with either the Third Hokage or Tsunade, a flick of the finger could wipe them all out.
They were only kept around because the work they did was the kind shinobi didn't want to do.
So in Konoha, during the struggle between the Third Hokage and the Uchiha, they could only play dumb.
And now, the Uchiha had won.
Tsunade had clearly joined the Uchiha, and along the way wiped out the Sarutobi clan's shinobi.
So the daimyo had specially sent people to handle the aftermath.
Tsunade knew full well the people at the daimyo's residence were all very attuned to the times.
She spoke directly, "Where are the ones who came with Hiruzen Sarutobi being kept?"
"They've all been placed in the western district. Please follow me, Lady Tsunade," With that, Hisashiro Norio took the lead.
As Tsunade followed, Minato returned by Flying Thunder God.
"Lady Tsunade, Rengoku just told me a good way that should solve your problem."
"Hm?", Tsunade turned her head, puzzled.
Minato whispered something in Tsunade's ear, and her eyes lit up when she heard it.
"Great idea!"
"We'll do exactly what Rengoku said!"
———
[The Daimyo's City, Western District]
On a vast plaza, more than twenty thousand people stood shoulder to shoulder.
"After investigation, all of Hiruzen Sarutobi's crimes have been confirmed."
"Sarutobi Hiruzen, Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane… and the other rogue ninja have already been executed."
"You people are their clansmen, but as long as you had nothing to do with them, you only need to change your names and you can stay and live in the daimyo's city."
Tsunade stood at the front of the plaza and said this into a microphone.
Then her gaze swept over the crowd below.
"Now, no one is to move. Wait for the soldiers to take you down for screening."
Several people immediately came to Tsunade's side to take notes.
"This one… this one… this one…"
Following "Tsunade's" directions, the daimyo's guards continued to seize people from the crowd.
A buzzing murmur rose from below. Many were scared to death.
Some wore blank faces.
But the daimyo's guards ringed the area, and these ordinary people couldn't get out.
This "Tsunade" was actually Minato in disguise. He was using the Nine-Tails' malice sensing to pick out those among the civilians who harbored hatred in their hearts.
If someone merely shared a surname and had nothing to do with Hiruzen and the others, they naturally wouldn't feel much malice toward Tsunade.
With a total of more than twenty thousand people, the number was huge, so Minato spent several hours to screen out over five thousand of them.
There were too many to fit in the daimyo's city jail, so many soldiers were dispatched to escort them back to Konoha.
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