The casino attendant gave Tsunade a bitter smile.
"If it were someone else not recognizing you, that would be understandable.
But for us who run gambling houses—there's no way we wouldn't know you.
Every gambling den you visit, you always say you'll pay it back 'tomorrow'…
But for some of them, that 'tomorrow' has already lasted two or three years."
Tsunade's face stiffened with embarrassment.
Her original plan had been to run away tonight anyway.
"I'll pay," Wen Lan said calmly, gesturing to Arashi beside him.
Arashi understood immediately. He stepped forward and handed over a thick stack of banknotes, clean and decisive.
The attendant counted them, saw that the amount was exact, and instantly broke into a smile.
"Thank you very much, Ninja Sir."
Tsunade and Shizune both frowned slightly when they noticed the Konoha headbands on the two of them.
"Which clan are you from?" Tsunade asked.
Arashi didn't answer. He simply turned around and revealed the Uchiha clan crest on the back of his clothes.
"Uchiha?!" Tsunade was visibly surprised.
She hadn't expected the Uchiha clan to help her pay off a gambling debt.
"Lady Tsunade," Wen Lan stepped forward and spoke gently, "I am the Third Elder of the Uchiha clan. May I have a word with you in private?"
"Third Elder…"
Shizune looked Wen Lan up and down—his headband was worn on his left arm, his age was young, and he wasn't carrying a sword. She hesitated, then asked uncertainly,
"Are you… the Golden Lightning Flame, Uchiha Wen Lan?"
The reason she didn't see his blade was simple—it had already been burned away by Amaterasu.
Wen Lan smiled faintly.
"Miss Shizune is indeed sharp."
Tsunade wanted to turn around and leave immediately, but remembering that Wen Lan had just paid her debt, she nodded.
"There's a tavern not far from here. Let's talk there."
Wen Lan agreed, and the group moved to the izakaya.
Though it was already noon, the tavern was dimly lit, isolating it from the daylight outside. The air was thick with the smell of alcohol.
They entered a private room. Wen Lan sat down and poured Tsunade a cup of sake, his tone calm.
"Today's gesture was not charity. I have matters I wish to discuss."
Tsunade's fingers paused slightly. She looked up at him, lifted the cup, and drained it in one gulp.
"Speak."
Wen Lan lightly tapped the table, then glanced at Hikari beside him.
"Two things. First—I want to sign a summoning contract with the Slug Clan."
A cold smile crossed Tsunade's face.
"The Slug Clan isn't something you can contract at will.
Even if the Uchiha are strong, you still must follow the rules of summoning contracts."
Wen Lan shook his head lightly.
"The Slug Clan is the exclusive summoning of the Senju, and also one of the Three Great Sage Lands.
I specialize in taijutsu and swordsmanship—that's why I want the Slug Clan."
"And the second thing?" Tsunade asked directly, neither agreeing nor refusing.
Wen Lan looked at Hikari, thought for a moment, then spoke.
"My physique is very special. I can regenerate freely.
This is my clanswoman, Uchiha Hikari—her eyesight is deteriorating.
I want to transplant her eyes into my body, restore her vision, and then return them to her."
Hikari looked at Wen Lan in surprise.
She didn't doubt him—she had personally witnessed his terrifying regenerative ability.
But she hadn't expected him to help someone who had tried to kill him just the day before.
Wen Lan continued calmly, "The Third Hokage has stepped down, and the Fourth has just taken office.
Many resources are still controlled by those old men.
So I don't trust the medical ninja in Konoha Hospital."
Tsunade snorted.
"You don't trust Konoha's doctors… but you trust me?"
"Of course," Wen Lan leaned back in his chair and looked at her.
"You also have doubts about Nawaki's death, don't you?"
Tsunade's pupils shrank violently.
In the next instant, a violent surge of chakra exploded from her body.
The floor cracked apart with a deafening sound.
Arashi reacted instantly, forming a barrier with rapid hand seals that sealed off the private room, preventing any disturbance from leaking outside.
Tsunade stared at Wen Lan, her voice low and thunderous.
"How much do you know?"
"Hashirama Senju's Wood Release was unparalleled," Wen Lan said calmly.
"After his death, Konoha would never willingly abandon such a powerful technique.
And back then, how many Senju were actually left alive?"
He continued relentlessly:
"Didn't you notice that even before Nawaki died, the Senju clan was already almost extinct?
And that their deaths were eerily similar—dying during missions outside the village?"
Tsunade clenched her fists, her knuckles turning white.
She had suspected it.
But she never dared to pursue those thoughts.
Konoha was her grandfather's village.
She refused to believe that such darkness could come from within.
Wen Lan saw her hesitation and spoke more slowly.
"Konoha was founded jointly by Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.
You know very well how badly the Uchiha were suppressed afterward.
The reason the Uchiha still exist is simple—once we awaken the Sharingan, the minimum is Chūnin-level combat power."
"And the Senju?" he asked quietly.
"What did they rely on?
Without Wood Release, all that remained was physical vitality—and that's not rare among taijutsu users.
And after the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, died… the Senju clan completely lost its backing."
He looked straight into Tsunade's eyes.
"You left the village—wasn't that also an escape from this truth?
Or do you really think you could have lived peacefully if you stayed in Konoha?"
Tsunade's breathing faltered. Pain and struggle flickered in her eyes.
She had run away— from the village that buried Nawaki's smile, and from the truths she was too afraid to confirm.
Finally, she loosened her fists, her voice hoarse.
"Even if all that is true… what can you change?"
"I can't change it," Wen Lan replied.
"And what I want to change isn't this era— but the future."
"The future?"
"You may not know this," Wen Lan said, raising a finger and pointing upward,
"But the Five Great Nations will eventually unite.
Because our true enemy has never been the shinobi world— it's above us."
Tsunade frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Have you heard of the Ōtsutsuki clan?"
"Ōtsutsuki…"
The name sounded familiar to Tsunade, but she couldn't recall it clearly.
Shizune suddenly spoke up.
"The Sage of Six Paths! His name was Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo!"
"Exactly," Wen Lan nodded.
"The Ōtsutsuki clan has existed since ancient times…"
He then explained the origins of the Ōtsutsuki clan in detail.
Everyone present stared at him in shock.
Arashi's pupils contracted as he spoke in disbelief:
"Third Elder… are you saying that the Ōtsutsuki plant something called a 'God Tree' on planets,
and that this God Tree is actually the Ten-Tails—the aggregate of all tailed beasts?"
"The God Tree absorbs all life on the planet, condenses it into a 'chakra fruit,' and after consuming it, the Ōtsutsuki evolve?!"
"That's right," Wen Lan said calmly.
"And Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, unwilling to become a sacrifice, ambushed the Ōtsutsuki Isshiki who arrived with her, turning him into the sacrifice instead.
After the God Tree bore its fruit, she consumed the chakra fruit herself.
But the chakra fruit must be delivered back to the clan— the Ōtsutsuki would never let that go.
So Kaguya used human lives to create beings called White Zetsu, intending to build an army to resist the Ōtsutsuki clan."
He paused, then finished quietly:
"Unfortunately… She was sealed away by her own two sons.
One of them was the Sage of Six Paths you all know."
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