41: Chapter 41 The Mist of Sorrow and Tsunade's RejectionThe casinos on Tanabata Street are a concentrated form of desire.
Countless invisible, tiny particles of emotion float in the air.
The crisp sound of gold coins clashing is the catalyst for greed, the moment the cards are turned over is the peak of excitement, and the collapse after losing everything is the sedimentation of despair.
As Jiraiya led Naruto into this bustling place, they were immediately enveloped by a torrent of complex emotions.
[Ding!You have received 4150 [Greed] from the casino!]
[Ding!You've won 3680 "Excitement" from the casino!]
[Ding!You have received 3220 [Despair] from the casino!]
Naruto didn't care about these low-quality, mixed points at all.
His sensory system automatically filtered out these background noises, like a miner searching for a diamond sifting through the sand and gravel.
His perception pierced through the clamor of voices, past the swaying dice cups, and precisely locked onto the deepest part of the casino, an unusually vast source of emotion.
That is not a complex collection.
It was a pure, chilling gray tornado.
It consists of two distinct emotions that are perfectly intertwined.
One kind is a bottomless sorrow, deep enough to corrode even steel.
Another type is a crazy tendency to self-destruct, wanting to completely burn oneself and everything around them.
This emotional field is so powerful that the greed and despair of the gamblers around it seem insignificant and laughable.
Naruto Uzumaki has found his target.
A blonde woman, completely drunk, was slumped over the gambling table, haphazardly pushing the last wad of banknotes away.
She was voluptuous, yet exuded a weariness beyond her years.Beside her, the black-haired female ninja, Shizune, looked anxious and helpless, but dared not utter a word to dissuade her.
"That's her."
Jiraiya's voice carried a complex emotion.He straightened his somewhat disheveled robes and strode over.
"Yo, Tsunade, long time no see.Your gambling luck is still as bad as ever."
He greeted her in a flippant, old-friends-like tone.
The woman known as Tsunade slowly raised her head.On her well-maintained face, her beautiful brown eyes were filled with drunkenness and impatience.
After recognizing Jiraiya, she merely scoffed and buried her head in her arms, too lazy to acknowledge him.
"I didn't come here to have a drink with you."
Jiraiya abandoned his nonchalant demeanor, and the air around him seemed to grow heavier.
"Sarutobi-sensei, he's dead."
Tsunade's hand, which was gripping the sake bottle, paused for a moment.
It was only for a moment.
Then she continued to gulp down the wine, as if she had heard something insignificant.
"So what if they're dead?" Her voice was slurred from the alcohol, yet it carried a chilling coldness."Don't all Hokage have to die?It's their fate."
Jiraiya's breath hitched, and he continued in a heavy voice, "The village cannot be without a leader for a single day.The higher-ups have decided that you will succeed him and become the Fifth Hokage."
Naruto.
These two words, like a drop of cold water thrown into boiling oil, instantly exploded on Tsunade.
She suddenly raised her head, and a strong, undisguised mockery burst forth from her hazy, drunken eyes.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
She burst into laughter, laughing so hard she almost fell over, drawing strange looks from the gamblers around her.
"Hokage?Me, the Hokage?Jiraiya, have you lost your mind?"
"Let whoever wants that cursed title take it!"
[Ding!You have received 9000 ultimate [Taunt] from Tsunade!]
[Ding!You have received 8500 units of ultimate [Resistance] from Tsunade!]
Naruto looked at her calmly.
In his perception, the gray emotional tornado surrounding Tsunade swelled violently because of the word "Hokage".
The intense sorrow almost materialized into a visible gray mist, enveloping her entirely.
Naruto named this fog the "Mist of Sorrow," a place stained with sorrow.
A self-imposed prison made up of purely negative emotions.
These are truly top-quality ingredients.
"Tsunade, this is no joke!" Jiraiya emphasized.
"A joke?I think you're the ones joking!" Tsunade slammed her hand on the table, the wine bottle bobbing and tilting."My grandfather died, and Sarutobi-sensei died, all for that stupid position!What's so great about being Hokage?It's nothing more than risking your life for a bunch of ignorant villagers, only to end up as a cold, lifeless stone!"
"Anyone who wants to become Hokage is a hopeless idiot!"
She vehemently rejected it, cursing the title that had once been the ultimate dream of countless ninjas with the most vicious words.
Just then, Naruto Uzumaki stepped out from behind Jiraiya.
He didn't say anything.
He simply stepped forward and calmly gazed at the woman enraged with his unwavering, azure eyes.
That calm, that gaze devoid of any sympathy, anger, or fear, stirred a strange fire within Tsunade.
"What are you looking at, you brat!"
She turned her anger on this arrogant young man.
Naruto suddenly started yelling, looking just like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"My dream is to become Hokage, and I will not allow you to insult my dream!"
A boy about the same age as her younger brother, a boy who also harbored the dream of becoming "Naruto".
History is repeating itself in a cruel way.
"Hehe.hehehe."
Tsunade laughed nervously, her body trembling.
"Another.another fool poisoned by dreams."
She pointed at Naruto, using all her strength.A powerful roar.
"You think you can become Hokage just by talking?You think becoming Hokage will change the world?Don't dream!That will only make you die faster!Like him!Like all of them!"
[Ding!You have received 13,000 units of ultimate [Pain] from Tsunade!]
[Ding!You have received 11,500 units of Ultimate [Abomination] from Tsunade!]
Jiraiya couldn't stand it anymore.He grabbed Naruto, and the two parted on bad terms.
The two walked out of the noisy casino, and the cold wind outside dispersed some of the smell of alcohol.
Jiraiya sighed heavily, leaned against the wall, and pulled a small booklet from his pocket, but had no interest in reading it.
"Don't take it to heart, Naruto." His voice was full of exhaustion."She wasn't targeting you."
He began to explain to Naruto.
Explain Tsunade's past, explain her younger brother named Nawaki, and explain her lover named Dan.
They all dreamed of becoming Hokage, and they all died on the battlefield.
Despite using her unparalleled medical ninjutsu, Tsunade was unable to save any of the people she loved most.
From then on, she developed severe hemophobia, and would tremble all over at the sight of blood, making it impossible for her to form hand seals.
From then on, she began to numb herself with gambling and alcohol, and deeply hated the dream of "Naruto" that had taken everything from her.
Jiraiya is telling a sad story, about a genius female ninja's inescapable fate.
Naruto listened quietly.
In his mind, however, he was calmly analyzing the situation.
Hemophobia stems from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from a failed rescue attempt.
The aversion to the Hokage stems from the vicarious trauma experienced after a close relative died for that target.
All actions and all emotions have an incredibly clear logical chain.
This is not an inescapable fate.
This is just a series of mental illnesses that can be quantified, analyzed, and utilized.
Naruto turned around and looked at Tsunade's staggering figure as she walked away.The "mist of sorrow" that enveloped her seemed so alluring to him.
He spoke calmly to Jiraiya, who was still grieving for his comrades.
"She doesn't hate the Hokage, she's just sick."
"And I happen to be a doctor."
Prev Next