News of Tsunade, in a fit of rage, smashing through Konoha Hospital spread quickly throughout the village.
Tsunade, furious, barged in the Hokage's office despite the attempts of the ANBU guards to stop her.
She glared at Hiruzen, who was calmly puffing on his pipe, and shouted angrily, "You knew full well that Shin and I are engaged and have a great relationship. So why didn't you reject the marriage alliance proposal from Kumo right away? You even said you wanted to ask my opinion, what kind of person do you take me for?"
"Tsunade." Hiruzen, unfazed by her anger, replied, "I never agreed to A's proposal. I only said I'd consult with you first. Why are you getting so worked up? Besides, it's anyone's right to fall in love with someone. What's wrong with him liking you? Don't forget, you and Shin are only engaged, not married. Even if you were married, if you realized you'd made the wrong choice, shouldn't you be allowed to reconsider your future? If you don't agree, just say so. I'll reject him for you. There's no need to be so emotional, you need to show more composure."
As he watched Tsunade clenching her fists tightly, he felt a strange sense of satisfaction.
Can't handle it already?
When you were stirring up public opinion against me behind my back, did you ever think a day like this would come for you too?
And this is just the beginning.
He continued, "Still, I hope you'll truly consider this. After all, it's a great opportunity for us to form an alliance with Kumo and avoid war. You should think about the bigger picture."
Though he maintained a calm tone, a fleeting hint of mockery in his eyes made it clear to Tsunade, he was doing it on purpose just to spite her.
Enraged, she slammed her fist down and shattered the desk in front of her, saying, "Fine! Just you wait!"
So you like to play this game, huh?
Very well!
I was originally hesitant about Shin's new plan, I didn't want to involve family in this mess. But if you're going to be like this, then I won't hold back anymore.
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Soon, news of what had transpired in the Hokage's office spread once again across Konoha. But this time, public opinion wasn't as unified as before.
Some people felt Tsunade was overreacting. The Hokage didn't actually agree to the proposal and said he would ask her opinion, he ultimately respected her wishes, didn't he?
Some even thought she should marry into Kumo. That way, not only could war be avoided, but Konoha might also gain significant benefits.
However, few would say such things openly. Because right after the news came out, Torifu publicly declared at his family's barbecue shop: "If Hiruzen can sacrifice Tsunade today for the sake of political gain, then tomorrow he could sacrifice anyone else for the same reason. Who's to say the next one won't be you or your loved ones? If even someone of Tsunade's status can be sold out, is there anyone in Konoha who's truly safe?"
These words immediately triggered deep reflection among many and helped people cool down.
Exactly, some matters were about principles, not simple trade-offs.
His speech quickly spread throughout Konoha. It was essentially a public show of support for Tsunade. As a member of the upper ranks of Konoha and a disciple of the Second Hokage, his support carried weight. His words silenced many inappropriate thoughts and indirectly disrupted Hiruzen's plans.
So when Hiruzen heard what Torifu said, he was livid. If it weren't for that meddling Torifu, Tsunade's reputation would've taken a nosedive. Even though her image still took a hit, the effect was far less severe now.
There were still some who had been brainwashed by the Will of Fire into thinking they should sacrifice everything for the village, but such extreme views didn't gain much support.
Since it was hard to publicly say she should marry into Kumo, some changed tactics and began attacking Shin instead, claiming that this blind, useless man wasn't worthy of Tsunade at all.
They confidently asserted that if not for Shin, she might've really accepted A, after all, both were from prominent families and possessed exceptional strength.
Her relationship with him, they argued, was holding back what could have been a strategic alliance that would benefit both villages.
Many who voiced this opinion were simply jealous of Shin. After all, Tsunade had countless admirers in Konoha. And many had long been dissatisfied with her choice of him. Now that there was an opening, how could they not jump at the chance?
But Shin didn't care at all about these criticisms. In this regard, he was a lot like Orochimaru, completely indifferent to public opinion.
Besides, he had deliberately leaked the news himself as bait, so he was hardly going to be angry about it.
Tsunade, on the other hand, was furious and immediately wanted to go out and teach those gossipers a lesson, but he stopped her.
There were also two new opinions that had just emerged and were quickly gaining support.
The first: that Hiruzen was deliberately using this incident to suppress Tsunade's reputation.
The reasoning was simple: he clearly knew she would never agree to such a proposal, so why didn't he just reject it outright? Why stage this whole farce?
And as for why he would want to suppress her?
Heh… those who knew, knew.
Naturally, Hiruzen was extremely angry about this.
The damn remnants of the original Senju clan again, couldn't all of them just drop dead already?
Another view began to circulate: that this was an open conspiracy by Kumo to sow discord within Konoha, aiming to drive a wedge between Hiruzen and Tsunade.
Of course, aside from these mainstream opinions, there were plenty of other speculations floating around. In short, the situation was chaotic, very chaotic, with all kinds of theories and no unified narrative to be found.
From the very beginning, Hiruzen had seen through this as a scheme by Kumo. But he chose to play dumb.
Now, he firmly believed that before securing the outside, internal unrest must be quelled. If Tsunade continued causing a scene like this, Konoha would descend into chaos all on its own, long before Kumo even had to lift a finger.
As a Hokage who claimed to have the village's best interests at heart, he would never allow that to happen. Still, the fact that he'd just had a chance to publicly shame Tsunade had lifted his spirits considerably. He now felt calm, even cheerful.
With this momentum, his follow-up plan could proceed smoothly. One way or another, he was determined to make her suffer a major fall. And for that, he would need A's cooperation. After all, he had known from the very start: A's desire to marry Tsunade had nothing to do with love.
The real reason for his obsession was that he had once been captured by her. This was a stain on his life and reputation that he could never erase. But if he were to marry her, this could be spun into a romantic, legendary tale.
Back then, he had even pressured Hiruzen, making it clear that he must marry Tsunade. If Konoha didn't agree to his demand, he wouldn't necessarily declare war, but he would certainly stir up trouble.
A's goals happened to align perfectly with Hiruzen's, so the latter decided to use him as a pawn from the start. To this end, Hiruzen was even willing to make a high-stakes move.
Never mind that many people in Konoha currently believed Tsunade was the most suitable candidate to become the next Hokage. But what if Kumo launched a surprise attack, causing massive civilian casualties in Konoha?
What would the villagers think then?
With a bit of public opinion manipulation, wouldn't some of them start to believe that all this devastation happened because Tsunade was too selfish, too unwilling to sacrifice herself?
Having personally experienced the power of propaganda warfare, Hiruzen had quietly become a master of it. The reason he'd seemed passive before was simply because he was out in the open while his enemies operated from the shadows. And because he feared they had too much damaging evidence against him, he'd been forced to endure and act with restraint.
But now, the opportunity had come, and he wasn't going to let it slip by.
With himself as Hokage and Danzō working beside him, Kumo's planned ambush would not only succeed with certainty, but the resulting damage would far exceed Kumo's own expectations.
He could emerge as the hero, stabilizing the situation and sternly condemning Kumo, using the pretext of war to demand reparations. Not only would this win back public support instantly, it would also completely overturn his current image as a weak and cowardly leader in the eyes of many.
If Kumo's attack proceeded smoothly, then even if war broke out, he would be seen as standing on the side of justice. And Tsunade, even if not branded an outright traitor, would still lose the people's support and would no longer be able to stand against him. In truth, he had no real desire to start a war, since that would make everything spiral out of control. But if this plan failed again and Tsunade continued to gain ground against him, he couldn't promise he wouldn't resort to it.
After all, war had always been the most effective way to divert internal conflict. Once enough men were sent to the front lines, Tsunade would be vilified beyond redemption.
At that point, a wartime regime could be enacted. Under the pretext of preventing spies and leaks, her allies could be purged en masse. That way, public opinion could be completely controlled, and Tsunade would never rise again.
As for those troublemakers from the original Senju clan? By then, they would either die by the hands of enemy assassins, or be framed for treason and eternally disgraced.
He failed to realize that he was already descending into madness. But if it came to truly losing the Hokage seat, he would stop at nothing. Still, for now, this was just him being overly anxious. At least at this moment, Tsunade hadn't yet become a real threat. And he truly believed his current plan would succeed.
However, just as his scheme was about to begin, something happened that nearly made him snap.
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200 = +1 bonus chapter
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80+ Advance chapters!
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