After Kakuzu's words, Hibari was stunned. He didn't say anything, but fell silent, his expression growing complicated.
He loved Tsunade, of course he did. Everyone knew that Tsunade was Hibari's darling, so it would be strange if he didn't love her.
But Hibari had always believed that his love for Tsunade was the kind of affection a brother has for his sister, and that it didn't contain any other feelings. He had always thought this way, until Kakuzu said what he did.
Before Kakuzu brought up these things, no one had ever discussed them with him, not even his closest grandfather, Tobirama. He figured that on one hand, Tobirama himself was a 'lifelong bachelor' who was still 'solo,' so he had no experience in this area and no right to lecture Hibari.
On the other hand, perhaps it was because Hibari was 'prematurely wise' from a young age and did everything in an orderly manner, without ever causing anyone to worry. So everyone naturally overlooked this aspect, assuming he already had his own ideas, and therefore no one ever talked to him about it.
Because of this, Hibari rarely considered such things and had never really thought about what he was actually feeling.
So now that Kakuzu had brought up this topic about Tsunade, for the first time, Hibari truly settled down to think about what he was feeling.
He considered his feelings for Tsunade to be fraternal, but upon closer inspection, there were some clues. Perhaps in the past, he had subconsciously avoided these issues, which was why he had never truly thought about what he would feel if one day his 'sister' met Dan Kato.
When he asked himself this, when he questioned his own heart, Hibari got an answer that even he found to be... unreasonable.
In Hibari's view, it was a person's right to love someone. While others could offer their opinions, if the people involved didn't accept them, no one had the right to forcefully interfere.
But the answer he had just received was that whenever he thought about this issue, whenever he thought about Tsunade having some kind of relationship with Dan Kato in the future, a surge of anger would rise in his heart, making him wish he could find an opportunity to kill Dan Kato right now...
In fact, if you put aside all these prejudices, Dan Kato was a very outstanding person. He became a great shinobi at a young age, had excellent morals and character, and his ambition was great. He wanted to become the Hokage of Konoha and worked hard for it, even sacrificing his life in the war.
He was simply unlucky, not incompetent, since in a war, no one could predict what would happen. Once you stepped onto the battlefield, death was by your side. Who could confidently say they wouldn't die in a war? If it wasn't for his own interference, wouldn't his grandfather, Tobirama, a capable, strong, and resourceful person, have also died in the war?
So, if you looked at it from a fair and just perspective, Dan Kato, even if he wasn't a hero, could be considered a 'heroic figure.' If he had lived longer, he might have become an amazing person in the future.
But it was precisely because of this person, who had never had any conflict with Hibari, and there was no bad blood between them, that Hibari instinctively disliked him from the bottom of his heart, as long as he was involved in Tsunade's future.
At this moment, Hibari clearly understood that this was possessiveness at work. It had nothing to do with whether the person was good or bad. He hadn't noticed it before. He had stubbornly and selfishly viewed Tsunade as his own person, and not just from the perspective of a brother!
After figuring this out, Hibari's heart was filled with a sense of conflict and complexity, but also a feeling of relief from understanding himself.
The complexity was because Hibari never expected to have such inappropriate feelings for his family member, Tsunade. Although he lived in this world now, he still carried many traces of his previous life, and this made him feel deeply ashamed.
However, the relief was not false. After understanding his own heart, Hibari indeed felt inexplicably much lighter. He was not afraid of how complicated his heart was. Sometimes, what people feared was not understanding what they were thinking, and just going along with it in a daze until they missed something and felt regret.
The only thing that made Hibari feel relieved was that he had figured out his own feelings before Tsunade and Dan Kato had any contact. This way, he could prepare early and, ideally, eliminate this 'hidden danger' directly.
Of course, he couldn't just kill Dan Kato, who was probably still a child now, over such an 'unfounded' matter. That would be too much, since the guy hadn't done anything wrong. While Hibari didn't consider himself to be a person of the 'good' alignment, he wouldn't become such an extreme villain.
But while he couldn't just kill Dan Kato to end it all, he could change the guy's life trajectory. With some proper guidance, he could get the kid to not walk the path of a shinobi, give him a chance, and send him 'abroad to study' or into 'business,' which would also be a great outcome.
On the other hand, this might also change his fate of dying on the battlefield at a young age, which could be considered 'compensation' for him, couldn't it? Perhaps that ending would be more suitable for him?
Thinking of this, Hibari secretly made a decision. When he had time to return to Konohagakure, or when he could arrange for someone to go back and cause some kind of 'accident,' he would subtly lead Dan Kato astray.
If the guy was stubborn, Hibari wasn't afraid of competition. He wasn't going to be timid, was he? If necessary, and if he had to be more ruthless, Hibari wouldn't mind staining his hands with innocent blood again.
As an Anbu, it wouldn't be the first time he did something like this. If he wanted to make a person disappear from this world silently, wouldn't it be very simple? He could just give Dan Kato a reason and send him to meet the Shinigami.
Of course, there was also a more 'reasonable' idea. If Dan Kato was truly stubborn and insisted on being a shinobi and being loyal to Konoha, then Hibari wouldn't mind helping him. His friendly relationship with Danzō could be put to good use at this time. If all else failed, he could send the kid to a very promising organization like 'Root' to develop himself.
After all, his Spirit Transformation Jutsu was quite unique. Who knows, maybe Danzō would take a liking to it? Even if he didn't, since Hibari had made the request, with his relationship with Danzō, wouldn't it be easy to take care of the kid in an instant?
In short, there were many ways to solve this. That 'scheming' Hibari had already come up with several ways to 'handle' Dan Kato in a minute!
The external factors could be resolved well, so Hibari wasn't worried. The internal factors were also nothing to worry about. Although he felt a bit ashamed of his true feelings, that was just the residue of his previous life's mindset at work.
As for his relationship with Tsunade, in this era, it was not a big deal at all. Everyone was used to it. Didn't Kakuzu think it was perverse for Hibari to be interested in Hidan, but he had no problem with the Tsunade matter? He even thought it was very reasonable.
This was because, in this world, this was not something that was morally or legally unacceptable. The great clans had always done such things. The Uchiha clan was like this, and the Hyuga clan was even more so.
In Hibari's Senju clan, such things had also happened many times. So as long as Hibari worked hard and Tsunade didn't mind in the future, it would be very normal for them to get married. No one would come out and criticize them; on the contrary, they would all give their blessings.
When Hibari thought about it carefully, it seemed that when he hadn't noticed, there were indeed signs of people 'pushing' for this, especially after he learned and inherited the Wood Release kekkei genkai from Hashirama. These signs seemed even more obvious.
'No wonder no one urged me about anything. Was it because the elders of the family had been hoping for something like this all along? And the uncles and aunts?' Hibari thought to himself.
His parents in this life were from the same clan, so the Senju blood flowing in Hibari's veins was very pure. Hashirama was also like this, but Hashirama's wife, Mito Uzumaki, was not from the Senju clan but from the Uzumaki clan. Although the Uzumaki clan and the Senju clan were distant relatives, there was still a difference.
So many members of the Senju clan believed that the reason Hashirama's Wood Release kekkei genkai was not inherited through genetics was that his line of descendants was no longer pure, having been influenced by the Uzumaki clan.
Otherwise, it couldn't be explained. No one knew the truth about the Wood Release kekkei genkai. Other people's kekkei genkai could be inherited, but not the Senju clan's? That was too embarrassing. So they had to find a plausible reason to console themselves.
It was from then on that the Senju family seemed to prefer 'pure bloodlines,' but they were not as stubborn as the Uchiha clan or the Hyuga clan.
Hibari, as a 100% pure-blooded Senju clansman, had truly awakened the Wood Release kekkei genkai, which seemed to be a powerful proof for those clansmen who supported the 'bloodline theory.'
So when they no longer saw any hope of the Wood Release kekkei genkai being inherited from Hashirama, they sought hope from Hibari. Thus, they greatly hoped that Hibari would marry a member of the Senju clan to maintain his bloodline and see if they could get the Wood Release to be inherited.
Although Tsunade was a descendant of Hashirama and had the Senju clan's blood flowing in her veins, the purity was a little lacking, as she also had the Uzumaki clan's blood in her.
But the problem was, among the Senju clan, the only female of a suitable age for Hibari was Tsunade. Who else would the family members support?
Secondly, there was a very important point. Although Tsunade's bloodline was not pure, her Senju clan bloodline came from Hashirama, who was the first person to develop the Wood Release kekkei genkai.
In the eyes of the clansmen who supported the 'bloodline theory,' Tsunade's body must also contain the 'genes' of the Wood Release kekkei genkai. If Tsunade were to marry Hibari, who also had the Wood Release kekkei genkai, the chances of their future children awakening the Wood Release kekkei genkai would be even higher than those of a pure-blooded Senju clan member!
At that time, the Senju clansmen from Hibari and Tsunade's line would be the truly 'pure-blooded'!
So there were many people within the Senju clan who were secretly supporting Hibari and Tsunade becoming a couple. It was just that they couldn't be too obvious about it since Hibari and Tsunade were still children. They would just hint at it in passing, but they couldn't really jump out and cheer.
But these were all minor details. It was fine that Hibari hadn't noticed them before, but now that he had, he felt a little relieved. At least he had supporters. As long as he had the right mindset, all this complicated stuff would go away, wouldn't it?
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