Hiruzen's head throbbed. He massaged the hammering temples and dragged a team-sheet scroll forward.
It unfurled. Inked names shone under the light.
Most had notes and lines drawn, first-pass assignment ideas.
Only at the very top, two names stood alone, like sharp icicles catching the eye, Uzumaki Kushina and Kamiyama Ryo.
Below them, the "prospective leader" he had filled in after long thought, Tsunade.
Memory pulled him back to a certain late night.
On the eve of her departure for the meat grinder that was the Ame front, Tsunade had slammed the desk and bellowed words that now rang with painful clarity, each one like a heated kunai chiseling at his skull. "That little Uchiha girl. Uchiha Mikoto. You will put her in my squad. In my student's team. You hear me?"
Uchiha Mikoto?
Add her to Tsunade's squad? Put her with Ryo?
You are the bona fide Senju princess, granddaughter of the First, Hashirama Senju. Tobirama is your grand-uncle.
And the Uchiha? The Senju's thousand-year enemies, on-and-off war and blood-feud.
Konoha's been around nearly forty years. The unwritten rule among the top brass is, be wary of the Uchiha, keep your distance, keep them pressed. It's political gospel, marrow-deep.
And now you want to enlist an Uchiha into your inner circle squad?
"Add? Add your—" He had nearly shouted the rest in her face. But Tsunade's golden-brown eyes had bored into him, silent, merciless.
This hellcat had smashed the Hokage's desk before. If she wanted her way, she would happily give the whole building a renovation.
And she was about to lead a unit to the rain-soaked meat grinder.
No matter how stifled he felt, Hiruzen wasn't going to break a commander's heart on the eve of war.
"Uchiha Mikoto… Kushina's best friend," he muttered, forcing the boil back down. His clouded eyes turned quick behind the smoke.
Intel on the Uchiha girl flashed past, talent above average, temperament gentle. Among her year she was near the top, but not a once-in-a-century prodigy.
The critical point, she was extremely close to Uzumaki Kushina. Inseparable. Widely known besties.
Hiruzen's pipe hand froze.
A clear, crucial link snapped into place.
Uzumaki Kushina, Ryo's only evident bond. The only warmth in that mass of ice.
The only one who left a mark on that glacier. And Uchiha Mikoto, Kushina's most intimate, trusted partner.
If he stuffed Mikoto into Tsunade's squad, into Ryo's team, what did that mean?
It meant that beside Kushina, beside Ryo, there would be a fully controllable "anchor" tied directly to the Hokage's line.
A secondary cable tied to the primary cable named Kushina.
It would reinforce a chain of bonds that was shaky to begin with. Is she not Kushina's most trusted sister? Sisterhood, perfect for a bundle-tie.
Hammer her into the Hokage's core team, and that vine would wrap Kushina, then inevitably climb Ryo's towering trunk.
"Is Tsunade's demand dumb luck, or is that brain of hers sharper than it looks?"
Kushina, the "warhead," must go into a team.
Ryo, the "glacier," needs his bonds thickened.
Tsunade's ridiculous demand to add Uchiha Mikoto? It just might kill two birds with one stone.
And Tsunade was marching to war. Could he really deny her and expect her not to flip a table?
Besides, none of these four were easy.
Kushina, special status and born hot-headed. Ryo, broken-tier strength and icy, hard to handle. Tsunade, willful, reckless, and a drunk to boot.
Tired of the mess? Then bundle it.
Dump all four walking troublemakers, Tsunade, Ryo, Kushina, Uchiha Mikoto, into one basket.
Let them torment each other.
Tsunade is the designated team leader. The Nine-Tails candidate belongs best with her. Ryo, that bristling spike, gets the only hammer that might dent him, results not guaranteed. As for Uchiha Mikoto? You wanted her? Fine. Have her. With a bow on top.
"Heh-heh… Tsunade, Tsunade…" Hiruzen leisurely relit his pipe. The spicy smoke rolled into his lungs with the sweet sting of revenge.
He could almost see it, Tsunade facing this chimera of a squad, one baby-tailed-beast time bomb, one glacier of a prodigy, and a girl from the ancestral enemy clan.
What face would the Senju princess wear?
Shock? Fury?
Or bleak despair before she remade the training field with a single monstrous punch?
You made an outrageous request, now shoulder this gigantic black pot.
Pressure? Good. You handpicked them. Bite down and swallow. You are Konoha's princess. You are its greatest medical ninja.
He could even picture her booting his office door open, bottle in hand, cursing him blue.
"As for the Uchiha?" Hiruzen's gaze drifted out the window, as if it pierced eaves and landed on the district set a little apart behind high walls, the Uchiha compound.
He had no prejudice against the Uchiha.
The core extends a hand.
The cleanest political signal you could send.
Especially now, in wartime.
Konoha's string is drawn taut. Every drop of blood is precious.
The Uchiha's Sharingan is a weapon.
Offer a sweet, soothe them, let them think the Hokage favors Uchiha. They will spill more blood, push harder, plug more breaches, fill more trenches.
As for the girl's ultimate destination?
Hiruzen's mouth tilted around the pipe, worldly-wise.
Women marry, don't they? And then their hearts tilt toward home.
A little Hokage-line gilding, so what? After children, power and glory are just embroidery on the wedding robe.
"Tsunade, grow a teacher's spine and keep these three headaches in line," he told the lingering scent of pork-bone broth in the air, tapping the pipe as if lecturing a disciple already crossing into Ame.
The smoke didn't feel as choking anymore. Hiruzen sank deeper into the chair, blowing slow rings. He picked up a brush and, beneath "Team Leader: Tsunade," wrote three names in a bold hand:
Team Leader: Tsunade
Members: Kamiyama Ryo, Uzumaki Kushina, Uchiha Mikoto
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)