Chapter 147: Tsunade: Why Chase Some Crematorium Drama?
The Hokage's Office.
Tsunade took the documents Shizune handed to her.
She had only recently assumed the position of Hokage, and most affairs were still being handled by Shizune. As for how many people remained in the Kurama clan, Tsunade honestly had no idea.
The information Shizune presented shocked her.
"Only one left?"
Tsunade wasn't saying that the Kurama clan had been completely wiped out, leaving only one survivor. What she meant was that among those who had inherited the Kurama clan's kekkei genkai, and who possessed enough talent to assist Shiromo and his group, there was only one.
The rest of the Kurama clan were simply too disappointing.
Take the current head of the Kurama clan, Kurama Unkai, for example. How strong was he, really?
Anyone who could be defeated one-on-one by pre–Shippuden Naruto basically wasn't worth mentioning.
Like Kurosuki Raiga, the prestige of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist had practically been ruined by him alone.
And then there was Kurama Unkai.
And even if Kurama Yakumo were the only one left, she herself had serious problems as well.
This left Tsunade feeling rather awkward.
She flipped through Kurama Yakumo's detailed file while occasionally lifting her head to steal a glance at Shiromo.
She had already prepared herself to be mocked by him. Yet after Shiromo arrived, he didn't say a single word.
That made Tsunade extremely uncomfortable.
"Kurama Yakumo has issues with both physical and mental health. This needs to be reported to her private tutor, Jōnin Yūhi Kurenai. Shizune, I'll leave that to you."
After finishing the file, Tsunade rolled up the scroll and handed it to Shizune.
"Understood."
Shizune moved swiftly and was about to leave to inform Yūhi Kurenai.
"Wait."
Tsunade stopped her.
"Bring this news to her as well."
"Alright… uh, Tsunade-sama, you're really just..."
Shizune agreed instinctively, took the scroll, and opened it to take a look.
Damn it, it was Asuma's death notice.
So this news had been temporarily suppressed before, and now it was waiting right here for her?
"Should we have Yugao go with you?"
Tsunade naturally knew how awkward this would be. Otherwise, she could have just summoned Yūhi Kurenai and told her herself. She is sending Shizune so she wouldn't have to face the situation personally.
As for having Uzuki Yugao go along, after all, Yugao had recently lost Gekko Hayate as well. Shared grief might make things easier.
"Alright then. Yugao, I'll have to trouble you."
Shizune could only agree helplessly.
After waiting in the Hokage's office for a while, Tsunade began to regret it.
She really should have gone along too.
The atmosphere here was far too strange, everyone was silent, each one pretending to be some unfathomable expert.
Fortunately, Yūhi Kurenai was brought over soon.
Judging by her appearance, she didn't seem to have broken down in uncontrollable tears. Her composure was impressive.
That might have been because the two of them hadn't officially confirmed their relationship yet.
Or perhaps, after learning about her student Kurama Yakumo's situation, Kurenai's sense of responsibility had overridden her grief, prompting her to come and handle the important matter first.
In any case, Kurenai's arrival broke the awkward atmosphere.
"Everyone, please follow me."
Kurenai stared blankly for a moment at the group of Impure World Reincarnation bodies in the room before snapping back to her senses.
Kurama Yakumo lived in a villa outside Konoha.
On the way there, Tsunade tugged on her Second Grandfather's sleeve. The two of them deliberately slowed down, falling behind the main group.
After making sure there was some distance between them and the others, Tsunade hurriedly began asking Tobirama her questions.
She roughly recounted her past interactions with Shiromo.
From the very beginning, when she had disguised herself as a child and Shiromo had gone off on a rant, calling her some kind of "old hag", to their later formal meeting, where he spoke to her without the slightest courtesy.
Now, even though Shiromo was clearly in the right, she had been waiting for him to lash out, already prepared to apologize.
Yet Shiromo hadn't said a single word.
That was what made the atmosphere so unbearably awkward.
"As for Shiromo, I've more or less figured out his personality." Senju Tobirama said.
"Before, when he spoke to you without restraint, it was because he regarded you as a friend. Between friends, there's no need for polite distance or formalities."
"But your repeated doubts about him consumed that trust. Once that happened, he had nothing left to say to you."
"As an outsider, it's normal for you to be suspicious. And since that's the case, he also has no reason to accuse you of anything."
Tobirama didn't bother whether his guess was entirely correct. He simply said what he felt was most appropriate at this moment to teach Tsunade a lesson.
Sure enough, the moment Tsunade heard this, her guilt deepened even further.
When she also recalled what the Third Hokage had mentioned, that during the Chūnin Exams, the Fifth Mizukage and the Fourth Tsuchikage were both on very good terms with Shiromo, it further confirmed that Shiromo really was that kind of person.
"Is this… the legendary reverse Uchiha?"
Tsunade felt a little dazed.
After hearing her Second Grandfather speak so much, combined with her own experiences in her youth, she understood the nature of the Uchiha clan.
Before earning an Uchiha's recognition, in their eyes you were no different from a stray dog on the roadside. They wouldn't care whether you lived or died.
But once you crossed that line, the Uchiha would give you their whole heart.
Shiromo, according to what her Second Grandfather said, was exactly the opposite.
He was warm and enthusiastic from the very beginning. But if he encountered someone like her, someone who did things that "lowered favorability", he would begin treating them like a roadside stray, no longer caring about their life or death.
"Don't compare that brat to the Uchiha. That's an insult to him."
Tobirama corrected her.
"Alright, I understand. Once we're done with the important business, I'll take the initiative to apologize."
Tsunade made up her mind. She would put aside her pride and admit her mistake when the time came.
The group arrived at Kurama Yakumo's residence.
Yūhi Kurenai opened the door. Inside, Kurama Yakumo was painting. When she saw so many people appear at the entrance to her small house, she immediately became flustered.
As someone who had barely interacted with the outside world, a gloomy shut-in, Kurama Yakumo was close to panicking.
Her dark side, Ido, began to stir once again.
"K-Kurenai-sensei, th-this is…?"
Kurama Yakumo shrank back fearfully.
Had Kurenai-sensei brought these people to deal with her?
"Yakumo, don't be afraid. They need your help with something."
After gently comforting her, Kurenai stood up and turned to the others.
"Yakumo's physical condition has always been poor. I once advised her to give up becoming a ninja. As a ninja, extracting chakra from her cells would only worsen her condition…"
"Her physical condition is poor?"
Orochimaru glanced at the First Hokage.
Under normal circumstances, problems like this could be solved with the all-purpose Hashirama cells.
But that clearly wasn't an option here.
With such a weak physical constitution, she likely wouldn't be able to suppress Hashirama's cells and would instead be consumed by them.
This kind of situation required careful, targeted conditioning over time.
The events were unfolding too closely together. If he were given some time to study the Ōtsutsuki cells in Shiromo's possession, he might find a new method.
For now, Orochimaru lacked confidence and chose to remain silent.
Tsunade was thinking along the same lines.
If the body is weak, then train it, build it up, and practice taijutsu.
But the problem was that her techniques, storing chakra and using Creation Rebirth for rapid recovery, were, at their core, methods that consumed bodily functions.
Not only would they fail to improve the situation, they would actually make it worse.
"It shouldn't be just a physical problem, right?"
Shiromo looked at Yūhi Kurenai.
"Didn't you say earlier in the Hokage's office that it was a 'physical and mental' issue?"
The moment those words were spoken, the expression on Kurama Yakumo's face, hidden behind Kurenai, changed instantly.
(End of this chapter)