Tsunade and I had a training duel where she used everything to defend herself while I attacked. She said it was to evaluate the fighting style I had developed under Sakumo-sensei's tutelage, but for me it's already a bonus to train with her. She has a reputation for being good at taijutsu and medical ninjutsu, so if I have an accident, she can heal me afterwards.
I haven't been able to develop my medical ninjutsu to a professional level like her, although I know how to perform surgery and the basics of healing myself and others in emergencies. However, I understand almost nothing about things like chakra-related illnesses or the use of medication.
Tsunade showed some disappointment when she heard that, but when it comes to taijutsu, I can defend myself quite well.
"Come on, give it your all!" Tsunade shouted as she deflected my attacks.
I kicked high toward her face, but she blocked it with her forearm and was about to punch me in the abdomen, but I took advantage of her momentum to evade her and hook my leg around her arm. I used monstrous strength to pull her and break her balance, then jumped and hit her face with my knee.
Taijutsu as seen in anime has always been viewed as a martial art that mainly uses fists and sometimes legs, but in my previous life, I trained in mixed martial arts, including Muay Thai, traditional boxing, tae kwon do, and jiu jitsu, so I am very versatile in that area.
Tsunade growled and took the knee to the full force, but as I expected, her balance wasn't broken, and instead she threw me away to recover a little from that attack.
"You sure know how to take advantage of any opportunity, brat!
She remained in place, I landed on my feet and, adopting my Muay Thai stance, I advanced towards her to start using my "taijutsu".
She punched me in the abdomen, I took it head-on and managed to absorb the damage to advance anyway, so I responded with the same hook to her abdomen.
"Guah!"
She spat out a mouthful of saliva and air that was inside her.
Obviously, I wasn't going to waste this opportunity, so I clinched to start using my knees against her, but she raised her leg to block my attack and lifted me up to throw me to the side.
"Damn brat, didn't they teach you that you shouldn't touch a woman's face lightly?!"
I landed back on the ground and, at her words, I turned to her and replied.
"I'm an orphan, who's supposed to teach me that? Besides, I'm a supporter of gender equality."
She snorted sarcastically and used her medical ninjutsu to heal herself.
"I'll show you what true strength is, get ready!"
And so, we spent a few hours exchanging blows, she threw punches at my face which hit me squarely, but I was able to withstand them and strike back.
We went on like this for at least two hours, although we took breaks every so often to heal ourselves and continue, taking intervals of half an hour resting and the next half hour training.
It was already evening when Tsunade, after healing both of our wounds, put on a very serious face and uttered words that would make anyone's blood run cold.
"Kenji... We need to talk....
!!!
I haven't done anything wrong, but her serious tone and those words already make my hair stand on end.
She seems to have noticed my expression and immediately cleared up the misunderstanding.
"It's not what you think, there's just something I have to tell you, that's all."
After joking around a bit about it, Tsunade puts her serious face back on and we sit down on some wooden stumps.
"This training was to verify the development of your physique as a descendant of the Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers, and based on my evaluations, it seems that this lineage gives you greater physical strength and a very high damage absorption capacity."
She paused as if to structure her words and rearrange herself on her seat.
"It's still too early to say for sure, but in your training, that's what has increased the most, which is rare for a ninja, but your skin is much tougher and you're taller than other kids your age, so it's most likely.
She took out a bottle of sake from who knows where and began to drink from the bottle itself... isn't that killing the mood?
...
Tsunade stopped talking and began to drink quietly as she watched the sunset and the wind blew on her face.
If this were some kind of video game or anime scene, I'm sure many would take screenshots and some otaku artists would make fan art of this very scene, but no matter how beautiful the art they make, in my own eyes it is worthy of taking a photo.
"By the way, I'm glad to hear that you've made good progress with the Uzumaki sealing techniques," she paused and took a sip from her cup, "although you still have a long way to go before you can master the adamantine sealing chains. But Kushina told me that you've developed new types of seals, like the one you placed over your eyes."
Tsunade looked me in the eyes, and I automatically looked away because it made me uncomfortable, but I understand her point.
Although I have my mother's Sharingan, I recently managed to make some contact lenses with seal engravings that keep chakra drainage at bay, although in a way that means sacrificing the improved vision that the Sharingan provides and leaves me dazed for a while due to the difference, but that's better than being a precocious child on the battlefield.
Speaking of which, the seal I made was to make the contact lenses serve as a stopcock, limiting the chakra that drains, as if I had given them the function of focusing or defocusing at will, as well as zooming, transforming my eyes into something like a high-performance camera.
I have no talent for medical ninjutsu, but I developed very well with the Uzumaki sealing techniques, that would be the summary.
"If only you could memorize what it says in the books I gave you..." she said with a tone full of resignation and disappointment, "but the good thing is that you can take care of yourself during missions, I guess it's not all a loss.
She put the bottle back to her lips, but this time she grimaced in annoyance; it seemed she had run out of sake.
"Aunt Tsunade, I won't go get more. I'm underage and can't buy alcohol."
Tsunade frowned and looked at me with annoyance.
"Brat, don't call me auntie. Can't you see that I'm still young and beautiful?" she said as she put her hand on her chest as if asking me to take a good look.
But making her angry is fun.
"Deceiving yourself doesn't change reality."
After uttering those words, she hit me with the bottle of sake she was holding.
Hours later, I returned home after training with Tsunade, and Maki, Samui, and Mabui were there to greet me.
"Welcome home, young master x3."
I had a Western maid outfit made for each of them, which gave Maki a change of aura.
But seeing little Samui and Mabui in those outfits gave me such a rush of tenderness that I couldn't hold back, so I stroked both of their little heads at the same time.
"You look very good in those outfits," a slight smile came to my lips, "keep up the good work."
I removed my hands from their heads and went into my room.
Inside my room, I wrote down several plans and future projects. If war is coming, I'd better be prepared. But on other pieces of paper, I wrote in simple code about the past actions of Danzo and the Third Hokage, as well as the possible disappearance of the Third Kazekage.
I disguised it as information obtained from the missions I had been on, as well as adding false sources that it was heard from merchants and other passersby.
Late at night, I was pretending to sleep in my room and left those notes on the table.
I felt the door open, and as had happened during this time, it was Samui and Mabui who entered my room and occasionally checked the notes I wrote, making it easy to get this information to the Third Raikage.
"The Third Kazekage has disappeared!?" exclaimed Samui, but Mabui immediately covered her mouth, putting her index finger to her lips.
"Shh, Samui, don't talk so loud, you might wake him up."
Samui turned her head to look in my direction and then nodded to Mabui as if to say she understood.
Mabui transcribed what was written in the note onto a separate piece of paper and added her own comments.
"Kenji seems very dissatisfied with the Third Hokage and his high command. It seems that in the future he could be persuaded to migrate to Kumogakure and regain the lost lineage mentioned."
How do I know what the note says? I have my insects buzzing around the house, transmitting information to me, so it's easy to pass them off as mere vermin.
Mabui sealed the scroll with the information I left them and then left, but then she noticed a piece of paper lying near the door, which suggests that it is a mark to know if her door was opened during the night, so she turned back to Samui.
"Samui, go and sleep with Kenji so it looks like you couldn't sleep and sneaked away."
Samui was perplexed, but then she noticed the piece of paper near the door.
She nodded and approached my bed, then lay down next to me and fell asleep, acting as a decoy in case I woke up, so that Mabui would leave and deliver the information to one of the nearby agents.
And that way I was able to subtly filter information to other villages.
Samui fell asleep next to me during the night, and in the morning I woke her up and she left my room with a blush on her face. It seems she hadn't planned on actually falling asleep so she could leave early, but it didn't turn out as she expected.
A few days later, Konoha was in chaos.
"To think that one of our elders would do such a thing... it's disgusting," exclaimed one of the villagers. "So that's the reason for the disappearance of the orphans and other villagers.
"Damn the Third Hokage, what an unfilial disciple, exterminating his master's family" said another passerby.
Everything in my notes was passed on to the Third Raikage and the other agents of Kumogakure, and seeing the reactions of the villagers, they decided to spread that same information by selling it on the black market.
I expected this result, now we just have to wait and see the chaos unfold.
Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office, Hiruzen was furious. Everything he and the rest of Konoha's F4 had done had come to light, so now they were facing demonstrations by the villagers and discontent from the rest of the village clans.
Embezzlement of hospital funds, embezzlement of military funds, corruption and nepotism within the administrative offices, murderers from the Senju clan, human experiments on orphans and villagers from Konoha, discrimination against certain clans in the village itself, and many other crimes.
Whether it was true or not didn't matter. As soon as the matter was mentioned, a normal person wouldn't investigate much and would accuse them anyway, so no matter how much they wanted to deny those accusations, they would still have those charges hanging over their heads.
"How did that information leak? No one should have known about it except us.
Hiruzen, you must do something!"
Mitokadu Homura and Utatane Koharu were yelling at the Third Hokage, demanding that he silence the voices of those demonstrations.
But Hiruzen was focused on something else, because he couldn't think of anyone else who knew about it other than Danzo, but he didn't believe Danzo was stupid enough to shoot himself in the foot, so he had to think of someone else who was unhappy with him or Danzo.
However, he couldn't think of any specific candidates, as Danzo had made many enemies throughout his life as the root of Konoha, so the list was extensive.
At that moment, a brick broke the window of the Hokage's office and landed on Hiruzen's desk. On that brick was a piece of paper stuck to it that read: "Resign, Third Hokage."
Outside the Hokage Tower, many villagers stood in front of the building with banners reading: "Resign," "Get out, Third Hokage," "Killer of Village Comrades," "We Don't Want a Hokage Who Stabs Us in the Back," and "The Weakest Hokage."
In that crowd, there were certain people who were acting as agitators, handing out banners and shouting their slogans. They were workers from a certain commercial district as well as spy agents from other villages, causing political instability to weaken Konoha.
At least a whole week passed like this, with the demonstrations continuing unabated, until Hiruzen came out onto a balcony of the Hokage tower and made an announcement.
"Villagers and ninjas of Konoha. I am aware of what has been mentioned during this time."
After that, he began to give a speech about why they took such actions, that it was all for the good of Konoha, and to preach about the supposed will of fire. By then, the people were calming down, but the agitators had done their job well.
"If the will of fire preaches protecting Konoha, why use its own villagers and not criminals sentenced to death from other villages?"
Many of the protesters nodded in agreement.
"The Senju and the Uchiha were the founding clans of Konoha, so why discriminate against them and not give them the respect they deserve as the parents of Konoha?"
And the uproar reignited again, just as planned.
At this point, Hiruzen had no way out, so he decided to make a difficult decision.
"Given the will of the people, I resign as the third Hokage of Konoha, and voting for the fourth Hokage will begin. I apologize to you for what has happened and apologize on behalf of the rest of us," he said as he bowed his head to the village.
If Hiruzen had insisted on retaining power, I would have ordered some agitator to throw rotten fruit or stones, but since he had already given in, that plan was canceled.
I only left random notes; it was Kumogakure who officially leaked them, not me. That way, I am free of any responsibility. They cannot trace the source if so many people know the secret, and even if they find the possible source, they can only give the excuse that "it was something he heard."
In the case of the clans, they had already sent letters to the Hokage demanding an explanation and proof of whether it was true or false, so the pressure on the Third Hokage was even greater, as even the clans were against him.
What happened to make even them stop supporting him? Letters were sent mentioning that Danzo had tried to steal their Kekkei Genkai or secret techniques, along with some evidence, which were research documents, and details about those techniques and kekkei genkai, so they would say: If the informant knows this about our secret techniques, it must be true that he got it from somewhere.
So, seeing what had happened, I quietly left the place. The plan had to continue.
A/N:
Sorry for the delay, I'm currently looking for a job, so I probably won't have much time to work on new chapters.
On the other hand, I've been busy drawing, so I might be able to post an image or drawing of Kenji soon, and perhaps some other scenes, making it more like a light novel than just a web novel.
If you'd like to see progress on my drawings, whether SFW or NSFW, you can join my Discord server: https://discord.gg/aW9zEqsyxb. There might also be some polls there about what you'd like to see in the future of this or other fanfics and/or novels.