Chapter 518: Advice
After crossing September and stepping into October, the autumn chill grew stronger day by day. The autumn wind withered the leaves and made the forest bleak.
Late October, Konoha Village.
Approaching the village entrance.
The gatekeepers were Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane. When the two familiar ninja saw Haruno Sakura, enthusiastic and familiar smiles appeared on their faces.
"Welcome back!"
Except for most pedestrians on the road changing into autumn clothes, everything in the village seemed unchanged.
Familiar smells, familiar sounds.
This made Haruno Sakura, who had been feeling uneasy ever since experiencing that terrifying genjutsu world during the trip to Cloud Ninja, inexplicably feel her state of mind calm down.
In the cool breeze blowing against her face, there was an aura of coming home, making her couldn't help but narrow her eyes and smile.
"Thank you." She nodded to the two in greeting.
The smile on the girl's face was tranquil and serene.
After writing the neat and elegant characters "Haruno Sakura" on the registration form, Haruno Sakura led her subordinates through the gate and headed straight for the Hokage Building.
Under the Hokage Rock, Hokage Office.
It seemed that ever since Haruno Sakura took Tsunade as her master, the beginning of every volume started from the Hokage Office.
This volume... is no exception.
Actually, upon rushing back to Konoha, the person Haruno Sakura most wanted to see immediately...
was Sasuke.
But she had to finish what she started and report the mission to the Hokage-sama first.
On this trip, they reached an important consensus and many cooperative agreements with Cloud Ninja, and also encountered some unexpected incidents, so there were many things to report.
To recount these things one by one, even making a long story short, took a full half of the morning.
The girl talked until her mouth was dry, refilling her tea three times.
"...In short, it turned out to be a false alarm afterwards." Haruno Sakura's expression was serious as she spoke slowly, "The Raikage might have also had suspicions and concerns about us at the time, but later concluded that this matter had nothing to do with us, believing it was purely Akatsuki playing tricks..."
"There's nothing worth mentioning after that. The next day, we left their village amidst the farewells of the Cloud Ninja."
"The return journey went smoothly, and those annoying White Zetsus didn't come out to harass us again. So... that's the situation of this mission."
As Haruno Sakura spoke, she stepped forward and handed a thick mission report to Tsunade: "This is the report for this trip, please look it over."
Tsunade took the document, casually flipped through it, and placed it on the desk.
"Hmm..."
She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and began to ponder deeply.
"If you hadn't broken the genjutsu by killing the Raikage, or rather, if the genjutsu had been real, what would you have done afterwards?"
The first question Tsunade asked after opening her eyes was quite sharp.
"Uh..."
Haruno Sakura was stunned.
She opened her mouth, then hesitated.
Because the story in the genjutsu was too dark and bloody, Haruno Sakura had deliberately avoided recalling what happened there after breaking free from the illusion, and had never considered such a hypothetical scenario from Tsunade.
For a moment, she was actually speechless.
"Alright," Tsunade, seeing Haruno Sakura couldn't answer, didn't make things difficult for her and smiled, "Let's change the question."
"If you successfully escaped, what would you do?"
"Of course, I would choose to retaliate!"
Haruno Sakura snapped her fingers and answered without thinking.
It wasn't just a matter of seeking peace of mind. If Konoha suffered such treatment and kept quiet, that would truly chill the hearts of all the ninja in the village.
"Oh? What do you want to do?"
The blonde woman sat up straight and asked, her large, plump breasts pressing against the desk as if showing off, instantly revealing a large expanse of fair, dazzling, creamy skin at her half-open neckline.
Shizune, standing beside her, secretly narrowed her eyes.
"I have a ninjutsu... that can destroy the entire Cloud Ninja Village in one strike." Haruno Sakura narrowed her eyes and said lightly.
"Secret Art: Brilliant Radiation."
Weapons-grade highly enriched uranium and plutonium. Just twenty or so kilograms put together can form the most primitive nuclear bomb.
After exceeding the critical mass and meeting the chain reaction conditions, the fission reaction of the nuclear material will continue uncontrollably like dominoes, and then—
Boom!!!
Turning into a giant fireball of tens of millions of degrees Celsius, swallowing everything!
The remaining unreacted nuclear material will linger in the soil and water, continuing to decay, turning the area bombed by the nuclear weapon into a barren death zone.
"That move can not only instantly raze Cloud Ninja Village to the ground but also ensure that the place will be uninhabitable for decades!"
Haruno Sakura added.
Of course, she was just saying it.
Working so hard in the Land of Snow for so long, there might not even be a few kilograms in reserve. Not to mention it's not enough to make big news, even if it were enough, she wouldn't waste it like this.
These things were prepared for the "Star God Mode" and the higher-level "Yang God Mode".
Tsunade shook her head.
"Let's put aside whether that jutsu of yours has this power or not," she waved her hand noncommittally and said, "even if it has that power, what's the point of using it to retaliate against Cloud Ninja Village, instantly massacring over a hundred thousand people?"
"The Haruno Sakura I know is not a bad child who can erase the lives of over a hundred thousand people like a numbers game."
Haruno Sakura was stunned, then her expression sank, and she whispered: "...Sorry, Master."
"I'm not saying retaliation and killing are wrong."
Tsunade still shook her head.
"What ninja doesn't slaughter each other? For a ninja who has reached your level, who doesn't have dozens or hundreds of lives on their hands?" She said calmly, "You have already killed many people with your own hands. Like me, like Jiraiya, walking through the years of war, the enemies who died by our hands probably number in the thousands."
"We are called heroes of the village because our merits are built upon the bones of our enemies."
"But those were years of war, or combat missions with opposing stances... It was life-and-death combat. On the battlefield, in combat, we had no choice. But you are different."
"So I have to criticize you a bit. You have your own thoughts on these matters, so I won't say much more, just touching upon the point is enough."
"..." Haruno Sakura pursed her lips.
Silence for a moment.
Tsunade rubbed her temples, picked up the negotiation documents on the desk, flipped through them, and sighed with a headache.
Shizune blinked at Haruno Sakura, then tactfully walked over, stood behind Tsunade, and started massaging her shoulders.
"Thank you, Shizune." Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief.
"How should I put it about this mission? If we ignore the genjutsu world part, I can give you 95 points: You completed it excellently."
"But if the genjutsu incident happened in the real world, then I can only give you a low score, or even a fail."
Haruno Sakura frowned her delicate eyebrows: "Why?"
Tsunade raised her eyebrows and smiled: "Go back and think about it yourself, where your response was problematic. Consider it an assignment from your master!"
"After all, as your master, I can't teach you anything more about jutsu; your strength has already far surpassed mine... so I can only guide you in these areas."
"If you don't give me a satisfactory answer, I won't pass the position of Hokage to you!"
Hearing the last sentence, Haruno Sakura was instantly stunned.
"Me?" The girl pointed at her own nose, eyes wide open, "Hokage?"
"Is there a problem?"
The disciple's dumbfounded look made Tsunade very satisfied. She chuckled and said: "Based on status and strength, you are fully qualified to be Hokage. Of course, given your age, the Sixth Generation definitely won't be your turn; you'll have to wait another term."
The girl regained her senses and curled her lips.
"I don't care for the Hokage position. A life like that perverted uncle Jiraiya's is what's truly free and easy!" She looked at the sky outside the window and said leisurely.
"If you don't become Hokage... are you going to let Sasuke do it?" Tsunade looked at her with interest and smiled, "But, I might as well tell you frankly, people from the Uchiha cannot become Hokage."
"Hmph."
The girl snorted disdainfully through her nose.
"This is prejudice... Why can't Sasuke do it!"
"No means no." Tsunade didn't want to explain much. With her experience as someone who had been through it, explaining at this time was useless, so she changed the subject, "If you really don't want to do it, Naruto is also a pretty good choice."
"So you're trying to do a designated successor skipping a generation?" Haruno Sakura smiled and said, "Just hand-picking us from Team Kakashi to take over?"
"We'll talk about it later."
Tsunade also didn't want to talk about these things so blatantly in broad daylight, so she stopped the topic, took out a scroll from the drawer, and handed it to Haruno Sakura.
It was a letter.
The cover of the scroll read: To Haruno Sakura.
"A letter from Naruto?" The girl accepted it with pleasant surprise.
"His letter arrived the day after you departed." Tsunade smiled, "Naruto will be back soon. Let me tell you—"
"Got it!" Seeing her master showing signs of starting a long speech again, Haruno Sakura hurriedly stuffed the scroll into the hidden pocket of her vest lining, interrupted Tsunade, and disappeared from the office with a Body Flicker.
"I have something urgent to find Sasuke for!" The girl's voice came faintly from afar, "I'll listen to your nagging next time!"
Tsunade was stunned.
She turned her head, exchanged a glance with Shizune, and shook her head helplessly.
"This kid...!" Tsunade smiled, "Getting more and more disobedient."
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