Chapter 26: The Second Drift Bottle
Meanwhile, outside Konoha Village.
Nukarai stared toward Konoha, saying through gritted teeth, "Damn it! The intelligence was completely wrong! Why is Tsunade in Konoha?!"
A ninja beside him spoke quietly. "Captain, what do we do now? Just go back like this?"
Nukarai fell silent for a while before speaking. "We can only return first and report the situation here truthfully to Lord Raikage. As for what happens next, we'll see Lord Raikage's decision."
Another ninja said worriedly, "But if we return empty-handed like this, Lord Raikage will definitely..."
"Then what can we do?!" Nukarai punched a tree trunk.
"How about... we wait until tonight and secretly infiltrate Konoha again for another attempt?"
"Useless." Nukarai shook his head. "I've heard the Village once tried infiltrating Konoha to abduct an Uzumaki clan member, but that operation also failed. Since then, Konoha established a barrier system that can detect any unfamiliar shinobi entering Konoha."
Everyone fell silent.
...
Night had grown very deep. Konoha Village slept in tranquility.
Tsunade sat alone in the pavilion, head tilted back gazing at the distant starry sky, brow furrowed as if contemplating something important.
Just then, a night breeze passed. Tsunade keenly sensed something. She turned her head—a glass bottle now sat quietly beside her.
"Again?"
Tsunade pulled out the cork and unfolded the letter paper, reading by moonlight.
[1. The drift bottle has a character limit.]
[2. In worlds where no drift bottle appears, the life Tsunade experiences is called the original timeline. From the moment you receive the drift bottle, the timeline will diverge toward different endings based on the bottle's information. Each branch will become a unique parallel world.]
[3. In any world, when Tsunade receives the drift bottle is random (perhaps there's a pattern, but I don't know it). When using the drift bottle for conversation, after the first chat, you might not receive the expected second chat—you might receive the third, fourth first... If you receive something incomprehensible, store it for now.]
[4. Regarding the Hyuga. The Cloud Village will abduct Hinata. If that fails, they'll switch to extorting Konoha. The key issues beyond the Cloud Village's threats and the old man's attitude include internal Hyuga divisions. Certain immortal main family members will make Hizashi die in Hiashi's place.]
[5. The root of the Uchiha massacre lies in the Nine-Tails attack.]
[6. An organization called Akatsuki threatens the shinobi world's safety. Their goal is collecting all nine tailed beasts. As of when I'm writing this letter, only the Nine-Tails remains among the five great nations. Known members include Orochimaru, Sasori of the Red Sand, Hidan, and Kakuzu.]
[I hope you don't receive this letter too late.]
[Recipient: I'll Become the God of Gambling]
[Sender: Like Hell I'll Become Hokage]
The information volume was enormous.
Tsunade took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
First, it only said the drift bottle had a character limit without specifying the exact number. It likely varied by person or for some other reason. From how the letter's content grew increasingly brief and refined, this information should be indisputable.
Next was the question about timelines she'd asked last time, now answered. She hadn't expected the drift bottle to be such a miraculous treasure. If she'd obtained it earlier, her life wouldn't have been such a failure.
Perhaps in some timeline, there existed a Tsunade who encountered the drift bottle in her youth. Thereafter, her life became smooth sailing, all regrets compensated.
Just thinking about it made Tsunade want to hum happily.
Thinking this way, randomly casting out the precious drift bottle wasn't so strange after all.
Regarding the Cloud Village, combining the letter's contents, she could now piece together the entire cause and effect.
After so many years, those bandits truly had no new tricks—exactly like when they'd abducted Kushina back then.
As for extorting Konoha, if she hadn't stepped forward to forcibly back up the old man, given Konoha's current situation, the Cloud Village might have actually succeeded. Of course, what they'd have gotten was Hyuga Hizashi's corpse.
In the years she'd been gone, Konoha hadn't changed at all—still so detestable.
The Will of Fire—a Will of Fire that demanded sacrifice... heh!
If this happened, the reason the Hyuga became half-crippled was also found. Nothing more than civil war—war between branch and main families.
Either the branch family killed the main family, or the main family used the Caged Bird to control the branch family to death. But regardless of which result, for Konoha, the Hyuga clan would basically be crippled.
Furthermore, there was the Uchiha clan problem.
Though she hadn't been back long, she could sense the somewhat fractured atmosphere between the Uchiha and Konoha. They seemed ostracized, like outsiders in this village. She'd need to find time to discuss the specific situation with the old man.
As for the Nine-Tails attack...
Tsunade lifted the bottle and gulped deeply. The liquid burned going down her throat, making her heart ache.
"Kushina, will you resent me for leaving Konoha?"
Finally, regarding the Akatsuki organization.
Among the four names, one was an old acquaintance. No wonder Jiraiya could track down Akatsuki.
As for the rest, besides knowing Sasori of the Red Sand was an Sunagakure missing-nin, she'd never heard of the other two. She could have Anbu investigate them.
Also, Akatsuki's goal was collecting all nine tailed beasts. What did they plan to do with them?
Surely not make a movie, heh.
Besides, tailed beasts were each village's strategic weapons. Wanting to collect all the tailed beasts meant becoming enemies with the entire shinobi world. But the letter said that as of writing, only the Nine-Tails hadn't been captured by Akatsuki. Did that mean the other eight tailed beasts had all been captured?
Tsunade felt a chill.
If this was true, then Akatsuki's strength was unbelievably powerful. No wonder her other self had said Konoha had reached the brink of destruction.
If Konoha fell, the other great nations wouldn't fare any better. The entire shinobi world was already teetering on the edge of annihilation.
What a heavy future...
Tsunade took the letter paper back to her room, using pen and paper to record some key information before burning the letter with fire.
Right now, the most urgent and easiest problem to solve was naturally the Hyuga clan issue.
But even as Hokage, directly interfering in a clan's internal affairs was inappropriate. What about her?
So she needed an assistant.
Tsunade drained the bottle's last drops, then murmured into the night.
"Wonder if that little girl can handle it."
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