Inside the dim underground office.
Hearing Danzo's words, Tsunade smiled faintly.
"Danzo, we're all adults here, so stop making jokes like this. You don't seriously think I came here today to negotiate, do you? The Wood Release scroll should be returned to its rightful owner. You no longer have the right to keep it."
Tsunade no longer wanted to waste words.
At this moment, she was extremely eager.
After obtaining the Wood Release scroll, she wanted to personally examine Sousuke's body.
Wood Release was a matter of enormous importance.
She did not want to waste time here with Danzo.
Looking at Tsunade, who was acting so forcefully that it seemed she might attack at any moment, even Danzo could not tell whether she truly intended to make a move.
After a moment of silence, knowing that the situation was already hopeless, Danzo gave up on insisting about Yagyu Sousuke.
If he continued to push things, Tsunade might really decide to smash everything apart, or even pull the foundation out from under him completely.
She could even abolish the Council of Elders that had been established during the Third Hokage's era.
And if Tsunade really did that, she would absolutely receive the support of the vast majority of the village.
After all, the Council of Elders held considerable authority.
And yet they were useless!
So the villagers would not mind overthrowing the elders and reclaiming powers that should have belonged to them in the first place.
Even if they could not gain anything from it, they certainly would not want the elders standing over their heads forever.
Human hearts were the hardest thing to predict.
Honestly speaking ever since the Third Hokage's era, Konoha had become frighteningly proficient at internal political struggles.
"Haah…"
Letting out a sigh like a hero in his twilight years, Danzo spoke:
"I understand… The Wood Release scroll originally belonged to the First Hokage-sama. Returning it to you now is only proper."
Hearing the answer she wanted, a satisfied smile appeared on Tsunade's face.
"This is all for the sake of the village."
She emphasized that once again.
Tsunade no longer bothered provoking Danzo any further. In any case, she had already obtained what she came for.
Half an hour later.
With the complete Wood Release scroll in hand, Tsunade temporarily set aside all other matters.
Instead of waiting until nightfall, she headed directly to Sousuke's house.
Inside the Yagyu household living room.
"Tsunade-sama, please have some tea."
Mother placed a cup of tea before Tsunade and spoke politely:
"You probably came to see Sousuke because of something important. I'll go prepare dinner first."
From what Sousuke had told her, Mother already knew that Tsunade would be staying for dinner tonight.
Although she was a little puzzled.
This was still a good thing, so naturally she had no intention of refusing. In fact, she intended to treat Tsunade with the utmost hospitality.
If Sousuke had not specifically told her not to notify anyone else for the time being, Mother would have even wanted to invite the future in-laws from next door over to help.
After all Tsunade's identity was none other than the Fifth Hokage.
For a woman like Mother, who had practically never left Konoha her entire life, Tsunade's status was simply far too lofty!
"No."
Taking the tea Mother handed over, Tsunade smiled warmly.
"Hui, you should stay as well. I came here this time because of you too."
There was absolutely no way Sousuke's father was a descendant of the Senju Clan.
That meant the possibility could only lie with Mother Yagyu Hui, or perhaps more accurately, Senju Hui.
Of course, at this point the title "Senju of the Forest" had already faded into legend with the passage of time, so there was no need to deliberately bring it up again.
For Tsunade, she simply wanted to find two remaining relatives.
As for reviving the Senju Clan?
There was no need for that.
Tsunade understood very clearly that the disappearance of the Senju Clan had long since become inevitable.
What was truly precious was Konoha itself.
That was the true Will of Fire.
Compared to clans like the Uchiha, Hyuga, Sarutobi, and others, who always placed their own clan's interests above the village's interests the Senju Clan truly loved Konoha as a whole.
Hearing Tsunade's words, Mother stayed behind, though she gave Sousuke a puzzled glance.
Shaking his head lightly, Sousuke signaled for Mother to stay calm, showing no concern that anything inappropriate would happen.
"Sousuke, this is the Wood Release scroll you wanted. I'm handing it over to you now."
After taking a sip of tea, Tsunade spoke,
"Even though the Senju Clan has already disappeared, since your Senju bloodline has returned to its ancestral roots, Grandfather's Wood Release scroll is best inherited by you. In the future, when your children are born, the Wood Release scroll can continue to be passed down."
Hearing Tsunade's words, Sousuke nodded and happily accepted the Wood Release scroll.
"I will."
Beside them, Mother looked completely confused and could not understand what Tsunade meant.
But there was one thing she did understand her son's bloodline had undergone an ancestral awakening, and he had awakened the legendary Wood Release!
As for Wood Release, no villager would be unfamiliar with it.
After all, the founding of Konohagakure was inseparably tied to Wood Release.
Rustle.
Without any hesitation Sousuke opened the Wood Release scroll directly in front of Tsunade.
Countless Wood Release techniques appeared before his eyes.
Wood Clone.
Deep Forest Emergence.
Deep Forest Bloom.
Wood Dragon Technique.
Wood Golem Technique.
And other terrifyingly powerful Wood Release techniques all of them were clearly recorded within the Wood Release scroll.
Of course, those techniques themselves were not the most important thing.
What Sousuke valued even more were the many insights recorded in the scroll regarding Hashirama Senju's development of the Wood Release bloodline limit.
That was the truly valuable part.
After all, if it was just ninjutsu, Sousuke could develop them himself sooner or later. That would only cost time.
But advancing the Wood Release bloodline limit required carefully absorbing the experiences of those who came before him.
Standing on the shoulders of giants and continuing to climb higher there was nothing shameful about that.
Watching Sousuke immediately begin reading the Wood Release scroll without hesitation, a smile appeared on Tsunade's face.
"I don't fully understand the true power of Wood Release myself, so you'll have to comprehend it on your own."
"But I believe that with your talent, bringing out the full might of the Wood Release bloodline limit is only a matter of time."
Smiling faintly, Sousuke, who was reading the scroll, did not deny her words.
With this thing his strength was about to soar.
That night.
Inside Sousuke's room.
After continuously summarizing the information he needed from the Wood Release scroll and memorizing every Wood Release technique recorded within it, Sousuke finally stopped reading the scroll.
"As expected…"
Looking at the notes he had written down regarding Hashirama Senju's experience in developing Wood Release, Sousuke revealed an expression of "just as I thought."
"Hashirama Senju and Naruto really are the same type of geniuses people who seem foolish on the surface, but bloom late and possess great wisdom hidden beneath simplicity."
Everything copied from this Wood Release scroll was extremely interesting.
It recorded Hashirama's weakness in his early years, as well as his overwhelming strength later on.
There were even casual notes written by Hashirama regarding certain events involving Uchiha Madara.
It was supposed to be a Wood Release scroll, and technically it still was but every now and then, a line or two made it feel more like a nostalgic diary about Madara instead.
Recording memories about Uchiha Madara inside a scroll meant for passing down Wood Release that was incredibly Hashirama-like.
After all, unless someone was a complete idiot, who would do something like that?
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