The reason Hagoromo had changed his style of dress was actually very simple.
It was purely to keep the visual tone consistent with the child beside him.
Otherwise, dressed head-to-toe in black while staying close to Mirai, he would far too easily be mistaken for someone trafficking women and children.
"So… why are you in the Land of Artisans (remote Hot Springs region)?" Tsunade asked casually.
"It's not related to Orochimaru, is it?"
On the surface, Tsunade asked lightly, but what she truly cared about was why Hagoromo had appeared here at all.
When Tsunade left Konoha, it had been handled with extreme discretion. First, the war was at its most intense—there was no reason to publicly announce the departure of a top-tier combatant. Second, Tsunade had not defected.
Even now, she was not a missing-nin.
In fact, if Tsunade wanted to return to Konoha at any moment, she could do so freely. From ordinary civilians all the way up to the Hokage himself, nearly every single person in Konoha would welcome her back without hesitation.
Orochimaru, however, was a completely different matter.
He was a true missing-nin.
With Konoha issuing an S-rank bounty, Orochimaru had not only been struck from the village registry—he had become an outright enemy of the village.
That one of Konoha's legendary Three Sannin had fallen so far was, in theory, something that might make other villages sigh in regret…
Except they didn't.
In reality, they were absolutely delighted.
Your loss was their joy—it was that simple.
Orochimaru's defection had caused a stir across the entire shinobi world. Tsunade couldn't not know about it, so she questioned Hagoromo the moment she saw him.
Even though there were many things she should have asked instead.
Kushina's death.
The Fourth Hokage's death.
What Hagoromo had experienced over the years.
Why he was raising this child.
Tsunade wasn't uninterested. Nor was she unwilling to know.
She simply didn't want to bring those things up.
And she suspected Hagoromo didn't want to talk about them either.
Still, when Kushina came to mind, Tsunade's gaze unconsciously drifted toward Mirai, and she murmured softly,
"Such beautiful red hair… just like hers."
Just like who?
Tsunade's words were spoken quietly, but everyone heard them—including Mirai.
"Tsunade-nee, you're a good person," Mirai declared immediately.
Thus, she casually handed out a Good Person Card.
"Hagoromo told me that anyone who praises my hair is a good person. That's right, isn't it?"
"It is," Hagoromo replied without hesitation.
What kind of parenting philosophy was this?
And what kind of moral evaluation system?
Who on earth let Hagoromo raise a child?
Watching this scene, Tsunade couldn't help but think of herself. Back then, hadn't she also picked up her gambling addiction by following the First Hokage around?
"Because this hair was inherited from Kushina," Mirai added, apparently understanding Tsunade's puzzled expression.
And since Hagoromo referred to his teacher in a certain way, Mirai naturally used the same form of address for her mother.
"And if someone says something bad about your hair?" Shizune asked curiously.
"I mean the hair specifically."
"They can be beaten half to death," Mirai answered confidently—then turned to Hagoromo for confirmation.
"Right?"
Hagoromo nodded.
Perfectly reasonable.
Tsunade: "..."
Shizune: "..."
Let's… relax a bit and return to Orochimaru.
Tsunade brought him up not because she cared—but precisely because she didn't want to get involved.
Too much trouble.
In truth, she had been overthinking it.
"That's not the case," Hagoromo said calmly.
"My coming to the Land of Artisans (remote Hot Springs region) was purely coincidental."
As he spoke, he shifted slightly, revealing two straight, flat-profiled objects crossed behind his waist—one black, one dark red.
Correction.
Not sticks.
Two straight-bladed swords.
Tsunade still didn't quite understand, so Hagoromo continued.
"I came here to forge a chakra blade. Running into you was not intentional. In short, this has nothing to do with Orochimaru."
Seen up close, there was a pale red rectangular mark on Hagoromo's forehead—about half a centimeter wide and one and a half centimeters long.
And to the despair of anyone with obsessive tendencies, it was tilted diagonally, rather than symmetrically aligned like Tsunade's diamond seal.
"I know, I know! They're Elucidator and Dark Repulsor!" Mirai blurted out eagerly.
She was immediately met with a merciless glare from Hagoromo.
Why not just call them Excalibur and Demon Armor while you're at it?
The dark-red sword was the chakra blade Hagoromo had forged in the Land of Artisans (remote Hot Springs region).
The black one was a newly crafted Iron Sand Sword he had made himself.
"Eluci… what?" Tsunade hadn't caught the names clearly.
In reality, the swords didn't even have names.
What were they—rare items?
"Nothing," Hagoromo said.
"She's talking about weapons from a fairy tale I once told her."
Yes. Hagoromo told Mirai many such "fairy tales—"
Stories like Rubber Man Versus Shadow Monsters.
"So," Tsunade said, "you didn't come here specifically to find me?"
"If we're being precise," Hagoromo replied,
"then yes. I did."
As he spoke, he extended his right hand and gently lifted his sleeve, revealing his left forearm.
How should one describe it?
Like dried tree bark.
Or a mummy.
"Put your arm on the table," Tsunade said immediately.
Such an exquisitely shaped piece of pickled chicken claw—anyone's first instinct would be to place it on a plate.
As Hagoromo raised and then set his arm down, he explained calmly,
"Konoha's medical-nin can prevent the injury from worsening, but to actually heal it… I need the Slug Princess."
Fortunately, although the arm looked desiccated, it wasn't bleeding, so Tsunade could examine it carefully without any sensory discomfort.
"As for the cause," Hagoromo continued,
"it should be classified as high-intensity Lightning Release burns."
More precisely, it was the combined burn of high-output Lightning Release and extreme electrical current—otherwise it wouldn't have been this severe.
"The nerve damage isn't serious. I can still feel pain, and I can still control the hand."
He truly could—but every movement was accompanied by intense stabbing pain.
That wasn't the real problem.
The real issue was that the hand was extremely brittle right now. One careless motion could snap a finger.
The nerve damage had originally been severe, but Hagoromo had gradually restored it through repeated stimulation—this part he was good at.
What remained was cellular activation and regeneration, which fell squarely outside his expertise.
"You—" Tsunade began, ready to sarcastically criticize him.
This kind of injury clearly came from reckless forbidden-technique development.
But she stopped halfway.
Mocking Hagoromo was fine.
The problem was that there was a pair of small, worried eyes staring at her intently.
Fine.
Let's preserve some innocence and beauty in the world.
Mirai clearly understood that the woman in front of her—depending on the results, possibly downgraded from big sister to granny—was about to heal Hagoromo.
She was visibly nervous.
"Indeed," Tsunade said after examination.
"The nerve damage is minor. Once the cells recover, it will heal naturally."
"As for restoring cellular activity—it's troublesome, but only troublesome."
"No major issues. It'll just take time."
She paused, then added pointedly,
"And this trouble is entirely your own fault. You dragged this injury out for far too long."
An injury of this level—severed limbs, destroyed flesh—should have been treated immediately.
Tsunade could tell that Hagoromo's wound had been lingering for years.
This wasn't because Hagoromo was careless.
Tsunade had simply assumed too much.
It wasn't that Hagoromo hadn't sought treatment—
It was that in Konoha, only Tsunade herself could heal something like this.
She couldn't seriously think every medical-nin was at her level, could she?
"Completely healing your arm will take time," Tsunade concluded.
"But fortunately…"
"Neither of us is short on time right now."
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