Chapter 98: The Young Sannin
Being the Nine Tails jinchūriki was no easy thing.
As a jinchūriki, one had to live under the constant threat of backlash from the tailed beast, with the possibility of a rampage at any moment. The pressure was immense.
Although Uzumaki Mito did not fear such things, the strain she bore each day was still considerable.
Now that the Nine Tails' consciousness had been extracted, leaving only a quiet mass of chakra within her body, she immediately felt much lighter.
"Then I shall take my leave."
Kei spoke before turning to depart.
In the distance, inside the Ninja Academy, Tsunade, who was about to face her graduation exam, was somewhat distracted.
"It's been a long time since Kei nii came to see me."
Staring at the textbook before her, that thought surfaced in her mind on its own.
Ever since they had met as children, she and Kei had never been apart for very long.
In the past, she was either following Kei around while learning Medical Ninjutsu from him, or simply staying close by. In any case, there had never been much distance between them.
It had not reached the point of seeing each other every single day, but it had not been far from that either.
Lately, though, she had not seen Kei for a very long time.
The turning point had come when Kei became Hokage.
To be honest, Kei was not the kind of person who enjoyed drowning in official duties. He was quite willing to delegate authority whenever possible.
However, as Hokage, some responsibilities simply could not be avoided.
Even though he had already delegated as much as he could, the countless duties that came with being Hokage had still significantly reduced his free time.
It could not be helped.
In Kei's eyes, Konoha's old bureaucratic system was far too crude. Its efficiency was low, and the entire structure was filled with too many people whose abilities were lacking.
The people who entered Konoha's system were, first and foremost, excellent shinobi.
Their ability to kill and gather intelligence was guaranteed.
Their ability to handle political affairs was not.
Moreover, Konoha was currently in a period of transition. With the launch of so many major projects, the amount of administrative work had increased dramatically.
So until a new generation of officials had been trained up, Kei had no choice but to oversee many matters himself.
Otherwise, problems could easily arise.
And just when everything had finally begun to get on track, the incident involving the Kinkaku Brothers had broken out.
He had needed to lead people into that war as well, consuming even more of his time.
In the end, he really had been genuinely busy recently and had simply not found the time to come see Tsunade.
"Tsunade, spacing out again!"
In the distance, Jiraiya's lively voice rang out.
"The graduation exam is almost here. If you don't hurry up and study, be careful or you'll get held back!"
"Idiot!"
The moment she heard his voice, Tsunade immediately became furious.
"You dare say I'll get held back?"
"The one who's going to get held back is obviously you!"
Unlike Jiraiya, who consistently lingered at the bottom of the class, Tsunade was a genius overflowing with talent.
If Jiraiya could at least show off a bit of taijutsu in front of others, then in front of Tsunade, even his strongest area meant nothing.
With Tsunade's strength, knocking him flat was easy.
"You damn washboard tomboy! At this rate, no man is ever going to marry you!"
Jiraiya screeched in the distance while enduring Tsunade's beating.
After finally chasing him off, Tsunade walked over to the side by herself.
She lowered her head and glanced at her own washboard-like figure, unable to help feeling a little miserable.
"Kei nii probably wouldn't like this kind of body…"
She felt somewhat troubled.
Even though she did not care much about Jiraiya, his earlier words had still stuck in her mind.
Men should all prefer girls with more curves, right?
She thought that with some uncertainty.
"What are you thinking about?"
A gentle voice suddenly came from beside her.
The moment she heard it, Tsunade's body froze.
Then she abruptly looked up, delight appearing on her face.
Behind her, Kei had arrived without her noticing and was now looking at her with a smile.
"It's only been a little while since we last met. Why have you suddenly become so sentimental?"
He had specifically come to see Tsunade because, counting the days, it had indeed been quite some time since he last visited her.
He just had not expected to walk in on this scene the moment he arrived.
That normally bright and cheerful Tsunade had actually ended up having such a sentimental moment?
"Kei nii!"
Tsunade did not say another word. She lunged straight into his arms.
Kei was startled at first, but he quickly reacted.
He did not say much. He simply smiled, drew Tsunade into his arms, and gently stroked her forehead.
"Sorry. I've been too busy lately and haven't come to see you for so long."
"Don't say 'sorry' to me."
Tsunade spoke with dissatisfaction.
"Aren't you here now?"
"So this time, you have to stay with me longer."
"Alright."
Kei nodded.
This time, he did indeed plan to stay a while.
On one hand, it was to spend time with Tsunade.
On the other hand, it was because he intended to personally oversee the promotion exams of the Ninja Academy.
A few months had passed, and the preparations for the Middle Ninja Academy had already been completed. The first group of students was about to graduate from the current Academy system.
As the principal of the Ninja Academy, Kei planned to come and watch in person, both to show how much importance he placed on it and to see whether there were any promising talents worth training.
"Seriously."
In the distance, watching the two of them together, Jiraiya grumbled with obvious dissatisfaction.
"That damn tomboy acts all gentle in front of Hokage sama."
"Why can't she be even a little gentler with me?"
"Tsunade is already going easy on you."
Standing nearby, Orochimaru shook his head.
"Otherwise, with her monstrous strength, if she really hit you with full force, you'd probably have trouble speaking right now."
That was actually true.
With Tsunade's strength, even though she was not yet an adult, if she truly threw a full power punch, it was not something an ordinary person could endure.
Even with Jiraiya's physique, several bones would almost certainly be broken.
"Still, Tsunade and Hokage sama really do have a very good relationship."
Orochimaru stood off to the side, watching the intimate scene between Tsunade and Kei, and felt a little envy rise in his heart.
What he envied was not Kei, but Tsunade.
Within all of Konoha, the person Orochimaru admired most was Uchiha Kei.
Not only was he knowledgeable and proficient in many fields, much like the Second Hokage, but he was also willing to guide those who came after him.
Orochimaru had once interacted with Kei by chance.
At the time, he had still been naïve in many ways, and some of the ideas he proposed had been impractical.
Yet Kei had still been willing to discuss them with him. He had not dismissed many of the thoughts in Orochimaru's heart as heretical, but had instead shown considerable agreement with them.
That sort of recognition had carried enormous meaning for the Orochimaru of that time.
When Orochimaru looked at Kei, it felt as though he were seeing a fellow traveler already walking ahead of him, a true senior.
"It would be wonderful if I could become Hokage sama's student."
That thought could not help but flash through his mind.
.....
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