Chapter 241: The Power Struggle Within Konoha's Leadership
"Isn't that Princess Tsunade of Konoha? One of the Three Sannin — supposed to be incredibly powerful. Didn't expect to actually see her here. Konoha really does gather remarkable people."
A visiting shinobi near the Hokage building kept his voice low as he watched.
"There are three Sannin, right? The other two are Orochimaru and Jiraiya, I think — how come the other two aren't around?"
"You don't think the one next to her is Orochimaru? I remember Orochimaru having black hair, and that person has black hair — actually, it might be him."
"Come on, that looks like a teenager. Orochimaru must be in his thirties or forties by now. More likely that's Tsunade's younger brother or something."
"How is that impossible? Tsunade herself looks like she's in her twenties."
"True, but that kid looks even younger than Tsunade — sixteen, seventeen at most. No stubble at all. Though the presence on him is strange, now that I think about it."
"Regardless of who he is, anyone walking alongside Tsunade isn't ordinary."
"Konoha always has someone unexpected. You never know who they're hiding."
"Honestly envious. Shame I wasn't born in Konoha."
"Keep your voice down. If your own village hears that, they'll call you a traitor."
"Right — sorry, senpai. Won't happen again."
"…"
Ryū's Observation Haki was picking up every word — spoken aloud or transmitted through chakra. Plenty of visiting shinobi knew of the Three Sannin, but far fewer had any clear picture of what Orochimaru actually looked like, which was apparently leading to him getting misidentified.
Come to think of it, those Reincarnators in the Naruto world a while back had done the same thing.
Do I really resemble Orochimaru that much? He considered himself significantly better-looking, and without the unsettling cold quality that Orochimaru apparently radiated in person. Some people were clearly in need of a vision test.
He let it go and followed Tsunade into the building.
Inside, the ambient noise dropped considerably. Ryū's attention moved through the space — his Observation Haki spread and covered the Hokage building in its entirety, reaching every room, every hidden post. The ROOT operatives stationed in the shadows registered as clearly as everyone else.
Almost simultaneously, every shinobi in the building — sensing-type or not — felt the distinct prickling sensation of being watched. Nobody could pinpoint the source.
They picked it up that quickly. Good number of sensing-types in here. Ryū withdrew his Haki quietly before anyone's nerves frayed past comfortable levels — he'd noticed several people's muscles going rigid, including Tsunade beside him.
Tsunade glanced over. "That strange observing feeling just now — was that you, Ryū-dono?"
He was mildly surprised she'd pinned it on him. She hadn't been certain, he could tell — she'd tried the question as a guess, probably based on instinct more than anything else. Women's intuition remained, empirically, somewhat difficult to underestimate.
He nodded. "Just taking a look around."
Tsunade quietly exhaled. She'd already been preparing for whatever had been watching from the shadows, assuming it was a threat. Learning it was her present companion rather than some hostile operative was a genuine relief.
She composed herself and gestured toward the upper floors. "I'll show you to the Fourth's office. I know this building well."
She'd spent a substantial portion of her childhood here, as the granddaughter of Konoha's First Hokage. Habits from that era died hard.
At the top floor, she pushed the office door open without knocking and walked in. Multiple pairs of eyes came their way immediately.
"We're not late — the meeting starts at ten, and it's still a few minutes before ten. That counts as on time."
She found a seat. Ryū followed her in and took another.
His entrance drew every gaze in the room, for the obvious reason — he was the only non-shinobi present.
The room was well-populated with village leadership. Konoha's side had Hiruzen, Minato, Danzō, Tsunade, and their respective advisors. The other villages had sent representatives as well — unfamiliar faces, none of them recognisable from whatever canon Ryū half-remembered, all of them presumably too small to register in a story focused on Konoha's own affairs.
"Minato. You invited him?" Danzō's voice was level, but his pupil had contracted the instant he'd seen Ryū. "This is a shinobi matter — a non-shinobi's presence at a Chūnin Exam discussion is irregular. And inviting someone outside the usual channels without consulting—"
"Did you know about this, Sarutobi?"
Hiruzen shook his head, something briefly flashing in his expression before he smoothed it away. "I was not informed."
Minato answered without hesitation. "I invited Ryū-kun. He's Konoha's strongest active presence. Inviting him to something this significant seems entirely appropriate — is there an objection to that?"
Danzō's eyes narrowed slightly. He said nothing further.
Minato's tone had been firm in a way that acknowledged the implicit challenge and declined to accommodate it. That kind of pressure from the Fourth Hokage carried its own weight, and the presence of other villages' leadership made open infighting a cost neither side could afford right now.
Beyond which: there was the matter of what Ryū was actually capable of. Danzō had seen enough, at this point, to know that of all the people in Konoha, this was the one he had the least appetite for provoking. He and Root combined, pressing a sustained engagement, might not produce meaningful damage before the situation went entirely the other direction. The Fourth Hokage acquiring this person's visible support was, genuinely, a problem.
Minato turned to Ryū and Tsunade with easy warmth, as though the tension hadn't just run through the room.
"Ryū-kun, Tsunade-senpai — it's been a little while. I only extended the invitation as a possibility, really — I'm glad you both actually came."
Tsunade nodded politely. "The Hokage extends an invitation; a Konoha shinobi doesn't decline."
Ryū shrugged. "I'm just here for the food."
He could read the room clearly enough — the sharp edges under Konoha's leadership, the way the factions had arranged themselves. He had no interest in any of it. Shinobi politics belonged to the shinobi. Hokage authority was a small thing measured against being Admin of the Dimensional Chat Group, and the only thing on the invitation that had actually moved him was the line about provided meals.
An older shinobi from the Sand delegation — Suna forehead protector, clearly senior — cleared his throat and asked, with genuine puzzlement in his voice, "If I may — who is this young man?"
The Konoha shinobi's manner toward Ryū had registered as distinctly unusual from the moment he walked in. Not familiarity — closer to reverence. And the Fourth Hokage had used the phrase "Konoha's strongest."
Konoha's strongest is this… unknown teenager?
He couldn't be older than his late teens. Is this a joke?
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