This is the first time she has seen Tsunade so angry.

Even when Hakushi betrayed Konoha, she wasn’t this angry.

"Um, Lady Tsunade..."

Shizune wanted to persuade Tsunade to calm down but found herself unsure how to do so.

"If he wanted to stop Orochimaru, how could Orochimaru injure him and escape the village? What’s he thinking?"

Putting aside the reason for Orochimaru’s defection, conducting human experiments seems out of character for Orochimaru’s cautious nature.

What angered Tsunade the most was Orochimaru’s intent to betray Konoha and her teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi’s indecisiveness.

Doesn’t he know that once Orochimaru escapes from the Land of Fire, it would bring a terrible disaster to Konoha? 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Orochimaru is different from Hakushi; he is truly a high-ranking figure in Konoha.

His knowledge, techniques, and information would cause significant losses to Konoha.

Injured by Orochimaru, unable to stop him... It all looks like shirking responsibility when he’s the Hokage of Konoha.

Faced with such severe defection, how can personal matters override public duty?

Shizune stood silently by, trembling under Tsunade’s wrath.

What terrifying killing intent!

At that moment, Shizune felt as if she saw a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood before her eyes.

After all, she’s one of the Sannin, even though she’s usually carefree, when she gets serious, it’s absolutely terrifying.

Especially in this state of intense anger.

"Let’s go, Shizune!"

"Go? Where to, Lady Tsunade?"

"Anywhere, as long as it’s not the Land of Fire."

Seeing the village left by her grandfather being ruined to such an extent, Tsunade felt surrounded by endless cold, suffocating to the point where she couldn’t breathe.

She knew that the Konoha Anbu was probably on their way to find her, to deliver the Third Hokage’s order for her to return to the village immediately.

With Orochimaru defecting, only by having her, another member of the Sannin, return to the village would the village’s morale stabilize and suppress any dissenting voices.

After all, she is the granddaughter of the First Hokage and the purest inheritor of the Will of Fire.

In the two Ninja Realm wars, as a medical ninja, she saved countless lives for Konoha, contributing outstandingly to Konoha’s medical system.

One could say her influence is the strongest among the Sannin.

"Eh? Is this really okay? The village really needs Lady Tsunade’s help right now."

"I would love to help, but I would achieve nothing by going back now. I’d only make things more chaotic for Konoha. Out of sight, out of mind."

Tsunade shook her head with a bitter smile.

She’s afraid that if she goes back, she won’t be able to resist confronting her teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, directly and might even use the influence of the Senju Clan to abolish the illegal Anbu department known as Root.

Even if she cannot abolish Root, she wants to impose significant restrictions on it, preventing Danzo from acting freely.

And these are precisely the strategies her teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, is most unwilling to execute.

Danzo committed so many mistakes, yet he can still hold a high position; her teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, is undoubtedly to blame.

If Hiruzen can’t achieve these things, returning to Konoha now would mean nothing but compromising with this so-called mentor who is now an old man.

"Sigh, Minato passed away too suddenly..."

At this, Tsunade’s eyes also revealed a hint of sadness.

If Minato were still alive, the situation in Konoha now might be entirely different.

She could already guess that Danzo, leading his Root, must be acting arrogantly in Konoha once again.

Without Minato to suppress him, relying solely on her aging teacher, it’s impossible to control Danzo.

The same was true in the past, and it’s true now.

Knowing full well that returning would achieve nothing, and instead, she would be used as a pawn by others...

At the very least, it’s crucial to retain her dignity. That’s Tsunade’s thought at this moment.

"Senior Minato... I heard that the Nine-tailed incident might be related to Senior Hakushi. But I’m not sure if it’s true."

When Tsunade mentioned Minato, Shizune couldn’t help but think of Hakushi.

However, Tsunade just shook her head and said nothing else. The Nine-tailed incident had too many uncertainties, possibly related to that student of hers.

"Let’s go quickly. It’ll be hard to escape once the Anbu arrive."

Tsunade swiftly grabbed her bag, called out to Shizune, and headed outside.

As for the lottery ticket that won a big prize, she left it to the inn’s owner as compensation for the damage she caused.

◎

"Tsunade... Doesn’t plan to come back?"

Sitting in the office of the director of the Konoha Hospital’s pharmacy department, Asami Shinsui received information relayed by Kakashi.

The Anbu’s search for Tsunade, one of the Sannin, yielded no results; Tsunade seemed to be deliberately avoiding the Konoha Anbu, currently nowhere to be found.

It’s easy to see that Tsunade’s refusal to return to the village is astonishingly resolute.

Regarding the reasons behind it, Asami Shinsui wasn’t quite sure.

However, what she’s concerned about is whether Tsunade will return to Konoha; now confirmed that Tsunade won’t be returning at this time, it indeed relieved her.

Currently, she’s at a crucial moment in her setup of the ’network’ within Konoha Hospital and the entire Konoha Ninja system; should Tsunade return to the village at this time, with her status and influence, it wouldn’t be difficult for her to take over Konoha Hospital again, potentially delaying the plans at Konoha Hospital.

With Tsunade refusing to return to the village, she has the opportunity to take advantage.

The communication network she’s set up in Konoha remains rather fragile.