Chapter 843 : Tsunade's smile...

‘He k… he kill… he killed 658 ninjas? And another 83 died… from the traps he placed?’ Shizune completely lost her composure. She couldn't even form her thoughts properly.

Though Tsunade didn't lose her composure, she was equally shocked. Even though Hiruzen and Danzo engaged in such acts frequently, she had never heard either of them ever killing so many ninjas outside the Great Wars. More often than not, their covert operations would only eliminate a few squads at a time. Killing 741 ninjas from the same village during peacetime in a single mission was completely outrageous.

Before either of them could say anything, Shikaku added, “All of them were elite ninjas, who the Raikage was grooming for the next major war. That is why Kumogakure has been quiet despite the chaos caused by Orochimaru and Sunagakure.”

Tsunade's eyes twitched as she thought, ‘741 elite ninjas… That's enough to take out most minor villages. Ay's heart must have bled… To be played so badly by Sensei, having his ninjas slaughtered by Fujin, and then getting humiliated by Akuro. Hmm?’

She asked, “Does Akuro's involvement have anything to do with us or Fujin? I know you said we haven't confirmed whether he was the one who attacked Root, but this is too coincidental, isn't it?”

Shikaku answered, “We felt it too, but no, it wasn't. Kumogakure was just unlucky…”

Shikaku explained how Kumogakure pissed Akuro off by disturbing his meal and how he reacted. The ladies were left without words again. Despite having seen a myriad of peculiar ninjas, Tsunade hadn't seen anyone as unreasonable as Akuro.

Shizune muttered, “Kumogakure just jumped on the axe, didn't they?”
Shikaku nodded, “Not once, but twice.”
Shizune immediately realized, ‘That's right! There was no reason for them to hunt Fujin. If they didn't try to do so, Lord Third wouldn't have risked sending Fujin there…’

Tsunade said, “Tell me all the details about this mission. What were those military camps? Why did they have such a high number of ninjas? And, how did Fujin kill so many ninjas?”

Shikaku nodded and informed Tsunade everything about the mission, or at least as much as he was aware. After all, Fujin never explained how he eliminated 6 bases. So, Shikaku could only speculate.

As they learnt about the finer details, their shock slightly subsided. Instead, they marveled even more at Fujin's capabilities.

Tsunade analyzed, ‘To eliminate 6 bases, that were hundreds of kilometers from each other and consisted of over a hundred ninjas each, so quickly, efficiently and stealthily… This isn't just a testimony to his strength. Even if I, Jiraiya and Orochimaru had attacked together, we couldn't have stopped them from sending a message back to Kumogakure.

To do this, he must have needed Fuinjutsu or barriers to stop any attempts to contact their village. In addition, his flying summon had to be fast enough to make the trips between the bases very quickly. Most importantly, he needed to eliminate everyone in the base quickly to reduce variables.’

The third point no longer surprised Tsunade. Considering what Fujin had done during and following the attack, Tsunade knew that was the easiest part for Fujin. It was the others that startled her. Luckily, it wasn't too much for her to take due to everything she had heard so far.

Tsunade continued analyzing, ‘In addition, he also set traps in every base… Traps that were so thorough that even a Grandmaster failed to detect them. His Fuinjutsu skills are far better than I imagined. Of course, in order to do all of this, his planning and strategy skills also needed to be top-notch. However, considering what he did in the Land of Rice, this isn't surprising either.’

Unlike Tsunade, who quickly accepted it and began analyzing, Shizune was still in a daze. Due to having left with Tsunade at a young age, she hadn't seen the world as much as her mentor. While she knew of the tragedies of war, she couldn't wrap her head around killing hundreds of ninjas during peacetime irrespective of the objectives. She turned her head towards Tsunade to say something, but her words stayed in her throat as she wondered in surprise, ‘Lady Tsunade is smiling?’

She couldn't understand why Tsunade would smile. However, after being Hiruzen's advisor for so long, Shikaku could read her thoughts at a glance. He thought, ‘As expected. For a leader, there's nothing more pleasing than having a weapon like Fujin.’

Shikaku didn't judge her. As much as Fujin loved creating headaches for Shikaku, Shikaku was more than glad to have him. Without Fujin, Shikaku's headaches would have been far greater.

Shikaku said, “As for the events of the Chunin Exam, I'm sure Lord Jiraiya has already informed you about the same.”

Tsunade nodded. She also knew what happened after the battle since she and Jiraiya grilled him on the day they returned to the village. As such, she expected Shikaku to be done. To her surprise, he said, “Actually, there is another thing that happened that I didn't tell you earlier since I wanted you to focus on healing Lord Third.”

Tsunade wasn't offended. The very reason she didn't accept the seat for nearly a couple of weeks was to heal Hiruzen. She asked, “What is it?”

Shikaku awkwardly said, “When Fujin was in the Land of Rice with his army, he found several Kumogakure squads sneaking around. He had the army eliminate all of them secretly. Along with Otogakure ninjas, 206 Kumogakure ninjas met their end. He didn't leave behind any proof that could connect their deaths to us though. So, we can feign ignorance and blame it on Orochimaru if Kumogakure ever tried to raise this issue. However, we should stay on guard.”

‘...’

Tsunade and Shizune were left speechless for the last time. Shizune muttered to herself, ‘He's too relentless…’
At the same time, Tsunade thought, ‘He doesn't let go of any opportunity!’

Shikaku sighed and muttered lazily, “Well, that's all of his sealed missions. If ther…”

Shizune interrupted him and asked, “I don't understand. If Fujin did all this, shouldn't he have been famous a long time ago? Why was he only famous as the Spectral Swordsman until he faced Orochimaru?”

Shikaku sighed again, this time showing how exhausted he was, and answered, “It’s because no one knows he did them. No one else in Konoha knows he was the one behind the events in the Land of Wind. Even Sunagakure only has speculations. His clash against Roshi, Kitsuchi and Juzo are only known to his Anbu subordinates while his fight against Kakuzu is only known to his teammates in that mission.

His actions in Yamakawa town and the Land of Lightning are a secret too. Considering the sensitive nature of these missions and the number of ninjas he killed while in Anbu, we could only deny knowing anything about it…”

Shizune replied, “I understand. However, was Fujin really alright with you keeping nearly all his major accomplishments a secret?”

Youngsters were generally quite hot-headed. They chased after fame and cared about their reputation. From Shizune’s perspective, Fujin, with his unbelievable strength, should have been even more enthusiastic about gaining fame.

Shikaku understood her thoughts and chuckled, “He was the one who asked us to keep most of it hidden. Lord Third wanted to improve his reputation for a long time but couldn't due to this. It was only due to Orochimaru that Lord Third finally found an opportunity.”

Surprised, Tsunade thought, ‘Impressive. At such a young age, even Jiraiya, Orochimaru and I wanted fame and acknowledgment. Minato was no different either. For Fujin to keep so many things a secret…’

Shikaku looked at her and recommended, “Lady Tsunade, I would advise you to keep these events a secret. Not only would they bring trouble to the village, but Fujin wouldn't be pleased either. Besides, there's no need to increase his fame any further. All villages are aware of him and consider him a major threat by now.

Tsunade nodded. Shikaku said, “That's everything, Lady Tsunade. I'll take my leave now.”

Before Tsunade could give him another task, Shikaku escaped. Tsunade grumbled, “He's as lazy as ever. Couldn't he give me a brief rundown on which files I should focus on?”

Tsunade sighed and turned her gaze to Shizune. She instructed, “Let's get to work, Shizune. By the end of the day, I want to get a hang of all the files here and rearrange them.”

“Yes, Lady Tsunade,” Shizune replied obediently and began assisting her.

Thanks to Shikaku and Jiraiya, Tsunade understood the state of the village. Rearranging the files wasn't much of an issue for her. She also had time to take a look at several other important matters.

As the Sun set, Tsunade sat in her chair, looking unsurely at a file in front of her. She let out a sigh and muttered, “This is too complicated… What a troubled kid…”

She glanced towards the ceiling and muttered, “Ask Sensei to visit me tomorrow morning. I need his view on a matter.”