SWNOVELXO Chapter 95: Chapter 105
[Cowardly - Ōnoki]: It exploded?
[One Tail - Shukaku]: Yeah, that's why I said that guy's a total maniac.
[One Tail - Shukaku]: He shouted "This is art! Art is an explosion!" And then he really blew himself up.
[Cowardly - Ōnoki]: …
[Cowardly - Ōnoki]: …
Let's just consider all that training effort flushed down the drain.
Ōnoki thought silently to himself and promptly shut up.
[Senju Tobirama]: So, One Tail, your current situation is…
[One Tail - Shukaku]: I'm being chased by Chiyo's grandson.
[One Tail - Shukaku]: Deidara's explosion injured me a bit, but I'm in the sea now—he can't catch up.
[Senju Tobirama]: …
[Senju Tobirama]: …
So this tanuki ran for his life, and now he's hiding out at sea?
[One Tail - Shukaku]: I thought Chiyo's grandson's puppets wouldn't be able to swim, but he just swam after me himself.
[One Tail - Shukaku]: But he's still a ways off from catching up.
[One Tail - Shukaku]: I can probably evade him for another day or two.
[One Tail - Shukaku]: But I'm worried that Pain from Amegakure might show up again.
[One Tail - Shukaku]: I don't want to fight anyone with the Rinnegan.
So basically, after fighting Kitahara Kaede, Shukaku now has a trauma about Rinnegan users?
As soon as he sees Pain, he wants to run.
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: …
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: Tobirama!
[Senju Tobirama]: Right, I'll contact Kitahara Kaede now.
[Senju Tobirama]: Actually, this is the perfect chance to assign them a mission.
[Senju Tobirama]: It'll be their first mission after becoming chunin. I also have an idea—we can frame this mission as a rescue operation.
[Senju Tobirama]: Put Kitahara Kaede in charge of the team.
[Senju Tobirama]: Now that both Sasuke and Naruto are at jonin level, we can officially promote them.
[Senju Tobirama]: And when they return, we'll treat it as a distinguished mission. As part of the reward, we can formally announce Kitahara Kaede as the next Hokage candidate.
s: As expected of the Second Hokage.
s: If it's framed as a reward, Kitahara-kun can't say no, right?
[Senju Tobirama]: Exactly.
[One Tail - Shukaku]: …
[One Tail - Shukaku]: …?? I'm running for my life right now, and you guys are just leisurely issuing missions??
[Senju Tobirama]: Tailed beasts can't die—what are you panicking for?
[Senju Tobirama]: Gaara died and you were freed, but did you die?
[One Tail - Shukaku]: …
[One Tail - Shukaku]: …
Tailed beasts are unique chakra life forms. You could say they're chakra, but they're also living creatures. But they don't die and have infinite lifespans and massive chakra reserves.
They casually fire a Tailed Beast Bomb and boom, a village vanishes.
Terrifying.
And their vitality is just as insane.
So really…
Tobirama and the others weren't worried about Shukaku getting into serious trouble.
[Senju Tobirama]: You keep running for now.
[Senju Tobirama]: I'll go notify Kitahara Kaede and the others.
[One Tail - Shukaku]: …
[One Tail - Shukaku]: …
[One Tail - Shukaku]: ¥¥…Y**
If swearing were allowed, Shukaku would definitely be doing it now. But he had no choice but to keep moving.
Tailed beasts can't die. Even if they're blasted apart, they'll reform.
But—it hurts.
[Beep!]
[One Tail - Shukaku has gone offline]
So even though he finally had a place to belong, Shukaku found he still had to rely on himself to survive.
Elsewhere…
"That's the situation." The Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, said.
He looked at the three summoned by Kakashi—Kitahara Kaede and his team.
"This is a mission to retrieve the One Tail."
"It's unfortunate about Chiyo. She gave her life to save Gaara, but this result…"
"…is actually not too bad for Konoha."
"With Chiyo gone, the Sand Village won't be able to stir up trouble again."
"Because the enemy is Chiyo's grandson and quite powerful, I'm dispatching all three of you." Tobirama said.
"So we're going up against someone of Kage level?" Sasuke caught a key point. "I'm at jonin level now, but I've never fought a standard Kage-level opponent."
"I want to try it."
Sasuke had grown stronger, but he knew that Uchiha Itachi was still more powerful than him.
So he had to become even stronger.
Tobirama could sense the killing intent coming from Sasuke.
But it wasn't directed at him—it was aimed at Uchiha Itachi.
He had learned the truth about the Uchiha Clan Massacre from Hiruzen and the others.
He knew the Uchiha planned a coup, and the Third and Danzo had arranged for Uchiha Itachi to handle it. Itachi chose to sacrifice the clan to protect the village. He hid the truth and accepted life as a rogue ninja.
Carrying everything alone.
It was a heavy burden.
Then Danzo even harvested Uchiha Sharingan for himself—truly despicable.
But the truth of the massacre was still hidden.
Because one of Itachi's goals was to protect the Uchiha Clan's pride.
If the coup attempt was exposed, the Uchiha name would be forever disgraced.
Many Uchihas were naïve. If the final verdict was "they tried to rebel," it would've been too cruel.
All of it stemmed from the leadership's failure to pacify the situation.
So Tobirama shelved the issue, hoping it would be resolved in Kitahara Kaede's generation.
Thus, Sasuke remained a tragic but naïve youth.
Tobirama had a strange feeling watching Sasuke now.
Originally, he believed all Uchiha were inherently twisted because of Madara.
But… Sasuke seemed like a pure-hearted, clueless kid.
"…"
"…" Kitahara Kaede.
He felt like Sasuke had just unknowingly set up a death flag.
If Sasuke were at Kage+ level, crushing Sasori would be fine, but he was just at jonin level now.
He'd probably get thrashed.
But the timing of Akatsuki's move to capture tailed beasts was troubling.
In the original timeline, it wasn't supposed to start for another three years.
Yet now… it had already begun.
Chiyo and Gaara's life exchange also happened.
It was all very suspicious—why did everything happen earlier than expected?
Surely not because he had bluffed Black Zetsu, who then went to Obito, and Obito pushed Pain into action?
Then Pain led Akatsuki into real operations?
"…" Kitahara Kaede.
So you're telling me I just said a few words, and that idiot Black Zetsu actually believed it?
He didn't go after Two Tails, Three Tails, Four Tails, Five Tails, Six Tails, or Eight Tails?
Started straight from One Tail?
What an idiot.
Kitahara Kaede had originally hoped to mislead Black Zetsu into chasing down other beasts and waste years—after all, it took him a thousand years to fail to revive Kaguya.
He thought they'd be busy for at least ten more years.
Yet here they were, suddenly turbocharged into action.
And started with One Tail.
"…" Kitahara Kaede.
Tobirama noticed his silence.
"What's wrong?" Tobirama looked at Kitahara Kaede. "You're unwilling?"
"Now that you're a chunin, you're officially a ninja."
"That means it's time to contribute to the village."
"And the village will reward you in return," Tobirama said.
Tobirama spoke seriously, but inside, he was a little worried Kitahara Kaede would say no.
Because this was all part of a setup—complete the mission, and you become Hokage.
But if Kitahara refused, the plan would fall apart.
Danzo had dreamed of becoming Hokage for years, yet Tobirama strangely wanted Kitahara Kaede to succeed the role.
Even though he kept refusing.
Well…
Tobirama understood it was a dangerous and burdensome position, but there was no other choice.
When the sky falls, someone tall has to hold it up.
And right now, the only trustworthy "tall guy" in Konoha was him.
"…" Kitahara Kaede.
"Screw it. I caused this mess, so I'll go clean it up," Kitahara Kaede said.
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