I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 554 Fearing colleagues wouldn't cooperate during cross-departmental collaboration, they directly approached the top leader to assign tasks.

"Lying there reading all day, did you come here to fight a war or on vacation?!"

Inside the command room, Tsunade, who had just finished her work, returned to the room and saw Tatsuma lying on the bench reading a book. She was immediately furious.

She, as a teacher, was still busy, and Chenma actually stayed away for several days at a time without offering to help share any of the work.

Tatsuma closed the book and said, "Is it possible that I am indeed on vacation, but you just don't agree to me going back to the village for vacation?"

Tsunade was taken aback. She had completely forgotten that Tatsuma was indeed on vacation. After the mission in Takigakure, Tatsuma was a free man and was only here to help.

Tatsuma had actually mentioned going back to the village for a vacation, but they kept him there for various reasons, such as Shisui needing to familiarize himself with ninja affairs and the need to investigate the Nine-Tails' seal.

"You can't just lie there and do nothing, can you? You have to do something that will help the village, right?"

Tsunade spoke with a self-righteous indignation, while Tatsuma waved the book in his hand and said, "I have compiled an analysis of the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of Takigakure's sealing techniques. Would that be helpful to the village?"

"Forehead"

Tsunade was speechless for a moment, then said somewhat exasperatedly, "Once you're done cleaning up, go get me something to eat. I've been teaching you how to treat injuries all morning, I'm exhausted."

Seeing that Tsunade had changed the subject, Tatsuma sat up straight, then got up, put the notebook into his ninja tool bag, and muttered as he walked towards the door, "Didn't you want to teach her yourself?"

Currently, Konoha boasts the highest number and proportion of medical ninjas in the ninja world, so Tsunade doesn't need to personally teach emergency treatment of injuries.

However, if she didn't take on this responsibility, she would end up like Tatsuma, a person with no real duties. Now that Tatsuma had said this, Tsunade was so angry that she gritted her teeth.

Sure enough, she still missed the brat she could tease and manipulate at will. Back then, Tatsuma dared to talk back, but he held back somewhat due to the difference in strength. Unlike now...

When Tatsuma returned with the food, Orochimaru and Shikaku were also there, and Tatsuma noticed their gazes fixed on him.

Placing the tray on Tsunade's seat, Tatsuma asked, "Any news?"

"Well, sort of. It's some information that's still unconfirmed."

Shikaku nodded and said, "It's a message from Inoichi in the Land of Rivers, and it's somewhat related to you."

"No wonder no one else was notified to come back."

Tatsuma sat back down in his seat and asked, "What news?"

"You should know that the Cloud Ninja used force to spread information about what you did in the Land of Water, right?"

After Shikaku finished asking, Tatsuma nodded. Over the past six months, the Cloud Ninja had been deploying troops and making preparations along the western coast of the Land of Lightning, while also sowing discord between the Land of Water and the Land of Fire. He knew about this.

"Shouldn't this be Hinata's responsibility? Why is this news coming from Inoichi's side?"

Tatsuma asked疑惑地问道, and Shikaku gave him a strange look, saying, "That's the key."

His expression suddenly became somewhat ambiguous, and he said, "According to Inoichi's intelligence, Kirigakure has agreed to participate in the war, but on the condition that Sunagakure and Kumogakure must take responsibility for their invasion and infiltration of the Land of Water back then."

The Hidden Cloud Village readily paid the reparations, but the Hidden Sand Village's situation is more interesting. After all, as you know, the Hidden Sand Village simply cannot afford the money and resources to pay reparations.

Tatsuma frowned. From Shikaku's expression and tone, he vaguely guessed what was going on and asked, "So, Sunagakure has chosen to compensate us?"

"Yes, Sunagakure only had one small team infiltrate the Land of Water back then, and only one survivor. Unfortunately, the person in charge of the negotiations with Sunagakure was Rasa, so..."

"Yes, I understand. So Yekura was sold out."

Tatsuma nodded, but Shikaku, seeing his calm demeanor, suddenly seemed disappointed, as if he wasn't satisfied. Tsunade, who was eating, looked up and asked:

"Yakura? Is that the female Jonin from Sunagakure who scared off Tatsuma? Apparently, she's even called a hero because of it."

Shikaku nodded, observing Tatsuma, and deliberately guided the conversation: "I suspect there's something fishy about her deliberately 'scaring off' Tatsuma back then, and according to the later revelations from Sunagakure..."

Even further back, it seems that this Pakura escaped from the Kirigakure ninja because of Tatsuma.

"Oh~"

Tsunade also drew out her voice and looked at Tatsuma. Tatsuma twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "Don't think about things that don't exist. Minato and the others were also present at the incident in the Land of Water. The situation is very complicated and cannot be encompassed by the word 'rescue'."

The claim that I was scared off is utter nonsense. My original intention was to shift the focus of the conflict to the two Jinchūriki of Iwagakure. After I left, I was in a hurry to support Minato, so there was no question of scaring me off.

Seeing Tatsuma's frankness, Tsunade said disappointedly, "This is boring."

She then buried her head in her food and continued eating. Shikaku reverted to her usual world-weary demeanor. Clearly, this watermelon wasn't tasty; she thought it was a good watermelon, but upon opening it, she discovered it was a medicinal watermelon.

Orochimaru, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke up: "Are you planning to get involved in this?"

Chenma thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Hmm, let Haiyi organize the information and see if we can find an opportunity."

"Um?"

Tsunade's eyes lit up again, but before she could speak, Orochimaru calmly analyzed, "Given the current situation in Sunagakure, the two most popular candidates for the Fourth Kazekage are Rasa and Pakura."

The rivalry between the two sides is also an important reason why Konoha can always deal with Sunagakure with ease. Once the rivalry between the two sides disappears, Rasa will be able to mobilize the entire village, which will not be good news for Konoha.

Therefore, maintaining the current situation in Sunagakure is in Konoha's best interest. If Pakura were to die, it would actually be Konoha that suffers the loss.

Therefore, she cannot be allowed to die. It would be best to find some strong evidence to prove that Rasa murdered Yoru, her rival and ally, in order to obtain the position of Fourth Kazekage.

"However, this evidence cannot be fully obtained by Yekura. Otherwise, if she brings down Rasa because of it, it will be extremely detrimental to our Konoha. We should take the initiative and let the news out once there is a call to war."

This strategy allows for sustained attempts to sow discord within Sunagakure without causing Rasa's reputation and approval ratings to collapse overnight, thus sustaining the competition between the two sides.

Tatsuma then spoke up, saying, "Konoha must get involved in this matter. We also need to investigate the internal situation of Kirigakure, since we know very little about the changes within Kirigakure."

We also need to clarify the extent of Kirigakure's promised participation in the war. We can't afford to lose one Kumogakure ninja and gain another Kirigakure ninja of equal threat. Even Konoha had difficulty fighting on three fronts a year ago, let alone now.

Furthermore, the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools must be closely monitored. At least until the end of the war, the ruins must be kept as an extension of the Land of Fire. If they fall into the hands of the Mist Ninja, our strategic vision will be greatly limited.

Seeing that Tatsuma was serious, Tsunade also put away her teasing expression. Although she was very interested in her disciple's gossip, it could not outweigh her concern for the interests of the village.

Shikaku nodded and said, "I'll make the arrangements. However, Hyuga is currently in charge of the east coast. If you want to get involved, will there be any obstacles?"

Although the conflict between Tatsuma and Hinata was never made public, anyone who participated in some high-level discussions knew that Tatsuma and Hinata did not get along, and it could even be said that most of their opinions were contradictory.

Tatsuma had previously sent the Hyuga to the east coast and the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools, which had caused a lot of discontent within the Hyuga community.

After all, since the Senju clan disbanded, the Hyuga clan has been targeting the Uchiha clan in every way, while the Uchiha have been fighting in the Land of Rivers for a year, and the Hyuga have done nothing yet.

Although the Hyuga clan suffered far fewer sacrifices than the Uchiha clan, if we go back and investigate their reputation now, the Hyuga clan is probably several levels below the Uchiha clan.

Their reputation was even lower than that of the Ino-Shika-Cho and Inuzuka clans, which were known for their secret techniques. This was because the Hyuga clan seemed to have disappeared during the war. The only Hyuga ninja whose contributions to the war were significant enough to reach the villagers' ears was a staunch supporter of Tatsuma.

Shikaku also believed that Tatsuma's arrangements for the Hinata were not entirely based on the village's perspective, since he could have easily scattered the Hinata and had them join various battlefields to play a role.

But no, Tatsuma simply confined them to a place where war was clearly unlikely to break out in the short term, and where they could not achieve any merit, wasting a whole year.

Whether you call it Tatsuma making things difficult for Hinata or a warning, the "losses" inflicted on Hinata are real.

If Tatsuma were to ask Hyuga for assistance so rashly, he would definitely encounter some resistance. They might even outwardly comply but inwardly defy him and deliberately try to sabotage him.

Tatsuma frowned and pondered for a moment. Hinata's attitude was indeed a big problem. Tatsuma didn't think that Hinata could suddenly have a profound realization and change his attitude after a year.

If you directly explain to them that you need their assistance, Hyuga will most likely put on airs and might even try to force Tatsuma to change his attitude, which is not what Tatsuma wants.

"So, have you figured out how to handle this?"

Shikaku asked, and Tatsuma's brows relaxed. He nodded and said, "Let Inoichi continue preparing the materials. Prepare another set of materials on the negotiations between the Cloud Ninja and the Mist Ninja, as well as how the Mist Ninja bypassed Konoha's surveillance and went to the Land of Wind for negotiations."

"Hmm, what is this?"

"The Hyuga are incompetent; they didn't even discover the enemy's three-way communication. I'm very curious about what they've been doing for the past year—on vacation?"

Tatsuma snorted, and Orochimaru smiled. This was Tatsuma's style: not bound by others, striking first when necessary, or more accurately, the villain accusing the villain first.

(End of this chapter)