Naruto: Starting as Tsunade's Desk Mate

"This is indeed my idea, and it is also the policy that the Land of Iron will implement in the future. This is something that I and the Daimyo have agreed upon."

An Yan remained calm and said gently, “Our Konoha has no intention of interfering with the Land of Iron. Lord Mifune, there’s no need to be so serious. However, I would like to remind you that although the Land of Iron is a neutral country, wars do not always stop just because you are neutral. In this world, strength is paramount. You should focus on improving yourselves. Only when you are strong will other countries not easily break the Land of Iron’s neutrality policy.”

Mifune nodded. He understood what An Yan was saying, but some things couldn't be forced and could only be done step by step.

This S-rank mission was relatively easy. When An Yan arrived, the Land of Rain had already been invaded by the Sand Ninja, and Hanzo of the Salamander had hurriedly led his men back. They ended up missing him, but the mission was still completed.

An Yan's trip wasn't entirely fruitless; he obtained the deadly poison of the Hanzo salamander from Mifune and is currently working on an antidote.

In the original timeline, Granny Chiyo of the Sand Village easily countered Hanzo's poison, while the Leaf Village was caught off guard and suffered heavy losses.

With him present this time, the toxin in the three-pepper fish was deciphered ahead of schedule, which should save many lives.

While An'an was researching the toxins of the salamander, some things were also happening in Konoha.

Taking advantage of the weakened defenses of Konoha, the Cloud Ninja arrived directly in Konoha, intending to plunder some bloodline limit seeds to take back with them.

They set their sights on Kushina Uzumaki and kidnapped her.

Kushina never expected that she would encounter such a thing while just going out for a late-night snack, and could only secretly pray that the Konoha Guard would react in time.

When Minato Namikaze didn't see Kushina at a place where he could have bumped into her, he sensed something was wrong and immediately began investigating. Sure enough, he discovered that something had happened to Kushina.

Yongdai took direct action, notifying Konoha while personally tracking down the damsel in distress, thus staging a heroic rescue.

The image of the boy carrying the girl and running through the forest under the moonlight was deeply imprinted in Kushina's mind.

Chapter 64 Mito Uzumaki's Death

Mito Uzumaki gently stroked the weeping Kushina in her arms. Kushina's life was hanging by a thread, and the Yin Seal could no longer maintain her youthful appearance. She exuded an aura of decline, which was heartbreaking to see.

Tsunade stood aside silently wiping away her tears. Even the usually boisterous Nawaki quieted down. Tobirama Senju also arrived, followed by his six disciples.

The old patriarch of the Uzumaki clan also had a sorrowful expression. Uzumaki Mito was his older sister, and the two had always had a deep bond.

An Yan saw this scene as soon as he returned. He was incredulous. Mito Uzumaki was fine before he left. How could she suddenly be dying?

An Yan stepped forward and hugged the weeping Tsunade. What a grieving person needs is not comfort, but a hug.

Beneath Mito Uzumaki's aged face, her eyes gradually lost their luster, and she said weakly:

"I'm almost at my limit, let's get started as soon as possible."

The Senju clan's territory was shrouded in layers of barriers, and elite members of the Anbu patrolled the area continuously. When the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was being transferred, Konoha was at its weakest point. If anyone were to cause trouble at this time, it could lead to serious problems.

Inside the room, Mito Uzumaki kept stroking Kushina's head and wiping away the tears on her face.

"Kushina, it is painful to be the vessel for the Nine-Tails. You must find something to fill your heart, and that is love."

Kushina's mind involuntarily conjured up the image of Minato Namikaze, and she nodded slightly, indicating that she understood Mito's advice.

Mito had actually said these words many times before, but the old man was a talkative person and said them again before he passed away.

Everyone is ready.

Mito Uzumaki looked around at the crowd and pinpointed An Yan precisely within it.

"Xiao Anyan, I'm entrusting Tsunade and Nawaki to you."

An Yan nodded, and Tsunade, who was standing beside him, held his hand tightly.

"Tobirama, let's begin."

Mito turned to look at Tobirama Senju. Tobirama was getting on in years, almost seventy now. She wondered how many more years he could hold on.

Tobirama Senju nodded and looked at An Yan and the others.

The next moment, Mitokado Homura, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Senju Tobirama, and Shimura Danzo formed a huge crimson barrier, enveloping Yasuie, Kushina, and Uzumaki Mito within it.

The Four Red Yang Formation, originally used to imprison the Ten-Tails, was developed specifically to imprison the Nine-Tails.

The next moment, Mito Uzumaki released her seal, and a crimson nine-tailed fox soared into the sky.

This nine-tailed fox was a hundred meters tall. When it stood up, its aura was astonishing. The burning chakra of the nine tails dyed the sky red, and the ninjas looked very small under it.

The Nine-Tails' crimson chakra touched the barrier, but its powerful attack failed to break through. It roared in fury, "Konoha!!!"

In the next instant, Mito Uzumaki, who was on the verge of death, firmly controlled Kurama with her Adamantine Chains. An Yan stepped forward and began to cast a sealing jutsu.

Sealing Technique - Bagua Sealing.

An Yan placed a palm on Kushina's stomach, and the next moment, the entire Nine-Tails transformed into a torrent and rushed into Kushina's stomach.

An Yan improved the Four Symbols Seal to form the Eight Trigrams Seal, which is slightly different from Minato Namikaze's. He added a sensory shielding function to the original function.

Originally, Kurama and the Jinchūriki were one entity, with interconnected senses. Eating and defecating were fine, but the key issue was that Mito Uzumaki and Kushina were both women, while Kurama was a male fox. The fact that Kurama was forced to menstruate every month was a minor problem, but when the two of them were having their wedding night, one wonders what Kurama felt. However, his violent desire to destroy the world was probably a normal reaction.

This is something you can't think about too much; even a little thought about it makes your scalp tingle.

After An Yan successfully sealed the Nine-Tails into Kushina, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The pressure from the Nine-Tails was truly immense.

The next moment, Danzo stepped forward.

"Teacher Tobirama, with Lord Uzumaki's passing, I believe the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki should remain hidden until she has fully matured. It would be better to entrust her to Root during this time, and I will definitely train her into a qualified tool for Konoha."

Tobirama Senju stared coldly at Danzo, who remained unyielding. The passing of Mito had made Danzo realize the decline of Tobirama Senju and his generation of powerful figures. Now was the time for their generation to protect Konoha, and the Nine-Tails should be in his hands.

"Danzo, I don't remember teaching you to treat ninjas as tools. Your current state is very dangerous. Also, the current Hokage is a monkey. If there's anything, just go directly to him for a decision."

Tobirama Senju felt that Danzo might have been in the shadows for too long, and his thinking might have become somewhat abnormal. Even if ninjas were truly just tools, that was something that couldn't be brought up. In short, things that were detrimental to unity should not be discussed.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped in to smooth things over: "Kushina is part of the village, not a tool. Besides, she can survive well in the Uzumaki clan and doesn't need the Root's cultivation."

Facing both Hiruzen Sarutobi and Tobirama Senju, Danzo felt a little intimidated, but he didn't show it on the surface. He snorted coldly and left in a huff.

Danzo left with the Root members.

As Tobirama Senju watched Danzo leave, he said to Hiruzen Sarutobi, "Monkey, entrusting the village to you was definitely the right choice. If I had really entrusted it to Danzo, I can't even imagine what the village would be like now."

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Tobirama Senju with concern and said, "Master, Danzo may have been in the shadows for too long and his mind has changed somewhat, but he is still loyal to the village."

Tobirama Senju replied calmly, "Each generation has its own mission. My mission has long been completed. The future of Konoha rests entirely on your shoulders. Danzo's thinking has become problematic. How you choose to proceed is entirely up to you. After all, you are the Kage of the village."

Hiruzen Sarutobi fell silent. An Yan slightly curled his lips. Letting Hiruzen Sarutobi make a choice? This guy is so soft-hearted, as if Danzo had saved him eight hundred times. If it were another Hokage, he would have been killed long ago when Danzo sent people to assassinate the Hokage. How could he have been so active afterward?

But wasn't Danzo always very respectful to Tobirama Senju? Why is he acting so rebellious today? Could it be that seeing Mito Uzumaki die of old age makes him think Tobirama Senju will soon follow suit?

An Yan looked at Tobirama's battle-hardened face, which was completely wrinkle-free. He wondered if it was because the Senju clan had a strong vitality or if Tobirama had developed some forbidden technique.

If Orochimaru could develop the Reanimation Jutsu, then with Tobirama's abilities, creating a similar life-extending technique shouldn't be a problem.

Chapter 65 Friction with the Sand Ninja

After Mito Uzumaki passed away, Konoha held a funeral, and Yasuie and Tsunade attended the funeral dressed in black.

Everyone solemnly and respectfully performed the ritual.

As Hashirama Senju's wife, Mito Uzumaki was highly respected in Konoha, and many villagers came to pay their respects, including spies from various countries.

Despite repeated investigations by the secret service, some still managed to slip through the net.

With the news of the death of Konoha's Jinchuriki spreading, various countries began to stir. The Tailed Beasts are equivalent to nuclear bombs. Now that Konoha's nuclear bomb has entered its cooldown period, it's our turn to make a move.

The Iwa and Sunagakure ninja have stationed troops directly on the border, creating an atmosphere of impending doom.

An Yan was directly dispatched to the front line, leading his squad to begin a long-term border patrol mission.

When Rope Tree and the others heard that they were going to the battlefield, their first reaction was not worry, but excitement. As the saying goes, young soldiers are eager to make a name for themselves.

However, An Yan had already undergone special training, so Rope Tree would at least not be killed by a simple explosive tag trap. As for other ways to die, that was up to God.

The war between ninjas was very different from what An Yan had imagined. He thought war would involve tens of thousands of people fighting against tens of thousands of people, or at least a chaotic melee of several thousand people.

In actual warfare, dozens of squads fight against dozens of other squads, with each squad consisting of four people. They constantly patrol and advance around the border, and daily battles are likely to be fought between different squads.

The battle scenes were not grand or epic at all; they were all about the basic hard skills of each squad.

No wonder a village with tens of thousands of people can fight wars for years on end. If a small squad dies every day, how long will it take? The intensity of the war is not high enough.

Although An Yan complained, he had no intention of increasing the intensity of the war. A low intensity of war meant a high level of safety.

If the intensity of the war increases, you will inevitably have to face the best among the various enemies. And the battles of ninjas are battles of intelligence. If the intelligence is leaked too much, death is not far away.

Even someone as outstanding as Minato Namikaze was betrayed and killed by Obito, who had access to intelligence. An Yan doesn't want to find himself in a situation where he has no choice but to die someday.

An Yan and the others were resting around the campfire, while Xuanwu Xiangcai was sensing her surroundings and keeping watch.

An Yan's team is quite well-rounded; each of these students is a talented individual.

Aside from the first few days of patrolling, when An Yan had to kill enemy Sand Ninja, as Nawaki and Minato gradually became familiar with the atmosphere of the battlefield, they killed people without hesitation.

An Yan enthusiastically tossed a piece of black soil from the fire, slapped it open, revealing pheasant meat inside. The aroma of the meat was irresistible. He immediately tore off two chicken legs, giving one to each of Rope Tree and Water Gate. Then came the chicken wings, which he handed directly to Xiang Cai. The four of them buried their heads in their food and began to eat.

"The teacher learned how to make beggar's chicken from somewhere, and it tastes really good."

Rope Tree muttered to himself as he ate.

An Yan said with dissatisfaction, "You're not allowed to talk during mealtimes."

Suddenly, Kana Uzumaki spoke up: "Teacher, a group of Sand Ninja is heading towards us, they are about two kilometers away."

An Yan said helplessly, "There's always so much trouble at night. These guys go crazy at the sight of fire or meat, it's such a hassle."

An Yan quickened his eating pace. During the war, it wasn't easy to get a hot meal. After this meal, he didn't know how many more days he would have to eat soldier's rations.

An Yan had just finished eating when the enemy arrived.

"You bastards! We've been traveling all night and you've managed to eat here! How despicable!"

The Sand Ninja captain, clearly envious of An Yan and his group being able to have a hot meal, launched an attack immediately.

A barrage of shuriken rained down, but An Yan remained seated, blocking all of them with a wall of earth. In the next instant, the three little ones charged forward.

This squad was of very average strength; it was led by a Chunin from the Sand Village. An Yan didn't even need to lift a finger; Minato Namikaze led the team and took them down.

After routinely clearing out the miscellaneous enemies.

The four of them continued to sit around the campfire.

In fact, An Yan wanted to use the Four Pillars Technique, but Wood Release is currently a top secret of Konoha, and people are not allowed to use it easily, for fear of scaring the other ninja villages. If the other ninja villages are wary of Konoha and launch a four-on-one attack, Konoha might be wiped out.

When people have free time, they tend to overthink.

Minato Namikaze opened his mouth and asked An Yan.