Naruto: Starting as Tsunade's Desk Mate

Of course, a few ninjutsu techniques could occasionally hit the air fortress, but the Konoha ninjas inside were no pushovers and would block them with defensive ninjutsu.

The air force inflicted heavy casualties on the Cloud Ninja, who were unable to find a way to deal with the air force in the short term. As a result, they surrendered and wanted to sign a ceasefire agreement with Konoha.

Orochimaru, the commander-in-chief at the front, was naturally unhappy. If there was a ceasefire, where would he find so many ninjas to conduct live experiments? He ignored the information sent by the Cloud Ninja. However, the Cloud Ninja still had a way. They bypassed Orochimaru and sent ordinary merchants to Konoha to convey the opinions of the Cloud Ninja's high command.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, having already decided he didn't want to fight anymore, readily agreed to sign a ceasefire agreement with the Cloud Ninja, thus bringing this war, which was all bark and no bite, to an end.

Under the guise of war, the Cloud Ninja have been searching for any clues about the missing Eight-Tails. After all, the Eight-Tails is of great strategic significance, and everyone would be anxious if a nuclear weapon were lost.

Unfortunately, Orochimaru also knew the gravity of the situation and handled everything very cleanly, leaving no clues behind.

After searching extensively without success, the Cloud Ninja, after discussions among their leaders, finally made a decision: the strategic importance of the Tailed Beasts was paramount, and since the Cloud Ninja had lost one, they would simply seize another from outside.

The tailed beasts of the five great nations are all hard to steal, but it's different for smaller nations. Coincidentally, there is one tailed beast that has always been possessed by a small ninja village, and that is the Seven-Tails.

When Hashirama Senju held the Five Kage Summit, he wanted to balance the military power among the various ninja villages by distributing the Tailed Beasts, thereby achieving lasting peace.

The distribution was as follows: the Land of Wind received the One-Tailed and Seven-Tailed, the Land of Lightning received the Two-Tailed and Eight-Tailed, the Land of Water received the Three-Tailed and Six-Tailed, the Land of Earth received the Four-Tailed and Five-Tailed, and Konoha received the Nine-Tailed.

The distribution of the tailed beasts was done by Tobirama Senju. He was careful and reserved the strongest Nine-Tails for Konoha.

Of course, tailed beasts aren't given away for free; you have to spend money to buy them.

However, the First Kazekage of the Land of Wind objected. The Land of Wind was short of resources, and the Sand Village was dirt poor. Asking him to spend money to buy tailed beasts was just a pipe dream.

The First Kazekage said, "The One-Tailed Beast of our Land of Wind has been sealed by monks in temples since ancient times. The One-Tailed Beast has always belonged to the Land of Wind. We have tailed beasts, and we haven't fully explored their value yet, so there's no need to spend money to buy them."

What our Land of Wind needs is land suitable for survival and money. We need a portion of Konoha's land. In addition, Konoha can give me 30% of the money that other countries use to buy Tailed Beasts. If you don't agree, I will not sign this agreement.

The First Kazekage's extremely arrogant attitude naturally aroused the anger of the masses. The other ninja villages were naturally unwilling to accept this. They thought that he was just dreaming and asking for things without doing anything.

The First Mizukage immediately declared that he would gather the four nations to attack the Land of Wind.

Fortunately, Hashirama Senju stepped in at the crucial moment to smooth things over, allowing the first Five Kage Summit to proceed smoothly.

However, the Land of Wind never bought the Tailed Beasts in the end. There was nothing they could do; poverty was their original sin.

No one expected that the Sand Village was so poor. As a result, a tailed beast appeared at the meeting. Konoha already had the strongest Nine-Tails, so adding a Seven-Tails was obviously not appropriate, and the balance of power between the countries was broken.

The Seven-Tails was intended for the Land of Wind, but the Sand Village couldn't afford it, which made things difficult. The First Raikage and the First Tsuchikage weren't short of money, but the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth already each had two tailed beasts, so having more wouldn't be appropriate.

Hashirama Senju wanted to give the Seven-Tails to the Sand Village to balance the power of the various countries, but everyone opposed it except for the Kazekage.

Other countries bought it with real money, but the Land of Wind got it for free. This made everyone very resentful. So what? You're poor, so you're right? Seeing the atmosphere getting tense again, Tobirama Senju came up with a solution: sell the Seven-Tails to a small ninja village first, and then buy it back when the Sand Village has the money.

Q: When will the Sand Village have money?

The answer is naturally no. The Sand Village was probably richest during the Fourth Kazekage's reign, because the Fourth Kazekage was involved with gold sand. However, even though he could control gold sand to make weapons, the Sand Village's finances were still tight. As a result, they were even forced to cooperate with Orochimaru to plot against Konoha. This shows that the Fourth Kazekage was not very bright.

But I can understand. I'm already the Kazekage, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to go mining gold every day. Tsk, it's a matter of face.

Therefore, after the Seven-Tails was sold to Takigakure, it has remained the property of Takigakure ever since.

Now that the Eight-Tails of the Cloud Ninja has been lost, they want to find another tailed beast to maintain the tailed beast deterrence between the great nations, so they naturally set their sights on the Takigakure Village.

A small ninja village possessing a tailed beast is like a child carrying gold in a marketplace; trouble is inevitable. Who told you to be powerless? They'll bully you.

The Fourth Raikage led his elite troops, using the pretext of peace talks with Konoha as cover, to launch a surprise attack on Takigakure.

Although Takigakure was once very powerful, many years ago, Kakuzu went on a killing spree, killing all of Takigakure's high-ranking officials. Although they have recuperated for many years, their strength has not recovered. There is no way around it; the killings have cut off the lineage, and some secret techniques and the like have been lost. Naturally, their strength is not that great anymore.

So the Fourth Raikage committed a blatant act of treachery in front of everyone in Takigakure. He found the current Jinchuriki in full view of everyone, knocked him unconscious, and took him away. The people of Takigakure dared not speak out against him, just like an incompetent husband.

After the Cloud Ninja left, Konoha received a plea for help from Takigakure, complaining that the Tailed Beasts given to them by the First Hokage had been stolen. However, Konoha had just signed a ceasefire agreement with the Cloud Ninja, and everyone was happy that the war was over. It was not a good idea to start another conflict, so Hiruzen Sarutobi simply put the matter aside.

Afterwards, another bounty was placed on the Fourth Raikage's head on the black market, and that was all.

Chapter 106 The Return of Rope Tree

Life eventually settled down.

Konoha recuperated and entered a period of population explosion.

A new generation of Konoha members, including Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, and Might Guy, were born one after another.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was still going strong despite being nearly fifty years old. He had a son born, named Sarutobi Asuma, which was truly terrifying.

As Konoha flourished and all things thrived, Nawaki, who had been studying at Mount Myōboku, finally returned home after completing his studies.

Jiraiya excitedly brought Nawaki to An's house, only to find An and Tsunade teasing little Anzan.

Jiraiya's smiling face froze for a moment. Good heavens, they've only been married a short time and they already have a child.

Rope Tree didn't think much about it. Upon seeing her sister, she excitedly rushed over, only to be stopped by An Yan.

"Tsunade just gave birth not long ago, so she can't do strenuous exercise. Be careful, Nawaki."

Rope Tree wasn't annoyed when he was stopped; he'd grown up now and wasn't as impetuous as he was when he was a child.

Tsunade walked up to Nawaki, affectionately pinched his cheek, and said gently, "Little Nawaki, you've grown quite a bit taller again. How have you been these past few days? Jiraiya hasn't been bullying you, has he?"

Nawaki smiled brightly, but before he could speak, Jiraiya became anxious.

"Hey, Tsunade, how can you talk like that? How could I bully Nawaki! If you don't believe me, ask Nawaki. Nawaki, I've never bullied you, have I?"

Nawaki chuckled and said, "No, no, Jiraiya-nii is very good to me. He takes good care of me in every way."

"See? I told you so. You can rest assured that you've entrusted the rope tree to me."

Jiraiya smiled smugly upon hearing Nawaki's reply.

An Yan also spoke up: "Now that you're back, you can help me train a few promising youngsters, so you won't have to go peeping at the women's bathhouse when you're bored. By the way, Nawaki, did Jiraiya take you to peep there?"

The air pressure around them suddenly dropped, Jiraiya's smile froze, and a bead of cold sweat trickled down his forehead. He glanced at Tsunade, only to see that she had already clenched her fists, which made Jiraiya involuntarily swallow.

Rope Tree is a simple and good child; he answers almost any question.

"No, we've been staying at Mount Myoboku all this time and haven't had a chance to go out and play. I've been wanting to change up our meals; I'm tired of the insects from Mount Myoboku."

Tsunade frowned slightly and looked at Jiraiya: "Why are you feeding Nawaki insects? Doesn't Mount Myōboku have normal food?"

Jiraiya coughed lightly, forcing himself to stay calm: "This is preparation for learning the Sage Mode of Mount Myōboku."

Nawaki directly exposed Jiraiya's lie.

"Insects have nothing to do with magic. It's just that Mount Myōboku is full of toads who eat insects, so the food prepared for us is also made of insects."

Tsunade thought about it and felt disgusted. After learning that Nawaki had eaten insects, she suddenly felt that her beloved younger brother didn't look as cute as before, and that her own beloved son was much cuter.

Love doesn't disappear, it just shifts.

Jiraiya's expression tightened after Nawaki revealed the truth, fearing that Tsunade would punch him. However, after waiting for a long time, Tsunade's fist did not appear.

Since becoming a mother, Tsunade's personality has become much gentler. Although she still has a fiery temper, she is consciously controlling it, for fear of accidentally hurting her child.

Jiraiya looked surprised, and a little bitter. Tsunade has really changed after getting married. She's so gentle. Why couldn't she have been a little gentler to me back then?

At this moment, Nawaki's attention shifted to the baby Ansan's head, and he excitedly exclaimed, "Look, Jiraiya-nii-san, my baby's hair is white! Just like yours!"

Jiraiya came closer and looked at the baby in the swaddling clothes, and found that Nawaki had not lied; Tsunade's son really was white-haired.

"It really is white hair, how strange."

Tsunade could no longer tolerate it and flicked them both on the head. She said with a hint of anger, "How can you two talk like that? What do you mean by 'like Jiraiya'? This white hair comes from my great-grandfather. There are quite a few people with white hair in our Senju clan."

"Ouch, ouch."

Nawaki and Jiraiya winced in pain, clutching their heads with their hands, looking like the same as Tom Cat in a meme.

An Yan asked curiously, "Rope Tree, now that you've returned after completing your studies, have you mastered the immortal arts of Mount Myōboku?"

Rope Tree rubbed his head, wincing, and nodded directly: "I've learned it. Although I'm not very proficient yet, I can barely use it in battle."

An Yan exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, that's amazing, Rope Tree!"

The emotional value was well-deserved, and Nawaki was very happy, dancing with joy. In fact, An Yan's main purpose in sending him to Mount Myōboku to learn sage techniques was to let Nawaki avoid the war and develop first. He felt that Nawaki might be a late-game hero, and he wanted to protect him as long as possible. After all, he was his brother-in-law, one of his own. As for nurturing Nawaki's talents, that was secondary. The main thing was to keep Nawaki alive and make Tsunade happy.

By the way, according to rumors, Konoha Jonin Kato Dan died during a mission. He never knew Tsunade and still died during World War II. This only proves the cruelty of war and has absolutely nothing to do with Tsunade's death necklace or death kiss.

An Yan once believed in this thing, thinking that the curse of the Death Necklace was a setting in the original work, and he was worried about it for a long time on the battlefield. Later, he found that there was no problem at all. In the original work, it was purely because of the war, and their strength was relatively weak.

Having mastered Sage Mode, Nawaki was beaming with pride. He looked at An Yan confidently and said, "Teacher An Yan, I'm really strong now. What's Minato doing right now? I'm going to have a match with him and show him who's the strongest in An Yan's team."

Although he seems much more composed, isn't he still a little impatient? In the end, it's still youthful spirit; being competitive and high-spirited is fine.

An Yan silently made his own judgment, but did not verbally criticize Rope Tree.

"Minato's strength is extraordinary now, Nawaki. Although you've learned Sage Mode, Minato also trained hard while you were away. He's become more than twice as strong."

An Yan's words startled Rope Tree slightly, but thinking of his invincible power in Sage Mode, he couldn't imagine how he would lose.

"Teacher, our team hasn't gotten together in a long time, has it? How about we take some time to get together? I'd like to have a spar with Minato."

Seeing that Nawaki still wanted to clash with Minato, An Yan raised an eyebrow and a smile appeared on his lips.

"Alright, in that case, let's do it this Saturday. Then your teacher can take a good look at your cultivation results."

Chapter 107 Rope Tree vs. Minato

Saturday arrived quickly.

On this clear, sunny day, An Yan's team regrouped.

Minato and Kana were already Chunin, and their strength was outstanding. The village would assign them tasks every now and then, keeping them busy like spinning tops every day. They rarely had a free day off on Saturdays, but An Yan called them over.

The two initially thought An Yan wanted to test their recent training progress, but then Nawaki suddenly appeared, causing Minato and Kana to exclaim in surprise. The three had already formed a deep friendship on the battlefield, and the sudden appearance of their long-lost friend was a delightful surprise.

Cilantro rushed over, grabbed Rope Tree, and began to look him up and down.

"Rope Tree, why are you back? Did you finish your training? We all missed you so much."

Minato, who had already taken a few steps forward, revealed a mysterious smile upon seeing this scene, and instead fell back a step or two, giving Kana and Nawaki more time to spend together.

Rope Tree was a little taken aback by the sudden enthusiasm from coriander. As everyone knows, boys mature late, and he just assumed that it was because he hadn't contacted his teammates for too long and they really missed him.

Rope Tree looked excited and happy, and said with a smile, "Yes, I've missed you all a lot during this time, so my cultivation speed has been very fast. Now that I have completed my cultivation at Mount Myōboku, I have come today to test the results of my cultivation."

An Yan curled his lip. This kid Rope Tree was talking in a cryptic way. Anyone who didn't know better would think that An Yan wanted to test his disciple's training success. Who would have thought that Rope Tree himself wanted to challenge Minato?

Quite a few people came to the scene today. Kushina, Konan, and Yahiko all came. They usually train together when they have nothing to do, and it's a good coincidence that they met today.

Now that everyone is on the same side, there's no need to worry about battle intelligence secrets. However, Nawaki's Sage Mode needs to be kept secret for now. To prevent beings like Black Zetsu from spying, An Yan directly led everyone into Limbo.

Seeing An Yan swing the Yama Blade with one hand, the space shattered like a mirror, and a spatial passage appeared. Then An Yan sheathed the blade.