The reason Hagoromo changed his attire was simply to maintain stylistic consistency with the child beside him. Otherwise, if he stood next to Mirai dressed completely in black, people would easily mistake him for a wicked thug kidnapping women and children.
"So... why have you appeared in the Land of Artisans? Don't tell me it has something to do with Orochimaru's situation?"
Tsunade asked about the external matters casually; she was far more concerned with Hagoromo's reason for being here.
When Tsunade left Konoha, it was handled in a very low-key manner. For one, the war was incredibly fierce at the time, and the village wouldn't broadcast the departure of a top-tier combatant without reason. Secondly, Tsunade's departure wasn't a defection, and to this day, she was not considered a rogue ninja. In fact, if she ever wanted to return to Konoha, she could do so at any time. From the most ordinary civilian to the Hokage himself, almost 100% of Konoha would welcome her back.
But Orochimaru was a different story. He was a genuine rogue ninja. Following the S-rank wanted poster issued by Konoha, Orochimaru had not only been struck from the village's registry but had officially become an enemy of the entire village.
That one of Konoha's most resounding names—the Sannin—had fallen to such a state inevitably made the other villages sigh in lament... Yeah, right. In reality, the other villages absolutely loved seeing this happen.
It was a simple matter of: your misery brings me joy.
The news of Orochimaru becoming a rogue ninja was boiling over across the entire ninja world. It was impossible for Tsunade not to know, which was why she questioned Hagoromo about it right off the bat.
Even though there were so many other things she should have asked about.
The deaths of Kushina and the Fourth Hokage, what Hagoromo had experienced over these past few years, why he was keeping this child by his side... It wasn't that Tsunade didn't care or didn't want to know about these things, but rather that she simply didn't want to bring up such painful topics.
She also felt that Hagoromo equally didn't want to recount them.
However, thinking of Kushina, Tsunade's gaze couldn't help but drift toward Mirai. She murmured to herself, "What identically beautiful red hair..."
Identical to whom?
Everyone naturally heard Tsunade's whisper, including Mirai.
"Big Sister Tsunade, you really are a good person." And so, in response to the compliment, the little girl handed out a "Good Person" card.
"Hagoromo told me that anyone who praises my hair is a good person. Right?"
"Right," Hagoromo confirmed.
What kind of cursed parenting and moral evaluation standard is this... Who on earth let Hagoromo raise a child?!
Watching this scene unfold, Tsunade couldn't help but think of herself. This is probably exactly how I picked up a gambling addiction from following the First Hokage around back in the day, isn't it?
"Because this is hair inherited from Kushina."
Seeing the confused look in Tsunade's eyes, Mirai actually knew to add an explanation... Whatever Hagoromo called his teacher, Mirai called her mother.
"What if someone says bad things about your hair?" Shizune asked out of curiosity.
"I can beat them to death... right?" After answering, she turned to Hagoromo for confirmation again.
Hagoromo nodded. Flawless logic.
Tsunade: "..."
Shizune: "..."
Let's just relax and go back to talking about Orochimaru, Tsunade thought. She hadn't brought the matter up because she cared; on the contrary, she absolutely did not want to get mixed up in that mess... It was far too troublesome.
In truth, she really was overthinking it.
"That's not it at all. My arrival in the Land of Artisans is purely coincidental," Hagoromo said, turning his body slightly to reveal two straight-bladed swords—one black and one red—tucked diagonally into the back of his waist.
Tsunade was still a bit confused, so Hagoromo continued explaining, "I came here to have a chakra blade forged. Running into you wasn't planned. In short, none of this has anything to do with Orochimaru."
Looking at Hagoromo up close, one could notice a faint red, rectangular mark on his glabella—about 0.5 centimeters wide and 1.5 centimeters long. And, enough to drive anyone with OCD completely insane, the mark was angled diagonally downward, completely unlike the perfect symmetry of Tsunade's diamond seal.
"I know, I know! It's Elucidator and Dark Repulser!" Mirai shouted, aggressively buzzing in to name the "famous swords".
This earned her a ruthless eye-roll from Hagoromo... Why didn't you just call them Excalibur and Demon Armor?
The dark red sword was the chakra blade Hagoromo had commissioned in the Land of Artisans, while the black one was the new Iron Sand sword he had crafted himself.
"Elu... what?" Tsunade didn't quite catch what Mirai said.
But in reality, these two busted swords didn't have any grand names. Did she think they were rare drops from a boss?
"It's nothing, she's just naming weapons from a fairy tale I told her," Hagoromo replied.
Yes, Hagoromo told the child many similar "fairy tales," like the one about the rubber man fighting the shadow monster.
"Anyway, you mean to say you didn't come specifically looking for me?"
"Actually, if you want to use the word 'specifically,' then yes, I did."
Saying this, Hagoromo extended his right hand and gently pulled up his left sleeve, revealing his left forearm.
How to describe it? It looked partly like withered tree bark, and partly like a mummy.
"Put your hand on the table."
Seeing such an injury, Tsunade immediately gave the order.
Upon seeing such an exquisitely shriveled, pickled chicken foot of a hand, anyone's first reaction would naturally be to serve it on a dining table.
As Hagoromo lifted and set his arm down, he said, "The medical ninjas in Konoha could only keep the injury on this hand from worsening, but to actually cure it, I needed Princess Katsuyu..."
Fortunately, although this dehydrated-looking arm was hideous, it wasn't bleeding, allowing Tsunade to examine it closely without any sensory discomfort.
"As for the cause of the injury... let's just say it was the burn of a high-intensity Lightning Style."
More accurately, it was the compound burn of a high-intensity Lightning Style and a high-intensity electrical current. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been this severe.
"However, the nerve damage isn't too extreme. I can still constantly feel a stinging sensation, and I can actually control the hand to make movements if I need to."
He could indeed do it, though the movements were accompanied by agonizing pain. That wasn't the main issue, though; the real problem was that his hand was currently incredibly brittle. If he flexed it carelessly, he could easily snap his own fingers.
The nerve damage had originally been extremely severe, but Hagoromo had gradually restored it himself by applying steady electrical stimulation—he was quite the professional in that specific field. As for the remaining cellular revitalization and recovery, that wasn't Hagoromo's specialty.
"You..." Tsunade was just about to sarcastically scold him, as this kind of injury was undoubtedly the result of developing some reckless forbidden jutsu, but the words died on her lips.
Mocking Hagoromo was fine, but the problem was that there was a pair of tiny eyes staring straight at her, brimming with intense anxiety... Whatever. Let's preserve a bit of innocence and beauty in the world.
Mirai naturally knew that this Big Sister (who, depending on the results of the treatment, might genuinely get demoted to "Grandma") was going to heal Hagoromo's injuries, which was why she was so incredibly tense about Tsunade's words.
"Indeed, the nerve damage isn't vast, so there won't be any severe negative aftereffects. That will naturally heal once the cells recover..."
"As for revitalizing the cells... while it's troublesome, it's only troublesome. There are no major underlying issues. It will just take a bit more time."
"It's obvious you brought this trouble upon yourself. You dragged out this injury... for far too long," Tsunade said, a hint of dissatisfaction bleeding into her tone.
Such injuries, practically equivalent to a severed limb, clearly required immediate treatment, yet Tsunade could tell Hagoromo had dragged this out for years.
It wasn't that Hagoromo was so careless that he'd just leave a pickled chicken foot alone without caring. Tsunade was simply taking her own skills for granted; healing this kind of injury was probably something only she could do in all of Konoha. She couldn't seriously think every Konoha medical ninja was at her level, could she?
"Completely curing your injury will take a certain amount of time, but luckily... right now, neither of us is short on time."
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