Chapter 123 What is a Ninja?
"I'm currently recruiting suitable people to join me, and Lady Tsunade… you are one of them," Souji said.
"Hmph... As a Konoha ninja, I am your senior. How dare you want to take your senior as your subordinate?
Regardless of appearance, you are ridiculously arrogant."
"I've heard your arrogant words. I have no interest in dealing with an ambitious person like you.
Get out of here!"
Tsunade waved her hand and turned to leave.
The Souji said:
"Lady Tsunade, my main reason for inviting you to join is not for the sake of fighting, but because I hope you will return to Konoha to take charge of the medical department."
"Hmm?" Tsunade paused slightly.
"To be frank, I'm not lacking in fighting power. You probably haven't heard of me, so you don't know that just recently, I killed the Mizukage in the battle between Konoha and Kirigakure."
"oh..."
"I have already recruited two subordinates with strong pure combat capabilities, and I have several more with great potential.
I will be able to train them soon, so I really don't lack pure combat personnel."
"I came to find you mainly because your medical ninjutsu and knowledge, as well as your ability to train medical ninjas, are outstanding.
I hope to invite you back to manage Konoha's medical department and train more excellent medical ninjas for Konoha."
"For someone who once strongly suggested that Konoha increase its number of medical ninjas, this should be a good invitation, right?"
"snort..."
Tsunade slowly turned around, her expression serious, but she was clearly showing some interest.
"What's the point of you saying these things?
Ultimately, the development of Konoha is decided by the Hokage."
"So, as I just said, I need to become Hokage first, and then I can start working on other things after that."
The Souji calmly said:
"Actually, with the power I have now, if I simply wanted to compete for the Hokage position and rule Konoha, I could just launch a rebellion and forcibly kill all those who disobey.
Although you might not believe it, even the Hokage would be no match for me."
"If I want to, even the Hokage will die by my hand!"
"you..."
A hint of murderous intent flashed in Tsunade's eyes, but she still listened patiently.
"But if we do that, there will definitely be a huge backlash.
Even if I can kill all the people who oppose me, in the end, won't all that will be left be spineless cowards who are afraid of death, and those who are forced to obey on the surface but secretly keep causing trouble for me?"
"If we kill all the useful people, we can't change the ninja world. So I don't plan to do it by force.
I still hope to become Hokage through proper means and by the will of the people.
Therefore, I hope that you, as the granddaughter of the First Hokage, the disciple of the Third Hokage, and the legitimate princess of Konoha, can help me."
Tsunade listened silently the whole time.
Judging from the strength of his subordinates, the story of killing the Mizukage is probably true.
While I wouldn't take the claim that even the Hokage couldn't defeat him seriously, such strength is indeed enough to cause a major upheaval in Konoha.
But this person really doesn't seem to intend to force the issue...
Because of past traumas, Tsunade has lost interest in many things.
If other ambitious people tried to persuade her, she wouldn't listen at all.
However, what Souji said was so different from what she had imagined that she couldn't help but listen out of curiosity.
"Is promoting the training of medical ninjas a way of exchanging favors for me, a way of returning the favor?"
"No, I'm doing this simply because medical ninjas are indeed important.
Even if you refuse, I will still push this through."
"snort..."
"Since it was Lady Tsunade who suggested this back then, you should want to make it happen now."
"Of course, if they really don't want to, I won't force them. These are all members of the Shadow Division behind me.
I haven't forced any of them to join. As long as they don't hinder what I'm going to do in the future, everyone is free to stay or leave."
"In short, today is just a meeting to extend an invitation. You can take your time to consider it before making a decision."
After saying this, the Souji turned to leave.
"Wait a minute!" This time it was Tsunade who stopped him.
"What exactly do you mean by saying you'll change the ninja world after becoming Hokage?
What do you want to do?"
"this..."
Souji thought for a moment, then asked Tsunade in return:
"Lady Tsunade, what do you think a ninja is?"
"..."
Tsunade was slightly taken aback, not expecting the conversation to suddenly turn to something as abstract as what a ninja is.
However, after thinking for a while, he replied:
"A ninja is naturally someone who uses ninjutsu."
As she spoke, Tsunade suddenly seemed to remember something and smiled:
"My comrade Jiraiya once said that a ninja should be someone who can endure everything.
You wouldn't think that's a better explanation, would you?"
"Jiraiya-sama's insights are certainly very good... However, I am a more realistic person and lack the idealism of Jiraiya-sama.
My definition of a ninja is someone who can use ninjutsu, but beyond that, I hope that a ninja is not just 'someone who uses ninjutsu to fight'."
"Not just 'people who fight using ninjutsu'?"
"Ninjas were created from the very beginning as a profession for destruction and killing.
They practiced and used ninjutsu only to carry out these missions."
"If all the metals forged are used to make weapons, wouldn't that be a waste?
I believe that metals can have many more, better, and more beneficial uses for the public, besides being made into weapons."
"you mean..."
At this point, not only Tsunade, but everyone was listening intently to Souji's words.
Sasori and Kakuzu mainly followed the idea that the weak should submit to the strong, while Yahiko and the other two came because they wanted to break through their past narrow-minded approach.
Although everyone had heard Souji say he wanted to change the ninja world, this was the first time they had heard how he would actually do it.
"My goal is to unify the ninja world and end the current balance of power among the five great ninja villages!"
"However, I am not doing this for some naive idea of becoming the sole overlord.
I simply want to end the chaotic situation of constant warfare from the Warring States period to the Ninja Village period."
"After that, I will liberate ninjas from the definition of 'people who fight by using ninjutsu' and support the development of more ninjutsu and its uses outside of combat, such as medical ninjutsu."
"Ninjas are still people who use ninjutsu, but the purpose of using ninjutsu is no longer just destruction, fighting, and killing. Ninjas can use ninjutsu to heal the sick and save lives, to grow food, and to build houses and bridges."
"Although these things are still being done now, they are all secondary uses developed by a few people.
The primary use of ninjutsu is still combat, because this is a world of constant war."
"Therefore, we must first end the infighting among the five great ninja villages, and then promote the development of multiple uses for ninjutsu."
"That will be a new era for ninjas."
PS..
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end of this chapter...