Chapter 165 - 163: Corrupted By My Daughter

"But I don't get it. Why are Ōnoki and Hanzō scheming so hard against each other when they're supposed to be allies, especially with us standing right here?" Tsunade couldn't hide her confusion at the situation unfolding in Ame.

To her, any intelligent person should've recognized that Ame and Iwa's position was shaky at best, and that was because of Konoha. At such an urgent moment, instead of locking down a plan and making real agreements, they were wasting time plotting against each other?

"Heh. If this surprises you, don't even look at some of the operations high-level people pulled off in the future." Azula was thinking of the timeline that could've happened without her.

Kumo tries to kidnap Hinata under the guise of a peace treaty signing. Hiashi kills the kidnapper. Kumo demands Hiashi's body as compensation. Konoha nearly gives in. Hizashi sacrifices himself instead. The village essentially punishes the Hyuga for defending their own child. A 'peace treaty' almost results in the head of a founding clan being handed over to a foreign power for a crime he didn't commit.

But even though Tsunade knew a few key points about the future, her knowledge wasn't anywhere near as comprehensive as Azula's. When Azula thought about the even more ridiculous decisions that went down in that other timeline, she couldn't help but smile.

Tsunade didn't bother wracking her brain over it. She smiled along with Azula before asking, "So what are you planning to do?"

"Nothing," Azula answered. "The whole point of this summit was to break their coalition and save myself some wasted time. But with Satō's decision and the frankly disappointing level of Ōnoki and Hanzō, I'm better off focusing on creating a new jutsu than breaking my head over them."

If she could, she'd even eliminate them right here in Ame, once and for all. But that would screw up her plan, which was moving along nicely, to take control of the ninja world without spilling too much blood.

"Who would've guessed that out of all of them, it's the Kazekage who's the smartest," Tsunade said, thinking about his choice. "Honestly, are you sure you're not wrong about this? I can't wrap my head around me, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru losing to Hanzō."

"You lost so pathetically that the mere sight of blood was enough to make you wet your pants." Azula mocked her without mercy.

"Hey, that had nothing to do with me." Tsunade was fuming, especially since after she finished talking, Azula just looked at her with those eyes that said 'Sure, keep telling yourself that.'

"Anyway," Tsunade wisely changed the subject. "The first meeting of this summit isn't happening until this evening, but I'm already sick of staying in this eternal rain village."

The first day they'd arrived in Ame, there'd been the banquet. The second day, nothing happened. And now on the third day, the Kage Summit was finally about to take place.

If all agreements could be settled, which seemed unlikely normally, the summit would end. Otherwise, it could drag on for nearly a month, but definitely not longer, since the villages couldn't function without their Kage for more than a month, especially with the current state of the ninja world.

"Don't worry," Azula could tell she was trying to change the subject, but she could also see she genuinely wanted to leave Ame. "I'm not wasting my time here. We'll head back to Konoha right after today's meeting. This will be the first and last one."

She spoke with strong conviction, and that was enough to reassure Tsunade.

•••

The turmoil in Ame was already sending ripples across the world, even before the Kage Summit had officially begun.

But in Konoha, Azula's absence as a freshly-minted Hokage who hadn't finished cementing her systems created a different kind of chaos. The predictable kind. The kind certain people with ulterior motives were more than happy to guide.

And Tajima, supervising the village in her absence, looked more resolute than ever.

"It seems Danzō truly couldn't help himself," he murmured, reading through the reports.

It wasn't an ANBU report. Wasn't from the Intelligence Department either. It came from the Konoha Military Police Force, his old domain.

He couldn't help the faint melancholy that settled over him. For more than a decade, he'd read reports exactly like this every single day. Now he only touched them because of the special circumstances Azula had left behind.

According to the file, the police had noticed some oddities in the ANBU's patterns, nothing dramatic, operatives a minute late to their usual posts. Disappearing for a few seconds where they shouldn't. The kind of tiny inconsistencies that would slip past anyone who wasn't looking.

But the Military Police, acting under the special directive Azula had given them since taking the hat, caught it anyway.

Just a few hours earlier, he'd received another report, this one about the Hyūga. Some kind of conflict brewing between the main branch and the elders. Something the Hokage's advisor apparently needed to know.

Tajima sighed, setting both scrolls down. "Was it really a good idea, accepting Azula's request to become her advisor? She left the village for an adventure and dropped this mess in my lap."

He caught himself a moment later. That lazy, unambitious thought startled him.

Back then, he genuinely enjoyed working hard for the clan. He was always thinking about the future, about the next move, the next generation. He couldn't pinpoint when that had changed. But somewhere along the line, his daughter had... corrupted him.

Now he looked at a desk full of problems and his first instinct was annoyance instead of action.

He didn't even recognize himself anymore.

Tajima set the reports aside and stared at the ceiling. Somewhere across the continent, his daughter was probably drinking tea and watching her enemies tear each other apart without lifting a finger. And here he was, buried in paperwork, tracking scheming elders and disappearing ANBU.

"Come home soon," he muttered to the empty room. "Before I decide these rats aren't worth keeping alive."

(END OF THE CHAPTER)

Sorry, dropped the schedule due to a personal problem