Chapter 249: It Is Getting Cold

 

Lee's surgery would not happen immediately. Tsunade wanted teacher and student to consider the risk, and Konoha had begun preparing for her inauguration.

"The Fifth Hokage has returned!"

"The Fifth? I thought Captain Tonbo had become Hokage."

"Are you a foreign spy? Captain Tonbo was Acting Hokage. Lady Tsunade of the legendary sannin is taking the permanent position."

"I see."

The news spread through every district. Tonbo's temporary appointment had required only shinobi command notices. A true inauguration belonged to the entire village.

Residents stood straighter when they heard. A Hokage served as Konoha's pillar, proof that the village still possessed direction after Hiruzen's death.

For weeks they had lived among temporary repairs and casualty lists. An Acting Hokage could sign orders, but the word *acting* reminded everyone that the arrangement might end without a successor. Tsunade's name carried the weight of the First Hokage's family and the sannin's reputation. Her return made the uncertain transition feel complete.

At a training ground, a rotating sphere of chakra deflected a storm of weapons.

Kunai and shuriken scattered around a new crater as Neji stopped.

"That was amazing," Tenten said. "Rotation blocked my entire finishing pattern."

She felt Neji's progress every day they trained. The defense had become powerful enough to answer the volume of weapons that once forced him to retreat.

"The protection is adequate," Neji said. "It does little to solve offense. The weakness remains obvious."

Tonbo's training had taught him to recognize the Hyūga style's limitation. Gentle Fist was terrifying at close range, but it offered few powerful options against an enemy who refused to approach.

Rotation could protect him from projectiles, yet it required the attack to come within his defense. An enemy could force him to spend chakra, withdraw, and repeat. Neji refused to mistake an excellent answer to one problem for a complete fighting style.

"You will find an answer," Tenten said. "With your talent, I know it."

"I already have a direction. When the technique is complete, distance will no longer leave me helpless."

Neji had begun studying ninjutsu and improving his accuracy with thrown weapons. Completion was close.

A voice called from the edge of the field.

"Neji, Tenten! Lady Tsunade has returned to the village."

Elsewhere, Akamaru barked as Kiba joined him.

"Man-Beast Transformation: Two-Headed Wolf! Fang Over Fang!"

The enormous silver tornado struck the mountain behind their training area. Stone exploded. When the technique ended, a tunnel pierced through the formation.

Shino stood nearby with one hand raised toward an insect. The impact frightened it away before he could collect it.

Kiba and Akamaru reappeared with pride shining in both faces.

"Did you see that? We can use it three times in a short period. That is more than enough for any opponent."

"You interrupted my insect collection," Shino said.

Behind his dark glasses, surprise remained. A technique capable of boring through a mountain should have consumed more chakra than Kiba possessed at his age. Using it three times meant his control had improved enough to eliminate much of the waste.

Akamaru's development mattered equally. The two heads of the transformed wolf had to sense, turn, and maintain the same rotation. If either partner lost rhythm, the technique would veer off line or tear itself apart before the strike landed.

They were still young. They could not afford to spend chakra carelessly. Kiba attributed the efficiency to the foundation Tonbo gave him during childhood, combined with his daily work beside Akamaru.

Tonbo's basic training had produced more than Shino expected.

Hinata arrived at a run.

"Shino, Kiba—Lady Tsunade is back."

Kiba groaned. "If only I were older. I would have become Hokage myself and stabilized Konoha."

Every improvement made that ambition sound more reasonable to him. His father should have arranged his birth earlier.

Kiba imagined standing before the village while every clan cheered. The thought that the position required years of missions, political support, and patience with documents never entered the fantasy. Strength and confidence seemed like sufficient qualifications.

"Lady Tsunade," Shino murmured, ignoring the complaint. "One of the sannin."

Behind the Akimichi compound, another impact opened a crater.

Chōza waited above it with his staff. Chōji emerged covered in dirt and marks from the struggle, then landed without falling.

"Your combat experience has improved," Chōza said. "Asuma has taught you well."

Chōji smiled. "He has. Tonbo-sensei's simulation also showed me exactly where I was weak."

During that exercise, Tonbo attacked as an enemy. He stole the snacks Chōji tried to protect and killed the simulated versions of Ino and Shikamaru. The losses showed Chōji what hesitation and poor positioning could cost. If he did not train, he would fail to protect both comrades and snacks.

The lesson had been humiliating because Tonbo exploited exactly what mattered to him. Chōji chased the stolen food, exposed a flank, and then watched his teammates fall. He could dismiss an ordinary lecture. He could not dismiss the memory of choosing badly while the simulation made the consequence feel real.

Asuma helped turn the failures into a plan. Later, defeat by Dosu made the gap in Chōji's strength impossible to ignore. He had worked harder ever since, and today his father finally recognized the result.

He learned to identify which ally needed protection first, when size increased strength but destroyed mobility, and how to keep an enemy from turning his appetite into a predictable distraction. None of those improvements appeared as dramatic as a new clan technique. Together they made him much harder to defeat.

"Tonbo is remarkable," Chōza said with a broad smile.

At the Nara home, Shikaku found Shikamaru studying a shōgi board.

"Come with me to meet Lady Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage."

Shikamaru considered the title and understood that Tonbo's acting term was ending.

"Troublesome."

"Do not dismiss her. She is one of the sannin and among the greatest kunoichi alive."

"Is she stronger than Mom?"

Shikaku glanced in both directions before answering. "Do not say nonsense where your mother can hear."

"You are controlled by your wife."

"That is love. You will understand after you meet the woman with whom you will spend your life."

"I would rather not. It sounds troublesome."

Shikaku snorted. He had once said the same thing.

At the Hokage Tower, Tonbo delivered the transition report.

"These are the duties currently in progress. This section covers the changes I made to internal defenses, and this one covers the new cipher system. Border deployments, reconstruction, Sand negotiations, Rice Country, and outstanding intelligence follow."

Tsunade's impatience grew with every page. Shizune stood behind her, leaving no avenue of escape. Koharu, Homura, and Shikaku attended to explain the systems she would inherit.

Tonbo reviewed not only what he changed but why. The barrier no longer accepted the old maintenance gaps. Departmental messages used revised codes. Sand's peace terms remained unfinished, Shibi's Rice mission was in progress, and Hyūga Tokuma had not yet identified the minister's killers. Tsunade would inherit every unresolved consequence with the seal.

The inauguration would occur in several days. Before then, Tsunade needed to understand the work she had accepted.

Tonbo noticed her resistance and offered reassurance.

"Do not worry, Lady Tsunade. Senior Shikaku will assist you with everything."

The promise immediately improved Tsunade's expression. Shikaku possessed years of institutional knowledge and could translate political disputes into decisions without requiring her to read every history from the beginning.

Shikaku looked at him.

Tonbo silently apologized. Shikaku was Konoha's chief strategist and its finest administrative mind. Sacrificing him to the Fifth Hokage's paperwork was practically a patriotic honor.