Chapter 115 - 115. Love... Myself

After putting a safe lock cover at the entrance of the cave leading to Nagato's shrine, they all returned to Konoha. Shiroken had realised that he had done too much in too little time, it was time to slowly digest everything, all the territory. He had to take care of Wind Country and also Fire Country now.

At the same time, he needed to free Kurama, Shukaku and Son Goku from their Jinchuriki. It had been a while since he had returned to the Dama village too. So he wanted to go home.

Shiroken went to the Hokage office along with Jiraiya to talk with Tsunade. She was buried deep in paperwork.

"Tsunade..." Jiraiya cheerfully entered..

Without thinking, she barked back, "I DON'T HAVE TIME... Ah... you're back."

Shiroken waved his hand in the air and made the papers get organised in a neat stack to make a place for him and Jiraiya to sit. "Yes, we're back. It seems you're already regretting becoming the Hokage. Try to implement the governance model I taught you before."

"Argh... I hate Jiraiya even more now, making me take this office. And I am trying to find good people to fill in for the various positions, until then, I'm a one-woman army. So, what happened? Why was the village attacked?" She asked them the main question.

*Sigh* "It was more of a misguided goal than an attack." Jiraiya muttered and told Tsunade everything about the three Ame orphans and Akatsuki. Shiroken told her about the fake Madara going around and plotting things. He was the one behind previous Mizukage's craziness too. So he advised her to be careful.

"Thank you, Lord Dama. You have been a great help to this village, even though you have no obligations. As decided before between among us, you will take over the Finance of the village from now on. I hope I won't regret it." She gave him a stack of papers.

Shiroken laughed, "Are you sure you're not just trying to get rid of some paperwork?"

She averted her gaze, "What? I'm just doing as you asked. You want the finance department, here you go."

"Why do I feel like I'm a third wheel here?" Jiraiya suddenly muttered.

"You want to do paperwork too?" Tsunade asked him. Knowing all too well his reaction.

Jiraiya suddenly stood up, "Ah... I need to do some research and write my book, take care, Lady Tsunade and Lord Dama."

He quickly ran away to do his own lewd things. Shiroken warned him, though, "Don't do something stupid now and bring down the name of the elder council. *Sigh* How did he turn out to be like this?"

Tsunade also sighed, "I ask that question myself every day."

Shiroken made some serious talk with her after that as he had received some intel from his people, "You should keep an eye on everything Danzo does. He was also one of the reasons why the Akatsuki was formed and attacked us. He colluded with Hanzo during the third shinobi war to help him kill the Akatsuki. The Akatsuki was a good organisation that helped the people of Ame back then."

Tsunade felt a headache, "This Danzo, why did lord second even make him his student. Didn't he see the darkness in him?"

"Well, people change, that's what we call being human. Maybe in the past, he was truly patriotic, but slowly under Hiruzen, he gained more authority and with that, his ambitions increased. Just keep an eye on him and tell me if he plans anything idiotic. I just want one good reason and I will kill him publicly. You know, we can pin a lot of things on him and clear off Konoha's bad reputation." Shiroken suggested.

Tsunade thought about it. It was a smart plan, and it wasn't like they would be lying. "I will contact you, Lord Dama. Will you be leaving the village?"

"Yes, I have too much work, it's not easy making sure the world is well-fed and no wars are brewing. Though Iwa and Kumo are going to come knocking on your doors next. When that happens, contact me. One more thing, I will be taking Naruto with me to the Dama village for a while, that's where I will let the tailed beasts out, as people there are much more accepting than anywhere else. But expect my people here to start spreading words about their harmlessness.

"Alright, I'll take my leave. See you later, Lady Tsunade." He got up to leave.

"You should call me Tsunade." She blurted.

Likewise, Shiroken also allowed, "Then you can call me Shiroken. Take care,"

When he left, she sighed, "His whole persona with me has changed ever since he found out I'm related to the Senju clan... can't blame him. Hah... I should have stayed a drunkard. SHIZUNE... COME HERE AND HELP ME!"

Tsunade had a like and dislike feeling for Shiroken. On the one hand, he was powerful, just and helping. On the other hand, he was the reason many in the village disliked her due to all the words spread about Hashirama. Although the bad propaganda about him had stopped, it was not easy for people to forget about the half-destroyed village, that was also pinned on Hashirama.

...

Shiroken didn't have many thoughts about Tsunade though. Physical attraction was easy to come over with and he was yet to see anything highly likeable or admirable about Tsunade. She was somewhat likeable in terms of being responsible, seen from the work she was putting in the office, but that was what was expected from her, it wasn't a special trait.

He was just busy with his own stuff. In the Akatsuki attack, the damage was not too much and it could be cleared very fast. The part of the village that he had destroyed was also coming up pretty good. A lot of people, mostly businessmen from the Dama Country had arrived here to find new opportunities. After all, transporting goods from Dama Country to all the shinobi nations was hard, the best solution to this was either to make big warehouses in Konoha or start production factories around the Fire Country, providing new jobs to the local population.

The Dama country didn't need many low-income jobs at this point as their population was very small and everyone was well off. There was a saying in the Dama country among the households, that even if everything fails, just open a tea and dumpling shop.

He handed the finances to some trusted people too, they were from the Nidama clan and would make sure the village never faces a shortage of money and the development rate continues to increase.

Shiroken had a better thing to do. He returned to his temporary stay and found Minato, talking with his son. Konan was also in the house. Currently, Monari was entertaining her, telling her about the Dama country and what they do. Nothing secretive was made public though.

"Minato, do you have a photo of your genin team?" Shiroken asked him.

With a confused face, Minato nodded. The mention of his genin team brought a sad memory. Only one member of that team was left now. "I do have it, Naruto, bring the photo book we made."

Naruto, like a good obedient kid, quickly took out a book from the cupboard. He brought the thick photobook and opened it, "Ummm... here, this is the one I think."

Shiroken looked at it closely. But the first thing he saw was the girl, "Oh... isn't this Rin?"

"You know her?" Minato asked in wonder. How could Shiroken have known her, he thought.

"Of course, she's in the Dama village." Shiroken blurted.

Minato's face froze, "What do you mean? She's dead."

"No, she's not. The three-tailed beast, Isobu was in her when she was about to die. I couldn't let Isobu die, so I saved her. But she's been in a coma ever since. I just learned a mind jutsu that I will use to wake her up." He explained.

Now Minato was shocked, happy and excited. Who knew returning to the land of the living would give him so many good surprises. But Shiroken's next words shocked him even more.

"And this kid too, what's his name? Obito? He's also alive. Just saw him not too long ago. He was the mastermind behind the Akatsuki and was going around telling people he was Madara Uchiha while wearing a mask." Shiroken said.

"What are you saying? Obito died on a mission, his head was crushed under a giant rock." Minato refuted his absurd claims.

"Ah... so that's why his face seemed smushed from one side. Well, this makes my doubt even stronger. Minato, this boy is the one who attacked Konoha that night and released the nine tails. This boy is the one behind many bad things going around in the world." Shiroken revealed.

Minato felt his head becoming heavy and his breath going fast. "He... are you sure?"

"Absolutely," He affirmed.

"Why would he? He was such a good kid. Even Kushina had a good relationship with him, why would he kill her? He was so kind and cheerful. And if he was alive, why didn't he come back?" Minato muttered in utter confusion.

"To find out what happened to him, I guess we need to find out who saved him. You may believe me or not, but there is a very strange creature, most likely alien, going around the world scheming to free a very dangerous sealed entity that can destroy this world. That creature is most likely controlling Obito. Well, pack your bags, for now, we're going to the Dama Country via Sunagakure.

I will solve all the other mess a while later. Naruto, you too. We will leave in the morning." Shiroken instructed them. He left Minato in contemplation to find the sand siblings.

...

It was turning night, and Temari and Kankuro had gone outside it seemed. Only Gaara was left there, so Shiroken went to finally have a talk with this little kid.

After sensing him with his natural sense, he found Gaara sitting on the terrace of the house, staring at the darkening sky. Shiroken also sat beside him.

"How are you, kid?" He asked.

Gaara was at peace now, much better than before. His constant bad temper had also been fixed as Shukaku didn't attack his mind anymore. Due to this, he was getting some very good sleep.

Shiroken noticed the kanji tattoo on Gaara's forehead and smiled, "Hmm... love? For what?"

Gaara, in a whispering voice, answered, "For myself."

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