Chapter 83: A Rare Vacation

"This guy probably doesn't have a very good impression of Konoha, which makes things a bit difficult."

If he were to fight him head-on, Torifū could probably go toe-to-toe with Mū, but he wouldn't gain any significant advantage. Just dodging Dust Release would consume a lot of energy, and aside from the Rinnegan's ability to absorb ninjutsu, there seemed to be nothing else that could withstand a Dust Release attack. Directly reducing objects to an atomic state was simply terrifying. And precisely because of this, Torifū wanted to obtain Dust Release even more.

"In the storyline, Mū should have died at the end of the First Great Ninja War. I wonder if I can go collect his corpse?"

Speaking of which, Mū's death was rather anticlimactic. He had originally intended to launch a surprise attack on Konoha and make a fortune while the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, was killed in Kumogakure.

However, the Second Mizukage, Gengetsu Hozuki, had the same idea. These two sworn enemies miraculously met in the Land of Fire. Well, as enemies, they saw red and immediately started fighting! In the end, they killed each other, which was truly regrettable.

Kirigakure had also been on a decline since Gengetsu Hozuki's death. The Third Mizukage had only perfected some policies that Gengetsu Hozuki hadn't had time to implement, such as forming the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.

But overall, there were no particularly remarkable political achievements. In contrast, in Iwagakure, after the Second Tsuchikage, Mū, died, his apprentice, Onoki of the Two Scales, succeeded him as the Third Tsuchikage. This was truly a legitimate succession; besides being the Second Tsuchikage's apprentice, he was also the First Tsuchikage's grandson. His strength was also incredibly powerful; even when he was frail with age during the Fourth Great Ninja War, he was still the strongest of the Five Kage.

"Anyway, the Five Kage Summit is only two and a half months away. I'll meet him personally then."

After all, Mū was the First Tsuchikage's escort and was bound to come to Konoha Village. Perhaps there would be a chance to fight him then.

Torifū glanced out the window; it was already time to turn off the lights and sleep. He put the puppet away into a golden leaf-shaped tattoo on his arm, then rubbed it. Feeling no discomfort, he went to bed.

The next morning, the system woke Torifū up, with another 100 Peace Points added to his account. At this point, his Peace Points had reached 30,000.

Torifū rubbed his eyes and climbed out of bed, preparing to wash up. He had been overly excited last night, which resulted in a poor night's sleep. He was currently in a very hazy state, able to get up purely by muscle memory. He splashed cold water on his face, immediately feeling much more awake. He rolled up his sleeve and looked at the golden leaf mark on his arm.

"Good, it wasn't a dream."

After washing up, he released the puppet again and carefully observed it for a while. He had to admit, although this puppet was activated using that old man Uchiha Kai's eyes, its appearance was thousands of times better than that old geezer! However, there wasn't currently a place where it could be useful, and his own strength was still weak, so he couldn't easily use such a thing. It would only bring him trouble. But if he was on a solo mission, he wouldn't have so many qualms, as dead people couldn't talk.

After washing up, Torifū walked out of the house. The morning sun shone on his face, warm and pleasant—it was a good day. The old hen seemed to have been up for a while, strolling around the courtyard, occasionally catching insects, quite leisurely. Because the old hen had helped Torifū hatch two cranes, Torifū decided to take good care of this 'heroic mother'. Although the two young cranes had signed a contract with him and were very affectionate towards him, they still regarded the old hen as their mother because she was the first thing they saw. They would even lie beside her when they slept at night. Though the two young cranes were large, they were still young, and having the old hen accompany them through their early years was very good. And after they matured, they might even be able to speak; after all, many of the summoning animals in the Ninja World could speak. There was no reason for cranes from another world not to, right?

After feeding the old hen some food, Torifū left his home and strolled through the streets. There weren't many people on the street in the early morning, only those busy setting up their stalls, rushing to get them ready before everyone else woke up. Torifū went to a familiar shop and bought some food, eating it as he walked.

Today, Naori was going shopping with Koharu, so he had nothing else to do. He thought about finding some familiar people in Konoha Village to add to his character registry. According to Torifū's guess, Tsunade had been born about two months ago, so had Orochimaru and Jiraiya, who were the same age, been born yet? He had nothing better to do, so he might as well go look for them. Torifū remembered that Orochimaru and Jiraiya were both commoners by birth, and their parents had both died when they were young.

"I'll try my best to help them this time, at least so they can have a complete childhood."

Torifū didn't know how their parents had died, so he could only find them first and then make a plan. However, it was highly likely they died on the battlefield, especially since, according to the original plot, the First Great Ninja War would break out in another five years. Although he had already changed some of the story's direction, he couldn't know what would happen in the future. From the incident of Uchiha Madara's rebellion, it seemed that major events generally wouldn't change. Only the process of the events could be altered, like when Torifū used the [Ancestor Trial Card] and had Uchiha Madara almost certainly defeated, only for Black Zetsu to intervene and save him. The general tone of the world wouldn't undergo major changes due to the existence of one person.

And Torifū's current strength was already enough to survive the Great Ninja War, so Torifū changed his goal to trying his best to keep his teacher alive. Although they had only spent a little over a year together, Hashirama was extremely generous with his teachings to Torifū. He taught him everything without reservation, whether it was ninjutsu, taijutsu, or life lessons. He was like an old father, teaching and protecting Torifū. Whenever he thought that his teacher would suddenly die in four years, Torifū's heart ached.

But the cause of Hashirama's death was a mystery, and the idea of cellular division reaching its limit was just Torifū's speculation. How to keep Hashirama alive indefinitely was no small challenge. Fortunately, Torifū still had the system; as long as he found the problem, there would be a way to completely cure it!

Torifū walked along, lost in thought, and before he knew it, he had reached the Hokage Building's entrance. Although Torifū had the day off, other ninjas were still working as usual. However, it was still early, and no one had arrived at the building yet. Torifū had no intention of lingering there, so he turned to leave; it wouldn't be good if Tobirama conscripted him under his wing. After all, Tobirama always wanted to teach Torifū ninjutsu, for no apparent reason.