Five days later, Shin darted back and forth between his office and bedroom, savoring the exhilarating feeling of moving freely through space. He had to admit, it was insanely cool.
"So this is the Flying Thunder God?"
Next, he could lay the groundwork for Minato, aiming to have the kid master the Flying Thunder God Technique before he turned ten.
When he returned to the office again, Tsunade was speechless. Because Shin had gotten so carried away that he disappeared from in front of her a full twelve times in just a short while.
From now on, he would be completely safe, no one could threaten him anymore. And she had also decided she needed to act quickly.
Over the past few days, she had been frequently talking with her grandmother, and her resolve had gradually solidified.
Shin was right. Mito had an incredibly clear perspective on things, when she said that Hiruzen had changed, Tsunade knew exactly where she stood.
"Can you come with me to the village gate tomorrow to meet someone?" Tsunade asked once Shin had finally calmed down.
"Me? To the village gate?" Shin thought he'd misheard. "Is that even a place I'm allowed to go?"
"With me by your side, what are you afraid of?" Tsunade said with confidence.
"I don't mind going, it's just that I don't want to cause you any trouble," Shin replied, shaking his head.
"If we're destined to clash with those people anyway, we can't care too much about their opinions," Tsunade said. "I've made up my mind."
"So soon?" Shin was surprised. He knew that she had never had any desire for the Hokage position before.
And now, in just five days, she had made her decision. She was someone with a very strong will, once she made a decision, she would stick to it and never look back.
"Alright then. So, who are we picking up?"
"My younger sister."
"Huh?" Shin was confused. "Since when do you have a younger sister?"
"Not a real sister, she's a distant cousin from my grandmother's side of the family. But she'll be living with me from now on."
Kushina. That name popped into Shin's mind. So, she is arriving, huh?
Of course he had to go meet her.
"Alright, just let me know when we're going."
---
The next morning, Hiruzen received a report saying that Tsunade and Shin had appeared at the village gate, seemingly waiting for someone.
"Hmph!" Koharu, who happened to be nearby, snorted coldly when she heard the news. "She's becoming more and more reckless. What if that Uchiha brat tries to escape?"
"With Tsunade there, I'm not too worried about him running," Hiruzen said grimly. "But she is stepping out of line."
"So what do we do?" Koharu asked. "That child is going to be the next Nine-Tails jinchūriki. Are we really going to let him have contact with her?"
"Mito-sama is still alive, and Tsunade is head-over-heels for that boy right now. We can't do anything in the open. But once she passes away and Kushina becomes the jinchūriki, it'll be time to take care of some things," Hiruzen finally decided.
After all, on the surface, Shin was just an ordinary villager, free, with no criminal record. He had even healed many people and earned significant prestige in the village. More importantly, back then, Tobirama had explicitly ordered that Shin live out his life as a normal person.
So he had no justifiable reason to act against Shin publicly, doing so would severely damage the village leadership's credibility.
A Hokage, ruining a child's life just because he smiled once? That would be damaging if it got out. So if they wanted to deal with Shin, it would have to be done covertly.
Throughout his life, Hiruzen had never publicly harmed the villagers. He was always humble and courteous, a moral paragon. As Hokage, he had worked tirelessly for the village for many years. So why did it feel like trouble kept showing up, threatening to stain his career over and over again?
With that thought, he started to feel more hesitant about Danzō's proposal to form Root.
"Let the brat show off for a while longer. Once he coughs up those medical jutsu techniques, I'll deal with him myself," Koharu said coldly.
---
Meanwhile, Shin was unbothered by the worries of Hiruzen and Koharu. He was even planning to find an opportunity soon to demonstrate the Flying Thunder God.
And if Hiruzen had a problem with it? He'd just tell him the entire thought process he used to develop the Flying Thunder God Technique from scratch. Wouldn't that be good enough?
You ask me when I practiced it? I didn't. I never practiced it. One moment—bam!—I just suddenly knew it. What can you even do about it?
As for my strength?
I was born with power!
He was genuinely curious to see what expression Hiruzen would make when he displayed taijutsu that rivaled Tsunade's, and showed off the teleportation capabilities of the Flying Thunder God.
Most likely, Hiruzen wouldn't make a move against him directly. Not because he didn't want to, just because he couldn't do anything about it. After all, it was the Flying Thunder God Technique, since Tobirama's death, it had been a one-of-a-kind jutsu in the entire ninja world.
If Shin wanted to run when danger came, who could stop him? And if an attack wasn't a guaranteed kill, then it would just tear the last shred of face off the confrontation. If he showed overwhelming strength and then escaped the village's control, that was the last thing Hiruzen wanted. Because with that technique in his hands, he could return to Konoha anytime and stir up trouble.
At that point, if he started randomly killing people from the Sarutobi, Shimura, or Utatane clans… the one suffering would be none other than Hiruzen. And he wouldn't be blind to that. So he'd definitely try something else first, like the old fox he really was. He might set up an ambush, lure Shin there, and then try to seal him.
But Shin, with top-tier sensory abilities and zero trust in the Konoha leadership, wouldn't fall for it in the slightest. If neither open nor covert attacks worked, Hiruzen would be left with only one option: take the soft approach.
And that just so happened to be Shin's domain. When it came to playing psychological games, it'd be a battle of wits to see who outmaneuvered whom. He was doing all this to gain the maximum possible autonomy in Konoha. Because, in the end, someone with nothing to lose fears nothing.
He truly didn't mind completely falling out with Hiruzen. So what if he guessed wrong? Worst case, he'd just leave. Sure, he promised Tsunade he wouldn't leave, but that was only because he didn't want her to be sad. It didn't mean he couldn't go.
If he were forced to leave, that wouldn't count as breaking a promise… right?
He'd been holding back for seven years. His desire to research was overflowing. His mind was filled with countless ideas just waiting to be tested and realized. He felt like the fire in his heart was about to explode!
As for Minato and his family, with him acting as a deterrent outside the village, Tsunade maneuvering on the inside, and Hiruzen's habit of playing the moral high ground, they probably wouldn't have any issues.
While thinking all this, a group of people came into their view. Tsunade immediately grabbed Shin's arm and walked up to greet them.
Shin felt a little uncomfortable about how she always unconsciously reached for his hand. She was aware of that too. She could tell, he hadn't completely given up the idea of leaving Konoha.
So even though it pained her deeply that he was intentionally keeping some distance, she could only take things slowly.
Honestly, Shin was having a hard time too. He was scared. When he previously said he feared death and just wanted to survive, that was only to comfort Tsunade. He didn't want to die, sure, but he had never been afraid of death, and he had long prepared for the possibility of a "mutually assured destruction" scenario.
He just didn't want to die in some pathetic way.
But this time… this fear was real. Ever since Tsunade had started treating him with such wholehearted devotion, without any limits… He found himself increasingly unable to refuse any of her requests. He was starting to care more and more about her feelings. If it went on like this, he would become another Tsunade.
Love could shake a person's stance. Guilt could shake a person's stance. Put love and guilt together… and a person might lose their stance entirely.
He had once thought himself cold-hearted, that he was just using Tsunade. But in the end, he had overestimated himself. After all, people were not made of wood, who could truly be without emotion?