Chapter Forty-Five: Tsunade’s Wrath

“What happened here?” Tsunade asked, her brow slightly furrowed. She had been busy preparing things in the laboratory, but upon receiving the urgent notice, she immediately dropped everything to rush over. Only after seeing that both Karn and Kushina were unharmed did she breathe a sigh of relief.

Either of these two being hurt was unacceptable to Tsunade. Kushina’s safety was self-explanatory, and Karn held the hope for her brother’s recovery.

“We were attacked by a Cloud ninja spy, though I suspect there’s more to it. You should look into it yourself…” Karn replied calmly. The politics in Konoha were filthier than he could tolerate. Even now, when he still brought benefits to the village, certain people could not restrain themselves from plotting against him.

But he was just one man; even if he fabricated an enormous shadow organization behind him, it would do nothing to curb their greed.

“What really happened?” Tsunade pressed, her delicate brows knitting tighter. She could sense Karn’s growing discontent with Konoha and was anxious to know exactly what had occurred—could it be that this wasn’t some simple case of espionage?

“I’d rather not go into it. It’s best if you look into it yourself, Lady Tsunade,” Karn shook his head, then patted Kushina lightly on the head and continued, “Now that you’re here, I’ll leave Kushina in your care. Please take her home.”

“You…” Tsunade felt a pang as Karn reverted to formal address. This incident had nothing to do with her, yet was he taking his anger out on her?

“What about you? It’s still unclear if there are more spies in the village. Why not come with me to the Senju compound? I can arrange—”

Before she could finish, Kushina nodded vigorously in agreement, adding, “Yes, boss, let’s go to the Senju compound. Tsunade will protect you.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Karn refused outright. After what had happened, how could he possibly still trust Konoha? He would rather return to the Marvel world to rest.

“If possible, Lady Tsunade, could you escort me out of the village? I think I’ll go back. Though, it seems the Security Force still wants to question me…”

Tsunade frowned in concern, “It would be dangerous to leave the village now.”

“It’s perfectly safe for me. If you could, I’d appreciate your help, Lady Tsunade.”

Karn’s request was sincere. He could guess what Tsunade was worried about. He had no intention of halting his research into the Extremis Virus; a merchant does not let the grudges of others sway him, and this matter had nothing to do with Tsunade. In fact, he needed her to continue studying the integration of the Extremis Virus and Hashirama cells.

His departure was also meant as a clear signal to Konoha: from now on, his pharmaceuticals would not be supplied exclusively to them. If they pressed him for an explanation, Karn would simply cite the assassination attempt as his reason and begin distributing his products to the other nations.

To Karn, pharmaceuticals were as lucrative as casinos, and it was Konoha that had made the first move. They could hardly blame him for breaking their agreement.

“I can arrange for you to leave, but right now… Fine, I’ll go speak with them,” Tsunade relented after seeing the look on Karn’s face, though inwardly she cursed the fools responsible—could it have been Danzo?

The explosion had also drawn Nanami to the scene. Karn took the opportunity to entrust her with certain matters: he couldn’t personally handle the acquisition of death-row inmates and would have to rely on Nanami to relay instructions to Natsukawa.

Afterward, Tsunade spoke with the Security Force. Though they wanted to further question Karn about the Cloud spy, Tsunade’s intervention—bolstered by her status—ensured they relented. After all, they had the spy’s corpse, and the case would be handed over to the Interrogation Unit, where the Yamanaka would search its mind for memories.

Once cleared by the Security Force, Tsunade escorted Karn and Kushina out of Konoha. At the edge of a forest, Karn asked them to return. When both were out of sight, he slipped behind a tree and used the system to return directly to the Marvel world.

…

“Kushina, tell me exactly what happened just now,” Tsunade demanded solemnly on the way back. She needed to understand why Karn’s attitude had shifted so drastically. Mishandling this could jeopardize the entire reform of Konoha’s medical system.

Konoha was now highly dependent on Karn’s pharmaceuticals, and their hospital had yet to analyze the drugs’ composition. If Karn stopped supplying them—or worse, began selling to other villages—the consequences for Konoha would be severe.

“After my squad was dismissed, I went to the sweet shop to find the boss. We hadn’t been talking long when…” Sensing Tsunade’s gravity, Kushina recounted everything in detail, especially the question Karn had asked Minato. Kushina was no fool. Upon reflection, she realized there had been something off in Minato’s words; though perhaps it wasn’t Minato, but rather that ANBU operative.

He had time to notify Minato, a mere genin, but not to help directly? Was the ANBU simply incompetent, or acting on orders? Who in Konoha had the authority to command ANBU?

“Those damn bastards!” Tsunade cursed aloud upon hearing the story, wishing she could march straight to the Hokage’s office and drag out the mastermind.

“Kushina, let me take you home first.” Once she’d seen Kushina safely back, she would go confront those old fools herself.

“Tsunade, will the boss come back?” Kushina asked anxiously. She had sensed the change in Karn’s mood; if he never returned to Konoha, she would lose the only friend she could truly confide in.

“He’ll definitely be back. You don’t need to worry about this,” Tsunade reassured her. After dropping Kushina off, she headed toward the Hokage’s office and ran into Orochimaru along the way.

“Orochimaru, what are you doing here?”

Orochimaru smiled slightly, “You left suddenly in the middle of our work, and the old man asked me to wait here for you. So, here I am.”

“So it really is them…” Tsunade’s rage flared up again. The Extremis Virus that Karn possessed was crucial for Nawaki’s recovery—these fools!

“Are you going to stop me?”

“No, Tsunade. I’m on your side. If you need me, I’ll go with you to see the old man,” Orochimaru quickly raised his hands in surrender, not eager to be on the receiving end of Tsunade’s wrath. His body-modification jutsu was still theoretical and far from complete.

“I’d just like to be included in the research. I’m very curious about what you’ve mentioned. Besides, Nawaki is my student—I want to help however I can, Tsunade.”

Hearing this, Tsunade’s anger cooled a little, and she agreed, “Fine, you can join me. But first, you’re coming with me to the Hokage’s office!”