Laying down the Law

Chapter 33: Laying down the Law

I let out a small sigh as I looked over a report from ANBU about Orochimaru's possible movements that had arrived on my desk overnight, the report detailing some odd happenings going on within the Land of Sea, most likely the same thing that happened in the 'filler' of the show and made a note for ANBU to investigate it further.

A knock on the door drew my attention away from the report. "Enter," I called out to the knockee.

"Hokage-sama," Inoichi greeted with a smile as he entered the room, respectfully closing the door behind him as he entered. "I'm here with a report on Tsunade-sama's progress."

I blinked before nodding, setting the report aside before activating the soundproofing and anti-surveillance seals built within the walls. "So, how bad is the damage?" I questioned preparing myself mentally for the report.

"Well, like with all psychological issues, there is never going to be a complete cure," he reminded me, pulling out a notepad and flipped it open. "It will take months of therapy before I think she'll be ready to operate on someone without flinching from the blood, and dealing with her issues of loss will take even longer, but her mental foundations, while eroded from years of alcoholism and gambling addictions, are still stable enough for her to eventually be able to return to active duty if she wishes to."

I nodded slowly in response. "And what is it you have told her?" I prompted him to continue.

"I told her she is going to have to stop drinking if she wishes for any real progress with therapy," Inoichi replied with a shake of her head. "As you would expect, she was not very open to that. Even if she is a medical genius, addictions are hard things to kick. But, she didn't deny it outright so I will take a victory where I can."

I let out a sigh as I rubbed my face, there definitely several options with shinobi that ended up like Tsunade, leaving aside the 'Therapy Jutsu' that Naruto-kun had used on her in the original timeline. The first, and easiest, is to remove her from the corps and disavow her as a Konoha Shinobi, even with the political fallout, it would still be the easiest option as it would allow them to place specially designed seals to keep her from working with any enemies of Konoha. But, it was also a waste of potential resources that she could bring forth, such as her medical knowledge and skill.

Second was a rather… brutal method. We could essentially break down every bit that was 'Tsunade Senju' until only a shell remained and rebuild the remains into a loyal shinobi of Konoha. Pretty much what Danzo did in ROOT, and with certain individuals, such as useful psychopaths or sociopaths. The issue with that plan would be the loss of what made Tsunade such a brilliant medic in the first place, and her ability to do anything but fighting or healing, including teaching. Not to mention it would devastate Hiruzen-sama and Jiraiya-sama to see her in such a state as well.

Finally, there was the most time extensive option, but also the most humane option: putting her through therapy, which wasn't a guarantee that it would work, after all, therapy was a two way street, the therapist could do all they can do, but if the patient didn't make the effort to follow through, than nothing would change. But, hey, wouldn't be the first long shot gamble I made. "Keep it up with the therapy," I told him. "Remind her that if she really does want to take charge of the hospital and start training medical ninja that she will have to drop her drinking, I will not have a drunk ruining either the place where we recover and mend our injured, or ruining the people who do so."

Inoichi nodded. "As you wish, Hokage-sama," he replied easily. "I'll do my level best to make sure she'll get on the right track."

"Thank you, Inoichi," I told him gratefully as I dropped the seals. "Here's hoping she follows through with it."

Inoichi nodded with a smile as he left the office, stepping to the side as Jiraiya strolled in as soon as he opened the door.

"Hello, Jiraiya-sama," I greeted him with a smile as the sannin walked in, Inochi excusing himself. "How did things go?"

"Fair to middling." the Toad Sage sighed as he leaned against the wall next to the windows. "On the plus-side, all of Orochimaru's bases in the Land of Rice Paddies, including the one used as the 'official' base for Otogakure, have been destroyed and all the shinobi who were manning them are either dead or captured. The Fuhma Clan of the Land of Rice Paddies has also come along."

"That is good news." I nodded. "That's on the plus side...what about the negative side?"

"I had to kill the next heir to the Fuhma Clan, Arashi, who had gone mad and used one of Orochimaru's crazy kinjutsu to merge with two of his dead subordinates." Jiraiya-sama answered heavily. Although he had, like me, walked through an ocean of blood in his time as shinobi, that didn't mean he liked to kill. "The new Heir...or rather, Heiress is a girl called Sasame and she's pretty down in the dumps about it because Arashi was her cousin. She also refuses to talk to me unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Understandable." I sighed. Sasame had been inconsolable in the anime, but hadn't blamed Naruto-kun for it. "Have her sent to me at some point so I can explain things to her and maybe introduce her to Naruto-kun. She could use a friend. Anything else on the bad news front?"

"All of the bases were abandoned." the old ninja said grimly. "For all intents and purposes, Orochimaru left the lower-ranking Otogakure personnel to whatever fate we chose do deal out. He took all of his experiments, higher-ranking personnel and his notes and fled. Looks as if it happened right about the same time the Invasion happened, maybe a couple of days afterwards at most."

"As cautious and sneaky as ever." I grumbled. "Well it was a longshot, after all, so eliminating those bases will prevent him from reusing them in the long run at least. Good work, Jiraiya-sama. How many Fuhma Clan members came along?"

"Everyone that was left in the clan, so about...seventy-five or so." the Toad Sage rubbed his headband thoughtfully. "Plus a few former Otogakure members who had become Missing Ninja and had joined up with the Fuhma. That makes it almost ninety."

That made my eyebrows shoot up. The only Fuhma Clan members that I had seen in the original timeline had been the bandit-faction and the four idiots who had been the most powerful members of the clan and had been tricked by Orochimaru. That had been less than twenty people. I guess I'd never seen the noncombatants though, so that might account for it.

"Have their leader sent to see me at some point and we'll thrash out an agreement for the integration of the Fuhma into the Shinobi Forces and assign them housing in the Clan Residential district." I said, internally wincing at the paperwork I had just landed myself.

"I can see some of the Clans grumbling about that." Jiraiya-sama observed.

"Mostly the ones who are smaller than the Fuhma." I snorted. "They may not be the Clan that invented the Fuhma Shuriken, but tell me Jiraiya-sama...did you have to put effort into fighting Arashi and the other members of the Fuhma that were Orochimaru's supporters?"

"Yep. That [Curse Mandala Jutsu] of theirs that Arashi used was a pain in the butt to get out of." Jiraiya snorted. "If I hadn't been warned about it by Hanzaki, it may have come close to killing me. One of them, who I saved using some nifty medical jutsu that Tsunade-hime taught me, has a technique called [Antlion Ninja Arts: Ephemeral]. It's definitely a Kinjutsu due to the fact that the user is on the edge of death after using it, but it had me on the ropes for a few minutes. Add in the supplementary techniques that they used to track me down and throw in some remedial lessons in using the Academy Three and I think they'd be very formidable."

"There you have it. Any clan that can train a member or members that makes one of the Sannin take them even slightly seriously is an asset to Konoha." I said firmly. "More strength for Konoha, a safe harbour for the Fuhma Clan and less power for Orochimaru. Win-Win-Win, I say."

"I agree." the old shinobi grinned before becoming serious. "What did Inoichi have to say about Tsunade?"

"That she needs to cut back on the booze." I said bluntly. "She's using it as a crutch to numb herself against the pain. As long as she's using that, she won't try to move forward. A few cups is fine, but drinking several jugs a night is ridiculous. Any kind of persuasive power you can bring to bear would be appreciated, Jiraiya-sama."

"For all the good it'll do, I try." the Toad Sage snorted. "Tsunade's always marched to her own drummer, going her way or no way. Getting sensei to talk to her would help more."

"I don't want to impose on Hiruzen-sama. He's retired, for the second time, and he deserves some peace and quiet." I said firmly. "He's already doing some major good by taking Sasuke-kun as an apprentice and I don't want to push him on that. The Leaf owes him too much for me to impose on him."

Seriously, he'd led Konoha through the second half of the Second Great Shinobi War after the death of the Second Hokage, the entirety of the Third Great Shinobi War, and all the years of peace between and since, aside from the few, too short, years of his successor, Minato-sama. Onoki had reigned for longer, but the sheer level of respect and practical worship that the citizens of Konoha had for Hiruzen-sama was incredible.

Add in my own level of respect for him, led me to the decision that Hiruzen-sama's retirement was to be a permanent one. Although, there was also a medical reason for my decision to ensure his retirement was a permanent one.

He was old, plain and simple, one of the oldest Shinobi around, he was nearly seventy years old, and his use of chakra, while mitigated by advances with medical techniques, still took their toll on him. While he still had at least a decade left in him, if he kept to his retirement, pushing himself further would only shorten that timespan.

He deserved his retirement, something that he never got a chance to do in canon.

Shaking my head I let out a small sigh. "But, if the two do end up crossing paths in the village and talking, not like I can stop them," I commented with a wry grin, getting a chuckle out of the sannin.

"Thank you for taking care of the investigation for me," I told him gratefully smiling at the sannin. "That was the only matter that I needed your help with for the time being."

"Glad to be of help. Now then…" the Toad Sage's face turned somewhat lecherous. "Time to get down to doing my research!"

Rolling my eyes at the older man's bad habits, I waved him out.

Chuckling slightly to myself I leaned back into my seat, despite my complaints when it was first brought up, I was getting used to being the Hokage. In the end, it really wasn't that different from running a clan, just a larger scale in comparison.

And now… we were reaching to point of the time skip from the original series to the 'Shippuden' series. Which also means that Akatsuki was going to start making moves soon enough.

With that in mind I stood up. "Chika-chan, anything else on the planner for today?" I questioned my teammate who poked her head in the room in response.

"Nothing else major," she informed with a shrug. "Going to do some training?"

"Yeah, drop the Kunai if something comes up," I confirmed with a nod.

"Will do, good luck!"

With a flash, I vanished to the training grounds.

Letting out a sigh I looked around and looked at a training ground that had opened up after becoming the Hokage.

Training Ground XX

HOKAGE USE ONLY

LVL REQUIREMENT: 90+

This Training Field contains numerous Chakra Mutated Creatures vying for dominance, be warned, when entered, you life will be at risk.

Are you sure you wish to enter?

Y/N

I took in a careful breath as I began mentally bracing myself, this was not my first time entering this training ground, and honestly, calling it a warzone would be sugar coating it, the training ground was warped by the chakra of the beasts within it, hell, there were even some places where gravity just didn't work.

And said beasts… well… they were no joke. If the seals that held them within the training ground were to somehow fail - which shouldn't be possible considering the seals themselves are within a sub-dimensional pocket - than they stood a strong chance of levelling Konoha as they continued to fight each other.

While they weren't on the level of the Bijuu… it was a damn near thing.

Hitting the Y, I was brought into a desolate wasteland as was immediately forced to dodge out of the way of a bolt of lightning as a massive beast with short, bristling purple fur, looking like it was nothing but pure muscle and rage with two massive horns roared out in the face of a white, insectile dragon-like creature that let out a stream of white fire like chakra in response to the roar.

Behemoth - The Apocalyptic Beast

HP: 900,000

CP: 100,000

Xeno'jiva - The Newborn Elder

HP: 750,000

CP: 250,000

"Fuck," I mumbled as I flicked a tri-pronged kunai a good distance away before triggering Hiraishin as the two beasts began to clash against one another.

Looking around I could see my target goal in the distance, a massive crystalline outcropping in the distance. I had no idea if the 'area boss' was around it, but hey, worth checking out.

A shadow appeared overhead as I let out a groan. Of course, big purple rage beast decided to fuck everything and summon a meteor to wreak everyone's day.

My power surged as I felt my chakra ripple, opening my eyes I looked up at the meteor and held out a hand towards it. "[Shinra Tensei (Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God)]!" My chakra rippled before surging out into the meteor, the ball of rock crushing beneath the power of my Rinnegan, reducing it to mere rubble as the two creatures turned their attention to me.

Oh… shoulda thought that one through as they now perceived me as another threat to the territory they were fighting over.

Letting out a sigh as I dodged out of the way of a blast of lightning from the Behemoth I quickly lashed out with my Kodachi, cutting across the snout of the Xeno'jiva as it moved to bite down on me.

In any other place, I would have assumed either of these two to be the area boss, but… well… the thing was, they weren't. Despite their ridiculous strength, neither of them were the Area Boss.

Letting out a tsk I moved as the Xeno'jiva blasted at me with it's beam attack before summoning a spike of earth under it, spearing it in the gut as it was sent reeling from the attack, the Behemoth moving in to try and grab at me while I was distracted only for my Kodachi to light up with [Chakra Flow: Chakra Scalpel] as I slashed out at him, cutting through the muscles in its paw.

The Behemoth howled in pain and rage as it recoiled, glaring balefully at me as a wind began to pick up around me. I let my power shift as I brought forth a different 'path' before my arm seemed to shift and change, forming a barrel as mechanical parts appeared in my body as the Asura Path flowed through my body. Moving out of the way of the tornado that was forming, I fired the [Asura Attack] through the neck of the Behemoth, cutting it clean off with shocking ease.

Blinking, I switched the 'path' filling my body as I made a trio of hand seals. "[Summoning Rinnegan]!" I placed a hand on the ground as a plume of smoke erupted around me. And then the Xeno'jiva found itself being charged by a large two-headed dog with the purple-eyes of the Rinnegan and black rods embedded in its body.

The beast snarled as it began chomping on one of the wings of the insectile dragon, tearing into the thin membrane of the wings as the Xeno'jiva roared in pain before blasting out with it's beam, slicing it's way down the dog's body, splitting it in two, causing it to slump a bit before the point where it had been split and quickly grew out in a rapid regeneration, leaving two dogs standing there, hale and hearty.

The Xeno'jiva roared out in confusion as it tried to make some distance by flapping its wings, only for the tattered remains of its wings to spasm painfully as the two dogs leapt on it, dragging it to the ground as they savagely began ripping into the dragon as it let out one final shriek before it was silenced.

Once the beast was dead, I dismissed the two dogs back to the summon realm as I turned away and began walking, checking the notification as I moved.

You have defeated Behemoth and Xeno'jiva

93,000 Exp gained

Behemoth Horns and Xeno'jiva hide looted and stored in the Inventory

Closing the window, I continued to move towards the center of the area, doing my best to skirt the various territorial disputes going on with the denizens. My first trip into this training zone had been one giant wakeup call, given that I nearly died several times to the always fighting creatures.

Each and every one of them was an alpha predator worthy enough to be an Area Boss in almost any possible dungeon and field dungeon in the world. All of them possessed strength enough that any one of them could likely give any Boss Summon a run for its money.

Makes me wonder how strong the area boss was, considering all of the creatures avoided the central area like one would avoid the plague.

I paused as suddenly, I felt a small tremor ran through the earth beneath my feet. A tremor that was repeated after a couple of seconds. Looking around for the sourse, I sent a pulse of chakra through the grounds, sensing for the origin of the disturbances my gaze turned to the mass of crystal in the center of the of the training ground.

My eyes widened as the crystal began to shift and move.

"That… is not a mountain," I stated to myself in a shocked tone as it began to rise, a pair of downright massive wings spreading out as an ear piercing roar was let loose, forcing me to cover my ears from the sheer pitch of it, even at the distance I was away from it.

Emperor of Beasts

The Silver Dragon-God

Kur-Rash

HP: 2,000,000

CP: 1,500,000

"By the Kami…" I breathed out as the beast flapped its wings, nearly knocking me over from the rush of air rushing towards me from the mere act. "How did they even seal something like that?"

I quickly activated my [Sharingan] to get a better look at the creature, memorizing it's entire appearance. Appearance wise, the entire creature took the form of a dragon with the clear, silver light pulsing out of the crystals as they jutted out at odd angles from all across its body pushing through the silvery scales that covered it.

I could see [Kur-Rash] looking around briefly before it's startling blue eyes settled on me as they narrowed. Welp, no hiding from this fight it looks like.

Blinking I felt the familiar rush of power fill me as I activated my [Rinnegan] once more. Reaching out with my chakra, several new presences appeared around me as I activated [Yomotsu-hisame (Eight Hags of the Underworld)] and summoned versions of myself from seconds within the past.

Out of every power that my [Rinnegan] gave me, or even any other ability I have, this was my most useful technique, as the 'Yurikos' I summoned didn't disappear after a single hit, had access to my full power when I summoned them, they could each use a different 'Path' of the [Rinnegan], not to mention allowed for us to share our vision.

We didn't even glance at one another as we charged forward, each of us knowing our own roles as Kur-Rash roared at us, volume deafening us for a bit as he took flight, the wind produced from the flaps of his wings halted our movement for a moment as he gained altitude.

My Animal Path quickly formed a set of seals before summoning the [Rinnegan Crow], a massive three legged crow with a pitch black coloration and flames leaking from it's mouth as the group of us jumped onto it's back as it took to the air after Kur-Rash.

Next to me, the Asura Path formed her arm into a large mechanical chakra cannon as she began to aim at the dragon before firing a massive beam of chakra.

We easily tracked its progress, seconds before one of the crystals on its body lit up and began absorbing the chakra at an insane rate.

"How troublesome." the Asura path stated with a frown.

"Indeed, is there a limit?" the Animal path questioned.

"Perhaps, might be best to avoid or break the crystals." the Petra path suggested.

"Test the theory," I commanded as I used the Deva path to begin levitating in the air. "Use elemental chakra to see if it has any effect."

"Understood," the Outer path nodded in agreement as she began to form handseals. "[Fire Release: Hellfire Inferno!]"

We all watched the effects of the fire on Kur-Rash, somewhat effective it seems, as it absorbed some of the chakra, but most of the flames left scorch marks on the scales surrounding the crystal, its HP only being whittled down by a measly dozen.

"Minimal damage," the Preta Path reported.

"We will need to seperate to ensure we all don't get taken out," Asura path pointed out.

"Jump onto Kur-Rash," Animal Path instructed. "I will catch those who fall."

"Setting up Hiraishin kunai," Human Path informed us as she began to pull out the tri-pronged kunai.

"Boarding Kur-Rash," Naraka Path called out as she leapt out onto the body of the Dragon, managing to keep stable footing on the scales without her chakra being absorbed, different paths jumping onto different parts of its body.

The dragon roared in response as it began to buck and rock, trying to knock the paths off its body as they tried to break past the dragon's scales, but the beast's scales were far tougher than even chakra reinforced steel.

"Its defenses are resilient to physical attacks as well."

"Our chakra scalpel is unable to pierce past its scales in addition."

A sigh escaped my lips as I heard their reports. "Clear off the body," I announced. "I will attempt to force it to the ground."

The other paths vanished back onto the summoned bird as Kur-Rash spun in a final attempt to knock them off its back as I gather my chakra. "[Shinra Tensei (Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God)]!" I roared out as I channeled a large amount of my chakra into the technique, the gravity force slamming into Kur-Rash hard enough to shake him as I continued to push more chakra into the Deva Path and its unique technique.

The dragon roared as it forced its head towards me before inhaling, my teeth gritting as I realized it was about to expel its chakra beam at me, only for one of my hiraishin kunai to appear before me as the Preta Path appeared in front of me thrusting their hands out to absorb the chakra from the dragon's chakra beam.

The path was able to absorb a part of the beam before it's body began to burn and was wiped away from existence, but it bought enough time for me to teleport out of the way.

Panting a bit I looked down at Kur-Rash who was looking back at me with baleful eyes as it flapped its wings to regain the altitude it lost.

Using my [Yomotsu-hisame (Eight Hags of the Underworld)] once again to summon a new Preta Path back on the Animal Path's Crow.

"HP has barely dropped," the Asura Path commented with an annoyed tone.

"Same with the CP," the Human Path added.

"Looks like we're in for the long haul with this one," I said with a sigh. "Continue with actions, we can't run now…"

Kur-Rash roared in anger as it was smashed into the ground by another [Shinra Tensei (Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God)], I was panting as it crashed, my Paths quickly moving in on the ground to attack the dragon whose wings were battered and broken.

It had taken me at least 24 hours to get to this point, and he was still around 1 million points of health.

A rumbling sound came from the dragon as it swept its tail around, forcing my paths to back away from it or get smashed. "By the Kami…" I panted out. "What does it take to kill you?"

There was another similar rumbling sound as Kur-Rash turned its gaze to look up at me with a grin on its face, making me realize that it was laughing at me.

My teeth gritting together in anger at the fact that this overgrown lizard was laughing at me. "Oh go fuck yourself!" I cursed it as I placed my hands together and began channeling yin and yang chakra together the other paths eyes widening in shock as they quickly made some more distance from the dragon. "[Yin-Yang Release: Annihilation of the Heavens]!" I shouted out angrily as a ball of black chakra formed in front of me before it cracked on the surface facing Kur-Rash before blasting out in a beam of chakra that slammed into Kur-Rash, making the Dragon roar out in pain as it was thrown to the ground once again.

The Preta Path appeared behind me with a quick teleport before pulling us both to the ground before I completely collapsed. Once we were on the ground, the Path started channeling chakra into my body to restore my depleted reserves.

"That injured him more," Asura Path noted.

"Can't continue with that attack however," Human Path grimaced.

"What else can we use?" Animal Path questioned.

"One more thing," I stated as I stood up, the ground rumbling as the dragon began to rise up as well, a massive amount of scarring on its face as it turned to glare at us. "Buy time, I will begin using [Chibaku Tensei (Heavenly Body Bursting from the Earth)]."

The Paths looked at each other before nodding in unison. "That will work," they agreed.

"[Rinnegan Summoning]," the Animal path summoned forth a massive white Tiger with black stripes along its body that immediately began to charge Kur-Rash who let out a deafening roar in challenge to the creature.

I closed my eyes as I began to channel chakra between my hands, condensing the gravity in the area into a small singular point as a black sphere began to form.

Asura Path leapt off of the back of the summoned tiger as both of her arms began to shift into enlarged cannons while Preta path had her hands on the Asura Path's back. The blast from the combined Paths carved into the ground before slamming into the flank of Kur-Rash, knocking it off balance enough for the tiger to pounce, clamping it's jaws around the dragon's neck.

My focus was absolute, as I continued to channel chakra into the sphere before me, the gravity within the sphere growing denser and denser as I began to aim it above Kur-Rash.

The Human Path appeared on the opposite side of the dragon of the Asura and Preta Paths, forming several hand seals before slamming her hands into the ground. "[Earth Release: Grand Tectonic Movement]!" she declared before the area around Kur-Rash began to splinter and rock, throwing the dragon further off balance as it was pitched onto its side, the Human Path teleporting out of the way before she was crushed underneath.

Denser, the gravity within the sphere had to be denser or Kur-Rash would never be caught up within it, the aim had to be perfect.

"[Earth Release: Stone Prison]!" the Outer and Naraka Paths shouted in unison as stone chains erupted from the ground, wrapping themselves around the dragon before thick bars of stone rose up and closed themselves over top of the dragon.

A rumbling was heard before the dragon unleashed a violent roar into the air, actually sending the tiger on its throat and the chains around its body to go flying from the sheer pressure produced from the roar. It's tail then lashed out around itself, smashing through the stone bars as it turned its gaze to the Paths around it as it inhaled.

The blast of chakra it exhaled was unlike any that were seen before, blinding a couple of the Paths from its brilliance shortly before it wiped them from the face of existence with only the Asura and Outer Paths managing to escape in time.

It was ready. "[Chibaku Tensei (Heavenly Body Bursting from the Earth)]!" I announced as the sphere of gravity was launched above the dragon, Kur-Rash's eyes following it for a moment dismissively before they widened in shock at the sight of the sphere as the chakra casing containing it dissolved.

The entire training ground rocked in protest before everything began to get lifted into the sphere, Kur-Rash roaring as it struggled against it, the only thing keeping me and my remaining two paths on the ground was the fact that I was using a part of my power to produce a gravity field around us as the rest of the training ground was slowly being lifted and pulled to the sphere.

Several of the creatures nearby being pulled along with Kur-Rash as it flapped its broken wings in an attempt to break free of the technique, several large boulders slamming into its body forcing it off balance and sending it closer towards the sphere.

The two remaining paths shared a look before nodding, dashing out of the protective circle to allow themselves to be caught up in the gravity, aiming themselves at Kur-Rash.

Chakra flared through their bodies as they enhanced themselves beyond my own limits, uncaring of any injuries they gained as a result, overcharging the jutsu they were channeling.

"[Earth Release: Earth Dragon Devastation]"

"[Fire Release: Great Flame Dragon Extermination]"

The two jutsus launched at Kur-Rash, taking the form of eastern dragons with serpentine bodies wrapped around the dragon as it fought against the techniques as my remaining two paths faded.

The final nail in Kur-Rash's coffin was when it impacted against the dense sphere of gravity, the beast roaring as it began to be buried in the rubbed flying at the sphere, growing in size before a moon size rock with an entrapped Kur-Rash as it's core floated above me.

Letting one last gasp, I release the technique, feeling myself stagger from chakra exhaustion as I suddenly found myself back at the entrance to the training grounds with a pop-up before me.

Congratulations, you have defeated Kur-Rash in the Final Training Ground!

500,000 Exp Gained

5x Pure Chakra Crystals, 3x Kur-Rash Scales, 2x Kur-Rash bones and 4x Kur-Rash fangs looted and stored within your inventory.

For defeating Kur-Rash you have been granted a one-time use summoning scroll to summon Kur-Rash to fight by your side in battle!

You have gained a level!

Well… fuck that was actually useful.

I blinked at the popup for a moment before a chuckled overcame me, one that quickly dissolved into laughter as I shook my head and looked up at the sky, seeing the sun had only moved a little bit from it's position when I left.

Just so you are aware, time is accelerated within that training ground, it had to be for that boss fight.

I snorted in response. "Thanks," I told my friend as I began to make my way home, my body stiff and sore from over 24 hours of constant fighting against a goddamn dragon the size of a mountain.

Upside though, I now had the perfect weapon again Madara, other than myself.

Let's see you top this Madara!

"Hey, Tsunade-san is looking to speak with you, Yuriko." Aoi called out to me as he entered my office.

Looking up, I raised an eyebrow at my teammate. "Yeah? What is she looking to speak with me about?" I asked him.

Aoi shrugged in response. "Something about the changes you made to the medic-nin curriculum for the Academy," he replied casually. "She looked pissed about it too."

I let out a sigh as I rubbed my forehead. I knew this was coming, and I still wasn't looking forward to it. "Alright, let her in," I told him. "Before she decides to just smash my door down."

Aoi snorted in response. "Alright, good luck," he replied before stepping out of the room, the stomping feet of Tsunade heard soon after as she stormed into my office.

"What the hell is the meaning of this!?" she shouted at me angrily.

I met her angry gaze with an impassive one as I quickly took in the person who could have been the fifth Hokage and found her looking far healthier than when I had last seen her, it seemed that she was keeping to her sobriety plan, which was good.

"And by this, I assume you mean my removal of your 'rules' to the lessons?" I questioned evenly in response.

"Of course! Are you wanting all your medics to be killed!" Tsunade demanded of me with an angry scowl as she slammed her hands on my desk, my eyes flicking to the cracks that formed in the wood.

"Do be careful of the desk," I noted before meeting her gaze as she fumed even more. "Tsunade-san, while your 'rules' would work with support medics, not every medic is a support medic, especially when only a handful every generation can meet your exacting requirements for the [Creation Rebirth - Strength of a Hundred] technique, which is one of your little rules if memory serves; 'Only one who has mastered this jutsu may ignore the three preceeding rules' isn't it?"

"Because if they don't, then how can they heal their allies if they're dead!" Tsunade retorted angrily.

"How can we heal our allies if our allies are dead from our inaction?" I countered, my eyes flashing with anger for the first time before I calmed myself. "Sometimes, the best way to heal our allies is by ensuring that they don't need to be healed in the first place!"

The two of us glared at each other for several moments. "Tsunade-san, there is a reason we medics have developed our own taijutsu. If we medics aren't to fight then why even bother learning how to in the first place," I questioned evenly. "Not all of us believe that your way is the best way, hence why your rules," I spat the word out with a scowl. "That you decided on yourself with no input from anyone else, are best suited for the support medics who are regulated to the rear lines."

"How dare you!" Tsunade growled angrily as she pressed down on my desk, leaning in an attempt to intimidate me.

"How dare you!" I countered back with a scowl of my own as I rose up to meet her gaze.

Okay… how did it come to this? I asked myself as I found myself in a standard training ground, across from Tsunade who was cracking her knuckles in preparation for our bout.

Oh yeah… we're both stubborn, quick to anger and have temper issues.

I let out a small sigh as I took up a stance, not really seeing a need to draw my sword or use my sharingan.

Tsunade let out a growl as she leapt at me, her fist cocked back as she went in for a haymaker, obviously wanting to end this quickly to 'put me in my place'.

Even without my enhanced eyesight I was easily able to move out of the way with ease of her strike before striking back at her with a pair of hard blows to her abdomen before I backed out of the way of her backhand as she tried to put some distance between us.

Distance that I wasn't about to allow her as I shot in close, slamming my fist into her abdomen again, forcing her to cough out in pain as she swung at me again with a haymaker.

"It's quite obvious why you need the [Genesis Rebirth] technique if this is how you have always fought," I commented with a disappointed tone as I swayed out of the way of her blows again. "Your attacks are painfully easy to predict," I grabbed her outstretched wrist and quickly threw her over my shoulder, throwing her into the ground. "Your guard is non-existent, and you can't even move out of the way of my blows."

Tsunade's anger was palpable as she rose up from the ground, glaring angrily at me. "Just keep running your mouth," she growled at me. "We'll see how well you can when I land a punch on your face."

I let out a sigh of disappointment as I dodged another haymaker and smashed my own fist into her face, I could feel the cartilage of her nose breaking beneath my fist as she was thrown back a bit.

I didn't even give her a chance to recover as I slipped into a modified [Strong Fist] stance that I picked up from my time sparring with Guy and hammered my fist, several times into her sternum, forcing the air out of her.

As she crashed into the ground she looked up, her eyes widening as she saw my heel descending down upon her in an axe kick that smashed into her shoulder, a cracking sound echoing through the training ground as bones broke.

Letting out a sigh I took a step back from Tsunade who let out a groan of pain. "So, do you think I should remain on the back lines because I chose to specialize Iryojutsu?" I questioned in a bored tone. "Your rules work for you, not everyone else, I refuse to allow the talent of any medics under my command to be wasted because of the rules that you decided to put upon them," I turned and began to walk away. "Do not forget, that I am the Hokage of this village, you lost that chance by running away from your problems."

I didn't bother to look back as I stalked out of the training ground, doing my best to ignore the slight sob that escaped from the Sannin's throat. It didn't feel good, having to do that to the woman, but it needed to be done, hopefully this would break her out of the box that she restrained herself and others in with those rules of hers.

END CHAPTER!