Although it was only one hour of contact, Raizen was also very sincere, and did not hide anything from Mito's questions, but imperceptibly, he was always pulling closer his relationship with her Mito.
If it were an ordinary person, they would only feel comfortable getting along with Raizen, and wouldn't think more about it.
But how rich was Mito's experience? Her ability to judge people and things far exceeded that of ordinary people, how could she not see through Raizen's intentions?
Although she trusted the Nine-Tails' judgment of Raizen's good or evil emotions, combined with her own rich experience, she was confident she had basically understood Raizen's thoughts and character.
'But this silly girl of mine, being with someone so deep and calculating, is that a blessing or a curse?'
"Grandma, what are you thinking?", Tsunade saw her grandmother's face full of worry and muttered unhappily.
"It's nothing," Mito smiled lightly and continued, "I just want to tell you, Raizen's greatest goodwill is toward the Namikaze family."
"Especially toward his younger brother Minato, it could be said he loves him down to the bone. Perhaps you could think of a method from that aspect."
Tsunade's eyes couldn't help but light up.
'Maybe it really can work.'
'A roundabout strategy. If Minato accepts my goodwill, won't it become simple then?'
"But what I didn't expect is that his malice toward Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzo, and Koharu Utatane is extremely strong, surpassing the sum of his malice toward all other people."
"Especially toward Koharu, it can't even be called malice anymore. It's outright hatred down to the bone. I'm afraid that if he has the chance, he'll kill Koharu without hesitation."
"I don't even know where such strong hatred of his comes from."
"I do know something," Tsunade explained softly, and then recounted everything she knew about Koharu Utatane's years of crazed exploitation and harsh, bitter humiliation toward Raizen.
Upon hearing this, Mito didn't know what to say.
She just felt surprised. Was the Koharu Utatane Tsunade spoke of really that obedient and understanding girl who once followed behind Tobirama?
So it still requires deep contact to truly judge a person's true nature and morality.
If it weren't for the help of the Nine-Tails, she wouldn't have dared to believe Raizen so quickly.
"Looks like the harm Koharu left him is indelible," Mito murmured.
"But Tsunade, helping Raizen isn't impossible," Mito said, "He doesn't hold resentment toward the village, nor much opinion about the other villagers."
"But his attitude toward the village leadership… we can't rule out the possibility that Raizen may become our enemy in the future."
"But can you blame Raizen for that?", Tsunade, in order to help Raizen, was already somewhat losing her objectivity, "Isn't it all caused by granduncle in the first place?"
"Right, is Raizen's malice toward granduncle strong?"
"What surprises me is, it's actually not particularly strong. Far less than toward Koharu, and even less than toward Danzo and Hiruzen," Mito was truly surprised.
Originally, she thought Raizen would hate Tobirama the most as the main culprit, but who would've thought this kid didn't hate Tobirama that much.
Even Raizen himself didn't realize that ever since he obtained Senju Tobirama's talent, his hatred toward Tobirama had gradually decreased as the benefits from the talent increased.
Cursing Senju Tobirama had become merely a habit for him, not true hatred down to the bone.
"Why is it like this?", Tsunade asked in confusion.
"Maybe it's because of you," Mito teased with a smile.
"He… he hates me so much now, how could it be because of me…"
"Maybe it's the result of spending a long time with you, gradually fading away," Mito explained, "So Tsunade, I want to ask you one final question."
Tsunade swallowed nervously and nodded.
"Do you have the confidence to hold on to Raizen?"
"I… before today, I had confidence. Recently, my relationship with him has gotten better and better. But now… I'm not sure."
"But…", Tsunade added, "If I work together with his younger brother, I think I can do it."
"But even if I can hold on, if sensei and Koharu insist on eliminating him and constantly provoke conflict, what then?", Tsunade voiced her concern.
"Grandma, can you persuade them?"
Mito shook her head self-deprecatingly, "I'm just a retiree at home."
"Although they still show me respect on the surface, they are increasingly going through the motions, everything they do for me is just a performance."
"Power… is truly a bleeding knife. In just seven years, I feel like I hardly recognize them anymore."
"Forget it, since we've talked this far, go call Raizen in."
"From the conversation earlier, I saw that the child has his own ideas. As long as I can temporarily stabilize Hiruzen, maybe he can break the deadlock himself."
———
After Raizen returned to the backyard, Mito, Tsunade, and he held a long private discussion.
In the end, it was indeed Raizen himself who proposed the method to break the deadlock.
Tsunade was extremely surprised that Raizen had such foresight, while Mito remained calm.
She deeply understood how much potential a person could burst forth for the sake of survival.
From the results of her probing, she believed Raizen's nature was not bad.
It's just that this child, being able to survive in such an environment for so many years, and even had already started setting up a plan involving Tsunade years ago to break the deadlock, how could he not have a backup plan?
That's right, Mito had seen through Raizen using Tsunade to break the deadlock.
But she wasn't very angry either, because from her years of experience, she could tell Raizen had truly developed feelings for Tsunade.
'But what is this then? Twisted love?'
'Forget it, children and grandchildren have their own blessings, let them go.'
Regarding this, Mito, who always had good judgment, didn't say more.
———
Early the next morning, Mito personally made a trip to the Hokage's office.
She told Hiruzen about Raizen's recent development of three unprecedentedly effective medical ninjutsu techniques.
And mentioned that Raizen had told Tsunade he would teach her those techniques as part of a medical exchange between them.
She said she was happy when she heard Tsunade mention this matter, which was why she came to Hiruzen to talk about it.
As of now, one of the jutsu was basically complete, it was the one he used during the previous competition with Tsunade.
However, the other two jutsu required reference to some advanced existing medical ninjutsu. She came to ask for some less classified ones on behalf of Raizen.
She also stated that once Tsunade mastered these jutsu, she would immediately start training a group of medical ninja for the village.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was, of course, very happy.
Tsunade was the definitive Hokage candidate, pure lineage and his proud disciple.
As long as Tsunade mastered those three jutsu, wouldn't that mean Konoha also had them?
Such a good thing, of course Hiruzen wouldn't refuse. He was even looking forward to seeing the effects of those jutsu.
Along with that, his desire to get rid of Raizen was temporarily set aside.
As long as Raizen could provide value to Konoha, he didn't mind keeping him around for now.
After all, just a powerless medical ninja, what waves could he possibly stir up?
Moreover, word had already spread in Konoha about Raizen and Tsunade. If the two of them could end up together, letting Raizen go wasn't out of the question either.
Wouldn't it be better to let him continue contributing his talents to Konoha?
Without Hatake Sakumo snitching, missing a crucial piece of information, Hiruzen naturally wouldn't think too much.
Tsunade, on the other hand, at noon received an invitation from Koharu Utatane, and once again headed to the pharmaceutical department.
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