By the time Tsunade arrived at the Hokage's office, not only was the Third Hokage present—Uchiha Fugaku was there as well.
Upon seeing the head of the Uchiha clan, Tsunade couldn't help clicking her tongue inwardly. She felt the old man was really sticking his nose where it didn't belong.
"Tsunade, you know why I called you here," the Third Hokage said solemnly."Why did you attack Uchiha Yoichi inside the village just now?"
He had just finished lightly reprimanding Uchiha Fugaku over the rule about not attacking fellow villagers—only to turn around and find that his own student had gone after Uchiha Yoichi instead.
One of the Three Sannin chasing a Uchiha chūnin all over the village—nearly even reaching outside the clan territory?
When Hiruzen Sarutobi heard the report, he had been so shocked he nearly dropped the crystal ball.
If the ANBU knew about it, then the Police Force definitely knew as well. In Sarutobi's eyes, Tsunade had been far too impulsive—she had completely ignored her own status.
"Lady Tsunade," Fugaku spoke up at this moment,"if Uchiha Yoichi offended you in any way, I will have him come to your home personally to apologize."
That remark made Tsunade feel a bit awkward.
The other party had already taken the initiative to apologize, and since the one who offended her was Uchiha Yoichi, it wasn't appropriate for her to lash out at Fugaku.
"It's nothing," Tsunade said curtly."This has nothing to do with your Uchiha clan. It's a personal matter between me and that brat."
She then clicked her tongue and turned to Sarutobi.
"Old man, don't blow this out of proportion. I already mentioned this to you before. Today was just me losing my temper—but that kid was spouting nonsense first. I only acted on impulse."
With that, Tsunade turned around and left outright.
Her abrupt departure left Sarutobi feeling somewhat embarrassed. Among his three students, Tsunade had always had the worst temper—sometimes she even snapped at him during jōnin meetings when she got worked up.
But everyone in Konoha knew this, so Fugaku simply lowered his gaze and pretended he hadn't seen anything.
"Fugaku," Sarutobi said after a pause,"Tsunade did mention this to me before. I was busy at the time and forgot."
He then explained to Fugaku that Uchiha Yoichi was capable of Lightning Release Chakra Mode, a ninjutsu-taijutsu hybrid technique.
Using Lightning Release to stimulate cells and increase physical speed was fairly common.But Lightning Release Chakra Mode itself was a secret technique of the Cloud Village.
Fugaku frowned slightly upon hearing this. After thinking for a moment, he replied:
"Hokage-sama, some time ago, Yoichi taught himself a second chakra nature and learned cellular activation. As for Lightning Release Chakra Mode, I believe there may be a misunderstanding."
Yoichi's Sharingan wouldn't lie, and his life in Konoha had been completely traceable—there was no possibility he was a Cloud Village spy.
Even if he truly could use Lightning Release Chakra Mode, it might have been something he obtained by coincidence.
Fugaku recalled a previous mission of Yoichi's: he had encountered an elite Cloud ninja squad. Of the four-man chūnin team, only Yoichi survived—and he had returned with intelligence on Cloud Village movements.
If Yoichi had ever had a chance to acquire Lightning Release Chakra Mode, that mission would have been it.
"Mm. I also believe Uchiha Yoichi isn't a spy," Sarutobi said gently."This may truly be a coincidence. Fugaku, I'll leave communication with Yoichi to you. I'll handle Tsunade's side."
"I understand, Third Hokage," Fugaku nodded.
"Crazy woman," Uchiha Yoichi muttered after returning home."Isn't she supposed to be drowning in grief and gambling right now? Why does she look at me like I'm her mortal enemy the moment she sees me?"
Once inside his house, Yoichi finally relaxed a little. This was Uchiha clan territory—no matter how domineering Tsunade was, she wouldn't charge in here.
As for earlier, he hadn't had a chance to retreat into the clan grounds. Outsiders weren't welcome there, so after hiring Kakashi as a swordsmanship sparring partner, he had been training in the forest near the village outskirts.
"The commotion in the village was pretty big. ANBU might show up any moment—and in my current state, I absolutely can't handle interrogation."
"And this Eavesdropping Honest Gentleman ability has to be dealt with too. If I keep talking like this, the first person I'll kill will be myself."
Yoichi thought through several ways to restrict the ability and decided to test them.
After using the ability many times, he had developed a solid understanding of the power roulette. The abilities followed rules—but they weren't impossible to limit.
He grabbed some paper and a pen, left his house, and decided to find someone random to test things on.
Not long after wandering around the clan area, Yoichi spotted some familiar faces—
Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin.
"Senior Yoichi!"
Obito noticed him too, waving excitedly as he and Rin walked over.
Yoichi had absolutely no fondness for Obito.
The Uchiha clan already leaned toward extremes—and Obito was the most extreme of them all, practically a walking binary switch.
But since he had run into them anyway, Yoichi decided to use them as test subjects.
Crack.
Yoichi directly dislocated his own jaw.
Then he walked up to Obito and Rin and casually wrote a question on the paper:
"Did Kakashi go back?"
"He already left!" Obito replied immediately."Damn it— I wanted to duel him! Looks like he knows I've gotten stronger and is scared he'll lose, so he refuses to fight me no matter what!"
Once Kakashi came up, Obito suddenly had endless things to say. But remembering what had just happened, his excitement was soon overtaken by curiosity.
"Senior Yoichi," Obito asked,"did you just escape from one of the Three Sannin, Lady Tsunade? Why was she chasing you—and so angrily?"
Yoichi instinctively tried to answer—but no sound came out.
With his jaw dislocated, he physically couldn't speak.
Perfect. I've got a solution.
Dislocating his jaw was a crude method, but there were many ways to stop himself from talking. He could even have the ninja tool shop make a half-mask designed specifically to restrict speech.
"Senior Yoichi?" Rin asked hesitantly.
Yoichi wrote on the paper:
"It has nothing to do with you. Don't ask."
Then he turned and headed straight for the ninja tool shop. He needed to place a rush order—something ready by tomorrow.
On the way, he popped his jaw back into place. He'd learned some basic first aid from a former teammate, which was how he could dislocate and reset it himself.
It hurt, though.
This matter couldn't be delayed. Until he got that speech-restricting half-mask, Uchiha Yoichi fully intended to live inside the ninja tool shop.