Chapter 94: Chapter 94: Searching for Tsunade
The first thing that Naruto did was contact Jiraiya who was somewhere in Kumo dealing with spying stuff for Konoha, Naruto didn't know what Jiraiya's job really was other than running Konoha's spy network, but if there was a person that you could get information from then it was Jiraiya.
Naruto had a scroll that he could communicate use to communicate with Jiraiya, all he needed to do was write down what he wanted to say and send a pulse through the scroll, which would alert the receiver of the message who could then send an answer back through the scroll.
Naruto sent Jiraiya a message asking for the latest news about Tsunade also informing him that Tsunade had been chosen as the next Hokage and that he was to bring her back to the village.
After a few minutes Naruto received a message from Jiraiya informing him that Tsunade had last been sighted at a village a few days of travel away from Konoha, that is if you were to go at civilian speeds, Naruto had no time to waste so he traveled as fast as he could and arrived at said village in all but 45 minutes.
Naruto sent out a pulse of chakra not feeling any large chakra signatures, Tsunade had most likely already left.
Naruto headed into the village and found a small gambling bar, Tsunade was the most famous, or rather infamous gambler in the elemental nations, she had a losing streak uncomparable to anyone else and owed millions of Ryo to countless gamblers, gang bosses, casino owners and other business owners who she had gambled with, all in all, she was know as the legendary sucker not for her skills but for her shitty luck.
Naruto entered the bar and found a few men playing Cho-han, and some other people sitting at tables sipping liquor and having fun.
Now the usual civilian's reaction to seeing an almost 2-meter tall guy with a giant sword on his back, and various scars on his face was to immediately shut up and mind their business, which is exactly what happened, the joyous atmosphere immediately disappeared and everyone nervously watched Naruto as he walked over to the men playing the gambling game.
"I have heard rumors of Senju Tsunade being sighted here, have you seen her?" Naruto asked not wanting to waste any time.
One of the men at the table gulped and spoke "U-uh yeah she was here 2 days ago, she played a few games with us but left without paying, I remember her muttering something about a festival and gambling." The man said.
Naruto nodded and took out 5 thousand Ryo, a usual month's salary for the average civilian in small towns, and dropped it on the table "Thank you for the information, I apologize for the inconvenience, have a great night." Naruto said curtly and nodded at the man that gave him the information, he then turned around and left the bar.
Naruto only knew of 1 festival that was going to occur soon, and it was the gambling festival at Tanzaku town, it was around a week's distance away for civilians from the village he was at, it was starting to get dark so Naruto decided to rent a room at an inn and continue in the morning.
The night passed quickly and Naruto woke up early in the morning to continue his search.
If he traveled at top speed he would be able to reach Tanzaku town in an hour or 2 so he left immediately, although he doubted that Tsunade had already reached the village, she probably wouldn't even travel at Chunin speeds which would make it so that it would take her at least a week to arrive at Tanzaku town, she would also most likely stop at various towns to either gamble or to rest.
Naruto started running on a route that would take him past multiple villages and arrived at the first one in 25 minutes, it was another small village with a decent inn and a small bar that had yet to open as it was very early in the morning.
In fact, the only people awake were the people working in the fields near the village.
Naruto walked up to a man that was watering the crops in the field "I apologize sir but have you perhaps seen a blonde woman in green robes traveling through the town?"
The man looked at Naruto and realized he was a ninja and immediately answered: "Ah yes I have she passed through here two days ago but she only stopped for a drink while I was in the bar, I'm pretty sure she left afterward." The man looked down at the ground not daring to look up.
This was how life was for usual civilians, they didn't have to power to do anything so they hoped that the ninja visiting their village didn't get angered by them and left without killing anyone, they couldn't do anything against it after all.
Naruto looked at the man sadly, he didn't like that the people with power could do whatever they wanted, if he wanted to he could destroy entire villages with no repercussions, it was how the world of Shinobi worked.
Naruto grabbed 5 thousand Ryo from his inventory once again and handed it to the man "Thank you for the information sir, I hope you have a great day." Naruto said and smiled at the man.
It had become a habit for Naruto to thank people with a few thousand while on missions where he needed to ask for information from civilians.
Naruto didn't waste any more time and immediately move on to the next village hoping to find Tsunade as soon as possible, the situation in Konoha had stabilized but the thing that was needed the most right now was a leader, Konoha needed a leader that could lift the morale of the civilians and lower ranked ninja, without them, Konoha would be nothing but people jaded by countless missions and death.
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Happy new year everyone! I hope you've all had a great year and I hope we all have a good 2023!
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