Gulp… gulp… gulp… Haah…

Tsunade chugs down another bottle of sake. ​​

Hicc…

"I like this journey. I get to drink lots of booze and gamble. I hope such days will last forever."

Tsunade turns to Izuna.

"You made quite the haul. I bet that A would be cursing you right now."

Haha… haha…

"It was worth the effort. Kumo's ego has inflated a lot in these past few years, I have to tone them down a little.

Besides, I didn't really like his rude behavior. So, I have to bleed him a little."

Izuna takes out a scroll from his pocket and flips it up. He opens the scroll and skims through it.

There is a blueprint of chakra cannon drawn on it.

'Humm… this design is quite basic. Well, to be honest, I didn't expect much from Kumo. But it is enough, I can use some civilian engineers and build it secretly for our organization.

There will be a large scale war in the future. I have to prepare every countermeasure for it. These things can easily obliterate the moon when fired at full power.'

Izuna tucks away the scroll and turns to Tsunade.

"Tsunade! What is your plan for this journey? When will you return to Konoha?"

Hicc…

Tsunade drinks another mouthful of sake and throws the cup away.

"Returning to Konoha is such a pain. I want to wander the world a little more. So, I won't return to Konoha anytime soon."

Tsunade uses the Mystic Palm technique on herself and sobers up.

"I know you and the Uchiha clan aren't satisfied by Third Hokage and want to replace him.

I have no interest in that position. Only fools and naïve people chase after that position. I won't hear any request from you."

Tsunade senses Izuna's intention and denies him before he could ask her.

'Guess only Naruto can use the Talk-no-jutsu to convince her. But at least she is not weak like before. Sigh…'

Izuna shakes his head and sighs.

"Since you don't want to be Hokage, then I have another request for you."

"Speak!" Tsunade stares him in the eyes.

"I want you to find a cure for Itachi. He is fine for now, but his condition will escalate quickly." Izuna replies to her.

"I have done a diagnose of his body with my Sharingan and here is the report." He passes a scroll to Tsunade.

"As far as I know, it seems to be a lung disease which feeds on the user's chakra and grows with time. I will transfer memories of what I saw with my Sharingan to you."

"Ok! Let me see them." Tsunade nods her head.

Izuna places his right hand on Tsunade's forehead and uses his Sharingan to cast a genjutsu and simulate his memories.

"Tsunade, as you can see the diseases, is in the preliminary stage."

Tsunade points at a lump of strange cells.

"We have to find a cure before it reaches the next stage. It will be harder to cure it in the future."

Hum…

Tsunade ponders for a while and shakes her head.

"I have never heard or seen such a disease before. But from the inspection, I can see that it is a new type of Chakra disease which is blocking the chakra network from passing through the lungs.

It is indeed lethal, and if it covers the entire chakra network in the lungs, then the patient will certainly die. I will try my best to search for a cure for this."

Tsunade assures Izuna.

"You have my gratitude, Tsunade."

"Of course, I will do this for your sake. You are my apprentice after all." Tsunade smiles at Izuna.

"Then I will have to return to the village. I have left the village for a week or so. It is time to return, but I will keep visiting you. Till then, Farewell!"

Izuna waves his hand and walks out of the inn.

Oink… Oink…

Tonton jumps from Shizune's embrace and waves her legs.

"Seems like Tonton is saying goodbye to Izuna." Shizune chuckles and picks her up.

Swoosh…

Izuna teleports from the spot.

"Shizune! Let's go and visit a gambling den. I have been craving to gamble in this past week. Izuna won't allow me to gamble."

Tsunade withdraws a stack of cash from her purse.

"That unruly A sure had lots of money. He couldn't swallow his pride, so he repaid the favor with money."

Tsunade counts the stack of Ryo and laughs hysterically.

"It's not like I am complaining though."

"Tsunade-sama!!....." Shizune clutches her forehead and sighs.

'I am sorry, Izuna. I can't stop Tsunade-sama.'

"OYE! Is there a woman called Tsunade staying here?"

"The one with the huge jugs!"

Tsunade and Shizune hear someone yelling while talking to the landlord.

"Crap! These are the debt collectors. They have found me out."

Tsunade shouts in panic.

"Shizune quick hide yourself. I will somehow deal with them. Just hide."

"Hai! Tsunade-sama!" Shizune uses transformation jutsu and hides.

"Time for me to do the same." Tsunade transforms into her child version."

'I hope they will fall for the bait. I don't want to return the money which I got just now.'

------------------------------

Swoosh….

Izuna teleports inside the village.

"Let me check on Shisui, Kakashi, Guy, and Itachi. They must have recovered by now." Izuna flickers towards the Konoha hospital.

He meets up with Sayori and asks her about the gang.

"I have discharged them yesterday. Most of their injuries were already treated because of the preliminary treatment." Sayori informs him.

"Thanks, Sayori-san." Izuna thanks Sayori and flickers out.

'I guess they must be in training ground or else in the Anbu Headquarters.'

Izuna flickers towards the training ground and notices the bunch training with each other.

Kakashi and Guy are sparring in Taijutsu with each other while Shisui and Itachi are engaged in a Ninjutsu fight.

'I will let them train for a bit. Since I plan to form a team, the members need some teamwork.

Kakashi and Guy had great synergy. Shisui and Itachi enhance each other's abilities to another level, too.

Now, I have to just search for other members. I will operate solo. Fighting in a team isn't my style, and I don't want my partner to get caught in cross-fire.'

Screech… screech…

Izuna raises his head and notices a hawk flying over the training ground. He frowns and mutter,

"A summon from Hokage-office. Since I have nothing better to do, I will check it out."

Izuna flickers towards the Hokage's office.

Knock… Knock…

Hiruzen raises his head and quickly hides the crystal ball inside his drawer.

'That's enough research for today.'

He clears his throat and speaks in a hoarse voice.

"Come in!"

Izuna enters the office and stands in front of Hiruzen.

"It has been a while, Izuna Uchiha. I have a suitable mission for you. You can accept it if you feel like it." Hiruzen takes out a scroll from the drawer and places it on the table.

"Can I hear the details first? I don't want to needlessly take a mission and waste my training time." Izuna calmly replies to him and grabs the scroll.

"I wonder why this kid is training so hard? I am unsure of his exact prowess but from what I saw during the Uchiha incident; he is probably closer to Madara Uchiha's level. What a scary kid!'

Ahem…

Hiruzen clears his throat and explains.

"You must have heard about the recent unrest in the Land of Mist.

Third Mizukage was assassinated after the Third Ninja War, leading to a power struggle in Kirigakure. Kirigakure has a barbaric academy graduation ritual where academy students are forced to kill each other.

So, the new Fourth Mizukage also graduated this way. His name is Yagura Karatachi."

Hiruzen shows a profile picture of Yagura enlisted in Bingo book.

"250 million Ryo! He has quite the high bounty on his head." Izuna whistles, looking at the bingo book bounty.

"It is nowhere close to your bounty though." Hiruzen remarks.

"Is that so? I never checked my bounty. Well, if somebody tries to claim my bounty, I will just kill that guy instead." Izuna nonchalantly replies.

"…"

Hiruzen slowly rubs his forehead and sighs.

"You have a bounty of 400 million Ryo on your head."

"That's a lot of money. It is almost equivalent to 40 top S-rank missions.

Probably, I should kill myself to get that much money." Izuna chuckles and grabs the scroll.

"I will take this mission."

He flickers out from the Hokage's office.

'Obito is manipulating Yagura in the Kirigakure. Yagura is massacring various Kekkei-Genkai users in mist. It would be a waste if I couldn't copy them before they die.'

"Wait… your mission is to…"

Hiruzen shouts to inform Izuna, but Izuna had already flickered away.

"… is to infiltrate Kirigakure and spy on Fourth Mizukage." Hiruzen finishes his sentence.

'Well! I think he is smart enough to understand the intricacies of the mission. But I never expected him to accept this mission.'

Hiruzen takes out his crystal ball and starts his research again.

'Fufu… those are quite good indeed.'

----------------------

A/N:- So here we are. In a new arc.

Also, next few chapters you won't see MC because we have to develop the plot and it is always not necessarily around the MC.