Chapter 362: A Small Powerplay

The days slowly passed and the Chunin Exams started. Since it was not yet the time for the public event, Konoha was somewhat quiet, not yet filled with merchants and important civilians. Instead, the entire village was somewhat on an edge.

Who could blame them? Especially when so many foreign ninjas were present.

Mei often grumbled that she has at least twenty ANBU tailing her at all times she is outside of the Senju Compound. Or... well, her clone does.

After all, Mei is skilled enough to use an improved version of Henge. Evading her tails was almost trivial for her.

Not like her silent observers would make any difference if she decided to be unruly. It took some heavy petting for Rei to keep her grounded. He knew well that Mei might as well just decide to be 'naughty' just to spite the dipshits who ordered her watched.

Rei was just glad Konan put Mei to work and asked her to scout the surroundings of Konoha, maybe even to create a few secret passages through the mountain range if she deemed it safe enough.

Plus, even if Tsunade did not care, the underground tunnels of Konoha could also see some use again according to Konan.

With all that, Mei was often raving and raking, pouting that she was too busy.

Tsunade, on the other hand, was kept quite busy trying to weed out Hiruzen's remaining supporters. The incident with the Council Meeting gave her a legitimate reason to deal with them once and for all. A civilian, a retired one even, should not have any power over the political elites of the village.

Of course, this was not really done to get rid of those with loyalty to Sarutobi Hiruzen. The man was the leader of the village for around four decades and children were raised hearing stories about him, taught to almost revere him. Every ninja of hers had some kind of attachment for Hiruzen.

No... this screening was simply yet another subtle way to remind the ninja elites of the village that Hiruzen Sarutobi was no longer their leader and that listening to him can have consequences. It was simply a powerplay for those slow enough to not yet realize that the new administration did not appreciate their soldiers listening to the leader from the old one.

There was no need for some harsh punishments. Most people got only fines and warnings but... then again, the targets were not those found guilty, but those who were innocent and just observed the proceedings.

Rei knew that Tsunade did not really expect a massive result but she made many similar moves over the years and the desired effect was slowly but surely starting to show. Hiruzen was losing more and more support base among the ordinary ninjas. Tsunade's reforms won the loyalty of many but even those who stubbornly clung to Hiruzen's past glory slowly started to see the light of the day.

After all, completely purging Hiruzen's supporters was unthinkable.

On a better note, this screening also helped to weed out spies. And boy did Konoha have its fair share of those in its ranks. Unfortunately for the poor lads, Rei's truth seals worked splendidly and the Yamanakas were incredibly skilled at asking unassuming questions about one thing but really getting answers to another.

For example, Kabuto Yakushi.

It was obvious he lied to several generic loyalty-assuring questions but there was no reason to call him out on it. Letting him go with the impression he passed the screening was simply better and made everyone happy.

Kabuto was happy nobody discovered him and that he was still the best double, triple, or whatever spy around. The Yamanakas were happy they did their job. And the Hokage was happy to have a new willing candidate for suicide missions.

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After all, why waste expendable manpower? The dude would be unable to get any relevant information now that he was discovered anyway.

Unfortunately, these screenings came with their own downside. Hiruzen quickly caught up to what was happening and confronted Tsunade.

The best part?

This confrontation happened right in front of the Senju Compound and had many spectators. Something Hiruzen definitely wanted to use in his favor. Unfortunately for him, he was not as successful as he would like to be.

...

"Are you really trying to do some... some witch hunt on your own ninjas? Just because their trust in me was not corroded enough?" Hiruzen asked in outrage and disappointment, "I thought better of you, Tsunade."

"A witch hunt?" Tsunade raised her eyebrow at the phrase, "Why would you think so?"

"Why? Isn't it obvious!?" Hiruzen gritted his teeth and glared at his student. A lesser woman would cover in front of his gaze but Tsunade just rolled her eyes at his sad attempt to intimidate her. Seeing his tactics didn't work, Hiruzen decided to continue, "You are hounding people, punishing them for their loyalty-"

"Yes! I am punishing them for their loyalty to you." Tsunade dryly but firmly interjected. "And for a good reason. The village can't have two leaders. You are neither advisor nor clan head. You have no legal right to command my forces. Nobody can blame them for admiring you, sensei. Even I still hold a bit of admiration for you. But… Them listening to your orders is a dereliction of duty and that's that. They should be happy to not be treated as traitors."

Hiruzen knew she was right but he refused to end the conversation here. It was too unsatisfactory. He intended for the spectators to hear that Tsunade was unjustly punishing the ninjas for having lingering loyalty for him, their previous leader. Something that simply could not be prevented and should be expected.

Instead, his student gave a very short but reasonable explanation of why her actions are justified. The result was simply too neutral for Hiruzen so he decided to try a different approach.

"And? What are you going to do about them? Put them on the Red List? Have them go on suicide missions in the following years, slowly weeding them out? Just because they are my support base? Or are you going to bar them from advancing in the ranks, preferring to promote your own supporters?" Hiruzen shouted, creating a huge stir among the spectators. Naturally, the smarter ones quickly realized his game but Hiruzen knew that people, especially in the crowd, were sheep who believed anything told to them as long as it sounded good to their ears.

These were all things he had done to preserve his control over the village and the sole reason why he was so well-liked. The people who did not agree with him seldom managed to rise high enough in the ranks for their voices to be relevant... not that anybody needed to know that.

Tsunade quickly swept the crowd with her eyes, realizing this was getting out of control. By the evening, this confrontation would be all over the village via various embellished rumors. She didn't blame Hiruzen. He was just trying to get a measure of control and power in the village and now that he saw a chance, he desperately grasped at it.

'Still, it is annoying as hell.' Tsunade thought in exasperation. 'I might have pushed him a bit too far recently. Well, if he wants to stop being polite, who am I to not indulge him?'

"Don't worry. I will do no such thing. Only a total idiot would perform a massacre among his own ranks just because there is an unproved suspicion they are not loyal enough. We wouldn't want to have another Uchiha or Senju massacre at our hands, now, would we, Hiruzen?" Tsunade answered with a sneer before walking away, ignoring his reaction and the deathly silent crowd.

Needless to say, Hiruzen's sour expression when Tsunade threw these words in his face was priceless and the rumors indeed did spread all over the village.

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